THE DEAD ZONE ~ Marhinki

.09

They didn't get far. Alleyways were their only option, but alleyways were dark and scary things and they brought them to their death. A woman stood a one end, leveling a gun at their heads, a cruel smile written on her face. A man stood at the other, he's face was shadowed, but his eyes glinted with cruelty and he two aimed a gun at them. Slowly the two figures approached, and in a desperate attempt to save their lives, everyone surrendered.

Zip ties bit into the skin on Mari's wrists, but she ignored the pain, as those who attacked them marched them forward, shoving them into a straight line. Mari knew she was in the middle the second the man aimed his gun at her. He had a grim look on his face and his eyes glared into her soul. He had glasses on, and they were dirty and scratched, the glass covering his right eye was broken, spiderwebs of cracks covering the entire section. Mari wondered if he could even see.

"We are supposed to execute you all publicly," The man stated, his finger itching towards the trigger. "But, you kill Keith, and that does not go unpunished." Mari stared at him, fully aware of the gun aimed directly at her head. She wished that she could reach out her hand and grasp Sohinki's. Maybe it would make her feel better about finally meeting death, but her hands were bound, so she settled with shifting slightly so their shoulders were touching.

The man stared at her, his eyes narrowing at her motion, and his finger rested on the trigger of his gun. He smiled at her, and swung his gun to the right, firing three times. Mari held back a scream, instead she simply closed her eyes in a grimace. She didn't want to look next to her, she didn't want to see his body laying on the ground. Something made her open her eyes, and she choked back a sob.

On the ground, was Joven's body, blood still spilling out of his wounds. Mari quickly shut her eyes, unable to take it. It was her fault. It seemed that everyone's death was her fault. She was killing everyone she cared about. She killed one of the people she could almost call a friend. If she could call anyone a friend.

~*~

They were marched into a run down building, which isn't much of a description, because all of the buildings were run down, but this one was extremely run down. So run down in fact, Mari wondered how it was still standing. That was until she realized that the house was a decoy. They weren't going into the house, they were going underneath it.

She was shoved into a chair, that rocked back with her sudden weight. The others were marched away from her, shoved behind doors that hid them from her.

"Well, well," The man who had killed Joven said. "The famous Atomic, the ruler of the Dead Zone." He stalked towards her, using the muzzle of his gun to force her chin up. "Real shame you turned out so weak, I really thought you'd be more of a challenge."

"Weak?" Mari asked with a dry laugh. "I murdered one of your men! You had to line us up in order to kill one of us! We met you head on! You tried to kill us with smoke. Plus," She laughed again, and lifted her hands, which were effectively freed from her zip ties. "You don't even know how to tie up a hostage." And with those words, she delivered a swift kick to the man's crotch, and yanked his gun away from him.

"And do you know what's better?" She asked him as he groaned on the ground. "I don't need to wait for the public in order to execute you." With that statement she hoisted the gun up and aimed for his head, with two swift pulls of the trigger, he was dead. And Mari? Mari only shook her head and she yanked the keys away from his belt. She slung the gun across her shoulders, while sifting through the blood splattered keys.

While still turning them over in her hands, she walked to one of the many doors. Then, she tried (and failed) to open the door.

"Damn," She cursed, as once again she used the wrong key. "What in the hell do they need all these keys for?" Finally, she raised her leg, aiming towards the weak lock, and kicked at the door, sending it crashing inward.

FLitz, who was crouched inside the room, jumped to his feet as his cell door swung open. Mari only looked at him as she tossed him the ring of keys.

"We need to get the others out," She said as she hoisted the gun up so it was nestled near her shoulder. "And arm ourselves." FLitz nodded but said nothing. Together they walked from the room, Mari covering FLitz's back, her gun pointed outward.

The next door opened, released a very angry Lazercorn, who was still tied up. Mari handed off the gun to FLitz and took the keys from him, using the serrated edge of a random key to try and saw the restraint off of him.

It almost worked. And by almost, Mari had gotten halfway through the restraints before gunshots were heard.

"Shit," Was the only word that fell out of her mouth as she motioned for FLitz to give her the gun. He resumed the desperate sawing, while she turned away from them, heading towards the sounds of the shots. She swung the gun around the corner and smiled at what she saw on the other side.

"I got you now, you son of a bitch," she whispered and pulled the trigger twice. Her smile only grew at the screams that followed.