Antithesis

Cold Sweats

It started like it always did.

She was running full sprint to the unknown. As she ran the smoke cloud became darker. Her chest burned as her heart pounded at unimaginable speeds. Her mind was racing with possibilities and scenarios.

Maybe they got off in time.

Maybe it wasn't their bus.

Her body ached and pained as the remnants of a vehicle came into sight. The same license plate she once saw seconds before was now black and burnt. Sirens were now wailing in the distance. She came to a sudden halt, her feet unable to move with disbelief. The once classic double decker bus was now a red ball of fire. She couldn't differentiate the wails of the sirens from the wails of the bystanders. She screamed her loved ones names but she couldn't hear her cries. She saw an image appear from a window in the lower deck.

She found herself at full sprint again. The image was blackened with soot and burns covered most of his body. He looked delirious and dazed like he was in a trance. She called out her brother's name to no avail. Before she could embrace him a woman drew him into her embrace and called him Henry. He embraced her and started to cry. An officer grabbed her shoulders and dragged her away from the twisted and burning wreckage. She resisted his touch and gave into sobbing. They then found themselves being thrown to the tar encased road. Everything moved in slow motion, she could see blurred figures rushing towards her. She looked at her hand, which was now covered in blood. The world flashed before her eyes and she gave into the darkness.

London- 4:30 am

Hannah awoke drenched in sweat. Her bedroom was illuminated with the night lights of the Metropolitan city. This dream or recollection was happening more and more often and was becoming more intense every time. She reached across at the nightstand and switched on the light. The multiple bottles of pills obscured her vison of the digital clock. She pushed across the bottles and sighed heavily. Hannah unravelled herself from the duvet and entered the bathroom. Dark circles encased her eyes.

"Make-up is going to have to deal with this." She said looking into the mirror and pulling at the dark and heavy bags.

She stripped off the drenched shirt and turned on the shower. She stepped in and let the water flow over her nude body. She hasn't had a good night sleep for weeks now and the shrink's methods weren't working either. Her hair was now drenched in water and she pulled her hand through it. She heard a message come through on her phone. She grabbed the phone off the counter and wiped the warm water off her face.

"999.REPORT IMMEDIATELY!" There was no sender but she knew exactly who it was. She stepped out of the shower and dried her hair briskly with a towel. She never got a 999 message but she knew she had to drop everything and head to the office. She pulled on a UFO shirt she got from the conspiracy conference down the street and jeans from the local Primark. She grabbed her keys, phone and jacket then headed back into the bath room. She removed the mirror off the wall and typed a code into a safe that was behind it. She opened it and grabbed her badge, one of the many ID's and a knife. She shut the safe and replaced the mirror.

"Looks like these bags are going to have to stay." She sighed as she looked into the mirror and slid the knife into the back of her jeans. She slipped her feet into a pair of Vans and bolted out of the flat.

Hannah wondered what the message was about as she sat on the scantily filled bus. She was sure that whatever the 999 was though it wasn't good. The only time a message like that is sent is if there is a mass casualty event. Her heart stopped at the thought of a terrorist attack. The bus neared her stop and she pressed a nearby bell. She arose and exited with two other people who had the same looks on their faces. One had on a coffee stained suit and the other she was sure he was naked under his jacket. If that wasn't enough they all shared the same white, pasty and sleep deprived features.

They all headed to a nearby building, she weakly smiled at the doorman and entered the elevator. The naked man pressed the 12 floor and the doors closed. She could now smell the strong scent of whiskey on the coffee stained man's breath. She could also smell cheap perfume on the naked man. One had a date with the booze and the other with a hooker. Hannah couldn't blame either of them, she wanted a drink and some lad after the last couple weeks she's had. But the possibility of her ending up with a rash in her nether regions was a lot less appetizing. The elevator doors slid open to pure confusion.

People were darting from left, right and centre. The two men disappeared into the confusion as Hannah stood and took in the sight in front of her. She stepped off and didn't know where to start. Papers were everywhere, people were shouting and some were crying in their cubicles. At least those guys in the elevator did something fun before the end of the world.

Hannah was startled as someone grabbed her hand and dragged her from her stance.

"Bollocks Hannah, Where have you been?" Seth said to her frantically. "Something big has happened and everyone is on alert."

"No shit Sherlock!" Hannah said sarcastically which earned her a pair of rolled eyes from Seth.

"You have a debrief with Thatcher in 5, 4 ..." Seth pushed his glasses further up his nose and typed onto his iPad. Hannah sprinted across the ransacked cubicles. She flashed her badge on the ID surface and dropped her knife into the weapons holder. She opened the door and was greeted to a wide eyed Head of Department.

Hannah never saw the head of the department before, no one has except those with Class D clearance and she was Class C.

"Hannah Rhys, I have good news and bad news. Good news, you've been promoted. Bad News, London and Washington are under attack."

The world around Hannah stopped. "By whom, Ma'am?" was the only thing Hannah could say.

Thatcher walked towards the large animated logo spinning in the background, "We the MI6 and the CIA is being attacked by Al Staed. We are being attacked by the people who killed your family."

There was sudden flow of emotions into her, rage, anger, and revenge but the fear of those bastards being back over shadowed all other emotions.