Hiraeth {Book 3 in The Emerald of Annihilation trilogy}

(9). Matters of Business.....or the Heart?

3rd. Person's POV.

Lily stood, unable to move as the sight in front of her made her gut rise and her blood turn to solid ice. Lily's muscles refused to move and her mind was currently blank. 

An elderly gentleman lay sprawled on the concrete sidewalk. His cane a few feet out of his reach. A red splotch of blood on his head trickled dark red liquid down his forehead. A Viper agent stood over him, a smirk on her face and a wooden bat in her hand. Lily hadn't been spotted yet. And she wanted nothing more than to be invisible as she couldn't seem to move a muscle.

Then Lily saw it. The boy. He was struggling in the iron-like grip of a second viper agent. He screamed and kicked, trying to free himself and assist his grandfather. Tears flowed down his cheeks as he shouted to his grandfather that he was coming, and screaming at the two bullies, to stop and that he would kill them.

 Lily's heart pounded as her fists slowly clenched, cracking her knuckles in the process. With great effort, Lily lifted one foot. Then another. Then the other again. The agent holding the boy, looked up, locking eyes with her. His eyes glowing a bit more than their natural blue colour.

Lily ran at him, her fist pulled back ready to strike. Her fist barrelled towards his face full force. But Lily was met with a surprise. That proved to be a problem. The man caught her fist. Not only did he catch her fist, but before Lily could have time to register what had just happened, the agent flung her to the side as if she was an inanimate object.

A groan escaped through Lily's lips as her back was introduced to the glass of a nearby shop. crashing through, Lily opened her eyes to find herself lying in a blanket of glass. Sharp shards of shredded glass dug into Lily's hands as she pushed herself up. 

Pain shot through her knee as she knelt in the deadly ground, regaining her composure. These guys were unbelievably strong. the power in the man's muscles was nothing a normal male bodybuilder could match.

Lily stood, her sneakers crunching the glass. The SuperSoldier Serum. It had to be! The way the man's eyes slightly glowed. He had obviously been injected. Lily struggled to the shattered window and stepped through, lifting her eyes to see the girl looking right back at her.

Lily's POV.

"Hey, Justin! We got a toughie here." The male agent, Justin, smirked at me, still gripping the young boy in his meaty hands. "Tonight's gonna be more fun than I thought, Kelly." I winced as I plucked a lone shard of glass from my cheek. I could feel the blood slowly run down my face.

A growl rose lowly in my chest. I charged at them both, this time, knocking the bat from the woman's hands, and landing a kick in the man's face. He released the boy and stumbled back a couple steps. I reached out and pulled the little boy behind me. I watched in complete horror and a little amusement as Justin's nose reshaped to its normal shape.

"H-how..." I didn't have time to finish my sentence before a gunshot sounded. I winced at the sound at first then panicked when my mind raced to figure out where the bullet went. I turned to see old man cough once or twice before falling over from his seated position on the sidewalk. 

Dark red blood pooled from the penetrated area in his chest. "Grandpa!" The boy dashed for his guardian, and my guess, his only and last family. I felt my heart fall as tears threaten to fall from my eyes. I turned to Justin and my gaze looked up to a heavy metal sign a couple feet away, above us. 

I turned and tackled the woman, sending punch after punch to her face. She leaned to the side and turned again, whacking her elbow into my mouth. 

I grunted and fell off of Kelly, grabbing her gun from her hands, and aimed for the chains holding the 200-pound sign, allowing gravity to do its job as it dropped dead weight on the oncoming Justin.

Kelly glared daggers at me, and sent a kick for my gut, which I dodged by jumping back, and advanced, catching her jaw with my knuckles. A victorious smirk appeared on my face. But not for long. Before I knew it, I was being held from behind, a cold, sharp, deadly blade to my throat, threatening to slice right through my jugular vein. 

A helpless squeak left my mouth as Kelly pressed the knife harder into my skin. "Look at that, tough kid." She pointed with her other hand, which held her Barretta 9 millimeter. I looked to where she was pointing. "You caused this." The little boy was clinging to his grandfather's dead body, crying the Nile river.

Guilt set in my chest that weighed me down like a millstone. I swallowed, getting my head together. I had to get out of Kelly's hold. If I didn't, I would never live to see the next day. Or the next hour, or minute...

The blade pressed harder. It was as if Kelly had heard my thoughts. "Try and escape, and I slit your throat, princess. I want you to be alive when I put a bullet in the kid's head." That set me off. "You'd murder an innocent child?! You're sick!" 

She laughed. A psychotic cackle that made me shiver and the hairs on the back of my neck raise. "The Hood has killed off more of our agents. We need to scare him a little. Make him realise that he isn't the only dedicated killer in this town."

I was confused. "The hood? You mean the serial killer?" Kelly smirked behind me. "No one here knows his real identity. He is always seen in a black hood. Those who have seen him have not lived to tell the tale."

"Then how do you know he wears a hood?" I inquired. "Top secret surveillance cams. Only Viper agents have access to them, so we sent out one video and it went viral." I couldn't believe it. There was no shame in her! She would kill innocent children to prove a point to a serial killer! How many of the agents were as psychotic as her?

"Now watch the kid, die!" Kelly lifted her gun again. I acted quicker than I thought. I grabbed her arm and bent it down, flipping her over me. she landed with an 'Omph' and glared at me once again before reaching out her arm to the boy again who looked at her and his eyes widened with fear and hate.

I stumbled to my feet and ran at the boy, tackling him down, shielding him with my body, just as the gun went off.

3rd Person's POV.

Kelly smirked to see the young woman go limp on the ground. That's what she got for messing with the wrong organization! Right...? Trading her gun for her knife, Kelly stocked up towards the girl to finish the job on the kid. The little tyke deserved it for throwing rocks at them the other day. He needed to know what happened when someone messed with Viper.

grabbing the girl's wrist, she tugged her arm from where it had been protectively around the boy. Lily opened her eyes weakly and stared up at Kelly. Eyes full of such hate and determination that Kelly was almost intimidated. 

Lily shut her eyes again tight as the boy clung to her more, burying his face into her chest. All was silent in the small space of town, except the heavy breathing of Kelly, and the laboured rasps of breath coming from Lily. A small sobbing escaped the boy's lips. 

Then the sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the deserted streets. 

CLIFFHANGER ONCE MORE!! Don't be a ghost reader! Vote and comment! I love hearing from you guys! The pic above is the little boy. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I enjoyed writing it and can't wait to write the next one!!!

~ Keziah