Killer Love

Chapter Seven

The next remaining days of the week are pretty much the same. Styles introduced me to a few of his close friends during lunch. I was distant but polite with them. I dodged a lot of their questions and spouted the facts from my cover.

We are assigned a project for literature and I, of course, manage to snag him as my partner.

"When do you want to work on it?" he asks me. "I should be free sometime his weekend."

"Yeah, I'm free Saturday."

"Cool. I'll see you then."

***

That Friday, I skip my last class of the day to drive to a town north from here for another assignment. Styles is coming over on Saturday around noon to work on the project, which gives me plenty of time to hide anything suspicious.

I stop by my house to drop off my backpack, change, and get a weapon or two. Maybe even some snacks for the road. Mm, like those chocolate chunk cookies I bought. The drive takes four hours. The sun has set. Louis has already sent me this guy's coordinates.

He's in an abandoned factory. Old pieces of equipment litter the large space. Moonlight comes through an opening in the middle of the ceiling. Who the hell goes to places like this?

I stay in the shadows next to a metal beam and watch him walk quickly towards something. I step out, waiting for him to notice me.

He stops in his tracks and reaches behind him.

I point my gun at him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," I tell him. "You know who sent me." It's not a question.

He grits his teeth. "Yes, I do."

"Then you know you're not getting out of here alive."

We stare at each other for a couple of seconds before he bolts behind a machine. My gun goes off and the bullet ricochets off the wall.

I roll my eyes. I should have just shot him when he wasn't looking. Now I have to actually do some work.

I listen for his footsteps, trying to pinpoint where he is using the sound bouncing off the walls. I try to be as silent as possible. Something hits me in the face and I stumble back, keeping a tight hold on my gun. I then get slammed into something. That's going to leave a bruise.

I elbow this guy in the face. Hard. He groans and lets go of me. I swipe my knife at him but he leans away from it, fists ready to hit me again. I grab the hilt of the knife and fling it hard in his direction. It buries itself into his thigh and he cries out. He extracts the knife out and throws it back at me. I turn to the side, but it slices my upper forearm.

"Okay, now I'm angry. You cut my new shirt!"

I aim my gun and shoot him twice. Once in the leg and another in the chest. He slumps over without a sound.

"Done," I say to Louis, turning and stalking away.

"How did it go?"

"He got some good hits in, but I obviously won the round," I reply.

"And with Styles?"

"We're meeting up tomorrow for a literature project." I sigh. "I did not sign up to do all this nonsense. Can I kill him and bounce out of this town?"

"Y/N..." Louis warns.

"I know, I know. By the end of October."

By the time I hit the road, it's a little past midnight so I don't make any stops on the way home. I'm sure I look like a crazy person right now what with all the blood. I try not to focus on what aches because there's really no point. Traffic is basically nonexistent so I get home around three in the morning. All the houses on my block are dead silent. The light sensor goes off as I pull in the garage.

I'm not tired, but I know that when I wake up I'll look like a fucking raccoon. I head straight to the shower, peeling off my clothes that I'm going throw into the wash afterwards. I wash away the blood on my arm and scrub my body clean.

When I'm done, I wrap a clean towel around my body and rummage through the contents below the sink. I set a bottle of running alcohol, cotton balls, and gauze on the counter. I press a cotton ball over the top of the bottle and quickly flip it upside down. Once it's wet, I dab it across the cut on my arm, holding my breath to keep from yelling curses. I do it again with another ball and then loosely tape the gauze over it.

I change into pajamas and check the time. Almost four o'clock. Time for bed. I make sure everything is locked and that the alarms and motion sensors are set. I'm out like a light before my head even hits the pillow.

*"What if I can't go through with it? What if I mess up!" I asked nervously. "Maybe I should wait until I'm trained more."

Louis grasped my shoulders and moved down to eye level with me. He was only three years older than me, but I looked up to him for guidance and reassurance. I remembered I used to have a crush on him. Those feelings have certainly passed. People here didn't date.

"Take deep breaths. You are not going to mess up. You have been preparing for this for a long time. Don't doubt yourself now."

I let out a shaky breath and nodded. "Okay."

"You ready?" he double-checked. "All right. Let's go inside."

He opened the metal door that led to a dark, empty room. Some man sat tied up to a chair in the middle. Louis pressed the gun to my hand, closing the door shut behind me. I swallowed hard and took a few tentative steps forward, focusing hard on my shoes. There was a faint rattling sound coming from the gun shaking in my hand.

I walked up behind the guy. I didn't want to know his name or what color his eyes were or whether he had laugh lines like the ones my father used to have. Thinking about him made me think about my mom, and that in turn shot pain through my chest.

I took a deep breath and raised the gun slowly. The pain of thinking about my parents helped focus me, calming my nerves.

This is just like target practice. Make sure the safety is off. Aim at the back of his head. Focus on the spot you want to hit.

Remember who they were. Remember what they did.

My face hardened and I squeezed the trigger.*

My eyes jump open. A sound woke me from my slumber. I begrudgingly get out of bed, groaning when my muscles protest. I really need to start working out again.

There's a knock at the door followed by a ding-dong. Who can be here this early in the morning?

"I'm coming. I'm coming," I call out. "Hold your horses," I mutter.

I pull my hair up into a ponytail to look less like a bum and open the door.

"Wow!" It's so bright outside I have to squint my eyes.

I see Styles standing at my doorstep, a few books in hand. I'm sure I look confused because he says, "Did you forget about our project?"

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Yes, you did! Don't forget to vote and comment on each chapter. Also Happy New Year!! 🎊