A puff of smoke came out of the gun and as it calmed a looked at my target. On the ground, bleeding. Around his waist, a beeping sound started and with it a voice saying five minutes. He now had five minutes before the cooperation sent medical help, and I had no more than ten to complete my mission. Lucky for me, the box was on the ground now. I opened it and inside was nothing more than an illegible code.
"Ha," he laughed in his hoarse voice. "There's nothing in there..." I didn't bother looking at him and reread the code over and over, trying to see if I knew it.
"Ridiculous," I said. "Casper gave it to me." He let out a slow, creepy laugh, worsened by his poor health.
"So you believe that?" he mocked. "Inside the box is a code that tells you where the prize is, not the prize itself." I took a breath, realizing what Casper was trying to tell me as I left the school. "You act like such a beginner."
Shakily, I responded, "W-well—" His beeper beeped again, this time with the voice saying he had three minutes.
"There's my aid," he said, relaxed. "And my partner cracked the code earlier today, has been notified by my beeper, and should have the prize in eight minutes." In the dark of the nighttime sky, he gave me a mischievous and victorious smirk.
"But why would you need the box then?" I asked.
He hoisted himself up with his one good arm and said in a low voice, "Just over two minutes, sweetheart. Do you really want an explanation now?" With that reminder, I lifted myself up, glanced around the morbid scene, grabbed the code, and took off.
Really, I would've ran faster, but I need to try a decipher the code. Even though I didn't admit it to myself, I couldn't solve it, so I ran around the city, hoping to find a sign. And with my unusually incredible luck that night, I caught sight of another black figure. It swooped by me similarly to my first target, except he was farther away and I saw him for a mere split second. On instinct, I followed the path I believed he took.
Following him, I became more and more certain that I was tracking the right person. The path he took was swift, yet overly complicated with so many turns and loops. It was also so well hidden in the shadows, that I didn't even bother hiding from him, as long as I was quiet. He eventually reached a part of town I'd never been in and stopped in front of a house I'd never seen nor heard of. Looking around, I saw that I didn't recognize the entire neighborhood.
He stepped into the house, and I quietly stepped in after him. Once inside, I immediately recognized the house. I'd followed this stranger, all the way to the hiding spot of the prize. There was a knife near the front door, so I took it and threw it by his head. Just in time, he dodged and looked back at me. His reaction time was faster than his partner's, honestly scaring me. But he just glared at me before taking off.
It took me a moment to register that he had a list of priorities and that I was only second. The prize was first. Remembering that he knew where it was, I silently tailed him. We ended up in a room pitch black with nothing but a bright, shapeless light encased in glass in the center. I looked at him, then at the prize, then ran. I grabbed it first, but he held it and pulled it away from me. Angry, I jumped on his back and brought him to the ground.
"Why'd you wait so long!?" I blurted out. Stuck on the floor, his grip was loose enough for me to force it free. I got up and raced for the door.
"For what!?" Out of nowhere, he appeared in front of the frame and blocked my path. He used his leg to sweep at my feet and push me down. He grabbed the prize and raced out. "Everything is in order now!"
"No!" I screamed and scrambled to my feet. With my small legs, I realized that I'd never catch up to him. So, without thinking, I pounced at him. But since he was still running, I just pulled at his ankles, dragging him and the prize to the floor. Except this time, the prize crashed to the ground and the glass broke.
He looked at me and yelled, "Look at what you did!" The light grew and grew, filling up the house and blocking my vision.
All I had to say for myself was, "Oops."
