The Marked One

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Tucked away behind a brick wall sat a man and a woman, one of which was losing a significant amount of blood very quickly. All around them shots rang out and the sounds echoed off of the run down buildings, but they were only focused on each other.

"You're not dying on me now. We're so close,baby. Just hold on a little bit longer for me!" A pained laugh left the woman's lips and she shifted her body so that she was sitting more upright,"I guess we're going to have to rain check that date." 

Her joke fell on deaf ears because the yells from Samuel's men signaled that they were losing and that Sanchez and his men were pushing forward towards where Sam and Anastacia had found shelter,"Ana, we've got to move or we're going to die." 

Anastacia's head shook from the left to right to signal that she wasn't going anywhere,"If you try to move me, I'll just slow you down and you'll get yourself killed." She had spent too long being selfish, and now was her time to make amends for that. 

"Go, Sam. Get out of here before you get yourself and your men killed." Her voice was weak and the way that it cracked when she spoke showed just how much pain that she was in, but she wouldn't admit it out loud. 

"I'm not leaving you here to die. Are you fucking stupid! Get your ass up and lets go!" He reached out to pull her to her feet but the blood loss had gotten to her and she could no longer support herself, nor bare the pain that came with moving. 

There was a war raging inside of Samuel's eyes as he stared down at the woman, and this one was much greater than the one going on around them. He knew that he had a duty to protect his family, but he'd promised her that he would protect her too. He was torn between two of the hardest choices that he had ever had to make.  

"It's okay." She reassured him of this, but that didn't make the decision that he was about to make any easier. He fell to his knees beside her and she opened her mouth to protest but his lips met hers in a feverish kiss, one that told her everything that he'd been far too scared to tell her out loud. As he pulled away he could finally see the fresh tears that had started to fall from her eyes. 

The fear that she had been trying desperately to keep locked away had broken free and it was all over her face now. She was afraid to die. He leaned his forehead against hers one last time and lingered until he felt her hands weakly pressing against his chest to tell him to leave,"Sam, you have to let me go." 

The words made his heart clench in his chest but he listened to her and forced himself to his feet, staring at her for a couple more fleeting seconds before he raised his fingers to his mouth and whistled to signal for his men to retreat. 

Immediately they began to rush past him but he stood still as she pulled the gun he'd given her a month ago from the back of her jeans and sent him one last smirk,"I'll see you in hell, Griffin." He felt his own lips turning up slightly in response and he shook his head,"I look forward to it, Duncan." 

Anastacia watched as Samuel Griffin turned his back to her and ran away. She watched until he had disappeared from her line of sight and even for a couple of minutes after. The gunfire ended all at once and she heard the sound of tires squealing on pavement as Samuel and his men retreated on their bikes to safety. 

Her head fell back to rest on the cold brick behind her until the sound of footsteps began to near her and her grip instinctively tightened on her gun. The voices nearing her were foreign to her so she immediately knew that these were not her friends.

"Anastacia Duncan. You're a very hard woman to get a hold of." Her hand raised the gun in her hand and aimed the barrel directly at his face. She went over the checklist that Sam had given her when he taught her how to use it and hovered her finger over the trigger. 

Sanchez had already trained his own weapon on her by this point and the pair stared each other down, each daring the other to pull the trigger first. Her vision was going fuzzy and she knew that she didn't have much time left. She had to end this now or it would never end. 

With her last ounce of energy Anastacia squeezed the trigger and she felt the bullet leave the chamber of the gun at the same time that she heard another shot being fired, but she was immediately swallowed by the darkness that had been slowly taking over before she could tell whether she had been hit. 

Her arms fell limp at her sides and the gun she'd been holding in her hand slid out of her grip as her breathing slowed until there was no longer any movement coming from her beaten and bruised body . Anastacia Duncan was dead... or was she? 

You're probably wondering how she ended up here, right? I'm sure that you all want answers, and I am here to give those to you. Let's start from the very beginning shall we?