The Enhanced

Chapter Thirty Six

The carpet was soaked in blood, darkened and squishy beneath my feet. Aiden was curled up, pale and weak, clutching his midsection.

He barely notices me as I hover over him and attempt to pry his hands away from his stomach. It was easy to see that was where the blood was coming from. He barely fights me and I lift up his shirt to reveal a uniformed stab wound in his torso, leaking blood everywhere.

He grunts as I roll him over and reassure him that he'll be okay. When, in actuality, I begin to question whether or not Aiden will make it through the next hour.

I was no doctor but I had been taught to treat stab and gunshot wounds if I ever couldn't get help on a mission. I had an idea of what I needed to do. Aiden had lost quite a lot of blood but I didn't think he needed a transfusion. His unresponsive state could be pegged mostly to shock.

I stop the bleeding and clean the wound before bandaging him up and giving him some water and a bit of food. My only concern was whether or not he had internal bleeding or anything important had been hit.

But I knew Aiden wouldn't want to go to hospital, even in his precarious state, I was still paying for last time.

Within minutes, Aiden was more responsive and even managed to talk a bit. He also had a black eye and had obviously ran away since there was carpet burn along his arm. They had dragged him along the floor and stabbed him.

I turn on all the lights and walk over to the kitchen to fix myself something to eat where I look up above the sink for the first time being able to see and gasp. Aiden turns and sees what I see just as I snatch it off the wall and stare down at it.

Nothing else had ever made that amount of dread coil up in my stomach than the piece of paper in my hand. It was a crisp piece of paper, the type I had grown up writing on in my lessons, it was unique and I detested it. It read clearly in bold, typed letters.

'ONE WEEK'

Along with a photo stapled to the corner. It was Aiden, washing up in the sink, I recognised it from yesterday evening, at the top it wrote 'Collateral', in scary red letters.

By now, Aiden had gobbled over to me and was staring at the very same price of paper, confusion written all over his face.

I crumple up the paper and shove it into my back pocket before Aiden can figure anything out. He couldn't know. Or maybe it would be better if he did.

I sigh and bury my face in my hands, feeling the tears coming on. Aiden rubs my back and doesn't question me.

Then, I push the tears away, stand straight and steer Aiden back to the sofa where he shod stay and rest.

I needed to leave. I had to go, they would leave Aiden alone if I went back to them and left this life behind. Or would they? They can't know for sure that I didn't tell Aiden. What if they wanted to keep it a secret? What if they killed him even if I left? They obviously didn't care whether he lived or died.

For the second time I am on the verge of tears as I collapse onto the sofa and heave a sigh of resignation.

"What happened, Aiden?" I ask, realising that I didn't actually know what had unfolded here. There was a broken vase and a rug had been pulled up in whatever struggle had ensued here.

"I... I was asleep and there was a knock on the door. I thought it was you... I didn't check the time." He pauses and sighs.

"I opened the door and there were two guys, like big guys... They looked like they were in the army... They asked for you. I said you weren't here. They pushed past me and I shouted at them." He tells me.