Lace

24

The place was empty, to my surprise, and I must admit, it hurt my ego just a little.

Did they see us as that small of a threat?

It wasn't long till we came across another door. My heart drummed against my chest with ragged beats.

Anything could be behind that door. A group of people. Gunmen. Our freedom.

Neither Riley nor I were ready for what could come. Our injuries did not work to our advantage, and even if we did escape, who knows where we are.

These people had to have something planned. They wouldn't just keep us in the middle of a big city. We must be in some place secluded. The middle of the forest maybe? Atop of a mountain? In a boat anchored in the middle of the ocean? But we won't know unless we go through the door.

I turn the door handle after telling riley to stand behind me and pushed it open to find it unlocked.

I opened the door wider and stepped into the room to find two women stationed at the foot of a flight of stairs both holding guns and looking at me with blank faces of surprise.

My instincts took control as I flipped over a table stations beside the door and pushed Riley behind it. I heard him scream in pain and fought my urge to reach out and help him.

I needed to save him in order to help him.

The room was empty with the exception of the table and a metal trashcan beside it.

The two women reacted fast, with the first one charging towards me and the other one keeping her gun aimed at me. Neither fired as yet.

The first lady straddled me over my hips and began throwing punches at my face. She wore a bullet proof vest as crushed the air out of me with her weight.

I was stationary for a second, taking the blows at my face before I caught sight of her friend lowering her gun and walking towards the flipped table. My vision was becoming blurry but I tightened by grip on my knife and plunged it into her neck.

She howled like a banshee when I twisted the knife and plunged it in once again. Choking on her own blood, she called for help from her friend who started firing like a madwoman.

I used her friend as a shield but that didn't stop a stray bullet from landed in my injured leg. I screamed as loud as I could, feeling the warmth of the blood dripping off me like sweat.

I heard Riley's screams and shoved off the limp body from me, grabbing the lady's gun and aiming it at her friend's head.

She tuned around to aim the gun back at me but I was faster. I aimed between her eyes but missed, shooting her straight through her cheek.

At that moment I felt nothing; no pain, mercy or regret. So, I aimed again, shooting her three more times in her head, until her body dropped like a rag.

"Lace," Riley whispered in shock "you killed them. "by now he was a trembling mess with closed eyes as we shook his head trying to rid of the memories of what just happened. It hurt me. Was he disappointed? I know that I'm not the person I once was. I signed away my old self when I feel under the embrace of the beast. But up until this moment, I loved it. I loved the power and confidence of being the person I am now.

I loved the person Erebus crafted me into. Nobody walked all over her. They didn't treat her like trash. Even his men, the ones who couldn't stand to look at me, began to acknowledge me as their own. They began to respect me. I've earned respect. I've earned the love of another that's not Riley. I've learned to be normal.

But as I stand here with a lifeless leg and swollen, bloody face watching my best friend tremble in fear of who I have become, I can't help but almost regret it.

"can you walk up the stairs?" I ask him. He nods, waking up from his crouched position and limps in front of me.

I wince when I try to move my leg, by now the pain has subsided into a numbing coldness. That makes me worried. But I limp behind him. The stairs go upwards, leading towards a hatch in the ceiling.

My body feels drained. Too drained to think of the risks of what may lay beyond the hatch, so I limp in front of Riley and with strain, lift the door open and cower at the unexpected brightness from the day's star.