Chapter Twenty-Nine
Anthony had given Ruby and Matt the all clear. They hadn’t been around Oliver long enough to be infected by his magic. Oliver had barely touched them. We were all surprised considering he had been gathering an army of soldiers. We were top tier, the best of the best, and he didn’t take any of us. Why?
The case would remain open until we found Oliver’s body in amongst the rubble left behind from the authorised bombing. When the dust had settled, there were no signs of thermal activity left on the satellite live feed. There were no survivors. The mindless puppets had been granted a quick death but that didn’t change the way our team felt about the situation.
The rescue had turned into a slaughter. The elimination squad remained as such. We would never be anything but and I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t happy about it. Winters planned on having a word with Dane when we got back. It didn’t take a genius to know that talking to Dane wouldn’t change anything. None of us dared to burst Winters’s bubble. He was barely clinging onto hope as it was. We all were.
Moving rubble and dragging bodies out to identify them wasn’t my idea of a good time but it had to be done. Winters refused Sky’s help, saying she had already done enough. So it was just us seven, alone in a desolated forest, surrounded by corpses, body parts and ruins. Just another day at the office, right?
“Heart of a lion that one,” Matt called out as I continued to lose the contents of my stomach on the outskirts of the forest.
I had to move away from the gruesome sight you would only ever imagine to see in the movies or nightmares. I was grateful that it was cold. The heat would have made the smell a million times worse. I didn’t really want to go into detail of what my eyes could see. It was worse than a blood bath and my brain refused to process everything.
“Screw you, Matt!” I groaned, wiping my chin. I fished around in my pocket for some gum. I guess you could say I came prepared.
I slipped the mask back over my mouth when I was sure my stomach was settled enough. The strong minty scent of the gum helped a lot. It was a shame that it couldn’t mask the horror that lay before my eyes.
At least I wasn’t paired with Matt. He and Ryan had been given the task of assembling people back together like a jigsaw puzzle. My stomach churned just thinking about it. Matt wasn’t fazed at all and was throwing dismembered limbs at Ryan as a joke. If he threw one at me, I think I would gag and return back to the outskirts to lose whatever I had left in my stomach.
Ruby and Claire were identifying the bodies as the boys dragged them out. They had clipboards with photos of the missing people. They crossed names off the list before covering the corpses with tarps. They attached the photo of the victim on the outside and moved onto the next person. Our main priority was finding Oliver within this hellhole. The bad ones always survived. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we wouldn’t find him.
“Joan,” Claire spoke from behind her mask, meeting my face with those kind blue eyes. “Ruby and I are quite capable of doing this on our own if you want to wait in the car.”
“Before Matt comes over here and starts throwing limbs at you,” Ruby muttered, rolling her eyes. “He’s a damn child.”
Claire laughed. “If it’s how he copes, leave him be.”
“Won’t be long before Winters loses his already thinning patience,” I mentioned, staring up at the sky. It was my getaway from the devastation that surrounded us. “Looks like it’s gonna rain soon.”
“If you end up quitting, Joan, at least you can be a weather reporter,” Ruby teased.
“Ha-ha,” I bit back sarcastically, scowling at her. “Cloudy with a chance of death.”
Ruby giggled and pinned a photo to the tarp at her feet. “Can’t wait to get this over and done with. I’d complain that we don’t get paid enough but that’s far from the truth.” She shook her head. “Bloody nightmare.”
“I don’t think you can put a price on human life,” I mumbled, turning away from the chaos. It was amazing how pretty the undamaged side of the forest was. It was peaceful. Staring this way helped, even though I knew exactly what was behind me.
“You’re in the wrong line of work if that’s how you see things,” Claire said, tone soft. She wasn’t trying to upset me or start an argument.
“Why did you become an agent?” I asked.
“Parents didn’t give me much of a choice. It’s our legacy,” she replied, using a deep voice I could only imagine to be the imitation of her father. “I wanted to be a model. Couldn’t imagine posing for magazines with the scars I have now,” she paused. Sadness turned her eyes cold.
There was a small touch of silence before Claire spoke again, “My sister was killed by an immortal serial killer. She was one of his many victims. I wanted to make a difference.”
I didn’t know what to say. Words failed me.
“Matt, Ryan, come give James and I a hand to move this concrete slab. This body is stuck,” Winters called out. His voice echoed in the eerie stillness.
“You do realise that Ryan and I are collecting jigsaw pieces. You’ll be better off slicing and dicing rather than–”
“Shut up and get over here. I am not desecrating this corpse,” Winters cut across Matt with a stern bellow.
“They’re dead, Winters. They don’t feel anything,” Matt said; his voice was being carried by the wind.
“You’ll be dead in a minute if you don’t get your ass over here in ten seconds,” Winters threatened.
“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Ruby said, nudging Claire and I to make sure we were giving our full attention to the scene unfolding.
I reluctantly turned around, leaving my bubble of ignorant bliss. I pretended the blood was buckets of red paint that had been spilled over, that the corpses were nothing but lifelike mannequins, that the smoking trees were my eyes playing tricks on me, that the rubble was nothing but a rockslide.
Matt and Ryan were making their way over to where Winters and James were. Matt was holding a severed hand behind his back by the wrist, hiding it from Winters’s line of sight. We could see everything from where we were standing.
“He isn’t,” Claire said, sounding as disgusted as I felt.
I was so glad I wasn’t given the task of matching bits and pieces.
“He totally is,” Ruby agreed. “Winters is gonna flip.”
“Hey Winters?” Matt said, tone overly suggestive.
“Matt, if you have come over here to crack morbid jokes instead of helping...” Winters rant trailed off when Matt revealed the thing behind his back.
I swear I could see steam coming out of Winters’s ears in the distance.
“You said you needed a hand,” Matt mentioned, laughing.
Winters snatched the hand out of Matt’s grasp and slapped him on the face with it; we all cringed. The wham echoed. If Winters was superhuman, the vibrations from how hard he smacked Matt on the face would have reached us and jolted our bones.
“Ooh, ouch. That’s gotta hurt,” Ruby said, wincing.
“Are you quite done, Matthew?” Winters questioned, chucking the hand away with a casual toss. “Or do you have something else you’d like to say?”
“How many names do you have left on your list?” Claire inquired, diverting our attention to the task at hand. Everyone by our feet had been bagged and tagged. All I had done was be utterly useless and lose my lunch.
Ruby glanced down at her clipboard. “Seven, you?”
“Four,” Claire answered.
Ruby climbed onto a slab of concrete, holding onto my head for balance. Her glove stuck to my hair. She stood on the tips of her toes to look at the section Matt and Ryan had been working on before going to help Winters. They hadn’t dragged over their quota, due to most of them being in pieces.
“Nine, plus the one that’s stuck... makes ten. We’re missing one,” Ruby said, hopping down from the slab and letting go of my head. “We all know who’s missing.”
Oliver. Oliver was missing. We
were never going to close this damn case.
“Maybe we’ll catch a lucky break,” Claire suggested.
Both Ruby and I laughed. Ruby’s was more hysteric than mine.
“Oh, Claire. Always the optimist. Let’s go bag and tag those nine,” Ruby said, making her way through the rubble obstacle course. She had tarps tucked under her arm.
Neither Claire or I moved.
Ruby glanced over her shoulder when she didn’t hear us follow. “Coming?”
“No. If I lost my stomach dealing with whole bodies, I don’t fancy the outcome of pieces,” I mumbled, feeling my stomach churn just thinking about it.
“I’m in the same boat as Joan,” Claire admitted, wandering towards Ruby to hand her the remaining contents of her clipboard. “Have fun.”
“Sissies,” Ruby teased, adding Claire’s photos and list of names to her clipboard. “If you change your mind, you know where I’ll be.”
“We won’t,” Claire and I said at the same time.
Ruby shook her head and rolled her eyes before continuing through the rubble obstacle course. At least one of us girls had a strong enough stomach to deal with such a gruesome turn of events.
I still felt a little guilty for suggesting a bombing. We would have been outnumbered if we did a normal raid. There had been no other options. I just had to keep reminding myself of that fact. Oliver made it so his victims couldn’t be saved. This wasn’t my fault. None of this was my fault.
Claire took off her gloves, dropping them and the empty clipboard onto one of the tarps. She pulled on the straps above her ears, letting the mask fall to her neck. It eventually fell to the ground. She looked a lot paler than usual. I guess I wasn’t the only one having issues dealing with this mess.
Claire walked away to get a breath of fresh air. I followed after her. I didn’t want to be left on my own. Standing by a row of bodies hidden under tarps wasn’t somewhere I wanted to be, especially alone. I was scared one of them would grab my ankles.
“And Winters wonders why I’m a vegetarian,” Claire said, wrinkling her nose.
“That’s why I’m chewing gum, really strong gum. Want a piece?”
“No thank you.” She sighed and wiped a thin layer of moisture from her forehead; cold sweats. “I really don’t know how the others put on such a brave face. We’ve never had to do something like this before.”
“We’re the killers, not the clean-up crew,” I said, keeping a watchful eye on the forest. Who knew where Oliver was lurking. “Should we call it in and let Sky know our target is still on the loose?”
Claire glanced back at the wreckage. Neither of the team had started cheering or throwing confetti; it wasn’t looking promising. She kicked a clump of dirt into a tree trunk when she returned her attention back to me. She shook out her shoulders to try and relax. She was the most patient and understanding person in the team. I rarely saw her so upset. We all had our breaking points. This case was bringing out the worst in all of us.
“Yeah, call it in. Did you grab Sky’s number before we left?” Claire asked.
I nodded and pulled out my phone, taking off my mask. “Just in case. Can never be too careful.”
“Mhm,” she agreed; she sounded distant.
I didn’t need to ask what was troubling her when I had an inkling. We were all in the same boat. We just wanted to get this case over and done with. We wanted to go home. We wanted to have a holiday. We were stuck in London until Oliver was eliminated. He would just build another army if we left him be. Our time was already stretching thin. Dane didn’t like to be kept waiting. A lot was riding on finishing this case. I didn’t want any more bombings if it could be avoided.
Sky didn’t pick up. I tried calling multiple times and it went straight to voicemail. I didn’t leave a message. The horrible pit in my stomach doubled in size. Something was wrong. Something was always wrong when I experienced that odd sensation in my gut.
“Not answering?” Claire asked.
I nodded once in response and called a different number. Maybe I wasn’t thinking straight and I was panicking. I nearly hung up when I remembered how long it had been since I had spoken with Dane. I wasn’t sure where I stood with him.
This was a bad idea.
There was no going back when the ringing ceased.
“Joan,” Dane answered.
“Dane,” I addressed him, trying my best to keep panic out of my tone.
Claire caught my eye and looked rather surprised. She didn’t know how desperate I was. I knew something was wrong and Dane had a notorious reputation of knowing everything. Calling him seemed like my last option, especially considering Sky wasn’t answering her phone.
“I can’t raise Agent Sky. Our team needs to update her with our current status but–”
“Perhaps you should be more concerned about your target rather than identifying the bodies of his victims,” Dane interrupted me.
I didn’t bother asking how he knew what we were doing or where we were. That wasn’t important. “We were hoping to find our target in this mass grave. There were a lot of bodies to go through and he’s not here.”
“Sky is already speaking to Winters.”
“About what?”
“Your target is wreaking havoc in the London academy. Clearly your tactical approach made him angry. It’s currently open season in the academy. I do suggest you get there as fast as you can before there’s nobody left and Oliver moves elsewhere.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Because I’m here, Joan, amongst the chaos,” Dane stated. He must have flown over with Anthony and didn’t tell anyone he was coming.
I had a very vivid image in my head of Dane’s suit completely drenched in blood. “What do you mean open season? I thought Oliver could only control one person at a time if they hadn’t been exposed to his magic.”
“Sleeper agents. This was undoubtedly his backup plan should he fail. Sky locked down the academy when she realised what was happening, preventing civilians from getting caught in the crossfire. The agents turned on each other when they realised they were trapped.”
I cursed and kicked the nearest tree as hard as I could. “How bad is it?”
Gunfire sounded on the other end of the call after my question. I jumped with fright. I hadn’t expected the loud blasts, not with how quiet it was in the eerie, silent forest.
There was a scratching noise coming from the phone’s speaker, barely audible over the consistent bangs of guns. It sounded like somebody was fumbling at the other end of the call. Dane must have dropped his cell when the gunfire started.
“Dane and I don’t have enough bullets to take on everyone.” Sky picked up the conversation where Dane had left off. “We’re waiting for backup before making our way to the armoury for more weapons, or until they wipe each other out, whichever happens first. Prepare for the worse upon arrival. This is extremely messy. I’ve given Winters all the information I could. Get here quickly.” Sky ended the call.
I just stood there shocked, trying to let everything sink in. It was just one disaster after the other. Was it ever going to end?
Matt came up behind us several moments after the phone call. He slung one arm around my neck and the other around Claire’s. “Come on ladies, quit gossiping and let’s roll out.”
“Would you like a matching slap mark on your other cheek, Matt? I’m giving you two seconds to back the hell off,” I warned, shoving him backwards. “You smell like a corpse.”
“I second that,” Claire added, ducking out of Matt’s grip. “What’s the rush? What happened?”
Matt backed off so when I turned around, he was out of my personal bubble. His cheek was bruised and had swollen up from where Winters smacked him. I wasn’t surprised. It was a fairly loud wallop.
As we made our way back to the squad cars, Matt gave Claire an explanation, “Winters said Oliver is tearing up the academy and the students are slaughtering each other. MI6 is sending some people to r
etrieve the bodies we’ve bagged and tagged since our hands are tied right now. If we leave them out here overnight, wildlife will eat them.”
“That’s awful,” Claire said, rubbing her arms. “How could one man be responsible for so much destruction?”
“Power consumes a soul and turns them evil,” Matt answered. I had never heard such hatred in his voice before. “I’ll kill him, today, if it’s the last thing I do.”
Winters and Ryan were rummaging around in the trunks of the squad cars, handing everyone supplies. Guns, body armour, ammo, knives, anything and everything we had. We wouldn’t have time to suit up when we got there. We had to be prepared the moment we set foot out of the car. I was terrified.
“Claire, Joan, Ruby, in my car. Matt, James, Ryan, follow close behind. I’ll assign teams when we get there,” Winters said, handing me gear and weapons.
“All the girls in your car, huh, Winters?” Matt said.
God, Matt just didn’t know when to shut up. You would think after having a swollen face, he would keep his mouth shut. Idiot.
“Want another wallop, Matt? I’m sure a gun to the face hurts a lot more than a hand,” Winters said, slamming the trunk shut with his elbow. “We don’t have much time, but for you, I’ll make an exception.”
“How romantic,” Matt swooned.
Ruby grabbed Matt by the ear. She dragged him to the other squad car before Winters had the chance to pistol whip him.
Despite the grim situation we found ourselves in, we had a good laugh.
Claire took the front seat. I sat in the back, behind Winters. I noticed Claire was holding Winters’s hand, their fingers interlocked. He had calmed down a lot with nothing but a simple gesture of comfort.
When Ruby came back from giving Matt an earful, she told Winters to go as soon as she got into the car. She raised her eyebrows when she noticed Claire and Winters were holding hands but like me, she said nothing. She just smiled.
Winters flicked the sirens on, let go of Claire’s hand to grip the gearshift, and put his foot down. The tires squealed in protest and flicked up hunks of dirt before speeding off. I wasn’t used to him driving so recklessly. He always drove at the speed limit. We were in the middle of nowhere on a dirt track. I couldn’t help but be concerned as everything around us turned into blurred splotches. He drove like some crazy, professional rally driver, weaving between the trees and changing gears so effortlessly.
I was too busy gripping onto the seat to stop myself from sliding off. I think I swallowed my gum. I no longer had anything left to chew. My heart was racing uncontrollably due to the adrenaline spike. I was finding it hard to breathe past my thudding pulse.
I closed my eyes in an attempt to settle my stomach. I was hoping if I kept them closed long enough, by the time I opened them, we would have reached our destination.
“Still think I drive like a grandma, Joan?” Winters asked me, breaking the silence.
It felt like it had been hours since someone had spoken. My ears were too used to the growling motor that I nearly didn’t hear Winters’s soft voice.
“I think she’s too shocked to speak,” Ruby said, laughing. “Clearly you don’t know what Winters gets up to in his spare time.”
“Driving like a maniac?” I asked, voice coming out in a breathless squeak.
“Bingo,” Ruby answered. “He’s a closet speed junkie.”
“But he’s so... responsible when we’re on missions,” I said.
Winters chuckled. “Everyone has their secret hobbies, Joan.”
Ruby glanced out the back window. She had to hold onto the leather seat for balance due to Winters’s sharp turns. “I’m surprised Ryan is keeping up.”
“Ryan joins me on my speed exhibitions out of town,” Winters said.
“Winters has a social life with team members outside of work? Shock horror,” Ruby teased.
“Hey, I join you for drinks time to time,” Winters retorted.
“Only because you want to see Claire out of uniform,” Ruby countered, green eyes gleaming with amusement.
Claire tried to sink into the seat to hide her embarrassment. She held her face in her hands, covering up the flush in her cheeks and the bashful smile.
I coughed to mask my giggle fit. I wanted to spill the beans and say that Winters had already seen Claire out of uniform. I didn’t break my promises so I tried my best to stay quiet. I stared out the window. I didn’t want to catch Ruby’s eye and give the game away.
“We shouldn’t split up today. We don’t know how many people we’ll come across. Sticking together will be best,” Ruby said, chasing away the awkwardness and reminding us what we were getting ourselves into. “In my honest opinion, we should wait until the Battle Royale is over. We can’t do anything for them except make their deaths quicker.”
“Sky and Dane are in the building. We can’t let them fend for themselves,” Winters said, continuing to speed and change gears in a flash. He was darting between traffic now, ignoring the furious honks of horns. “They’re capable of pulling through this on their own but we have a job to do. We’ve dedicated our lives to serving them and this agency. Turning our backs on them when they need us most isn’t in my code. We will aid them and do what we can to survive this nightmare.”
“Did you say Dane? What the hell is he doing here?” Ruby asked.
I couldn’t help but wonder if what Winters said sunk in or not. Ruby didn’t seem fazed by everything else he told her, either that or she was in denial about how dangerous this mission was going to be.
“Probably flew over with Anthony,” I said, looking away from the window. The rapid blur of scenery was making me feel nauseous. I had already thrown up today. I didn’t want to lose my stomach in the squad car, too, because there was no escaping that. I couldn’t exactly open the door with how fast Winters was driving.
As if right on cue, Winters started to slow down. It wasn’t due to traffic. We were nearing our destination.
I hadn’t been to the London academy. I hadn’t been to any T.E.A academy since I had skipped straight ahead to field agent, thanks to being a master assassin before joining. I didn’t know what to expect, especially when everyone in the building were killing each other, if not already dead. I wouldn’t let this experience put me off going to a different academy, should I have to teach the newbies. This killing spree was a onetime thing, I hope.
The academy looked like some kind of giant spaceship that had fallen out of the sky. The building was three stories high and curved around the street. The outside was a dark grey, borderline black; it was sleek and futuristic. The windows were nothing but tinted slits. It was like a prison. There was no breaking out of that academy. I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to get in.
Winters waited until Ryan had pulled up behind us before killing the engine; we had already taken off our seat belts.
Claire and Winters looked at each other for a few moments. The stare was intense and intimate.
None of us knew who was going to make it. None of us knew what was going to happen. We were all afraid and in the dark.
Winters leaned forward and kissed Claire, holding her face in his hands.
Ruby almost keeled over with shock and started spluttering incoherent gibberish while Claire and Winters made out like it was the last night on Earth. She turned redder than her hair and looked away from the lovers before she combusted.
“I love you,” Winters murmured, stroking Claire’s face.
Claire held Winters’s hands. “I love you, too.”
We all got out of the car at the same time. We were so in sync with each other, it was frightening. Even the car doors closed at the same time. Spooky.
I was half tempted to kiss the grass. I was a little shaky after getting out of the car. Winters driving like a manic almost killed me. I was thankful to be standing on solid ground.
Ruby was still as red as a tomato. She looked perplexed when she caught my eye. She saw that I hadn’t been fazed at all by
that heart-warming moment. It was then when she realised that I already knew their secret. She looked mad that I didn’t tell her. I shrugged in response and gave her my best innocent smile. I had been sworn to secrecy.
“Right, team. Sky gave me an override code to get in through the front door. We’re going to make our way to the armoury to rendezvous with Dane and Sky. Our plan will change if we happen to find Oliver first,” Winters said, beginning to make his way to the front door; we followed. “We’re sticking together. Keep your wits about you and don’t hesitate. Our targets are all young, between eighteen and twenty-one. There is no time to be riddled with guilt about killing them. It’s their lives versus yours. I value all of your lives above them. You should do the same. Guns at the ready. Let’s do this.”
I checked my magazine to make sure it was full. We were going into a hell storm and I needed all the damn bullets I had. My spare gun was tucked in my holster and my Kevlar vest was outlined with spare magazines. Everyone’s Kevlar vests were bulging with weapons and ammunition. We were geared for an apocalypse.
I gripped onto my Glock, ready to shoot anything that moved. The whole team did the same. We were all armed and ready, as ready as we could be.
“I’ll take the lead since I’ve been here before,” Winters said, typing in the override code to get into the building. “We have a five second window when the door opens so make it count.”
We all rushed through the door when he pressed the enter key.
There was no going back when the door clicked shut behind us and became sealed off by metal bars. This really was a prison.
The lights were flickering and buzzed like dying flies. The floor was littered with bodies and bullet casings. The walls were covered with blood splatters and bullet holes. The smell wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the bomb site we had come from. This was fresh meat. Now I could see why Claire stuck to being a vegetarian. The smell was enough to put anyone off.
“This day just gets better and better,” Ruby mumbled.
We kept our footsteps quiet as we stepped over the dead agents. We stayed huddle together. I nearly slipped a few times in pools of blood. They were fresh.
This really was a nightmare. I didn’t sign up for this. I felt like I was in the middle of a twisted horror film. The buzzing lights and drips from blood made me nervous. I was just waiting for something to scare the hell out of me.
“It’s too quiet,” I said, speaking in a whisper.
“Yeah. Maybe they all killed each other and there’s nobody left,” Ryan agreed, keeping his voice down.
“If only we’d be so lucky,” Ruby said.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end when a wave of power filled the hall to the brim with an unsettling chill.
“What the hell is that?” James asked, voice quivering.
“Magic. Oliver is close,” Winters answered. “Shoot the bastard. As soon as he’s dead, we can go home and put this mess behind us. Oliver has to physically touch you to form a control link so don’t be afraid of turning on your team members.”
“Good to know,” I said.
I hadn’t given him that information, in fact, I hadn’t been told that at all. How did Winters know? Did Dane have something to do with it? Had Dane known all along just who it was we were dealing with and said nothing? Dane knew that this was going to be an elimination and not a rescue mission. I was going to give him a piece of my mind when I saw him next.
Two double doors blocked our path. The magic was practically oozing through the cracks.
“This is it, be prepared for anything,” Winters said, resting his free hand against the door.
Ryan mirrored Winters. “I hate going in blind.”
“Experience is on our side. We’ve got this,” Matt encouraged. I’m surprised he could still talk considering how swollen his face was from where Winters’s had struck him.
“What if it’s a trap and he lured us in with his magic?” I asked before they had the chance to open the doors.
“We’ll hit him with everything we have,” Winters answered, signalling Ryan to push the door with a quick nod. “Guns up and ready to shoot.”
The doors creaked open. This truly was a horror film. The loud sinister creak made my skin crawl. I gripped onto my gun to calm my nerves and let out a steady breath as I followed my team into the next room.
Oliver stood at the end of the room, safe and sound behind a barricade of glass shields. He looked like a lion. His hair was wild. The golden brown curls dipped past his shoulders. His clothes were torn and drenched in blood. He didn’t seem to care. Something told me it wasn’t his blood.
Winters was the first to shoot. He pulled the trigger and walked briskly towards Oliver simultaneously. He fired multiple times and let out a cry of rage. The bullets ricocheted off the glass barricade and disappeared into the dark corners of the room.
Only the centre of the room was lit by the flickering lights. The rest was concealed by darkness. My heart was racing too loudly to hear if anyone was hiding in the shadows. I had the sensation that we were being watched.
“Welcome to your final destination,” Oliver said, speaking in a rich British accent. “I’ve been waiting for my team of hunters. It’s a pity I didn’t have the opportunity to turn you into my slaves. You truly are a curious and unique bunch. So driven and passionate to capture me. You’ve come so close but I’m afraid this is where your journey ends.” He clicked his fingers.
The dark corners became overrun by light, but I still saw a sea of black. It wasn’t until my eyes adjusted to the sudden change of atmosphere that I realised the reason why I was still seeing darkness was because we were surrounded by agents. They had us trapped in a thick circle. There were too many of them for us to shoot to clear a gap and make a break for it. We would never break through in time. Every agent had their guns aimed at us, fingers hovering over the triggers. Their faces were glazed over. They truly were mindless drones.
“Well, damn,” Matt cursed, taking the words out of all of our mouths.
“Any last words, my never-to-be-slaves?” Oliver asked, still hiding behind his barricade in case one of us tried to shoot and take him down with us.
Winters assessed the situation with a cool expression. I had never seen a person look so calm when there was no escaping an inevitable death.
We were frozen. We were finished. We were screwed. I would never see Lorenzo or Damian again. It was over for all of us. I wanted to cry.
No, no, no, no! This isn’t happening!
“I should have brought grenades,” Winters said, tackling Claire to the ground when the agents opened fire.
I got tackled from both sides and became sandwiched between two team members. They tried their best to shield me from bullets, protecting my head. I had enough room to breathe but I found it a struggle to do so, due to panic and shock strangling my insides.
My ears were ringing from the loud gunfire and shouts from my team. Bullets tore through my legs and my arms, lodging themselves in skin and bone. I screamed and yelled. Pain burned all over. Warmth flooded me as blood poured. The wounds wouldn’t close if bullets were obstructing the healing process. I couldn’t move to stop the bleeding. I was trapped.
The arms that were wrapped around me went slack but didn’t fall and leave me exposed. Even in death, my friends protected me from being killed straight away. My head and heart were still safe. It didn’t matter. I would bleed out. I would die, just like the rest of my team. This was our final destination. This was the end.
“Lorenzo... Damian...” I softly called out before everything went dark.
Everlasting Flame Page 29
