He was running. From what, he had no clue. He had heard them… discussing when they got to his front door. Little did they know that someone who had been running constantly for all their life would have a few tricks up their sleeves.
XxX
"Be careful… the man could pop out of anywhere. He may be old, but he is fast.
He recognized the voice. Once, the man who spoke was his friend… or rather, the closest thing you can get to a friend in the mafia to be precise. He narrowed his eyes and prepared to flee.
"Come on. Don't be such a wimp. The man is over fifty and has been on the run for years! He's bound to be slow, jeez man", the other person said dismissively. The murderer only smiled.
The first man seemed offended, "If we get him, I owe you a hundred. If we don't, you owe me", he said. The murderer imagined him sticking out his palm.
He heard the slap of palms and the laugh of the other man, "You're on."
As the moonlight murderer, packed his few belongings and raced out of the carefully paved tunnel way, he was laughing. And wondering what his friend would buy with one hundred dollars before their boss killed them. Ha.
XxX
Where were we?
Ah yes, he was running. He needed time to recover from his wounds. This life wasn't easy. He was just about to jump a fence when he heard the slow, sarcastic round of clapping from behind him. He turned around and held up his hands in an 'I surrender' fashion.
"Well done murderer. Very well done"
It was a woman. Her head was raised high but covered by a hat with a black veil. She was dressed all in black. Besides the hat she had on a long black gown that normally wasn't meant to be suitable for combat. He didn't have any doubts though, that she would be more than able to fight in that dress.
"Thank you miss. For what are you thanking me for?", he asked as the woman began to circle him. Like a vulture eyeing her prey, he turned and copied her movements.
"For making my evening so much more interesting. For that, you deserve all the thanks in the world"
"I'm pleased you're having a great evening ma'am. Now if you will excuse me, I'll be on my way"
"Not so fast murderer. You have something- something very dear to me that I want. And I want it as soon as possible", the woman said silkily eyeing the murderer.
He took a step back and at the same moment that both stopped circling each other. "And what might that be ma'am?"
"Your life"
"I can't give you that"
"Then we might have a problem"
And with that the battle began. She charged at him faster than you would think possible in such a long dress. He saw her move coming through and was able to dodge it quickly enough. He wasn't planning to actually attack her. His plan was to play the strike and dodge game, she was striking he was dodging. But this was taking too long for his liking. If he could just get an opening and land a decent blow on her, preferably on her neck, this would all be over. But she was fast. Really fast.
She threw a blow at his jaw, and he had to fall back to avoid it. Then promptly roll sideways as she came down with her elbow, aiming for his gut… or somewhere slightly below that region. Breathing heavily, he stood up and blocked a well-timed kick, grabbing on of her legs and twisting so she fell back on the ground hitting her nose on the concrete- he heard the sound of bones breaking. When she turned to glare at him, he noted her bloody and misplaced nose with no remorse. She let out a strangled sound, that he assumed was her attempt at a scream and came up at him again, this time with a kick in the stomach. She landed it and the murderer staggered back catching the wall for support, less than ten seconds later he ducked down when she decided to punch his face, rolling to the floor and taking her feet with him so she fell face forward again. Twisting her foot so she cried out in pain he landed a hard finally blow on her neck and she passed out. Not dead, but far from conscious.
He stood up, panting. He really didn't want to have to hit her. Looking down at her, he swooped down and pulled the veil of her face scrunching his face in disgust at the torn and bloody black fabric. She was obviously a new recruit. He was disgusted. Did they so much doubt his skill that the felt okay in sending a newbie after him? How offensive. He threw the veiled hat down on her body and walked away.
He walked back to the fence he was about to jump and threw his discarded belongings over it, going over next. In no time at all, he was running again.
After nearly two hours he decided to stop for the night. He had gone at least sixty miles in the last two hours, he was still an old man who needed his rest from time to time.
He found a small abandoned shed further north and laid there. He was awake for a long time, wondering not for the first-time mind you, what his life would have been like if he had never joined the mafia. What his life would have been like if he had just called it quit then he wasn't too far in, called it quits when his wife had first announced that she was having a baby… now, no matter what he did, he knew he had only one fate. Doomed to die for sins he had happily committed.
He finally fell asleep a few hours to the dawn.