I snuggled deeper into her side inhaling her warmth. Ignored the glares I got from the rest, none of them really mattered to me anyways. An hour later the car came to a stop the driver killing both the engine and lights as soon as we came to a standstill. Nobody moved. Seconds dragged by and not a sound could be heard from the occupants of the truck forcing me to leave my safe haven tucked in between Monicas arms. They all were in some sort of trance each mumbling or head bowed. It took me a second to realize they were praying. Each and everyone, in their own way the contracted killers prayed. I found it funny but dared not laugh. I was not insane enough to laugh at a group of mercenaries. Yet I could not help but wonder what they hoped to achieve by invoking gods created to extinguish people like them. Something about that seemed so sad.
Monica held me silent eyes closed. I was curious about her god more than anyone else. I did not feel the need to belittle or disparage her beliefs in any way. Here, in a vehicle choke full of religious killers, my shining goddess, whose presence was now mundane to me, did not seem completely out of place. About five minutes of silence went by before they all collectively as if operating on one mind raised their heads. Ruben caught my stare and held. I did the same although it was the bellowing gown of the goddess that every so often obstructed his face that held my attention. He lost his one-man staring contest, choosing instead to address the still silent group.
Instructions must have been issued because after three minutes or less one by one the ex-soldiers disappeared into the vanishing darkness of the dawn. I was deeply distracted by the goddess. It was just as well for I needed a distraction. I desperately needed to forget I was going to get killed by people I didnt for reasons that I wasnt aware of. Worse still I feared the reasons would valueless yet greedy like guns or money or even worse, power. Yet I allowed her to drag me away willing to go anywhere she led. Even if she was leading to hell.
She was smaller this time my shining goddess as if I could just reach out and touch her. Maybe it was just the encroaching sun but I could swear she had gotten closer to me than she ever heard. I had written her off as a figment of my own imagination but somewhere deep down inside alarm bells went off. She always hovered around me like a moth does around a flame but she carried an undeniable warmth so did that make me the moth. She usually disappeared with the light yet today she held true. I felt a hand tighten around mine. My gaze dropped to our forgotten joined hands before going to her face. Her face was completely covered with the masks we had pulled down upon breaching the gates. My right hand reached out for my gun in its harness, feeling nothing but shameless relief when my hands came into contact with the metal.
Monica dropped my hand whipping her arm to the other where it held a pistol. I took that as a sign to take out mine. I plastered myself against the wall sensing the disappearing proverbial silence that proceeds the storm. I looked for my goodness and suddenly she was in my face. Eye ball to eye ball. No figment of mine had ever felt as real as she did at that moment. my breath slowed as her breaths became my breath. Up close seeing so little of her yet more of her than I should have been to feel. Her fiery eyes burned into mine yet it was my reflection that shone through making me wonder just who the moth was. She kissed me then. a phantom breeze on my lips that exploded my mind while torpedoing my inside. As my mind shuttered at the breath on my lips as my body awoke the primal need to hunt. A need that had landed me in more therapy sessions and family interventions than I would dare admit to. my heartbeat slowed and so did my breath. A burst of endorphin was released into the bloodstream just in time before the guns started blazing.
All my training and all that practice coupled with a long-repressed urge to watch blood stain my hands gave me laser focus. One whooshthump! two whoosh. thump! three whoosh. thump! one by one the men wearing black feel to my gun. I had never in my life felt so dead yet exhilaratingly alive all at once. Four, five, six they continued to fall. I appreciated the camouflage suits that has been handed to us. More than suits they were high-tech combat gear that carried more than one nifty trick. Monica remained in my sights engrossed in distributing sweet agony yet never straying from where we could keep an eye on each other. That is how I caught a man in black launched himself at her taking her down. Her gun fell to the floor landing slightly out of the reach of the struggling Monica. The attacker saw his chance raising himself slightly to stab Monica in the back. I saw an opening and did not hesitate to take it. The mans limp body fell on Monica his knife clattering away. I helped her to her feet on to dragged her back to the floor while my gun was snatched from my hands. Monica took out the two men who had sneaked on us while we were distracted and another who had been on his way. With the coast clear she dragged me up while rearming me. she already had her other gun out by the time I got up.
One hour later I found myself wishing we could skip to the end. Sixty minutes of going floor to floor of a seemingly endless building. The only positive thing was that the occupants of each successive upper floor did not think to join hands. One by one they fell screaming yet no one outside made a sound or even stopped when they got hit. They had to be on some sort of drug for pain not to register. I felt a sharp sting on my left hand and all I could think of at the moment was breath.
Even when it hurts like hell remain steady. Saying it and experiencing it are two different things. Once you feel it youll know but remain steady to falter is to die. A forgotten conversation that was drilled into me as I endured hit after hit during my training. I swore they were just bullying me because they could yet now it helped me stand strong.
As soon as I got to a wall barrier Monica was all over me. Gun abandoned, face a blaze with worry. She was so engrossed with me she did not notice the man creeping behind her. I took a shot gratefully when he tumbled down. Monica came to her senses a second too late as a knife slid into her abdomen.