Irene turned back, Alex was still holding on to her. She froze from the shock, she didn't know whether to run away or run back. As she glanced back, their eyes met. Not knowing which way to turn, She gazed deeper into those brown orbs. She was made to remember the alluring horizon of the sunrise. She loved the ocean a lot, but nothing captivated her more than the beautiful sunrise. It was like her beacon of hope, reminding her never to give up. He seemed oblivious for a split second, increasing the distance between them. The change abruptly brought Irene back. She suddenly shook off whatever had come over her. Forcing her hand away from his grasp, She walked past him with no hesitation. Alex watched her figure diminish by the second, till she was no longer in sight.
"Nothing really seems beautiful", Janice snuck up on him, hoping to get another reaction out of him. He didn't say anything which obviously didn't surprise her. He was either indifferent or when he did speak, coldly sarcastic.
"We've school tomorrow, we should get going", Janice finally said. Alex just nodded halfheartedly, his gaze fixed on that place. Janice started walking, then Alex followed suit. He removed his headphones taking one more glance behind, then finally walking away. As they left, a small group of people emerged from the shadows.
*****
IRENE'S P.O.V
It had turned completely dark already.
I rubbed my palm against my face, reminiscing all that happened. My mind went blank after that and I couldn't think straight, one thing was certain; I didn't want to return to the faces of those manipulators. I started walking slowly on a dimly lit street. The eerieness of a dark almost desolated area never really creeped me out. As if on cue, the air became chilly trying to draw my attention to my surrounding. I sighed, opening my phone in a while with the only thought I managed to come up with. While I waited for an answer, a few notifications rushed in. Something caught my eye
"Hello~
The distinct voice on the other end echoed throughout the place. I took a deep breath then slowly continued walking aimlessly forward
"Aiden could you please pick me up, if you aren't busy at the moment?, I asked in a low tone evidence of my fatigue
"Sure.", I heard his response after almost a minute of silence. I could tell he sounded confused. I didn't blame him, but I didn't want to start pouring my heart out on the phone
"I've texted you my location already", I said, then almost immediately I heard a ping probably from his phone
"Yeah", he confirmed
I was about to hang up, when he asked
"Renei, is anything wrong?", Worry and suspicion laced in his tone. I let out a sigh of fatigue, pinching the skin between my brows
"Aiden, I beg you don't make me feel worse than I already do, just come get me please!!", I yelled softly as my lungs could carry. I was this close to having an outburst, I didn't even know why. After that, all that was around me was silence. Beyond my audible panting or the constant banging in my head, it was nothing but silence. The silence from the other side was deafening and scary. Neither one of us would hang up. And there it came, that uneasy feeling within me. Almost like something bad was patiently waiting to happen. To my disappointment, I wasn't wrong.
***
Of course everything goes wrong when you pass by a dark alley alone
BANG!!
"Renei!!
"Renei!!!
"Irene, what the heck is going on?!!", Aiden frantically asked on the phone. The loud percussion was heard clearly even from the phone. He didn't want to conclude anything, yet he feared for the worst especially now that she wasn't responding. Irene had unconsciously flung her phone away in the midst of the loud bang.
Irene swiftly swerved to the other side trying to evade whatever that was coming. She slowly lifted her head having no clue as to why her ears were ringing lightly. Everywhere around her was dimly lit except from some barely lucent street lights adjacent her. She was alarmed by blood suddenly trickling down her arm, She traced it back up to her right shoulder and realized the bloody bullet in the center of the wound it had opened up. Irene clenched her shoulder tightly trying to prevent any more blood loss. Staggering up to regain her balance, the silhouette of a male figure became more visible, until he finally came to light. The face of the man who shoots a seventeen year old girl for no reason was finally revealed. Irene's body instantly tensed up after she caught a glimpse of his unique feature. It was no doubt him, her look of foreboding confirmed it.
She gritted her teeth with a tint of fear laced with displeasure
Dylan Crude, one of the most wanted marksmen.
"Tch", Irene flinched, clenching her throbbing shoulder tighter. She couldn't overlook this pain any longer. She shot him a glare with a look of disgust while panting heavily
"I sincerely apologize...
he said with a monotonous voice yet menacingly
"Next time, I won't miss"
Crude revealed his shooter, which was more or less a special type of revolver. As he was about to annihilate his target this time, he saw that Irene was peeking at a distance, like she was about to try something. He diverted his aim from her to where she was glancing at. It was where her phone had landed. He chuckled
"No one is coming to rescue you", With that, he released his aim on the spot. Suddenly Irene dashed as fast as she could,throwing herself recklessly, swiping her phone just in time, before he could blow it into smithereens. Irene rolled through the street, finally stopping after her body collided harshly into a tree. She groaned in pain, through the street her blood was splattered all over the ground. She was losing more blood by the second. She managed to get up again, with a smirk on her face.
"Now, where were we", She said with a shocking gaze of confidence . Removing her jacket and wrapping it tightly around her shoulder. It was quickly soiled with blood, making Crude scoff in doubt that she could even last for the next 10 minutes like this
"Your death!!", he replied
He lifted his shooter and set his target to her heart this time. She sighed deeply glancing at her already soiled jacket. Irene had calculated that she had less than 4 seconds after he set that revolver in action ready to shoot. She took a deep breath trying to rethink the plan she came up with while tumbling on the ground. She tied her hair, preparing herself for what happens next.
"Click"
Without wasting another second, Irene sprinted as fast as possible in a zig- zag manner, trying to distort his precise aim.
"Tch"
Crude was frustrated and just shot anyways. Even with a distorted aim, he was inches away from blowing up Irene's head. She sprinted into the dark alley where she put her plan into action. Crude treaded into the alleyway carelessly, still confident of his skills, or so Irene thought. He was aware that he was at a disadvantage, yet he went in anyways. Meanwhile, Irene was hiding in plain sight. She rested on one of the cans, gasping for air. She pulled her soaked jacket off her shoulder. With her other hand, she held her shoulder down, as she forcefully pulled out the bullet in one go. She strained and groaned inwardly, as she tried not to utter even a single sound. Finally, the sound of metal dropping to the floor, brought a sigh of relief. However, she was far from okay. Her shoulder was still seriously hurting. Once more, she wrapped her jacket round her wound and left.
A small metal fell to the ground alerting Crude. It was from the top of an adjacent building, getting his attention. Crude could see the form of someone hiding on the top of the roof. He smirked as he had gotten his target. Silently, he lifted his shooter, aiming it intently at the shadow.
BANG!!
He shot, making the birds there flee abruptly in one shot. He laughed menacingly, he had won, he had ended his target. He waited patiently for the body to drop to the ground. There was no thud. He stepped forward, squinting his eyes to see better
"Yeah, nothing is there", Irene said from beside him. When he realized this, he frantically reached for his shooter. As he staggered back confused pointing the shooter directly at her head, Irene walked further towards him
"If you think I'm going to let you shoot me down again, then you're clearly mistaken", Irene said
"Watch me", Crude responded, pressing the shooter against her head. She watched the carefully with her side glance
"Click"
The countdown to the end of her four seconds had begun. She took a few steps back, puzzling Crude even more.
"A marksman without his shooter is just as any other man", With that she sent him a flying high kick, knocking him unconscious
IRENE'S POV
I kicked him a little to confirm if he was out. He didn't budge at all
"Yep, he's out cold", I said. I kicked his shooter which his unconscious body still strongly held on to. I crouched down, looking over at him, his face flat on the floor.
Did he come all the way here just to kill some random stranger?. He always had a target, never killed for gains. He got his revenge from people that had wronged him in the past. That's what made him stand out from the other assassins. I wasn't expecting that kick to totally knock him out cold, something definitely seems off. I rummaged through the back pockets of his long coat. There were just some weird silver bullets, nothing more. I flipped him over to get a closer look. I gasped in horror at the shocking sight that greeted me. Suddenly, I felt the wind being knocked out of my lungs as I was roughly kicked back into the streets. I tried to get up but I couldn't, like my body was partially frozen. My shoulder was throbbing in excruciating pain. I took quick breaths relieving my pain a little. I forced myself to lift my head. Four thugs with bats making their way towards me. I let my guard down twice, got shot at and thrown across the street again. I clenched my fist tightly, forcing myself to get up. The single beam light shone on each of the thugs.
"What the!??
I gasped as my eyes widened in shock.
I glanced at Crude's body behind them, finally coming to reality with the horrible truth. Crude and all these thugs were all possessed. Is that even possible?. Can a single paranom possess a whole group of people at a time?. What in the world is happening?.