A couple of days of uneasiness and uncertainty had passed. The enemy that had surfaced within the MTW’s headquarters had been suppressed. All that was left for the organization’s members was to lick their wounds and prepare for a counterattack. Meanwhile, Lionel and his people were already preparing a better, more indirect course of action to bring the organization back to its knees, and this time, to get rid of Darius once and for all, but as long as they were blocked out of the database, they would have to be patient and bid their time, waiting for their chance.
Even if they hadn’t accomplished their ultimate goal, they had done a lot of damage, many of the agents, operators and assassins spread across the globe had been eliminated by Lionel’s agents and mercenaries. The numbers within the MTW’s payroll grew smaller, however, they hadn’t managed to take down the ones that were a priority to take down.
Spectre was playing a game of cat and mouse with his pursuers while waiting for further instructions, though he was quickly growing tired of this routine.
Emilia was taken care of by the medical team. Ms. Salvador was safe, even Lionel’s cutthroats had limits and they wouldn’t hurt someone that dedicated herself to healing people. John stayed close to her, she wouldn’t ever admit it, but she liked to have her own bodyguard, especially if it was someone as capable as him.
Arthur had done as requested and took care of the stragglers remaining around the base. They had guns but he knew how to strike from the shadows when necessary.
Meanwhile, Kirsten was preparing to make his journey into the US to search for Butcher, intending to keep a low profile for as long as possible; The Organization had eyes and ears all around the world, but he was sure Lionel had his own as well, so it was better to be safe than sorry.
A convincing new ID, a convincing yet simple disguise; glasses, some hair dye and casual clothes can get you a long way. Now, he just needed to get a vehicle, the operators would take care of that.
No matter what, he intended to find Alicia and explain everything to her, then bring her back, she was a valuable asset to the organization even if her methods were messy, to say the least. Besides, it was the least he could do for her, he owed her a lot than she was aware of.
After regaining consciousness, Alicia kept dragging her feet forward through the dark, hoping to find shelter, a light, something that could help her survive the situation like she always had.
At some point she found the highway, she figured that if she walked along, she would end up finding a hint of civilization, or at least a place where she could rest.
She kept walking and walking, for anyone else she would look like a zombie, following the faintest scent of fresh meat she could find in those lonely landscapes. To be truly fair, she was half-dead, if no one intervened soon, she would collapse again and die and she knew it. somewhere deep inside she was ok with that, she would finally be able to go with Malak and the others, and this time stay for good.
However, just as she was about to stop, a car drove by, the driver saw her and stopped right next to her.
Next thing Alicia knew, she found herself in a house, receiving a rudimentary, yet professional and dexterous medical attention. She laid down on a table and her dirty clothes were removed with a scissor, exposing her wounds to the air.
“Your left arm’s broken, fortunately for you I’ve got a sling around here.” – Said the person who rescued her, a woman with redhead and a determined demeanor. – “You also got a bunch of open wounds and bullets stuck in your body. I don’t have any anesthesia but…if you were capable of enduring all of this up until this point, you might be able to this on, am I right?”
Alicia responded by taking the belt around her waist and putting it in her mouth.
“You are strong, kiddo. I like that.”
The woman used tweezers and a scalpel to extract the fragments in her body, thread and needle to close the reopened wounds, some alcohol to disinfect and gauze. The woman was impressed by how resilient she was, barely even flinching at this painful procedure.
“My name is Jane.” – Said the woman while she was sewing shut a wound on her leg. – “Jane Bradley, what’s your name?”
“…Sofia Rieper.” – Said Alicia, remembering the fake identity the people at the organization had prepared for her before she departed to Mexico, she was to not use her real name under no circumstances, she even had a fake ID somewhere in her pockets.
Jane laughed. – “Sorry, but that whole name sounds and feels fake, you know?”
“…It’s the only one I can give.”
“I see. No offense, but if you made that up yourself, you are an idiot.” -She laughed.
“It wasn’t me…but yeah, whoever it was, he’s an idiot.”
The bloodied tools rested on a table in the living room; the work was done, they had saved another person once more, Jane would make sure to clean them up and put them back in their proper place later.
Alicia now rested in a spare bedroom the woman had after taking a sponge bath, the room was illuminated by a single lightbulb, it was very spacious all things considered, with a single closet and a table at the bottom.
Jane had provided Alicia with a spare t-shirt and shorts to discard her bloodied clothing, and of course, she had put her arm on a sling to keep the bone in its place, hoping for a fast recovery, she also gave her a bag of ice so she could rub it on her side to heal her broken ribs.
It would seem like Alicia had fortunately fallen under the care of a good Samaritan, but Jane was not naïve nor stupid, far from it, the moment she saw her she had a fair idea of what kind of person Alicia was, and those guns she carried only helped to confirm her suspicions.
Jane had taken her pistols and was inspecting one of them right in front of her.
“I have never seen a pistol like this before.” – She said, looking at it from right to left, up and down. – “It’s big, and heavy, like a .44. I know little about guns but I’m sure this isn’t chambered in 9mm, or even .357… this is a unique model.”
“We’ve been exposed, Ali.”
“(Not like we had any other alternative.)”
“I guess it would be useless to ask where did you get this from?” -Asked Jane, to which Alicia just nodded. – “I see.”
Jane put the gun on the table at the bottom of the room and sat down again. – “A while ago I saw a burning plane crash down near the county park, supposed that it was a commercial flight, a pretty horrible tragedy. Then rumors began to surface about there being guns in that plane, armed individuals… that didn’t sound like a regular plane anymore… and then I found you near the valley road.”
Allicia looked the other way, she never liked to interact with people after coming back from the other side. For her it was like a sour reminder that she could be up there with the people she once loved, but was stuck in this bitter and violent reality she can’t seem to escape from completely.
Jane took a good look at her, to all the things that were easy to notice and take note of. She also took notice of the fact that even if she had lost a considerable amount of blood, she still had a sharp look in her eyes, a spark of life that not many people had under these conditions, if anyone at all had such resistance.
“It’s pretty obvious that you are not a regular individual.” -She said, placing her elbows on her knees and resting her face over her palms. – “…You are so young though…you are a teenager, right?”
Alicia just kept looking at the wall, hoping Jane would stop making questions. However, her silence was enough of an answer for someone as perceptive as this woman.
“Hmm…Calling you a petty criminal could be offensive; I can tell that much.”
“Glad you know that, lady. If you were to call us petty criminals we would beat your ass.”
Of course, only Alicia could hear that, but Ten would never lose anything running her tongue at times like this because of that.
“What are you, then?” – She looked back at the pistols on the table, they were revolutionary pieces of weaponry, something never seen before, something that shouldn’t be possible yet, or maybe they are something no one had ever tried to build yet.
Those scars also told their own story. Less insightful people would say they are self-harm wounds, but people who self-harm leave thinner, shallow marks, usually done with small sharp objects such as scalpels or pocket knives. These marks were done by someone else, maybe by more than one person, slashing with precision or swaying their blades in desperation, the direction of these cuts was all over the place and Jane couldn’t help but feel horrified that there were so many of them.
“(The marks on her arms.)” – Jane imagined this strange girl in a defensive position, protecting her face and chest using her forearms while invisible blades made their work on her skin. – “(She was defending herself from each one.)”
Jane placed her arms on her hips and puffed her chest. – “I know! You are a mercenary, right?”
“The real question she should be doing to herself is if it will do her any good to know that.”
“(…I’m getting uncomfortable again.)”
“Never thought an urban myth would end up bleeding out in my house.” – Said Jane, leaning forward. – “I’ve heard many stories about you guys, even read a book or two. Secret agents at the service of secret societies or the government itself, I’m pretty sure our government employs some of you.”
That evoked some memories in Alicia’s mind. Indeed, back with the Crimson Rangers they had to deal with assassins sent by the US government from time to time, getting in the way of their missions with the intention of sabotaging it or directly eliminating them, some of them had been hired exclusively to take down the commander and find out the identity of “The Butcher”, though in the end they always ended up failing at their endeavors.
“I know some people that love stories about assassins, they say assassins shape the world as we know it from the shadows and even protect it from world-ending threats.” – Jane was getting too enthusiastic, flailing her arms around, imagining the scenarios she was describing, inadvertently elevating assassins to the level of superheroes. – “Am I right?”
“(That’s it.)” – Alicia was reaching the end of her patience. She didn’t want to talk, but saying a few words wouldn’t hurt.
Alicia sat up, placing her back on the pillow to be comfortable and looked back at Jane. Jane was marveled by that sharp and focused glare, something that no one she knew had, not even those closer to violence by being on law enforcement.
“…Do you think knowing all of that will help you?” – Alicia tilted her head. – “You know what happens to those who know too much, right?”
Jane was taken aback by these questions; she couldn’t help but feel a shiver down her spine. However, this was nothing but just a moment of weakness, before long she leaned forward once again and looked at that dangerous killer in the eyes. Jane intended to prove one thing to herself and another to Alicia with this conversation.
“Oh…yeah I know…even in the world of killers, there’s good killers and bad killers right? Those that target innocent people for money? But…I wonder…are you that type of killer? Would you kill a naïve young woman for saving your life and asking too many questions?” – Jane crossed her arms. – “I’ve got a good eye to know people…and you…you don’t look like a serial killer to me.”
The wind stopped blowing, the moonlight shone over the darkness outside. Many animals that lived within the wilderness stopped in place and looked to the horizon, feeling the danger coming from the killer with a broken arm. Still, Jane remained unyielding, challenging whatever darkness there was to find within the heart of the girl she had saved.
She was not normal, she already knew that much. A normal person would’ve cowered and ran away already, searching for the nearest figure of authority to report her. Not even that, a normal person wouldn’t have stopped her vehicle to save a bleeding stranger walking aimlessly on the side of the road. Still, even a person like this must have her limits, all she needed to do was to prove her that you will always get burned when you play with fire.
Simple procedure as usual, Alicia projected her killing intent on her and abstracted her perception of reality.
Alicia imagined a pistol and held it on her hand, took aim and finally pulled the trigger.
Click.
Something had gone wrong; this had never happened to her before. She looked back at the gun and checked the magazine, it was completely empty.
What happened? She would never forget about the bullets, it was inadmissible.
Oh, but there was a logic behind it all. How could she project her killing intent on her if she didn’t have any intentions on killing her in the first place? she had betrayed her own nature.
She looked at the imaginary pistol dumbfounded, then back at Jane who had a smug, confident smile on her face, but unlike all the other smiles Alicia was used to find repulsive and destroy at all cost, this one didn’t bother her at all.
“So I hit the nail on the head.” – Said Jane. – “You are not a bad person.” – Jane snapped her fingers. – “I’m certain that there’s good mercenaries and bad mercenaries, and you are one of the good ones.” – She leaned forward, realizing of what just had happened. – “That was an impressive trick though, never experienced anything like it! what is it? hypnotism?”
“…Nothing I can share.”
Jane pretended to be frustrated and groaned. Alicia was defeated, her dominance had been trampled over by another woman. Only one person had managed to do that before, lieutenant Anya, the commander always paired them up and got to know each other pretty well.
Anya had managed to defuse her intimidation tactics by asserting the terrifying presence she always made an effort of keeping in check and then showing her that there was no need to try and stand taller with someone equal to her. Jane however, had showed her that there was no need to be equals to understand you don’t always need to keep that pressure up.
“Give the individual a chance.” Said that hanging ghost, and maybe she was right. Alicia thought that most people were like that trucker she did her best effort not to kill, but maybe there was more to that.
Soon after, Alicia would get to know this woman better and the ones that lived with her.
Half an hour after they got acquainted, a man and a young boy arrived at the house.
His name was Hector, he worked in the town not too far from there, and the little guy was Paul, a shy kid who hid behind his father the moment he saw a stranger in their house.
Jane couldn’t tell her husband that she had saved and sheltered a dangerous mercenary right from the get go, but she could soften the context with a few details.
She mentioned the plane crash, the pistols and the state she was in. Hector seemed to understand why she would go out of her way to save her; she was charitable like that.
However, he still had his reservations about this shady looking girl resting in the spare room, so he told Jane and Rudy to let him have a talk with her privately.
“So, you fell off the sky, huh? You must be a tough one if the only thing you got out of that was a broken arm.” – He said. – “My wife is such a gentle soul, no wonder she became a doctor. She would be capable of running into a house on fire to save a baby kitten in the third floor. I wonder sometimes if her kindness has a limit.” – He looked at the empty pistols at the bottom of the room then back at her. – “But I know now that she doesn’t draw the line on bringing shady people at the house just because they got roughed up.”
“…If you let me rest here, I’ll leave tomorrow at dawn.”
“Ah, don’t get me wrong, I’m willing to let this slide. You are young, like very young, so I figure you’ve been through some eh…less than optimal circumstances.”
“We should really bank on this sympathy we get from adults, Ali.”
“(I don’t like that.)”
“All I want to know…” – He continued. – “…is that if you won’t cause us any trouble. We’ve have led a very peaceful lifestyle so far, this place and the nearby town are our…let’s say, our own piece of Eden, someone like you being here makes me think that peace may be in peril so, all I want is to have the certainty that you won’t do anything to upset that peace. She vouched for you, so the least I can do is trust her.” – He reached his hand towards her. – “So, what do you say?”
Alicia didn’t hesitate, she didn’t have any other choice and, all things considered, it wasn’t like she had any other place to go.
She stretched his hand and nodded.
“Good to know.” – He crossed his arms. – “You can stay for as long as you want, but if you stay for more than a month, heh, you gonna have to contribute to the house, find a job or something.” – He thought about Rudy for a second and remembered that the person right in front of her was a teenager. – “Eh, I could also get you into school but that’d be very, very complicated.”
“There’s no need for that.” – Said Alicia. – “I’ll work. That’s what I like to do the most.”
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The conversation ended there. Hector agreed to let her stay, but he would tell his son to keep his distance from her.
That night, Alicia dreamed once again, but this was not a visit from a stranger spirit, it was something closer to home.
She found herself in a deep dark space, a void where nothing could grow and no light could be born. Alicia was hoovering, looking around, seemingly uncapable of finding a way forward or out of that void, she was stuck there, but she remained calm knowing that dream would end soon.
But then a spark of light appeared within the confines of the void under her feet and it rose up towards her. It was a mere red dot at first, but as it got closer, Alicia managed to recognize it as an orb of crimson fire.
The orb stopped right in front of her, one would expect to emanate warmth, but the air had become stunningly cold around it.
It took her a moment but Alicia realized what this was. It had to be the glow in its purest form, that glow that appears whenever she needs it in order to give her strength and fortitude and rages as intensely as her emotions.
She concluded that this thing had summoned her there for some reason.
“Ehm…Is there something you want?” – Asked Alicia, raising an eyebrow.
Suddenly, the orb began to warp and twist, transforming into something else entirely. Alicia witnessed as a hand was created from the fire, then another, then two legs, a curvy torso with shredded abs. Muscles, breasts, hair, and finally two pairs of white eyes to give it vision; the transformation was complete.
Alicia was impressed to say the least, it had recreated her figure up to the smallest detail, but it still looked like a red fire spirit. It hadn’t created a mouth, so it couldn’t speak, in fact, Alicia didn’t know if it could understand her at all.
“What is it? what is going on?” – Asked Alicia, hoping for something to happen.
The creature then pointed at her own left arm, and then to hers, and used her hands to make a motion similar to breaking a twig.
“What? …Oh, my arm? Yeah, it’s broken.” – Said Alicia, getting the message. – “It was a hard fall.”
Suddenly the creature reached out for her left arm, it felt as if a thousand ice cubes were being rubbed against her skin.
The crimson spirit closed its eyes and the fire began to cover Alicia’s arm, now the feeling of those cubes spread all over her arm, up to the shoulder, both in and out of the arm.
Alicia thought of fighting back, but those thoughts suddenly banished. In one way or the other, that spirit could exert a certain influence on her, submit her to its own will for whatever purpose.
Ultimately, Alicia gritted her teeth and just allowed the spirit to do whatever it wanted to do.
Finally, after a few seconds, the spirit released her, leaving a very cool sensation around the arm, and much to her surprise, she could now move it freely and painlessly, the pain on her side was also gone as well.
The spirit had defied the laws of nature and fixed her bones, putting them back together and in their rightful place.
Alicia was impressed, she had been through unusual events but this one was special.
“Thanks! I didn’t know you could do that.” – She said, then she noticed the light coming from the spirit was weakening, becoming dimmer. – “What’s wrong?”
This act had required a lot of energy, and it was something that it had never tried doing before. The spirit would need to rest to regain its energies, and that was clear to her.
“I see. You rest now, I can take care of myself.” - Said Alicia, dismissing the spirit. Shortly after, the spirit descended back into the infinite darkness of the void, becoming a single red dot in the black brume.
The spirit needed to rest, but more than that, it needed its fuel, it needed food. Alicia had been feeding this spirit without noticing for the last five years without even realizing, but soon she would learn what would happen if she allowed it to starve for too long.
When she woke up, she realized that it wasn’t merely a dream, her arm was indeed fixed, as if nothing had happened to it.
“Hey hey, your arm is repaired, what happened!?”
“(That thing in me did it. It did something to me and fixed my arm.)”
“That glowy thing puts me on my nerves, not gonna lie, it can be really useful at times.”
She could use it freely, but if she did, she would catch some unwanted attention from Jane who confirmed it was broken. So, for the time being, she’d keep her arm in the sling and not use it, at least not in front of the Bradleys.
Alicia got up from the bed and looked out the window. A new day had come, back at the crash site she thought she wouldn’t get to see it at one point, but there she was, so it was time to continue as usual.
Then she noticed how quiet that place was. The sound of the birds chirping, some vehicles coming and going from time to time, the wind blowing gently. For some reason she never stopped to appreciate this ambience in any other place up until then, maybe because other landscapes were contaminated by the effects of war, crime, conflict and death.
Despite all of this, she didn’t know if she liked it or not. In any case, now that she was awake, she intended to follow Hector’s suggestion and make herself useful.
It was barely 6 o’clock, it was about to dawn, everyone was still asleep, it was Sunday; finally, she had managed to recover her sense of time.
She decided to prepare breakfast for the family, she walked out of her room and headed to the kitchen. Looking in the freezer she found a juicy piece of pork, a perfect complement for breakfast with some fried eggs.
Jane was awakened by the scent of fried pork seducing her nose, she walked out of her bedroom to see what was going on and there she found Alicia – or rather, Sofia – preparing four pork steaks and some fried eggs in a separate frying pan.
“What are you doing!? What’s this!? – She walked up to her, uncapable of taking her eyes off the steaks in the pan.
“Breakfast.” – Said Alicia. – “Found pork in the fridge.”
“Aww, Sofia, Hector may have said that you have to be useful but you don’t have to do get down to it immediately.” – She pointed at her “broken” arm. – “Also, you shouldn’t do this kind of tasks with an arm in such conditions.”
“I can do well with a single arm.” – She grabbed a fork and turned the chops to cook them on the other side.”
“I see…well, in that case… I like them medium rare, just like that.” – She pointed at one that was on point, Alicia took it out of the pan and put it on a plate immediately and placed a fried egg on top, like icing on a cake.
“Do you want salt on the egg?” – Asked Alicia. Jane noticed that even while doing mundane stuff she still had that sharp and savage look in her eyes; the eyes of a professional assassin.
“Eh, yeah, of course…”
Alicia sprinkled a moderate amount of salt on the egg and passed the dish to Jane. – “Enjoy.”
“Thanks, Sofia.” – She sat at the table in the living room and had a bite of the steak. – “Very good!”
“I prefer them well done, but…” – She took out the steaks when they were medium rare and a single well done steak for her. – “I can adapt to the taste of others.”
“Very good, what else can you cook?”
“All kinds of meat and some basic meals.”
“Judging by the way you carry yourself I thought you would be a huge fan of MREs.”
Alicia looked up to the roof, remembering the taste of MREs. – “Above everything I prefer real food.”
“I see.”
The smell of a hot meal soon awakened Hector and Paul, a welcomed sight waking up in the morning.
“You did all of this? thank you.” – Said Hector sitting down to have a bite. – “Nowadays not many people your age are interested in learning how to cook, they just order fast food or something.”
Alicia pretended to know what that was. Some people in the Crimson Rangers had mentioned that they missed fast food, but she never inquired on what qualified as fast food, she only knew that they tended to be greasier than usual.
Hector turned towards his son. – “Now, Paul, what do you say when someone does something for you?”
He looked at Alicia and quickly looked the other way.
“Come on you are not that scary, are you? Children love you.”
“(Except this one, it seems.)”
“Ehhh…” -The child was having a hard time raising his voice. – “Thank you…miss.”
“That’s it, Paul, good job.”
“Gotta cover up those marks, scarface. Maybe that’s what makes you so scary to children.”
“(Hm…covering them up may work, healing them is still a tall order for me because they keep reopening every time.)”
They had breakfast and had a trivial conversation. They made Alicia some superficial questions about if she was born in the US or how many places she had been to during her work.
“Too many to count.” – She said, and she left it at that. The Bradleys knew to not dig any deeper for answers because she wouldn’t answer, and if she did, she would be vague.
Later in the morning, Jane would give Alicia a tour around the house, now that the sun had arisen, she had a better view of her surroundings. They sat at the porch and basked in the landscape.
Plains, forests to the east and west, a few houses and ranches down the road, the electrical lines providing energy to all of them, and a town down the north, that was Forest Grove, a quiet place all things considered, where tended to their own, and that’s the way they liked it.
Again, aside from a few vehicles coming and going, it was quiet, quieter than she was used to.
“We were very fortunate to get this house when we did.” – Said Jane. – “I used to live in New York, but that place is…I didn’t like it, that’s all I’m saying, that wasn’t the right place to raise Paul, so Hector and I moved here and we’ve been doing just fine ever since.”
“Are the cities particularly bad?” – Asked Alicia feeling a weird itch on her arm.
“You have no idea. Crime goes up and down, but when it goes up, it gets somehow higher than before. From petty theft to rapes, the cities have it all.”
Alicia could feel her heart tingle, but it wasn’t her heart per se, it was that thing, twisting and recoiling in expectation, it wanted to go there as soon as possible. This had never happened before; Alicia didn’t even know it could get anxious.
“(What the hell is wrong with you?)”
“You talking to me?”
“(No, it’s that thing, the fire.)”
“Anyway…” – Jane interrupted her train of thought. – “Hector opened a weapons store and a shooting gallery; it’s been a steady source of income. I don’t know if you know this but, here in the US, guns are kind of commonplace, to say the least.”
“Really now?”
Alicia was used to seeing places where guns were in the hands of the savages and the hordes of the innocent and defenseless preferred to run away than to seek around for some and defend themselves. Though, to be honest, if they did that, the Crimson Rangers wouldn’t have work to do and they would have to do something else like a cleanup service.
“Yup, that’s the second amendment for you.” – Said Jane. – “So, I figure you must be from Europe, right? Though, you don’t have an accent so I’m a bit confused.”
“…I suppose so.”
“What do you mean you suppose so?”
“…It’s been a long time…I don’t really remember.”
“Are you…?”
She didn’t complete the question; it would be useless either way. Alicia didn’t really remember much, nor wanted to. Every time she tried, she could only remember That place and gore splashing over her eyes.
Jane kept showing her around without realizing they had a pair of curious eyes on them.
Paul was staring at Alicia as she walked around, marveled by her as any child would be at watching a fairy in flesh and bone. His parents couldn’t see it, but he could, that small spark of light within Alicia, that creature that comes from the neverland. He was both infatuated and scared by it, to the point he couldn’t stand uttering a word in her presence until his father urged him to do so.
He could tell his friends at school, but he had the feeling he’d get in a lot of trouble if he did, so he’d keep this secret to himself.
Later on, Alicia would continue to take care of the house chores, she had a keen eye to notice things out of place or in need of cleaning, something she owed to her extensive experience in “cleanup jobs.”
Jane kept insisting it wasn’t necessary but she remained stubborn. Alicia didn’t like being idle, a while ago she had realized that staying idle gave the opportunity to all manner of bad thoughts to surface and she preferred the certainty of concentration.
After she was done with the chores, the Bradleys received a visit from a lawman, she saw him park his police car right outside at the front. She didn’t think he noticed her, so she took that chance to hide.
Alicia hid behind the kitchen counter and eavesdropped on the conversation.
“Well, Hector, as you already know there was an accident yesterday, a plane crashed near the park, a huge mess. I can’t say much but…let’s just say the passengers weren’t regular folk, you know?”
“They weren’t?” – Asked Hector. – “What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean, Hector. They were the kind of people that’d be your customers. Contractors, you know? They seemed to be in a lot of trouble…so, we’ve been asking around if anyone has seen something suspicious, anything. So, do you have something in mind?”
“Hmmmm… I don’t know, have you seen something, Jane?”
“Nope, it’s been pretty quiet, didn’t see anything when I was driving back home yesterday. Though, well, there’s nothing much to see when it’s dark.”
Alicia had to give them credit, they were very good at lying, but that only made them the more puzzling to her, why would they lie to protect her? why would they help her?”
“I see, ok, do give us a call if you saw something. We are inclined to believe that someone could’ve survived that crash.”
“How so?” – Asked Hector.
“Well, I guess I can tell you, you do know how to keep a secret. See, in the wreckage area, we found a few corpses of people that had no relation to the ones from the plane, a group of six, heavily armored, they were murdered, and forensics determined they died after the plane had crashed…this means they walked into the area and someone killed them, and they didn’t get a chance to oppose resistance.”
“Very fine, Butcher.”
“(Not my best work so far.)”
“So you mean there’s a killer on the loose!?” -Asked Jane, the officer wasn’t keen enough to see through the faked surprised.
“Sorta…we don’t know for certain yet. So, if any of you see anything weird or someone wandering around you don’t recognize, do give us a call, alright?”
“You got it Hank.” – Said Hector.
The officer left the residence shortly after. Jane walked into the kitchen to serve herself a glass of water and she would never discover that Alicia was hiding there not long before she walked in. Jane walked out to the backyard and found Alicia checking on the clothes under the sun hanging from a cord.
“Did something happen?” – Asked Alicia.
“Nah, we just received a short visit, is all.” – Said Jane, and Alicia took note of the fact that she would keep info from her. – “Have the clothes dried up yet?”
“Not yet, maybe in fifteen minutes.”
The day was uneventful afterwards. Jane and Hector kept making some insignificant questions to Alicia, which she would respond comfortably, but she would quickly mark the limit at anything to do with her and the things she did. Meanwhile, Paul would look at her, hiding at a distance, quiet as a mouse.
Jane and Hector now knew something for certain, Jane had rescued a bonafide professional killer from certain death, but as she had proved before, she was not the kind of killer to turn her blade towards innocent people.
However, what Jane didn’t know was the set of criteria to determine when someone was not innocent on Alicia’s eyes. Armed or not, Alicia didn’t care, for she had already killed many that had brought ruin to the world without firing a single gun.
Night came once again, Alicia went back to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. Knowing for certain she wasn’t going to be bothered anymore, she took the sling off and moved her arm to give it some exercise, she couldn’t risk the muscles going soft and losing strength.
“Good job today, Ali. I didn’t know you were such a competent servant.”
“(You already saw me do chores around the base, it’s not like I’m completely useless.)”
“Yeah, but it’s been so long since the last time. At some point the commander just stopped putting you on cleanup duty. I wonder why?”
“(Maybe I wasn’t fit for that role anymore, but in the good sense.)”
Alicia stretched a bit and laid down on the bed, she was quickly asleep shortly after.
It would have been a dreamless night, peaceful and quiet, but then a delicious and intoxicating scent reached her nose, waking her up with a jolt.
It was coming from outside, and it was somehow filtering through the closed window. It smelled like roasted chicken and sweet sauce on top of it. Alicia wouldn’t have given it a second thought and ignore it, she’s had chicken before, and it was probably someone else’s meal, but for some reason she felt compelled to go, to walk out of the house and follow that marvelous smell, she suddenly felt so hungry, her stomach roared as if she hadn’t had a decent meal in an entire week.
She couldn’t resist it any longer. Alicia put on her boots and a black shirt and jumped out of the window as cautiously as possible to not wake up the Bradleys.
“(Do you smell that, Ten? It’s coming from the west, into the trees.)”
“It’s gotta be the tastiest chicken ever made in the world! No matter what, we must have a taste of it!”
“(I’m glad we agree.)”
Alicia walked forward through the open field and into the line of bushes and trees. She expected to find the source of the smell there, but no, it was further away, up the hill. Once she had managed to make it up there she realized she wasn’t even getting close to the scent, so she kept walking deeper and deeper into the forest.
Something odd was going on, not even her could catch the smell of something at such a distance. Could it be she was walking into a trap? No, not even the most sophisticated baits had such a range. However, it didn’t cross her mind to question it, hunger had possessed her rationale, she just wanted to reach the origin of the scent and hopefully have a bite of whatever is being cooked there.
It took her half an hour of walking, but after traversing through that batch of nature she was finally getting close, she could feel it.
As she was approaching, she could hear voices behind the bushes, there were multiple people, arguing with each other.
“I’m not going to jail because of this, Ralph! I told you this was going too far!”
“Relax, relax, I’ll think of something.”
“I should have never let you guys bring me into this shit!”
“Both of you, shut up! Let me think…no one knows that we are here, no one knows she’s here, we have to find a place to-”
Just then Alicia went through a bush and stepping on some twigs, making a lot of noise.
“Wh-who’s there!?” – Yelled one of the voices. Alicia wasn’t going to hide, so she stepped out of the darkness and into the light.
What she found on the other side was a grim scene like any other, but something she could’ve seen before nonetheless. Three men standing around a campfire, one of them young and scrawny looking, one of them big and with a fair amount of muscle and the other lean but short.
To their feet was a girl, probably older than her but not by much, she was naked down the waist, her eyes were bloodshot open and bruises covered her entire neck; Alicia couldn’t see a single sign of life coming from her. It was fairly obvious what had gone down in that campsite.
“Who the fuck are you!? What are you doing here!?” – Asked the tall one. – “How did you find this place!?”
“Dude she saw the corpse!” – Said the scrawny one. – “She’s gonna tell everything!”
However, there was something that caught Alicia’s attention the most…no matter where she looked, there was no roasted chicken in the camp. Not over the bonfire, nor on a stove, there was no chicken to be found. Somehow, she had been tricked to be there, be it by her senses or something else. She didn’t know what to think or what to make of this situation, it just didn’t make any sense.
“No she ain’t telling anyone!” – Said the lean one as he rushed towards Alicia wielding a big piece of wood, intending to hit her over the head with it as hard as he could.
“(*Sigh…)”
Alicia made a quick assessment of the situation. She thought she had finally found a place to take a break from this stuff, but somehow, violence always finds her way to her or she finds her way to violence.
Obviously, something needed to be done, but she couldn’t be straightforward and do things the way she was used to. Killing them carelessly would probably end up in her staining her clothes with blood, and blood is very hard to wash off. Jane and Hector would make questions and in the worst-case scenario, they’d find it in themselves to finally report her to the police and she’d had to leave. Despite everything, she was feeling very comfortable in that place, so she didn’t want that to happen, at least not yet.
Alas, as she had proven and seen in the past, there are many, even infinite ways to kill someone. The human body is so strong, yet so fragile within; if you are skillful enough, you can kill someone without shedding a single drop of blood.
It’s all just a matter of knowing where to strike and where to twist.
“(I’ll take these ones.)”
“Aww…”
Once he was within range, Alicia aimed at his throat’s apple and punched, destroying it, sending the pieces back the throat and creating a blockade.
“What the fuck!?” – Yelled the scrawny one as he saw his friend hold onto his neck while collapsing on the ground.
“You whore!” – It was the big one’s turn, he rushed towards her intending to punch her in the face. To counter him, Alicia dashed under his haymaker, positioning herself right behind him, she jumped on his back and locked her legs around his waist and arms around his neck, applying pressure, a pressure that no matter how strong he was, he couldn’t get her off. The scrawny dude just watched cowardly as he witnessed how his friend’s neck was being bent slowly until it snapped like a twig.
The big opponent fell to the ground, now Alicia centered her attention on the scrawny one, and of course, his first thought was to run away.
He ran into the bushes while screaming for his dear life, barely stumbling on fallen trees and branches, he didn’t dare look behind, because he knew for certain she was still after him.
Indeed she was, closer than he realized, jumping right above him, from tree to tree.
When she was certain of where to jump, Alicia descended and landed right on his head, sending him face first into the ground with the power of her weight, it was as if an anvil had fallen over him, and of course, the result was the same as if it was a real anvil.
Instant death, his rush was brought down to a grinding halt. Birds flew away from their nests because of the loud blunt noise she made as she fell on him, but after they were gone, the forest had become eerily silent.
Alicia went back to the camping site and analyzed the scene once more, now with the stark differences. Just then she realized that she didn’t feel as hungry anymore for some reason.
“What the hell is wrong with me?”
“Many things I’d say, but honestly, what bothers me the most is that there’s no chicken here, we got played.”
“(Yeah, but by who? And why?)” – She looked back at the girl’s corpse and then to the others. – “(Was it because of this?)”
Alicia knew she had to go back, get the dirt off her boots and go back to sleep, but as she was heading back into the wilderness, she stopped, invaded by the feeling that her work there wasn’t over yet.
She turned back and searched through the men’s pockets, finding a cellphone on the big one’s pants. If she recalled correctly, people dialed 911 to call emergency services like police and firefighters, stuff she seldom saw anywhere else.
“911, what’s your emergency?” – Said the woman on the other side of the line.
“There’s been a murder…in the forest.” – She said standing next to the girl’s body. – “Three males, they raped and killed a girl.”
“Alright ma’am, do you know the location?”
“Follow the phone’s signal…I’ll leave it right here, they won’t go anywhere, I made sure of it.”
“Wait, ma’am, I need you to stay with me! please tell me the location and we’ll send a patrol immediately.” – Alicia left the phone on the ground and walked away. – “Ma’am? Are you still there? ma’am?”
The agent would do as she was told and got someone to trace the phone’s signal. Once it was done, they sent a patrol to the location and found the bodies of both the girl and the two boys.
“HQ, this is officer Rawlings, there’s been a multiple homicide, we need backup and forensics on location, over.”
The other officer approached the corpses and noticed how they had been killed.
“Daaaaamn, someone strong made these kids his bitches.”
“Jesus Christ, have some tact, Joe.”
“Sorry, but I mean, look at the way his neck is bent, they must’ve challenged a gorilla and paid the consequences.”
Alicia returned to the Bradley’s household, made sure her clothes weren’t dirty and took them off, putting back on her shorts and finally lying down in bed once again. Just like the first time, she had managed to fall asleep in a few minutes.
But even after waking up, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that something new and unsettling was happening to her.