There were very few things in life that Alicia held in high regard, and even then, those were things that Alicia was not willing to talk about with anyone except for Ten, and maybe Crimson, since it didn’t seem to mind to lend its ear for some banter.

However, out of all of these things there were some she couldn’t help but demonstrate her love for in subtle movements and expressions only the ones with keen eyes would notice. As expected, she had a great admiration and appreciation for firearms.

Whether she could hold them in a single hand or hold them with both, for her guns were one of the greatest inventions made by man, not only because of what they are used for, but because of the role they’ve played in her life, even going as far as that moment that defined who she was.

All things considered, during her stay in that town, whenever she stepped into her room she turned back towards the modified AMTs resting over the table. Silent, patient but empty, they were waiting for her to load them up with .454 bullets and go out to dish out some pain. But she couldn’t, not yet. This quietness and peace she was experiencing had its own charm to it, and she didn’t want to let it go just yet, but there were two things that continually questioned when was she going to have enough of this peace: the pistols, and of course, the spirit within her.

Alicia was getting restless, and out of all people in that house Hector was the first to notice. So, being the owner of one of the few weapons shops in the entire town, he had an idea.

Before she realized, Alicia was right in front of Hector’s shop located in Elm Street. It wasn’t anything too impressive nor as big than the competitor just a block away from their location, but it gave Hector a decent influx of income to maintain his family. After all, he had some clients with deep pockets.

“So this is my shop!” – Said Hector, opening the door and showing her inside. Her attention was instantly posed over the cabinets full with pistols of all shapes and sizes and the shelves occupied by rifles, both semi-automatic and bolt action. Next to the rifles there were even more cabinets used to store ammunitions, ranging from 9mm to .308. It was a very complete, standard weapons shop. Alicia was used to seeing arsenals bigger than the things he had there, however, she made an effort to keep in mind she was in a civilian town, and all things considered, if every person was to be given one of the rifles in this shop, and the ones in the shop down the block, they could form a militia to defend the town from an enemy assault. – “What do you think? Pretty cozy, huh?”

“…You’ve got a nice stock.” – Said Alicia, looking at the magnums on display inside a glass cabinet. Out of all of the six models, she had already wielded and used three. – “Lots of costumers?”

“Eh, just enough to make this place a sound investment. You may be able to start up a shop like this with contacts and enough favors, but keeping it afloat is entirely up to you in the end.”

“Let’s ask him again in twenty years and see if he’s lived up to those words, Ali.”

“(Twenty years is a lot of time.)” – Alicia centered her attention on a shotgun that was resting on a wall right in front of the table, a Remington 870. She pointed at it. – “You’ve got some quality pieces here.”

“Oh, that one? that one sells for a thousand, but I can give you a discount since you’ve been such a good lady with us.”

Alicia smiled for a moment, thinking about how it could’ve been a good idea to have a few thousand dollars in her pocket when she got stranded in this region. It’s not like she had squandered the money she had earned as a merc and assassin, it was still there, but she was in no position to get any of it at the moment. She scratched the back of her head. – “I guess it won’t be mine then.”

Hector laughed and walked to the back of the counter. – “Don’t think I didn’t notice that little smile there, lady.” – Alicia would’ve been flustered if she wasn’t good at regulating her pulse. She did her best effort to keep a neutral, unassuming expression. – “You like guns, don’t you? Well, I assume you do because of your profession…”

Alicia couldn’t help but feel intrigued at how the family’s lack of care about the fact that they had left a dangerous individual into their house and made her feel at home, a killer at that, was it because of what happened when Jane beat her shock technique? Was that confirmation enough for them to know she wouldn’t do them any harm? Even so, killers and normies are like oil and water, and she knew that pretty well. Their carelessness played in her favor, but she still felt something was off because of it.

“Yeah, let’s go with that.” – Said Alicia regarding his comment. – “I know my way with guns.”

“I’m glad to hear that because I was hoping you’d help me with something.” – Hector sat down. – “Since you know your guns, I was hoping you’d help give a few of them a routinary cleanup, you know, disassembling them, polish, rinsing, cleaning and assemble them back. You know how to do that, right?”

She knew, of course, the commander made sure of it, but while pretending to have a broken arm, she didn’t feel like doing the extra effort of handling that kind of procedure with a single arm. – “Don’t you think it’s wrong to ask such a task from a minor?”

“There you go again, pulling out the minor card whenever it suits you.”

“(Why the hell would I want to do that kind of work now?)”

“Ah, but you are not any kind of teenager, you know? That’s why I think it shouldn’t be a problem, even considering your left arm isn’t up to condition right now.” - Argued Hector, throwing the excuse right back at her face.

“There’s no arguing with you I see.” – Said Alicia, finally caving in. – “Fine.”

She sat right next to Hector. He stood up and went to look for the two crates of weapons due for maintenance and placing them in between each other. It was a collection of pistols and hunting rifles of all shapes and sizes. Alicia took a pistol and held it in her left hand, a beretta, while Hector placed the tools they’d use for this task over the counter.

“There’s no rush, so be careful, they are such fine instruments, yet so fragile, am I right?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

She disassembled the pistol like she was taught to do and placed the pieces over a cloth in front of her one by one. It was a bit awkward given the position her left arm was in, but she was capable of doing most of the heavy work with her dominant arm. Once the gun was disassembled, she used the toothbrush inside the cleaning kit to clean up the inside of the slide, lubricated the friction points, followed by a little bit of grease, then she cleaned the muzzle using the brush, a patch and some cord. She kept going with this procedure until she was satisfied and then proceeded to reassemble the gun with some fine dexterity.

“Heh, I was right. You do know your way with a gun, both inside and out!” – Said Hector, stopping his work for a moment to see her clean that pistol. – “Who taught you all of these things?”

“Quartermaster.” – She said, putting the slide back in its place, the gun was back together once again. She gave the pistol a few spins and aimed forward, making sure the sight was correctly aligned.

Looking at the beretta in her hand, for some reason he couldn’t understand or really describe, that pistol looked darker than it actually was. It looked heavier, shadier, lethal; there were pistols in this world that outclassed the beretta in terms of firepower, but in this very moment, that model looked as if it had suddenly jumped to be at the apex of all civilian class firearms just by being treated by the person next to him.

“…It’s adequate.” – She said setting the gun aside.

“So a quartermaster taught you how to clean guns?”

“He is good, very good. Made sure to pay attention to his lessons.” – Alicia grabbed a .44 magnum and proceeded to work on it. – “Didn’t have much else to do.”

“You say that as if you didn’t enjoy it but someone that didn’t like it wouldn’t be so serious about the result.” – Hector called her out. Again, if she slipped she would be flustered, but everything was about control when it was up to her. – “There’s no shame in admitting you like things.”

“I love this man, really. All the things I’ve told you all these years are finally being said by someone else.”

“(Give me a break, Ten.)”

Alicia disassembled the magnum and worked on it. As she did that, she felt like confronting him as well.

“You shouldn’t have brought me here, you know? A normal person wouldn’t let a killer get near guns and ammo. What’s your aim, Hector? Why do you tolerate my presence?”

Hector scratched the back of his head and leaned back on his chair. He didn’t need to be smart to know that, yes, he and Jane haven’t been sincere about their motives up until now. Any person in their sound mind would refuse to house someone like her, however, they both considered each other sound minded people, and there was a reason behind it all.

“See, it wasn’t out of nowhere you know?” – He said while disassembling a Marlin. – “Jane and I have seen a lot of stuff throughout the years. Would you believe me if I told you that you aren’t the first eh…young soldier we’ve met?”

Alicia looked at him, her hands still like a statue’s, her eyes had become two big orbits as if someone had just told her that she had a twin sister.

“Many years ago I traveled with my father to the desert, he was hired as a consultant on firearms training for the troops during the gulf war. We were settled in a pretty peaceful location, hell, there was a wheat field right next to the base.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“Let me finish. One day, I was wandering about, not knowing what to do since my dad was busy giving classes to the troops, that’s when I noticed a person dancing around the field, sowing the wheat and putting it in a basket. I thought she was just a regular farmer until I saw the submachine gun hanging from her back.”

“Oh this is interesting, so there was another girl soldier out there.”

“A lieutenant saw me and approached. He told me she was a girl soldier, and apparently a very prolific one. I asked how and why no one did anything to help her…he said that for bureaucratic reasons they couldn’t, and that she had a very devious party watching over her. However, I got pretty scared when he told me that even if she’s young, I should not underestimate her, more than a soldier, she was a killer.”

“Ahh it’s great to learn about the generation prior to ours, don’t you agree Ali?”

“(There’s nothing great about that.)” – Alicia left the gun she was working on back on the counter. – “How was she like?”

“Red haired…damn, back then that was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my entire life. I would’ve asked her out, I was that much of a player back then, so young and naïve haha…but I wasn’t allowed to approach the wheat field because of her. Much like you she had a patch over the left side of her face. I couldn’t see the color of her eyes, but I think they were blue. When you looked at her, you’d think she was just a normal girl that still tried to make the best of her situation in the middle of a war but it wasn’t even close, everything about her was confidential.”

“Did she live there at all?” – Asked Alicia, noticing the out of place points in this story. – “Why was she working there?”

“…Apparently despite her way of life, she was obsessed with life itself.” – Alicia noticed his expression as he wandered into these melancholic memories. However, once he had finished, he took back the rifle and continued working. – “And well, Jane being the altruistic soul she is participated in a few humanitarian missions across the globe. She treated many wounded civilians and soldiers, both adults…and young.”

Alicia leaned on her chair and tilted her head. – “Anything to comment about them?”

“About who?

“Child soldiers…”

“…Well, what is there to say? I used to think that they were only used by the most perverse of organizations…but they are way more commonplace than I thought. When Jane told me about you, I thought: “Damn, so now someone’s done it here, huh?” but then she told me more about you, and I knew that no matter where you came from or the things you did, you hadn’t gone berserk like many others I’ve heard of. At some point, no matter the age, a soldier that has been neck deep in violence for too long simply goes insane.” – Hector turned back at her, he felt that saying what he was about to say would have a tint of irony or foolishness, but he didn’t care. – “But when I look at you, I get the feeling that despite everything you are a well adjusted person.”

Ten broke down in laughter, he didn’t know what he was talking about. She couldn’t understand why he would say that when he doesn’t know her well enough. Alicia however, she appreciated that.

“What I’m trying to say is that I see no reason to turn you away.” – He reasoned. – “I see that your profession doesn’t make you uncomfortable but that doesn’t mean you are a monster. I could tell from a first glance you have been through a lot and you deserved a break, and maybe Jane was at the right moment to rescue you for a reason.” – He had finally disassembled the rifle. – “You also kind of remind me of her, the girl in the wheat field…It’s been a long time, I wonder if she survived.”

“Child soldiers don’t live long, my man. I’m sorry to tell you, but we are the exception to that trend, we are the last ones of a tragic generation, I reckon.”

“(It’s a good thing that he can’t hear you. That’s a pretty discouraging thing to say.)”

“Since when do you care about other people’s feelings?”

Alicia raised her voice again. – “If she was as good as they made her seem to be…she’s probably still around.”

“I see, that’s reassuring. Anyway, let’s get back to work.”

They continued to work on the guns in silence, though there was someone that didn’t feel like shutting up just yet.

“Ever since we met this family it’s like you’ve become someone else, Ali. Didn’t know you could be so polite.”

“(You’ve been in my head ever since I can use my memory, what do you mean you didn’t know?)”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but you aren’t known for your good and caring feelings.” – Ten shook her head. – “Hell, it’s no secret to us that Kirsten came to hire us in the first place because of your reputation as a sadist murderer, you know? And to be honest, you seldom are this polite with anyone.”

Alicia looked down at the gun she was handling, at how she was cleaning the revolver’s drum from the inside using a small piece of cotton.

“(…It’s the first time I’m not expected to kill people.)” – She said. – “(They saved me, I’m in their debt…the least I can do is be nice.)”

“Alright, I’mma note this down: Alicia can be nice whenever she feels like it.”

“(I’m nice with you, aren’t I?)”

“Well, yeah…but the way you treat some other people, like our targets or anyone adjacent to them, gives me a little bit of whiplash. Like that trucker man, you scared the ever living shit out of ‘im, and you almost killed him in the end. It took you a lot of restraint to let him go.”

“(I’m aware.)”

“I don’t care if you are more bloodthirsty than me, but hell… this really surprises me. I think you really needed some sort of break, and this must be it, so let’s enjoy it while it lasts, right?”

“(I’ll ignore the part where you said I’m bloodthirsty and just agree with you.)”

“Come on, you won’t let me lie, it’s the truth. You are the one that’s at the front most of the time.”

While they were talking Alicia had finished with the revolver and reassembled it, now she moved on to a Marlin 22 rifle.

“(You also get your time to move around.)”

“What blatant lies!”

“(You think I didn’t take note of those occasions I went to sleep and, somehow, my boots would end up dirtier than before? I know you move around in my body when I fall asleep and let go of the wheel.)”

“Ah, heck. I supposed you’d notice one day. I don’t do much, I swear! I just wander around and see if I can have fun playing at something or doing some acrobatics.”

“(No wonder my muscles feel more sore than usual at times. Look, you-”)

“Hey Sofia, there was something I was thinking about…” – Said Hector, interrupting the banter between the two contrasting personalities. – “…We’ve got a sharpshooting contest coming up today, and we haven’t had any luck filling up the spots for participants. So I was thinking…do you consider yourself good with a gun?”

“Pff…” – Those that know Alicia enough are aware that she’s a very reserved individual. However, if there’s one thing she’s willing to talk openly about, and feel proud about, is her skill with a gun. – “…Yeah, let’s say I consider myself good with a gun.”

“Is that so? Alright then, what do you think about signing in on the competition?”

“Wouldn’t there be a problem since I’m wounded?”

“Ah, I’m sure you can participate in the pistols section, I assume your arm in the sling isn’t your dominant arm, right?”

“No, it’s not, we are all fine in that case.”

“Excellent. You’ve helped me a lot with the load of work, let’s keep going for a couple of hours and then I’ll search for the application form for you. It’s a small contest, but the prizes are sure worth it. It’ll take place on the other side of the town, so I’ll take you there when the time comes.”

Just then, the bell on top of the door rang; a man walked into the store. Alicia tensed up a little but managed to relax almost in an instant upon seeing the badge dangling from a side of his chest.

“How ya’ doing Hector!”

“Heeey Thomas, how’s it going?”

“It’s officer Thomas when I’m on my turn man, but whatever. Here, I’m having a little problem.” – The officer took out his pistol and showed it to him. – “My gun has a problem, it won’t fire, I think the spring is busted, I have to get it fixed pronto.”

“Alright, let’s see what we can do.” – Hector took the pistol and unloaded it.

While Hector was checking the gun out, officer Thomas noticed Alicia sitting right next to him. He jolted, it was like if a ghost had just appeared out of nowhere within his range of vision.

“Oh hey, I didn’t notice you had someone here!” – Said Thomas.

“Get your eyes checked, copper.”

“Who are you?” – He asked.

Alicia was going to open her mouth, about to spit out the information she had memorized from the fake identity the MTW had forged for her, which she hoped hadn’t been scrubbed off yet, but Hector’s tongue was quicker.

“Ah, she’s Sofia, she’s the daughter of a friend of mine, he lives abroad. He sent her here to have a vacation, and apparently, she likes guns enough to lend a hand in a humble establishment like this one.”

“Really now?” – He fixed his hat. – “Don’t mind me saying this but that’s a weird hobby for a girl to have. Not many ladies like guns, much less the younger ones.”

“Really? hmmm…” – Alicia looked to the side, looking for a good excuse. – “I don’t know, I just like them…it runs in the family I suppose.”

The officer laughed. – “Damn, truly a red blooded American. Yeah, we all have this in our blood.”

“(I’m not American though.)”

“Why are you covered in bandages by the way? That’s a lot of bruises you have!”

“I got run over by a car last month.” – She said in a very blunt way, throwing the officer off balance.

“Oh, I’m sorry, it must be a sensitive topic.” – He reached to scratch the back of his head, but then he stopped. Something clicked in his mind, reminding him of the current situation they are dealing with at the station. The plane crash, the weaponry they found in the wreckage, the corpses and their affiliations, the possibility someone survived the crash and is at large, and finally, the corpses they found a few kilometers away from the wreckage, four people.

Clearly, the female victim they found was killed by the other three, but then someone or something swooped in and killed them in a way that revealed a great amount of strength. Usually people kill each other using knives and pistols, he knew that very well, but who kills with their bare hands and still doesn’t shed a single drop of blood? The necks of two of them were broken and the head of the third one was bashed into the dirt with a huge amount of might, his cranium was shattered on the inside.

Seeing this bandaged girl that appeared of nowhere in Hector’s shop, covered in bandages, reminded him that in his job as a police officer he couldn’t discard possibilities just like that.

“Before anything else, can I see your ID, miss?” – He stretched out his hand towards her. Hector got a little nervous, but Thomas didn’t notice.

“…Sure.” – Alicia reached for her pockets and took out her wallet, handing over her fake ID to him. It was fake, yes, but it resembled a real ID to absolute perfection. The people in the MTW headquarters were very dexterous, or at least the ones in charge of paperwork and falsifications were. None of them were on Lionel’s side, but as far as Alicia knew, they were indeed, so she wondered how far that fake ID was gonna take her before law enforcement was warned about a possible fake identification going around.

The ID stated her whole name was Sofia L. Rieper, from Arizona, there was an address that this officer wouldn’t give a damn to inquiry about due to the distance, but if he was that obsessive, he would find this address would lead him to an apartment block, and if he asked the landlord there, he’d find out no one called Sofia L. Rieper had ever lived in that apartment complex.

“Well, it’s the first time I see someone with a surname like that, Ms. Rieper.” – Commented the officer.

“I hear that a lot.”

“Anyway…” – The officer relaxed, now that he had fulfilled his duty there, he was ready to carry on. – “Hector, you think you can fix my gun in an hour or so?”

“Oh, yeah, of course. I already found the problem.” – He said, holding an elongated spring in his right hand. – “You were right, the spring is busted, it wore out, I think I have a fitting spare around here, so don’t worry, you can come back for it in an hour.”

“That’s just great! I’ll be in the office if something happens. Bye, Hector.”

“Bye!”

The officer finally left the store. This exchange left Hector with a few doubts.

“Is that…?” – He pointed at the ID on the table.

“It’s authentic enough…” – She said. – “There’s nothing to worry about.”

“I see. That’s alright then.”

They continued working as usual, going through most of the guns that needed a checkup, some of them proved to be more difficult than others, but they had everything they needed in the shop to put them in good condition once again, including the officer’s pistol.

Once done with that, Hector passed the inscription form to Alicia and she filled it up with all of that made up information the people at the base told her to memorize if she had to deal with a situation where she needed it, and she indeed needed it right there and then.

She wrote with so much confidence Hector was almost convinced what she was writing was actually her real personal information, but he wouldn’t fool himself, a professional always has a mask to show to the world.

After the officer returned for his gun Hector took Alicia to the location of the contest. It was pretty out of the way, on the western border of the town. There was a gun range there known simply as Tony’s shooting range, a pretty popular place for hunters and policemen to test their new toys and tools of the trade.

“Remember, the pistol sharpshooting category is the only category you can participate in with a broken arm. The judges might be doubtful, but they know me, I’ll put in a good word for you.” – Said Hector while they were driving through the streets.

“What’s the prize?”

“For the first place in every category, a hundred dollars and a nice jacket.”

“A decent prize for a contest held in a small town, I guess…”

“…Isn’t fifty dollars too little for a shooting contest?” – Asked Alicia, raising an eyebrow, she had become a lot more expressive since the day before.

“Hey, this is a small town, I’d say that’s fair enough for what we can organize around here. These events are mostly for people to come, hang around, have a beer and enjoy the show with their family and friends. If you were to go to the bigger cities or…hell…participate in the Olympics for all I’m aware, you’d start seeing the juicier prizes.”

“Mental note: Participate in the Olympics.”

“(As if we could.)”

“But this a good start, am I right?” – He said. – “I can tell you need to let out some steam and you certainly miss being able to shoot those monsters you left at home.”

“You mean my pistols?”

“I hope you don’t mind but I took a look at them…Jesus, it was the first time I got afraid of disassembling a gun to see what was inside. Those things are absolute freaks of engineering. AMTs modified to shoot .454 Casull rounds. Where did you get them? or rather, do you know who made them?”

“…Let’s just say that they were issued to me because I’m good with pistols.”

“Issued? So you didn’t pay for them?”

“Nah, they were already willing to give me whatever I wanted.”

“Any gun you wanted?”

“…I think that I’ve said too much already.”

Hector accepted that. It was hard to not forget what he was dealing with. Yet, just like a few other people before him, whenever he looked at her, he could still see traces of the person she was meant to be before her path was interrupted by a series of catastrophic circumstances.

Behind those scars and behind the battle-hardened exterior, he was sure a normal teenager was still there, waiting for someone to give her another chance to take back her life.

Hector felt that, maybe, he was the one meant to fulfill that role.

Maybe he could get her to stay, show her a new lifestyle.

He didn’t know how close he was to completing that goal. By distracting Alicia’s mind with such quietness and joy, by showing her one of the brightest pieces of the mythical American dream, she was forgetting about her current mission for the first time.

However, there was one thing he was ignoring. If he really meant for her to stay in that town, he’d have to deal with the fact that he’d have to get used to hearing on the news about corpses found at random locations in and out of town from time to time.

“Welcome to the annual Forest Grove sharpshooting competition, sponsored by yours truly: Tony Williams!” – Said the announcer and owner of the shooting range. The small but committed audience clapped alongside the contestants. – “I’d like to thank everyone for coming today and thank our dear friend, Hector Bradley, and his effort to make sure we’d have a full house for this competition!”

Another round of applause, this time dedicated to Hector. He stood up from his seat and saluted everyone, thanking them for their consideration.

“Our host is a pillar of the community, who’d have thought?” – Alicia and Ten were sitting in the row of seats reserved for the participants of the contest. Even there she was a fish out of the water, there were twelve participants, four for each category, three were women counting her, the others were men with bushy beards wielding rifles and shotguns, some of them had a bit of muscle, which Alicia found appropriate. Some of them were wearing forest camo vest or jackets, but she had no idea if that meant they were ex-military, survival fanatics or simply small time hunters who lived around the area.

It was a shame she was seeing herself in the need to pretend that one of her arms was broken, otherwise she would’ve been fit to participate in any other category, but pistols should suffice. They were what she liked to shoot the most anyway.

Hector had allowed her to borrow a Beretta so she could use it for the event. It wasn’t her favorite model, but it would suffice for the task at hand.

“Excuse me miss.” – Said the man sitting right next to her, the thing that made him stood out the most out of everyone else was the fact that he was wearing a cowboy hat, maybe just to show off. – “Pardon my indiscretion, but I don’t think you are in condition to be in this competition.”

“Don’t worry about me.” – She said. – “Worry about winning.”

“Heh, that’s true, however I hope you realize this is an event for adults, and you are outclassed by everyone else, so don’t get mad when you lose.”

That man suddenly felt a slight pressure on his shoulders, he didn’t know why or how, but after caressing his neck and stretching a bit, it seemed like the pressure receded.

“Lose? We’ll see…” – She said. She was holding onto the beretta in her good hand. That man noticed, just like many others before him, how dangerous that gun looked like, more than usual.

“(Where did this brat come from?)” – He thought. – “(She looks like she didn’t come to this contest to shoot at targets.)”

“Now I shall explain the rules of this contest!” – Said Tony. – “We’ve divided this competition in three categories. We have a bracket for shotguns, rifles and pistols. Four people will compete in each of these categories, pinning their sharpshooting skills against one another in the range we’ve prepared for each type of firearm. Of course, we’ve prepared prizes for each person that manages to end in first place!” – He pointed at the judges on a nearby table with his hand, they were premium members of the club. – “They shall judge the contestants based on their performance and style, the ones with the most points at the end shall be deemed the fortunate winners of one hundred dollars and a camo jacket, courtesy of the national rifle association.”

“Well we could always do with a new piece of clothing.” – The jackets were on display on racket right next to the announcer. – “They remind me of the ones you used back with the Rangers, and the one that unfortunately had to be burned after we escaped.”

“(Very nostalgic.)” – Alicia was being sarcastic. However, it was true that Alicia preferred this kind of fashion, the military fashion, just because she was used to it and couldn’t imagine herself picking up on anything else.

“Without further ado, let’s begin!”

The contest began with the pistols’ bracket, Alicia would be third to come out, and while her turn came she didn’t really pay attention to the others’ performances, she was spacing out looking at the clouds until she was snapped back to reality with her immediate opponent.

“Looks like you are up against me, lady.” – It was the man with the cowboy hat once again. – “It’s not too late to back out and leave.”

“You’d want that, wouldn’t you?”

“I’m an experienced gunman, missy. I figure your dad taught you how to shoot that pistol and you feel like you can compete with men that have invested decades of their lives to practice with them, and I don’t think you’d want to be disappointed in your current condition.”

“Let me at him, Ali. I’m gonna floor this asshole.”

“(It’s ok…)” – Alicia turned towards him. – “I figure you are saying this out of concern, right?”

“Of course miss, in fact you look too young to be in this contest, I don’t know what the judges are thinking…”

“Let me assure you, there’s nothing to worry about…” – She said, just then both of them were called to the front, turns out the name of her opponent was Winston Dreyfuss. – “I’ll give you a demonstration…”

“Ohhhh I’m eager to see your skills, missy.”

Winston wasn’t taking his opponent seriously, but she would soon give him a reason to do so, and even then, there was little he could do.

There exists many types of experiences, some more valuable than others, and although the experience she had with firearms was the most grim of all, it was the experience that was the most valuable.

Both shooters approached the firing range and into their respective stations. Before beginning, Alicia lined up four magazines one after the other standing up, the judges and spectators were puzzled by this action.

“She’s gonna have a hard time reloading with only one arm.” – Commented one of the judges. – “Hector insisted we let her participate but honestly, this will only end in her embarrassing herself.”

“Hector has a lot of hope in her so let’s just give her a chance at least.” – Said another judge. – “She might be just looking for entertaining experiences, participating in a shooting competition should be enough.”

“There’s something off though.” -Said the third judge. – “It’s the way she carries herself, the way she walks and keeps her back upright, not many kids these days keep such a correct pose…I don’t know, I think she might surprise us.”

“I say we should be ready to give Winston the win.” – Said the last judge. – “There’s not many people that can beat Winston, he won the contest two years ago, and ever since then he’s had a lot of time to practice. A crippled kid isn’t going to beat him in what he does best.”

Alicia stretched her neck and gave her right hand a spin to warm it up. Then she grabbed the gun and looked ahead towards the firing range.

“Are the shooters ready!?” – Asked Tony. Both contestants nodded. – “Begin!”

A bell chirped at the distance and the first targets went up, as expected they had a human shape, each target would be up for five seconds, and during those five seconds each shooter should land as many bullets as they could on them. Obviously, the center of mass and head were worth more points than hitting any other part of the target.

Winston played it safe and aimed at the center of mass, taking four shots, every shot there was worth 5 points and every shot to the head was worth 8 points. In his mind he assumed that Alicia’s aim would be so lack luster that she’d be at the very least 12 points behind him once the target went down.

He was wrong.

He heard four discharges, for some reason they were louder than they usually are. He looked to his right and saw the red plaque located at the head of the target spinning at a high speed.

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“(Did she…!?)” – There was no doubt about it, but he still couldn’t believe it. Her pose, the way she held the gun, her eye centered on the front sight, her confident yet dexterous trigger finger. –“(…How can this be?)”

The targets went down and other two in a different position went up. Winston realized that he couldn’t take this easy, he was now 12 points behind her.

He decided to raise up the heat, he was confident in his skills, and because of that he knew that he’d have no problems landing shots on the head.

He landed three shots on the head, the fourth one grazed and missed the target, meanwhile she landed all four shots on the head and managed to get a fifth one in, the targets went down and others came up, same story, both of them ran out of bullets.

Winston regained some of his confidence because he thought that she would have issues reloading with a single arm, which would give him an advantage over her.

He was wrong once more.

Alicia dropped the empty mag and like handling a hammer, she swung the pistol down, allowing the magazine standing upright on the table to insert itself inside the pistol in a swift and precise manner. She reloaded and kept firing.

“(What the fuck!?)” – Winston was trying his earnest to not break his concentration and keep on shooting, but he had been paired up with a very bad match. Someone that seemed to be so far and beyond all he knew about sharpshooting. – “(Where the fuck did she come from?)”

The gap between scores kept growing larger and larger. Just then there was a pause between the targets coming up and down, the end of the duel was nigh. Next up, eight targets would come up, and they’d have five seconds to land a shot on each of them before they went down. There was no time to be flashy, he had to be precise.

When the targets went up, he aimed the best he could and landed all five in the center plaque, he had hit all of them, he was satisfied up until he saw the head plaques on his rival’s lane spinning like fans, indicating that she too had hit all of them.

The gap between scores was the same, with her at the front.

Another round of targets came up one after the other, some of them were at a farther distance than in the first round, however that didn’t represent a problem for Alicia, she still hit them in the head anyway.

The public and the judges watched with eyes wide open as this complete stranger who shouldn’t be in any condition to shoot a weapon or even be there in the first place as a contestant was demolishing the man many of them considered to be the better shooter. Winston himself could not believe that there was someone out there that was this good. He thought he had achieved a very competent level of skill; he had cleared his ten thousand hours which should make him very good at what he does.

But then, what was this? how many hours had she spent shooting a pistol if not more than ten thousand hours? That’s a story she wouldn’t tell anyone, at least not easily. The one that taught her how to shoot a gun the way she does, one of the many assassins the commander took her to learn from, his methods were quite extreme, but they had to be if he was the best gunslinger alive.

Doing nothing but eating, sleeping and shooting for four months straight it’s a sure way to make even the sloppiest shot into a real crack one.

She had shot so many bullets, felt the recoil so many times, that the beretta she was holding in her hand had no weight at all.

The bell rang once again, no more targets to shoot at. Without realizing it, she had gone through most of the mags she had prepared on the table except for one. The lucky mag, it was a shame she couldn’t take it with her.

“Time’s up. With a clear advantage on points, the winner is: Sofia Rieper!” – Announced the lead judge. The public cheered and clapped, feeling they’ve gotten a better show than they expected.

Alicia exhaled, Winston did the same, but it was more like his lungs were protesting by expulsing all the air by themselves. He had been utterly bested. He had given his all, and he had been trampled over by a force of nature no one knows where she came from.

He was about to drop his gun to the ground due to the sheer impotence, but then…

“You’ve been bested, but don’t let me defeat you.” – Her voice reached out to him, he looked at her, she was staring at him from the sideline. – “…You are a great shooter, sir. If it was anyone else, you’d have won, that score doesn’t lie.” – She turned around to return to her seat. – “If you get demotivated now, then I won’t be the only one that’s defeated you.”

Alicia walked away, leaving Winston with an assortment of mixed feelings he didn’t know what to do with.

“(That girl…she’s special.)” – He thought, reaffirming his grip on his gun before putting it back in its holster. – “(She’s right…She’s completely right.)” – He wiped the sweat off his brow with his hand. – “(Look at me, being lectured by a teenager…)”

Alicia sat down and exhaled, feeling pleased with her performance taking into account the huge handicap she had. If she could use her two arms freely, she felt that she could’ve been twice as fast with the gun.

“That was amazing! You weren’t kidding when you said you were good!” – Hector approached Alicia while laughing. – “You are a natural at this.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” – Alicia averted her gaze. – “I just grinded my skills as much as I could…that’s all I know, sheer effort…”

“Nah, I’m sure you have some talent in you, trust me!” – He said, giving her a pat in the back. That was a mistake, but fortunately for him, there would be no consequences as Alicia managed to hold back.

Alicia didn’t like it when people touched her, but there were a few spots that were more sensitive than others. Her back was one of those points, and she often reacted poorly when someone touched her back when she was younger, but with time and discipline she managed to control her reactions.

“Anyway, the next round is gonna be a little different, but I think you can handle it.” – He said. – “It’ll be a matter of close quarters and being fast, do you think you can handle it?”

“Yeah, no problem.” – She said. Hector seemed pleased with that and returned to his seat before the next round began. Nothing impressive to be seen, at least compared to her performance, she had raised the bar too high for what this competition was about, she felt a little bit guilty for that.

Then, as she leaned back on her seat and closed her eyes, a certain scent reached her nostrils, waking her up completely. She could feel her scars tingle with the fire caressing the tissue under them.

It smelled like a ranch burger accompanied with a portion of fries, hot and steaming with flavor, just the way she liked it. It also smelled like a pork steak covered in gravy sauce, they were together, creating a meal worthy of a king!

She looked around, seeking for the origin of the smell, they were very close. She spotted a married couple sitting on the second row of seats for the spectators. A man with short hair and glasses wearing a Hawaiian T-shirt. A brunette woman was hugging his right arm, she was wearing a white top and jeans, a necklace of black marbles around her neck, at first glance she was beautiful, and he was not too rough looking himself; They were the perfect couple.

But Alicia could see through them, she knew this smell, she had been served this combo before. Back in the desert, she executed a family of human traffickers, and they all smelled just like that. The father smelled like a burger, and the woman like a steak. Their sons had a distinct smell she couldn’t get from this couple that was sitting at a distance from her, but they smelled tasty enough.

Alicia covered her nose and looked away, trying to ignore the smell, no matter how hard her stomach growled.

“(This is not the time for that! Stop it!)” – She demanded to the crimson spirit. – “(I’m in the middle of something.)”

The crimson spirit crossed its arms and looked away, the smell suddenly disappeared. Alicia exhaled and rubbed her temple. – “(Don’t do that again. There’s a time and place for this.)”

“That thing makin’ ya’ smell the fucktards in the crowd again?”

“(Yes, something like that.)”

“I swear, that thing can’t read the room!”

Little did Alicia know, but soon she would learn that the scents in the air were abundant, but she wasn’t allowing Crimson to reach deeper for control.

If she allowed it to do that, she’d see how much work she has to go through, but for the time being, work would have to wait.

The round was over, the score wasn’t as impressive as Alicia’s, but at least one of the contestants came out on top. People clapped and some whistled, they did so because the winner of that round was a real cutie unlike the girl covered in bandages with an eagle eye.

Her name was Laney Sawyer, daughter of the owner of the Sawyer’s repairs shop, one of the best mechanics in town. A rare blonde with blue eyes and a well-rounded bust, and at the same time, she was an ace with her Colt 1911.

She was going to be Alicia’s opponent in the next round. Alicia took a look at her score, it was 3 points behind hers; not a bad score at all. Even then, looking at the way Laney carried herself, she felt like she wasn’t giving it her all and was just playing around. She couldn’t lose against someone who didn’t take what she was doing seriously, no matter what.

Much to her displeasure Laney was walking towards her, Alicia brazed herself for another unwanted and lackluster interaction.

“So you must be the other winner!” – Said Laney once she was within speaking distance. – “I’m Laney, Laney Sawyer, it’s a pleasure to meet another gunslinger!”

Laney reached out her hand, she was waiting for Alicia to respond to the greeting. Alicia didn’t want to stretch her hand but Ten wanted to make sure she tried to be more social

Ten took control of her free arm and stretcher her opponent’s hand, then she took a hold of her tongue.

“The pleasure is mine, my gal. You ready to rumble?”

“Oh, you are feistier than you look, I like that. I don’t know where ol’ Hector got you from but I must admit you are hella good with that semi-auto, rarely see people your age that good, who taught ya’ how to shoot?”

“An Australian womanizer if you can believe it. A good shot, maybe the best around.” - Ten took a deep breath. – “But that’s too long of a story, ya’ know? I saw your performance, you ain’t just a pretty lil’ face, amirite?”

“You betcha, girl. Now we’ll see who’s best in the next round. Sorry to tell you but without your two arms to aim properly, victory is as good as mine!”

“Don’t write me off just yet girl. You already saw me kick the ol’ man’s ass, if you get careless something similar will happen to ya’”.

There was a rising tension between the town’s poster girl and the bandaged shooter, but there was no ill will from each side. Both Alicia and Ten were enjoying this event, that was a first for Alicia in a very long time.

Soon after, Laney walked away to talk with her boyfriend who was in the crowd. If all shooting competitions were like this, civilization was far more entertaining than Alicia had initially thought.

“You are lucky that I’m here to save you from your antisocial brain, jackass.” – Ten scolded her. – “That attitude will only make us more enemies, ya’ know that right? Remember what the doc told us? Make an effort to understand people!”

“(Now you bring that up?)”

She remembered that, back in the base in the mountains, when that psychologist was interviewing her, they had a short discussion on how she viewed people. What she said was followed by him giving her a little piece of advice.

“I know it’s hard to find inside yourself the empathy you could never afford to show to others or the one others never showed towards you, but I think it would be good for yourself to try and understand people. Not only that’d help you bring a new perspective to your life but also maybe demonstrate you that not everything is as bad as you’d think. Give people the chance to be better.” – That’s what he said.

“(I never asked for his opinion.)”

“But it’s a good opinion, isn’t it? Look, I always have to intervene in most social situations because…let’s say the way you carry yourself puts people off so much that they feel you are gonna pounce on them in any second, that hasn’t changed in five years, Ali.”

“(What can I do if I don’t feel like putting up a good face, huh? In any case, you are here to deal with those situations whenever they present themselves. I’m not a people’s person…and I don’t think that’ll change.)”

“You are just so lazy you don’t wanna work on yourself, you weirdo.”

“(Glass house.)”

“Shut the hell up…”

The people cheered and greeted, the first round in the shotgun bracket had just finished, Alicia hadn’t paid attention to it nor the rifles’ bracket, she felt that there was no need to watch that and just focus on her own competition. The staff were already setting up the stage for the second and final round of the pistols’ bracket.

“(We can talk about this later, it’s almost our turn.)”

“Oh, you can believe we are going to continue this conversation. You are out of control, Ali! that sour little heart of yours needs to mellow out a little.”

Alicia rolled her eyes and walked towards the circuit where the final round was going to take place.

It was like a drill, a training exercise emphasizing quick thinking and precision. The contestants would have to walk through a linear path with twists and turns, and as they advanced a series of targets would pop up and they’d have to shoot them, bonus points for hitting them in the head, as it was natural. However, among these hostile targets there were also civilian targets that would deduct points from their scores if they were to shoot at them. The hostile and friendly targets looked distinct enough to not mix them up, of course. The hostile targets looked like masked insurgents armed with assault rifles, a little detail that would play a little trick on Alicia’s mind later on.

“We are finally at the final round of the pistols’ bracket!” – Announced Tony. – “It’s been a pretty impressive contest so far, full of surprises and twists, am I right people?”

The spectators cheered and whistled, agreeing with his assessment. – “I figured as much. Now, we are about to see the town’s prettiest mechanic, Laney Sawyer, test her skill with a gun against the one of the mysterious newcomer, Sofia Rieper, who has demonstrated to be an ace with that semi-auto, displaying a level of accuracy and cool that have never been seen before in this county!”

The people clapped and cheered once again. Everyone liked it when an underdog appeared out of nowhere and showed what she was capable of.

“Look at us, we are so famous now, I don’t know what to do with so much recognition.”

“(It’s not us, they just want to watch a good show.)” – Alicia stretched her arm and legs in anticipation to what was going to happen. – “(I want that prize, so we gotta give it to them.)”

“Ohohoho, so you actually want the prize?”

“(That jacket looks good, I want it.)”

“Come on, you just want to prove that you are the best with a pistol. I mean, I’m not saying you shouldn’t, if this was a knife throwing contest you can be rest assured I’d be mopping the floor with the scum they’d call my opponents.”

“(Heh, if only we could do this more often.)”

First it was Laney’s turn, she was lock and loaded, set in her starting position.

“Watch me girl, don’t miss a single detail!” – She said to Alicia.

The bell rang and she marched forward through the circuit. Alicia took her time to analyze Laney’s posture and weapon handling. There was nothing to say, the way she leaned forward slightly, the sharp look in her eyes, the finger hoovering just above the trigger, the way she held the Colt in general, these were all indicators of her good manners with that pistol.

She rushed forward, stumbling upon the first target, a clean shot in the face point blank. Next up another target hiding behind a civilian, her aim was true and landed the bullet in its face as well.

Two terrorists side by side, she shot at the one on her right first then the one on the left and marched forward. Alicia puffed, knowing that if this was a real combat situation, Laney would be dead.

Next up moving targets, enemies hiding behind civilians, Alicia had seen many such cases, but that didn’t represent a problem for Laney either. When the targets peeked out of behind the civilians, she landed a shot in the face or chest of each of them, nailing the six valid targets with precision and sparing every single civilian. She moved forward after reloading fast and dexterous, nailing both easy and straight and elusive and difficult targets.

Finally, in the last stretch, she was surrounded by eight targets. It was clear to Alicia that this shooting gallery wasn’t built with real combat situations in mind.

Laney took her time while being fast, if there was ever such a thing. She shot each target one after the other, turning around like a wheel until she had put down all the targets in her radius.

The bell rang once again, she had completed the course with resounding efficiency, a marvelous display. Alicia had to admit that she seldom met people so virtuous with a gun without looking at herself in the mirror.

Ten clapped. – “That was something else a’ight! You think you can do any better, Ali?”

Alicia just scoffed, being offended by the question itself.

Laney walked away from the field and towards her. – “Good luck mummy girl, try and beat that!”

“…Just watch.”

Alicia walked towards the circuit, once she stood at the starting line she took moment to stretch her legs, hips and give a few turns to her healthy shoulder. She had placed a spare mag under her belt, a decision that seemed to puzzle the judges because there was no way she’d be able to reload on the move with just one hand. She had the support of the table in the last round, but this time she wouldn’t have such a crutch.

“I think this might be the end of our newcomer.” – Said one of the judges. – “Who the hell competes in a shooting contest while recovering from injuries anyway?”

But alas, the contest had to continue, they’d make sure to review their terms to participate next year.

For now, all they had to do was to watch this stranger fumble and move on, giving the prize to Laney, who everyone expected to win if Winston was unable to anyway.

Or at least, that’s what all of them thought.

“Alright, are you ready?” – Asked Tony to Alicia, she just nodded.

Everyone could feel it, from the oldest to the youngest spectator in the crowd, Hector could feel it, it had become a familiar feeling. The judges felt it, and all the other contestants did as well, but only one of them knew what it was.

The wind stopped blowing, the clouds followed their course. Alicia could feel the tickles in her palm, eager to hold the gun once again. Her feet were prepared to bounce, her shoulders were light.

Alicia had turned off her switch, it had been an entire day since she last did it, but for her that was a very long time.

“Begin!” – The bell rang and everyone saw as Alicia charged forward as if she was running on the track field instead of participating in a shooting contest.

The first target hadn’t finished coming up and Alicia was already aiming at the point where the head was going to be. Once it was fully up, Alicia nailed a bullet on it, straight in the frown, and she kept charging forward.

The two targets behind the civilians, two headshots, just like Laney. Both the contestants and the crowd noticed something unusual, it was the way Alicia was holding the gun, that wasn’t an orthodox pose, she was aiming down from her chest during the first shot and then she raised the gun up to her nose in the second shot, none of them had ever seen a technique like that before.

That was to be expected, it was a brand-new system that was yet to be known around the world. Alicia was certain that the Center Axis Relock system would become popular in the future, but for now she was only one of few people that got to learn it and dominate it.

She kept rushing forward, the two terrorists side by side were coming next. Right there and then, Alicia surprised everyone once more.

If you blinked you would have missed it, Alicia moved so fast it was almost imperceivable. She first shot the one to her right and while taking advantage of her kinetic energy she kept moving her arm up, bent it over her neck and shot at the target on her left, straight in the head. An audible “Jesus Christ!” was heard among the crowd, Alicia kept moving forward.

Laney felt something similar to Winston while watching Alicia, or rather, Sofia rush through the circuit and demolish the targets with such precision, using a technique that she would have never been able to think of. She was certain that Sofia was not a normal person, someone her age shouldn’t be this coordinate, much less so virtuous with a gun.

She raised her hand up to her mouth and narrowed her glare. She wanted to know more about Sofia Rieper.

Alicia kept shooting targets until she heard that damned click from her gun. This was the moment the judges were waiting for. They were all wondering what she was going to do, how would she reload in this moment where speed and coordination matter the most? How would she compensate the absence of her left arm when she had nothing around her to work as a crutch?

Once again, it was almost as if she was a magician of sorts; a magician of guns.

Alicia turned on her feet, doing a complete 360 degrees turn, leaning forward slightly, dropping the empty mag to the ground, then she pushed the mag in her belt upwards and caught it with the pistol as it ascended, getting it through the empty space; the gun was reloaded successfully.

Everyone’s jaws dropped, Hector laughed, everyone felt as if they were mere extras in a Hollywood movie where all logic and reason had been thrown out the window during the first thirty minutes of the film.

However, there was a person within the contestants that was not surprised about this development at all, yet found entertaining watching Alicia in action; he wanted to get an estimate of how serious and how dexterous she was.

Finally, after a dozen marked targets, she arrived at the end of the circuit where she would be surrounded by targets on all angles. All cards were on the table at this point, no one knew what was going to happen. How would Sofia surprise them this time?

“(Batter up scumbags.)” – Alicia took a deep breath and aimed the gun from her chest. Time came down to a grinding halt as she took note of the location of every single target before they finished coming up, marking them with her eyes. Once she was done, time continued its course and when all targets were up, Alicia took them down, shooting first the 4 in front of her then spinning on her feet and nailing three behind her.

What about the last one? the last one warranted time to stop once again. That was not a mere tin target anymore, it had transformed into something else.

The inanimate target had transformed into a soldier, or at least what remained of the upper half of it. It was one of those fighters she and the Rangers encountered in Afghanistan. His eye sockets were empty, only darkness could be seen inside, his uniform was ragged and bloodstained, one of his hands was completely missing, probably because of an explosive, while the other held a bent AK-47 from its belt.

A pitch-black liquid leaked from his mouth. He had no eyes, but she could feel how he stared at her, it was a glare full of hate.

“Don’t you feel nostalgic, demon?” – Asked the specter. – “Shooting that gun at objects that represent armed threats, I’m sure you miss the real thing.” – He tilted his head to the right. – “Everyone’s fiddling their thumbs, waiting for the time you finally come down here with us, so we can all get even.” – The specter showed its black and dirty smile. – “When we get our hands on you, we are going to take turns. You’ll be everyone’s wife, you’ll learn to like it with time…you’ll have an eternity to do s-”

Alicia blew whatever brains it had apart with her gun, and he turned back into a target made out of tin. Time ran its course once again. The bell rang once more, snapping Alicia back to reality.

“It’s over!” – Said Tony, everyone in the crowd cheered and clapped, her performance was a sight to behold. – “And this marks the end of the pistols’ bracket, congratulations to our beautiful contestants for showing us such an awesome display of gunslinging skills! You can all return to your seats! Next up, we’ve got the final round of the shotguns bracket, we’ll start in twenty minutes.”

Alicia walked back and plummeted on her seat, keeping her head low.

“Wow, what the hell happened? Are you okay Ali?”

“(…Being visited by ghosts again.)”

“What!?”

“That was amazing, Sofia!!” – Said Hector running up to her. – “That was incredible! Where the hell did you learn those moves?”

For the first time in her life, Alicia would go the extra mile in order to save herself further inconveniences and put on a mask.

“Trade secret.” – She said, showing a small but humble smile and looking from the sideline, showing how tiring running the circuit was. – “But you’ll hear from it soon enough.”

“Really now? Alright then.” – Said Hector. – “With your performance I’m sure you’ll win the prize with no worries! Just wait until the other categories are finished.”

“Alright.” – Alicia’s stomach growled. – “Is there anything to eat around here?”

“Of course.” – Hector pointed at the buffet to the right, past the judges’ table. – “We have sandwiches, drinks and some other things.”

“Thanks, I’ll go grab something.”

Alicia got up from her seat and approached the table with the sandwiches.

“Just wow.” – Said a voice right behind her. – “So, you saying that an aussie womanizer taught you how to shoot like that?”

It was Laney again; it was time for Ten to take control of the situation once more.

“Nah, he was good, but he lacked the imagination to come up with what I came up with. That’s my groove, ya’ know, I’m pretty sure only I can pull the antics I pull.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” – Said Laney, she took off her cap and held it in her hands. – “I’d really like to learn to that stuff. It was so impressive…you must have worked hard to be able to dominate those skills.”

Alicia averted her gaze, feeling something that she wasn’t used to feeling, she seldom heard compliments like those thrown at her. – “Heh, well, I mean…kinda, yeah? I didn’t learn it from one day to another if that’s what you mean.”

“Yeah. You know, I love shooting.” – Said Laney, clutching at the cap in her hands. – “I’ve always wanted to improve myself with a gun, and what you showed me, what you showed us today, is a completely new level of skill, everyone is impressed. So please, I think that this is something that should be shared with others. So please, I’d like to learn.”

“Hah, don’t worry about it girl, what you saw is a new system that is being developed, so you’ll hear from it soon enough.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and in any case, what I did is merely trick shooting…I can teach you a thing or two but there must be money in between ye’ know?”

“(I never agreed to this.)”

“Well of course I can pay you!” – Said Laney. – “I have a job, so of course I can pay.”

“Great, I’m staying with Hector so come hang out whenev’ you can and I’ll teach ya’ a few things.”

Laney jumped with excitement, she shook Alicia’s hand and walked away. Alicia was sure that she could learn to pull off some of the tricks she had performed during the contest semi-competently, assuming that they actually went through with training her for a while.

In any case, Alicia grabbed a sandwich, and since there was not much else to do, she decided to watch the contest.

During the shotgun’s bracket, they were skeet shooting, nailing the clay pigeons as they elevated in the air, destroying them with a cloud of pellets. The shooters weren’t half bad, they probably had a lot of practice, and even with a shotgun, it’s not easy to aim at the right place to destroy a target midair, Alicia would know.

In the end the winner was a man with a gray beard and a beer gut, but Alicia would recognize that he was pretty adept with the Remington he was using. He opened a beer in celebration.

Now it was time for the final round with the snipers, for this everyone had to move to the open field, they had prepared a special challenge for this occasion. Alicia followed the crowd as they walked through a trail in the middle of the trees, she saw a few signs that said “private property”, it would certainly be bad if someone crossed this area while people were doing some target practice.

They arrived at an open field that had to be at least one kilometer long, there were a few rows of targets lined up across the field next to signs that indicated the distance.

“Now everyone, pay attention, this is the final round of the tournament.” – Said Tony. – “Our snipers are going to take position over the small hill right here.” – He pointed to his left, showing the crowd a small pile of dirt they could use to support themselves while shooting. – “The rules are simple, their objective is to hit the targets located at 218 yards, 650 yards and 870 yards. They will only shoot three times, the closer the bullet hits to the center means more points, and the one with more points wins the round, both of them will have two turns. Now, let us begin!” – He turned towards one of the contestants. – “You’ll go first, Mr. Crowley.”

That man named Crowley had a good physique and shaved face, Alicia suspected that he had to be a soldier or at least part of law enforcement. He took position over the hill, his form was impeccable, he certainly had experience and knew what he was doing.

He had good pulse as well, he held his breath as he made the first shot, then pulled the bolt back to release the used cartridge and in once again. Second shot, that one seemed good too.

Alicia herself preferred new semi-automatic models, they saved a lot of time by not having the need of bolt, but there was a certain appeal to it.

Once he made the third shot, the crowd applauded, now it was the turn of his opponent.

The moment Alicia set her eyes on him she knew something was wrong.

A scent reached her nose, but it wasn’t necessarily the scent of a corrupted soul. No, this one didn’t smell like a delicious Christmas meal. It was blood, the scent all assassins carry.

His feet made no noise as he walked and he confidently laid down on the hill, he got into position as if it was second nature to him at this point and got prepared to shoot.

“Ohhh we got another odd one here.”

“(I don’t like this at all.)”

He took more time to shoot than his opponent, and the people were starting to get confused, and then restless, but the moment someone was going to question what he was doing, he made the first shot, pulled the bolt back with utmost speed and made the second shot, and the third shot just as fast.

People didn’t know what to think but they clapped anyway.

He got up from his position and walked back to his seat, he turned towards Alicia for a moment and their glares locked into each other.

For a mere instant, the world around them ceased to exist, their wills overlapped with each other for the two of them had the same intention, to send a shock to the other, an image of one getting bested by the other in a mere second.

As a result, the sniper pulled up his rifle and Alicia raised up her gun, and then they realized none of them could take the shot, the two of them were too strong for there to be a decisive winner, at least under these circumstances.

However, for the people around them, none of this happened and it was just a mere passing moment. His opponent took position once again and looked through the scope. His pupils dilated when he saw that the three shots his rival took, they all hit in the center of the targets without fail according to the people down on the field placing markers where the bullets had landed. The red ones were for him, and the blue ones for his opponent, and the blue ones were all placed in the dead center.

“I think we already know who’s gonna win this round, eh Ali?”

“(…He knows me. He knows who I am.)” – She thought, the way she looked at her and the way he reacted was all a dead giveaway. It was very likely that after leaving this place, that man would wait for an opportunity to strike and assassinate her.

“Oh…shit…then, does that mean…?”

“(Yeah, and there has to be more of them.)”

It seemed like the fun, peace and quiet were about to come to an end, both Alicia and Ten knew this, so Alicia would make sure to enjoy these last few moments, and whatever happens next, because what came after implied leaving it all behind.

As expected, that mysterious man won the sniping competition and with a clear advantage, the connoisseurs in the crowd were in awe at this man’s supernatural precision.

Finally, it was time to bring the contest to a close, it had been an afternoon full of fun and surprises, and now they had to reward the best for their efforts.

Tony handed Alicia a Flecktarn camo jacket that fit her just right and some money, which was always appreciated.

The crowd applauded the winners, many people asked Hector about who she was and where she had come from. Fortunately, he kept the story straight: she was the daughter of a friend that is overseas, and sent her there to hang around and relax.

She couldn’t believe someone like him or Jane existed at first, but now she was convinced that they were simply exceptions to how people usually are. She was very fortunate to have stumbled upon their care and attention; this made her wonder if maybe whoever is looking at her from above doesn’t hate her as much as she thought.

Alicia watched as the sniper walked away after receiving his prize, posing his rifle over his shoulder. The way he carried himself, his scent, everything about him helped her determine that he was a professional, just as much as her, and that he probably was in the town to collect the bounty on her head.

That was to be expected, Alicia had completely forgotten about that. She was gonna beat herself up for forgetting such an obvious detail, but she realized that there were more important matters at hand.

Now having won her prize and impressed dozens of people with her skills, after having so much fun and met such wonderful people, it was time to move on.

She never belonged to their world anyway.

After leaving the shooting range and avoiding the questions of many people in the premises, Alicia and Hector headed to a local diner to have a meal, he was certain that a simple sandwich wouldn’t cut it for Alicia’s appetite.

They asked for steaks, fries and lemonade, after receiving their order the waiter walked to the kitchen to give the order to the cooks.

“You certainly managed to surprise at every turn of the event, Sofia. I didn’t think any of the things you did were even possible.”

Alicia straightened her back and held her head high. –“It was the expected outcome.”

“I thought you were a little too overconfident, but I guess there was a reason for you to be like that.”

“This is what I’m best at, I have no reason to pretend it’s otherwise.” – She took off the belt that Hector had given her, along with the gun. – “I think this is yours.”

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I’m gonna have to put this one up for exhibition next to a sign: “The 1911 used by Sofia Rieper”, I’m pretty sure it’ll add value to the shop. Such an spectacle is rarely forgotten around these parts.”

“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that but I guess there’s no helping it.”

“Don’t pretend to be modest…Butcher, I know for a fact you kind of like it when people call you like that even if you do your best effort to pretend you don’t.”

“(I like it when it’s in the mouths of those that have a reason to dislike that name.)”

“Seeing your moves like, I’d like to believe that you don’t really use them for eh…well, that might be a tad too sensible topic, right?”

“…That’s not everything I know. I have a few things up my sleeve.” – She said. – “And I’ll abstain from making comments on that matter.”

“Yeah, it’s better like that.” – He looked at his right for a moment, towards the counter, right behind it there was a window that could let you see through to the kitchen. There was the cook, preparing their orders, he was a big, muscular man that he had never seen before. He wondered what had happened with Jeffrey, the cook he was used to seeing working there. – “You might think this might sound ridiculous, but I was thinking that maybe there was a way to help you to settle down here for good.”

Alicia averted her gaze, having an uncomfortable feeling pile up in her heart.

“I’m serious, I think you’d like it here.” – He said. – “You could keep working in shop, I’d even pay you, people would get used to seeing you around in no time. Besides, Jane and Paul love your cooking, you’ve got a good hand. And, once your arm has healed, we can look into getting you in more competition, I could tell you really liked this one.”

“He’s got your number, Ali!”

“Besides…whatever you were intending to do where you were going…it doesn’t seem to be that urgent to you now.”

Alicia meditated for a few minutes until she was snapped back to reality by the arrival of the waiter.

“Sorry for the delay, here’s your food!” – Said the waiter, he too was an unfamiliar face for Hector, maybe Jerry, the owner of the diner, actually got around to hiring more staff to take over the shifts of the others.

A steak accompanied by some French fries and lemonade, it all seemed so delicious. The waiter walked away, ignoring the fact that he had committed a grave mistake.

Alicia noticed the bubbles raising up to the surface inside the glass of lemonade.

“(…Poison huh?)” – Alicia sighed.

“Something wrong, Sofia?”

“…Hector…I…thank you.” – She said. – “…After these few days going around and just relaxing, having fun…for a single moment I too considered staying. Find my own spot and just…be something else than what I currently am now.”

“Y-yeah that’s what I mean, so…”

“…But it seems that is not meant to be.”- She said, and Ten saw something unusual happen in that very instant. Alicia, she was feeling ashamed of herself. – “…I made a mistake.”

“A mistake? What?”

“I forgot that someone like me is not allowed to settle down, someone will always come to ruin it all.”

“What do you mean?”

Alicia pointed at the kitchen and looked down.

“Wait…they…so you mean…?”

“This glass…” – She held the glass with what pretended to be lemonade. – “It’s full of poison…they’ll try something else the moment they realize something is up.” – She looked over Hector, towards the exit, someone had flipped the sign that said “We’re open” so people thought that Jerry had closed the diner for the day. – “They even isolated us.” – She inhaled and managed to catch the scent of those that were hiding, there was someone in the bathroom, probably waiting to attack if any of them tried to hide in there or just get up to use it. – “There’s another in the bathroom, and you can assume the waiter and the cook are in it too.”

“Ar-are you serious? What the hell are you talking about Sofia? I can’t believe it.”

“You know why I insisted in sitting here, in a table away from the windows?” – She asked. – “Because there’s another one out there, the sniper that won the sniper’s category, he’s waiting to blow my or your brains out with that rifle, over a rooftop, not sure which.”

“Sofia…you are scaring me…”

It was time to stop pretending. Alicia took her arm out of the sling and let the bandages loose, showing Hector that, after all, it was all a façade.

“…Yeah, that’s to be expected.” – She said. – “…Even if we weren’t under these circumstances, even then, I wouldn’t be able to stay. I would only cause a lot of trouble…I can’t help myself. I’ve still got promises yet to fulfill.”

“Promises?”

“Listen…if it was up to me, I would’ve just lied down and died next to the road…but despite everything common sense says, your wife saved me…she shouldn’t have, but she did…and you people included me in your lives just like that, without even questioning if I was someone worthy of such confidence…for that, I’m really thankful, you people taught me new things.” – She put her hands together over the table, showing Hector her scarred arms. – “You showed that there are some people that are indeed better.”

“Sofia…”

“But I would be irresponsible if I put you in danger only to hold onto a sense of tranquility.” – She concluded.

“…Do you…do you need the gun?” – Asked Hector, resigning to this unexpected and bitter result.

“I don’t need it, don’t want you or anything from you to get involved in this. I can handle it. But there’s something you must do.”

“What is it?”

“I want you to call the waiter, I’ll take care of things from there. Once it begins, I want you to hide behind a table and wait for the big guy to come out, then run to the exit through the kitchen., you’ll escape safe and sound that way. Afterwards, I want you to hide wherever you think you’ll be safest.”

“You are going to face them alone?”

“It’s what I do best.” – Another thing Ten wasn’t used to seeing: Alicia smiled, it was a small and even bittersweet smile, and yet such a rare sight to behold whenever it was Alicia who was at the front.

Hector was at a loss of words, it was all very sudden, but by the way she was looking at him, those focused yet saddened eyes, he knew that he had to focus if he wanted everything to end right.

This was Alicia’s way of saying goodbye, and he accepted that.

“Alright…then I guess this is it…good luck, Sofia.”

“I’ll leave this town today…but not before I repay everyone’s kindness the way I know best.”

“What?”

“Call the waiter, he might be getting edgy now.”

Luis and his crew had arrived at the town the day before, and even though the town wasn’t that big, they had the suspicion that they’d have to hang around the area for a few days before they managed to spot the target, so they dedicated themselves to look around, take note of points of interests and places from which Carl could shoot, and similar orders to cover all approaches to assassinating their target. When a job was about hunting another professional like them, they didn’t have the privilege of skipping over proper procedure, they had to be meticulous, otherwise the risk of winding up dead was higher.

According to her profile, Butcher was an A-grade assassin, meaning that she could give them a tough fight if they went for a direct approach; it was best to avoid direct confrontation and to kill her without allowing her to know what hit her.

The following day after setting up in the town in a motel, Carl had heard about a shooting competition and he felt the urge to show off his superior skills to the weak and unexperienced civvies that lived there. Luis tried to persuade him to keep a low profile, but when shooting and show how superior he was to other snipers was about, Carl just couldn’t help himself.

Later that day, he called Luis to inform them that he had spotted the target accompanied by a civilian and that they heard him mention going to a diner a few blocks away from their base of operations. He was going to follow them and that they’d better get there and take the opportunity.

So without wasting a second they headed down to the diner, forced their entrance through the alley door, Kalina and Igor knocked out the staff and the manager and stole some uniforms.

“I’m gonna prepare a meal so delicious it’s gonna be to die for.” – Said Kalina. – “Now let’s wait for them to arrive.”

Just like Carl said, Alicia and some adult male stepped into the restaurant. Kalina took care of welcoming them and then flip the sign on the door to deter more people from coming in; they didn’t want any witnesses if they could help it.

Alicia and the man sat in a table away from the windows, Luis wondered if this was deliberate and knew something was up. However, if they knew, they wouldn’t be hanging around in a diner.

Luis played his role as a waiter and received their order, once done with that, they prepared their orders and spiked the drinks with a poison that would kill her on the spot in a matter of seconds, that way they could confirm the kill and leave the scene with no one to oppose them.

However, something seemed to be wrong. Luis couldn’t hear them from his position because they were whispering, but it seemed like they were talking about a serious matter. Then she took her arm out of the sling hanging around her neck, catching Luis off guard. She wasn’t wounded at all, it was all a façade, and it seemed like the man with her didn’t know either. So many questions in such a short time.

Then she leaned back on his seat, and the man in front of her raised his voice. – “Eh…w-waiter, c-c-can you for a sec?”

“(Something’s wrong.)” – Thought Luis, his instincts hadn’t failed him up to this point, in fact, he had come out of many dangerous situations thanks to his instinct, and they were telling him he had to be prepared for the worst.

Every step he took forward cemented that feeling that the plan had been derailed. He posed his eyes on her, she had crossed her arms and was looking down to the ground, and every step he took closer to the table he could feel a particular pressure, an energy that seemed to push him away, but he still charged forward.

“(She knows.)” – Luis focused, thought about all the outcomes in this situation.

Maybe he still could pretend he was just a waiter, listen to whatever the civilian had to say and just carry on and wait for her to consume the poison or just leave so Carl could blow her brains out. In the worst case scenario she’d wait for him to turn his back and snap his neck. Death.

In that case, he could approach subtly, whip out the knife under his sleeve and slice her neck and stab the man in the heart, then dispose of the bodies and be on their merry way.

When he was three steps away from the table, he knew he had to make a decision, and with a closer look on her, he didn’t even see her as a human anymore, but as a sword ready to be released and slash with might and finesse.

Out of the two options, there was only a real one. He made his decision.

“Is there any problem sir…?” – He said once he was within attack distance.

“Well, you see…”- Said Hector who was thinking about something to say, but Luis wouldn’t give him time to complete that sentence.

Luis pulled the knife from under his sleeve and attacked Alicia. He could already see himself slicing her throat and then continuing with that man.

But his imagination didn’t correspond with what actually happened.

Alicia grabbed his hand, snapped his wrist out of its place and punched his head through the table, crushing it into the ground.

“Luis!” – Kalina jumped on the tables and attacked Alicia, throwing two knives at her that she shoved away with a roundhouse. Kalina closed the distanced and tried to stab her Alicia, but Alicia grabbed her arm, bent it, hit her stomach with her knee and bashed her into the ground.

She was about to finish her off when the big man rushed at her and punched her in the chest, bashing her through the wall made out of wood.

Igor stopped to take a look at Luis and see if he was still alive or not.

“Luis! Luis, can you hear me!?”

“I-idiot, get her!” – He said, regaining consciousness momentarily. Igor stepped over the destroyed table and looked out, there were people around staring at the scene, unsure of what was happening.

He looked down to the pavement, only to find that Alicia had disappeared.

“Fuck.” – He whispered. – “Get up, we have to get out of here.”

“Don’t tell me she got away…” – Said Luis as he tried to get up, feeling as if his head was about to split apart. – “Damn, she hits fucking hard.”

“I’m gonna get that fucking bitch.” – Said Kalina, feeling her blood boil. She had never been bested in such a humiliating way. She grabbed her intercom and contacted Carl. – “Carl, did you see her?”

“She’s fucking fast, I’ll give her that.” – Said Carl. – “She bounced back up the moment she hit the ground and dashed away.”

“What about the civvie?” – Asked Luis. Hector had already disappeared through the backdoor as indicated by Alicia. –“Fucking dammit, this job has taken a turn for the worse. Let’s get out of here before the cops show up.”

Luis’ crew abandoned the area just as fast how they came in. Hector had escaped safely and would make sure to rush back home and reunite with his family.

Meanwhile, Alicia was lying down on a nearby rooftop, looking up to the grand blue sky above, holding onto her arms after receiving such a powerful impact.

“(…They must’ve sent them after their regular troopers failed at stopping me.)”

“You gotta hire the best to kill the best.”

“(I wouldn’t call them the best though.)” – She placed her hands over her chest. – “(It was a nice try though.)”

“So we are gonna skip town?”

“(Not yet…)” – Alicia sat down. – “(Remember what I said. I intend to thank Hector and his family for what they’ve done for me.)”

“So you mean…?”

“(…This town has its own share of rot.)” – Her muscles tensed up. – “(If I can help it, I wish to get rid of it.)”

“That’ll take some time though, and we’d get the attention of the assholes coming after us.”

“(No, remember, there’s a way.)”

Ten gasped, she knew exactly what she meant.

“Ali, no! it’s too dangerous. Last time we did it you almost lost yourself entirely.”

“(I have improved since then. I’m sure…I’m certain that I can handle it, at least for a few hours.)”

“Are you absolutely sure that you can do this?”

“(If I want to do this, it’s my best bet. Otherwise, we’ll end up worse for wear.)”

Ten opposed the idea, not only because it was very dangerous but because last time they did it they left a huge mess behind that was very hard to fix.

However, judging by the position they were in, and the quality of the people that were after her, and of course, the fact that it was nigh impossible to get Alicia to abandon an idea once she thinks about it, there was no other choice but to try what she had in mind.

“…Fine, but if I notice you start to slip, I’m breaking it up!”

“(Fair enough, but I can handle it, I swear.)”

“Yeah, whatever you say, whatever allows you to sleep at night and all of that shit.”

Alicia would wait for the sun to set on that rooftop, trying to remain hidden to the best of her capabilities.

Once the sun settled and night was arriving, Alicia took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“(Hey…)” – She spoke into the void, calling for Crimson. – “(…You want to eat, right? Come on up, we are doing it again. I’m sure you’ll find it fun.)”

It answered the call and reached for their space.

“(We all want the same thing…yet we are so different. It’s in these moments where we become one and the same that…I actually feel so afraid of myself.)”

This was a very exhausting and dangerous state to be in, at least for Alicia, and if she didn’t do her best to keep herself focused, it would be easy for her to fade away into her own mind and her body would collapse entirely.

But as long as everything went smoothly, Alicia would be able to harness a strength and skill far greater than the one she could use while simply borrowing the energy from the spirit itself.

Her scars tingle and look like they are about to burst, but the skin stops moving, and instead glow with a bright crimson red, from her face to her arms, a red glow envelopes Alicia before fading away.

She takes a deep breath and smells them in an instant.

That place, that town, was a bigger buffet than she had expected. A turkey here, a turkey there, a whole steak in the horizon. She was exalted, that town was drowning with deviants of all shapes and sizes.

She had only been capable of smelling them recently, but now that she did, Alicia understood why Crimson insisted in her being able to smell them.

Alicia drooled and lost her balance for a moment, but quickly regained her composure.

“[Right…]” – In that very moment Alicia, Ten and Crimson were all one and the same. – “[…It’s dinner time.]”