An hour passed; the sun was on its high point. It would be more reasonable to assault a slaver’s complex during the night, but Alicia wasn’t feeling very reasonable; day or night, it was all the same to her.
“By now, that old bastard must be getting the feeling there’s something wrong.” -Said Ten. As a CIA agent, he had to be a well-prepared individual for all sorts of eventualities, so she didn’t doubt he would have a plan to fight an assassin of her caliber, or at least that is what she wanted to think.
“(Let’s hope he doesn’t disappoint us.)”
“If he does, make sure to ask Kirsten for a bonus when we are done for wasting our time.”
Finally, she could see the complex on the horizon, it looked like a regular post and shipping complex on the outside, but just like that slaughterhouse, it hid a lot of dark secrets in its entrails.
“We are almost there.” -He said. – “What am I supposed to do once we get there?”
“Just do as you are told, park the truck inside, and let me do the rest.” -She said as she prepared her rifle.
“But what if they kill me!?” -He asked, but she didn’t respond, when the driver turned to look at her, she had disappeared. – “What the fuck!?”
He was completely overwhelmed by the situation, but he had no other choice but to do as she said. For an instant, he thought of following her advice, turn around and run away, but given the circumstances, and knowing what she was capable of, it was already too late to take the reigns of his own destiny.
The trucker had been afraid of sicarios ever since he was a child, but then he realized that there were some sicarios that defied all human logic with what they were capable of.
The guards allowed him through the gate with the truck, they were dressed as regular security guards but it jumped to the sight that they were armed with M4 assault rifles, a weird kind of weapon for a mere security guard of a post and shipping company.
They opened the loading dock for him to park the truck. Once inside he was hurried to get out of the vehicle by two men also armed with assault rifles. It was quite obvious they were jumpy and highly suspicious of him.
“I-I brought the shipment.” -Said the driver, but the thugs didn’t care about the shipment anymore.
“Why is no one answering at the slaughterhouse!?” -One of them asked. –“Why aren’t they picking up the phone!?”
“I have no idea what you…”
“Answer us!” -They aimed their guns at him. –“What’s going on!? Else we’ll…”
Suddenly, the head of the guard by his side exploded and then his own head too, staining the driver’s face with the blood of both of them.
“Oh God! Aaaaaah…!” -The trucker jumped backwards, covering his face with trembling hands. He turned around and spotted Alicia with her rifle atop of the truck, she had executed them in a fraction of a second, something the trucker didn’t know was even possible.
She heard the two guards from outside rushing towards the door. She quickly jumped off the truck and waited for them next to the entrance.
As the door slid open and they ran in, Alicia aimed up to shoot one through the head and hit the one right next to him at the same time.
She pulled the trigger and the bullet pierced right through the first one’s jaw, sending him to the ground, and the bulled fled past and hit the other one through the brain, killing him instantly.
The one that hit the ground first had survived and was trying to pull himself together, endure the pain and grab his rifle again.
“Yegh Fahcjking who…!” -But Alicia doubled tapped him before he could raise the rifle towards her.
“Don’t lose it now.” -She said to the trucker. – “I want you to keep an eye on the truck. If you leave, I’ll track you down. I’ll go ahead and finish this.”
“What the fuck is going!?” -A voice echoed behind the storage’s door. Three men stormed through it and were received by Alicia’s gunfire, hit in the center of mass for an instant death, the three of them fell almost at the same time.
The alarms blared through the complex, now everyone knew they were being attacked. Alicia quickly reloaded her rifle and walked towards the door they came through.
“Find a place to hide, and don’t let anyone get near that truck!” -She ordered him.
“How am I supposed to do that!?” -He asked, his legs were shaking and about to give in, just like his bladder.
“Look at all the fucking guns on the ground, use them!” -She told him as she walked down the hallway. Her guns were ready, and so was she.
“You are placing a lot of faith in that civvie.” -Critiqued Ten, in her place, she would’ve disposed of that man a long time ago.
“(It’s the best choice I’ve got…)” -She responded, and then focused on the action onwards, and just like she expected, Schmidt would actually prove to be a challenge worth taking on.
The lights suddenly went off, sinking the entire building in absolute darkness, the windows in the upper floors were covered with thick blankets that didn’t let the sunlight in, the exit doors were closed shut with an electronic lock.
The speakers’ system turned on with a blaring static noise.
“You must be the killer we were warned about. Welcome, we have been expecting you.”
“Warned!? Motherfucker…someone ratted out on us!”
“Your employers were foolish to go up against us, and you were even more foolish than them by taking up this job.” -He said. – “You are not only going up against a mere cartel. You are going up against the government of the United States.”
It seemed like the commander wasn’t exaggerating when he said that the US had their hands in most of these dark enterprises.
“I can only assume you attacked the slaughterhouse. Be aware, unlike the scum you found in that place, we do know how to play this game.”
Alicia could hear a dozen footsteps echoing through the corridors. Having received the warning, Schmidt called up his most experienced and competent men to protect the facility. Dangerous, disciplined and trained ruthlessly, they were Schmidt’s boogeymen.
“You’ve made a grave mistake by coming here.” -He said. – “There’re places in this world that no assassin, no matter how lethal, must set their foot in. By attacking this facility, you have compromised your career as a contract killer. After all, what is a professional killer with no one to hire him? A waste of space and training, simple as. So let me do you a favor, and allow me to put you out of your misery. Have a nice death.”
Her eyes would take some time to get used to the pitch-black darkness, but she didn’t have the privilege of time.
Alicia put her rifle in her back and took out her right hand pistol, she closed her eyes and advanced slowly through the corridor, allowing her senses to guide her through the darkness.
“That old man surely knows how to entertain his guests!”
“(It would be more exciting if he was the one stalking us.)”
“Nah, he’s too old now. Old men are only good at giving orders!”
“(We’ve met many like that.)”
“Engaging!” -She heard a voice at the front and quickly hit the ground, feeling as a burst of bullets flew above her. Once on the ground she aimed forward and pulled the trigger twice, hitting the boogeyman in the chest, the sound of his body dropping to the ground signaled her about her successful kill.
Alicia stood up and approached the corpse. Suddenly, she sensed someone coming from the right. A boogeyman was rushing at her, wielding a combat knife.
She evaded the first swing of the knife and used her free hand to unsheathe her own blade. Alicia sliced his biceps in half, forcing him to drop his knife. The boogeyman, overcoming the stinging and cold pain rushing through his body, used his healthy hand to grab his backup gun.
Once again, she managed to evade the bullet, stepped on his right leg, forcing him to kneel and finished him off plunging the blade into his neck.
“He would’ve had better chances if he had just shot you.”
“(Guess he wanted to show off.)”
She took one of the corpses’ NV goggles and put them on, now the darkness wasn’t an impediment.
“My source told me I would be facing none other than the legendary Butcher.” -Schmidt turned on the speakers again. – “You made our work almost impossible back there in Iraq, now the higher ups don’t really have much interest in that piece of dirt anymore. I also always thought that “The Butcher” would be some rugged up rogue ranger, but what you truly are…for a moment I thought they were trying to pull my leg.”
Alicia kept advancing, she met with another closed door. She took cover on the wall next to it and opened it slightly. A barrage of bullets pierced through the door. She stayed put, trying to be as close to the wall as possible until the bullet storm stopped, a few of them had managed to graze her arm and leg.
“Be careful, throw a grenade in.” -Said one of the boogeymen. Meanwhile, Schmidt kept on monologuing.
“I can’t believe some of our best assets were taken down by a little girl, it makes me ashamed on behalf of everyone you massacred in that desert. You delayed our plans in that region almost indefinitely, we may not see any progress at all in a few decades.”
A frag grenade fell next to the door, Alicia ran away as it got blown apart. She took cover on the hallway’s corner watching as a bunch of lasers aimed through the corridor, behind the smoke wall that had been risen by the blast.
“It would be useless to pretend I’m better than you. At this point, I may have killed more children than you men. I guess that makes you stronger and more lethal than me, but that’s what these soldiers are for.”
Alicia peeked out of the cover and nailed one in the head, the rest opened fire in retaliation. She shot at them peeking the gun out of the corner and hoping for the best, luckily managing to hit one in the shoulder and one in the leg, the last one had stopped to reload, this gave Alicia an opening to come out of her cover and unload the mag on them, managing to kill the wounded boogeyman while the last one took cover.
“As far as I know, some of these soldiers have personal grievances with you, you may have killed their brothers, sisters, girlfriends, boyfriends and friends all those years ago. I don’t exactly blame you; they were going to kill you if you didn’t kill them. But, what’s worth the life of a murderess like you in the grand scheme of things? You don’t provide, nor give, you just take and take and take, lives and money all the same.”
“Does he ever shut the fuck up?”
The last boogeyman rushed up to her while shooting on her cover to keep her suppressed, then stepped into her cover to gun her down, but she was already on the move before he even thought of pulling the trigger again.
Alicia slid in between his legs, cut the tendon on his right foot with the knife, pushing him forward with her left foot and shooting him in the back of the head.
For a moment she thought that those were all the men at Schmidt’s disposition, but then she heard another group of footsteps walking through the second floor. She didn’t waste a single moment and took one of the rifles on the ground along with a spare mag from one of the corpses.
Schmidt kept on talking to himself.
“I’ve met many killers, dealt, bargained with and hired them too. They were all singular and quirky in their own unique way. Some overtly educated, keeping a façade, others deranged and bloodthirsty beyond relief. Those latter types, despite what many great strategists may say, are the most dangerous, they don’t need a reason, they just do it. Killing is the goal and the reward, I envy them in a way. I do wonder if you are one of them…”
Alicia advanced through the corridor, arriving in a larger room with lots of pillars to take cover behind. She kept walking, approaching the next door at the bottom, until it was kicked open and a flashbang thrown in.
“(Well thought…)” -Alicia quickly hit the ground and looked away, the explosion of the flashbang stunned her ears, as it was expected, she approached a pillar right in front of her and took cover behind it.
The squad of boogeymen quickly rushed inside and opened fire on her position, taking spots meters apart from each other so she couldn’t pin them down all at once.
The pillar she hid behind was being reduced to rubble with every impact. This was an unsurmountable situation for a lone combatant, but she couldn’t allow herself to be overwhelmed by her odds. She quietened her train of thought, and Ten made sure to remain quiet too, because it was important for the survival of both of them that Alicia managed to get into her focused state.
Her senses heightened, she could now distinguish the smell of gunpowder from the smell of blood, she could also distinguish the booming of every firearm that was being shot at her, every pause, their fire rates, for how long they kept the trigger pulled before stopping.
Then, suddenly, a new sound joined the rumbling orchestra, the distinct click of an empty rifle. It was coming from her left side, in a corner, one of them had kept the trigger pulled longer than the others.
Alicia stopped focusing, turned left out of the cover and shot a burst of bullets towards the enemy, hitting him right over the armor plaque, piercing his neck, then she displaced her body’s weight further to her right, to evade the incoming fire from the others, and simply opened fire, fully automatic, spraying a hail of bullets on her opponents, dropping a couple of them while the other two took cover, she bounced back behind the pillar and reloaded.
“Fire in the hole!” -Said one of them before throwing one more grenade. He had cooked it up in anticipation so she wouldn’t get to throw it back on time, but her quick reaction allowed her to kick the grenade away.
The grenade exploded in the middle of the room, spraying shrapnel all over the place and raising up a lot of dust.
“This is the real deal, alright!”
“(You are enjoying this too much; you aren’t even doing anything.)” -She thought before peeking out of her cover and hitting one of them in the shoulder with a burst before he managed to hide behind a pillar.
“I hear all of that noise up there. You are really making my men work. I guess I spoiled them by making them deal with lesser people and other barely disciplined dregs. Would you be willing to reconsider your contract and think of a more lucrative opportunity?”
Alicia got distracted by his stupid proposal long enough for one of the boogeymen she assumed was already dead to get up and shoot at her with his pistol, hitting her over the shoulder and hip. As she fell to the ground, her will allowed her to redirect the rifle and pull the trigger to double tap the wounded boogeyman, finally killing him.
The other two boogeymen took that golden chance to get out of cover and open fire. The moment one of them peeked out of their hiding spot she killed him by shooting a burst of bullets straight through his skull, while the other managed to land three shots on her, piercing her other shoulder, left leg and her right arm.
She recoiled and trembled with pain, not before twisting around and shooting another hail of bullets, piercing both of his legs and sending him to the ground with her, she tried to finish him up, but realized the rifle had run out of bullets and he had sent his rifle away when he hit the ground.
Both of them hurried up to take out their pistols to finish up the other. The soldier was faster and opened fire, but she did her best to ignore the cold pain invading her body and roll to the right and end up lying on her back, evading the bullets. She took out her gun and executed her opponent with two shots to the head.
The room was finally cleared, but she hadn’t managed to come out of it unscathed, and worst yet, the job was far from done.
“Goddammit…” -She tried to get back up, but her body wasn’t collaborating, she saw as small dribbles of blood leaked out of her body
“This is worse than last time alright. Do you think we’ll be able to pull out of this one?”
“(I’m…not sure…)” -Alicia stared into the puddle of blood. There she could see the faces of people she wished she could forget. It seemed like people do bear grudges, even after they die; they were there to delight themselves with every second she spent in pain, they were there to witness how she bled out. However, she was determined to do her best to not give them that pleasure. –“(…We have to…improve our odds.)”
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She slowly but surely managed to get up from the ground, the bleeding wouldn’t stop no matter what. Her vision was becoming blurry. There was nothing left in that room aside from cartridges, blood and corpses, but knowing that they were expecting her, they surely must have some first aid equipment in case they were wounded rather than killed.
Before leaving the room, she heard one of their communicators activating.
“Here’s Schmidt. Squad 2, report. Come in, Squad 2, have you eliminated her yet? Squad 2, respond!”
She had to hurry up, certainly that couldn’t be the last she saw of them.
Alicia walked through the hallway from which they came from and walked up a set of stairs to the second floor. Schmidt confirmed they had failed he saw her walking up the stairs through the camera placed at the top.
The speakers activated once again. – “I see they just managed to rough you up a little, I suppose they weren’t entirely useless after all. Still, you are a tough one, but in your condition, I doubt you can survive this.”
She pushed through the door at the top of the staircase, finding a storage room with some beds and equipment she didn’t know how to use, it was probably the place where his team of boogeymen were staying at, awaiting her arrival.
At the bottom of the room she noticed a red bag, it was probably where they kept the medicine and bandages.
Alicia dragged her feet towards the bag, passing by a locker. Suddenly the locker opened, and a man wielding a revolver rushed out trying to finish her.
“Die you freak!”
She leaned backwards, barely evading the bullet that was aimed to hit her in the head. She proceeded to hit him in the stomach with her elbow, while her other arm controlled by Ten plunged the knife into him, disemboweling him and raising the knife upwards, slicing his heart in half. The man dropped the revolver before falling, dying over his own innards.
“Now you can’t say I didn’t do anything…” -Said Ten with a smug smile only Alicia could see. Alicia ignored her and reached out for the bag.
As expected, it was full of all sorts of stimulants, patches and bandages. Better yet, some of them were military grade. Alicia didn’t waste time and used her rough methods to patch herself up using stapples before using the bandages.
Meanwhile, Schmidt kept on taunting her over the radio.
“You committed a grave mistake coming here alone. No matter what, we will always win, because we possess all the power. Do not worry, when you die, I’ll make sure your corpse gets sold at a reasonable price, we’ll even fix it up. I have a couple of clients that, far from liking them young, they like them dead.”
“What a sick bastard…” -If she could help it, Ten wouldn’t ever let anyone lay a hand on her sister for those nefarious purposes, but she kept those thoughts for herself, because Alicia was too proudful to allow someone else to defend her if it ever came to that.
Alicia used a pair of tweezers to take out the bullets that were still ingrained on her shoulder and hip, then more stapples. Afterwards, she covered them with bandages. Still, the pain wouldn’t let her move freely, she needed something to relieve it. That’s when she remembered there was something inside the bag she hadn’t used yet.
“I guess we got no other choice. I know how much you detest needles, but we’ve got to-“
“I know…” -Interrupted Alicia. –“…I know…I’ll get over it, just this time.”
Alicia searched through the bag and grabbed a stimulant, the military grade one: Brutalin C. an adrenaline stimulant.
This was a tough situation for her, adrenaline is often injected through the thigh. Weirdly enough, even if Alicia was able to endure the pain of being shot, cut, punched and hit with all sorts of weapons and even using stapples to close up wounds in a hurry, she simply could not stand the idea of pinching herself with a needle for any reason; it brought a lot of old bad memories back to the surface.
“…Do you want me to do it for you?” -Ten knew she wouldn’t be able to get over her fear that easily, so she was always willing to give her a push in the right direction.
“(…Fine.)” -Alicia gave her the green light. Ten took control of her arm and gently plunged the needle through the fabric of her pants, into the skin, piercing the vein and injecting the compound into her bloodstream.
Once they were done, Alicia threw the needle away and waited for it to take effect.
“See? It wasn’t so bad. It doesn’t hurt as much as a bullet or a knife! You are just being silly.”
“You can’t judge me because I’m a minor!” -She said, imitating the voice of the typical child that would say something like that.
“Oh, you seem to be in a better mood now. It’s always so fascinating seeing you display the slightest hint of emotion beyond being angry all the time and bloodthirsty all the time.”
“You have been way too judgmental on me this week…” – The stim was starting to take effect. Alicia rose up from the ground and cracked her neck and shoulders. –“I don’t like depending on drugs…but I guess if I want to decapitate that bastard in the basement, I must cave in…”
“And you are back at being your usual self.”
“I don’t know what you want from me…” -That’s when Alicia felt the rush of the adrenaline. Her eyes dilated, she felt energetic, and her scars glowed with a crimson light. – “…This is who I am.”
Alicia grabbed her jacket and put it back on, then she heard a group of footsteps coming up the stairs, the third squad of boogeymen.
Alicia grabbed one of the grenades from the table next to her, pulled the pin and threw it through the door.
“Grenade!” -Yelled one of the agents and they hit the ground. One of them was caught by the explosion. She took that chance to ambush the others before they got back up and unloaded her pistols on them. the one in the front died while pulling the trigger and as he turned around because of the impact he received in the head, he ended up spraying bullets over his teammates before plummeting atop of them.
The bodies slid down to the bottom. Alicia grabbed one of the rifles that got left behind and opened fire on the mass of bodies that had accumulated there to double tap any survivors, having learned her lesson a few moments ago. Indeed, some of them were still alive, but now they wouldn’t have the chance to strike back.
Alicia walked over the pile of bodies back on the first floor. One of the boogeymen regained consciousness and grabbed her by the ankle, in a worthless effort to stop her. Alicia aimed at his head and finished him off. She discarded the rifle having run out of ammo.
“I guess this was inevitable.” -Said Schmidt. – “You haven’t gotten rusty at all. Those people lied to me.”
Alicia reloaded her pistols and walked down the corridors, heading towards the basement.
“I wonder who was the profligate that created you…” -Having said that, Schmidt shut down the speakers and didn’t say a word through them again. Both Ten and Alicia appreciated the silence.
Alicia found the access door to the basement and walked down the stairs. Halfway through she met with another enemy wielding a shotgun.
“Die!” -He screamed before shooting. Alicia evaded the pellets and shot the enemy in the neck. He fell forward holding onto his gaping wound over the rials and fell to the bottom, a three seconds descent. Alicia picked up his shotgun on the way down.
When she reached the bottom, she discovered that the man had fell on his head, an ultimately quick death.
“She’s here! Get her!” -Someone screamed through the basement, it would soon become a new killing floor.
Alicia cocked the shotgun and proceeded through the basement. Kicked open the door next to her, finding two men wearing white robes and latex gloves organizing some boxes.
One of them reached out for his gun, she instantly blew his brains apart with the shotgun, and the other she sent flying with another shot. A nurse appeared from a door to her left, charging at her with a scalpel. She evaded her swing, placed the cannon on her chest point blank and pulled the trigger, sending her away through the air.
“Woooooooooohhh! I love shotguns!”
Alicia pulled back having cleared the room, finding three armed men at the bottom of the corridor, they opened fire the moment they saw her.
“(Got no patience for this shit now.)” -Instead of taking cover inside the room, Alicia charged towards them, zigzagging through the corridor.
She shot at the one to her left crippling his left arm, making him stumble and fall to the ground. Shooting again she hit the one in the center on the chest. Once she was close enough, she hit the third one in the face with the butt of the shotgun, stunning him, then executed the one on the ground and finally placed the shotgun over her shoulder and killed the last one. his body slowly slid down the wall, the noise he made as he hit the ground confirmed the kill to her.
Alicia discarded the shotgun and rushed forward. Three more rooms full wearing robes and blue uniforms, as if they were a hospital’s personnel. She assaulted every room and gunned down the ones inside, scoring eight more victims to her kill count.
Throughout all of that, even in her wild-like state, she realized that there were no children to be found. There were cages and cells, but they were all empty. When she went to clear the second to last room, the man inside charged at her with a power drill. Alicia took this chance to interrogate him.
She evaded the drill, grabbed him by the arm and kicked his leading leg, then twisted his arm and pressed him on a table, then threatened him with the knife.
“Where are the children?!” -She asked.
“Fuck off, güera!” -He responded, a poor answer. She plunged her knife through his free hand, making him wail in pain.
“Tell me!” -She demanded while twisting the knife. It didn’t take long for him to confess.
“The boss! The boss got them! the main office!” -He responded, of course they would be in the last room she would ever check.
“Thanks…” -She said before pulling him up and letting Ten slice his neck.
Now there was only one room left. She stood in front of the doors for a moment, and after hyping herself up, she kicked the doors open, only to end up rolling on the ground and taking cover next to them, when a hail of pellets flew towards her.
Schmidt had armed himself with an automatic shotgun, and had been expecting to use it on her the moment she reached the basement.
“You came a long way! But this insanity ends right here!” -He said while grabbing a detonator from the table. Right behind him there was another room, sealed off with a bullet proof glass. Twenty children were trapped inside, they were weakened and confused, but that was the least of their problems. Schmidt had put explosive collars on their necks, in preparation for the worst-case scenario in which Alicia would be able to get to him. – “If you take one step into this office, I’m going to press this detonator, and the heads of these children are going to go up flying! You understand!?”
“What a goddamn rat, taking them as hostages!” -She started to think on a way to get them all out of this situation. But due to her methods, she couldn’t think of anything effective to beat Schmidt in this situation.
“I ain’t going to beat around the bush!” -He said. – “I can safely assume you came here for these children, correct!? If that’s the case, then we can reach an understanding!”
“(Who does he think he is…?)” -Alicia had a foul taste in her mouth. She was too uneasy to think clearly, the Brutalin was still in her system.
“I know I said I would take advantage of your corpse.” -He said. – “But seeing how none of my men were able to take you down, and seeing that you have bounced back to good health, my chances are pretty slim in a fight against you. So, I propose you this: you let me walk out of here with my hide intact, and I won’t send these children to sweet kingdom come. When I get far away enough my detonator will be out of range, out of your sight, and hopefully, out of your mind.”
“Oh boy…he doesn’t know who he’s bargaining with.”
“On the other hand, if you refuse to let me go, and it’s my fate to die right here today, then so be it. I’ve lived a long life, I’ve done everything I wanted to do, I made my country proud…but before I draw my last breath, you can be sure as hell I’m gonna take all of the kids with me, and their blood will be on your hands.”
“(I only need him to look the other way for a single moment)”. -Thought Alicia while peeking out of the corner. Unfortunately, Schmidt had his eyes glued to the entrance, holding the AA-12 with one hand and the detonator in the other, his thumb ready to press the red button that would smoke the children’s lives in a single second.
“So, what’s it gonna be!?” -He asked. – “You’ve already destroyed my operation; I’ve got nothing else but my life and my savings. Without my group, my country has no use for me anymore, so I’ll just disappear, ride into the sunset, and you nor your employers will ever hear from me again. How does that sound?”
Alicia checked her pistols’ magazines, reloaded them and crouched next to the entrance. – “You are mistaken… I didn’t come only for them. I was told to kill you and bring them with me.”
“Well, you’ve got a big problem on your hands!” -He said. – “Because I ain’t going down without taking someone with me, and if it’s gotta be a dozen children, then so be it. I don’t believe in hell, but if that hot cauldron is there, waiting for me, then I’m going to do my best to impress the devil.”
“You’d prefer to do that than dying with the little dignity you still have?”
“You are gravely mistaken, dear. I abandoned that thing a long, long time ago. My country has done a lot for me, so when the Koch family put me in charge of this operation, accepting is the least I could do. I’m only doing my share to preserve the west’s order.
“What does order have anything with treating children as sexual products?”
“They don’t only serve them for sexual pleasure…all children have something special, right inside their spines. Have you heard of cerebrospinal fluid? My sponsors use it to conserve themselves, keep their young and lively faces and even physical build, no matter how many years pass. That fluid is the first step to eternal life.”
Alicia had heard those words before; someone had uttered them before torturing her. In that instant, her mouth was filled with the taste of raw human flesh.
“My sponsors need that liquid to extend their lifespans.” -He continued. –“As far as I know, they are the only ones that can rule this side of the world, they guarantee the order, civilization! I’m willing to make these sacrifices, despite the flaws the current system may have.”
“[…That’s a whole lot of justification for a whole lot of nothing.]” -Alicia and Ten had fully synchronized once again. –“[I don’t care about the order of things in civilization. I’ll start with you…then I’ll continue with them.]”
“You won’t ever get close enough to my sponsors.” -He retorted. – “There’s nothing you can do, they are invincible, they are this world’s gods!”
“[…I already killed the gods of the desert. Now I’ll kill the gods of civilization. No matter what, I’ll destroy your world.]”
“…If you have nothing else to say, and you won’t let me go, then I guess we don’t have anything else to talk about! Say goodbye to-”
Before he could complete that sentence, his eyes barely registered her movement as she jumped across the entrance. Her aim was right, as it always was. She pulled the trigger and the bullet flew straight towards his hand holding the detonator, tearing his thumb apart and sending the detonator flying.
“Ahhhh…! You whore!” -He tried to raise his gun but she quickly fired once again, hitting him in both shoulders, mutilating his arm holding the shotgun, forcing him to drop it.
He screamed in pain while stepping back, clashing with the bulletproof glass behind him. His legs lost their strength and he slid down to the ground. With both of his arms crippled, he stood no chance against his opponent.
He watched her as she walked forward, he instantly noticed the crimson flames raising up from inside her scars. That was the moment he understood, it was all supposed to play out this way. He tried hard to challenge fate, but in the end, he never stood a chance against one that has discarded her humanity to obtain something even greater.
Now he understood how she was able to kill so many people. Looking at those crimson flames he remembered the story one of his oldest clients told him when he had just begun with this operation.
“Oh…You are…” -But unfortunately, Alicia wouldn’t let him say another word.
She raised her gun up to his head and didn’t stop pulling the trigger until the gun was completely empty.
When she heard the blunt click of her pistol, she allowed the smoke to dissipate. Schmidt’s head had been reduced to a bloody pulp full of holes.
Her head isolated all noises and smells for a moment. Alicia closed her eyes and dedicated herself to savor that moment. She twisted her tongue inside her mouth, as if savoring the soul of the wicked man she had just put an end to.
The crimson flames reverberated and became more intense, impressing the children that were conscious enough to witness what had happened. For them it was quite clear God had sent down one of his angels to punish the evil men that had hurt them.
After a while she opened her eyes and left the world reach her senses once again.
“Was it him?”
“(…He came close too.)” -She said. – “(…Even closer than Ricardo…but it wasn’t enough. Not yet.)”
Alicia looked on the ground for the detonator, grabbed it and deactivated it.
“I wonder if we’ll ever find someone just as evil as those two.”
“(I won’t give up. I will find them.)”
The children knocked on the glass, asking to be released.
Alicia told them with signs to stay calm, she would get them out soon. But before she reached for the entrance door, the phone inside her jacket chirped. The helicopter’s pilot had received instructions to give it to her before she took the flight to Mexico, so the one overseeing the operation could contact her once Schmidt had been eliminated. The operators watching her had calculated how long it would take her to take him down, judging by her past feats and performance record.
She reluctantly answered the call.
“Who is it?”
“Hello, Butcher. My name is Isaac, I’m in charge of directing and planning all assassin operations around the globe.”
“What do you want?”
“How blunt. You killed the objective, correct?”
“Just did.”
“Excellent. Did the children survive?”
“Of course.” -She puffed her chest, recognizing that small feeling of pride fluttering in her heart.
“Very well done. You took care of the contract like a true professional, despite the mess that you left behind. Either way, now that you took care of Schmidt, we have your new set of instructions.”
“Instructions?”
“Tell me something, and be honest. Where were you planning to take those children?”
“To a hospital, a police station, wherever they could help them.”
“I’m afraid that’s not an option.”
Alicia’s nose wrinkled with suspicion.
“What exactly does that mean?”
“It means what it means. You see, despite what you may think, those kids you rescued have been vanished from all records where their names were written. Their parents? Gone, other relatives? Gone, data? Wiped out. You just rescued a bunch of ghosts. Children that are now forced to live outside of the system.”
“…What’s going to happen to them then?”
“They may live outside the system for now, but with our help, they can aspire to rejoin it with a fresh start, with new identities and new lives. None of them deserve to be negated such rights. They are victims of circumstance. That’s why, I want you to take the children to the coordinates I’m going to send you through the phone, a group of specialists will be waiting for you, they’ll take care of the rest.”
Alicia remained silent and looked at the children. She recognized if that man was telling the truth, then her plan would be just like throwing those children to the street only for them to be picked up by another trafficker.
“Let’s give him a chance, shall we? He’s with Kirsten so, he must know what he’s doing and Kirsten must be up to speed on this. If we see anything suspicious, we can always shoot and ask later.”
“(…Yeah…you are right. Let’s-)” -Alicia’s thoughts were interrupted when a bullet flew past her head and hit the glass.
She crouched and flipped Schmidt’s desk. A barrage of bullets flew over her head, she could hear the muffled sound of silenced pistols shooting from the entrance. Two pairs of footsteps were hastily flanking her position.
Before they managed to get to her, Alicia grabbed the AA-12 and prepared to receive the new enemies.
A man wearing desert camo clothes and wielding a silenced M9 appeared from the corner of the table. She blew his left leg away before he got to pull the trigger, sending him down to the ground, then she finished him up with a blast to the face.
Then she aimed up and forward, opening fire on the one who had jumped over the table.
Finally, the third one managed to flank her, she quickly rolled on the ground to evade his gunfire. She took her chance mid-roll and shot three times, managing to hit the enemy over the shoulder, he stumbled back a bit, losing his composure, but he didn’t groan or make a single noise because of the pain. He tried to raise his gun once again, but Alicia dispatched him with another blast slightly above the center of mass, hitting him around the neck, neutralizing him.
Alicia felt the air escape her body. She did all she could to breath in and out, almost passing out. After being vulnerable for a moment, she stood back up and took a look around, making sure there was no more of them left.
“Who the hell are these people?” -She asked as she approached one of the bodies to check if he had anything on him that would help her identify them.
Aside from spare ammunition, Alicia found and took a silver necklace from one of the corpses. It was a triangle with a big hole in the center of it. Alicia wasn’t sure what it was supposed to mean. She had seen the symbols of many groups, but she didn’t recognize this one at all.
“Whoever they are they are very well equipped…and well, they probably were here for us.”
“(If Schmidt knew we were coming, it’s safe to assume whoever told him also told anyone that had interest in taking my head.)” -Alicia kept one of the necklaces. – “(Either way, we’ll worry about that later. Let’s get these kids out of here.)”
“Aye aye.”
Alicia searched for the keys in Schmidt’s corpse and took the collars off the children’s necks, then guided them through the basement towards the first floor.
While they were approaching the loading bay, she could hear two voices coming from inside.
“Move away, dammit!”
“No, I can’t! I won’t let you hurt them!”
“You really want to die that much!? Fine!”
She heard a muffled shot and the driver’s pained groan. Alicia rushed inside while readying her pistol. There was another of those agents, he quickly noticed her presence and turned around, but it was already too late. She put a cap in between his eyes and he promptly fell to the ground. Some of the children screamed with fear after hearing the loud explosion coming from her gun. She reassured them by showing them her hand. –“Everything is fine now.” -She said.
The driver was still alive too, the agent had only shot him in the leg. He sat up and looked up at her. –“…He wanted to hurt the kids.” -He said. –“I don’t have the guts to use a gun, but I couldn’t let him do that.”
“…Well done.” -She commended him for his courage, just then she received the text message with the coordinates.
Alicia helped him get back up and patch up the wound with a towel, then told the children to get in the container. Just like with the others, they were reluctant at first, but one look towards her was enough for them to trust her with their lives.
Once they were all inside the container, Alicia and the driver went back to the truck and drove away from the facility.
Alicia looked over a map of the region and marked the location the coordinates indicated with a pencil. – “Take us to this location.” -She ordered him.
“Why? What’s over there?”
“The children will be safe there.”
The driver looked towards the road, then to Alicia, doubts started to bloom in his mind. –“Miss…are you…?”
“No, I’m not like them." -She said. – “…At least I don’t think so.”