“Charlie Squad, sitrep?”

“Made entry onto the 80th with Delta….Lower pincer secured.”

“This is Echo 1…. 105th secured… Requesting permission to set up temporary FOB”

“Permission Granted…. Charlie Squad, proceed to reinforce the 80th…. If and when the target runs, be ready to intercept”

“Copy”

“She’s in our goose house now boys….. Let make sure we cook her”

(You sure you guys can keep up?)

As by their playbook, my military adversaries took their time setting up, surgically clearing all and every possible angle they could get hit by…..which for me, was a moment of much needed respite

(9 floors below, 16 above,... .From their comms and MO, my gut says Spec-Ops….Not the good kind at least…… I’d say I got around 15 minutes if I don’t make a ruckus)

I tried not to dwell on my surroundings…but the scenes of a messy bloodbath was one I couldn’t avoid as I had to scavenge every nook and cranny for gear.

The light of the fake sun above seeped in through the glass panes, glossing up the floors and walls that were splattered by the blood of who knows how many… While each body told a story of all their final moments. Massacres, pointless sacrifices….they were all there.

I pried the guns out of the hands of the now departed but I took none of them for personal use, and instead, I put the lessons that were burned into my brain with a hot iron, to take it all apart to gather the components I needed.

(Military carry out their orders with confidence and are taught not to fear their enemy…. Best way to deal with them, is to make them believe otherwise)

Moving around with a swiftness in my step, I prepare my defenses for the imminent assault. Painting a mental map of the location of every single one of my contraptions, I returned back to my temporary safe room to grab the crowbar I had stowed.

“Delta- 2 reporting….85th cleared”

“Bravo- 2 reporting…. 100th cleared….no sign of HVT”

“Received…proceed to move FOBs…. open the elevator shafts and prep rappels. If anyone makes contact with the HVT, prepare to support”

“Roger”

(By the book as expected)

By the time their radio went off on my rig, I had already pried open one of the two elevator shafts and had a pair of large wire cutters in my hand.

“Rappels secured on 85th”

“Secured on 100th”

“Not today boys” I muttered to myself as I propped myself between the elevator doors, reaching out to the thick cable with the cutters. Putting every ounce of force into it, I kept at it until I felt the cable giving way

“Contact!” But as their radio screamed that, the cable snapped ... .the released tension of the wire narrowly missed me and it left my vicinity in a flash. And as fast as that, a screaming metallic grind filled my ears as I caught a glimpse of the elevator box going straight down in record speed, which I rolled away from just for safe measure

“GET AWAY FROM THE DOORS, MOVE! MOVE!”

As the sound of the falling elevator distanced, a scream from above got closer… and suddenly distancing as a body matched the elevator’s speed down the shaft and into obscurity…. silenced after a thunderous boom sent shockwaves along the building.

“Foxtrot-2 KIA….DAMN IT”

(Two down…Who’s next?)

“Stick to the mission…. All teams, abort FOB operations….Target still hasn’t moved from last known…. Bravo, Charlie, Delta…you are on strike duty… Find that bitch and put her down”

The radio beeped twice before their commander spoke again

“Foxtrot-3, what’s our situation?”

“We are currently in the confines of Zone 1…. 45 minutes until the zone starts to pull inwards… and Command…. That elevator drop made a lot of noise….we should be expecting a lot of secondary company in a few”

(Which means I need to end this quickly…. Not going to be long before I’m going to be having company)

I returned back to my safe room to take inventory before they started to siege my position.

“That fucking bitch is persistant…. Foxtrot-1, Foxtrot-3. Head down to 105th and set up snipers nest ... .Dispel or delay any third parties coming our way…. Echo Team, rendezvous with Foxtrot-1 and 3…. Reinforce their position and make sure they have a quick exit out to the LZ”

“Copy, Alpha-1”

“Bravo, Charlie and Delta Team…. Push forward and do not let that bitch escape. We’ve worked hard for this, and time to make it count”

As their rowdy rally cry started, I tossed the radio out of the glass pane I crashed through

(3 ceramic plates, 2 kevlars…. 1 HP and SP vials… 1 smoke and 1 flash….. but not a single speck of extra 9mm.)

I took off my hair tie and put my hood back up as the time to act was imminent

“Bravo Team on approach to 89th”

“Charlie Team holding on 88th, if the target runs, we’ll be ready”

I left the radio behind in the room as I didn’t it giving away my position, but I managed to get one more dab of intel before I left

“Bravo team, preparing to breach… planting breach charge”

But before they had finished planting, I was already in position, and I didn’t need their radio to hear what they were saying

“In position to breach” I took a step back “Blow it on my mark…on 3…..”

But before the countdown even started, I charged shoulder first into the prepped door. Falling straight down, the heavy metal door pinned one of the enemies down, leaning sideways on the fallen door. I quickly took aim and put a shot into the lone enemy who was separated from the rest of his team. I rolled off the door and put another two shots into the knee of the enemy who was trying to get the heavy door off him, but now he was trapped in place. Looking up at the enemy I shot before, it only took two shots to break his head shield, and one more to finish the job.

The other two however were still finding their footing, trying to decide between getting the door of their squadmate or going around him to engage me. Getting back on my feet, I used this moment of confusion to vault over the slanted door, kicking the enemy on the other side away to get me some space and I immediately put two shots into the head of the other enemy to break his shield and put one more in his leg.

The assailant I kicked recovered and pointed his rifle at me, but I managed to avoid his barrel, and put a round the wrist of his firing arm, freeing the trigger. Leaning into him in the moment he was writhing from the pain, I hijacked his rifle and sent a volley of rounds at his other able teammate, with the first burst finding his chest. I immediately turned around and he tried to retaliate with his knife, which I dodge under while slashing his shins with mine. Using this moment where his footing was off, I was able to rip out his shielding chip from his collar and stab him in the stomach and then his throat.

I took the knife out of his hand and threw it at the enemy who was still trapped under the door, however my aim found his other knee instead, taking away any chance of getting out of his predicament.

And in the next moment, the sound of heavy boots coming up the stairs caught my ear….. I retreated back into the hallway, with a new opportunity I got from what I just picked up on the way.

“Shit…..WE GOT HER CORNERED, MOVE!” The heavy steps got closer “Get that door off him”

“Nooo!...Charge!” He tried to warn the others

“Relax, we’ll charge her after we get you out… Keep a lookout!”

“No!....Charge!.... Breach Charge!....On door!” And the moment I knew they were close enough, I pulled on the detonator, causing an explosion that sent a shockwave throughout the room

As the explosion settled, I began to hear coughing….. and as the dust started to settle, the enemy under the door had turned into chunks and red paste.

“Command, this is Charlie-1….. Bravo team presumed KIA….” only this time I was too far away to hear the other side.

I backed off as far as I could, waiting for them to stumble…but I was forced to reposition yet again

“Delta, approaching from the East…Clear our approach?” another group announced their presence from the door that was in my proximity.

(Shit)

“Clear to enter” The door swung open, turning me into a mouse in a cage of snakes

“Sweep the area… Double back formation ... .Delta, spare a man for blind watch?”

“On it…Delta-4 coming your way Charlie”

I moved and breathed to their pace, sticking to the shadows. Hiding my presence among theirs

“Got my eyes on a Cipher, requesting permission to retrieve…..Understood”

(There we go)

“Spotted enemy tripwire…..need a light here!” the same voice from before shouted out “Watch your step, HVT has rigged the place”

“Couldn’t make the trap any less obvious couldn’t she” said a different voice

“Standard grenade tripwire….Delta-4 attempting to disarm” I couldn’t help but let out a faint sneer

I watched from their blind spot as their point-man lowered the pliers onto the wire being exactly where I wanted him

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Guess as his final lesson he’s going to learn, that sometimes the simplest of traps….are the most effective

He didn’t get a chance to even realize that his pliers tripped the laser below, as the spring trap buried itself into his chest, leaving him screaming with the last few breaths he ever took

“SHIT!” the group immediately broke formation and two adversaries rushed to help their friend, trying to pull him out of the trap “PULL HIM OUT!”

“I’m trying, but he’s stuck”

The lone soldier who held his post remained focused, showing his back to the direction of his teammates…afraid of what might stalk them from the corner of their eyes…..However none of them noticed yet that they were still playing into my hands.

“Pull on 3…1….2…3!” The two rescuers tried to put all their might into saving their blood coughing ally “He’s coming loose…again ... .1 ... .2 ... .3!”

I bid my time

The moment they pulled their friend out a bit too far, the barbed wire in his chest triggered the makeshift trigger mechanism planted in the face of the spring trap….The 50. BMG round punched a hole straight through the chest of the captive…treating his armor like it was made out of tissue.… A loud boom echoed through the room as the round whizzed past leaving a sizable hole in the concrete and the glass wall it left the building through…all while leaving everyone staggered due to the sound of the blast…. The whole group was dazed, clutching their ears to desperately stop the ringing, but that was just the signal for me to strike

I immediately pulled the pin on a smoke grenade and held it until it started discharging…. Then rolled it straight through the room, giving me a wall of smoke as cover from the other two on the opposite side of the floor.

By the time the blood-soaked squad reacquired themselves, they were all in my range.

I engaged by putting one in the knee of the closest enemy, and kicked the crouching adversary straight in the face, grounding him… But it’s only then I was reminded that eventhough deafened, they still had their sight intact.

The two others immediately looked my way, and trained their guns at me….I dived down behind their now floored friend, and pushed him up sideways…. They had nothing even slightly resembling trigger discipline as they all opened fire on their friend who was currently my human shield. There were so many shots thrown his way, that his frontal armor plates broke and I was able to feel the lead making it’s way towards his rear plate.

I ripped the chip out of his collar and put a round into the back of his head—quick, clean….. Wasn’t long until they emptied their magazines at me… I returned fire on my own, the only difference being that I happened to find my mark.

The enemy imminently in front of me took one shot to the collar bone above his plates, and two to the head….first shattering his shield, and the second finishing the job. The other one didn’t stop to reload…instead he ran at me with his knife

He closed the distance on me before I got up, causing me to get hit with a kick to my torso… he tried to go for a crouch and execute tactic but I was able to get his arm between my legs and rolled to throw him off…

I was back on my feet and so was he… and he didn’t spare a second, lunging at me with his blade, shrouded in an aura of panic. His swipes were wild but stuck to technique…. Our blades clashed and he was having a heavy defense on his upper body.

I improvised to throw him off his game… going low, I jabbed the jagged side of my blade into the zipper under his plate carrier, causing his frontal plate to fall and hit the ground. The second he looked down, he found a knife in his eye socket and the blade that was in his hand, in the side of his neck.

Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps and flickering flashlights approached through the wall of smoke, signaling to me that time is up. The smoke was thick enough to obscure vision, but if they push through now, I’d be caught out in the open.

My barely living opponent was now leaning on me, but one look at his plate carrier was all it needed. Grabbing the mask from his carrier, I pull the pin out of the utility on his rig and took the second canister into my possession ... .I kicked him into the smoke, and threw in my own flashbang for good measure.

“FLAAASH!” they screamed from obscurity, giving me enough time to mask up.

Pained coughs followed from the entities within the smoke “Gas….Mask up now” said one of the two remaining adversaries

“Ah, this shit burns”

“Bear through it soldier!…..Focus on the mission!”

The tear gas glimmered as the light outside shone on it…. clearly showing a cloud of gas slowly dispersing inwards. The enemy was shrouded in a yellowish cloud, which warranted me to keep my distance.

Staying mobile, I opened fire, two shots at a time.

My first double shot only managed to find the plates of the enemy ... .I had to keep circling, as they were sticking back to back, covering each other’s blind spots. Each time I pulled the trigger, the muzzle flash gave away my position. My second volley of rounds managed to break another’s head shield

The assailants opened fire, but none hit their mark due to their limited vision…but they were terrified, bunkering down in one spot….scanning around frantically for my whereabouts.

“Changing plates” My adversaries rotated around like the cylinder of a firing revolver…hiding their weaknesses in the back until they recovered. And it proved to be a strategy that was working against mine.

They took small steps, trying to get out of the expanding cloud of gas….but that is something I couldn’t let them do. I had to finish them off before that…which meant that I had to force myself into fighting them head on.

The problem was, while they were wearing tactical gear that was fully covering them….I wasn’t

I wish I was given the luxury of a few more seconds to mentally prepare for the agony that was going to follow me, but all I could do for now is holster my gun for my blade. pull the drawstrings on my hoodie as tight as I could and hope it would reduce the effects of what’s to follow.

The blind spot in their surveillance presented itself almost immediately….allowing me to dash in before they could get a shot off. The yellow gas clung to my exposed legs, making me feel like I was getting dragged through a forest of thorny roses. My hands burned all the same but the thicker skin due to all the scarring and callusing dampened the effect a lot more.

I didn’t let the pain hold me back, keeping my focus on the task ahead. By the time they saw my silhouette through the haze of gas, I was already at their faces.

To my luck, my damage still lasted…. One of them still hadn’t replaced the chip on his collar, and the other had just dropped his plates… With his partner still busy tending to his plate carrier, I rushed at the other plunging my blade into his mask, but it stopped short before I was able to deal fatal damage. I took aim with my other arm at my other adversary and pulled the trigger… And as it went, we both had similar draw times

While my shot found his lung, he found my dominant right, forcing me to drop my gun. Ignoring the hole in my hand, I threw the knife at the second enemy in two motions…from being half buried in his friend’s face into his flank.

I filled the cavity in my first opponent’s mask with the gas grenade I took from his dead friend, plunging its deployment side first, filling his whole mask with corrosive gas. He started writhing in agony and fell to the ground, ripping his mask off and clutching his face…

At the same moment, I found my other adversary rushing at me with the blade I previously put in his side. Unfortunately for me, I was unarmed. I took a couple of steps back and ended up putting my foot on the empty canister of smoke I threw earlier, knocking me off balance….which a military trained adversary would instinctively know, is a prime opportunity to strike.

Eventhough I expected it, I wasn’t able to bring up my defense in time. I couldn’t read his feint in time and it ended up with me getting a knife buried in my side. Now as his holster was in my reach, I acted quick…Pulling out his own handgun and putting a round through his ear, and then the rest of the clip through his forehead, shattering his head shield and the visor on his gas mask.

He fell to the ground dead, giving me a second to pull out the blade from my flank. While I expected a sense of relief, all I felt was more burning as the gas made contact with my injury. And it was only another look at the melted face of my other floored and screaming adversary that I came to realize that this was indeed not tear gas.

I took a look at myself and as the adrenaline settled, the gnawing and burning came to me in full force…. My legs were mostly rashed up and blistered, while my wounds weren’t healing. Whatever I was feeling, I knew my floored and breathless enemy was enduring worse. I picked up my gun, ignoring the popping blisters and snapping skin on my legs, and forced my blood spilling hands to press check my gun…

Showing him mercy, I put my foot on the throat of my final adversary and put a round through the crevasse on his mask’s visor….Ending his suffering.

….I wanted to tell myself that I didn’t have to do this anymore. But what good was it going to do lying to myself. I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief ... .but mask filtered air doesn’t really do the job at the moment.

But just before I was to evacuate from the gas zone, I was stopped by the sound of a pained and forcibly stifled series of coughs. Ignoring the pain for just a while longer, I inched towards the open door to the room beside me. Stepping as lightly as I could, I slowly peeked into the poorly lit room.

The handgun fired in the room, instinctively forcing me to pull back and brace for cover…One ear shattering bang after another, the rounds didn’t stop flying, occasionally pausing for a split second more as the adversary started to feel the effects of the dispersing gas.

However, I didn’t have to do much to realize that this was not one of the soldiers hunting for me.

The gun that was firing suddenly started to click and was hurled straight across the room.

“Stay back…” he tried his best not to cough, but the voice was enough for me to realize that it was a scared kid

I turned the corner and peeked my head… He was trying to look straight at me but the gas seeping into the room made it as if he was fighting off a sandstorm. He had a pocket sized knife pointed in my direction, hand shuddering in fear and pain as he might’ve witnessed the bloodbath that took place outside his safe zone which was now actively forcing him away.

He had his back to a wall, hand interlocked to the one of a lifeless woman….her plate carrier riddled with holes and darkened blood…. giving me an idea what had happened here. Knowing that he wouldn’t be a threat I’d have to point my weapon at, I put my handgun away

“She’s not coming back, you know” my voice muffled by the filter of my mask

“Liar…. She said was only tired and wanted to….” The illusion he forged for himself through denial fell apart…. As the observation of a complete stranger pulled him back into reality

I couldn’t say if he was crying, with his coughs and swollen eyes from the effects of the gas was effective in hiding that….However the fact that he dropped his weapon told me all I needed to know

I reached out my arm to him, but I was struck with an unpleasant memory

“Go away! You monster” I remembered the look of dread that family had towards me in that alleyway. Not wanting a repeat of that, I took back my bloodied hand

I knew what I was doing was a monumental risk but if I could end one life less….

Opening up my shallow inventory, I took out the singular bottle of HP potion I had. I removed my gas mask and placed the vial on the inside and slid it across the floor to him. He looked at the floor and looked at me

“Go ... .run and don’t look back. The bad guys are all above us so if you keep going down, you should be out.” I let out a small cough, feeling the effects of the remnant gas in the air “ Keep an eye on your map, stay inside the circle….Run and hide and most importantly…do not trust anyone”

“Now go” The second I said that, he put on the mask…. And limped his way towards the door, before taking one last look at his dead older sibling. He steeled his resolve and walked out the door out of my sight.

Now that I’ve hit a moment of calm after a storm, a wave of agony washed over me as my gnawed skin and injuries started to attack me.

(Not out of the park yet….still a long way to go)

Popping the last remaining bottle in my inventory, I forced myself to swallow the contents, my throat felt like it was being scraped by barbed wire as the liquid made its way down….Not that I’m unfamiliar with that sensation.

My fatigue melted as well as my exposed skin did. But I gritted through it all, as I clawed myself to the glass panes that reminded me of where and how far up I am.

The irritation in my eyes limited my field of vision as my blinking sped up dramatically as I squinted my eyes. What felt worse, was the inviting sensation for me to rub my eyes, but all that would do is contaminate my eyes even more.

As I nodded my head looking for even a fraction of relief as I punctured a hole in the glass wall to let some fresh air in, a scream echoed through the floor which caught my attention.

Pulling along my heavy legs, I moved swiftly to the source of the disturbance, colliding on many walls along the way while failing to stifle my momentary coughs. My failing vision even managed to make me collide on a folding chair on the way, while the sound of the chair falling echoed, it was immediately followed up by the sound of glass shattering... And after a brief struggle to get my body to move, I found myself at the doorway where the scuffle began….

Turning the corner, I realized that the fight was not over yet as there was one survivor left. It didn’t even take me a second to realize that he had been in the vicinity as his comrades perished, as his dilated eyes oozed fear, and his heavy limp gave away that he had taken some terminal damage that stopped him from joining his friends. The only problem was that he had the kid by the collar, suspending him over a 90 floor drop to the unknown below.

I approached him with my gun drawn

“Don’t you FUCKING MOVE!.....One more step, and the brat gets it”

“You drop him, and you die too…. You know that right?” With the gas not having taken over the stairway hall, I was able to speak without coughing, although I still wasn’t in a good shape

“You fucking freaks…I knew it was a mistake going after you”

He was cut off by the radio going off on the ground next to him

“Bravo-4, answer me…goddamnit”

“SHUT UP NICK!....” he screamed at the radio on the ground and then looked at me “You, me and all of us saw what this monster did at the Purgatory….”

(Purgatory….)

“And you still you decide to have us going after this freak of nature, knowing well what she has done”

“Bravo-4, that’s enough! Let the hostage go…this is not how we do things” the radio blared

“Not how we do things? I have the balls to do what you are not willing to do…so SHUT THE FUCK UP!” he looked at me with a stare of malicious intent “Your other freak friend told us about you”

He shook the hostage over the drop, causing him to let out a frightful scream…My eyes involuntarily met his, as his teary eyes of desperation was directed straight at me

What followed was a series of sharp stings. As my plates absorbed three handgun rounds one after the other. The impacts added another layer of pain I had to ignore as I felt it through my ribs. Eventhough I recoiled back a few steps, I refused to drop down to my knees….I refused to clutch my chest…..I refused to show weakness….Instead, I looked him straight in the eye as I took aim at his head

He kept pulling the trigger, but what he was met with in the next moment was an uneventful click. With his gun jammed, he was rendered harmless.

“Fuck..now of all times?” he said, sounding pissed

I took a step forward readjusting my aim, but he leaned further in towards the edge

“You won’t fucking dare…I die…the brat goes over the edge….Safety your gun…hold it by the barrel, and hand it to me” He pushed his hostage even further away from the edge. “Any sudden moves, and he’s a goner”

This is where my collaboration with him came to a halt….as my whole body locked up as I instinctively knew that this was the wrong thing to do.

“There’s no use hesitating Monarch…. I hold all the cards, there’s no way that you can win”

Considering I didn’t see a way out of this, his words held all the weight

“You’re right,” I assured him in a calm tone.

Noticing his fried collar chip, I pulled the trigger…sending a round straight through his head. I didn’t know if it was because of the adrenaline, but it felt like time suddenly slowed for me, and the weight on my body by my injuries compensated for that.

His grip loosened as he fell, at which time I threw my gun away and sprinted at towards the edge. Making an educated and unreliable guess, I dove towards the window, hoping that I wouldn’t have overshot it. Eventhough the sensation of the pieces of glass burying themselves in my legs and ripping them open, I still managed to keep my hand reached out…..But I made it in time…..

I grabbed the kid by his arm, while I tried to myself to the frame, stopping myself from falling out. He looked up at me…he didn’t look grateful, rather scared. And he had all right to be considering what was about to happen.

I barely had the strength to pull him up, but the most imminent threat was the one of the wound in my palm reopening, putting my own blood between my grip. Worse yet, was the cuts from the glass starting to seep even more blood down my arm from under my jacket.

“No!” I exclaimed as I felt my grip slipping

The kid realized what was happening but his expression didn’t change, however that didn’t stop me from putting every ounce of strength I had into my grip.

But then the dastardly slip happened, dropping my grip down to his wrist.

I struggled as I looked for a way to save him….but just as usual, the hand of fate proved cruel to me.

I kept losing the battle, now barely holding him by his hand….. and his expression grew even more intense

“I’m sorry”

I didn’t get a single moment afterwards, as my hold gave way and he plummeted to his death….His cries grew distant and the sight of his arms flailing was no longer visible….I didn’t even see him hit the ground as the clouds below obscured that…rather, it was just a deafening silence

I let out a scream of frustration, slamming my hand against the glass ridden floor…. I didn’t care if it hurt anymore….because what part of my life didn’t. But no matter how cursed I was, I still had to get up and move forward.

I dragged myself to where the stairwell descended, but one quick glimpse at my health bar was all it took for me to back down….My HP bar had turned yellow with a little over a quarter of it left….Lacking an HP potion, I was forced to hold my ground.

I couldn’t take a moment on the stairs as I’d be exposed, and not on the floor as it was littered with glass. But that is when I remembered the chair I knocked down as I ran here.

I inched toward the hallway, but with every step, I saw his face….did he blame me in his last moments, or was this an outcome he was ready for from the start? My brain burned as I didn’t have the answer

I picked up the folding chair and brought it out where there was no gas looking to burn me. I put the chair against the wall, giving me a clear view of both sides of the stairs.

“Bravo-4, report…..Bravo-4, do you copy?” The radio at the foot of the bottomless drop went off

Moving to it, I picked up the radio and my sidearm beside it, taking a seat after to give some time for the bleeding and blistering to staunch.

“You really going to waste more of your soldier’s lives just for a damn bounty?” I asked, putting my gun away into my holster

A silence followed as he processed what had happened “This was never about the bounty…Yulia Mano….”

“Roland’s just going to shoot you all in the back even if you do kill me….. Tell me where he is and I’ll…..”

“We are very much aware of the other Monarch…. But he has served his purpose and we have no use for him anymore….. This is personal, so there’s no way we are backing down”

“Personal? I’ve never even…”

“You remember any of their faces? Or did you slaughter them all with no remorse just like you did now? They were good people…..people who fought for their families and for what they believed in…And you destroyed everything!...They did not deserve what YOU did to them! ” his voice through the radio felt stern, eventhough the muffled audio, but he took a second to catch his breath and to calm his tone

“We might not be able to make you suffer enough for all of them…But we’ll take solace in knowing we finally put you in the ground…. right beside that lunatic whore you dragged along with you”

Throwing out the olive branch, I decided to reply…. gripping the radio hard, and closing in towards my mouth just in case he misses any of it

“Oh I remember their faces…. And I certainly made sure they remembered mine before they died…..You think you are good people just because you had someone to protect? In that case I would be a saint…..If you were really good, you would’ve just walked away from psychopaths like your employers…..”

I looked into the open sky ahead of the broken glass, feeling the cold breeze brush against my closing wounds

“Everyone who has ever sided with them, given into anything they ever offered….I’ll make sure that they all regret it the same, including every…..single….one of you. ” I threw the radio down the endless descent before he could say another word.

I turned my blistered left hand over to get a look at the map, I breathed a bit of relief to know that they were all well and still a ways away from me, which gave me more than enough time to clean up my tail.

Closing my map, I pulled out my sidearm, press checking for jams. Having my eye glued to my increasing health bar and my ears trained to my surroundings, I took a moment to myself…preparing my mind for one more push.

One more push —like the dozens before.