The young girl's eyes blink a couple of times as she gazes at me while her body rested in my arms. In a daze-like state, she brings her head closer to my chest and presses her cheek against it, to feel the warmth that is coming from me. I glance down at her as my leg move back and forth toward the emergency lobby.

I feel her slender and soft body in my arms, but I didn't give much thought to it and focus on walking. From where I am, I can see all kinds of people in many shapes and different kinds of skin tone at the hospital entrance, going in and going out of the door. The common thing about them is their situation, they are either sick or injured.

When the fluorescent lights from the hospital lobby touch my shoe, I keep my head down, preventing people from seeing my face, and getting caught on the camera around the hospital entrance. The people cross and walk past me without giving me a second look because all of them are too absorbed by their predicaments to notice me.

Walking up the few steps, I can hear the ambulance sirens behind me and the abundance of nurses talking to each other while rushing toward it. Since I have never been to this hospital, I should be fine, people won't recognize me, but I need to be careful just in case.

The automatic door opens for me as I enter the lobby, I glance around me while still keeping my head down. I can see a lot of sickly and injure people in the preordained area while waiting for the doctor to treat them. With the girl in my arms, I walk to one of the empty seating at the back and gently settle her down on the chair. I move both her hands on her laps and make sure she is seating straight.

I stretch my shoulder to relieve some of the aching pain.

"Mr. Nobody, where am I... again?" She mumbles a few words out.

"You're at the hospital, I'm going to leave you here, and they will take care of you. All you need to do is shout after I leave and they will come to check on you." I whisper close to her as I squat down to her level.

"Will you promise me that the bad people won't come after me?" She whispers.

"I can't..." I look at her, her face shows fear, and her moist eyes look at me for protection.

My hearts thump loudly in my chest for a reason I don't know, but I keep myself calm and slip my hand into my pants pocket.

"Here..." I take out the keychain and place it on her palm then I close her five fingers.

"I save you because you had this, this may sound weird, but I think this is your good luck charm. So, when you are in trouble, hold on tight to this, and I... will come and save you. Anytime. Anywhere."

It may be a false promise, but it does the trick, I can see that she is holding on tightly to the Ran Mitake keychain, clinging it with hope on her face and newfound security in her heart.

I stand up again and about to leave when I hear her say something to me. "Mr. Nobody, my name is Jin Ae, and thank you for saving me."

"I don't need—" I let out a sigh.

"Your welcome." I continue walking to the main door while still keeping my head down.

*

The city lights are so bright that they hide the stars above them, but from where I park the SUV, I could still see the beautiful moon through the front windshield. Whenever I glance beside me, the tall buildings on both sides block my view of the sky. There is one particular building that grabs my full attention, Zatax Tower.

How do I know that this is the building? Because the large sign in front of the lobby showed the building's name on it with its's lights illuminate it.

They call it a tower, but to me, it looks like a highrise building with an upright rectangle tip on top of a flat square building. Besides it only have a 20-story floor, and it's not the same height as a regular tower which is 100 plus. I stretch out my neck around to relieve some of the pain that I sustain from the fight in the warehouse.

My last target is on the penthouse floor at the top of the building, and judging by the large men wearing black suits coming out of the lobby, they must be his bodyguards. It's all a guess really because I'm not sure whether my target is in the building or not. There is a lot of them, maybe over a dozen armed men inside this very building.

'You know that there a possibility that you won't make it alive.'

"I know."

'You can always go back.'

I look at the rear-view mirror and see Daisie, but this time, it's not the abomination that was before, this time it's her beautiful self. The girl I love. The girl I lost.

"You know I can't."

'Can't? Or won't?'

"I don't know." My sight downcast at the tire iron resting on my laps.

'It's your choice. It's always been your choice—even now.'

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

When I look back at the rear-view mirror, she's gone. I reach for the car handle with my hand, unlocking the mechanism and pushing the door open. The cold wind brush against my skin as I step out of the car, it's about to rain tonight. I slide the extended portion of the tire iron into my left sleeve and grip onto the short part.

Walking across the street, I glance at the group of bodyguards, hanging out beside one of many black SUV parks in front of the lobby. The smoke coming from their burning cigarettes lingers under my nose, I keep my head down and walk up the short step to the automatic glass doors.

My eyes focus on the elevator pass by the reception and walk toward it. One of the two bodyguards notices me, starts walking toward me, he then stands in front of me and blocking my way.

"Who are you? I never see you here before."

"Is Boris Dimitri here?"

"Mr. Boris doesn't allow visitors at this hour. Now, answer me, who are you?" He pulls on the lapel of his suit jacket and reveals a handgun tuck between his shirt and belt.

I let go of the tire iron, and it slides out of my sleeves, but before it could fall onto the floor, I grab the long part and swing it at the bodyguard face. The tire iron hit his face, breaking his teeth in the process, but not enough to knock him out. Before he realizes what happens, I reach in his jacket and take out his handgun.

This handgun is slightly different from what I have, the design is the same, the blocky part and everything except it has a long thick cylinder in front of the muzzle. I flick the safety pin first as I aim down the sight at the other bodyguard behind the one I just hit.

I squeeze the trigger, and the sound of the weapon fires is different from my gun. Instead of a loud firecracker, it's more of a pop sound like a staple gun. The man screams as I miss the shot and hit his chest instead of his head, I fire again after aiming carefully, and it punctures his head finally taking him down.

As the man in front of me recovers from his daze, I press the piping hot barrel under his neck and squeeze the trigger. A bullet shot out from the top of his head, a sprinkle of blood land on my cap, and a few of his brain matter land on my sleeves. The bodyguard's body falls to the side, and there is a small hole in his head with blood flowing out of it.

The only other person in the lobby, the receptionist is in shock to witness what happened, I look at him, and he quickly runs to the staff door. I can hear the sound of the lock clicking coming from the same door.

One of the people outside must have heard the sound of the gunshot, but before I do anything, I shoot the surveillance cameras in the lobby and hide behind the reception desk. I unzip my jacket to prepare myself, the three men that were outside, walk anxiously into the room, and looking around as they got closer to the two dead bodies.

I am down the sight at the dead bodies and wait for one of them to get closer. When they appear on my eyesight, I squeeze the trigger, taking out the one checking the dead, but miss my shot on the second mark. However, I manage to hit him in the leg, the man let out a scream of pain, as his friend drag him away while firing his silent handgun at me.

They shout something in Russian at me, probably cursed and threatening words. I need to take them out before they call in reinforcement, I crawl to the far side of the reception while dust from the bullets hitting the marble desk rest on my clothing. Squatting at the far side of the reception desk, I peek out and aim my gun at the man shooting his pistol at the counter.

Taking the shot, the man falls to the floor as the bullet hits the center of his forehead. I aim the gun at the injured man and squeeze the trigger. It hit his chest causing the man to let out another scream.

I stand up and walk to the screaming man. He panics as he tries to reach for his gun, I aim at his head and squeeze the trigger. His feet jerk a little as the bullet puncture his head while his whole body becomes limp. A trickle of blood splatter onto my face, I wipe it away with my sleeves and brush off the dust from my shoulder.

Maybe more than a dozen men are guarding the penthouse floor, I should be ready, but before I got up there. I squat down near the body and salvage what I can use from the dead people. I take a couple of full magazines for both my handgun and a door key that lead to somewhere.

I walk to the elevator and press the up button. It only takes a couple of second for the elevator to reach my floor, the door opens and reveal nobody. That's a good sign, I step in and press the penthouse floor button, I hide the gun behind me, slide in my tire iron back into my sleeve, and pretend nothing happens.

As the elevator climbs up, it suddenly stops then the door open to the 16th floor, and a pizza delivery man the same age as me looks at me with a smile on his face.

"Going down?"

"Unfortunately, up," I say with a calming smile.

"Great, I want to go up. My last delivery is on the top floor." He steps into the evaluator and turns to face the closing door.

"The penthouse?"

"Yes, please."

"That's means you are delivering pizza for the resident there?"

"Yep, that's right."

I press the 17th-floor button then I casually point the gun at the man. The sight of the silenced pistol frightens him causing him to back away to the corner. He raises the pizza box to his face, in a vain attempt to shelter himself from the handgun.

"Wait, I'm just a pizza delivery guy. Please, I have nothing on me."

"Place the pizza box and your hat on the floor." Flattened lips replace my smile.

"Okay, okay." He places the pizza box on the floor and his hat on top of it.

I gesture my head to the open elevator door behind me, he nods his head after agreeing to my order, and then he steps out of the elevator.

"You should leave this building, as quickly as you can. That's not a warning, it's an order."

"Sure, man. No problem." The elevator door closed.

I cast my black baseball cap to the floor and wear the pizza brand baseball cap. I lift the pizza box with my hands and hide my gun underneath it. I watch the floor display countdown to the highest number as the elevator climb up to the top floor.

'Be careful. You still have your mom to take care of.'

Daisie's voice came from behind me. I can see her reflection on the metal cover, she stares at me with a calming smile and disappoints eyes.

"I know, I'll try."

Ding!

The elevator reaches its destination, the door slides open revealing a hallway with a bathroom door at the end of the corridor, and another beautiful wooden double door attaches to the right wall.

It's a beautiful hallway with a marble floor, a small row of light on the ceiling, and a wooden panel on its wall. The modern design looks sleek. Two guards near the elevator turn to face me with an intimidating look, they reach for the gun inside of their blazer.

When they see the pizza box, their hand moves away from the guns.

"You're the pizza guy?" One of them says in somewhat of a thick Russian accent.

"Yes."

I take a couple of steps closer to them while sneakily aiming the gun underneath the box at their belly. Their walkie-talkie suddenly let out a very concerning voice, it's in Russian so I couldn't interpret what they are saying, but I know why. They must have found the dead body in the lobby.

The bodyguards look at each other then back at me with a frown face. I can see them slowly reaching for their gun again.