In times like this, I think WWJWD? What would John Wick do? Be a badass, that’s what. You got this, Alex. One of the best precision shooters taught you how to shoot. Your senses are better than every guy out there. You can heal from just about anything. You’re a badass motherfucker who has his girl to protect. Yep, I got this…
With my pep talk out of the way, I take a few more deep breaths trying to slow down my heart rate. Taking one good look at the woman who needs me to be the very best version of myself right now, I hope I can live up to eventually being half the person she deserves.She isn’t even conscious, dude, and you haven’t really met her yet either.It doesn’t matter, I know there's something beyond rational thought going on.
There’s a knot in my stomach trying to claw its way up my throat. My muscles work at trying to swallow to push it down but nothing seems to make it dislodge. Letting my emotions distract me right now isn’t an option. Clearing my mind of all thoughts other than what my next steps need to be seems daunting. One, locate the enemy. Two, aim true. Three, squeeze the trigger. Four, repeat until they’re all dead. Simple enough.
With my plan in place I focus all my senses to locate the incoming mercenaries walking around the trees toward the open area before us. I make quick plans on my shooting order, while simultaneously listening to the sounds going on behind me. Every twig snap, every crunch of dead leaves beneath their footsteps, every branch they move out of their way tells me where my targets are. With nothing left holding me back, I start shooting in two different directions, trying my best to take out as many of the mercenaries as possible and making sure every shot counts.
The mercenaries in front of me quickly dive behind whatever tree is closest to them, and by the sounds coming from the other direction, so are the guys back there. I duck down to switch out the magazines in the guns, ensuring there are as many bullets as possible at my disposal. The sound of a few of them communicating into their earpieces reaches me.
“We had two go down in team three, and one with a shoulder graze.”
“Team two had three go down.”
“I had one go down in team four. How many shooters do they have?”
“Okay, I want all groups to make their way to my position. Target is pinned down with three sides blocking them in. I haven’t had any contact with team five since the mission started, if anyone spots them, signal for them to join us.”
My exceptional hearing is something to appreciate in these situations. Laying down on my stomach, I army crawl forward a few feet to gain a better visual vantage point. The remaining light from the sun having set is now gone, which provides me a greater advantage as long as they aren’t using night vision goggles. I spot several hints of movement and try to take down as many of these assholes as possible as they make their way through the trees. Unfortunately, I’m unable to take down their numbers to what I would like, which is zero.
“As soon as you’re in position I’ll give the go ahead to open fire. I want everyone to unload your clips in the location where the target is, no holding back.” This was said by the same guy who told everyone to converge on his location. I’m assuming he’s the team leader.Well, shit, that’s not good.
Someone else gives a reply, “Wouldn’t that put the objective in the line of fire too?”Yeah! What he said!
The leader responds again, “HQ says their testing indicates she’ll remain unharmed. Whatever the fuck that means, I just collect the paycheck and follow the commands given to me. Let me know when you’re in position and I'll give the order to fire.”
By the sound of things, this shit show is about to get worse. Even if Klaus were to show up right now, I don’t think he’d be enough backup to get us out of this scenario. I’ve counted more than ten men among the trees and I’m not even sure that’s all of them. We’d need Marcus and Derrick as well. Worry churns in my stomach causing me to face Princess and cup both of her cheeks in my hands.
“I know you can’t hear me and I’m just saying this for myself, but I want you to know that no matter what happens right now, I will NEVER stop searching for you. Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.Fuck it. I’m embracing my creepy side.” I pull her face to mine and kiss her on the lips. A shock sparks and it’s like we’re frozen together. I’m transported outside of my body and can see the whole area from an aerial view.
The team leader begins talking again, but it’s like the sound is reaching me from underwater while cotton is stuffed in my ears. “Empty your clips, boys.” Pop, pop, pop. The sound of countless guns going off at once fills my ears. Time seems to slow down, so slow it’s like watching a movie frame by frame. I see the bullets making their way through the air. This is such a surreal moment.
Suddenly, a huge wall of air hits my body and flings it back several feet. I watch as it moves through the air in slow motion, but at the same time, everything else in the surrounding area seems to speed up. Like a laser blast deflecting off a lightsaber, the wall of air hits the bullets back the way they came, causing them to propel into the men who fired them. On impact, all of their bodies jerk with the force of the bullets hitting them, and then they all drop to the ground as if it’s a coordinated movement.
All this time, my body is still moving in slow motion through the air. As soon as I hit the ground, I’m instantly transported back into my body. Call me Neo, because this is some serious Matrix shit.
As if a switch is suddenly flipped, I’m connected to my body once again, and by that I mean I. Feel. Like. Death. It’s like every ounce of energy has been sucked from my body. My limbs feel like they are filled with metal. Not just any metal either, I would say they’re filled with Osmium, which I happen to know is one of the heaviest materials on earth. In fact, I think it’s in my eyelids too, but instead of them being heavy and closing, they’re stuck where they are and my vision is fading to black. At least my eyes are focused on Princess and her face is the last thing I see as everything fades out.
∞∞∞
I think I’m alive… but I’m not really sure to be honest. My body won’t move. It feels like my eyes are open, but everything is pitch black. The only thing Iamsure of is that the most annoying high-pitched sound I've ever heard won’t stop.
It sounds like a mosquito constantly buzzing in your ear. That annoying sound where it seems like it echoes inside your ear. So I can’t be sure exactly what I’m hearing… but it sounds like that high-pitched sound is actually a voice talking.
My thoughts are momentarily distracted by a beautiful butterfly flitting through the air. If I’ve seen this type of butterfly before, the memory of it is lost to me. Its wings are made up of a variety of different colors, mostly purple as the base with scalloped edges creating the most beautiful shape. Maybe it’s not mostly purple. I almost want to say it looks like a tie-dye of purple, forest green, yellow, pink, blue, and orange. It flies closer and closer until it’s just inches from my face. It hovers before my eyes like it’s peering deep into my soul. As if it finds me lacking, it suddenly attacks my face, landing on my cheek and beating its wings against me.
As it flits away, the slight movement of air it produces causes me to feel the coolness of liquid pooled on my skin where the butterfly had landed. Ugh, gross. Did the butterfly pee on me? Can butterflies even pee? I’m so not in the mood to be peed on by anything. I try to reach my hand up to wipe the liquid from my cheek, but I’m still unable to move my body.
I track the movements of the butterfly as it hovers in the air. Oh wait, I can see again! When did that even happen? What a relief! At least now, if something comes to kill me, I’ll know it’s coming. Nothing worse than not seeing your death coming, unless I’m already dead, I still haven’t decided yet. Man, I can’t wait till my thoughts aren’t all jumbled up.
“Oh, Your Majesty, it’s so good to see your face again. Whatever did they do to you? I’m ever so sorry I wasn’t there for you. Oh my… I hope you forgive me. Why, oh why won’t you wake up?” I must be hallucinating because I swear that high-pitched sound is coming from the butterfly.
I watch as it flits over to a knot at the bottom of one of the trees. The butterfly dips its feet into the water collected there and continues to fly toward my Princess who’s laying on her side, hair splayed out over the ground. Oh good, she’s here too! I must be drugged, this is just too trippy to be any kind of afterlife.
“Oh, this isn’t good, not good at all. You’re both completely drained of magic. If you were anything other than royalty, then you would’ve died from depletion. I’m so very pleased I’ve finally found you again, my Queen.” No her name is Princess, this butterfly knows nothing.I shall call her John Snow and she shall be mine for she knows nothing.
“You need to wake up! You aren’t safe here yet!” The butterfly comes back toward me, but my vision is fading to black again in slow motion, like the end of a movie scene. The last thing I feel is the beating of wings on my cheek and more wetness, as if the butterfly is trying to kiss me to death. I wish I could move my hand to swat her away…
Chapter 19
