I stood there like an idiot, dumbstruck by his appearance.

"Maxinova?" He snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Hey! Snap outta it."

"You? You?" I finally said, staring at the his bloodstained shirt.

"Yes, me," he said. "Now move it." He gestured for me to follow.

"And why exactly should I trust you?" My voice came out high pitched.

"Do you want to spend the rest of your life locked up in a cell?"

"Not really."

"Then you have to trust me. I'm getting you out of this hell hole."

After a brief hesitation, I decided to trust him. I was eager to get away from there. "Okay."

He handed me a torch. "Here. You light the way, I'll cover the back. And also..." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out another gun. "Here."

"Er no, thank you. I'll have the torch."

"Take it. I'll cover you most of the time. You'll have to use it only when absolutely necessary."

"What if it is absolutely necessary?" I asked.

"Then aim, shoot and don't fall over from the recoil," he instructed. "And yeah, try not to shoot me in the back. Or anywhere, for that matter."

I reluctantly took the gun and stuck it into my jeans pocket.

He stepped aside to let me take the lead. "After you."

I flicked on the torch and stepped out of the cell. I shined it towards the right. The circle of light fell directly on a body on the floor.

The guard.

He was covered in blood, shot cleanly in the center of the forehead. "Oh no." I felt uneasy. My knees gave way and I dropped the torch.

"Hey!" Frank caught me. "If you have a weak stomach, we're not gonna get far. Now, please, move it. Before the reinforcements arrive."

"Oh yes, I'm alright. Thank you for asking," I said sarcastically. He chose not to respond to that.

I picked up the torch and shined it ahead. "I remember being brought from this way."

"Let's move," he said.

We walked, peering over corners, using our judgement to find a way out.

"Can I call you Beatrix?" he said suddenly. "'Maxinova' is a mouthful."

"Bebe," I replied. "That's my name. 'Beatrix' is weird."

"How about B?" he asked. "You can call me Ash."

I nodded. Though I had many questions about him, I decided it was not the time.

"Which way?" I asked him instead. The road ahead forked into two.

"Left," he answered. "Come on, I know the way from here."

I wondered how. All these corridors were identical.

"Was it you who cut the electricity?" I asked.

"I didn't mean to. I was aiming at a Kreaner but he ducked, and the bullet hit a circuit box instead. Only the electricity in Section B is on now."

"There's a Section B? How big is this place?"

"Yeah, it's- " He stopped mid-sentence and halted. "Switch off the torch," he whispered. "Now!"

I did as I was told. We ducked into a side corridor. "Kreaners?" I whispered.

He nodded towards the dim light in the corridor. "I saw one shadow. There may be more. Keep your gun up."

I followed the instruction. "What do we do?"

"How's that foot?" he asked. "I noticed that poorly made bandage." He pointed towards my left foot.

"It's alright, I guess," I said with uncertainty. I had been avoiding putting any pressure on it.

"Good, 'cause we're going to run in their direction," he replied.

"What?"

"Yes. There's a door ahead, to the left. Roughly a hundred metres. You run straight towards it, I'll be right behind you. If anyone comes in your way, shoot 'em."

"Hey! I'm not shooting anyone. You do the killing part, I'll do the running part."

He swore under his breath. "I didn't expect you to be such a wuss."

I rolled my eyes. Normally, any comment like that would have earned a speaker a broken nose. But I did not want to discourage him from saving my butt. "Fine, but only when necessary."

He peered over the corner. "In three, two, one. Go!"

We ran towards the door, while I tried to ignore the pain flaring through my toe. I ran straight while Ash tackled the Kreaner. They landed with a thud.

I twisted a knob on the door and opened it. "Ash, come on!" I shouted.

He was still pinning the Kreaner down. As he reached for his gun, the Kreaner removed the helmet. It was a woman of about twenty with curly brown hair and dark skin.

"Ashton! Ash! For god's sake, you little punk, it's me!" she shouted. It was the woman who led me to Ash's interrogation.

"Holy cow. Janet?" he asked. "I thought you were a Kreaner. Why were you sneaking around like that? You could have just said that it was you."

"I was about to, before you tackled me like crazed bull," she grumbled. "Get off me." She pushed him aside and got up.

Ash looked like he was about to say something before I interrupted. "Hate to break up the reunion, guys, but we gotta go."

We went through the door into a brightly lit corridor. "Keep your eyes open for any movement, Beatrix. This is Section B," said Ash.

We started walking, with Janet leading the way. Twice, we ran into a few Kreaners, but they were shot down easily.

"Where are the others?" Ash asked Janet.

"I don't know. My best guess is that they're all near the exits, ready for us."

"What do we do?" I asked.

She turned to me. "First, you have to learn how to shoot. I don't suppose Ashton's taught you anything, since he leaves all the hard work to me."

"I didn't know how to! I'd never seen that kind of gun before. I picked it up from a Kreaner," Ash protested.

She shushed him with a wave. "Show me the gun, Beatrix."

I fetched the gun from my pocket and handed it to her. She examined it for a minute before rolling her eyes at Ash. "This isn't a gun, Ashton."

Ash turned red. "It looks like one."

"It's a pod shooter." She opened a compartment on its side to reveal a number of small marble-shaped silver spheres. "These are called pods. They release an electric current on coming in contact with anything." She gave it back to me. "I don't think there's anything to teach in this. It's fairly simple, minimal recoil. You'll do good."

I took it back and tried shooting a light bulb.

"Missed it by a mile," Ash chuckled as the pod hit the ground and released a few tendrils of electricity.

"Shut up."

"How do I always get babysitting duty?" Janet mused.

She loaded her gun and started walking, with Ash and I right behind her.

We sneaked around the building for another half hour, with Ash and Janet firing at stray Kreaners who were all hurrying towards the same direction. With Janet muttering something about 'requesting better jobs to do' all the time.

Janet held up a hand, indicating us to stop, while she peered around the corner. "Roughly fifteen of them." She turned around to face us. "Shoot as many as you can see. And please don't die. Especially you, Beatrix. I'd hate to go through so much trouble for nothing."

"I'll try not to."

She turned her attention to Ash. "They've blocked the exit. I'm going to take out the lights in this place. Kreaner helmets will make it harder for them to see us and they know better than to remove them. Shoot as many as you can before they realise what is happening. The exit's a grey door, which requires a pass code to open. Enter 5-4-3-6 and press the red button. Got that?"

He nodded. "Ready, B?"

I took a deep breath. The mashed potatoes were doing somersaults in my stomach. "Yes."

Janet aimed at a circuit box opposite us. "Get in position, kids." She pulled the trigger.

As soon as the lights went out, guns started firing from my left. Ash and Janet took out five Kreaners within the first few seconds.

A dark silhouette was advancing towards Ash. I aimed at the man and pulled the trigger. The silver ball hit the helmet and the Kreaner screamed in pain.

The only light in the corridor was coming from the electricity released by the pods I fired. I took out two more Kreaners, who fell to the ground twitching.

Ash reached the door, with Janet and I right behind him. "Hurry up, Ashton!" said Janet.

We fired at the surging Kreaners, covering Ash.

He entered the code and pressed the button just as Janet shot the last Kreaner.

My hands were trembling. We killed people. We killed people.

"We killed people," I said in a small voice. No matter how much I hated the Kreaners, but they were humans. Real, living people. And we just killed a bunch of them.

"Hey," Janet said. "Ashton and I killed. You just knocked them unconscious."

"Still, they died in front of my eyes." I looked into her eyes. "Doesn't it bother you?"

"It used to. Now, I feel like I'm used to it."

I nodded weakly, the contents of my stomach still threatening to spill over.

Ashton pushed the door open to reveal a staircase. We ascended the stairs slowly.

I was scared, I admit. Scared as hell. It was too much for my thirteen year old mind. Too much.

"There will be more," said Ash, who was walking beside me. "We need you to be strong."

I glanced up to the seemingly endless flight of stairs. "Why me?" I said in a small voice.

"What was that?"

"Why me?" I repeated, my voice more stern and confident. "Why are you going through so much trouble for me?"

Ash lowered his gaze, fiddling with his bracelet again. "It's... well... I think I should explain later. It's a long and complicated story."

"Make it shorter."

"No, seriously, B. I should let the Chairman explain."

"The Chairman?" I asked. "Does he sell chairs?"

"She," he corrected. "She's my boss. And no, she does not sell chairs."

After that, we climbed in silence.

"We're here," Janet announced. She stood in front of a metal door. "Guns up and loaded."

Ashton proceeded to reload his gun, while I opened the compartment on the pod shooter. Twenty pods left.

Janet entered a code. The machine blinked green. "Head for the gate." She pulled the door open. Ash immediately fired, but the bullet hit nothing. There were no Kreaners.

"Where are they?" Ash wondered. "Something doesn't seem right."

"I don't know. I could use my tracker," Janet said as she pressed a button on a device around her wrist. "Let's just keep moving."

"What's a tracker?" I asked. We stepped into the sunlight. Ash walked ahead of us to keep watch.

"It helps one to locate the other Kreaners. Every soldier has one. The only problem is that, using one's tracker is like sending up a signal of your whereabouts," she explained, without taking her eyes off the little screen. "So if they've figured out that I'm with you, they'll be waiting for me to use this."

She showed the screen to me. "Look. The green lights are the soldiers. Red lights are the rank holders."

The tracker beeped loudly and the screen changed. "They're at the main gate. All of them. Why?" she wondered.

"They probably bolted the other gates, so we'll have to use the main one," Ash suggested.

"Maybe..." her voice trailed off. She checked the screen again. "Crap. They're heading in our direction now. Run."

"Where?" he asked.

"To the main gate. Since most of them are heading here, the main is poorly guarded. Shoot some down, and we'll be out."

"Leave the tracker. Bury it," I told her.

She nodded and removed the tracker from her wrist, and dropped it down on the wet soil, pressing it down with her foot.

I ditched my slippers and ran alongside them barefoot, faster than I ever had before in my life. Still, I fell behind a lot of times and Ash had to drag me ahead.

We jumped over a small bush and stopped beside the outer walls of the facility. Janet stood close to the corner, where she could peep over to see the guards.

I fell down on the ground, gasping for breath. "I need a minute."

Ash reached down and helped me stand up. I noticed that the both of them weren't tired at all, just their breathing had quickened a little. "How are you not tired?" I asked.

"We're used to it," he replied.

"Really?" I huffed. "How often do you go busting around in Krean buildings?"

"A lot." He grinned.

I still didn't understand why they were helping me, but I was glad they were. As far as I know, the Kreaners wouldn't have failed to find some reason to lock me up for the rest of my life.

"Not much time to rest, kids," said Janet. "There are three Kreaners on the left of the gate. Ash, they're your job. I'll handle the five on patrol duty. Beatrix, you run to the gate and shoot the security system beside it. The surge of electricity from the pod will cause it to malfunction, 'kay?

"Okay." I was breathing heavily.

"And Ashton," she added. "You're going to drive." She fished out a keyring with three keys from her pocket and tossed it to him.

She checked the guards again. "Ready? Go."

We ran again, shooting and dodging bullets. Kreaners shot back, but their bullets miraculously kept missing their targets.

A bullet glided past my ear. I shot back at the Kreaner. The pod flew past him. I cursed under my breath.

"Beatrix, duck!" I heard Ash say. I fell to the ground, and heard a bullet fly over my head.

I scrambled up again and ran. The gate was getting closer. And closer. I lifted my shooter to aim at the green-coloured screen. As I was about to pull the trigger, someone tackled me from behind. I fell down again.

"Where do you think you're going, missy?" I heard a raspy voice growl.

"Ash! Jan-- mhmph!" He clamped his hand over my mouth to keep me from crying for help. I heard the tinkling of metal handcuffs. And then a gunshot. The man fell to the ground on my side and blood sprayed from the side of his head.

A pair of hands pulled me up. "You're welcome," said Janet.

I aimed and shot the system. For a few moments, nothing happened. The pod stuck to the screen, doing nothing. Then a few tendrils of electricity appeared, smashing the screen. The gate did not budge. There was a crackling sound from it, and a beeping sound.

There was a bright red light. At first, I thought it was my vision. I hit my head hard when the man tackled me.

"It's coming from the ground!" Janet yelled. She pushed me and we dove to the side, just as the soil flew upwards and the ground exploded. We were thrown back. A sick ringing filled my ears. There was a body. A girl with her skin burnt. I couldn't believe my eyes.

I screamed. Zinnia. I tried to get up, get to her.

"Hey! Hey! You're okay!" Janet pinned me down. "No one's here. You're okay."

I breathed heavily. I turned my attention to the ground ahead. She was gone. "Where is she?"

"Where is who?" Janet asked. "Are you okay?"

She was there. She was right there! I saw her!

I decided that it might have been my imagination. "I'm okay. It's alright," I lied.

"We have to go, okay?" She helped me to get to my feet.

I looked at the big hole in the ground, remembering what I saw. The scorched skin, the blood, the torn clothes. I saw her.

"Where's Ashton?" She looked around. "Ashton!"

"I'm here! I'm okay!" a voice sounded from the other side of the crater. The boy had a few cuts and some ash on his face, but was otherwise okay.

We slowly made our way around the crater to the other side of the wrecked gate. "What just happened?" Ash said as he reached us.

"The security system is more elaborate than I thought," Janet said. "They added a bloody explosion, just in case the system's compromised. We're lucky to survive that."

Ash proceeded towards the line of green, armoured cars. "Which one?"

"Number 3132," she replied. "Hurry! Reinforcements will come any minute."

A gunshot sounded tore through the silence and Janet fell to the ground. Blood seeped from a wound in her right shoulder. I tried to help her stand. "Hurry! They're here!"

"Beatrix, go!" I'll hold them back," she yelled. I hesitated. "Run! Seriously, I'll be okay!" she assured me.

I ran to the car and jumped in at the back through the open back door. "Go, go, go!

"Where the hell is Janet?" Ash asked.

"She said she'll catch up," I said. "Now go!"

He spun the wheel around, making the car skid on the snow-covered soil. He twisted it left and right, trying to maneuver.

The number of Kreaners had considerably diminished. Janet was shooting everyone in sight, with her other hand. It amazed me how steady her hands were, after being shot and a lot of blood loss.

Ash twisted the wheel again, almost throwing me off the car. He pushed a switch and the back of the car opened up again. Janet was now running behind us as the Kreaners shot from behind. Ash slowed the car down, for her to jump in.

That's when it happened.

The car had just moved past the Kreaner territory, when an explosion was triggered behind us. We escaped from the impact. The armored car protected us.

But Janet wasn't as lucky. She was on foot.

The ringing in my ears returned. Ashton stopped the car and jumped out. He was screaming something, but I couldn't hear him. All I could hear was the ringing. That sick ringing. The ringing that made me relive the day of Zee's death again. The song of complete and utter silence.

At last, my hearing returned.

"No. NO!" Ash kicked the side of the car. He looked like he was about to cry.

I knew that I should have said something to comfort him, but what was I to say? I knew how empty the words 'I'm sorry' could sound.

He silently climbed back into the car and started the engine. "Are you okay, B?"

"I think I'm fine," I assured him.

"Good," he said simply as he put his foot to the gas.

***

We traveled in silence for the next few hours.

"Were you close?" I asked after some time.

"Yes," he said after a pause. He hesitated, looking at me through the rearview mirror, probably wondering if he could trust me. After a moment, he said, "When my family was killed, she took their place. She reminded me a lot of my elder sister."

"Did she have a family?"

"No. They died in the same attack that killed mine. I feel like I lost my sister for the second time."

"I know how that feels."

When I lost Zinnia, Rebecca had taken her place. She comforted me when I had nightmares, just like Zee.

And now, I didn't even know if she was alive.

"Where are we headed?" I asked in an attempt to change the topic.

"North. I thought you'd recognise this road," he said.

I turned my attention to the surroundings and saw a crumbling building with smoke coming out of it in the distance. It was the road that I had used so many times in my life. The one that led to The Ridge.

"Are we going to The Ridge?" I enquired.

"Nope, just passing by."

"How did you know that I'd recognise this road?"

"I know stuff," he said. "Our organisation has been monitoring your family since before you were born."

"Like, stalking?"

"No!" he defended. "Well, yes. But for a good cause. Gracielle asked us to keep an eye on you before she died."

"Gracielle?"

He gave me a confused look through the mirror at first. "Oh, that's right," he then said. "You would know her better as Grace."

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Grace? Grace Maxinova? Mom?"

"Yes, her. She worked with us."

"Who's us?"

"I can't tell you that right now," he said. "But I'll explain everything later."

I simply nodded. I never understood why people kept information from me. It wasn't like I was going to blurt it out. "I just hope you're on the good side, Frank."

"Greywell, he corrected. "Ashton Greywell. I lied during the interrogation. And as for being on the good side, that's for you to decide."

"I need some time, then."

I looked out the window and the events from the past few days played over in my head. The thought brought back a question that had been on my mind for some time.

"Janet knew my father, didn't she?" I asked.

"Yes, she did. She was his assistant at MaxCorp."

"Did he know about..." I asked, "... all this?"

"Yes, he did. He appointed Janet as his successor, as the CEO after him."

Something wasn't right. "How did he know that he'll need one?" I asked. "He wasn't old. Why did he choose a successor now?"

"That is one of the things Chairman has to discuss with you. We suspect that he knew that he was going to be killed."

"How am I supposed to know anything about that? I hadn't seen him in months!"

"I don't know, B. But Chairman seems to think that you might be connected somehow."

"If he knew he was going to be killed, he would have done something about it!" My voice started to become louder. "He would never leave me like this on purpose!"

"Again, I have no idea. But boss seems to believe her theory."

"During your interrogation, you said you saw me kill him. Why?"

"Oh, the 'eyewitness' thing is pure crap. It was just to get me inside the building."

I took a deep breath. "This is a lot to process." I was tired and getting drowsy. "Do you mind if I lie down for a minute?"

"Not at all. Go ahead."

I curled up on my seat and closed my eyes.

***

"B, wake up." Ash woke me up. I opened my eyes. "Get up now!" he hissed.

I found him in the seat beside me. The car had stopped. "What's wrong?" I whispered back.

"We have company," he said, while loading his gun.

"Kreaners?"

"Worse. How many pods do you have left?"

"About ten."

"Reload. Get atleast thirty in there. There's a box behind you, there might be pods in there."

I did as I was told. A gunshot sounded and the windshield cracked. A voice came from the control console. "Armour integrity sixty percent."

"This thing has A.I.? That's so cool!" I said.

"B, this isn't really the time," Ash warned.

"GET OUT OF THE CAR! YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY!" said a man outside through a speakerphone.

Ash looked at me. "There are too many of them."

"Who are they?"

"Underwood Force. A rival organisation. Dedicated to bringing the government down, and setting up a dictatorship."

"Is your world usually this messed up, or is it just today?"

"You have no idea."

"YOUR TIME IS UP!" the man yelled again.

There was a round of gunfire. "Armour integrity twenty percent," the A.I. informed. "May not sustain another attack."

I dared to peek out the tinted window. Ash was right. There were too many of them. People in uniforms similar to those of the Kreaners, but with a piece of red cloth tied at the wrist. "What do we do?"

"Nothing. There's nothing we can do. Even if I call for reinforcements, it'll be too late till they arrive," Ash said. I could hear the despair in his voice. He had given up. "We will shoot as many as we can, but they will take us down in the end."

"Well, I'm ready to go down fighting."

Another volley of gunshots hit the car. "Armour integrity zero percent."

The glass exploded and the shards flew everywhere, while we ducked behind the seats to save ourselves. The back of the car slowly opened up, and we readied our weapons. As soon as we could see outside, we started firing. The first row of soldiers were caught by surprise, and hence easily gunned down. But the others recovered from the initial shock quickly. As soon as they did, they were upon us.

"Go back to back!" Ashton yelled.

We stood facing opposite each other, shooting everyone in sight. But they were too much. They kept surging on, till they were too close for me to shoot. They tackled me like I was a rag doll, pinning me to the ground.

There were red spots in my vision. I tried to blink them away, but they were like liquid, spreading, and thus obscuring my vision further. I then realised that it was liquid. It blood, seeping from a cut on my forehead.

There was a throbbing in my head. I was losing consciousness. The surroundings slipped in and out of focus as I unsuccessfully fought to stay conscious.

As my eyes closed, the last thing I saw was a man aiming a gun at Ashton's head.

***

Exams are over and I can finally get back to my writing. I love this feeling.

Did you see the gif at the beginning? Of course you did. Hats off to -Erchomai for this!

So some of friends are begging me not to kill off Beca, which is kinda crazy and awesome at the same time, since I haven't really introduced her much in the story.

My response: I'll think about it. ;)

(Edit) So we're near 1k reads... and I was wondering whether I should do a Q&A as soon as we hit that mark. What do you think? Leave a comment.

Also, there is a prologue to the story that I have written but I'm not sure whether to publish it or not, since it is not my best work.

And as always, don't forget to vote, comment and share.

Stay awesome! ❤

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New signature debuting in 3.. 2.. 1..

A HUGE thanks to -helianthus-