KING, the hundred

fifty: reunion

"the billboard said, "the end is near"
i turned around, there was nothing there
yeah, i guess the end is here."

i know the end by phoebe bridgers

Avery King was trying not to pay attention to the throbbing in her back, or her knees, or the side of her arm, or her neck. Pretty much everything hurt. But she couldn't let that beat her, not if she wanted to survive.

Sometimes she thought it was a bad thing that she'd become so accustomed to how the knives felt in her hands.

This was not one of those times. Because it wasn't just her life on the line, it never seemed to be. Monroe was crouched beside her as they prepared to fight together. The look in Monroe's eyes was always the same: she was ready to die for Avery. No amount of seeing that look in people's eyes would make Avery used to it.

"Alright," Avery whispered, crouching forward as one all shots ceased. "You go left, I'll go right."

Monroe took a deep breath and nodded, her own knife in hand.

"Alright, now!" Avery said after a moment.

Avery lunged out from behind the crate, straightening her entire body up to grip a Mount Weather guard by the front of his neck from behind. He struggled, trying to buck Avery off, but before he could she ran her knife in a clean line across his throat. The guard collapsed face-first in a puddle of his own blood.

Monroe was even busier, shoving her knife into the leg of a nearby guard. His partner swung at her with his unloaded gun, but Monroe managed to duck out of the way. The knife stunned the first guard Monroe could easily take his own gun after punching him swiftly in the face.

Now it was just her and one guard, both with large metal objects.

Avery made her way around a corner of the storage facility to come face-to-face with two more guards. The first barely had time to react as Avery threw a knife directly into his throat.

Angered by his comrades death, the second guard caught Avery by surprise as he raised a handgun and prepared to fire. Avery lunged forward, knocking the gun to the side as it fired. Her ears rang like hell, but at least she wasn't dead. The gun spun out of the guard's hand and landed about five feet away on the floor.

Avery stepped back, knife in hand, as she watched the guard panic. The man looked up at her with fear in his eyes, but then he looked down at the blood-covered floor and his fear was replaced with rage.

The man lunged forward, kicking to the side in an attempt to knock the knife out of Avery's hand. She let him kick the knife away, but quickly grabbed another one from a pocket on her side, with her other hand. Avery plunged the knife into his leg without hesitation. She then shoved her knife into his chest and pulled it out before she could think about it. The man collapsed slowly as the blood stain spread across his chest. Avery knew he would be dead in minutes from the blood loss.

Then she turned around, putting a hand on the corner of a crate. There were sounds of struggle coming from around the corner. Avery didn't notice it before, she was too preoccupied with her own fight. But it was clear that there were sounds of struggle from both Monroe and the remaining guard.

In one fluid motion, Avery turned around, picked up the guard's gun, and spun around the corner to face Monroe and the man she was fighting.

As soon as the man saw Avery with her gun pointed at him, he grabbed Monroe by the neck, putting her body directly in the line of fire. Avery felt her throat close in a little bit, but she shook off the feeling as soon as it came.