Taste of Melanin

Radical

There were nine of them, 4 men and 5 women. All of them either gave a weak wave or a mutter of acknowledgment. His interest was lost and he turned back to face the doors.

"What a lovely group. I'm wishing you all the best of luck out there." Richard exclaimed.

"Where...where is Nia?" The woman suddenly spoke before counting the group once more.

"Late like usual." One of them muttered just as the doors were pulled open. Dread perked up, his hand ready to grip his weapon as he waited for someone to appear.

"Ah, Ms. Williams. How nice of you to finally join us." Ms. Bell spoke, her arms crossed as she watched the woman slowly ascend the stairs.

Dread noticed she walked with a certain confidence the others lacked as she rolled her eyes. The large lashes she wore made her eyes harder to see and the jewelry in her nose sparkled in the lights. Her hair was cropped short, laying in waves along her head.

"Sorry. Got caught up with the monkey see- monkey do police." She spoke with a certain venom as she finally made it to their location.

Immediately her eyes locked onto Dread's, an unwavering challenge within them. "Nia, behave yourself."

"I got something on my face?" She ignored her instructor as she maintained eye contact.

Dread brushed it off, knowing he could kill the woman in restraints and a blindfold. Flickering his eyes back to the door, he ignore the chuckles coming from his partners. "That's what I thought."

"What?" He couldn't stop himself for some reason.

"Soldier." The authoritative warning had him brushing off the confrontational instinct that settled in his spine.

"Yeah, that's a good war criminal." She smirked before joining the others in the group.

"I'm so sorry. You'll have to excuse, Nia. She's a bit...radical." Ms. Bell hurriedly spoke to Richard.

This wasn't the first time he'd met one of those woke, liberal activists who deemed him the closest thing to the devil. He'd encountered hundreds but something about the woman's stare told him she wasn't like the others.

"It's alright, Ms. Bell. Nia, your first amendment right guarantees you can say whatever you want." Richard sent her a smile that Dread knew was filled with ill feelings.

"Until the CIA deems it a threat, right?" She retorted, her eyes locked on his commander in the same way. The woman showed no fear, her chest high and her shoulders squared similarly to his own.

The reference to the assassination of many political figures wasn't one they all hadn't heard before. Dread wasn't oblivious to the wrongs of the military, but he was simply doing his job.

"Okay! We should be going."
...

Dread followed the others to line up behind the group as they would be escorting them to the back stage. Nia made show of moving away from them to the very front of the group.

The group moved as one towards the side entrance tunnel, their voices echoing in the small area. He kept his eyes peeled for any obstacle, occasionally turning to check their six.

Just as they made it to the middle of the tunnel, a loud alarm rang and the bright lights flashed red in warning. "Everybody down!"

The group ducked quickly, fearfully screams escaping them as they huddled together. Dread, Bullet, and Kiel moved to cover them while Richard pulled his pistol out.

"What the fuck is going on?" Kiel muttered as they remained silent, listening for movement.

Dread kept his eyes on each side of the tunnel, his hand holding his pistol ready to fire. Unconsciously his eyes flickered to see Nia casually leaned against the wall, her eyes closed as if this was an annoyance.

"We hold position for now. I'll return to the lobby and see if there's a breach." Richard instructed as he nodded to the front end of the tunnel.

As he moved silently along the wall towards the entrance, the three others spread out to fully cover the group. Their fearful whimpers and shaking forms made him more determined to keep things under control.

He stood closest to Nia as he guarded the North entrance that would have opened towards backstage. A suspicion that she was involved bloomed as she pulled her phone out nonchalantly.

Before he could begin a line of questioning, gunfire sounded from the South end of the tunnel. The three of them moved to herd the group behind them while they aimed to kill. Dread kept his back against Bullet's so he could still face the North entrance while keeping close to the known danger.

Being back in his element, he listened closely as the sound of movement came from the side where they'd heard gunshots.

"Let's play." Kiel laughed lightly before he and Bullet fired shots.

The screams of the group would have made it hard to focus had they not been so trained. Dread turned briefly to kill three men who'd been trying to ascend upon their location. Their heavy gear and assault rifles told him this was no ordinary job.

The heavy push of the North side door had him spinning once more. Before he could fire, Nia sprung into action to disarm the front man entering the tunnel.

Her precise actions and strength told him she was specially trained. The woman broke the man's wrist before turning his gun back to shoot him in the head. She snatched the weapon from the dead man before firing three more shots into the foreheads of the men entering as if it were nothing.

"Here. Those pistols won't get you much farther." She spoke to the three as she kicked over the assault rifles of the men she'd killed.

"You set us up!" Kiel called as he quickly approached her.

"Ahht, ahht, ahht." She quickly raised the weapon causing Dread and Bullet to raise their own. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't need a firing squad. Now stop being an idiot and come on."

She moved towards the group as if two assault rifles weren't pointed at her head. "Alright, I need a tight two person formation. Move!"

Her loud yell caused the group to spring into line. "Hold the shoulders of the person in front of you and do not let go. You all are to move as one if you want to make it out of here alive, okay?"

"Two on six, two up front." She dished out orders as if it were natural as she pointed to the three of them and assigned them positions.

"Let's move out!"

——
Little idea that came to me last night. Not sure about more parts for now.