Never Again

Chapter 1

The world is chaotic.
The war is taking everything from the people. Their resources, their homes, their lives.
For most this war is all they’ve ever known, they’ve lived like this their whole lives.
This war began long before I was born but I know secrets no one else does.
I know what it was like to have peace. I know that there are people who are stealing the things necessary for others to win, and I know why they’re doing it.
What I know, is going to get me killed.
I’m walking through another dying town, another place where people are suffering and the people who could fix it are turning a blind eye. Like every other town, the residents are all wearing tattered clothing.
I hate how much I stand out compared to them.
My military issued olive colored cargo pants, black shirt and bright blonde hair. Every eye in the town follows me as I walk through. I’ve become a spectacle for people to stare at. Most times I’ll travel at night so that I don’t draw attention, but today’s different. I was almost caught, so now I need to leave as soon as possible.
I’ve been taught another lesson.
No matter how much you think you know someone, no matter how much they act like they care, when there’s a large enough reward there’s nothing they won’t do.
It’s not the first time I’ve been sold out, it won’t be the last. But for some reason this one hurt more. Maybe because this was the place I was able to stay the longest at. I was there for nearly 4 months. It was the place I called home. But I’ve never had a real home, and I never will. I should have known not to get my hopes up.
From the beginning they told me that once they chose me I wouldn’t be able to leave, the young naive version of myself didn’t see a reason why I would want to leave.
But that was more than 2  years ago.
Now I think differently.
Now I know I never should have trusted those deep gray eyes, that comforting embrace, those beautiful tempting lies that were whispered in my ear. But sometimes when life gets so hard we become more willing to cling to the lies, so that we don’t have to face the terrifying truths.
Trying my best to shake the memories from my mind I focus on the road ahead of me.
This is the hardest part.
The part where everyone stares, the part where I feel naked and vulnerable under the eyes of hundreds of people. They don’t know what I’ve done, but if they did these same people would fight and kill each other over the opportunity to turn me in.
I’m walking between two houses when a deep voice stops me.
“ You’re that girl aren’t you? The one with the bounty on her head?”.
Slowly I turn around and find three large men standing behind me. The largest man is looking at a paper in his hands before he looks back at me. Our eyes meet and a sickening grin spreads across his face.
“ Looks like we’ll be getting those 500,000 shekels for ourselves, boys”.
Taking a step back I look at my surroundings more closely. I could make a run for it, but that won’t solve the problem. These men recognized me, even if I leave, they'll follow or they’ll report me. Both are options I can’t accept.
I need to eliminate the problem.
“ I’ve heard the stories about you. The rumors that you’re the reincarnation of the devil himself. That your very touch kills men”.
I narrow my emerald green colored eyes and examine the men.
I’ve heard the same stories and rumors that they have. I’m a beast who’s not even human, I was so bloodthirsty I got kicked out of hell and was banished to earth, that I eat the heart of my victims. Of course none of these insane scenarios are true. These were all made because who would believe that a little girl became a murderer just because the world told her she was nothing, but one person told her that they would help her become someone who people would bow down to and fear.
“ But” the man says, drawing my attention back to the present. “I think that you’re just their pet, what did they call you? Eris?”.
My skin prickles at the sound of my name. It’s a name bestowed upon me but I haven’t heard my own given name in so long that it sounds foreign to me now.
“ It doesn’t seem to me like you’re as dangerous as they always said you were. If I had known sooner I would have gotten that bounty on your head a lot sooner”.
The man steps forward and my hand immediately goes to the pockets in my pants. My fingers wrap around a thick knife and my other hand goes to the belt at the back of my pants and squeeze the grip to my gun.
“ Don’t make this hard, I’d like to take you to them alive but I’ll bring you dead if you try and fight”.
The men step towards me and start moving around me. The leader is in the front, another is to the left of me and the last is to the right.The men get in fighting stances around me and exchange looks between each other to see who will attack first. The man on my right attacks first. He throws out his hands to grab me but I step back and to the side so that he’s in front of me. Before he can attack again I kick him into the man who was standing on the left and they fall to the ground. While they try to gather their wits I pull my knife out of my pocket and slide to the ground in front of the leader. Sweeping his legs out from under him I position myself over him and place my knife to his throat. The big man’s eyes widen and he tries to raise his hands but I pin down his arms with my knees.
“ Move again and I’ll cut out your throat”.
Hearing the footsteps behind me I grab another knife from my pocket and lay the flat of it on the man’s face, letting the point nearly touch the corner of his eye.
“ You’re men are sloppy” I tell him.
The footsteps come closer and I spin around throwing my knife into a man’s neck, quickly grabbing my gun I put a bullet in the skull of the other. I flick my long braid of blonde hair over my shoulder and push my other knife deeper into the leader's throat. A small trickle of blood spills from the knife and runs down his neck.
“ Now tell me, how do you know my face?”.
The man slowly looks to the ground where he was once standing and I notice the paper laying there from earlier.
“ Soldiers came through a few days ago and-” the man chokes and I lessen the pressure on his throat. “They gave everyone those flyers and told us to be on the lookout for a rogue. I reckon every town has gotten one by now”.
I grit my teeth together as I clench the handle of my knife tighter. Quickly thinking through my options I sigh.
“ I’m sure you can understand why I can’t let you live can’t you?”.
“ What?-”.
Before the man can finish his sentence I run my knife against his throat, forever silencing him. When I first ran away I thought that it would be better for me to try and suppress my assassin training, I thought it would make things better if I never had to harm another soul. It didn't take long for me to learn that in order to survive and escape I have to kill. 
I’ll never enjoy taking another person’s life but today it is necessary. After reclaiming my knives from the dead bodies I place them back in my pockets and my gun in the holster. Once wiping the blood from my hands I stand on my own feet and walk away. Whispers and nervous glances follow me as I leave the town but I refuse to look back.
I don’t want to kill anymore than necessary, I refuse to be the monster I have been portrayed as.
Eventually night falls and I come across an old barn building. I don’t like staying in secluded places such as this but my body aches from not eating in days and having not slept in over 72 hours.
Pushing on the doors I find them stuck shut so I circle around for another entrance. Finding a large window I throw my elbow into it. The window shatters with ease and I absentmindedly wipe the blood and glass from my arm. Pulling myself up to the window I silently slip through. My feet hit the ground inside the barn with a soft thud and I quickly glance around at my surroundings. It’s empty, and I’m all alone. This is how it always has been. Even when I was surrounded by people I was all alone, even when I thought he loved-.
No!
I can’t let those thoughts creep into my head. Everytime they do, I tell myself that if I go back things could be different. I could make myself believe the lies he told me but I can’t unsee the things I’ve seen. I can’t unhear the secrets I never should have known. Curling into a ball in the corner of the room I try to pretend that the tears running down my cheeks are non-existent. I fall into a deep sleep, letting my dreams consume me.
“ You don’t understand the things I am willing to do to make sure that no one will hurt you again”.
“ I don’t understand, I’ll never be strong like you”.
He laughs, a laugh that always made me smile. His happiness was contagious, it was one of the reasons I liked him so much. One of the reasons I loved him.
“ Let me help you become strong. I’ll train you and make you become someone that people bow down to. I’ll make sure people fear you”.