'Fragmented'

Part Three

I was in shock. The torrent of FN 5.7×28mm rounds kept chewing away at the ruined lobby. The armed men split up to block the exits. I was partially deaf at this point. But since I've dealt with firearms in the past, I was not surprised by the assault on my eardrums. It reminded me of all the times I went swimming and had water caught in my ear.
 I felt a pair of muscled arms envelope me in a tight embrace. Next thing I knew..we were behind the hotel's bar. The wood counter splintered and popped upwards. Through the bellowing of assault rifles and machine guns, Voss tried to ask me something. "Are you okay baby?...!" He yelled. I nodded looking at the healed bullet wound on my hip.
 "What about you?" I noticed his back resembled bloody Swiss cheese. The reddened holes puckering and sealing at a slow rate. Voss gave me a pained grimace. His needle like teeth were peppered with flecks of crimson. "I've dealt with worse. This shit's child's play." I knew he was lying. The malady of our abilities are ones of common knowledge. No matter what you do as a carrier of an Alter Ego, it always comes with torment-both physically and mentally.
 Andrew sought cover adjacent to our hiding place. One of the gun wielding males moved close to his spot. The mousy man stuck out his leg to trip him. Then drove a piece of glass into the enemy's throat and grabbed the fallen commando's L22 carbine. "I always wanted to shoot one of these." Andrew chuckled as he jumped out of cover. "One of you is from the UK, huh?" Andrew's nasally voice taunted as he shot his new toy.
 "Ballsy little fucker." Voss watched the skinny nerd open fire on the assaulting party. I motioned for Voss to follow me. Far be it from me to waste an opportunity. We crawled out. My boyfriend stood up. His talon like nails began growing. Aw shit..he's going to let loose. The veins on his large frame began pulsating as his demonic eyes bulged. He sprinted with the pace of a cheetah on bath salts. The talons sunk into flesh with an audible wet *pop*, then separated meat and organs from bone. When one sees their fellow commando mutilated, it was already too late. They suffered the same fate as their fallen brother in arms.
 "Here I go.." I whispered as my arm began to form a scythe like shape. My bones grew, muscle stretched, and my nerves screamed as I felt the transformation of this horrible wound. My skin hardened. My glass like exterior bounced with light as I swung my blade in a carefully aimed arc. The shortest of the team met my weapon with his oversized bayonet. He was persistent. Parrying my attacks and jabbing at my exposed torso. I decided to throw a Southpaw at his jaw. It worked. My sharpened appendage sliced across his neck. The helmeted head flew through the air. One more was left.
 "Should've picked a better contract!" I said with a smile as Voss and I took turns attacking the last one. It was like a choreographed dance. We played off each other. Hence, the reason why we always paired up. In a killing blow, my monster of a man crushed the guy's head.
 "We need to do this more." I puffed as I tried to catch my breath. Voss took in a few breaths himself. He was trying to reign in his aggression. I went in to stroke the side of his face. My hand was slapped away. "Stay back, Melissa." He growled as his glowing eyes fixed upon me. I knew he meant business if he used my real name. He dug his claws into the wall behind him and shut his eyes. "Andrew..get Decora out of here. I'll meet you guys on Stone Street." I could hear his voice straining. A massive effort to stay composed.
 "Jonathan..." I softly called to Voss as Andrew led me out of the Sheraton. I wanted to stay there with my lover. But in order to not to harm me, he had to get in control of his rage.
 "We'll have to go out the back way." Andrew said as we headed out into the alley. "There are news vans out front. You two are bad at stealth." I scowled and wrenched my forearm away from him. "Not our fault that a group of fucking hitmen ruined our meet up." I snapped.
 "What the hell?" Andrew stopped dead in his tracks. "Why did we stop?" I demanded as I laid my eyes on what he was seeing. At the end of the alley, there was a man in a dark gray coat and hat. He only faced us slightly. My stomach began to twist and ache.   
 Anxiety and agony gripped my abdomen. "He found me. He fucking found me." I fell to the ground, my mouth agape. The dark gray figure faced forward. A blanket of black clouded my eyes as I passed out.
 "Wake up sweetie! C'mon! What did you do to her asshole?!" I heard an angry raspy voice bellowing and the feeling of hands gripping my biceps. I open my eyes. I was met with a pair of red and yellow orbs. "I didn't do shit! She saw some dude, freaked out, and fainted!" Voss grabbed Andrew by the throat. I groaned in distress and sat up. "He didn't do anything Voss. He did what you asked him to. I blacked out because of something else."
 Voss dropped Andrew on his bony ass. "Then who did it?" I panted in fear as I opened my mouth. "That man..the one who killed everybody in my town twenty years ago..he..he found me. I don't think he's human." Tears rolled down my cheek.
 "How do you know it's him? It could be some jackass from an office building." I glared at Voss. "It is him. I felt that sickening ache in my stomach. I fainted when he looked straight at me." I struggled to get to my feet. My surroundings began to spin. The whole ordeal weakened me.
 I remember being carried to Andrew's safehouse. The rest was a blur..except for the nightmares. In one of my dreams..a giant coal colored creature murmured to me: "It won't matter anymore..your dead world is ours."
(To be continued in Part Four)