the damned

PROLOGUE

'What the hell?!' He asked thrown off balance.

I knew none of them were going to shoot me yet. They still needed some answers. As if they were going to get it from me.

'Now, you listen to me,' I continued, dropping a white card-like device the thickness of a pencil in front of me. 'You are going to put fifty thousand dollars in unmarked bills in a clear, plastic bag and hand it over to me or everyone in this pub dies.' I dropped another on my white "cards" behind me.

The barman smiled at me. He said, with a hint of arrogance in his voice,' I'm going to enjoy this.'

I smiled... again. I really must stop smiling. It's tiring. I thought exasperated.

'Now, who told you about the shipment of guns?' He asked.

A second later, the white card released an arc of pure electricity. Moving at a speed equal to that of light, the intense blue beam ionised the air as it moved, making it more powerful until it hit a random man on the uncovered portion of his arm. As the wave of 10 megawatts was fully absorbed by his body, his body's nervous system overloaded till they failed. Some of the electricity burnt his shirt to a crisp as we watched him die. The electricity heated up his blood, burnt up his skin and turned his insides to liquid before his entire body failed him totally. He spasmed a little before stopping to rest on the floor. Permanently.

A second later, another man checked his pulse. He looked at the barman and shook his head no.

'Got your answer now?' I asked. A smile still tugging at the corners of my mouth.

'You killed him.' He said hoarsely. His voice was now laced with fury and I could also detect an element of fear in his tone.

'Of course I did. What did you think I was gonna do? Give him a kiss?'

'You are going to die, kid.' He lifted his weapon and squeezed the trigger twice. Again, the arc flashed through the air,  untraceable by eye and only it's blue hue informed us of its deadly presence and... effects. The bullets hit the floor with dull, metallic thuds. Once. Twice. And all was still.

I made a surprised face and an shocked O with my lips. I nervously tapped down my torso pretending to check for bullet holes.

'Ok,... that was strangely disappointing.' I said in a sad voice.

'Well, since I'm not dead yet I'm going to repeat myself.' I said in an exasperated tone, 'I'm going to kill five people every minute until the idiot behind the counter takes out fifty thousand dollars and hands it over. '

'Oh, and if you try to run away, trust me, I will kill you.' I said softly.

The silence was so thick, you could cut it up with a butter knife and serve with a pretzel. A moment later, the device on the floor cackled.

What? I was tired of waiting.

The royal blue flash followed. Five people hit the floor simultaneously.

'The way I see it, I have a shield and something definitely more powerful than a Glock and you have... nothing.' The last word was whispered softly.