They Called Her the Devil

Chapter 30, Sam

The warehouse reminded me of before. After the fire and after my parents had gone. In between families.

I could still remember the cold nights and how hungry I was. And how I'd stolen from the wrong man. And how his friends had shown up.

How I'd tried to fight back. I'd killed one. Then she showed up and called them off. The Devil herself had saved me, not the current one but her mother.

The warehouse reminded me of hiding. But I didn't need to hide anymore. Xander and Leo were out and my stupid moral debt was paid.

Now I could kick some ass and save the world.

I cautiously walked forward; my smart contacts heat sensors had shown two people in the building. I could manage two against one.

I pulled my gun and edged forwards into the building. It was as if a tornado had swept through a landfill and deposited the junk in front of me. Not to mention the smell of vodka and piss.

I attempted weaving through the labyrinth of trash before giving up. I scaled a pile of old-well I think they were called newspapers-and made my way towards the first life form.

I eventually found what seemed to be a living space. It had a couch and a holo screen in one corner and a bed in another. It even seemed to have a small kitchen with a microwave and a pile of cereal boxes.

I picked my way over to a small closet door. It looked like someone had removed the hinges then duct taped the whole thing back on. I checked my contacts and they showed a small humanoid blob in the corner.

Well here goes nothing.

I made sure the person was well out of the way and kicked the door down. I didn't have time to pull off the tape and the second person was way on the other side of the building.

I poked my head around the corner and I instantly felt sick. What looked like a girl was curled up in the corner quietly sobbing to herself.

Her hair was matted and looked like it had been ripped out in a few places. She had clearly thrown up in the corner and more was stuck to her clothes. Worst of all she was covered with more cuts and bruises than I could count.

My protective instincts kicked in and I pulled off my jacket draping it over her shaking form. She seemed to notice me for the first time and started hyperventilating and shrinking into her corner.

"I'm Sam, I'm gonna get you out of here."

She choked out a sound that could have been a word.

"What was that?" I asked.

"I-I'm Audrey," she whispered, "Ple-please help me."

"It's ok," I gently grabbed her hand, "I just need you to try to stand."

Shakily Audrey stood and I helped her limp out of the closet. I wanted nothing more in life than to slowly murder whoever had done this to her.

Hopefully, I'd get the chance to soon.

I quickly scanned for the other life form; luckily it was on the other side of the building. If they'd done this to Audrey I'd kill them with my bare hands.

We slowly made our way towards where I thought the lab would be. I would've been faster without Audrey but I didn't want to leave her where the other person could find her.

We reached an area full of random objects that could have been lab equipment. I looked around for what could be the virus but there were too many beakers full of strange liquid to count.

I considered all of my options and decided to explode everything.

I dropped a force field bomb in the middle of the lab. As soon as we stepped out of the blast radius a shimmery force field appeared around the lab tables.

Inside the force field, a medium-sized explosion went off, destroying everything inside.

Audrey flinched away from the fire and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. She was still shaking but not as much.

I helper Audrey limp towards where I'd parked my helicopter. I'd give her some MC-57 then come back to kill whoever had done this to her.

I scanned for life forms and found the unseen person was ridiculously close to us. The sensors were still pretty new so I couldn't tell whether it was male or female.

Deciding to go for it I edged forwards towards them. Audrey had no idea what we were going towards and I didn't tell her, I didn't want her to freak out.

Then we rounded a corner to find a young woman attempting to scale a pile of scrap metal. She was either a civilian or someone from the Silver Order based on her lack of uniform.

Then she saw us and lunged forwards pulling a gun.

But she couldn't reach us in time.

She stepped on a pressure plate and two metal arms fell from the ceiling. They each grabbed one of the woman's wrists and pulled her up.

I couldn't see a way for her to get out.

Then to my utter shock, Audrey rushed forwards towards the woman. I tried to stop her but she was too quick and I wasn't expecting her to try to run.

She started pulling on one of the robot arms in a desperate attempt to free the woman. But she wasn't strong enough. And I didn't see a release switch.

I looked up at the woman and our eyes met. Hers weren't desperate but strangely solemn. She glanced at Audrey as if asking me a question.

I nodded. She was asking if I'd found Audrey here. In response, she closed her eyes and held her head as high as the trap would allow.

With a start, I realized what she wanted me to do.

I racked my brain for a way to get her out but I couldn't think of anything. I shakily pulled my gun and pointed it at her head.

I shot her right between her eyes.

Audrey didn't scream. She just looked at me with sad eyes. She'd known why I'd done it.

We made our way out to my helicopter and I gave Audrey a shot of MC-57 and some clean clothes. I also found a sandwich and a bottle of water for her.

After she'd changed and devoured the food she looked at me. She hadn't said a word since telling me her name. Her amber eyes widened, as she seemed to realize something.

"You're with the Silver Order, right?"

"Audrey, I'm with the Legion."

"Are you going to torture me for information then?"

My heart broke a little at that. It broke even more knowing Dawn would want to. But I wouldn't let anyone hurt her.

"No. You're safe, I promise."

***

Hi guys! Did Sam successfully destroy the virus? Who was the woman Sam killed in the warehouse? Is Audrey really safe? Please vote and comment, I want to know what you think!

-Jade