Dark clouds were looming overhead. Puffy, grey, full of water vapor, looking ready to burst open at any second. I didn't miss the irony of the situation since I decided today I was gonna kill Felix.
Originally, I was going to wait. I needed the most opportune moment. A moment when he was alone instead of surrounded by other goons, which seemed to be more likely as of late. Then last night happened, and I realized that I had to get it done before Luke had a chance to rat me out.
I should have killed him. The devil on my shoulder kept repeating the phrase all night long, keeping me awake. For some reason I couldn't. Call it a conscience. Call it weakness. I don't care.
Felix was the one that needed to die.
I was fixated on the boss' house until Felix finally emerged. Nine a.m. He had two guards with him. Not ideal but not impossible.
I didn't have time to consider where they were going before I jumped down and followed them. I didn't have time to worry if more were going to follow, either. I had time to act, that was all.
I stalked them in the woods as they walked towards the mountain. They moved close to the ocean. The waves crashing against the cliffs below were loud enough to cover up my footsteps, as well as whatever words they were exchanging between each other. They stood together, waiting for something. I didn't have time to think about it. I reacted.
I cut the first one down easily. Snuck up behind him, sliced his neck, and he fell to the ground. The second one attempted to grab me. I ducked underneath his reach and cut his stomach at the same time. Distracted, he clutched his abdomen with one hand and tried to hit me with the other. I stabbed him in the stomach again, this time twisting it deep. Warm blood soaked my hand and ran down his clothes as his eyes widened. I took the knife out. He slumped to the ground, bleeding out, more slowly than his companion.
That left Felix.
He was standing five feet away, bewildered that I took down his companions so quickly. I looked into his eyes and realized that he didn't recognize me. Maybe he'd hurt too many people to remember me.
"Who are you?" Felix demanded. I'd never seen him show fear before this moment, right now. I only knew him to have hatred and aggression. To enjoy hurting anyone and everyone who crossed his path, most undeserving. Maybe this was the first time he ever felt threatened.
I advanced on him. Felix was more skilled than the others, and prepared for an attack. He struck at me repeatedly, but never got a hit in. He was used to his victims being restrained. He was used to fighting people smaller than him, more scared, more defenseless. I was none of those things. Not anymore.
The next time Felix struck out at me, I met his fist with my blade. His hand tore open, sliced from his knuckle to halfway down his palm. Blood poured from the wound as the small bones peered out from broken skin. Then I brought him to the ground. He didn't put up a fight and just layed there, a single tear in his eye.
"Do you remember me?" I asked.
"No." He choked out between whimpers.
"You took something from me. A lot, actually." Holding his other hand down in the dirt, I plunged my knife into his palm.
His scream was loud enough to carry to the other side of the island. I needed to end it, now.
I took the knife out and brought it to his neck. "Go to hell, asshole."
That's when I heard the gunshot. They were already here. But, too late. I pulled the knife across his throat before hands were grabbing me, pulling me off. It wasn't until I was being dragged away that I felt the burning sensation in my right arm. Like a beesting, except a million times worse.
"Who do you work for?"
The guards stopped suddenly and I looked up to see who spoke.
Ray.
"What?" I asked.
Ray's brown eyes searched mine from behind thick-rimmed glasses. His lips pursed as he took in all of my features. I couldn't imagine he'd figure out who I was. I'd never seen this man before in my life.
"Who do you work for?"
I didn't respond. Instead, I glanced at Felix's unmoving corpse. Did it make me feel better, knowing he could never hurt anyone again?
Ray shook his head at me, disappointed. "Take her to the basement. I'll take care of her in a minute. Eric, watch her."
Eric. A guard standing over the bodies grunted in response. He was just as big as Felix. Just as mean. His dark eyes met mine for a second, full of danger and with a promise of violence.
It didn't matter. I had gotten what I came here for.
*****
I was in a cement box. They sat me in a wooden chair with my hands tied behind my back. When I kicked at them, they restrained my legs too. I was stuck in a basement, with nothing in it but stairs and the chair I'd been forced onto.
I was alone, for now. All I could hear was my own ragged breathing and the occasional creak of a floorboard above me. And shit, my arm hurt. I hadn't realized a bullet had ripped through it until after they dragged me away. A trickle of blood still oozed from the exit hole on my tricep, the warm liquid steadily making its way to my bent elbow before dripping to the floor. The quiet sound echoed in the room, distracting me from the pain, distracting me from my impending doom.
I promised myself then that if I somehow made it out of this, if I somehow survived, I would kill Ray. After all, he was the one that sent Felix to kill me.
Quite a bit of time had passed before I finally heard footsteps coming down the stairs. How much time, I couldn't be sure. The stinging in my arm had dulled to an ache now, and the dripping blood had slowed considerably.
Eric came down first. He walked to the corner behind me, glaring at me the whole way. He was waiting for something. Ray, most likely.
I tested the strength of the rope tied around my wrists. It was coarse, tight, impossible to break out of. My skin was already starting to feel raw and my right arm was useless thanks to my injury.
Ray came down a moment later. He stood in front of me, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. He didn't waste time with pleasantries. "Who do you work for?"
I didn't answer. Answers wouldn't buy me time. They wouldn't help me survive. If anything, they'd give him more of a reason to kill me.
"I'll ask you again, who do you work for?" Ray persisted.
When he was met again with silence, he shot Eric a look. I knew the punch was coming before his fist connected with my cheek, snapping my head to the side, my brain colliding with the thick skull that protected it.
"I don't want to hurt you, but you killed a friend. I want to know why."
My cheek received another hit, just as hard as the last. I tasted blood in my mouth so I spit it out onto the concrete floor.
Ray took a step closer to me. Me sitting and him standing almost made our heights equal. His expression was intimidating enough, but it didn't affect me. Nothing did.
"Felix hurt you, didn't he?" Ray asked.
I ran my tongue over my blood-stained teeth. "Go to hell."
Ray let out a sigh, disappointed at my lack of cooperation. He backed up a step and looked at me with sad eyes. "I'll find out who you are one way or another. Save us all some time."
"Go. To. Hell." I said, enunciating clearly just in case he didn't hear me the first time.
With a sigh, he gestured for Eric to go upstairs. Ray followed after shooting me one last sad smile. Was that pity I saw? I struggled against the binds holding me, a new wave of anger washing through my concussed brain.
They left me alone. Hours passed. I tried to focus on something other than the pain, but the room was empty. There was no more blood leaving my body, no footsteps upstairs, no window to the outside world. Nausea was building in my stomach as my vision blurred. I'd been concussed before, but never this bad.
Visions danced in my head. Visions of Felix on the ground. Visions of me standing on the cliff where I killed him, staring at the ocean crashing beneath me, my feet ready to jump. I turned and saw Luke behind me, telling me not to, telling me to come with him.
I didn't realize what part of my dream was reality until I was back in the basement, staring at a man in front of me with a knife in his hand.
It was Luke.