*author’s note*
Sorry this chapter is shorter than I would like. I have a plan for an upcoming part of the story that's going to be really dramatic (I think) and I'm trying to lead into it in the best way so bear with me :)
Glass rained down on you and Train as the gunfire continued to explode around the room. You spun away from Train reaching out for the nightstand and grabbed onto the grip of Ares, your hand finding the familiar grip in the dark. You pounced to your feet spraying a barrage of bullets out wildly in the dark ceasing your enemies fire before quickly crouching down again. You hit the magazine release button and the empty mag dropped from the tube hitting the ground with a thud. You pointed the barrel downwards grabbing at the pants you had discarded earlier. In the largest pocket you found several of Ares’ mags and pulled them onto the floor in front of you. You grabbed one and smoothly slid it into the magazine tube. Luckily you were able to remain calm under the pressure of gunfire.
You cursed yourself mentally. If it weren’t for Train you would have been shot and killed in a blitz attack from behind. It was a careless mistake. You pushed your back against the wall beneath the window balancing on the pads of your feet and closed your eyes taking in a slow breath to steady your nerves. All at once, your eyes opened and you spun up and around sending your arm in a wide circle and shot back at your targets. There was a line of six or seven men perched in the trees level with your window about ten yards away. When you hailed them with gunfire, they scattered shielding their bodies behind the limbs and trunks of the trees. After you wasted a few more rounds to keep them down you dropped back to your knees looking to Train.
He was cradling his right arm against his torso, blood oozing out of a large wound midway down the outside of his bicep. He looked at you with a pained wince as you stared in horror.
“I’m fine.” He reassured unconvincingly with a nod. More gunfire blew overhead and you slinked forwards to his side. He pushed his good arm against you in a futile attempt to stop you from worrying. “Really, I’m fine.” He repeated.
You lightly grazed your fingers down the injured bicep and then ripped the sheet from the bed. You shredded it quickly down to strips and started tying it tightly around the injury to control the bleeding.
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” You asked keeping your voice level. He shook his head but you didn’t believe him. Your eyes met his with an accusing stare. “Where?” You asked clarifying your question. You weren’t an idiot. You were aware that a wound to the shoulder wouldn’t cause him this much pain. His eyes closed as he caved and he moved his arm away revealing the bullet hole in his lower right abdomen. Your body went rigid and your eyes hardened taking a gulp. You put a strip of the sheet into his lap grabbing his wrist and pushed his palm against the wound. “Where’s Hades?” You asked shoving Ares into the waistband of your underwear. He nodded towards the far nightstand. You turned springing forwards putting your hands palm down on the bed and quickly vaulted yourself over in a summersault avoiding the next set of bullets. You pulled the gun from the top of the nightstand, grabbed Train’s shoes from the floor and slunk under the bed back to him. He gratefully took his gun turning to the window and fired round after round at the men. Meanwhile you wrapped the sheet roughly around his torso stopping the bleeding. When you finished, you put six full magazines into the holster Train usually wore and clipped it around your upper thigh. You both pulled your shoes on and then Train continued to return heavy fire. “We have to move. Now.” You said wrapping an arm around his waist. You pulled him to his feet slightly hunched over; he draped his arm over your far shoulder and fired behind you, keeping the men from shooting you both down. Once you reached the safety of the hallway, you both scrambled down the stairs where the others had just gathered. They looked at the two of you surprised by Train’s condition.
“Sven!” You called and he came to your aid taking Train’s arm from your shoulder to his so you could slip out.
“There’s four men out back covering our escape route, what do you want to do?” Miyu asked as you closed in on them, an intense hatred emanating off your body. You pulled Ares out and marched towards the back door a terrifying atmosphere pushing outwards every step you took. As you passed by Miyu, you felt the familiar burning that meant your cat’s eye had come out to play.
‘Who am I kidding?’ You thought, your anger at Train’s injury burying all of your logic. ‘I’m a killer. It’s what I do. It’s what I’m good at.’
“Only four?” You asked cocking your gun. “I’m insulted.” You threw your shoulder against the door bursting out into the night and pointed Ares straight out at the first target your eyes focused in on. In a moment all chaos erupted with you in the center of it picking off every one of the enemies that crossed your path. Then everything went red.
Miyu
Falene looked all out terrifying as she pushed her way out into the middle of the fight. It had been a while since you last seen her lose her temper in a fight as she was always so composed for missions but this time they had really let loose the monster. You turned to the rest of the group that now looked to you for a command. Leading was not your forte.
‘What would Falene do, what would Falene do?” You wondered. Your brain froze on the most obvious choice and you spun back around to Falene’s exit. You didn’t have time to think, you had to act. “Falene will blaze a trail in an instant but she’s lost her temper and won’t be joining us.” You stated. You could feel Train’s disapproving stare and could see him in your mind’s eye preparing to shoot the idea down. “We don’t have time to debate. We’re outnumbered and clearly outgunned. After we gain some distance, I’ll circle back and bail her out but there’s nothing else we can do for her at the moment.” You turned and looked directly at Train. “You don’t understand. The Falene you know doesn’t currently inhabit her body. When she loses her temper it’s like she loses her mind. She doesn’t see us; she sees red. Anyone who gets in her path right now is going to die.” You let the gravity of the situation sink in before continuing. “This is what Falene would do.” You pulled out your gun and turned back to the exit. “We don’t have much time. We’ve got one shot at this so let’s move!” You started sprinting towards the door with the others on your heels. You glanced over your shoulder briefly at Train and Sven. It was amazing: even in his state, Train was able to run the same speed as any healthy man.
You stopped halfway between the tree line and the safe house and glanced around covering the others as they made their escape. Your eyes darted to Falene’s figure that was gliding through the enemies striking them down in her wake. She was still human; she would eventually get tired. You turned and started following the others as they hit the trees sending one final glance in Falene’s direction.
‘If the roles were reversed,’ you thought feeling a wave of regret wash over you. ‘Would Falene leave me behind?’
Falene
You knew you had lost your temper before the red coloured your version but now you realized how dire the situation was. You had run, headlong into the fight without even thinking because you were so livid by the injuries Train had received. But now, you’re anger was subsiding and you weren’t running on purely killer instinct. The red was fading away into the corners of your vision at an alarming speed that you weren’t prepared for. Then reality set in and a sharp pain clipped your shoulder. It started out low and then it turned into a piercing pain dropping you to your knees. You rolled out of more gunfire under some brush and, not a moment too soon, your logic came reeling back with an iron vengeance. Run. The thought coursed through your blood and routed itself into your bones. Without a second thought, you rolled to your stomach planting the toes of your shoes firmly into the dirt and took off at a hard sprint as fast as you could move away from the house and the danger.
Train
The rain started sprinkling down pretty lightly on to your face but it soon turned into a heavy downpour. Sven and Yokuto moved you to the trunk of a tree, shielded by the canopy of leaves overhead. Ren sat down in front of you unraveling the sheet that Falene had used as a makeshift pressure bandage. Your hands balled into fists when Ren reached the tweezers into the bullet hole to get the lead cylinder from your body. Your jaw set and your teeth clenched fighting back the agony that threatened to make you scream out. You couldn’t recall anyone mentioning that Ren had medical experience and a first aid kit with him at all times. It turned out to be a handy surprise but that was information that would have been nice to know. With one final rough yank, Ren got the bullet out causing you to muffle a painful groan. Ren grabbed onto your wrist and felt your heartbeat. His expression was concerning.
“What’s wrong?” You demanded feeling concern bubble in your stomach. Ren rubbed his temples.
“You’ve lost a large amount of blood.”
“How do you know?”
“The main symptoms of a large amount of blood lose are: rapid heart beat and breathing, pale skin, and a cold sweat. I’m afraid you’ve got all of those in spades. I have the supplies I would need to do a blood transfusion but I need to know your blood type. Do you know it?” Ren explained opening his first aid kit. He seemed to be starting to set up a blood transfusion.
“O.” You said. Ren stopped working and slowly looked up at you.
“You’re kidding.” He said exasperated and you shook your head.
“What’s the problem?” Miyu asked coming to his side. Ren leaned forwards putting his elbows over his knees and sighed.
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*author’s note*
It’s important to note here that in actuality O- is the 1% population and O+ is about 40% of the population. Also O+ can receive blood from O+ or O- but O- can only receive O-. For the purposes of this story, I’m saying that Train is O- but it wasn’t actually specified which he was other than just O. I’m sorry if that’s confusing but I didn’t want you to think I was making this part up willy nilly :)
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“The O blood type can only receive O blood and it’s not very common. Only 1% of this country’s population has that blood type. Would I be diluted to think that anyone here happens to have the same blood?” He added looking around the group. Everyone shook their heads unhappily leading to Ren sighing again. “I don’t know what to do then? We could break into one of the hospitals in town and steal the blood type but Falene has always been the best at heists and I don’t know how she would feel about—”
“Wait!” Miyu said loudly looking thoughtfully at the ground. Ren looked at her confused.
“What?”
“Falene.”
“What about her?” Ren asked confused. “Do you think she would be willing to steal it?”
“No, but I remember her telling me a long time ago that she has a rare blood type.” A large smile spread across her face. “I think Falene has the O blood type too!”
Falene
You sat inside a tall, hollow stump in silence as the rain continued to pour down from above. Blood coated your arm and dripped off your fingers from where the bullet had pierced your skin but you didn’t care. You were concerned about the others. You knew they got out, Miyu would have known to leave when you were on a rampage, but you weren’t sure how critical Train’s condition was. The bullet in his abdomen didn’t have an exit wound so the bullet would need to be taken out and who could tell what it pierced on the way in. He could have internal bleeding, damaged organs, massive blood loss. For all you knew he could be dying right now. Or worse.
You raised your uninjured arm and ran your fingers through your wet hair trying to calm your overactive imagination. Annoyed, you hit your fist hard on the wall of the stump.
“What kind of safe house was that?” You mumbled to yourself. “It wasn’t safe at all.” You sighed and looked down at yourself. Train’s shirt had gone almost completely see through showing off the revealing matching bra and underwear you had thought was a good idea to own. Now you wondered why the idea to purchase these kinds of undergarments would have ever entered your mind as a good idea.
You missed pants.
After a long moment of regret for the wardrobe choice, you stood from under your little rain cloud of depression and peeked out the opening in the stump. No one had come this far out since you reached here but you weren’t sure if that was from lack of searching or from continued hiding like the parasites they were. You waited a moment revealing only a portion of your body from your hiding place before heading off at a brisk pace into the night. You strained your ears to hear any sign of life. You could hear the faintest sound of footsteps but you couldn’t pinpoint the distance, direction or how many sets of feet there were. You flattened yourself onto the ground on your stomach placing your ear against the cool earth and listened.
You counted six sets of footsteps; one set for each person in your group. You hoped. They were heading northeast from your position back towards the safe house and it didn’t sound like they had more than 60 yards on you. Your eyes brightened and you pushed yourself up to a crouch.
And stopped cold.
Your eyes met the business end of a gun barrel and stared it straight on catching a glint of light off the bullet in the chamber. Slowly your eyes trailed up the gun into the eyes of the person who literally held your life in the palm of their hand.
“Hello, little sister.” She drawled as a cruel smile filled her features, her finger slowly pulling back on the trigger.
...::: To Be Continued :::...