I wake up to pitch black but I'm sitting down. Did I black out? What the hell happened? I have an itch on me cheek but as I go to itch it i realise my hands are tied behind me. Great. Looks like I'm tied to a chair. What is causing this itch? It feels like some sort of scratchy wool. Whatever it is, it smells. I can hear scuffling feet and try to stay as still as possible. I shut my eyes and try to think about something nice, but nothing appears. I've hardly had any happy memories!
"Leave her alone!" I hear a husky voice shout as footsteps approach me. The person stops dead in front of me. There's a long silence before a smack hits my face so hard I fall sideways, landing on my left arm and letting out a scream. Footsteps approach me again and I feel a huge blow to my stomach. I tried to double over but my feet are also tied to this chair. I cough and splutter into this sack on my head, gasping for breath. "I said leave her alone!" He shouts again. I stay quiet. The person in front of me grabs me by the neck with one hand to lift the chair back to its original position before yanking the bag off my head. I squint as I'm hit by the bright light of sunshine pouring through the windows of this place. Observing the atmosphere, I believe we're in a barn. One in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere. One where no one can hear your cries. Definitely professionals. The floor is damp so it is most likely a disused barn, and this is confirmed when I look up and see some of the ceiling falling apart. A shadow hangs over me like a disease. I look up, and there in front of me is the virus. Some guy, not to professional, standing there with arms folded. I could tell he wasn't professional because he wore clothes a youth would wear thinking they were a burglar. Everything he wore was black in colour;Balaclava, woolly hat, hoodie with hood up, trousers, boots and even gloves. I want to smirk at the idiocy of this man, but he'd probably kill me right there. After all I am tied to a chair.
"You fell for it hook, line and sinker. It's almost embarrassing!" He laughed. "All we had to do was text you from an unknown number and you came running!" I have a flashback of receiving the text after the unfortunate death of Mrs Carmichael and just getting on the bike and going. I didn't even think. Neither did Pete.
"Where's Pete?" Is the first thing I muster up the courage to say. The masked man shakes his head as he rubs his hands together.
"Dead. I'm afraid. I accidently shot him in the car you were gonna escape in..." Another quick flashback. I see Pete get in the car, a guy runs out of the reception, spraying the gun any which way was near the car and the windscreen filled with blood. I bow my head. Let's hope he's resting in peace now. He was a great guy. See, when there are only 10 of you; you become a family. Well a very dysfunctional mafia-like family, but still a family. Saying that, Des had split the ten into two separate families so all of us couldn't be targets at once if anyone did ever want to kill us – like today. I remember the day I joined was the only day I saw all the other nine together. I never got time to ask their names as half of them said goodbye. They were going to the opposite side of the country to kill there. It was almost like the country was divided into two and we had a half each, never crossed the divide line though; Des made sure that didn't happen. Our dysfunctional family of five were close-knit though, being only 26, I was the kid. Pete and a guy called Alex were my older brothers being 27. They were the twins. Then finally my mum and dad, Gail and Scott, both 30. Once you reach 40 you're out though. 'Des doesn't hold onto the oldies' everyone said to me the day I arrived. I didn't know at the time, but my first day was a guy's last day. I turned up willing and eager, and took this guys job from under him on his 40th birthday.
"Asshole!" I mumble under my breath, but just loud enough for him to hear. He grabs the arm I fell on and yanks at it. The pain was unbearable, I couldn't help but yelp.
"Hmm, just as I thought. Dislocated from the fall..." He says as if he's a doctor.
"Just leave her alone!" This husky voice shouts out again. I recognised it now more than ever but I couldn't really put my finger on it... I look around but nobody is there apart from me and this guy, although a load of metal stairs lead to a small office-like room at the top of the barn; I assume that's the kinda place the watchmen sat to make sure everything inside the barn was ok. "Just leave her!" This voice shouts again. The guy in front of me looks agitated. He turns to face the barn.
"Dave! I thought I told you to KEEP HIM QUIET!" He yelled up to the barn. A softer, more timid voice replies.
"Sorry Steve!"
"Useless." Steve mumbles under his breath. "May as well bring him down!" He shouts up, gesturing for them to come down to where we were situated. I stare up, just waiting to see a familiar person get dragged down the stairs to where we were. A figure appears, a bag over his head, being yanked around by another unprofessionally dressed idiot. I don't take my eyes off the guys as they walk down the metal stairs and walk over to us. Steve smirks. He knew I'd be affected when I saw who it was and what they may do to him or to me to get information. What he didn't know was I already knew it was Alex. Alex wore certain things constantly, like lucky charms; a material bracelet thing made by his actual sister when he was going to leave to begin this job, dog tags and a chain on his jeans. I prepared myself to make it look like I didn't know who it was. They pulled the bag off his head and I kept a straight face. He looked bad; black eye, cut lip, bruised cheeks...
"Who's that?" I ask, tipping my head to the side slightly. The shocked look on this guy's face was a picture. I could tell the relieved look on Alex's face that I'd done what we were told in training. 'You don't know them' Des used to say to us. 'No matter where you are and who is there, you don't know them'. I'm broken from my thoughts when Dave punches Alex in the stomach and falls to his knees. I try not to look bothered, but I was cracking. Steve kicks him in the face and Alex falls backwards.
"Stop it!" I scream. Alex looks up at me, disappointed.
"Why?" Steve asks as the more timid Dave takes a few steps back.
"Just leave him alone! What do you want?" I question. Forget this crap about pretending not to know him. I don't want him to get hurt any more!
"Who do you work for?" He questions. If only I actually knew that!
"I work for a text message..." I say quite honestly. Alex smiles. He knows its true.
"Don't you lie to me!" The guy spits and slaps me, knocking me back onto my already dislocated arm. I let out a scream. This time it's more painful. A single tear runs down my face but I bite my lip and stop myself from crying. Alex slowly sat up, and seeing me in this state made him snap. He kicked Dave to the ground and kicked him in the head, knocking him out. He then kicks Steve to the ground before getting up quickly and running towards me. Knocking my chair to the side, he lays down beside me so our hands are touching.
"Undo the ropes then I can get us out of here!" He whispers, "But hurry!" We were lucky that these unprofessional's had tied our hands up with rope and not with anything we couldn't undo. It was so painful to move my left arm but I ignored the pain, and the tears streaming down my face and undid the rope. Alex shuffled away, chucking the rope on the floor and lifted my chair back up, undoing my feet. Steve stirs and wakes up, he immediately dashes towards us. I stand up and turn around to face Alex. He nods at me, meaning it was perfect timing, and I jump backwards and hit Steve, sending us crashing to the floor and the chair breaking over him. Steve is knocked out cold and Alex rushes over and pulls me up. I wince.
"My shoulder... I think its-" Before I have time to finish the sentence, Alex grabs my arm and shoves and twists it until a huge crack is heard. I yelp again but looking down, he has put my shoulder back into place, so I shall be thankful.
"Lets get outta here!" He shouts. I begin to run to the door, but hear two gunshots as I get near the front. Oh God. Please don't say it's Alex... I stumble to a halt and turn round. Alex is walking towards me with a gun. "Can't take the risk. They could come back!" He smirks. I sigh with relief.
"We gotta work out where we are!" I say, confusedly looking around as we step out of the barn. I turn round to see Alex on his phone.
"Des. Trace my phone would you? We wanna know how to get outta here before more of them arrive. Yeah I got her... No. He didn't make it..." Alex begins. Before long I get a message.
3 miles east and 1 mile north.
"What does that even mean?" I show Alex, looking puzzled.
"Where were you taken from?" Alex questions. He knew the answer, but he wanted me to work it out.
"You mean to say we're 3 miles east and 1 mile north of the motel place?" I get a nod as a reply. We walk past a truck and I see my trusty life-saving bag in the back which I eagerly snatch back and open. Everything is inside it – luckily! Alex jumps in the drivers seat and tries to hotwire it. I keep watch over the rest of the barn, hoping that no other guys come running out. Was I ever right though? Of course not. Within seconds another two guys run out of the barn. I smack the door of the truck to warn Alex and he quickly falls out of the truck and lays on the ground, aiming the gun under the truck. I grab a handgun from my trusty bag and shoot at them, making them hide behind the barn doors and giving me a second to run behind the truck too.
"What the hell do we do now?" I exclaim.
"Fight our way out." Alex says in an almost patronising way.
"Well derh! But how? Just shoot and hope? Or am I distracting them while you hotwire the truck?" Again, I wish I hadn't said anything because the two men got trigger happy and sprayed tonnes of bullets into the truck, puncturing the tyres. It was almost comedic. Alex didn't laugh. He stands up and without aiming, shoots two bullets, I watch in amazement as the two men fall to the floor. How does he do that? He is number One of the 10 of us. Des and him work together all the time. I'm second best. Wouldn't seem like it when you see the standard of work Alex completes. Every victim is perfectly killed and disposed of, every client gives a glowing report. Des loves him. I do wonder what he's going to say when he reaches 40...
"Alyssa?" Alex brings me back to reality. "We gonna move or...?" I smile and nod. We get up and run to the nearest truck where again we attempt to hotwire it. A man runs at us shooting, but I aim and shoot him in the heart. Best place. No pain. See really, I am shooting people doing the exact same job as me. I'm not getting paid to kill these guys so I don't want to have to cause them any harm, but if I'm protecting myself I guess I'll have to! To my relief I hear an engine rev and jump into the back section of the pickup truck. I'd have wished it was a boot, so I was covered from unfriendly fire but unfortunately I was basically sitting in a baking tin attached to a car. Holding my gun out and aiming, I wait for any person to run into my view and I shoot at them. Alex puts the accelerator to the floor and you can hear the the truck struggling to pick up speed, but the people get further and further out of sight. Before I know it we're on the road. Thank God!