In a matter of moments, she was up again, rushing forward to the surprise of the guards. She threw a knife ahead of her, slamming into one of their chests. Ducking to avoid the return fire, she tuck-rolled along the floor, and as she returned upright she used the momentum to throw another knife into a guy’s head.
With a knife in each hand, she got to her feet, and threw them at the same time. One to her left, and one to her right, slamming with force into the guards that ran at her from the side.
She exited the large room, able to see the door to the parking lot. In front of it stood the last group of guards whom she would have to kill in order to make her way out.
“Where did she go?”
She snuck through the strip panels and hid behind a corner.
“Fucking stay alert! This chick is crazy.”
Her body warmed in elation. They were afraid. As she knew they would be when they finally realized what she could do. She left her cover to run.
The next moments felt like they were in slow motion as the guards realized she was barreling toward them. Swirling to the left, she took a bullet graze to the arm, before she unsheathed a knife and slammed it into the chest of the nearest guard, holding him still as she stabbed him and left the knife behind.
Then she was right in the middle of them all. She kicked, punched, and slashed to keep them away, ducking to dodge bullets and taking more hits herself. But she relished the pain, it gave her strength.
A kick to the face and one was down. Another hit and she grabbed one of her knives to viciously stab another. The last went to raise his gun, but she punched his elbow until he released his gun into her other waiting hand, and she shot him once in the face.
Then there was only silence.
The silence of victory as she stood alone. Not a whisper, let alone a shout, as every single person but her laid dead. When she brushed her hair back from her face, her hand coated her hair in blood. A quick look down at herself confirmed she was a mess of injuries. She could already feel her cheeks swelling with inevitable bruises, clothes torn and her body bleeding from cuts and grazed bullets.
She pushed through the exit into the refreshing chill of night air. Sucking in a breath, she savored the feeling. Of the air coating her lungs. Of the blood coating her hands. She was a killer. A winner. A victor. Nothing could stop her. Never would she back down. Never would she know defeat.
And Dorian Blake should be shaking in his boots. Because now she was coming forhim.
She had just started her walk to find a car when two deafening cracks sounded from behind her. When her back shot up straight, the wind was knocked right out of her. She froze, eyes widening as she looked down at her body.
Her chest was suddenly cold. The night air was no longer refreshing, but deadly chilled. She pressed her hands to her stomach. Two gaping holes had opened up, one in her shoulder and the other at her hip. The blood that coated her was fresh. It was warm. It was her own.
Gasping for air, she dropped onto the pavement, hitting her skull as she landed.
Why couldn’t she feel anything? It should hurt, shouldn’t it?
Her fingers twitched beside her, stroking the pool of her own blood that was already leeching beside her.
A shadow appeared over her head. She saw the barrel of a gun before she saw the man who was holding it.
“T.B.,” she rasped. Her throat suddenly dry. Her tongue sticking to her cheek. She heaved blood out of her mouth looking up at him. “You... shot me—motherfucker.”
The world was beating in and out. The edges of her vision getting blurry, and though she was sure T.B. was right in her face, he seemed a million miles away. His voice barely audible.
“I had to make sure the job was done,” T.B. said.
She looked up at the moon, but it, too, seemed to be only a cold gray blob that started blending into the sky.
This was it.
This was where her story would come to an end.
T.B. leveled the gun in her direction.
The last thought she had before she died was of Adam.Finish this for me, baby.
One sharp pain and the world went black.
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