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Scene #31
The peaceful day of sunshine and serenity was shattered, as the
woman with the long dark ponytail, noticed by everyone in the park
when she jogged by, went down as a barrage of bullets struck her
repeatedly. Her body twisted as it hit the ground and then rolled
over and over until she disappeared over an embankment that led
down to a busy street below. Witnesses testified that she was hit
several times...the blood smeared across the jogging path and grass
affirming that. But when the cops who arrived on the scene
searched, they could find plenty of blood, but no body. Ten
witnesses...all certain that there was no chance she would have
survived, no way she walked away. But...that's what the report
would say must have happened. That she must have gotten up and
left, or someone took her. Either way, the report would be filed
and closed.
Three blocks away and underneath the city in a
basement apartment, the dark ponytail was pulled violently up into
a large clip, clearing her shoulders as she worked to peel off the
now destroyed jogging suit. She mumbled as she worked.
"My best
damn outfit! Can't I ever get a fucking break!?" Tearing the
fabric finally, since it was ruined anyway, she left it in a heap
on the ceramic floor as she pulled off a large roll of paper
towels, wadding them up and holding them over the worst wounds, two
entry holes in her stomach. Letting the tap run, she kept pulling
wads of paper towels, wetting them and wiping at the wounds. As
she wiped, she checked each hole closely. The blood was stopping
now, and holes were slowly closing up. It wasn't the murder
attempt that frightned her, it hadn't. It was just...how could you
get a peaceful life? Why wouldn't they leave her alone?
She'd
occupiedthis dwelling for two months now, and was hoping, obviously
naively, that she might be able to have, well...probably not a
normal life...But, damn't, a whole hell of a lot less
gunfire!!
As she lifted the most recent wad of towels, the
bleeding had completely stopped, so she shifted to trying to clean
off the blood, but realizd she'd need a shower to do that.
Throwing the towels on the floor, pissed and moody, she started
toward the bathroom as her cell chimed. Grabbing it aggressively as
she passed it, she barked, "What!?" into the receiver.
"Bang,bang, Tessa," a deep voice said, with an amused
tone.
"Damn't, three thousand miles isn't far away enough?"
"Still don't get it? Three thousand light yearswould never be far
enough. You belong to..."
She pushed the end button and threw
the phone across the room, finding the crack of the splintering
plastic satisfactory. Wouldn't need it anymore, since they'd found
it; found her. She'd be gone by tonight and it would be left
behind..along with this violent end toher chance at a simple
life.As she arrived in the bathroom, she caught sight of her long,
lean figure in the mirror, still covered in blood. She was curved
in all the right places, which is why so many at the park had
noticed her. Grimacing at the figure staring, back, she grabbed
her towels and dropped them to the floor in front of the old steel
shower stall and climbed in,not bothering with the plastic curtain.
Didn't matter, did it, since she'd be gone. So whether the old
tile floor got wet or not wouldn't be her concern anymore. Cool
rich water droplets pummeled her skin, washing away evidence of the
attack and recovering her modd a little. Damn! Would really miss
the showers. Something you rarely got on the run...
With closed
eyes, she put her face into the pulsating spray and let the water
run like satin over her skin. Suddenly she slammed her hand
against the wall, the surge of anger recurring. This was a fucking
busy city, thousands of miles away from them...how was it that she
could't get lost in the corporeal masses and remain hidden? How did
they keep finding her? Her memory zoomed backward, trying to find
any event or moment that might have betrayed her to her enemy.
No...nothing that seemed right. Minutes passed as sheleaned
against the wall, both hands splayed against the chipped, rusting
stall, her eyes still closed. Plulsating bb's of water hitting the
ceramic coated steel was the only sound that met her ears.
Until...
Just an innocent little sound...a snick. Quiet. Would
be missed by anyone else. Not her. The deadbolt being pushed back
and catching in place. Someone was here. Moving silently, she
eased each foot out of the shower, leaving the water to rain
agaisnt the floor as well a sthe shower stall, and slid the 9 mil
she kept in the sink cabinet into her palm. Pulled the curtain
forward just enough to obscure the empty shower. Still wet, still
nude, and no time to deal with either situation, she came to the
edge of the small bathroom and squatted beside the wall near the
opening. The would-be assailant would come through there, thinking
she'd be vulnerable in the shower. And might have been right. If
she was still there...
Her assailant was good, she had to
admit...no footfalls, no breathing, nothing to tellher they were
there. They couldn't kill her, but they could capture her. To use
her, and if that was the only life she could have she would find a
way to stop it. To end this immortality. To be free forever...
So, whoever stalked her now, she whispered in her mind, "Good
luck...", and waited for her crumbling, but comfortable basement
apartment to become a warzone.
A dark silhouette announced his
arrival, a figure that ended in a hand that ended in a gun. Male,
big,biggerthan she was. She smiled, that they still thought size
mattered. Just as hemoved into the bathroom, still running on
silence,he moved toward the shower, stopped, and turnedjust in time
to take a bullet to the chest. He went down, his eyes closed,his
aggressive stancestilled, his arm with the large caliber handgun
stretched out sideways. God she hated killing! Looking down into
the face of the man now bleeding out on her bathroomfloor, the
water from the shower wetting his face...handsome. What a shame.
Dark curling hair, too long, covered his eyes and she brushed it
back. Said, "Sorry. It was you or me." As she made to stand, his
left leg hooked over her right one, pulling her down where he held
her tightly to his chest.
Stunned, she tried to yank free, and
should have easily been able to do that,but was held in hard
viselike grips. That bullet was true, right to the heart, and the
blood smearing the floor told her it had done it's job and torn a
hole in him. And, he was way too strong. Humans were
significantly weaker than her. So. He wasn't human. He wasn't
human!?
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