Time slowly passed. Emily went out on many patrols. Most of the time she didn’t see any action, but there were a few times she ended up on the bad end of an ambush. She survived but not everyone did. Wilson was the first to die. Emily and Wilson were on their way back from collecting some dead dropped intel from one of the people she had escorted to the south when they were ambushed.

North Koreans Commando had hidden in the snow and popped up. Wilson dropped almost immediately. Emly felt herself get hit several times, but didn’t get hurt. She killed most of them with her rifle before switching to Righteous and her little black knife to finish the rest off. By the time she got back, Wilson was already dead. He had been shot several times in the chest, but the one that hit him under his left eye was the one that killed him. He never had a chance. Emily brought his body back to the bunker for burial.

Summer came and the snow melted. Borde was the next to get shot. He was off on a patrol with some South Korean Defence Forces when they were hit by an ambush. He was hit several times, but he was able to get his platoon to safety before he died. Hook took a bullet to his leg but Ywarl was able to heal him somewhat. He walked with a limp after that. By the time the snow started to fall again in September, the US Special Forces lost four more soldiers.

The North Koreans started to build massive greenhouses to feed the people, but supplies dwindled fast. The winter was a nightmare of bad snowstorms and starving people. Little fighting went on during the winter. They did lose Thompson though, that winter. He went out to relieve an injured South Korean who was on patrol during a really bad snowstorm. He and the four Korean he took with him never returned.

The injuries and death to the South Korean forces were much larger. Half the South Korean soldiers who had taken refuge in the bunker were dead. The Defence Force that had taken refuge has also suffered devastating casualties. Nearly a third of the members were now dead.

Si-Woo was sent out to kill important North Korean politicians and military officers. He was devastating good at his job. He rarely went out with a raid party or with an ambush force because while he was a deadly super, when his powers timed out he was just a normal person. The military command used him instead to assassinate high-value targets.

Emily’s job was just the opposite. She was sent out with nearly all the raiding parties and ambush forces. Her job was to crush all opposition in front of her. She was very good at her job. The North Koreans and the sympathizers soon learned her name and feared her.

The people they sent out to spy on the North Koreans also took heavy casualties. At first, there were only a few South Korean sympathizers, but with the food becoming scarce their numbers grew. Both Si-Woo and Emily were sent out to make an example of them. Si-Woo’s targets simply disappeared while Emily was told to make a mess. For the simple sympathizers, she killed them and cut their heads off. For the ones that angered her she mutilated them and left their body parts to be found. She learned quickly how evil people could be.

Though all fighting and people being captured the North Koreans never found the bunker. It wasn’t because people held out against the torture, but they were literally unable to give the information up. One of the people Emily had help escape told her that they were physically unable to speak when they tried to give the information up to their tormentors. The North Koreans freed some of their captives, but implanted trackers inside their bodies. The freed prisoners were unable to find the bunkers even though one of the prisoners had been to the bunker less than a week before. They wandered aimlessly until the North Koreans got tired of following them and murdered them. The Koreans living in the bunker believed that some spirit was protecting the bunker after a while Emily started to believe it too. There was just too much evidence that something was looking out for them.

Emily slowly opened her eyes to the empty barracks. She was laying on her bunk. She sighed and stood up. She came back late the night before from a patrol to gather dead dropped information. Out of the ten dead drops, she checked only two had something inside of them. Most of the information was dead. The dumpy middle-aged Korean woman who had given them the information on where Si-Woo had been held was still around and giving them really good intel. As far as Emily knew she was the only original informant still alive.

Emily swung her legs around and sat up with a grunt. She felt tired all the time now. Not physically, but mentally. She let her head hang for a few minutes trying to wake up. When that didn’t happen she forced herself to stand up. Righteous was leaning up against her locker. The Rules had gotten lax over the past year or so. She slipped her old worn-out bath shoes on and walked to the showers. While she didn’t sweat anymore she still stunk if she hadn’t had a shower in a week or so. Besides, it was one of the few pleasures she had left in her life.

She stepped into the water that pooled around the semi-block drain in the shower stall. The water was cold and gross, but Emily couldn’t find the strength to care. Cleaning the barracks had slowly become unimportant over time as people stopped returning from missions.

Emily turned on the shower to the hottest setting and stood there and tried to warm her frozen soul up. She gave up after twenty minutes and make her way to her bunk to get dressed.

Once she was dressed she slung her rifle over her shoulder. She was back to her M9 rifle. The M181 had jamming problems. She had left it on the battlefield next to a South Korean soldier’s body after it failed her at the wrong moment. The South Korean soldier had died as a result.

Once she was dressed and armed she went to go find something to eat. The corridor that led to the cafeteria was mostly dark because most of the light bulbs burnt out and there weren’t any replacements left. She found the cafeteria mostly empty with a few civilians eating. She spotted Kyo sitting by herself and grabbed a bowl of eggs and rice. It was the main food supply now. They still had milk but they had to keep the cows safe because they weren’t enough calves to replace the ones they still had. She knew she should be happy to have something to eat because there were a lot of Koreans out there slowly starving to death, but it was hard to muster up the energy to do that.

Emily sat next to Kyo. She missed the old Kyo who had been warm and bubbly. The only emotion Kyo showed the world was satisfaction when she killed someone. Kyo had turned into a cold-blooded killer. Kyo has lost her boyfriend and brother in the same battle during the summer. Since then she had turned inward and gotten very cold. Kyo looked up from her uneaten food and nodded to Emily before looking down again.

Emily forced herself to eat. Over the past few months, she had lost weight and knew she looked gaunt. She still weighed way more than she should because of her powers, but she had lost weight for the first time since she became a super. She swallowed the eggs and rice looked off into the distance.

She looked up after some time and found SI-Woo sitting beside her. One of the few things that kept her sane was her relationship with him. It wasn’t love or anything like that. It was just that she felt so lonely sometimes and he was there. He was a gentle lover who didn’t ask for more than she was willing to give. He ripped open a package or green flakes of seaweed and dumped it into his bowl of eggs and rice. Unlike the Americans, the Koreans didn’t seem to mind the constant diet of eggs and rice.

“Hey, Never,” Ywarl said as he too sat down at the same table as her. He had become a true healer and was really why there were still so many people still walking about. She shuddered to think what would have happened if he hadn’t awakened.

“Hey, Ywarl.” She replied. “How’s G?”

“Better. She’ll have a scar, but she’ll live.” Ywarl said pouring ketchup on his eggs and rice. G had taken a bullet to the face on the last patrol they had taken together. Emily had carried her friend back to the bunker herself. They didn’t let Emily stay in the bunker long. They sent her out on another patrol a few hours later. She felt bad that she hadn’t gone right to medical to check on her friend. She had instead gone right to her bunk and went to sleep.

“Penguin’s dead,” Ywarl said after a few moments.

Emily closed her eyes and felt the ever-present pain in her chest for all her friend's deaths. “How?” She asked him.

“Got ambushed by Geom-eum. Bastard cut his head off.” Ywarl said savagely.

If Emily was the North Korean boogie man then Geom-eun was the resistance boogie man. He was a Main type super who carried a Wo-Do, a sword with a long handle that was almost a staff. Emily hadn’t met him yet, but she was itching too. The Major was keeping her from meeting him though because according to what they learn of him he was far more skilled than her. She didn’t care about that anymore. She just wanted a chance to take him. He had taken so many of her friend’s lives.

Emily didn’t say anything, but she forced herself to keep eating. She needed her strength if she wanted to keep her friends alive. She had given up on expecting to live past the war. She knew that there were too many people gunning for her to realistically expect to survive. It was only a matter of time until one of them got her. She just wanted to take as many of them out as she could with her before she left to meet God. It there was a God. She was not sure anymore. Too much had happened and too many bad things were happening for her to keep any type of faith in a higher power.

Emily dipped her spoon into the bowl but was surprised to find that she ate her entire breakfast. She let her spoon drop into her bowl and stood up. “See you guys.” She muttered as left the table. They didn’t say goodbye anymore. Too many people had said that and had not returned. She got a few nods instead.

She found Hook in his office doing paperwork. He looked up as she walked in. “Still alive?” He asked her.

“Until tomorrow.” She replied and sat down on the chair in front of him. He had started asking her if she was still alive nearly a year ago and now he did it every time they met. She had started her reply sometime around the first snowstorm of this past September.

She didn’t bother to ask him when her next mission was. She rarely spent more than a night in the bunker now. There was just too much going on and not enough supers to counter the North Koreans supers. He reached into his desk and pulled out a bottle of Soju and poured both of them a shot. Emily took the glass and drank it with him. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds then both of them placed their glasses on the desk at the same time.

The ritual had started when she had started messing with him when he offered her a shot of Korean alcohol. She would wait until he put his glass down and she would try to copy him so that their glasses hit the desk at the same time. It annoyed him to no end, but after a while, he gave up and let her win.

He cursed her while he rubbed his leg. “I hate you.” He told her sounding tired.

“Yeah, I know.” She told him knowing that it wasn’t true. He did at first, but now she knew that he countered a good friend.

“The Major had some intel about where the Taewang is going to be during the lunar new year celebration.” Hook said after a few minutes of silence. “He’s going to be at the Korean war museum in North Korea. I think we are going to hit him there.” Hook told her.

She waited until he poured himself another drink. He didn’t offer her a second glass as he knew she would decline. It was all part of the ritual they had cooked up. “What about the wall?” She asked him when he finished drinking his shot.

“The Major says we have an inside man who has agreed to turn the wall off if we kill the Taewang.” He said looking at his empty glass.

“You believe him?” She asked him. Hook shrugged.

“Could be counter-intel to mess with the NK’s if we’re captured, or it could be real. Who knows.” Hook told her. She nodded and looked down.

She knew he was right. It really didn’t matter anymore. They had to do something. The country was starving to death. TheTaewang was building a lot of greenhouses, but they couldn’t feed everyone. It was just not possible. They had to do something soon or everyone who was not considered important to the Taewang would starve.

She had been expecting something like this to happen for the past few months. Hell, everyone has been expecting the resistance to do something desperate. Even the Taewang knew that it. They had passed up a few chances to take down the wall and or kill the Taewang because it was obviously a trap. Now they were running out of time. They had to move soon or watch most of the country starve to death.

“When?” She asked.

“NIne days from now. He has what's left of the 5th regiment attacking Seol. The NK’s leaked that the machine that controls the wall will be there. We know they are lying, but it’s a great chance to distract them so we can kill the fat bastard.” Hook told her.

Emily looked down. Mandy, the barrack sergeant had been with the 5th. She was dead now. They found her unit frozen in the snow after they got attacked on a raid on a North Korean supply base. The North Koreans knew that as long as someone followed them they wouldn’t be able to find the bunker. They chased the unit until they all died of hypothermia.

Emily had led the rescue patrol and found her friend frozen so solid that she couldn’t move her. Emily had to use hot water so that she could break the ice under her friend so that she could be brought back to the bunker. Emily remembered how it looked like Mandy was sleeping. She was curled up with a blanket frozen on top of her.

“You’re heading out with the 5th. You need to be seen with them. Two days from the new year you need to make it across the DMZ and museum.” He told her.

“You got a path for me?” She asked him.

“Yeah.” He replied and reached into his desk and pulled out a hand-drawn map. She read the directions and then looked at the map for a few seconds before she pushed it back towards him. He picked it up and lit it on fire with a lighter that he pulled from the same draw. They both watched it burn.

“You want me here or out on patrol?” She asked him.

“Out.” He told her and poured himself another shot. She nodded and stood up as he drank the shot. She didn’t bother waving goodbye. It was the last part of their ritual.

Four days later her patrol was hit by an ambush. She lost two South Korean soldiers, but they killed ten North Koreans and one sympathizer. Emily choped the elderly man’s head off and left it in his lap. She still cried whenever she did it, but she got better at hiding it.

She returned with the patrol and got ready to leave with the few surviving members of the 5th. They threw a crazy party that lasted well into the night. Emily left with Si-Woo for a quiet moment before she went to sleep in her own bunk. In the morning she left without seeing any of her friends. She took command of the lead patrol and led them towards Seol. She hit a few targets of opportunities along the way so that the North Koreans knew she was coming. Then she left the firth to their fate and traveled north to Pyongyang and the first Korean war museum.

She met up with the last of her company who could still fight and the last of the Korean Defence Force. Emily took command of her squad that consisted of Muller the last surviving member of her original squad. Kyo the young Korean brute and a sixteen-year-old super who had awakened during the war. She saw Ywarl as he walked passed her. She was only slightly surprised that they let him out to fight. He had been stuck inside the bunker since they discovered he was a healer. He nodded to her and she nodded to him back.

The plan was simple once they spotted the Taewang they would attack. Three squads would come in from the front while Emily would lead the squad from the back. The North Koreans had the museum was heavily defended, but they had a resistance member inside who could get them through security. Emily hoped he hadn’t been turned or this would turn into a massacre.

A day before the lunar new year they were led at night to some holes dug into the ground where the resistance member hid them. The holes were inside the outer edge of the security, and near enough to the building so that it wasn’t that bad of a death sentence. They were given one of the Koreans communication devices so that they could listen in. The plan had them attacking at the stroke of midnight.

Emily found her hole in the back of the museum and hid. The resistance member swept the snow over the wooden cover that covered the hole so that it was hidden. She sat down and listen to the North Koreans on their radio and wondered when the trap would spring on them. The day passed slowly as Emily sat in her dark hole waiting on the time to kill the Taewang.

At eleven she unslung her rifle making sure that it would fire in the extreme cold. At ten to midnight, she crouched to her knees. One to midnight she placed her hand on the plywood that was covering her hole and listened to the North Korean security talk over the radio. She hoped that it wasn’t a distraction. It sounded real to her. She closed her eyes as the time slowly counted down on her watch. Twelve seconds to midnight she opened her eyes. Three seconds to midnight she jumped up out of her hole.

Right away she saw that it was indeed a trap. The North Koreans had set up machine gun mounts facing the lawn. As soon as she popped up from her hole she was hit by several rounds. She ignored them and ran towards them. She spotted an SK cannon turning towards her and her zig zagged as it fired. She felt the round pass behind her. She kept on running. She saw the other holes of her squadmates begin to pop open but her plan to pop up early worked and most of the enemy fire was aimed at her.

She leaped up to the landing that surrounded the big white single-story building. Her jump led her right into a machine gun nest. A few swings later she was moving again this time to the SK cannon that was aimed at her. She saw a North Korean yell something and his subordinate pulled the rope to fire the cannon. She dropped to the ground and slid like she was slinging into home-base in a baseball game. The SK shell passed above her. She swung Righteous out and sent a pair of legs flying. She pushed her foot down and her momentum pushed her to stand upright. She swung Righteous around and the SK crew was dead.

She ran to the next machine gun nest and took them out. She looked at the other machine gun nests but saw that the soldier had left and was running away. She looked over her shoulder and saw a body lying on the snow. She didn’t see who it was as she was distracted as ten Mains exited the museum. She ran towards them swinging her tomahawk.

They were fast and very skilled but in the end, they were no match for her. She moved to fast and swung too hard. She left two broken swords and ten dead bodies behind her as she entered the museum. Behind her what was left of her squad followed her. She had just a few seconds to look around and saw the building was filled with war memorabilia. Off to the far left was what looked like a small US Navy boat that was filled with bullet holes. There was a small wooden case off to the right that was bracketed with two flags on polished wooden flag poles. One was the old North Korean flag and the second one was the New North Korean flag.

She spotted Kyo taking cover as they were fired on by an entire platoon of soldiers. Emiliy ignored the bullets and ran right into the crowd and started flashing both her little black knife and Righteous around. Seconds later she was standing above a pile of corpses. She took a deep breath and looked up to see Kyo looking at her from behind a marble column.

The next second Emily found herself flying through the air to hit column on the other side of the room. Her chest burned and she felt her ribs pop back into place. She stood up and looked behind her. Walking towards her was a very beautiful Korean woman with her hand outstretched toward Emily.

Emily pulled herself to her knees. The Korean woman saw that and clenched her fists. Emily found herself being thrown upward. She crashed into the ceiling with a resounding boom. Bits of the ceiling started to rain down towards the ground. Emily remained stuck to the ceiling by the woman's power for a few seconds, just long enough to catch her breath, before she was thrown towards the ground. She smashed into the ground and felt part of the floor give. She had a second to blink back the pain before she was sent flying again. This time she hit the column above Kyo then she was flying away again.

She heard gunfire and whatever had been throwing her around was gone. She crashed into the glass wall and flew out of the museum. Her flight was stopped by a fancy looking van. She crushed the side of it. She took a second to blink back the pain before she forced her abused body up. She stopped by the sidewalk to see a bunch of people dressed in tuxedos and fancy dress staring at her. She gave them the finger and headed back into the Museum.

Inside the museum she found the beautiful looking woman lying face down with bullet holes coming out of her beautiful off white strapless dress. Emily looked around but didn’t see Kyo. She was still looking when she heard a door open. She turned to look and saw a thin Korean man holding a Wo-Do. He was dressed in a tuxedo with shiny black shoes.

“The great Never. I thought you would be in Seoul, but the Taewang told me that you would be here. I was upset at first, but I shouldn’t have doubted my Taewang. He is wise and great.” The man who could only be Geom-eum said walking towards Emily.

Emily took a deep breath and looked around. “So where is the fat man?” She asked him.

“The Taewang is not here,” Geom-eum told her with a smile. “He is watching us though. He has given me the honor of killing you. All he has asked is your head to adorned this museum.”

Emily thought she would have felt something like excitement or maybe anger, but all she felt was how tired she felt. She stood up and nodded to the North Korean Main. “Come on, let’s do this. I have a fat man to kill.” She told him and spun Righteous in her hand to loosen her wrist up.

She watched as Geom-eum smile then he was racing towards her at an insane speed. If she didn’t know any better she would have thought he was a speedster. She barely got her tomahawk up in time to block his sword thrust. She spun around his sword and thrust out with her little black knife. Geom-eum dodged her thrust and spun trying to bring the edge of his sword down the handle of Righteous. Emily lifted the handle of Righteous up and away from her sending the edge of the blade away from her. She spun around and ducked low and swung at his feet, but Geom-eum skipped backward avoiding the edge of Righteous.

“Very good,” Geom-eum said taking a step back. “I ….”

Emily interrupted him and slashed RIghteous in a downward strike. He avoided it, but she pushed forward spinning bringing her little black knife around and slashed him in the chest. She felt her knife bite him a bit, but she didn’t stop her onslaught and spun around once more bringing Righteous around once more in an overhead swing.

Geom-eum spun gracefully towards her left side and out of the path of her Tomahawk. He brought his Wo-Do around and slashed her deeply in the arm. Emily in return dragged her little back knife across his chest once more. She ignored the pain in her arm as she stopped her momentum and charge right back at him.

He spun around once more bringing his Wo-Do around knocking Righteous away. Emily didn’t care as she brought her little black knife up once more. To her horror, she saw Geom-eum twist the shaft of his Wo-Do and pull it apart. The shaft he now held in his left hand had a sharpened metal end that had been hidden inside the Wo-Do. He used it to knock her hand away from him leaving a deep cut across the inside of her wrist. Her fingers opened on their own and her little black knife dropped to the floor.

Emily screamed in pain as she backed away from Geom-eum holding her useless hand. He had nearly severed her hand from her arm. She could see the bones in her forearms through the blood that was welling up from the cut. He let her retreat with a smile on his face.

“You’re very good, but I’m better.” He told her then rushed her swinging the top bladed part of the Wo-Do. Emily brought Righteous up and knocked the Wo-Do upwards then she brought it down to knock the shaft part of Wo-Do away from her. She was almost successful. The sharpened end of the shaft slick through her side. Geom-eum slid past her.

Emily bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain. It wasn’t as deep as the cut she received when she fought the super in the strip club, but it was still pretty deep and painful. She struggled to stand upright. She did it, but it was painful. She turned around to see Geom-eum standing a few feet away from her smiling.

“What a great fight.” He told her. “You are worthy of being my enemy.”

She smiled and called him a very bad name. As she did she felt strength return to her left hand. It wasn’t too strong but it was enough that she could pick up her little black knife, so she did so. When she stood back up Geom-eum clapped.

“That is amazing. I've never seen someone heal that fast before.” He told her then rushed towards her. She blocked his large blade with Righteous and knocked the shaft blade away with her left forearm.

In return, he kicked her sending her flying backward. Emily flew in the air and hit one of the columns painfully. She slid down the column trying desperately to stay conscious. He was frighteningly strong. She used the column behind her to help her stand up.

He rushed her again and slashed at her with the blade part of the Wo-Do. She once more blocked it and knocked the shaft weapon away with her forearm, but he used the momentum to spin around and kick her once wore with a spinning back kick. Emily once more found herself flying in the air. She landed on something hard and everything went black for a few seconds. It was only for a second or so, but Geom-eum was already rushing her.

She forced herself to stand up, but in the rush, she realized she had lost Righteous. She still had her little black knife though and her wrist was much better. She pushed the bladed part of the Wo-Do away with her forearms getting cut down the side of her arm in the process. Then she used her left hand to once more push the shaft weapon away. This time she didn’t wait for him to kick her. She slammed her head into his knocking him backward.

She rushed him ignoring the pain radiating from her head. She slashed out with her little black knife cutting across his face leaving a long red scar across his right cheek that immediately started bleeding. She drove her right elbow into his chest and reversed her grip on her little back knife and drove it downward.

Geom-eum raised both his forearm and blocked the strike. It gave him enough room to kick her in the stomach sending her back into the column again. She was still on the ground when he charged her once more. She had just enough time to see him bring the shaft weapon thrusting towards her then she felt unimaginable pain erupt from her chest as the shaft weapon drove into her.

She looked up at his face to see his eyes wide and a crazy smile on his face as he brought the bladed weapon above her head. Her right hand fell to her side and she felt the cool smooth feeling of Righteous in her hand. With a cry of anger and rage she brought Righteous up and the two weapons met.

Emily felt something slice across her face and she blinked. Geom-eum looked stunned at his broken Wo-Do. Emily smiled as she saw her unbroken tomahawk with the hammerhead facing outwards. There wasn’t even a scratch on it.

“It’s a Cat lady’s weapon, bitch.” She told him and swung Righteous backhanded, with the hammerhead facing outward, across her chest and into his face. This time it was his turn to go flying. Emily grunted as she pulled the shaft part of the Wo-Do out of her chest. She tossed the weapon aside and unsteadily stood up.

Geom-eum was lying face down on the ground about ten feet from her. She took a few unsteady steps towards him feeling more alive than at any time in the past year. Geom-eum was just climbing to his hands and feet when she reached him. She raised Righteous over her head.

He saw her and his eyes got wide. “No!” he yelled out, but it was too late. Emily swung the ax head towards his neck and separated it from his body.

Emily watched as his head bounced across the floor, and come to rest a few feet away. She looked down at the body not believing he was dead. She was hurting but she had done it. Geom-eum was dead. The bastard was dead.

“Stop!” A voice yelled at her. She looked up and spotted a tall thin Korean man in a tux. She spun Righteous in her hand and smiled.

The man held out his hand and suddenly Righteous dropped from her hand. Surprised she looked down feeling dizzy. She looked back up at the man who slowly lowered his hand. She reached down and tried to pick her Tomahawk up but it wouldn’t move. It was like it weighed several tons now. She frowned and knelt down and tried to pick it up again but once more it didn’t move. She looked up at the man confused. He watched her unmoved.

She stood up and looked around. She spotted her little black knife and stumbled back to pick it up. It felt weird too like it was much heavier than it was before. She was still able to pick it up though. She turned back to the man and started walking towards him. He didn’t move until she was right before him. She thrust her little black knife towards him. To her shock he caught her wrist stopping her thrust. She looked at his face in shock as she twisted her arm making her drop the knife. Then he slapped her.

Pain erupted across her cheek. She stumbled back a few steps than with a cry of rage she rushed him moving way to slow. He easily stepped out of her way then punched her in the side of her stomach. She cried out in pain and stumbled to the ground. She looked up and saw him draw back his foot. She raised her arms to block his kick but her arms were driven back into her face and she was knocked backward.

She lay on her back struggling to keep from blacking out. The saw the man step above her. “Geom-eum was an overzealous idiot. If he waited for me to remove you powers he would have still been alive right now.” He told her.

“It is a pity.” Another voice said behind the man standing above her. “He was talented and loyal, but you are right he was an idiot.”

“My Taewang.” The man above Emily said bowing. Emily blinked as another man, a much fatter man, stood above her.

“It’s a pity. She is pretty.” The man she recognized as the King’s son said looking down at her. “Kill her and lets end this.” The fat man said stepping out of her sight.

“Yes, my Taewang.” The first man said bowing again.

He reached into his jacket and brought out a small silver pistol. The gun reminded Emily of James Bond’s gun. The man pointed it at her face his expression never changed. Emily’s eyes looked away from his face to the gun and then to his finger. She watched it tense then pull back. She never heard the shot.

The End

Just kidding. To be continued.