“Let’s KILL.”

I heard a voice of maddening rage echo in my mind but my body refused to move as the atmosphere in Ida’s ruined house stilled.

My hand was buried in Sally’s chest but as much as I could see the last moment of pain and terror on his face, I had a pain in my chest and terror in my mind no less than Sally’s during his final moments.

Actually, I was unsure if I had pierced Sally through the chest or if I had pierced my own heart… I felt some part of me fracture as the life dwindled from Sally’s eyes…

A part of me seethed with a disturbing indifference that made the terror in my mind increase but as terrified as I was, survival didn’t give me much time to think about my actions.

Up until now, the killing had been a defensive method at best…

Killing Slim and Karl was unavoidable because it was either them or myself…

Killing that kid raping the Whisper Dog was necessary because Big Jump Tim would have killed me or Rocky instead… Actually, he still might, if he saw us again…

However, killing Sally this time felt fundamentally different…

I always enjoyed reading the comics stored in cartridges for the holo-projectors in the bunker…

I always thought it was naïve that the heroes never killed anyone… but now, having done so myself… I finally realized why the heroes refused to kill even the lowest of scum on this Earth…

It wasn’t because you lost something when you took a life…

It wasn’t about being the better man…

It wasn’t about with ‘greater power comes greater responsibility’…

It wasn’t about logic and not wanting governmental systems to see them as enemies…

Sure, it would be traumatizing to kill someone, and sure, the killing did make you feel a bit dirtier but I am sure the superheroes never killed for mainly one reason…

It’s too easy… and the more you kill, the easier it becomes to take a life…

A couple weeks ago, I would have done anything to not take a life but after Slim and Karl… killing became a sort of last option for me…

Then after killing that raping kid, killing became a second option for me…

And now… not knowing how and not knowing when… killing had become my first option…

“And it’s so fucking easy!” I whispered but it sounded more like it came from the mouth of a demon than my own voice.

As if my demonic voice was the trigger for everyone to move, I saw every single one of Trion’s Lackeys dart down the stairs towards my direction.

I am not sure if I was imagining things but the world around me seemed to slow and my eyes evaluated several ways to escape through openings I had not noticed before…

Truly, my mind had probably noticed the openings but kept it hidden from me because killing had just become too instinctive to even think about escape…

With all these thoughts running through my mind at a mile a minute, I came to a decision that would see that I always remain in control “I WILL NEVER KILL AGAIN!”

My body briefly shuddered as my determination clashed with my natural instincts but soon, the shudder disappeared and what remained was not only the will to survive but the determination to make sure that I was worthy of survival.

Bang

Bang

I heard two gunshots echo from on top of the stairs and nimbly duck my body behind Sally’s; he created the perfect cover to hide my small body from the shooter’s aim.

Of course, with the first bullet shot in my direction, some of the other lackeys also realized that they also had weapons but thankfully, most of them ignored their guns and opted to attempt and beat me to death with their bare fists.

“Ahhh you killed Sally!” I yelled in the most girlish scream I could muster.

I dragged my hand out of Sally’s chest as all the lackeys paused and stared at the person on the stairs who had shot the gun.

In the quick change of events, they were confused if Sally was already dead or was it the miss-aimed shot of the lackey on the stairs that put the final nail in Sally’s coffin.

Once again, I was thankful for the decreased intelligence of Slum-Dwellers.

I grabbed at the knife in Sally’s belt and tossed it with pinpoint accuracy to the lackey on the stairs, embedding the knife in his shoulder.

Without any pause, I pushed Sally’s body toward the bunch of lackeys and jumped backward with all my might.

The lackeys scoffed as some of them raised their guns in my direction, thinking I was stupid for giving up my only cover, but little did they know how ruthless Trion actually was to his top subordinates.

I had learned my lesson after Slim…

One of the lackeys caught the body and his face shifted into horror but it was too late, the body was already near the bunch of them…

---BOOOOOOOM---

I sighed, thankful that my gamble paid off – if Slim could afford an artificial pacemaker in his heart that exploded upon his death, I didn’t see why someone as paranoid as Sally would not have done the same.

Landing on the ground and rolling to disperse my momentum, I groaned a bit as my earlier injures rocked my body with pain but I knew the battle was far from finished.

My thoughts were proven right as the next moment, the last five lackeys burst through the cloud of the explosion, but none of them possessed any weapons.

My eyes were wide, taking in everything in sight as I dashed toward the group of five, ducking beneath the quick jab of the first lackey, tripping the second lackey off his foot but being punched squarely in the chest by the third lackey.

The two other lackeys who had not yet attacked, used the opportunity when I stumbled to initiate their attacks, but I gripped the knife I had retrieved as the third lackey punched me in the chest.

I swung forward to the utmost limits of my reach but the fourth lackey pulled back just in time to dodge my swipe with the knife, but that didn’t leave me without options since I continued my swinging motion and nailed his left foot into the ground with all the strength I could muster.

---GGGGAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH---

The fourth lackey gave a scream that pained my ears but I focused on the fifth lackey who had pincer me from around the fourth, managing to move fast enough to get behind me and aim a heavy kick at my back.

Luckily, my small stature and nimbleness gave me several options.

I jumped forward and dove between the legs of the fourth lackey who had his left foot pinned to the ground, and the kick intended for me, ended between the fourth lackey’s legs.

Crunch

There was a deep crunch that sent chills down my spine, but I would not let the opportunity pass as I spun between the fourth lackey’s legs and stomped outward, crushing the jewels of the fifth lackey just like he had done the fourth.

I didn’t have any time to celebrate my victory as my hair was tugged backward and I was tossed towards the stairs, hitting my back with a strong impact that pushed the wind from my lungs.

Taking a brief couple of seconds to recover, I opened my eyes only to be greeted by a size fourteen boot coming towards my face, completely intent on reducing my head to mush.

I tilted my head to the side just enough to avoid the boot but a strong grip around my leg hoisted me in the air and smacked me twice on the stairs like a ragdoll…

No… not like a ragdoll, I was sure that people had more respect for ragdolls than this guy had for me…

Honestly, I finally knew how Loki felt being tossed around by the Hulk in those old movies…

During the second slam, I managed to hit a wild kick onto the face of the recently revealed Big Lackey, forcing him to release me as I crawled a bit further up the stairs where I saw a revolver just lying in wait to be picked up.

I crawled forward despite my protesting body and picked up the revolver in a hurry, hopping to my feet and spinning around just in time to catch the Big Lackey in my crosshairs.

However, after I aimed the gun, full intent on ending the Big Lackey’s life, my breath became heavy as a minor panic attack struck and I could not place my finger on the trigger.

That gave the Big Lackey enough time to leap to my position, disarm me of the gun while kicking me in the stomach.

My body slammed against the wall and the next moment I felt a revolver pressed against my forehead.

My life flashed before my eyes as a silent tear slid down my face… the last thing I saw was my precious Aurora.

“Good-Bye Kid… I will treat that sister of yours nicely…” The Big Lackey whispered with a disgusting smile on his face.

Click

Bang

Only…

Instead of my head being penetrated by the bullet, I watched as the Big Lackey slumped to the ground lifelessly.

The fingers on his left hand missing and a bullet embedded perfectly between his eyebrows. I glanced at the gun that was now a pile of twisted metal and thanked the Gods that it hadn’t been me who fired the fucking death trap.

Slumping with my back against the wall, I finally realized why my panic attack froze my body moments before I was about to shoot the gun.

“Well… fuck me sideways…” I laughed and glanced at the center of the room where Rocky stood, looking at the gun in his hands and tossing it away in horror.

“Motherfucker…” He yelled angrily “I was about to shoot that guy and save your life but lucky thing I decided to let you die because all these guns are shit!... I would have just killed myself…”

I rolled my eyes at Rocky’s antics as he directed a knowing smirk my way “I know I always say this but now I have proof…” he said, pointing to the gun he had tossed “Selfishness saves lives!”