Chapter 8

Getting Dirty

Once she had returned from her trip with Holly, Erin had been put on a tough training regiment from Hell. Every day was pretty much torture that left the redhead’s body in pain and covered in bruises. Erin wasn’t sure if Ryan was trying to train her or kill her, as both seemed like possible goals for him right now.

The training was divided into three categories. These were assassination knowledge and techniques, physical skills and stealth training. The different subjects were divided in such a way that each day focused on one of the three categories, before moving on to a different one the next day.

Assassination knowledge and techniques was the only one that felt like a class in a school. Basically it was about learning useful skills, strategies and other such things. In these lessons either Ryan or Holly would be instructing Erin on how to act on different situations while performing assassinations. The redhead was also taught about the weapons she would be using during her missions. These included a silenced pistol, a knife and a garrote wire.

Physical skills were basically about building Erin’s physique to be better suited for the job. During these lessons, she was forced to do all sorts of exercises, such as running, push-ups, sit-ups and other things. There was also unarmed and armed combat lessons mixed in as well. However, these lessons were grueling and extremely painful, as Erin was hardly offered any chance to even catch her breath. Instead, whenever she fell down from exhaustion, she was forced to get back up, often by Holly using a stun baton on her to get her moving, while the blonde assassin laughed like a maniac.

However, stealth training was quite possibly the most brutal of the three. In it, Ryan had built up a training ground that was supposed to resemble an area in a city, with alleys and other such things. Erin’s assignment in this training was to use the environment around her to her advantage and get close to either Holly or Ryan, who would be moving around the area. With a lot of different hiding spots, one would think that this was a simple task, but they would be wrong. Both Ryan and Holly were highly skilled assassins, so they could easily spot Erin long before she could even get anywhere near either of them. The could hear the slightest of sounds she made, see her just from the corners of their eyes or even smell her on several occasions. What followed a failed attempt at approaching her target was a painful punch or a kick, which was sometimes several.

Today, Erin was finishing up her stealth training with Holly. The assassination trainee had tried to attempt to approach her target from behind, only to have the blonde woman grab her arm, throw her to the ground and painfully twist her arm to the point of almost breaking it. While Erin was trying her best not to cry from the pain, Holly was grinning widely.

”Sloppy. Sloppy! SLOPPY!” the blonde assassin ranted happily. ”Did you really think you were going to get me with such crap skills? I should be insulted by such antics!”

”W-What did I do wrong?” Erin asked in a pained voice. ”How did you know where I was this time?”

”Are your ears just for decoration or something?” Holly asked in a smug tone. ”Didn’t you hear the noise you were making while you were trying to approach me? Seriously, your steps were about as loud as a dire hippo! And your breathing was so loud that even a deaf person would have heard you coming a mile away! Are you seriously this worthless!? I swear, the moment we send you out on the field, you’ll just end up dead!”

”Perhaps we should put that to the test then?” Ryan suddenly asked, catching the attention of both Erin and Holly, who had been unaware of his presence. ”I’m starting to think that some actual experience could be useful for your training.”

”What do you mean, Mr. Hollings?” Erin asked as Holly finally let her go. The now redheaded young woman stood up and held her sore arm. ”Also, how long were you standing nearby?”

”For the entire time it took you to fail your last two attempts, so I’d say about 20 minutes, give or take a couple of minutes,” Ryan answered calmly, shocking Erin.

”T-That long!?” Erin said out of shock. ”But how!? I never even-!”

”This is something we are trying to teach you here, dumbass!” Holly angrily yelled at her apprentice. ”Real assassins can hide themselves in the middle of a busy street during the day, while you couldn’t hide yourself from a blind and deaf guy! You have absolutely no idea on how to erase your presence in the least!”

”Erase my presence?” Erin asked. ”What does that mean?”

”I’ll try to explain it a bit more in detail later, but we have other business right now,” Ryan replied. ”What I’m thinking is that we’ll send you out on a mission to get some real experience on our work. That might let you learn a bit better, since your own life will be on the line and all.”

”Hang on, pops! Are you sure about this!?” Holly asked. ”Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind seeing this useless turd get killed, but I’d prefer if it didn’t get us killed as well! If she gets caught, she might spill the beans on us as a means to save her own ass! How can we trust her!?”

”She won’t get the chance to do so, as I will be watching from the shadows,” Ryan began to explain. ”The job I’m thinking for her is a rather simple one anyways, so I doubt she’ll get into too much trouble. However, in case she does get caught, I’ll be on the lookout, ready to shoot her it seems like she is going to get caught. I won’t let her utter a single word to the wrong people.”

Erin was starting to sweat from nervousness now. It was obvious that she not being given much of a choice in this matter. Either she did the job they were giving her or she would lose her life.

”So what is the job then?” Erin managed to ask. ”Is it going to be another cop, like Harger?”

”Hell no. I wouldn’t put you up against someone like that until you’ve shown some skill that’s worth a damn,” Ryan answered. ”The guy you’ll be going after is an accountant from the local mining company. He has been taking some of the company’s profits for himself, so they want us to go and make an example out of him. There is also a second target. Turns out that the thieving office worker has a mistress that he has been spending his stolen cash on. They want us to also take her out and retrieve as much of the stolen goods as possible.”

”...Are you serious?” Erin asked with wide eyes. ”You’re telling me that the person I’m going after is no criminal leader, no crooked cop or anything else like that, but some accountant that has been taking some of his employer’s profits and some lady he’s been spending money on?”

”That is correct,” Ryan answered. ”Is there a problem with that?”

”You goddamn right there is!” Erin yelled angrily. ”This is possible the most worthless reason to hire an assassin! Why doesn’t the company just call the cops on the guy!? Why do we have to get involved!?”

”You don’t understand how this town operates, do you?” Ryan asked with a raised eyebrow. ”Anything that is worth money around here is pretty much controlled through one thing. Fear. Once you step out of line even a little bit, you’re lucky to get away with a few broken bones. That is how both the businesses and the town itself are operated. You’ve seen for yourself how Gibbot likes to run things, right? Or did I misunderstand something about you witnessing a public execution?”

“I know that, but this is different! Why would a mining company go this far just to get back at a bad employee!?” Erin asked angrily.

“You think Gibbot is the only scumbag around here? In this town, almost everyone has some amount of blood on their hands, whether from directly killing someone or by doing it indirectly,” Ryan began to explain. “Every business here that is worth a damn has made its fortune through blood and bribes. First they eliminate the competition, then they pay the authorities to ignore what happened. That’s how our customer does things as well and has made itself the only mining company in the town. They take out any opposition no matter who they are and then give some of their profits to Gibbot in order to make him happy. They keep those underneath them in control through fear and those above them happy with money. We are simply a tool to make it happen.”

“Well, I won’t-!”

Erin’s defiance was quickly cut short by the feeling of a cold and sharp blade touching her neck. She turned her head just slightly enough to see Holly holding a knife to her throat while glaring at her with hateful eyes.

“I’m sorry. What were you about to say?” Holly asked as she pressed her knife’s blade a bit closer against Erin’s neck. “You won’t what exactly?”

“...O-Okay, I’ll do it,” Erin said fearfully. “You can put the knife away.”

“Good. I’d hate having to clean your blood off my clothes,” Holly said as she put away her knife. “Don’t get me wrong. I want you dead, but I feel that we might as well try to get some use out of you first. Besides, with the old man watching over you, I’m certain you’ll end up dead as soon as you screw up.”

Erin clenched her teeth from frustration. Against these people, she was completely helpless to put up any kind of resistance. It seemed like she was forced to get blood on her hands. She just hoped that the people she was going to kill were worse than she imagined.

Later that night, Erin was hiding in an alley, waiting for her targets to come into view. She had been told that one of her targets, the accountant, would go to a brothel almost every night before exiting with Erin’s second target, his mistress.

The alley Erin was hiding in was situated right across from the brothel, allowing her to see exactly when her two targets would come out through the front door. She had been provided with pictures and information on both of them, making it easier for her to identify them as well as get some insight.

The accountant that was Erin’s first target was an orc by the name of Bedlum. Judging by the picture, he was an older man that was overweight and balding. His background information stated that he used to be a good employee of his company, until he got into gambling and ended up with a ton of debt. He soon paid off his debts, which is suspected to having been done through stolen money from his company. After that, he continued to steal money that he then spent on his mistress.

Erin’s second target, Bedlum’s mistress, was an elf named Zafleyna. She seemed to be quite young and had long purple hair that reached her back. The information that Erin had received didn’t tell much, besides that she came to the town about four years ago and had been working in the brothel ever since. The only other information provided was that Zafleyna seemed to have a bad habit of spending a lot of money on things such as expensive clothes, make-up and jewelry.

Reading through the elf’s information caused Erin to let out a deep sigh, as Zafleyna reminded her of herself and her old “friends” back in high school. Back then, they had been very similar, as they were only interested in looking as pretty as possible, completely ignoring everything else around them. Erin couldn’t help but wonder whether she would still be like that had she not gotten close to Devin and his friends.

Thinking about her old boyfriend made Erin think about the bounty that had been placed on her. The only explanation she could think of for such a high bounty was that it had been placed by either Devin himself or one of the people from his group. There was no need to think about the reason, as it was completely obvious. They were still angry over what she had done to them and wanted revenge.

However, how did they already know she was here? Did the information of her arriving to this world get to them through someone like Eba? Or did they know about her coming here even earlier?

Whatever the case was, Erin didn’t have the time or the resources to figure it out right now. Her two targets were just exiting the brothel, meaning that it was time to get to work. From the way the two were walking, it seemed that they had been drinking quite a bit already. Bedlum had apparently been the heavier drinker, as Zafleyna had to support him while they walked. The orc’s face was completely red and he could be seen smiling widely, while the elf had a small smile on her face as well. Bedlum was loudly talking about all the great things the two of them had ahead of themselves thanks to the money he had and Zafleyna was acting amazed and praising him.

As the two were making their way through the town, Erin began to follow them, blending into the crowd and not causing any commotion. Her clothing had also been chosen to be something that wouldn’t draw attention. Much like during her trip to “A Face For All” with Holly, Erin was wearing very simple and plain clothes, consisting of a hoodie, cargo pants, simple shoes and leather gloves. Her clothes were made to look all worn-out and dirty, which made her look like a homeless person, someone that would be easily ignored. The first-time assassin wore also a mask that covered the lower half of her face and she had her hood pulled over her head to help hide her identity.

After navigating through the busy streets of the town, the two targets arrived to the a residential area that was populated the more poor people. The streets weren’t lit all that well and there were almost no people walking around, making it the perfect area to strike.

However, Erin couldn’t attack just yet. She needed to follow both her targets to their living quarters first, as she was also tasked with bringing back any of the property that Bedlum had stolen from his company. Attacking now would only lead to her failing this objective.

Erin kept following her targets for some time, using the darker parts of the streets and alleyways to keep out of sight. Eventually, her two targets walked up to an apartment, where Bedlum went in without his companion. The assassin made sure to remember the place her first target had gone to, before following after her second target.

Zafleyna seemed to live around the same area, as it didn’t take long for her to reach what was most likely her own apartment. The elf began to look through her purse for her keys, which proved to be more difficult than normal due to being still somewhat intoxicated.

After making sure no one else was looking, Erin decided to make her move. She began to approach her target from behind, making careful steps that didn’t cause any noise. Once she was close to her target, she prepared a garrote wire in her hands for a silent kill.

However, as she was getting ready to go for the kill, images began to flash through her mind. These were about Zafleyna’s life. It showed how she had always known how others considered her to be a beautiful woman and how she had always used it to her advantage. Making men spend fortunes on her just for the chance of getting praise, even if it was completely fake. The elf made use of those who were unfortunate and broken, manipulating their hearts to get whatever frivolous thing she desired, just like with Bedlum.

For a moment, Erin froze from shock. Then that shock was replaced by burning anger. This manipulator had used others for her own gains without any concern over their well-being. Any possible pity or regret that Erin might have been feeling for her target had completely vanished. She now wanted nothing more than to kill Zafleyna.

After all, the elf was just like she had been, when she had manipulated Devin and his friends.

Zafleyna herself had been completely unaware of what was going on behind her, until it was too late. She suddenly felt how a thin wire was wrapped around her throat very tightly, which finally snapped her out of her drunken stupor. The elf’s purse dropped to the ground, as her arms quickly went to struggle against her attacker. She desperately tried to pry the wire off her neck, while also kicking and thrashing around wildly in an attempt to get free.

However, in the end, it was all in vain for Zafleyna. It didn’t take long until her struggles started to grow weaker and weaker, until stopping completely. The elf’s body went limp as her life was extinguished and she would have fallen to the ground, had she not been held up by the wire still wrapped around her neck.

Not wanting to make any sound that could possibly alert those around her, Erin gently laid her victim’s body down to the ground. Once this was done, the assassin stood still for a moment, simply staring down at her victim with wide eyes and her body shaking. Until now, she had been caught up in the moment from the anger she felt towards her victim and the fear of being killed by her employers that the fact she was committing murder hadn’t fully registered. Now that she was staring at her victim’s lifeless body, it all came crashing down on her.

Erin felt something welling up inside her stomach, causing her to run to a nearby trash can. There she pulled down her mask and threw up. Once this was done, she fell on her knees while sweating and shaking. A couple of tears fell from her eyes as she let the fact sink in that she was now an actual murderer.

The redhead tried to reason with herself how there had been no choice for her, but to do what she did. That it was life or death for her and there had been nothing she could have done. Unfortunately, no matter how much she tried to convince herself, it offered no help in the end.

After she managed to calm herself somewhat, Erin went to grab Zafleyna’s purse and looked for the keys to her apartment. She needed to quickly get inside to hide the dead elf’s body and to accomplish one of her objectives, recover some of the things Bedlum had stolen. The assassin soon found the key, opened the door and went inside while dragging Zafleyna’s body behind her.

Once inside, Erin looked around and saw all the things Zafleyna had bought using the money she had gotten from the people she had manipulated all this time. Expensive clothes, jewelry, make-up and other luxurious items could be seen everywhere. However, none of these things mattered to the assassin, as she was looking for something else entirely.

After looking around the apartment for some time, Erin was able to find what she had been tasked to look for. The things Bedlum had stolen from his company were the rare minerals they were mining. Some of them came in the form of small clumps of ore, while others looked like beautiful jewels. In the right hands, they could be used to make all sorts of things, from accessories to weapons, but for people like Bedlum and Zafleyna they were an easy way to get lots of money quickly. Just a small amount of the things Erin had found could earn you small fortune easily.

Once she had gathered all the stolen materials, Erin left the dead elf’s apartment and began to head towards the apartment of her first target, Bedlum. Having made sure to remember the way to the orc’s apartment, the assassin arrived there very quickly. She made her way to the front door as quietly as possible, hoping to catch her target completely unaware.

Erin reached for the handle on the door and found out, much to her surprise, that the door had been left completely unlocked. After quietly opening the door, the assassin made her way inside and readied her silenced pistol.

As she got inside, Erin noticed a picture hanging from the wall, showing Bedlum with what seemed to be his family. The orc was standing there with a female orc and two young orc children, a boy and a girl. Upon seeing this picture, Erin felt her blood freeze from within, as she feared that she might end up having to kill Bedlum’s whole family as well, if things turned out badly. Zafleyna, in her opinion, had been someone that deserved her fate and Bedlum was most likely going to turn out same. But his wife and children were innocent and undeserving of such fate. Erin could only hope that she wouldn’t have to kill them as well.

However, upon going further in, Erin realized that the apartment was rather small, not one large enough for a family. It was more like a tiny bachelor apartment instead of an actual family home. The place even looked like a stereotypical single man’s home, as the apartment was a complete mess. Trash and dirty clothes littered practically every possible place and you could even smell the stench of unwashed laundry and dishes as soon as you walked in.

Erin moved on and soon found Bedlum, laying down on a bed and snoring loudly. The orc hadn’t even bothered to change his clothes and had just fallen asleep in his office worker outfit.

Seeing as how her target was defenseless, the assassin quietly moved forward and readied her silenced pistol. She raised it up and took aim at Bedlum’s head.

However, before the trigger could be pulled, Erin’s mind was filled with visions yet again. This time they showed Bedlum’s life. He had been a hard worker at his company, doing honest work and never causing any trouble. This changed when Gibbot took over the town and every major corporation was forced to bend their knees to his oppressive regime. The leaders of his company were soon replaced by those who were allowed to do whatever they liked as long as they kept sending large bribes to Gibbot. This led to the payments of the actual workers being reduced significantly, with some of them even getting laid off. And if any of them complained, they were sent to Gibbot’s men as “traitors”.

If that wasn’t bad enough for Bedlum, things only got worse at his home. His wife had gotten sick and tired of their terrible financial situation, which had led to them struggling to survive. She wanted to join a group of rebels that were planning to challenge corrupt leaders like Gibbot and take them down for good. Bedlum himself wasn’t fond of the idea, as it would put not only him and his wife in danger, but their children as well. In the end, their arguing got so bad that his wife left him with the kids, hoping to find a better life away from the town they had lived in so far. To end this whole tragic tale, Bedlum’s family died on their way out of the town, as the monsters of the wilderness had attacked the transport vehicle they had been in.

Due to the loss of everything that was dear to him, Bedlum fell into severe depression, causing him to start drinking heavily and to spend time at brothels. It was at one of these places that he eventually met Zafleyna, who became his sole source of comfort, despite the fact that the elf herself couldn’t care less about the orc.

After seeing Bedlum’s past, Erin almost fell on her knees. Only by leaning on the wall behind her was she able to hold herself up, but it was still hard to do so. The assassin had tears freely falling from her eyes and she was also breathing heavily, as the visions she had seen had taken away her ability to breather momentarily. Erin still somehow managed to hold up her gun and keep it aimed at her target, but her hand was shaking violently. It would honestly be a miracle if she actually managed to hit Bedlum, even if he was completely still.

However, due to the shock that she was in, Erin had lost all grace in her steps, causing the floorboards underneath her feet to creak loudly. This noise was enough to wake up Bedlum, who grumbled as he slowly lifted his head off the pillow and got into a sitting position. It didn’t take long for him to find the intruder to his home and he was soon staring at his assassin.

Upon seeing that she had been discovered, Erin went stiff with panic. She might have seen calm on the outside, but on the inside she was practically screaming out of fright. Getting discovered was something all assassins would avoid, as their success would often hinge on this fact. Not only that, but the redhead’s very life was hanging in the balance over her completing her mission.

As Erin was trying to think of what to do, Bedlum let out a yawn and spoke in a surprisingly calm tone.

“So my bosses finally decided to send someone after me? They sure took their time. I was beginning to think they didn’t care about what I was doing,” the orc stated as he sat on the edge of his bed, seemingly not even bothered by the fact that an assassin was in his home. “I guess they didn’t see me as that big of a problem, as they sent a complete novice after me. Seriously, what kind of an assassin causes such a ruckus and can’t even seem to hold their weapon properly?”

“...Y-You know that I’m an assassin?” Erin asked, getting a nod from Bedlum. “Why are you so calm? Don’t you understand that I’m here to kill you?”

“Of course I get that. I just don’t see any reason to panic at all. Like I told you, I’ve been expecting this to happen for quite some time now,” Bedlum answered. “No point in worrying over something that I can’t do anything about. Not that it even matters to me whether I die here now or later.”

“What the hell are you saying!? How could you not care about getting killed!?” the assassin asked furiously. “Isn’t your life worth a damn!?”

“Look at me. Does it look like my mind is worth anything to me?” the orc asked with a completely dead look in his eyes that sent chills down to Erin’s soul. “For a couple of years now I’ve practically been waiting for death, while trying in vain to drown myself in booze and prostitutes.”

Bedlum reached for a picture that was sitting on his nightstand next to the bed. The picture was of him and his family when they were still alive.

“Every person needs something to keep them going. A purpose or something that makes them enjoy living. For me, it was my family. My kids brought me endless joy along with a purpose,” Bedlum said with a sad smile, before it quickly vanished and a look of anguish replaced it. “With them gone, the hell am I supposed to live for? A sorry excuse of a paycheck that barely allows me to live in this shit hole? Some bimbo that only talks nice to me to get my money? The reason I started stealing from my boss in the first place was for me to get killed. I only spent it the way I did to squash the pain in my heart.”

Erin stared down at the floor in shock. This had taken a turn that she hadn’t expected at all. Bedlum hadn’t been stealing from his boss in order to satisfy his own desires. This had all been nothing more than an elaborate suicide. Now that she knew all this, would she be able to do her job?

“Please… End my misery already,” the orc begged, causing the assassin to look up at his tear-filled face. “Ever since I lost my family I’ve just wanted to meet them again. Please let me go to where they are. Let me be free from this hell that I call my life.”

Erin’s whole body was shaking. In front of her was a good man that had been brought down simply due to unfortunate circumstances caused by those in power, which had led to the death of his entire family. This broken man was now begging her to end his life, but would she be able to do it? Bedlum might be saying that it would be a mercy for him if his life were to end, but was that good enough of a reason to kill him?

In the end, Erin came to the realization that she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Even if she were to spare Bedlum’s life, it would only delay the inevitable. Some other assassin would just be sent after him or he would simply take his own life through other means. The only difference would be that Erin herself would also be dead, as Ryan would kill her for failing her mission.

With a heavy heart, the assassin raised her silenced pistol and aimed at her target’s head. Bedlum simply closed his eyes and waited for his end to come.

“I’m sorry,” Erin whispered before pulling the trigger. The bullet hit its target in the middle of the forehead, ending his life immediately.

With her work done, Erin left Bedlum’s apartment and began to make her way away from the crime scene. However, she wasn’t walking towards any specific destination, as she was simply moving in a delirium. Before tonight, she had only killed once before and that had been in self-defense. This time it had been an actual murder by her hands. The redhead felt sick in her stomach and wanted to throw up, especially when she thought about one of her targets, Bedlum.

The visions that she had seen first with Harger and Eba had continued to plague her on her mission. Visions of the lives of the people she was going to kill. Erin couldn’t understand what was causing this to happen to her. Had she been cursed by God as a way to punish her for all her sins or was there something else at play?

In her delirium, Erin ended up in an empty alley, where she fell on her knees and threw up again. Tears were freely flowing down her face, as she kept asking why this had happened to her.

“You’re a really lucky one, aren’t you?” a familiar voice said, causing the redhead to look up. She saw Ryan looking down on her. “Honestly, the only thing you managed to do right was kill the elf and even then your performance needed work. And then you go and completely screw things up with Bedlum. You should be thankful that he actually wanted to die or else you’d be the one that died tonight.”

“...How long were you watching me?” Erin asked as she struggled to stand up.

“The whole time. Remember that I was going to make sure you don’t screw up, right?” Ryan answered. “Anyways, you better shape up for your next job or else you won’t last long. You’ll get your share of the payment for the job later. I’ll see you at the hideout.”

Ryan turned around and walked away, leaving Erin alone in the alley. Once he was gone, the redheaded assassin fell on her knees and began to sob uncontrollably. She cried over how her actions in the past had seemingly ruined this world along with the lives of its inhabitants, she wept over the people she had been forced to kill and she bawled over the visions that would continue to haunt her. All she could do was let her tears fall and pray for better things to come.

Unfortunately, her hardships were only beginning.