Chapter 18

The Two Siblings

Erin was getting ready to leave the bakery she had entered in the hopes of bringing treats to the people that had taken care of her in the slums. Her order had taken some time to be completed, as the bakers didn’t have enough treats at the ready, but this didn’t bother the redhead. She knew that things like cakes and other baked goods tasted best when they were still fresh.

Looking down at the paper bag of baked goods she had, Erin couldn’t help but smile a bit. She knew it wasn’t much, but she hoped that it would make the children happy and hopefully make Zeke trust her more. Even though the blonde boy hadn’t shown it initially, after hearing Ryle’s story, the redhead couldn’t help but feel like she still had to do some work in order to get on his good side.

As Erin was making her way to the slums, she started to notice some strange things. First there were sounds that even when distant were clearly gunfire. Second there was an odd smell, like something was burning in the distance. It didn’t take long for the redhead to realize what was most likely happening, which was soon followed by her dropping the bag in her hands and running to the slums like her life depended on it.

“No no no… Don’t tell me this is what I fear it is,” Erin muttered to herself as she was running. The closer she got to the slums, the louder and clearer the sound of gunfire became. The smell of smoke also became stronger and was now mixed with the smell of blood. “Dammit, not again!”

It didn’t take long for Erin’s fears to be confirmed. Once she had made her way to the slums, she immediately saw buildings that were on fire, along with the dead bodies of the residents littering grounds everywhere. Not only that, but familiar people were responsible for all the destruction and death, as she saw General Lune’s troops going around and causing havoc with smiles on their faces.

Despite being horrified by what she was seeing, the redhead kept herself calm and began to move around the place, using the fires and smoke to her advantage in order to keep herself hidden from enemy eyes. Her first destination was the house of Ryle and Zeke, as she wasn’t certain if the two siblings had actually made it there before her. While the chance of that happening was slim, she needed to confirm it with her own eyes.

Eventually, Erin arrived at the home of her two bounty hunter friends, only to see a group of soldiers surrounding the building. The house itself seemed to be still fine, as it hadn’t been set on fire yet, unlike the other ones in the area. Just as the redhead was thinking about how she was going to get inside to see if her friends were alright, a couple of soldiers walked out.

“We didn’t find anything,” one of the soldiers exiting the building said in a frustrated tone. “We looked everywhere, but we couldn’t find anyone. This place was probably abandoned or something.”

“Either that or it belonged to those two bounty hunters the general had arrested,” one of the soldiers that had been waiting outside said, causing Erin’s eyes to go wide. “Whatever the case, it’s no use for us to waste time here. Burn the place down like all the others.”

Somewhat relieved that her friends were at least alive for now, Erin began to move away from the home of the siblings and decided to look for other survivors. Most importantly, the kids that had taken care of her when she first arrived at the slums.

With silent movements, the redhead was easily sneaking around the soldiers currently burning down the whole area. While the soldiers were numerous, they were not exactly the most attentive people around. Most likely used to easy victories, the troopers were moving around the slums in a relaxed manner, not really paying too much attention to their surroundings. Instead of taking their work seriously, the soldiers were simply laughing at the atrocities they were committing.

Erin wanted nothing more than to go and make these people pay for what they had done, but pushed those feelings aside. She knew that there were more important things to worry about.

With some difficulty, the redhead managed to finally find the house the children were staying at. Much to her horror, the building was on fire, like all the others. Still hoping that she hadn’t arrived too late, Erin went inside the burning building to look for any of the children.

What she found made her cry tears of anguish.

In the middle of the living room, she saw all the poor orphaned children, laying in their own blood. The monsters parading around as soldiers hadn’t even bothered to show innocent kids any mercy, whose only crime was to be involved with her. Erin grit her teeth as her sorrow was transformed into rage and she swore to make the people responsible for this pay.

Suddenly, the redhead noticed slight movement among the bodies. Upon further inspection, she realized that it was Beth, whom Pete had shielded with his own body. Erin felt hope swell in her heart, as the little boy could have possibly saved the girl’s life with his sacrifice.

“Beth! Beth! Can you hear me!?” the redhead called out to the girl as she held her in her arms. Slowly, Beth opened her eyes and looked up at her. “Thank God you’re okay! Just hold on! I’ll get you out of-!”

Erin was suddenly cut off, as the little girl weakly grabbed her hand. She felt how Beth was trying to guide her own hand to something. Allowing the little girl to do this, the redhead’s hand was placed to Beth’s side, where a bleeding bullet wound could be found. It was obvious that the child wouldn’t survive this, as it was already a miracle that she was still alive.

“Dammit…!” Erin cursed as tears fell from her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Beth! This is all my fault! Had it not been for me, you all would-!”

The redhead was stopped in her pleas when she felt the little girl’s hand touch her face. Despite what she had been through, Beth still somehow managed to put up a small smile.

“Big sister Ryle… and big brother Zeke… they weren’t here when the soldiers came,” the girl struggled to say. “You can… help… them…”

With that, Beth’s hand fell down as the last embers of life left her body. Before leaving, Erin gave the child she was holding a hug and whispered a single promise to her.

“I swear, Beth… I’ll find those two and I’ll make sure that they are safe,” the redhead whispered as she laid the girl back on the floor. “That’s a promise.”

Leaving the burning house behind, Erin began to sneak around the burning slums. This time, however, she wasn’t trying to simply avoid the patrolling soldiers. Now she was moving around more like a hunter, hoping to catch unaware prey. The redhead needed information and the best way to get it was from one of the soldiers. She just needed to find one who was all alone and vulnerable.

Eventually, an opportunity presented itself, as Erin saw one of the soldiers break away from the group he was traveling with. It seemed like the heat was getting to him and he wanted to take a moment to cool off, away from all the fires. This one decision sealed his fate, as Erin had soon sneaked up on him and had the blade of a knife placed on his throat.

“If you want to live, you better talk!” the redheaded assassin whispered angrily to the terrified soldier, who nodded. “I heard some of your buddies mention two bounty hunters that your boss arrested. Where are they?”

“T-They’re at the closed off area of the town! You know, the place with the big wall!?” the soldier answered nervously. “The general is s-staying at the place that belongs to the mayor! It has a small dungeon for people that his guards might catch trying to sneak in! I bet that they’re locked up in there!”

“You better not be lying,” Erin said as she pressed her knife against the skin of the soldier’s throat. “If you are, I will make you greatly regret it.”

“I-I swear that it’s true! There’s no other place they could be at!” the soldier pleaded desperately.

“Fine. Thank you for your assistance,” the assassin said. “Unfortunately, you still have to pay for what you did to all those innocent people.”

Before the soldier could even attempt at uttering a protest of any kind, his throat was sliced open by Erin’s swift use of her knife. The dead trooper was then simply dropped to the ground like trash, before the redhead left the slums entirely in the hopes of finding her two friends.

The walled off area of the town was easy enough to find, but a way inside was another thing entirely. The wall was so tall that climbing it would be very difficult, especially without the proper equipment. To make matters worse, there were guards patrolling the area everywhere. There were guards stationed on top of the wall itself, at the gates as well as patrolling the surrounding area. Getting through such defenses was not going to be an easy task in the slightest.

While she would normally wait for nighttime so she could use the darkness to her advantage, Erin wasn’t sure she could do so in this situation. Even if she had been told that Ryle and Zeke were being held prisoner by Lune, there was no telling what a monster like him would end up doing. He had already caused two mass killings, after all.

Spotting two guards on patrol, Erin decided to go on the move. There was too much at risk for her to take things slow and calm.

Tricking the two guards wasn’t all that difficult. All Erin needed to do was make some noise in an alley and they came right in to investigate. Taking down the guards was a bit more difficult, especially with what the redhead was planning to do, but she managed to accomplish her goal just fine. A twist of the neck on one guard and a bullet to the head from her silenced pistol made short work of the two of them. With the other guard’s uniform not stained with blood also provided Erin with a disguise that she put on herself right away.

With her new uniform on her, the assassin could walk up to the gate without raising much suspicion. None of the guards seemed to make notice her now that she was dressed as one of their own. However, things took a turn for the worse, when she needed to actually get through the gate itself. The elf lady stationed at the guard post looking over the gate seemed to look at Erin with a hint of suspicion in her eyes.

“I haven’t seen you before,” the elf asked as she looked over the redhead before her. “Are you a new recruit or something?”

“Uhh… Yes. I only started recently,” Erin quickly lied, hoping that it would fool the guard. “So far I’ve been only working on the other side of the wall and only today started patrolling on the outside.”

“That’s strange. Usually they have people do at least three months of patrolling on the outside before they let you guard the inner parts,” the elf stated, causing the redhead to sweat a bit under her disguise. “Then again, I don’t know what the higher-ups are thinking half the time anyways. Guess they must have made a mistake or something. Wouldn’t be the first one. Could you hand me your key card?”

Erin almost let out a sigh of relief as she took out her card and gave it to the guard. The elf was about to enter it into her computer to read it, when she read the name and stopped in her tracks.

“Wait a minute… Ayanaz Gerdez? But you’re not…” the guard mumbled to herself in confusion. “Then who are-?”

By the time the elf came to realization of what was going on, it was already too late. With a single leap, Erin flew into the guard post through the open window. With one hand over the guard’s mouth all possible calls for help were immediately silenced, as the two of them tumbled to the floor. Before the elf could put up any type of a resistance, her neck was twisted, ending her life.

With the guard taken care of, Erin gave a quick look around to see if anyone had heard the commotion and was coming over. Upon seeing that there seemed to be nobody coming over, the redhead hid the body and used her card to open the gate, before making her way to the walled off area of the town.

Once inside, Erin began to walk around, making it look like she was patrolling, when in actuality she was trying to find the place where Ryle and Zeke were being held. From what she had been told, her friends were being held at the mayor’s home by General Lune. If she found the general, she would most likely find her friends as well.

After looking around for some time, the assassin saw a very familiar truck parked close to a certain building that was rather large. Erin recognized the truck as the one Lune had arrived on to Rockmoore Town, so this was most likely where the general himself could be found as well.

Sure enough, upon further investigation, Erin saw none other than General Lune sitting at a table on the balcony, enjoying a nice meal with the person the redhead assumed to be the town’s mayor. Both powerful men also had two guards behind them, ensuring that neither side would do anything uncalled for or that any outside attackers would get to them.

As much as Erin wanted nothing more than to kill Lune right then and there, she knew she couldn’t do that. What she needed to do was find Ryle and Zeke more than anything else.

Moving around calmly and in an orderly manner, the redhead got to the building without raising any suspicions. She entered through the front door and took a quick look around the interior of the building. As one would have suspected of a mansion belonging to a mayor, it was fully decorated in a manner that spoke volumes of the owner’s wealth. Every wall had at least one high quality painting on them and there were furniture that was fit for royalty. Expensive decorations that had gold and jewels in them could be seen covering tables in every direction. Even the floor itself was made of polished and expensive materials, with carpets made of the finest silks money could buy.

Erin almost wanted to throw up at the blatant showing off that the mansion’s owner was obviously doing, but held it back. She couldn’t afford to make any mistakes within enemy territory.

Imitating some of the other guards she saw walking around, the assassin pretended to be patrolling the mansion while without anyone’s notice she investigated the whole place. She tried to look for places that seemed suspicious in any possible manner, as they could lead to Ryle and Zeke. While there weren’t many, Erin made not of a couple of places that seemed to have guards stationed at them specifically, meaning that they were being watched over extra carefully. Now she just needed to find out which one was the one she wanted to get into.

Through carefully observing these places and listening to the guards talk, the redhead eventually found the place she was looking for. On the first floor was a door that led to an underground dungeon, where the guards would take intruders to. The door itself had a single guard looking over it, which was something Erin was sure she could handle. However, she wanted to make as little noise as possible, so she decided to approach this in a calmer manner.

“Hey, I was told to come over here to take over. You are relieved of your duties,” Erin called out to the guard as she walked up to him.

“Relieved? But my shift won’t end for another hour,” the guard responded. “How come I get to go home already?”

“Something about wanting to send some of the people home early in order to save on costs,” the redhead answered with a shrug, doing her best to act her part. “Apparently, with General Lune’s people here, the mayor decided that he doesn’t need as many guards here as normal and wants to save money by not having to pay too much.”

“What a freaking prick… Still, I guess it’s not too bad. At least I get to go home early,” the guard said as he began to walk away. “Have fun watching over this place.”

Once the guard was out of sight, Erin tried her stolen key card and used it to open the door. Behind the door was a flight of stairs that took you downwards on a narrow path. The assassin didn’t hesitate for a second to go down the stairs to where her friends could be.

At the end of the stairs, she came to what was essentially a wide corridor with jail cells on the right. There was also a round table with three guards sitting at it, playing poker. As she hadn’t been noticed yet, Erin took out her pistol and hid it behind her back before moving towards the guards.

“Hey, you guys seem to have a nice game going on!” the redhead called out to the guards, who turned to look at her. “Mind if I join in as well?”

“That depends. Do you think you have enough to bet here?” one of the three guards asked as they turned to look at their cards again. “While we are having fun here, we are also playing for money. And we are not taking in any small amounts over here. How much are you ready to bet?”

“Is three enough?” Erin asked, causing the guards to start laughing.

“I’m afraid three credits isn’t anywhere close enough,” the guard replied while still chuckling. “Come back when you’ve got more than your allowance to bet.”

“I wasn’t speaking of credits. I was talking about three lives,” the assassin said before taking out her gun and quickly shooting all three guards in the head. “Specifically, your lives.”

After doing a quick search of the bodies, Erin was able to find key cards from the guards. Since she wasn’t certain her own card would open the jail cells, she needed to take the cards from the guards to make sure she would be able to get her friends out. Now she just needed to find the right jail cell.

“Hey! What the hell is going on over there!?” Ryle’s voice called out from one of the cells, revealing where the two prisoners were being held.

Erin walked up to the cell and looked through the bars to see Ryle standing there with shackles on her arms that connected to the wall behind her. Zeke was in a similar situation, except he was sitting on the floor. Both were staring at the redheaded guard in front of them with worried looks, until they recognized the person.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Erin said with a small smile. “Is that any way to greet a friend?”

“No way… Erin?” Ryle asked with wide eyes. “How did you get in here?”

“It’s a long story and I don’t have the time for that. We need to get out of here and quick,” the assassin answered as she opened the cell door and went in to open the shackles on the two siblings. “I’ve been able to get by without causing an alert so far, but it’s only a matter of time before the alarm starts ringing. We better get going if we want to have any hope in getting out of here.”

“Erin, why did you come here!?” Zeke asked as his shackles were removed. “You had no reason to come help us, yet you risked your life for us! Why!?”

Taken aback by the sudden outburst, the redhead couldn’t answer immediately. After a couple of seconds, she smiled at the blonde boy and gave a simple, honest reply.

“I’ve lost too many friends due to my bad mistakes already, so I don’t want to lose more,” Erin answered. “Besides, aren’t friends supposed to help each other, when they’re in trouble?”

Zeke stared at the redhead in front of him in disbelief, attempting to find any signs that she was lying. Upon seeing nothing of the sort, a feeling that he had never thought to be possible for him began to grow within him. It was the feeling of guilt, as he had betrayed someone that had not only saved his sister, but had now even come to save his life. Because of his misplaced distrust, he had done something completely unforgivable.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Erin asked in a concerned tone upon noticing the change in the blonde boy’s mood. “If you’re worried about getting out of here, I’m sure we can-”

“It’s not that, Erin,” Ryle said, cutting off the redhead. “I’m sure there’s something else on his mind.”

“Well, what is it?” Erin asked, growing more concerned upon seeing the blonde woman look down in shame. “Ryle, what is wrong?”

“Zeke sold you out to General Lune,” Ryle answered. “He told him where you could be found.”

The assassin’s eyes went wide as she looked at the blonde boy, hoping that what she had heard wasn’t true. When she saw that Zeke wasn’t even trying to deny the accusation, it told her that what Ryle had just said was true.

“...Why?” Erin asked in a shaky tone. “Why would you do that?”

“For the money,” Zeke answered without looking at the redhead. “I was hoping to claim the bounty on your head and use it to make our lives better. With the amount of money I could have gotten, getting treatment for my illness wouldn’t have been an issue. We could have even moved out of this horrible place and lived comfortably for the rest of our lives wherever we wanted. Something like that was an opportunity I couldn’t simply pass.”

Erin’s hands balled up into fists that began to shake. All she wanted to do at that moment was hit the boy in front of her and keep hitting him until her own knuckles were bleeding. Only through some incredible willpower and restraint was she able to hold herself back.

“If you want to kill me, then go ahead. You have the right to be angry with me and seek revenge,” Zeke suddenly said in a calm tone. “I won’t make any excuses for myself, but I would like to ask one thing from you. Please spare my sister from your wrath and help her get out of here. What happened to you was entirely my fault and she’s innocent. I beg of you to not make her suffer for my crimes against you.”

Suddenly, Ryle stepped between Erin and her brother. She faced the redhead as she got on her hands and knees while looking up at Erin with pleading eyes.

“Please don’t hurt my brother! He did this all for my sake!” the blonde woman asked with tears in her eyes. “I know I don’t have any right to ask you for anything, but please spare him and help him escape! Lune shot him in the leg, so he can’t walk on his own! If you have to take someone’s life to satisfy your anger, take mine!”

Zeke was about to tell his sister to stop her pleas, when a simple order from Erin silenced both siblings immediately.

“Shut up, both of you,” the assassin said in such a stern and cold tone that both Ryle and Zeke froze up. “As much as I am angry over being betrayed, I am not going to take my anger out on either of you. I have no right to do so after what I’ve done myself.”

Ryle and Zeke felt relief as they looked at each other, glad to hear that neither one of them was going to be harmed. However, this was soon replaced with fear, as Erin glared at the two siblings.

“But I cannot and will not forgive you for what you did. Not because of myself, but because of all the people that were hurt because of you,” the redhead said with anger dripping from her words. “By the time I got back to the slums, Lune’s people had already destroyed everything. Everywhere I looked I saw fire and death. Even innocent kids like Pete and Beth were not spared. So know that while I may not seek retribution, you do not deserve forgiveness for what you’ve done.”

Zeke could only look down in shame as a couple of tears fell from his eyes. All he had wanted was to keep his sister safe, yet his efforts had not only put both of them in danger, it had also become a mistake that led to the deaths of numerous innocent people. The blonde boy honestly wanted nothing more than to break down into tears and beg Erin to end his life, but he knew he had no right to ask for it.

Suddenly, Zeke felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, causing him to look up. He saw the face of his sister looking at him with barely contained tears, yet her expression was both stern and kind at the same time.

“Zeke, listen to me. We will get through this, okay?” Ryle said to her brother in a tone that was calm, stern and kind all at the same time. “The two of us have always been there for each other, no matter what life has thrown our way. I know things look bad, but as long as we keep at it, I’m sure that we can make it through this together. Just know that you’re not alone and that I’m there for you, got it?”

At that point, the blonde boy finally let go of holding back his tears, as he latched onto his sister and let his tears fall freely. Ryle simply held her brother in a gentle embrace to let him know she was there for him. Meanwhile, Erin turned her gaze away from the two siblings, as she was feeling conflicted over what she should do. On one hand, she wanted to give support to her friend, Ryle, while another part of her wanted to be angry at Zeke.

After a moment, the group had managed to compose themselves, allowing them to continue with their escape. Ryle took a rifle from one of the dead guards and helped Zeke walk by letting him lean on her. With their preparations ready, the three escapees walked up the stairs that led to the dungeon and into the hallway of the mansion.

As soon as Erin opened the door, she saw guards on both ends of the hallway with guns pointed at them.