Twenty-four

Another day passes.

I stare at the door. I shake my head when Hanna tells me to drink the rest of the water or to eat the rest of the food. I refused the first time and looked at the injured woman. Her state got worse, but I still wanted her to drink and eat my part.

She did and left me some. But when we woke up in the morning, she was unfortunately already gone.

Dead.

Her name was Kathy.

I can't look at her body in the corner of the room. I don't know how long it'll take until someone comes to—

Get rid of the body.

I hate myself. It shouldn't have happened. I should have been here sooner to make sure no one here gets hurt.

Someone is still crying lowly. I keep my eyes on the door because as soon as this door opens, I want to make sure to be their next victim. I want to give them what they want, to end all of this.

For the first time in hours, I look away for a moment to glance at Hanna.

"How long will it take until they come here again?" I question, clenching and unclenching my hands.

I need to hit something.

She shakes her head slowly, her own eyes fixed on the door. "Who knows."

Huffing under my breath, I start to stand up. My legs tremble just for a few seconds before I steady myself.

I can feel Hanna's eyes on me. And then, "You should drink the water, Sophia—what are you doing?"

I'm heading towards the door, and then I'm standing in front of it, and then I start to knock loudly.

"Hey! It's the Bird! Open the fucking door!" I bang louder. "There's a dead body here, and these women need more food and water, goddammit. Also, I'm pretty sure some of us have our periods, you know? So it would be really nice if—"

I hear footsteps.

Angry footsteps.

About fucking time.

"What did you do?" someone whispers behind me.

I take a few steps back. "Don't worry. You guys are safe now."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hanna starts to stand up. "Sophia—"

The door bursts open. The man's eyes meet mine. I smile wickedly.

"Hello. You killed this woman." I point Kathy, glaring at the man. "And I'm the Bird, so let the others go."

The bald man glances at Kathy, and with a sigh as if this is too much to handle, he calls his friend to 'take care of this'.

My fingers graze the knife in my back pocket. It would be so easy, so easy...

But I can't risk anybody's life here. Not another one, I think while Kathy's body disappears from our eyes.

I swallow hard and look back at the man in front of me. Then, as if remembering what I said earlier, his eyes meet mine again and narrow in curiosity.

Come on. Find your brain and use it. Look at me, then realize who I am.

Slowly, recognization seems to fill his eyes. He takes out a phone from his back pocket and attempts to look at something on it without taking his eyes off of me.

I'm too late to react for what happens next.

I see it from the corner or my eyes. A woman crawled towards the door, and now she's standing up, ready to run away.

My eyes widen. Sensing the movement, the man looks up and turns his head.

Now, I react.

I take the last few steps towards him and punch him in the face, hard enough to make him stumble backward. I think I scream Run! but I'm not sure. I just know that when the man finally manages to stand steadily on his two feet again, he takes out his gun and attempts to shoot at the woman running away.

Not thinking twice, I take out my knife and plunge it deep into his shoulder. He screams in agony and drops the gun, turning towards me. Taking back the knife, I turn towards the other women.

"Leave! Now! Run without looking back," I shout, before I grab the man by his collar and push him against the wall.

Some women listen and leave, some others don't and remain behind. I can't do anything for them, now.

The sound of bullets being fired and screams fill the place. I glare at the man in front of me and am about to either slice his throat or ask him some questions when someone grips my arms from behind and within a second, I'm being thrown against the opposite wall.

All air leaves my lungs, and I gasp before I roll onto my side, wincing. My hand brushes a familiar object, and my fingers close around the gun. There's no way I can hide it on me without them noticing.

I turn my head. Green eyes stare at me directly from across the room. Hanna remained here.

Hugging her knees, she looks at me with pain and fear. But determination is there, and without another thought, I slide the gun in her direction before the man notices.

Indeed, the man who just threw me against the wall walks towards me, his steps purposely slow. The bald man, with a hand pressed on his shoulder, glares at me.

"I'm killing her," he growls before he glances around. "Where is the fucking gun?"

"No," his friend replies, looking at me. "She's the one. She's the Bird. We don't give a shit about the others, the Master just said he wants to see her now."

I attempt to sit up and smile in their direction. "Surprise. You know, I always wanted to fly, just like a bird."

The man kneels in front of me. I vaguely remember him from the bar.

"We know," he declares, and then knocks me off.

Darkness now surrounds me, and I welcome it with arms wide open.

*

I'm being carried by someone. I taste blood in my mouth, and I grimace slightly. Whoever is carrying me stops walking and I try to stay still.

"She had a knife on her," a male voice that belongs to the man carrying me says.

A silence follows. Then the man drops me not so gently on the cold floor, and it takes everything in me to not react.

"She's smart," another voice replies, and it takes a moment until I realize that I know this voice.

I think I do. I hold my breath for a second, waiting for that person to say something again, but nothing. Where did I hear that voice before?

All of a sudden, something explodes around me, maybe in the back of the room. I jolt in surprise and attempt to raise my head to look around for the first time, but before I can, another strong and deep voice talks.

"Well, hello. That's a fancy place." There's a slight pause and a few footsteps. "But I don't like what I'm seeing, right now. Kidnapping my girl isn't the smartest thing to do. Because you see..." A bullet is fired and a man screams. "I'm pissed," the voice finishes.

Ah, yes. I know that voice very well.

About damn time, I would like to say. But it's suddenly a war, literally, and I'm in the middle of it with nothing to defend myself.

I crawl blindly to the side of the room with my eyes half open. Blinking rapidly, I turn my head and see two figures leaving rapidly the room by a back door. One of them must have been the Master, or at least an important man.

I want to follow them. I look around for a weapon. A man drops next to me, breathing with difficulty. He still raises his gun towards me, narrowing his eyes.

"Wrong decision," that same voice declares behind me, and then a bullet hits the man's chest, right through the heart.

A hand helps me up within a heartbeat, and then I'm standing in front of Brandon John Haynes.

I notice the stubble beard covering his jaw, and I raise my fingers to touch it. It feels rough, but I remember how I always liked that look on him. Back then, years ago, we were just teenagers, barely what we can call adults, but I thought he looked handsome with that stubble. Now, he still looks handsome, but there is something more...

Something more mature, more serious, more everything. When I look up to meet his eyes, it startles me to see his blue eyes staring so intensely at me. There's a recent cut on his forehead, and for some reasons, it looks good on him.

I don't even know what I'm thinking. I don't think I even have the right to think that. He's hot, fine. Even if what we had is over since a long time, I can't deny that. The black jacket he's wearing is almost too small on him, but again, it just shows how much he's grown up and how muscular he is.

"You're staring," he states lowly, his eyes flickering to stop on my lips.

"So are you," I reply slowly, realizing I'm still gripping his hand.

A moment passes, and his lips tilt upward. "Not denying it, sweetheart."

"Three days later and still an asshole, I see," I say, but my tone is strangely too soft.

"A lot of things stay the same in three days." He pauses. "Just like a lot of things can change."

"Took you guys long enough to come here," I say, not really meaning it, but Brandon looks at me apologetically.

"I'm sorry. You were a hard woman to find," he murmurs, his eyes dropping on the dry blood on my lips.

I open my mouth to say something, but someone beats me to it.

"Hey, lovebirds!"

Both Brandon and I look behind us. I realize a second too late what's wrong with that sentence, and I glare at Andrew.

"What the hell—"

"Can I have a bit of help over here?" he grumbles, before knocking a man off.

To my surprise, Brandon crosses his arms and smirks. "Actually, no. I enjoy seeing you struggling. Weren't you the one bragging about how good you are in the field?"

"Haynes, you fucking asshole, I agreed to come here and save your little bird, so stop—"

Brandon shoots a man behind Andrew. "Don't say that like you were obligated. You're her partner."

I watch them talk for a moment in slight shock. I thought they hated each other. Well, I guess they do, but they seem to get along.

What the fuck is going on, though?

I glare at Andrew again. "Stop calling me the bird. I hate that word."

When pretty much all of the men who were here are down, Andrew walks towards us. "We're all partners, remember. So move your asses, we need to leave and quickly."

Brandon hands me another gun, his hand lingering on mine. I look around me. The large room is pretty much empty besides two larges tables with enough chairs for at least twenty people and nice decorations here and there. Everything is gold. It screams wealth and I can't believe that somewhere in this place, there's a cold and dark room where women were kept hostage—

My eyes widen. The women. Did they make it? And Hanna?

I turn towards Brandon. "I need to find someone."

His eyebrows furrow. "Who? And we know about the other women. They're safe, now."

My shoulders relax, but I still need to make sure that Hanna is safe. She remained in that room, earlier. My eyes stop on the door at the end of the room, and hesitation makes me go still. I need to go after them. I need to find the Master.

"There are more men coming," Andrew declares, and I realize he's listening to someone talking in his earpiece. "We need to leave."

"Can we leave by that door?" I ask, my eyes fixed on the door at the end of the room.

Andrew pauses before he shakes his head. "No. Let's go."

My legs tremble with each step that I take for the first minute. I can easily survive without water way longer, but I must be more exhausted and dehydrated that I thought.

Blinking, I turn my head towards Brandon. "Speaking of partners," I start, thinking about what Andrew said, "where is Nova?"

Her name feels weird on my tongue. I've never liked her, but she's somehow my partner as well, and Brandon's girlfriend.

To my surprise, Brandon's reaction is not the one I expect. His jaw tightens and he looks in front of him, replying in a neutral tone.

"She's not here. We have some backups, but Andrew and I are the only one—"

We come to a sudden halt when a body flies out of a room and hits the wall. My eyes widen.

"Hanna!" I run and kneel down in front of her, trying to see her face. Her eyes open and she blinks rapidly, wincing in pain.

"Sophia?" Her eyebrows furrow in confusion and she tries to sit up. "I thought..."

"Are you okay?" I help up stand up and notice the gun in her hand. I look up at her. "Did you use it?"

She scoffs, leaning against the wall behind her. "What do you think?"

I can't help but smirk. I'm vaguely aware that something is going on behind me. The guys must be taking care of whoever is in that room.

"Why did you stay here?" I frown, shaking my head. "You should have left."

"I didn't want to leave you. I thought I would be able to follow them and you, but then..."

She shakes her head. Her hair is a mess and full of blood, but so is mine. If it wasn't for her eyes, she would literally be my twin, like all these women were.

"Ladies, we need to hurry," Andrew declares behind us, walking past us with fast steps.

Hanna's eyes widen. "What? Who are they and what is going on, exactly?" She pauses, looking at me. "You... are you really the Bird?"

I sigh, grabbing her hand. "I guess you're coming with us. Questions for later."

I see Brandon glancing at me with surprise and something else I can't decipher, but we don't have time for that. We start running again, leaving behind a place that I never want to see ever again.

In a short amount of time, this place changed me in a way that I'm not sure I like.

*

Hiii! :) I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Do you sense a new friendship between Brandon and Andrew? 😅 it's kind of funny how a lot of things can change shortly like that, huh?

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