Of course they couldn’t have it easy. What kind of mission would that be?

Kay kept looking over her shoulder, wanting to make sure Kyle was okay, that he was coming along, that he hadn’t thrown himself head-first into hopeless battle. He was there, but getting back with the rest of them was hard. The corridor they had entered, even if barely wide enough to allow two people through, had a multitude of doors on either side. Men kept pouring into the hall, trying to intercept them. The little light coming from the rooms made it hard to tell distances correctly and  faces apart.

She ducked under outstretched arms and plunged forward, trying to keep up with Jessie who was dodging left and right. The others were much further ahead, because she and Jessie had understandably lagged behind to wait for Jimmy and Kyle. As much as she knew she should hurry to safety, she couldn't. Not without him.

So she stopped running and turned on the spot. The man following her tried to slow down, but ended up running straight into her fist. As he stumbled back, she kicked him in the chest, then knocked him out. Jessie joined her, taking out another of their followers.

“Really smart, Kay,” she mumbled. “Now we’re going to be surrounded.”

“Jimmy and Kyle are coming, so I doubt it.” She charged forward, aiming a kick to the knee of another incoming goon.

“Yes, both of them,” Jessie said, elbowing another guy in the face. “You don’t get worried for both of them.”

Kay’s face caught fire as she ducked around a pair of outstretched hands and punched a man in the liver. Jessie had a point. Jimmy was a lot more help then she was and Kyle was just going to chastise her for not running to safety.

To hell with that! Why run when they could knock some of these guys out? The less followers they had, the better. Kyle and Jimmy reached them and pushed them further down the hall.

“Come on,” Jimmy said, his voice strained. “There’s a shitton of them coming.”

“Where do they keep coming from?” Jessie said exasperated. The corridor before them seemed to be nothing but piled up goons.

“We need to split them up,” Kyle said, and before Kay knew what was going on, he grabbed her arm and pulled her into a room to their right.

She just managed to see Jessie and Jimmy ducking to the left before a handful of goons followed them in and blocked her view. As she turned to look inside the place, she realized it was already occupied. there was an industrial size flashlight in a corner, sending menacing shadows dancing up the walls like little devils around a boiling pot. Only she and Kyle would be the ones boiling soon. In less than ten seconds, they were surrounded.

The world beyond their small, empty room seemed to vanish as the circle closed around them. Kay moved closer to Kyle, so close that she could feel his heat seeping through her skin, setting her nerves on fire. With slow, non-threatening moves, he took his rucksack off and put it on the ground. Then, in the same manner, raised his hands in surrender.

“I’m unarmed,” he said slowly.

“So what?” one of the men growled, motioning at him with his pistol.

Kay took her rucksack off, too, fighting the urge to fling it at the asshole. “What do you mean so what? We’re  two defenceless kids.”

“Ha! Him? Defenceless?” another man snorted. “Yeah, right.”

A small smile spread across Kyle’s lips. Kay nudged him with her hip. This was the worst time to get cocky. He appeared to agree because he sobered and raised his hands higher.

“Come on. You're a whole bunch of grown men and I'm one guy. Plus, imagine how cool it would be to immobilize me and bring me in. How's that for henchman street cred?”

The men turned to each other and started mumbling, analyzing the merits of Kyle's suggestion. He stepped closer to Kay, sticking her back against hers.

“You know what?” one of the goons finally said. “He's right. It's one of him and a lot of us. Let's just beat the brat into a pulp.”

Even if the prospect sounded scary and Kay wasn't sure they could fend off so many men, it still made her feel better knowing it would be hand to hand.

“Give them hell, sweetheart,” Kyle whispered.

She nodded and clenched her fists, but as their attackers approached rubbing their hands and grinning, fear ran down her spine, paralyzing her. And as much as she told herself it would be okay, that's she'd trained a lot and knew what to do, a traitorous part of her couldn't help but count, realize how seriously outnumbered they were, be aware that the men could change their mind about shooting any given second. She didn't want to die. A soft whimper escaped her.

“Hey.” Tender hands griped her shoulders and Kyle turned her to face him. “You've got this, Kay. We've got this.”

“How can you be so sure?” she whispered.

“Because we don't have a choice.”

They did, but it was one she wouldn't ever accept. They would not go down without a fight. Not now, not ever. So she nodded and turned back to her side of the goons, fists clenched and knees bent.

They were looking at them, the condescending grins barely visible in the dim light. They didn't believe they were dangerous. Kay would prove them wrong, even if she'd end up captured or dead in the end. This was her life now and there was no point running away from it.

So when the first grinning goon charged at her, she knocked him over with a swift uppercut to the jaw. She knew they wouldn’t take her seriously, at least for a while, so she would be taking full advantage of that. With as much precision as she could, she hit left and right, punching, kicking, dodging, keeping an eye on Kyle in the corner of her vision just to make sure he was alright and that he still had her back.

Shadows moved around her as she dodged and parried hits. Her muscles screamed from the effort of swinging with everything she had, but there was no stopping, no rest unless she wanted someone to grab her, immobilize her, use her against Kyle. And she kept telling herself this was easy. She trained with Jessie, who was much better. She’d sparred with Kyle who was infinitely better than any of these guys.

Yes, but Kyle and Jessie would never truly hurt you. Unlike these guys. A punch to the side sent her tumbling to the ground. She rolled out of the way just as another man wanted to step on her face. Fear grabbed on to her again, but she pushed it down with all she had and jumped to her feet. She dodged another incoming shadow and kicked another in the face. The only advantage of the little light was that she couldn’t see faces. It was a blessing, she could pretend she was in a video game or something.

A sudden stinging pain ran down her arm and she jumped back. Blood trickled down her elbow, to the floor. She raised wide eyes towards the grinning man in front of her, the blade of his knife coated in her blood. He slashed at her again, but she jumped out of the way. Someone grunted from behind and she ducked just in time to avoid another blade. Her assailant was apparently not the only one who’d decided knives were in order.

With quick moves, she charged at one of the men, ducked under his outstretched knife and punched him in the stomach. Before he could recover, she hit him on more time in the sternum, then knocked him out. She picked up the knife, but it felt clumsy in her hands. She’d never learned how to use them.

The other knife wielding goon didn’t know that, because he pulled back, watching her warily. She feigned charging at him with the knife, but instead lowered into a crouch and tripped him. His body crashed to the ground and she disarmed and knocked him out. She threw both knives into a dark corner and turned towards the battle, satisfied that no one else was charging at her.

Her eyes widened. Of course they weren’t charging at her. They’d all surrounded Kyle. Panic bubbling in the pit of her stomach, she rushed forward. This was her fault. She’d moved away, left him wide open; of course he was surrounded.

Even so, he spotted her above the crowd and broke the circle around him.

“Kay, boost,” he called.

For a fraction of a second, her brain froze, but she had no time to ponder over the logic and probability of success of his request, so she just joined her hands and waited. He reached her in seconds, put his foot in her joined hands and she pushed up as hard as she could. It was easier than she'd thought, his pressure on her minimal. He just flipped in midair and landed behind his followers. Before the goons could turn around properly, he knocked them both out.

That’s when Kay noticed the cuts on his forearms, the blood soaking his jeans. This was getting out of hand. Kyle crouched and spun on the spot, tripping an incoming knife wielder. Unlike her, he took the knife and threw it through the air with frightening precision. It sunk into the thigh of an incoming goon.

“Come on, we’re not out of the woods yet.” And he charged towards the henchmen again.

Kay followed, though her limbs felt heavy and numb. She’d never been in an intense fight that lasted this long, without the possibility of a break. But she ignored the stitch in her side and parried, dodged, punched and kicked, aiming for vulnerable places, trying to knock out as soon as possible. Her hits were becoming weaker, even she could tell, as her muscles turned unresponsive. Another slash left a gash on her other arm. And even if her wounds weren’t deep, the loss of blood was making her queasy as adrenaline faded into exhaustion.

She parried another hit, but before she could throw out a kick of her own, someone grabbed her from behind. With one foot in midair, she lost her balance and went tumbling to the floor. The grip on her shoulder changed to someone grabbing a fistfull of her hair and holding her down. Another goon loomed over her, a bloody grin on his face, a knife in his hand.

The moment Kay tried to buck him off her, the grip on her hair tightened, making it impossible to move her neck.

“Stay still, pretty, or we might tear you a new one,” the man on top of her snarled, pressing his blade against her neck.

Kay opened her mouth to say something witty in return, but the continuous tug on her hair and the strain in her neck pushed another word out.

“Kyle!”

Thunder roared outside, followed by deathly silence. The goon on top of her looked up as Kyle’s shadow loomed over them. The grip on her hair disappeared and she could finally look up. The sight of him sent her body into a trembling fit. It was maybe the menacing air, the way his eyes were glazed and darkened or how the little light sent shadows over his face.

The goon above her opened his mouth as if to scream. He didn’t get to. Kyle kicked him square in the chest. It wasn't a normal kick, meant to drive the man off her. It was a deadly one, with what was probably Kyle's full strength.

The guy flew off Kay and across the room, into darkness. The man holding her hair let her go and tried to scamper away, but before he could take more than a few steps, a punch to the side sent him sliding across the floor.

Kay sat up and stared around the room. Snitch Gravel’s men had stopped and watched them warily. Kyle straightened and towered over all of them like an ancient god of death.

“That ain’t right man,” one said in a low voice.

“He’s not normal.”

“Kay, come on.”

She snapped out of it and turned to Kyle who had crouched next to her and passed her the rucksack. The chill still surrounded him, like a shield against their attackers, but the darkness in him seemed to have evaporated.

“Let’s just shoot him!”

The words kicked Kay into motion. She scrambled to her feet, securing the rucksack on her back as she went. Kyle took her hand, and the two of them ran out into the hall.

They almost collided with Jimmy and Jessie, but managed to avoid it in time. Jimmy motioned to go forward and the four of them started running. Kay couldn't help but take in the cuts on Jimmy's arms, on his t-shirt, the bruises on his face. Jessie looked untouched.

“Let's hope the others are fine,” Jimmy mumbled.

“I'm sure they are. I think we drew the majority of goons to us,” Kyle said, stepping in front of the others and charging at two men who came out of another room.

Kay couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't sure she had any fight left in her, so she was grateful when Kyle and Jimmy charged forward and removed all fleshy obstacles. The girls bypassed them, and Kay lingered.

“Just run!” Kyle called. “And whatever happens, don't stop.”

She nodded and rushed off after Jessie. This time she would trust and she would listen. And she'd appreciate all the help she could get. So she was incredibly grateful when Jimmy and Kyle caught up and took the lead again. The corridor was widening so she guessed they were getting closer to the others, to a potential exit.

Someone grabbed Kay's rucksack and pulled her back. She wiggled away and managed to leave the luggage behind. As she did, a boulder sank in her stomach. She couldn't leave her rucksack. They weren't out of the woods yet and she could still need it. Plus, Snitch Gravel's research was still in there.

So she turned back, grabbed the rucksack, knocked the man over with it, and continued her mad dash to catch up with the others. They weren't far, she could easily see Jessie's flaming hair. And since her way was clear, she would catch up in no time.

A hand wrapped around her arm and pulled her into a room on the right. Kay yanked free and lifted the rucksack to hit the goon over the head with it.

Her entire body froze and her breath hitched in her throat. Dark blue eyes bore into hers with a chill so out of place.

Snitch Gravel.

🌟🌟🌟

Yes, I'm an evil prick and am leaving you here. What do you think will happen now? Were you expecting mister big bad baddie to join the fight?

Stay tuned for the exciting confusion of our climax.
I must say I'm actually happy with how this turned out: The tension, the urgency, Kyle being epic and everything 😁

Yup. Proud. Haven't been proud in a while.
So enjoy. Vote comment and share.