The thick smell of death was daunting and relentless, but the explosive sounds of gunfire that erupted around them proved to be even worse. Michelle and Lincoln narrowed their eyes and swiftly traveled towards the front end of the plane. They took cover in the pilot's room, the bright red lights and blaring warning sounds emitted by the control center peaked their distressed demeanor even further. The couple each reloaded their weapons and gritted their teeth as turbulence shook the plane violently.

Michelle peaked out of the glass window and eyed the helicopter that flew next to them. She immediately ducked back down once one of the gunmen aboard the neighboring aircraft fired his semiautomatic weapon at the glass. "They're here!" she yelled.

"How the hell did they find us?" Lincoln bellowed.

The brunette bit her lip, "I don't know, but they did!"

Lincoln struggled against the vicious and erratic movements of the plane and crawled into the corner of the room where two parachutes awaited him. "We have to jump!"

Michelle made her way to her husband and shook her head, "Jump?"

The man pressed one of the parachutes to her chest, forcing her to accept it. "Michelle, this plane is going down!"

"But, it doesn't make any sense!" she challenged. "Why now? Why would they fire at this plane knowing there were people on board, people who weren't involved? And we haven't been up here very long, there's all this open land below us, they had to know we'd jump! It's too easy!" Michelle grudgingly attached her parachute and awaited her husband's response as he urgently did the same.

"I don't know!" he retorted. "But, we don't have a choice this plane is gonna explode!"

The dreadhead grabbed ahold of her hand and forced himself to his feet. They quickly fought their way to the emergency exit, Michelle gripped the handle before turning to her husband. "Are you ready?"

"Not really!" he admitted. "Do you even know when to open up your parachute?"

Michelle bit her lip, they both flinched at the relentless gunfire that continued to pierce into the plane. Her eyes narrowed in determination, "Let's hope so!" She quickly pushed open the door, an enormous amount of air rushed into the plane and violently blew against the couple. They fought against the aggressive winds and leaped out of the inflamed airplane.

The landing was bearable, it was the harsh wind that swarmed around them, roughly threatening to tear into their skin during the lengthy drop that was difficult. However, the rush of adrenaline that ensued in the process of their grand escape continued to pump through their bodies, allowing them to press on and face whatever awaited them.

The couple's eyes studied their barren surroundings. Despite the heavy influence of the darkness produced by the night, the moonlight lit up their surroundings. However, the vast amount of land, trees, and open plains, as well as the lack of street signs, left them with no inclination as to their current location.

Michelle inhaled deeply through her nose as she stripped herself of her deployed parachute. Her eyes met Lincoln's and in spite of their unpleasant situation, she couldn't help but feel relieved that they both made it out alive.

The corners of her lips, that were originally curved into a smile, returned to its neutral state as she spoke, "We have to find something, anything, that'll tell us where we are." She patted around in her pockets and grinned to herself once she felt the burner phone that somehow survived the action-packed ordeal.

"You got a signal?" Lincoln pondered hopefully.

The woman narrowed her eyes and sighed, "Nope."

Lincoln cursed under his breath, "We have to get the hell outta here before they find us." Michelle nodded her head in agreement and began the long, aimless journey ahead, her husband by her side, however, once a familiar voice erupted from behind them, they stopped in their tracks.

"It's a little too late for that...I'm afraid."

For a second, Michelle ceased her breathing, her lips twisting into a snarl. She gritted her teeth and gripped her hand around the pistol that was securely tucked into her holster.

"Now, now, now, there's no need to draw your weapons. Well, I guess I should say there's no point in drawing your weapons."

Michelle and Lincoln listened to the multiple clicks that sounded from behind them and they immediately knew that they'd be gunned down like dogs before they even got the chance to draw their own pistols.

"How'd you find us?" she hissed.

Mr. Everette languidly approached Michelle, she fixed her gaze on the dried, worn out grass beneath her once she felt him rid her of her holster. The silver-haired man then eased his way around the brunette, finally facing her. His eyes scanned her up and down as he took in her presence. "That's what I do, what Versa Vice Sensus does, it's what we do...or have you forgotten?" Mr. Everette grinned at the retributioners that surrounded the couple, his eyes snapped towards the two that were the most nearby. "Would you gentlemen be so kind as to take our friend, Lincoln here away?"

The burly men in question yanked Lincoln away from his wife, dragging him away with such sudden ferocity and aggressiveness that he struggled to stay on his feet.

Michelle's gaze bored into Mr. Everette's at the sight of the amusement in his expression, she wanted more than anything to rip his Prussian eyes out of his skull.

The man clasped his sunspot covered hands together and crept closer to the woman. He spoke quietly, his voice gentle yet firm, "Instead of doing what was right, you killed good people, innocent people, decent people." He rubbed his hand along his forehead and scoffed, "I mean, you've killed so many, I bet you've lost count, I mean, I know I have. And for what? For revenge? To get away from doing your job? No," he asserted. "You did what you did because it was easy and after all this time I've worked as your overseer, as much as you've been a royal pain in my ass, after all the shit you've given me over the years...a part of me, a small part of me, always respected you, but, not anymore." Michelle narrowed her eyes, even under the poor lighting that the moon provided, she could still see the sincere level of disappointment plastered on his face. "You're a coward, Michelle...plain and simple."

"A coward?" she scoffed. "I'm a lot of things, but I'm no coward. You must be forgetting all the shit you've done, the people you've killed. What about those two teenage girls...those children?"

"We've already been over that," he growled. "Their deaths are on you. If you did what you were told they'd still be here. Maybe you could've protected them, but then again, I'm talking to the woman who couldn't put up enough of a fight to protect her own child. You're gonna see here in just a minute that everything you've done, all that running, all that killing, all the shit you did to so-call protect your family...it's worthless. It won't mean shit. Your kid and Lincoln they're just two more people that you failed to protect. You got your child killed and now...you're gettin' Lincoln killed."

At the sound of the declaration, Michelle drove her fist into the man's jaw, she shook the throbbing feeling out of her bones and gritted her teeth once she was tackled to the ground. She spit out the dirt and debris that tainted her skin as the men pinned her down.

Mr. Everette used his thumb to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, at the sight, a chuckle escaped from the depths of his throat, "Struck a nerve, have I?"

Michelle squirmed against the tight hold of the men, but their strength proved to be too much. "You've got me," she avowed. "I'm captured," she clenched her teeth a forced herself to press on, "I'm at your mercy. Now let my husband go."

Mr. Everette sighed as he towered over her. "You know I can't do that."

"Kill me!" Michelle demanded.

"Not just yet." He tugged on his creased, gray, dress pants and crouched down next to the woman. "You and I, we've gotta talk first. You've done a lot of shit, messed up a lot of stuff for a lot of people. You don't even realize all the damage you've done. You and your husband here." He rose to his feet and smiled, he sauntered towards Lincoln whom stood upright against a large oak tree. His arms and feet were bound by thick, coarse rope that nearly tore through his skin.

Lincoln's jaw tensed, his unamused expression contrasted vastly with his rapidly increasing heartbeat.

"Look," Mr. Everette began, "I'm sure you were a nice guy, but Michelle, she's tainted you. You've done some terrible things, you and your partner in crime, and to be quite frank you know too much...yet so little. Under different circumstances, you'd make a fine retributioner and you can bet your ass I'd recruit you. In another life maybe." He sighed heavily and snapped his fingers, "String him up."

Michelle's eyes widened monumentally once one of the retributioners lifted a noose over Lincoln's head before dropping it around his neck. She bucked against the rough hands of the men that continued to hold her to the cold ground. "No! Stop! You have me!"

Lincoln's expression softened at the sight of his frantic wife, he forced his voice to steady in hopes to put on a strong facade, one that they both needed. "Baby, baby, it's okay, look at me," he coaxed. "I love you, alright? Don't forget that, you hear me?"

Michelle's throat grew unbearably tights as she strained her voice, producing an Earth-shattering wail. She continued her struggle against the calloused hands that forced her to the ground, her cheekbone clashing against the hard, barren land. It wasn't until she forced her eyes open that she realized she had closed them at all. She observed the pleading gaze of her husband, the beautiful brown eyes that always brought her great comfort, the eyes that made her feel safe, the eyes that made all of her hurt, pain, and struggle worth it. As she feared it would be, it was those beautiful brown eyes that made Lincoln's vow all the more painful.

"...I'll see you later."

Her husband's promise silenced her, but only for a moment. Just as soon as the words fell from his lips, the course rope snuggly gripped his throat, making the panic in his eyes infinitely more apparent. His body lifted from the ground, while the retributioners pulled on the opposite end of the rope with great ferocity. Lincoln's feet dangled high above the Earth's floor, his extremities squirmed beneath their bounds, until finally...they stopped.

Michelle's screams were shrill and deafening. Her cries were filled with nothing but pure rage, animosity, and torment. Tears streamed down her cheeks in a speedy fashion and she was absolutely certain that her wails resembled that of a newborn child's. She couldn't stop the vomit, that suddenly rose from the depths of her stomach, from spewing onto the ground next to her. As rage coursed through her veins, she finally gathered the strength to break free of the men that held her down.

She remained on her knees and began to crawl, the cold soil beneath her stained her hands and clothes as she frantically struggled her way to her husband. The retributioners quickly made advancements towards the hysterical brunette before ceasing their strides at the sound of Mr. Everette's command, "Leave her." His eyes darted to the two men whose hands continued to tightly grip the rope, effectively holding Lincoln's corpse high into the air. "And let him down."

As Michelle approached her husband in a frenzy, his body dropped, with a loud thud, before her. She scooped Lincoln up, his lengthy, black dreds tickled her skin as she cradled him in her arms. The warmth in his face made her heart jolt, but she knew the sudden hope she gathered at the feeling of his skin was one of a fool's once she saw the distant look in his eyes. There was no compassion, no light, no life left. His gaze bored into her's, but the love that once radiated from his look was now nowhere to be found.

The brunette's lip began to quiver at the sight, she released a shaky breath. "No, Lincoln, no," her voice arose as a mere whisper as she pulled his body closer to hers, but once his motionless, limp arms failed to hold her like they once did, her whimpers and pleads grew louder. Her words could no longer be distinguished as her piercing screeches overlapped one another. After the first tear fell, they continued in an uninhibited motion, cascading freely down her cheeks and meeting the blood and saliva that stained the corners of her mouth.

Although every part of her wanted to believe that she was having a nightmare, that none of it was real, that when she and Lincoln were on that plane they somehow crossed over into the twilight zone, she knew that she'd be a fool to believe any of it. She knew that the man that lied in her arms wasn't her husband, but merely the remains he left behind. He was dead and she knew that soon, she would be too. And that, perhaps, was the only thing that offered her any sense of comfort.

It wasn't until she felt a heavy hand yank her by her hair that Michelle was torn from her trance. She grunted as Mr. Everette crouched down and pulled her closer to him, his breath hot on her ear, "Now I didn't wanna have to do that, but that...that's on you." Dirt and debris flew into the air while Michelle struggled against Mr. Everette's aggressive touch. Using his tight grip, he dragged her like a wounded, wild animal. After a few moments, he ceased his strides and released his hold, dropping her before the two men that towered above her. "You know where to take her."

Okay, so, I know that y'all probably despise me right now, but if it's any consolation, this was a really difficult chapter for me to write. I absolutely adored Lincoln's character, however, this was something I planned to do when I first thought of the concept of this story, so, I decided to stay true to my original vision. But sadly, Michelle isn't Michelle without Lincoln, so we're really gonna have to see how this is gonna play out. As always, thanks for reading.