Clack. Clack.
“I’ve done nothing wrong! What do you want from me?!” The girl’s desperate cries echoed in the still night of the city. She clutched at the bleeding wound in her side and backed into an alley between two tenements. As she retreated from the myriad neon lights into the darkness of the alley, she got the first good look at her assailant’s face. There was no sympathy to be found in the white-haired woman’s piercing gaze.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
In response to the girl’s pleading cries, the white-haired woman steadied her bloodstained weapon, a slender, silver sword, and began to slowly advance. The woman’s wooden sandals clattered noisily against the wet pavement, disturbing the still surface of a darkly reflective puddle.
“Stay away from me, you freak! I didn’t do anything to you!” The girl, clutching her wound, felt sticky blood flow between her fingers and fall away in drips. Seeing that her pursuer had no intentions of hearing her side of the story, the girl turned and bolted down the alley. The gash in her side stung, but it wasn’t hurting her nearly as badly as it had minutes ago. In fact, it was already almost healed. She was starting to see some benefits to the changes that her body had begun to undergo.
Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.
Behind her, she heard the tempo of her attacker’s noisy footsteps increase dramatically. Her heart pounded in her chest as she ran blindly into the shadowy alley, desperately trying to escape death at the hands of the merciless white-haired woman. Up ahead, she could see where the alley ended. She was nearly home free.
Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.
Just a little further…
She stepped on a half-empty, discarded beer bottle someone had tossed thoughtlessly into the alley and lost her footing, falling into a puddle just shy of the street on the other side of the alley.
Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack.
The white-haired woman unrelentingly continued her pursuit, tearing through the distance which separated them in an instant as the girl struggled back onto her feet. Feeling death approaching like a flash of lightning, powerful and indiscriminate, the girl cried out into the night.
“Someone, help! Please!” But she knew that no one would come. She was no longer worthy of help.
Clack.
The sound of footsteps came to an end. The girl tried to crawl away, but a sudden, piercing pain shot through her ankle, causing her to cry out. She attempted to drag her body away from the shadow of death that loomed over her, but it was useless. An ever sharper pain shot through her foot as she tried to move.
Moving was impossible. The woman had nailed her foot in place with a knife.
Hearing the swishing sound of the woman’s flowing sleeves as she lifted her sword, the girl prepared herself for the finishing blow. She looked down at the ground, not wanting her killer’s face to be the last thing she ever saw. Her lips trembled as she whispered.
“I’m sorry, Fira. Looks like I won’t be coming home tonight.”
Even though she knew her final words would never reach their recipient, she couldn’t allow herself to die without voicing them. It would be too pathetic, too graceless for her last words to be a plea for her life.
“Hey, you! Put the sword down!” Strange voices. Angry voices.
When the woman failed to comply, she was met by a hail of gunfire from the trio of cops. Fresh blood spilt from the half dozen wounds they peppered across her body. Seizing this opportunity, the girl grasped the handle of the knife that was sheathed in her foot and tore it out with a shriek of pain as she dyed the puddle red with the resultant mess. Not missing a beat, she turned and sprinted off into the night, barely limping in spite of the gruesome damage that had just been done to her foot.
“Whoah, take it easy! You need to get serious medical attention,” one of the cops advised, but the girl sped by them without hesitating. Hearing the sound of cloth moving, the girl turned her head as she ran to confirm her fears.
In spite of the numerous gunshot wounds she had sustained, the white-haired woman stood up again. Barely having been hindered, she began to give chase again. This display of aggression was met by another round of gunshots. This time, the cops didn’t stop emptying bullets into her until she crumpled over and collapsed onto the wet pavement.
9:07 am, November 11, 2011HeartofShadows /
I’ll admit that them taking in the gray haired felt a tad bit forced but overall this seems pretty interesting and it handles itself the same way the vacant sky game handled itself.
Erich may be the first character too come up that I have developed a fondness for and his dark humor and fascination with the wounds and damaged marks of the human body reminds me of me when I look up surgical videos on the internet out of fascination and curiosity.
So far I assume Fira will be the heroine with special abilities and the grey woman will be the main antagonist but with your stories I assume this won’t be as simple to predict.
Looking forward to next chapter.