As we ran past the two dead bodies of the guards, I pinched my nose tightly through the face mask I was wearing. Even with that, I still smelled it. It was so very disgusting.

I even almost slipped on one of the dead guards’ brain matter that was in front of the doorway. However, I swung my hands and flailed until I was stable once more.

There was no communication between Big boss and the crew. It seemed like he fully trusted Ronda, Yanyan and Erina to d their jobs. As for me however, I’m sure he is reluctant to treat me as a member just yet.

After all, this is only my second job. Ever.

“Wait” (Big boss)

A short command, but it was taken very seriously. Once he said that, everyone stood still where they were and watched as Big boss entered the elevator and pressed one of the buttons.

Then, he quickly jumped out as the doors to the elevator were closing. I didn’t see a reason why he did this, but I’m sure he has a reason in his mind.

“Follow. No noise, Mr. T” (Big boss)

‘Oh... I got a nickname? And what’s up with Mr. T? I’m not buff nor do I own a van’

However, I kept all of my thoughts to myself. I knew that this was not the time to be asking why I’m suddenly called Mr. T, nor is it the time to question Big boss’ decisions.

This is all on him, and he is quite dependable when it comes to this kind of work.

Since the elevator was being used by no one, we took the emergency stairwell off to the side of the building. Before rushing in however, Big boss just opened the door and let Yanyan throw something inside.

After that, Big boss closed the door and Yanyan turned to me with a frantic expression, as if she was afraid of something.

“Rennie, cover your ears!” (Yanyan)

Without thinking, I stick my thumbs inside of my ears brace myself by widening my stance.

KRRRRINNNGGGGGGGG!

The loud sound came from the stairwell when at the same time, underneath the entrance door was a bright flash of light, followed by the groans and grunts of some men.

Big boss and Yanyan quickly nodded and put on their sunglasses to change into the blinding lights. They located the bad guys... or good guys? in no time and we started going upstairs at a fast pace.

I didn’t even have to think about what was happened until one of the shot men fell from the higher stairs and landed in front of me, only to continue falling down lower and lower, eventually reaching the bottom where he was turned from a human into a liquid.

This was a real wake up call. I’ve had multiple wake up calls, but this was intense.

This was a real thrill.

My boiling blood was proof of that. My racing heart was proof of that. My brain filled with adrenaline was proof of that.

I looked down at my boots that had a bit of that man left on me, and just brushed it off. I didn’t mind that it had some hard bits that was probably bone. It was as if it was a mere piece of lint or dust.

For some reason, this atmosphere seems awfully familiar, but it’s probably from some violent game I played back in the day.

When I finally looked back up to try and catch up with the leading Big boss, I noticed that Yanyan and him were looking at me; Big boss with a shocked expression and Yanyan with happy eyes.

“You think it happened?” (Big boss)

“Hopefully” (Yanyan)

Due to the chaos, I couldn’t hear their whispers and mutters, but I didn’t mind. I continued running up the stairs. They saw that and nodded at each other before also running.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting the stairs to be so long. I was feeling the numbness in my legs even with the rush of danger whistling around me.

By the time we were halfway from the top, I was huffing and puffing while slowing my pace. Even Big boss, who was an old man was still pulling away from me.

It seems that I really need to start working out some more if I want to not die from this.

“Alright. I don’t think more people will come so we can just walk from now on. Ronda, can you lead?” (Big boss)

Since he talked, I assumed that it was fine to talk once more. Did Yanyan and Big boss really kill all of our enemies? What monsters...

To answer Big boss’ question, Ronda just made a caveman grunt and started leading us. Now, the order of going upstairs was Ronda, Big boss, Yanyan, Erina and then me, the odd one out. I truly don’t belong.

The rest of the way up was nothing special. It was just walking, and walking, and walking. Nobody was talking out of respect for the dead and plus, there wasn’t even anything to discuss.

Talking now might divert our attention from whats right in front of us, which the most important thing currently.

As we arrived at the topmost floor of the building, we all sighed at the same time as if we were a hive mind. I think only Big boss knew what might be up to come, but we all felt the tension.

The air got a bit stuffy and Big boss was even twitchy with his gun.

“...ready?” (Big boss)

“Nahhhh~” (Yanyan)

“Let’s get this over with” (Erina)

“Un. I’m ready Big boss” (Ronda)

“Uhhh... I guess so” (Ren)

All of us may or may not be ready. It didn’t really matter though. Walking away right now would earn you some lead in your head. Anyways, we all chose this life someway or another.

“Then that’s good...” (Big boss)

Stepping back, he makes way for Ronda as she charged up. She reminded me of maybe a bull in a Spanish bullfighting ring. With heavy breathes, she runs with a great speed.

Her massive watermelon-crushing thighs tensed as she lifted her right foot to face perpendicular to the exit door. With an immense force, she came barreling down the down.

A loud clanging noise was heard and a nail even hit me. Luckily, I wasn’t injured.

BANG BANG!

To intimidate the enemy, Big boss shot two bullets into the ceiling and immediately aimed it at the elderly man in the middle. Sadly for him, he was all alone.

Nobody was near him except for his mahogany table and expensive looking laptop. When he saw us, he breathed a sign of annoyance and placed both hands on the table.

“Seems like you knew I was coming?” (Big boss)

“Uhuh. My children are fighting for my company right now so I’m not too surprised... can you at least tell me who hired you?” (???)

What a sad way to die. He is going to die, knowing that one of his children, the children that he raised and loved is the perpetrator.

“Sorry, but it’s against my policy” (Big boss)

“Then, do you mind telling me the first letter of their name? Please?” (???)

“...it’s V” (Big boss)

Once he heard that, he let out a hearty laugh. One that a sailor would do when one of his friends makes a dirty joke or when a lumberjack finds a stupid bear.

“To think Veronica would grow up so well... then, please do give me an open casket” (???)

With a mixture of sadness, anger and regret mixed on his face, he unbuttoned his suit and showed us his left breast. Big boss immediately shot him in the heart and left him there to bleed out.

I think he just brought me along in case we needed some clean up, which wasn’t needed anyways.

Instead, all I needed to do was clean up the blood spilling all over his desk. Meanwhile, Big boss and Ronda left to deal with the CCTV tapes. Yanyan was just sitting back and watching Erina and I clean this up.

As I was taking the items off the desk to wipe them down from the disgusting blood, one of the items was a picture frame. The picture wasn’t good quality, nor was it colored.

A black and white photo with a father hugging his three children, two boys and one girl. In the background was a beautiful woman who watched them carefully, making sure the father didn’t rough them up too much.

‘This girl must be that Veronica, eh? What a shame...’

Unknowingly, tears started developing in my eyes only to be wiped away by the watching Yanyan.

“Awwww... shall we have kids of our own, Renren?” (Yanyan)

“Ahhh... sniff! Ummm, ahaha, I don’t think that Chika will be pleased” (Ren)

Once I mentioned Chika, she turned away and just sat on one of the leather armchairs, muttering something I couldn’t make out.

Hopefully this old man finds peace within this tragedy. Hopefully, so can I. I’m sure I’m handling it better since I’m not vomiting, but it’s emotionally gut-wrenching.

What a familiar scent though...

 

———

a.n | salut! So I decided to publish an extra chapter today since my Webnovel readers got me to 100 collections! Also, they got me to 50 powerstones in a week, in just my second week. Insane. 

anyways, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Do consider liking, commenting and reviewing this work of mine and that’s it for now. Peace!