Exidus

“To speak definitely on one person or idea is to be blind of the endless possibilities.”

Path of Exidus - Chapter 4: Exidus

“Fire.”

They raise their guns. She lifts her cloak in one fast motion and—

Gone.

Just gone.

“Left flank!” someone screams.

They’re too slow.

She reappears, knife in hand, jamming it clean into the neck of the closest guy. He gurgles. Gunfire erupts. She ducks behind him, using his body like a human shield, then hurls the blade like it’s nothing.

It lands with a thwack right between another dude’s eyes.

Two down in three seconds.

I’m crouched behind the wall, jaw on the floor.

Holy crap. She’s a menace.

She grabs a rifle off her meat shield, drops flat behind a table, and fires. One shot—center mass. Another—kneecap. Screams. Sand was kicking up inside the lobby from the force of the blasts.

One of them tries to flank her. She waits. Waits.

Pop.

Straight in the chest. The guy drops.

It’s a bloodbath. But the big guy is laughing.

Laughing.

Only three left now.

Mr. Katana claps his hands.

“Well, well. You never disappoint.”

She stands, breathing hard. That knife’s back in her hand somehow, I don’t even know when she got it.

They clash.

Steel against steel. Sparks fly.

She’s fast. He’s faster. For every blow she lands, he returns two. He’s grinning like a lunatic. Every time their weapons meet, it echoes through the building.

Then he lands one.

A clean hit across her ribs. She stumbles.

He snaps his fingers, and at first, I thought it was for an order, but his hand starts to glow a bright yellow.

And the girl is lifted into the air?

Magic?

“Tie her up,” he orders, voice smug.

The two remaining men run out of the building and return with a rope.

“Been looking for you,” His voice gets low, ew. “Sylvaine. Beautiful name.”

He rips the goggles off her face. Her cloak falls along with it.

“Wowie. Such natural beauty.”

He drops her on the ground with a thud.

He lifts her chin.

“What do you want?” she hisses.

“I want you.”

He spins, and I kid you not

I kid you not, he pulls out a bouquet.

“PLEASE BE MY GIRLFRIEND.”

I nearly choked.

I peek through the crack again. She’s stunned. Like, visibly computing how dumb this moment is.

“Pfft—” I let out a noise I didn’t mean to.

He whirls around. “What was that?”

Shit.

I crab-crawled back.

She sighs.

“Fucking dumbass,” she mutters.

“What’s this? You’re traveling with another man? You’re cheating on me?!”

“I don’t even know your name.”

He pauses, “I’m Gideon, nice to meet you.”

He turned and pointed dramatically. “Find them! Leave nothing left!”

His goons scatter in my general direction.

Back in the room, I run to our arsenal.

Aka the slightly smaller pile of random stuff.

Does the hover bike— I mean V2 need a key? Do I just hop on and go? But I can’t leave her here.

What do I do? what do I do?

“Split up,” one guy says through a radio. “I’ll take the second floor. Use your comms if anything happens.”

“Got it.”

Their boots echo through the hall.

I sigh, grabbing what’s left of the curtain from the window.

Creak. Creak. Creak.

“Making my way down the second-floor hallway.”

“Checking the back now. No sign yet.”

“I don’t see anything—”

The creaking stops.

“Opening a door now.”

“Don’t approach yet. Wait for my signal.”

The sound grows closer.

Then the door bursts open.

“There’s nothing in here. Just a pile of—”

I leap, wrapping the curtain around his neck.

“Sleep,” I whisper.

He began to struggle, shooting his gun frantically.

But I held on tight.

“Edward, I think I left my shoes at your house. Can I swing by after this?” The voice from his radio was calm in contrast to the situation.

The masked man—

Which, assuming his name is Edward based on the radio.

Is screaming like a girl as I attempt to choke him to death with a window curtain.

Hurry up and just die or something!

I pulled the curtain tighter and he let out a wheeze.

Rip.

The curtain ripped and I tumbled backwards.

fuck.

He turns and points he’s gun at me square in the face, I kick the gun, causing him to stagger, but he maintains his grip on the gun.

I pull out the pistol from my pocket, I fumble with it, shit shit shit.

Donk.

It hit the floor with a metallic sound.

I look back at the soldier, I’m already at gunpoint.

Without thinking, I pull out the prop gun from my pocket, pointing it at him.

“BANG!” I yelled,

He flinched. He thought I actually shot him.

I threw the prop gun at him instead, hitting him in the eye causing him to stagger.

I run towards him, tackling him. We both drop to the floor, struggling, but he kicks me off him. I reached for the pistol and turned back.

BANG.

For real this time.

He rested on the floor, lifeless.

Holy shit, I killed someone.

Okay, well, I did kill someone earlier, exploding a hover bike while on the run, but still.

I slap myself.

Focus up, you got shit to do.

I walked over to the body, taking his firearm, it was longer than the pistol, heavier, definitely some form of AR or AK

“Edward, come in. Edward? I found a V2 in the back of the structure.”

“It’s been fully destroyed. The person must still be inside the structure. Reporting back to Mr. G”

I hurried out of the room, but at the end of the hall, someone was waiting for me.

That comm over the radio was a bait,

I pointed the long gun at him.

Click.

“Ok.”

I dropped the gun and pulled out the pistol bestowed to me by the girl.

But raised his hand and it began to glow yellow.

You have to be kidding me.

The pistol gained a yellow underglow and—

CRACK.

The gun was crushed, like stepping on an empty soda can.

He can use magic, too?

“Intruder found, apprehending him now.” I heard his voice from behind as I ran the other direction.

“Don’t chase him.”

“Why not, sir? He’s fully disarmed.”

“If he stayed, then that only means one thing. Just come back and wait him out.”

“Yes, sir,” I hear the steps recede.