We came up upon the backside of the tallest hill in the field. Through the pounding of our footsteps and the blood thrumming in my ears, I was barely able to hear anything. Every moment stretched out, each second containing the possibility of death. It was a wild feeling, terrifying and freeing at the same time. As soon as we had reached the piece of cover nearest to the area, Seph ordered us to duck. It was a distant command, quiet in the storm of my thoughts. But, I complied.

  As soon as I hit the dirt, my head cleared. I took a few deep breaths, looking around. There, at the edge of my vision, was a wooden shack. It couldn’t have been more than one room and a basement. The planking on the walls was old, torn up, and rotted.

  Four armed soldiers stood at the front, beside a door that was no more than a jagged sheet of wood. The soldiers were presented opposite to the cabin. Where the cabin was old and rustic, the soldiers were well-equipped with everything a modern guard would have. Their guns were up, ready to fire at any moment.

  Bits of gunfire could be heard in the distance. No one spoke on the radio. For all we knew, everyone else was already dead.

  “We’re going to have to shoot,” Seph whispered. “I’ll take the two on the right. Cade, you shoot the closest on the left. Keira, shoot the other one. Alright?”

  We nodded. My heartbeat sped up.

  “Three…”

  “Two…”

  “One…”

  I gripped my gun tight, the trigger ready to be squeezed.

  “Shoot,” Seph whispered.

  And then I was up, aiming, and shooting.

  BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

  There was screaming and blood everywhere. It was impossible to tell who was dead, who was dying, and who was unscarred.

  I dropped back onto the ground, and stayed there. My ears were ringing at the sound. After ten seconds, the ringing stopped. After twenty seconds, there was silence.

  “They’re all down,” Seph muttered.

  I looked up. He was walking over to the bodies, gun down.

  I rushed over, raising my weapon up at our surroundings. “Shit, Seph, do you want to get us killed?” I said, looking around frantically.

  Seph stared at me, his eyes distant. “Do you hear any gunshots?” His voice was shaky.

  Everything went quiet as I listened for the telltale sounds of a battle. But there was nothing. I shook my head.

  “Exactly. Everyone’s either dead, dying, or a victor.”

  That thought hit me. It was possible that we could stumble upon any of the Xarnon agents’ broken bodies at any point. And most of a group would have to be dead or captured for the sides to cease fire. I just hoped that that side was the enemy.

  Giving in, I forced myself to look down at the corpses. The four were strewn about, skin pale and limbs spread out. Their weapons lay, discarded at the soldiers’ sides. Each one had a bloody hold straight through it, two in the stomach, one in the neck, and another in the nose. My gaze fixed on the last one. Their face had collapsed in on itself around the area they were shot, while blood dripped out in lines across their skin. Flesh was torn up around the crater where a small bullet lay.

  After nearly vomiting, I looked away. “Fucking hell,” I muttered.

  Seph grimaced. Keira came up from behind. “They nearly killed you,” she said to Seph.

  He turned, raising his eyebrows. “Oh really? I didn’t notice that scary-as-fuck bullet skating over my hair.”

  Keira rolled her eyes, but I panicked. If Seph nearly died, how could the other’s luck be any different?

  The door opened.

  “Shit,” Seph muttered, turning his gun toward the door. Me and Keira did the same.

  The person who emerged from that house was strange, from their appearance to their outfit. They had wispy blonde hair trailing down their back. They had a small face with a button nose. Their eyes were milky brown, filled with depths that I couldn’t even imagine. She wore a loose-fitting robe, the fabric barely covering her. It was bright purple, and revealed bits of skin. Her leg, parts of her torso, and much of her arms.

  Despite her ancient-looking clothing and bizarre style, she held a modern looking pistol pointed right at my face. I gulped.

  “Three to one,” Seph growled. “Lower your weapon.”

  With a dramatic turn of her head, she turned to Seph. “Kind of rude of you to kill my guards like that,” she said. Her voice was silk, everything placed at the perfect tone. Every influxion carried weight, every word was pure music.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Who do you work for?” Keira asked.

  “Honestly, you amaze me,” she said. “I thought we had moved past sexism like that.” Then her tone turned harsh. “I work for myself, bitch.”

  I flinched at the change. I opened my mouth to speak, before a call came from inside the house.

  “Eda, what the hell is going on out there?” Les’ voice called.

  I nearly dropped my gun and ran inside at the sound of his voice. Soon, he emerged alongside the woman, who he called Eda. “Oh,” he said simply, his gaze flickering between the four of us.

  “Surrender Les to us,” Seph commanded.

  Eda rolled her eyes. “Surrender? He’s here by choice.”

  Oh, shit.

  Les grimaced, his gaze lingering on Keira. Her eyes were fire, her glare piercing into Les’ skull. My mind whirled through all the possible ways we could get through this. We could lie, say Les was captured. But, Keira would never go along with that. She would rat on us to Whiteford right away.

  So we just needed to make sure that she never made it to tell Whiteford.

  Wait..

  What the fuck am I thinking?

  But, Les…

  There was a choice here. Keira, who I barely knew. And Les, who I had known ever since I got thrown into this CIA shit. Keira, who would probably never talk to me again. Les, who I had spoken with recently. Les, who had become like a brother to me.

  I closed my eyes.

  And I turned.

  My weapon was now no longer pointed at Eda, but at Keira.

  Keira’s eyes widened, as she glanced from me to Eda. “Cade…?” she asked.

  “Drop the fucking gun or I shoot,” I growled, trying to make myself sound intimindating.

  It didn’t work. Keira just glared at me, about to speak. But Seph stopped pointing his weapon at Eda as well, directing it into the ground. He cut Keira off. “I’m sure there’s an explanation for this.” He looked at me hopefully.

  I just shook my head. “Drop it,” I repeated.

  Eda and Les were still and silent. “Cade, don’t do this,” Keira said.

  “I’m going to count to three,” I began.

  Keira swung her body around.

  BANG!

  Blood spurted out from Keira’s chest. She blinked, and groaned. The light in her eyes faded as her body hit the ground with a thud.

  I stood, stunned, as Seph whirled around.

  “The hell did you do that for?!?” he yelled at Eda, who hadn’t even lowered the pistol she had used to shoot Keira.

  “She had to die,” Eda said simply. She lowered the gun and turned. “Out of the three of you, she was the only one who would give you away to that officer gal.”

  “Whiteford,” I said, still staring at the newly made corpse of our team member. Just a minute ago, she was rolling her eyes at Seph’s sarcastic remark. Now she was dead. Perhaps she had a family. And what about all that she could have gone on to do in the future? Only a few decades of life, before it was taken from her in an instant.

  The ever-growing pit of emptiness in my stomach seemed to grow a little larger.

  “Yeah, her,” Eda said.

  There was a pause, before Les spoke. “You’d better come inside.”

  Seph nodded, and came over to me. He grasped my arm lightly, gently. His touch was pure warmth, like a blanket I could wrap myself in to hide from the darkness of the world. “C’mon,” he said softly.

  I let myself be pulled into the cabin. As soon as we stepped over the threshold, I was shoved back into reality. The smell of freshly-baked cookies drifted through the air. Bits of pine reached my nose as well. There was one room, with a bed in the corner. There was a curtain blocking off the sleeping area, but I caught glimpses of a soft, white mattress and a dark oak frame. There was a small, kitchen-like area, with a wooden table. There was a cabinet, portable stove, and mini-fridge next to it. The rest was a sitting room, with a table and wooden chairs - each of which had padded fabric atop them.

  It was… cozy.

  Not the home of a killer.

  Les led us to the sitting area. Upon sitting, I discovered that the padded fabric was not as soft as it appeared to be. Eda headed to the kitchen, setting down the gun and replacing it with a sheet of chocolate-chip cookies.

  She walked over to us and set the food down on the table. The sweet aroma drifted around the room. I had to stop myself from sighing in the pure joy of it. Les reached for a cookie and took a huge bite.

  After swallowing, he spoke. “So, you probably have a lot of questions.”

  Seph looked between the two of them. “No shit,” he paused, then turned to Les. “Why did you leave?”

  Les sighed. “I had to see Eda.”

  Eda looked at the two of us. “Quite the important matter,” she giggled to herself quietly. After a few seconds, she shook herself. “Anyways… I’m Edalene, and Eda to him,” she motioned towards Les.

  “Who were those people outside?” I asked.

  Edalene’s face fell. “They were my guards,” she said slowly. “They… worked for me.”

  “You said you work for yourself… So you were their boss?” Seph asked.

  Edalene nodded.

  “What do you do?” he pressed.

  Edalene smirked. “I kill people.”

  My brow furrowed. So that was why she had plenty of armed soldiers outside. And why she had not hesitated to kill Keira. The memory surfaced in my head, along with another pang of regret. Truly, her death was my fault. Yet another innocent life that was taken into my hands, and discarded by them.

  “Why did you need to see her?” I asked Les. “Why leave us?”

  Les shared a knowing look with Edalene, his eyes softening. “She’s…” he trailed off.

  Edalene placed a hand on Les’ shoulder. “I’m his girlfriend.”

  Finally realizing what this was about, I looked away and blushed. Seph made a sound that could have meant that he understood, if not for the growly tone he added to it.

  There was a long pause before Edalene spoke again. “So, Les has to get back?”

  I nodded. “And he was taken in the night by a small group of Valamir’s followers in the US. We killed them, and they shot Keira. We managed to get Les out unscathed.”

  “And what of the others?” Seph asked.

  “We’ll explain when we meet up,” I responded.

  That seemed to take care of it. What it did not take care of was our reluctance to leave. We stayed still for a solid fifteen seconds. Edalene moved first. She walked back to the kitchen. “Come on, take a goddamn cookie.”

  Me and Seph looked at each other, and shrugged. We each grabbed one. I took one bite and drifted off into another world. It was the best thing I had ever tasted. It was buttery and crunchy and sweet and salty and amazing. My mom had never been much of a cook, so I had never gotten homemade baked treats.

  Not that she was much of a mom, either.

  I shook the thought from my head, and finished eating the sugary treat. Afterwards, I stood. “Well, we really should be going,” I said.

  Edalene’s face fell. “Well, do visit again,” she said. “It’s been lonely out here.”

  Les walked up to her, and they kissed briefly. I stood awkwardly still, not sure of whether to look away childishly or just pretend it wasn’t happening. I tried not to stare, though I was 75% sure that I did.

  Afterward, Les came to Seph and I, who were standing next to each other at the doorway. “I’m ready,” he said.

  Seph smirked. “Alright. Let’s go tell a lie to the most intimidating woman on the planet.”