Syndicate of tribulation

Chapter 2

Tyro's POV

I felt sort of weird not having my gun on me. The usual weight of my beretta on my hip sort of balanced me out. Sometimes I feel like I can still feel it, like a phantom gun. But it didn't survive my drop into the ocean so I was left with  my katanas and nothing else. King only had her throwing knives since her sniper was stashed on the plane and her twin pistols fell out when we were mercilessly sucked out of the plane. 

My body is clothed in bruises that might be caused by some internal damage as well. But I don't have enough time to think about all that now, as well as how much pain I feel when I even lift my finger. I have to figure out how to deal with these police. On one hand I could play the victim and utilise the myriad of injuries I'm sporting at this moment. Or I could fight. Effort, way too much effort. Is their really no other options? I could always-

Before I could even finish my thoughts they had all been knocked to the ground. "You took such a long time in your own head I thought I would take matters into my own hands" she proudly stated. My eyes widened in shock at how she can still move so flawlessly even though she is probably sporting more injuries than me. Then again, she was trained through pain. It's second nature to her to fight whilst being physically and mentally damaged — second nature to push herself till she dies. I can tell, the murderous glint in her eyes is always there whenever she is fighting, during our training I realised that the murderous look wasn't for her opponent but more for herself. Fighting till she no longer can. That's all she knows how to do.

But for me it's different. I don't fight till I die, I fight so I don't die. She fights in spite of life and I fight in spite of death. When I was younger I didn't know how to fight properly, so I was forced to take every beating I was given. But then I realised I had a gift. I can copy any fighting style I see. I have no original moves, I pillage moves from others. The more I watch, the better I get. When I was 12 I watched people fighting every night, I learnt and then I improved.

Then I found katanas. My pride and joy. I watched people use them and to put it simply it was love at first sight. I trained with them all the time, using other peoples moves as my own. I was a monster, when people fought me I would make it seem as though they were fighting a mirror, no one could defeat me. But I can't copy King.

Her moves aren't based on the foundation of fighting like most fighting styles. Her moves are weird and based on animal instinct -- something you can't really mimic even if you were to try. It makes no sense watching her, I have tried to copy but it's unsuccessful. So I stopped trying, and instead hoped I would never have to fight her in a real battle, because the victor could be either of us.

Back to the situation at hand, I watched King casually go into one of the police cars. She motioned for me to come in as well. I settled into the passenger seat as she buckled her seatbelt and started the car up. She opened the glove box and found a bunch of snacks.

She drove as we ate the police mans snacks. Where are we going? Good question, my exact question in fact. "Where are we going?" I ask, we had been driving for about half an hour. "How am I supposed to know? I have only been to France once. I'm trying to find a hotel" she clapped back. I wanted to roll my eyes at her stupidity, we had no money how would we get a hotel. "You know we are penniless" I deadpan. She nodded and a mischievous smirk climbed onto her face. We found a run down motel. No one seemed to be around but we weren't out of the woods yet, literally and figuratively.

We picked the lock to one of the rooms.

 Haunted. Definitely haunted. 

The room smelt of death and betrayal. The bed sheet looked old but tidy. Yes that's right. 'Bed' — singular. There is 1 singular double bed. There was also a lingering, disgusting bathroom coated in dust, mould and cobwebs. Luckily there was a river nearby.

Nightfall came upon us like a skilled ninja, by surprise. We had found some clothes in other rooms where people left in a rush. It was around 1am, I don't know but it was dark. The only light being provided was by the moon. I woke up and found King missing. I'm sure she's fine.

Going back to sleep wasn't an option right now so I decided to trek down to the river and wash.

When I arrived I quickly stripped and dived into the water. The harsh coldness of it soothed the bright fire burning within me. I saw a figure moving at the corner of my eye, causing me to be alert. Then I saw King floating about 10m away, she was watching the moon with a fiery sense of determination as if they were having a heated conversation.

I swam closer to her and she almost seemed like a deity as her eyes reflected the grey moonlight and her hair tied up. Her body fully submerged from her shoulders down. She seemed so... at peace.

So free.

So content.

So... everything I had ever dreamed of being.

No words needed to be exchanged. She knew I was there. So I moved closer and watched the moon with her.