THE DEAD ZONE ~ Marhinki

.08

I promised a chapter on Halloween! So here it is!

~Jo

It was a possible blessing in disguise that their rival group chose to attack them that very same night. But at the time of the attack, the possible blessing was nowhere near Mari's mind.

She woke up choking, smoke filling her lungs, leaving her coughing and gasping. In those first moments of waking, the only thing running through her mind was that this was how she was going to die. Not by a bullet, or even flames, but by smoke smothering her. She refused to accept it, and struggled to her feet. She couldn't see. Her eyes were watering, trying to remove the smoke that was blinding her, that was slowly killing her.

Suddenly a hand was on her wrist, guiding her quickly through the wall of smoke. She gasped, again and again, trying to breathe in anything but the smoke that was consuming her. And finally she got it. She gasped, the fresh air filling her lungs, and she coughed out all of the smoke that previously inhabited her. She struggled to see through the tears that were gathering in her eyes, but she could make out five figures. Three were on the ground, struggling to breathe just as she was. But two were on their feet. One was holding a dark object, while the other stood next to her, almost as an act of comfort.

After what seemed like hours of trying to grasp breath, Mari rolled onto her haunches, brushing off the grime from the ground on her pants. Slowly, grasping onto Sohinki's offered hand like a lifeline, she made it to her feet. Somehow she had just waltzed with death and made it out alive.

"They tried to smoke us out," Mari realized, glancing around as smoke curled from the gutters leading to the sewer. Wes nodded, shifting his sniper to his other shoulder. He was the only person armed with a real weapon. Mari only had her knitting needle, her gun had slipped from her belt somewhere in the rush for air. Lasercorn only had his lighter, which didn't surprise Mari. He held onto that lighter like it was apart of him. He wouldn't be Lasercorn without it. Joven, FLitz, and Sohinki only had their fists.

"And they succeeded," Joven coughed, still trying to rid his lungs of the smoke that resided there. "We're out, and there is a shit ton of smoke." Mari nodded and crept over to one of the sewer grate, fanning a hand over it, trying to rid it of the smoke dispensing from the slates. But the gray kept coming, tinting Mari's whole world.

"Then where are they?" Sohinki asked, glancing around at the buildings surrounding them warily. "They got what they wanted right? Now what's going to happen?" Mari moved away from the grate, positioning herself beside Sohinki.

"Now," Mari sighed, anxiety was nearly overcoming her. "We pretend we are ready for something we aren't. And when they strike," She met each one of the men's eyes that stood by her. "We do our best to not die."

~*~

They were surrounded. Although they were not outnumbered, they were significantly outgunned. Between the six of them, only one of them had a gun, and Mari knew that her knitting needle wouldn't do much against bullets.

"Stay away," Mari growled, as a small woman stepped into her line of sight. She shifted herself so she was in between this new threat and Sohinki. "Don't make me hurt you." The woman laughed, her black hair falling in front of her face, as her laughed moved to the brink of hysteria. During these moments, Mari jumped to the conclusion that she was insane. A small, weak, Asian version of Lasercorn.

"Hurt me?" The woman cried out, and now that her eyes were uncovered, Mari could see the insanity in them. "I don't think you are in the position to make threats, Atomic." She spit out Mari's title like it physically hurt her. Mari frowned.

"Shoot her," Mari mumbled to Wes, not breaking eye contact with the crazy woman. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Wes lift his gun, taking aim at the woman standing in front of them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," A man said, leveling his own gun at the group of them. "You're at our mercy. I'd remember that before you raise your weapons."

"Stand down," Mari ordered, and Wes lowered his gun, but was still on edge. They all were.

"You're lucky we haven't decided to kill you yet," The man continued. He was staring Mari down, like she was the only one he was speaking to. "We want to make your death public, so that everyone can see that we're the ones in power now."

"Are those your words?" Mari asked him, her eyebrows raised. "Or the words of whoever you'll be running back to like a kicked dog?"

"You little bitch," The man growled, starting towards her, his finger dangerously close to the trigger. Mari only watched him with an amused expression. He reached her, pressing the barrel of the gun to her chest. She only smirked, and reached up a hand to adjust her hair, slipping the needle from the depths of the purple.

"Pull the trigger, I know you want to. Do it, or are you too scared? You're too scared to end my life. You're pathetic," She taunted, staring into his eyes as her hair tumbled down from her bun. The knitting needle glinted in her hand, and before anyone could say anything, she lashed out, slashing her needle across the man's face. Wes immediately started firing, and Mari watched as a bullet ripped through the man standing in front of her, blood still dripping down his face. She ignored the scream of horror that followed the man's death, and she gripped Sohinki's wrist, tugging him along as they started running. Running away from the gunfire that raining from the sky. Gunfire seemed to be the only type of rain they got in the Dead Zone, and it rained far too often.