In Death's Grip

In Death's Grip: Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Are you going to shoot?" Cho asks me.

I shake out of my daydream. We didn't really kill Hank. That's too bad.

Everyone else has already fired their weapons. They're all waiting on me. I aim the pistol and fire off the whole clip in a matter of seconds.

When Felix brings us our targets, I see that my shots all hit around the center. Maybe my aim is better when I think that I'm shooting the enemy.

I put the handgun back where I'd gotten it. Cho, Nathan, and Taylor do the same. Haven disassembles most of her sniper rifle and stuffs it back into her bag.

"Now that your final test is complete, everyone except for Felix should accompany me to my office," Hank says, "It's not far from these buildings so you can walk if you like."

Felix departs into the larger gym. A few moments after he leaves, Matthew comes out to join his leader. He journeys with us to Hanks office.

It only takes us five minutes to shuffle along to the courthouse that Hank holds up inside. We're led into his office. This is the place where my friend died. I wish that I had shot Hank when I had the chance.

We all gather around his desk. He stood there while he plotted Alex's death.

"Sit, please," Hank calmly orders.

We all find a seat around the room. I grab a leather chair that's against the wall and drag it over to a spot near the desk. I look down at the place where the chair has ended up. There's a hole in the carpeted floor. It's the hole that the bullet made when it exited...Alex.

"So, I have evaluated each of your performances and determined where you will go in the formation. The formation must hold and every part of it must be strong if we few are to break through Nikolai's troops. This is how we will attack."

Hank spreads a sheet of paper out. Our names have been organized in a shape resembling a heptagon. The order reads:

HANK TONY

JONNY MATTHEW

KEATON BLONDIE

GLASSES ASIAN GIRL

SHARPSHOOTER

His little names don't seem to please some of my friends. Most of all Nathan. Hank didn't even bother to remember their damn names. I bet he didn't even know Alex's name.

"Tony, Jonny, and Matthew will join me in the front. We're the more experienced fighters so I believe this is best. Behind us will be Keaton and the kid with the claws. You two will help us if we get overwhelmed. After them is our worst two fighters. In the rear covering our asses will be our best gunman. Or gunwoman in this case."

Nathan speaks up, "What about the wall?"

"I was getting to that actually," Hank says,"Jonny, did you recieve those explosives that I procurred for you?"

"I did. I modified them to be a bit more silent but not by much. The explosion will still be quite loud. I tried but there's only so much I could do to make them quiet, "Jonny explains.

"I don't really care, just as long as that damn wall comes down. Now, are there any other questions?"

Silence.

"Good," Hank says, "We begin the attack tonight."