Unforeseen Circumstances

Chapter 12

I had lost track of time, and not in the good way. Ever since Reid and Tristain left me alone in this dark, dingy room, I was left wondering what on earth was going on outside of the door, in terms of the reverse. It was slowly driving me insane, considering the overwhelming fact that the technology needed to carry out the process didn't even belong to the Myriad, therefore meaning that they were not well-versed in how it worked.

The more I thought about my time at the Resistance with Devon and the others, the more far fetched it sounded. Yes, okay, I couldn't just make something that elaborate up in my head, without having actually experienced something similar, but for some reason, my mind was doubting that it had ever actually happened. As I sat there, head hung, mind whirling at a hundred miles an hour and staring at my lap, I was shocked out of my thought process by the metal door to my left being slammed open as it clanged against the cement wall that it was attached to. My head shot up and met the annoyed form of Reid, a gun in his right hand as his left hand had slammed the door wide open, signalling his appearance.

The tattooed man stalked over to my disheveled form, sat upon the chair and tied up. He was muttering incoherently to himself as he whipped a pocket knife out of the back pocket of his black jeans and began to slice the ropes that bound my wrists and ankles to the chair I was sat on. What was he doing? As soon as the last rope was cut, he grabbed my upper arm with his right hand and pulled me onto my feet before pressing the cold metal barrel of his gun to my temple. By this point my heart felt as though it had leapt into my throat out of fear at the sudden turn of events. I thought Reid, and the Myriad, needed me for the switch! He can't kill me!

Whilst I was trying to take in the current turn of events and trying my best to forget about the cold gun that was pressed against my head, I didn't notice the group of three that had ran into the small room, minutes after Reid. I heard several gasps and a low growl as one of the intruders were quite obviously angered by the current situation in front of them.

"Faith!" A familiar voice called, sounding very similar to the voice of someone I had thought to be a figment of my imagination. I dared myself to raise my eyeline only to meet the familiar faces of Naomi, Devon and Reece. As I registered that they were, in fact, real and here to save me, I let out a sigh of relief which only caused Reid to tighten his grip on my arm and push the gun a bit further into my skin. I flinched at the increased pressure of the gun.

"Take another step closer and she's dead," Reid informed the trio before us. Devon's jaw clenched as he acknowledged Reid's words. I tried to shake my head in order to signal to them that I'd be alright, but none of them seemed to want to acknowledge me.

"Let her go Reid, you know you can't win!" Devon responded as I noticed the subtle nod Reece and Naomi gave each other. No doubt some sort of signal for a plan that I desperately hoped they had in mind.

"Now we both know that the odds of that happening are extremely limited. You're outnumbered here. It's just the three of you against the entirety of the Myriad." The tattooed man said from behind me. Well I guess when you put it like that, my chances of survival or escape, along with Naomi, Reece and Devon's survival, seem rather limited.

Whilst Devon was keeping Reid talking, and subsequently distracted, out of the corner of my eyes I was aware that Naomi and Reece were no longer by Devon's side but were now edging their way around the left and right side of the room, in order to take Reid by surprise from behind. I had zoned out of the conversation that the two men were having and loosely paid attention in order to make sure that Reid wouldn't notice the two people making their way behind him.

Just when both Reid and I were least expecting it, a kick landed in the middle of the tattooed man's back causing him to loosen his grip on both myself and the gun as we both stumbled forwards on the impact. I fell to the floor and managed to dodge out of the way of Reid's swiping hand, trying to get a grip on any part of my body in order to pull me back to him. The bits of loose stone and dirt on the floor grazed the palm of my hands as I quickly tried to crawl away from my captor.

"Shoot me and I shoot her," Reid called out to Devon, who I was only now aware of, was holding his gun directly aimed at Reid whilst Reid had his arm angled downwards and had his gun aimed at myself. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I let the current predicament sink in. No. This couldn't be how I died! I'm too young to die and have found myself caught up in some form of gang warfare drama which I never wanted any part in!

My eyes drifted over to the worried and conflicted face of the raven-haired man who's eyes flitted between myself and the tattooed man pointing the gun at my figure. After getting to know Devon over the last few weeks, I knew that he struggled between doing the right thing and protecting those that he cared for, and this was a prime example of that struggle. It took everything I had to muster the courage to nod my head at Devon in agreement, whilst mouthing 'it'll be okay'. His eyebrows furrowed in distress as he knew what I was insinuating. I could tell that he was hesitant as his finger hovered over the trigger, torn between what to do.

"Dev, it'll be okay, you'll save me like you seem to always do," I spoke softly to him from across the room. Even though I knew that it was incredibly likely that the bullet from Reid's gun would hit home on my body, Reece was still positioned behind Reid, ready to throw off his aim in order to prevent the bullet from finding a home in my skull or some other vital organ.

In a quick decision, Devon's eyes glanced over to Reece who stood behind Reid, took one deep breath and placed pressure on the trigger, releasing the bullet from the metal confinement of the gun's barrel. Almost as though it was synchronized, the bullet left Reid's gun seconds after Reece had jumped into action and thrown his aim off. After the two gunshots rang out through the room, a thud was heard as Reid's lifeless and bloody body fell to his knees first, before it fell onto his chest so he was eventually lying face first on the floor. A sigh escaped my lips as I realised that I was now free from this man's grasp and control. However, my relief was cut short when Naomi, Reece and Devon's eyes all latched onto my figure and widened at something. I tilted my head down to find a growing patch of red on the left of my stomach.

"Faith I knew this was a bad idea!" Devon exclaimed as he rushed to my side, discarding his gun on the floor. He lifted my head and rested it on his lap as Naomi pressed her hands against my stomach in an attempt to slow the bleeding.

"You ought to be more careful with how you discard your gun, wouldn't want to kill anybody now would we," I stated in a sarcastic voice, trying to bring some sort of humour to this otherwise dire situation, only to receive a pointed look in return.

"Do not joke with us right now, we need to get you back to the Resistance so we can get you all fixed up." Devon replied as he scooped me up into his arms bridal style and nodded over at Reece, signalling for him to follow us out.

I don't know if it was the swaying motion of Devon as he walked with me in his arms, or the gradual blood loss I was suffering from, but my eyes slowly shut, allowing the darkness to consume me before we had even left the confines of the Myriad headquarters.