Serenity - Ellie Williams [1]

Bullet

WREN
AFTERNOON

Sweat beads across Wren's brow as she stares down the barrel of the gun, her heart hammering in her chest so fast it feels like it may just explode. The soldier's face is contorted in a snarl as he makes a motion with the gun, telling her to approach him. Wren's mind screams at her to come up with a plan, to figure a way out of this- but she can't.

Wren approaches the man slowly, steps slightly unsure in her stolen boots, stopping only when the gun pokes into her chest. The man tilts his head, as if trying to decide what to do with her. "You're an idiot, just like your mommy." He shakes the gun at Wren's mom, and Wren's eyes widen at the possibility. "Maybe if you had-" his words are cut off as Wren takes hold of his hand in a bruising grip, pressing hard into two pressure points in his wrist. "-ah!"

The gun falls from his grasp, hitting the cement floor with a clatter. In the same instant, the soldier yanks his hand away from Wren- which subsequently tugs her into him. Unable to catch her footing in time, she soldier shoves her away hard enough she stumbles and nearly falls to the ground, but two week hands help her stay standing. Righting herself, she meets the hard glare of the wolf, their eyes flickering down to the gun between them.

Wren makes the first move, drawing her knife out of her holster as the soldier grabs the gun, raising it to aim at her once more. The brunettes eyes widen and she turns, using momentum gathered by the adrenaline in her body, to bring her leg up in a round house kick. It smacks into the gun, flinging it across the room in a way that's almost theatrical.

The soldier doesn't hesitate, charging foreward and wrapping his hands around Wren's shoulders, steering her into the wall. Her back hits the concrete with a thump, the impact knocking all of the wind out of her. The Soldier takes the moment of weakness to wrap both hands around her throat, squeezing with all his might. Wren chokes up as she tries to breath, her lungs screaming and neck pounding. Black spots begin to flicker in her vision, but a lanky figure rises from behind the soldier.

Wack! A chair splits apart over his head, the limbs flying all over the place and even hitting Wren in the chest. He falls away, moving to the side while craddling his head. Wren falls to her knees, gasping and coughing as she rubs gently at her sore throat. She dry heaves a few times before calming down, glancing sharply at the soldier who begins to rise from the floor.

Wren groans in dismay, struggling to her feet to meet him. He grins at her, wiping a line of blood from his cheek and only succeeding in smearing it around. He grins, teeth lopsided before he starts to charge. Wren panics, turning and flinging herself out of the way in hopes the soldier missed her- he doesn't.

Wren cries out as the two collide, the momentum taking them both to the floor in a heap of limbs. Both struggle for the upperhand, Wren smashing her fist into his nose, only for the gesture to be reciprocated easily. Her head flings to the side on impact, pain blossoming from her cheek and she tries to breath through the pain. Before she can react, a handle tangles in the hair at her scalp and she has a moment to hasp in horror before she dragged partially off the floor.

In the next second, the soldier shoves her head back to the cement, her skull hitting with an audible crack as her world blinks away.

ELLIE
AFTERNOON

"Fucking start!" Ellie curses, yanking on the string of the mottor for the 100th time. She tries to see past the rain hitting her brutally, but she barely can. Overhead, a thunderbolt races across the sky follow shortly by a crack of thunder. Ellie tenses on instinct, pulling again on the string of the motor.