Chapter 7: Morning Already?

Silly Equinox. What do you think you're doing?

As I slept that night, I started to hear voices. They seemed distant, but I knew they were calling to me. The voices got closer and closer until...

"Tom! Wake up!" I hear Alex screaming over a lot of ambient noise.

Ugh, morning already? I thought. I looked out the window. It was pitch black. Nope... I turned my head more and cursed to myself. The house was on fire. Aw, hell... I jumped out of bed and grabbed my coat and hat. The coat was made out of fire-resistant fibers, and the hat could provide some minor protection from above. I rushed out into the hall. The entire corridor was in flames. "What the hell is going on?" I shouted as loud as I could over the crackling of the fire.

"Tom!" I heard someone call in fear.

It was Izzy. This is gonna hurt, I thought to myself, right before I crashed through the wall. I emerged on the other side in a combat roll, my swords in my hands. Two men were slowly surrounding Izzy. The crest on their shoulders marked them as  Equinox, and the masks... Assassins. I cursed to myself again. Equinox assassins usually had mutations, and were trained and enhanced to keep fighting long after their body had died.

I dropped one sword, drawing a pistol instead and firing a quick shot at one Assassin. He didn’t seem to feel it, but it was surprising enough that it still left an opening.

"Run!" I yelled to Izzy. She bolted outside of the house. I dropped the pistol and scooped up the sword again,  charging the assassins. At the last moment I slid and cut one of their legs off. He swooped down with his dagger and stuck my foot to the ground as he fell. He landed next to me, turning to swipe at me again, but I plunged my katana down into his heart. He squirmed, but in one swift movement I cut him in half. I heard the swift, sharp sound of a short katana moving through flesh, and knew there was only one assassin left. I caught his blade with mine when he tried to swing it down on top of me. I feinted back and the assassin, I'm going to call him Joe, reeled. I kicked his chest with my robotic leg, and he went flying through the wall.

"Alex?" I shouted, searching for her.

"I’m okay Tom!" she called, and I heard a semi-comforting thwack-thunk and a small laugh from Alex.

"Get outside! This house won’t last much longer!" I yelled orders to her. I heard her start to move.

"What about you?" she called.

"I have to find Will!" I replied, realizing I hadn't seen him.

"He's gone! He left!" She yelled back in a furious anger.

"What the hell do you mean 'He left'?" I called.

"When I woke up, he wasn't here! Look, it's not important now, just get out!" She yelled.

We ran outside through the flames, instantly heading towards the thick woods only 40 yards away; where Izzy was waiting. I got halfway there before Joe jumped on my back.

"God damn it!" I screamed. I fell back, landing on Joe.

"Now you’re mine,” he hissed in my ear.

"Shut up!" I yelled back. I rolled on top of Joe and started punching him in the face. I lifted him up with my robot arm and threw him in the air. A second before his feet touched the ground, I caught him by the head, essentially snapping his neck. I didn’t know what mutation he had, or even if that would kill him, but he would at the very least be incapacitated for a while. I ran for the woods. It wasn’t until the adrenaline stopped that I felt dizzy. My heart was beating hard. I didn’t know what was going on. I felt hot. My feet felt heavy, as if pulling the earth up towards them. My body shuddered and I sunk down on all fours, coughing.

Izzy moved to come help me, but more assassins suddenly appeared out of the trees.

"Izzy...Alex..." I wheezed, "We can't all make it... Leave without me."

"No, Tom!" Alex and Izzy said in unison.

"Pleasure serving with you" I said resolutely. With that, I charged my laser and blasted a group of trees, knocking them over and creating an inescapable ring around me and the assassins; with Izzy and Alex on the the other side. I heard Izzy crying. It only served to make me angrier.

"Goodbye, Tom..." Alex whispered. I don't know how I heard her. I heard Izzy protesting, but their voices grew distant.

One of the assassins took advantage of my weakness, charging at me and introducing his foot to my stomach. I spat out blood, being knocked over to my side. He kicked at me again, but I caught his foot and twisted, pulling him down to the ground. I picked up one of my Katana’s, flicking it through my attacker’s neck. I struggled to my feet, picking up my hat and sliding it back onto my head.

“Alright you b*stards,” I announced, holding my swords at the ready, “Who’s next?”

Author's Note

We are currently editing the first part of Gigalist so if there are grammatical mistakes just know that they will all be fixed very soon! Thanks for bearing with us!