Vengeful Storm Ch. 01

Hearing the noise of me coming, he turned around to face me. Before he could yell to his mate or shoulder his weapon I had thrown my knife. The blade imbedded deeply into the Ubel's throat and he crumpled to the ground, dead. I pulled out my Sais and flattened myself against the wall, knowing the other one would come to investigate the noise. I held my breath, not wanting the other Ubel to know I was there.

I could hear his footsteps coming closer and closer, but still he didn't appear. He was fishing, wanting me to get anxious, to look for where he was and reveal my position. It was an old tactic, one I had used many times in the past. I wasn't falling for it. And so I waited, knowing that he would instead become anxious, knowing he would eventually come to me.

I heard the footsteps start up again. He was trying to muffle them, trying to be quiet, but something of that size is impossible to keep quiet. It's like trying to get an elephant to tip toe. As he rounded the corner, I attacked. I slashed at his hands, cutting through the tendons, rendering them useless. A high kick to the chest had him doubling over enough for me to reach his throat. One slash and his lifeblood was spilling to the floor in a great flood of red. Crouching down, I wiped the blood off my weapons on the Ubel's clothing and went to retrieve my dagger. It was time to get my sister.

I checked once more to make sure the coast was clear and walked towards the door. I knew there wouldn't be any guards inside the room. Craag would want the girls to himself and wouldn't risk them being used by any of the other soldiers. The door was locked but I was able pick it open with my knife. What I saw when I opened that door stopped me in my tracks. Lined up against the walls in chains were a dozen girls, all barely dressed, all sporting large black bruises over their bodies. And lying in the centre of the huge bed was Raine.

I ran over to the bed and slowly ran my hand over Raine's face. She had once been so beautiful. I could still remember her smile. Now she was almost unrecognisable. Her face was black and blue; her lip split badly and dry blood caked along her face from her nose. "Raine, wake up sweetie. Come on Raine, I need you to wake up."

"Storm, is that you?"

"It's me Raine. It's going to be okay. I'm going to get you out of here."

Raine lay there smiling at me "I knew you would come for me."

"How are you feeling? Is anything broken?"

"No, I'm fine, really. It's worse than it looks. Don't worry about me. I can still walk."

"Raine, I need you to think. Is there a key anywhere in the room?"

"In the top draw of the table, by the bed."

I rummaged around in the draw. Finding the key, I went to work unlocking the cuffs around Raine's wrists. "I've bought some clothes with me. I'll go and get them, you stay here, alright."

"What about the other girls Storm? I can't just leave them here."

"Raine, can't you hear the fighting downstairs. I can't get everyone out."

"At least let them go so they can have a chance."

I looked at all the girls, at the hope and pleading in their faces. "Fine, you unlock them while I get your clothes. But we can't take them with us Raine. After you unlock them, they're on their own."

Raine nodded her understanding and jumped off the bed, hugging me before starting on the cuffs. I watched her for a few seconds, making sure she was all right physically, and then went to get the bag I had left in the other room. When I came back, the girls were huddled in a group, looking up at me like lost little puppies. I couldn't just leave them here to die.

"Get dressed Raine. All right, listen up everyone. As you've no doubt heard, there is fighting downstairs. I can't guarantee your safety. But I can promise that I will find the safest way out of the house and I will do the best I can to get you out. But after that, you're on your own."

One of the girls stepped forward. "Thank you. We know you're risking everything to help us. Just try to get us out of this house. That's all we ask."

"Right. Are you ready Raine?"

"Ready."

"Okay everyone, let's go. Stay behind Raine and I. If there's fighting then stay back."

I led them to the door and looked out, making sure the coast was still clear. It was. The fighting hadn't made its way up here yet. Walking down the corridor, I felt strange having a large group behind me, but I shook it off. I had to keep my head in the game. Coming to the bodies of the Ubel, I took their guns and handed one to Raine. "You still remember how to use one of these?"

"You think I could forget with Dad drilling it into me."

I smiled at her, remembering the weapons training our father made us both do. Although Raine didn't fight like me, Dad made sure we both knew how to use a gun, just in case. Coming to the end of the hallway I stopped walking and swore. There was only one set of stairs that led down to the lower level. And they led right into the swarm of fighters.

"I'm sorry guys. This is the only way down. Keep low and run like hell to the nearest exit. Try and run to the back of the house. There's no one fighting out the back. Okay. Raine and I will go down and try and clear a bit of a path for you."

I turned to Raine, stopping her from going down the stairs. "I want you to go with the girls. Don't shoot unless you have to, otherwise you'll draw attention to yourself."

"I'm not going to leave you Storm now that I've found you. You can just forget it."

"Raine, I'll be fine. I'm trained for this, remember? I can't do what I need to do properly if I have to worry about you as well. Now stay behind me then run like hell. Eyes open, head down. Okay?"

Raine nodded. I could see the tears in her eyes as she shouldered her weapon. "Storm, you know I love you, right?"

"I know Raine. I love you too."

I shouldered my weapon and ran down the stairs into the battle shooting at every Ubel I saw. "Go, now," I yelled. The girls ran down the stairs keeping low like I told them. I tried to keep an eye on them, but there were so many Ubels. It seemed that every Ubel leader had bought an army with them. I kept shooting, slowly moving backwards towards the door Raine had run through. When I knew all the girls were out of the room, I turned to run.

The pain was like nothing I had felt before. A white-hot feeling ran through my shoulder and through the rest of my body. I fell to the floor as others fought around me. The last thing I thought of was Raine before I blacked out.