Chapter 6 - Harlow

He grabbed at me, but I ducked away and pulled his arm behind his back into a half nelson. He tried to grab at me with his other arm, but I grabbed and pulled that back too. I had both of his arms, and he struggled against me. I needed to render him useless if I was going to make it out of this unscathed. I put a foot between his shoulder blades and pulled on his arms. I just needed to pop them out of their sockets; he wouldn’t be able to use them unless someone put them back for him.

I gave his arms one strong, hard jerk, and I could hear two loud pops. Man, one screamed. I let go of his arms, they lay useless next to his body. “You bitch!” I kicked him between the legs, and he doubled over onto the ground. Unable to grab hold of his jewels with his useless arms.

One upgrade that not all Faction members had was called Pureview Vision. This allowed me to target my opponents and helped me to focus on their movements and predict what their next move would be. It was a surgery that superimposed a microchip into my eyes that could be activated with just a roll of my eyes. When activated, it looked like there was a white scope on my eye. I thought it looked badass.

Murphey was obsessed with his upgrades, and I was the first one to get it. He wanted to test it out on me before he suggested it to the other Faction members. I was specifically chosen because of my skill set and abilities. I was the best of the best.

         I activated the Pureview. The men with the knife and crowbar stood next to Man one. They all looked unscathed. As if the injuries I gave them were just a scratch. But I know I broke their bones and crushed their larynx.

         The first man smirked. “Thought you had us, didn’t you?” His smirk grew to a grin, revealing his teeth. Before my eyes, they grew into fangs. His eyes flashed gold. His mouth started to elongate.

         “What the fuck?” I breathed.

         The men all came at me at the same time. We were a flurry of hands and feet. I would need to constantly incapacitate them if I were going to get out of this. I needed to make it to my bag and get my gun. I could shoot them. And if they came back, I could shoot them again. The police were coming, the alarm was going off. I just had to buy my time.

         The first guy tried to get me into a headlock, but I slammed my foot onto his knee, pushing it back in the opposite direction it should have gone. He dropped to the floor. The third man had his knife again and flipped it from hand to hand. I took a few steps back, and I inched closer to my bag. I could visualize where the gun was. I just needed two seconds to grab it.  

         I took another step back, and he took one forward. I just needed maybe three more steps, and I’d be there. “You can’t run now.” The third smiled. I needed to get it now. I turned and ran the last two steps, grabbed my gun, and turned back. The third man was already in motion and stabbed down. The knife sliced into my upper thigh. I shot him in the shoulder and once in the knee. He screamed and dropped to the floor.

         I looked down, blood poured from my leg. The hunting knife did a number on my leg. I turned around and looked at the other two men. The first man was still recovering from the injuries I gave him. He started to move his right arm. “Impossible,” I whispered. His arms were dislocated; he would have needed a doctor to put them back. You don’t just recover from a dislocation on your own.

         He sneered at me. His mouth was still long, in a snout. What the fuck were these guys? Were they bionic warriors or something? Because no one would recover from broken limbs like they were. I limped toward them. A gun was pointed at the first man.

         “Give up. You’re not going to get out of this one.” The first guy said. The man with the crowbar started to look uneasy. You didn’t bring a crowbar to a gunfight.

         “Hey, man, she has a gun. I’m out.” The fourth man dropped the crowbar and ran out of the gym, through the same fire exit as the second man.

         “Now there are two,” I said.

         I heard movement behind me. The man I shot started to stand. Any injury, they recovered from. Great. They were the perfect opponents.

         The first man picked up the knife and held it out. I stood to the side, so I could keep both of the men in my vision. I had eight rounds left. Hopefully, the police would get here before I ran out. Because right now, that was my best bet.

         The first man nodded. The third man ran toward me. I shot at him, and it hit him in the shoulder again. He stopped. I quickly shot him in both kneecaps, and he collapsed to the ground. The first man lunged at me, he was low and tackled me, pushing me a few steps back. I elbowed his head over and over. I tried to get him to release his grip. He swung the knife down and stabbed me on the lower right side of my back.

         I screamed out. I could feel that one. He was in a position where I couldn’t get a good shot of any vital areas. I took the gun and held it against his spine. This was going to take him down. I pulled the trigger. The bullet went through his spine and hit the concrete floor. The first man dropped to the ground; his legs were paralyzed from my shot. “You bitch!” He yelled.

         “Shut up,” I said as I pulled the knife out of his hand and threw it across the room.

         “I’m going to fucking kill you.” He yelled. He tried to claw at my legs. His fingers started to elongate into claws.

         I stepped onto his throat. “That’s enough out of you.” I applied pressure, just enough so he started to turn red.

         The third man that I shot a total of five times started to stand up. I shot him in the leg again. He howled.

         A noise came from behind me. I turned to see a man walking through the broken door. I pointed my gun at him, he raised his arms in surrender.

         “You bitch.” The man on the ground said through his teeth.

         “I said shut up.” I pushed harder on his throat. His legs started to move. He was healing from the spine shot. I aimed down and shot him in the knee. I needed to keep him down. And taking out his legs was the only option.

         “Who are you?” I said as I pointed the gun at the man at the door. I had two rounds left and was running out of options. My hand started to shake. I was always steady, but I think with the blood loss, I started to suffer.