The Beginning of the End (Zombie RP) discussion

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[ Enzi Harth ]

Large crowds were as good as they were bad. On one hand, being just another face was easier when hundreds of faces surrounded yours. But on the other, the same went for any and everyone else. Within a crowd, any face could be hiding, could be hunting—hunting after you--well, assuming you’d managed to catch someone’s eye enough to be hunted. If not, no worries. Crowds for you, they were just that, a crowd of people you happened to be among.

Let us pretend for just one moment, though, that you have done something to draw attention to yourself, that you’ve managed to lure a hunter or two that wanted you dead—or at least wanted you caged like the animal they were treating you as. Let us pretend that you were like Mackenzie Harth. Each set of eyes that find you, is it random? Or is it on purpose? Do they know you? Are they after you? How long before they make their move? What will you do to stay ahead of them? Are you ready? Well, are you?

All the voices blended together to form a constant hum that most minds had learned to ignore. It was impressive how much the human brain was capable of. It could selectively cast out certain things while honing in on others. Such an ability was useful, but it was dangerous, and it was a luxury Enzi couldn’t afford to indulge in. There was nothing she could ignore, a lesson her father had tried to teach her, but a lesson that only took root the hard way. Experience had taught her that letting her guard down for even a second could be fatal.

So she did as she had learned; she focused on everything, eliminating people as risk factors as she did so. It was impossible to see or hear each thing without eventually missing something, so the skill to trim away the fat to get to the meat was more than required. For most people, this meant they’d narrow their field of focus to the friend standing beside them, who was talking about some trivial thing. For Enzi, it meant figuring out which faces among the crowd could possibly be the face of a hunter, could be the puppet of the government sent to tie up a very loose end.

Not him. Another crossed off the list. Or her. Those huddled around her were all crossed off now, meaning at least everyone in her bubble of personal space were ‘safe’. The rumble of a subcar began to overtake the hum of voices, the station shaking a bit as it rolled into place. As soon as the doors opened, the crowd Enzi was in was met by another that was trying to get off. Pushing their way through one another, people shuffled onto the car, but Enzi stayed still, an all too familiar feeling creeping up the back of her neck. Paranoia.

Something wasn’t right—but what? Quickly the girl began to look around the shifting mass of people. Among them, there was an outlier, a threat—there had to be. She wasn’t one to be hit by a wave of paranoia unless something was, in fact, wrong, and when she couldn’t set her sights on exactly what it was, she went to plan B. Move.

See, hunters were predictable creatures in ways. One way that they were predictable? The obvious: they always went after their prey. They’d follow the little lamb until the time for slaughter was at hand. And if anything was easy to spot, it was a tail. She already had an escape plan, another lesson she learned the hard way—anytime you walk into a place, know how to get out. Well, it wasn’t exactly an escape plan. Enzi wasn’t look to get away from whoever was sending chills down her spin. No, no. The girl was looking to get her hands on one of their little hunters. She needed to know what he or she knew, needed to bleed every ounce of information from him/her, literally if needed, before dispatching of the person and retreating to a new city to make them lose her scent.

Casting a glance over her shoulder, she scanned the crowd, her eyes locking to one particular figure quick. Ball cap hiding most of his face, the girl wasn’t able to get the chance to gauge his expression, but she knew for a fact that his steps were with purpose. She knew his steps were being taken solely to get him closer to her. He was her tail, he was her threat, he was now her prey as much as she was his.

Moving her gaze back before her, Mackenzie continued to cut through the crowd, the subway car starting to creak into motion and shaking the station once again as she neared the tracks. The crowd had thinned drastically as she got closer to the tunnel entrance. As soon as the car completely swushed passed her, Enzi dropped down to the tracks and began to venture into the tunnel. No better place than a dimly lit and secluded place to confront her hunter, her prey.

There wasn't that much time left, the subway cars left every 30 minutes, each heading there own direction. Crown Hill. Westwood. Othello. Lake City. The moment she was on the subway she would be gone. Again. The streets of Washington was already filled with commuters, each with their own agendas, their own time frames, but Will's time was running out. He looked up at the sign before the entrance to the underground transportation system, 3 minutes until departure. Damn, he was late.

His heart was beating profusely, his gun tucked away underneathe the back of his belt, hidden by his black blazer. He had to be prepared, he only had this one moment and if he didn't catch her now, he would have to pick up on another lead. They had said eaither dead or alive, that's all they wanted, her face, her information that she knew, all of that to be gone. Including her existence, MacKenzie Harth, former military, and now his only mission. Will headed down the steps to the subway floor, following the arrows that would lead him to his destination. He couldn't pause for a moment, he also couldn't risk being seen by her, and he needed to get close enough to catch her.

He scanned his surroundings as he entered the platform, and snatched a baseball cap that had been left unattended on top of a backpack. He fit it atop of his head, pulling it down low enough to cover his forhead. He moved closer to the center of the platform, examining each woman's face that he passed. Brown hair, he remebered. The subway car was pulling up to a stop, he only had a few seconds left, should he board the car, hoping she would be on there or stay on the platform.

At that moment, as the crowd began to move, he spotted one woman standing alone near the edge of the platform. He recognized the side of her face immediately, he had found his target. He looked down, and started walking in her direction, pushing past the people in front of him. He was slow, capable and moving forward but as he glanced up again at the sound of the closing doors of the subway he saw the she had begun moving. The station rattled with the sound of the now in motion subway car and Will fought against the people who had just come onto the platform.

Will pushed back with greater urgency, noticing now that she had moved down to the lower level of the station and onto the tracks. He didnt wait to get off at the same exact spot, he jumped down to the tracks, a few feet from where she had landed and began to chase after her. She must have noticed his forward advance as she too began to sprint deeper into the tunnel. Will ignored the distant shouts from the station, no doubt bystanders alarming others of their actions.

The tunnel was getting darker as he followed MacKenzie, a few feet in front of him, he could pull out his gun now and shoot her in the back. Suddenly she disappeared around the corner, he slowed down his pace, reached his hand back to his gun and pulled it out. His steps were as quiet as he could manage, the echo gave way to his presence inside the deep hollow cave. He heard a slight rumble, vibrations coming off of the wall, and looked up, noticing a ladder that was extending down. At that moment, Will's gun was knocked out of his hand, a high kick had sent it sprawling to the floor. She was here, and finally he was face to face with the runaway he had been tracking.

Now her paranoia was fully confirmed. The man was, indeed, after her. Ah, where were the days when Enzi didn’t have to wake up and worry with who would try for her life today. They were lost, and doubtful was Mackenzie that they would ever return. The only way peace would come to her would be through death, she was certain of that. Until then, though, may God have mercy on anyone who came for her.

The orange glow of the tunnel began to lessen as she ran, footfalls echoing forever in the cement tube just as her follower’s did. He was close, possibly even closing in on what little distance was between them. Even though the girl was quick, when paired against someone with a far greater leg span than hers, it was unlikely she would be able to outrun them for long. A bend in the tunnel gave Enzi hope, gave her her possible advantage.

Forcing herself to go quicker, she rounded the corner and came to a halt, back pressed to the wall as she waited for her hunter, her prey, to come closer. He’d slowed his strides, as any smart person would. He knew that anything could be waiting around the corner for him. Listening carefully, Enzi used the light yet audible sound of his steps to place his position. Three. She took a deep breath. Two. How had he found her? One. This wasn’t the time for that question. Now.

She saw it first, a mistake that she was surprised someone trained to hunt down others would make, the gun extended out in front of him. Taking any corner ensured that the thing in front was at terrible risk of whatever was waiting. In this case, the gun. With one smooth kick, her foot kicked the gun from his hold and to the tunnel’s tracks.

As soon as her right foot landed on the ground, she used the kick’s momentum to follow through into another kick with her left food as she completed her turn. It was aimed for the hell f her shoe to land against her attacker’s cheek, but the guy was trying to make-up for the bit of dignity he’d lost when his weapon left his hand by successfully blocking her attempt for first blood with his arm.

With that momentum lost, she dropped her foot to the ground and moved to working with her hands. Her first swing went to his gut, the man taking it in a manner than many military trained people had been. There was a way to lessen the impact of any blow, to take it and use it as an opening rather than a blow, which he did, grasping hold of her wrist after her fist had made contact at his stomach.

((Ick. I hate writing fight scenes. It’s always hard to do them without accidentally controlling a character of another too much lol. I hope I didn’t make him do to much! Feel more than free to control Enzi some if you must! We both know how this scene plays out in the end lol. So long as we end up there, no worries about the middle bits from me XD))

The gun fell with a loud racket, banging against the sides of the rail. There was no hope in retrieving the weapon, MacKenzie came in with her leg, ready to kick him but Will held up his forearm, blocking the blow. He was at least hoping and almost postive that it was her, the girl that he had spent day after day conversing and training with. He had only caught a glimpse of her back on the platform but this woman before him was MacKenzie. He knew it, it had to be, after the time she had been gone, he had waited for this moment where they would meet again.

However, somehow he pictured their meeting differently. He felt the punch to his gut, and grabbrd her wrist, using this chance to bring it behind her back. He shoved her against the wall, her cheek slamming into it with the amount of force he put behind the action.

He was about to speak when suddenly she flung her head back at him, her skull hitting him square in the nose. He felt the pressure begin to build up there instantly and in his daze she stomped on his right foot, and pushed him back. Will fell onto the tracks of the rail, pain surged through his body like an electric wave but he quickly got back up, ready for her next volley of attacks. Somehow, in his heart, he couldn’t help but smile and think to himself, Just like old times, right Enzi?

((No worries here, feel free to make Will jump, climb or kick, etc this is turning out great. I feel like if we didnt contol the characters a bit, at least in this fighting sequence, my post would be tons shorter.))

He had her wrist, which meant he had one less arm to block—granted it meant she had one less to swing with. But all the same, it meant there was an opening Mackenzie could take advantage of. She started to swing, but the hunter was quick to use her wrist to yank her around, forcibly shove her shove her to the cold, concrete wall with her arm pinned to her back. With a smack, her cheek hit the wall, an immediate pain shooting through her face. But to a girl that’d been through as much as her, pain only acted as fuel.

Throwing back her head, Enzi found she was the perfect height to cause maximum damage to him. The nose was a very sensitive thing, and as soon as her skull collided with his, his grip loosed on her wrist, and his pinning of her was weakened. If he was any good, he would work through the daze quick. No time to waste. Stomping her heel into his, Enzi weakened another key part of his hold on her: his stance.

She pushed back against him, hoping that his stature was downed enough that he wouldn’t be able to stay steady, and it was. Backwards, the hunter stumbled, his grip now gone from her. Whipping around, her gaze went to him, a rumbling starting to echo within the tunnel. Another subway car was on it’s way, and it was nearing quick, really quick.

Before she knew it, lights were burning through the darkness and stinging her eyes as it rounded the corner. Her back pressed flat to the wall as the car neared, her gaze trained on the ball-capped guy on the tracks. In haste, he backed to the other side of the tunnel, doing the same as Enzi just as the subway car flew by with a continuous screech and rush of wind that caused her hair to fly around. Bending her knees slightly, Enzi ripped her ankle holstered pistol from free, standing straight and reading herself for the train to finish going by.

It was quick, a few seconds at most, Mackenzie more than ready to pull the trigger as soon as it was out of her way. Her arms extended, her aim locked, and her finger ready to pull the trigger. With a ‘pop’, the gun fired, bullet hitting exactly where she’d wanted. A through and through in the right thigh, that’s all she needed. Well...maybe it wasn’t ‘all’ she needed. One more couldn’t hurt, right? She moved her sights to his arm in a quick motion, but before she could pull the trigger, the hunter threw something at her, hitting her hands just as she fired. The bullet missed by a few inches, lodging into the wall above the guy’s shoulder.

As Will had his fists up, both in ready position to defend his attacker's next move he could feel the rubble below his feet start to shake. He whipped his head to the left of him, and saw the approaching beam of light getting brighter and brighter. If he didn't move now he would undoubtedly be hit by the oncoming subway car and die before he ever had a chance to complete his own mission.

He immediately turned back, having been closer to the other side of the tunnel and climbed atop of the ledge for safety. He reached it with enough time to spare to pick himself up from his knees and turn around to look at MacKenzie once the car had passed. He couldn't see her as the big ton of steel raced past him, but he was ready that when it did pass he would take note whether she had turned and ran or stayed to continue their fight. This gave Will but a few seconds to catch his breath until finally the subway car had passed them, leaving both of them wide open for what was next.

A high pitch ring shot through the tunnel as the gun was fired in Will's direction. He felt his muscles tense, his heart beat accelerate and warm trickle of blood run down his right leg. She had shot him and he wasn’t about to underestimate her that she wouldn't choose to shoot a second time.

Will grabbed the thing closest to him, his own phone that he pulled out of his pocket and threw it directly at her. In that same instance he heard a second gun shot as he jumped down to the lower floor and ran across the tracks, the pain in his leg was masked by the adrenaline pumping through his blood. Once he reached the other side he knew that she would have her gun pointed straight at his face, the prior distraction wasn’t meant to last long. He grabbed at her ankle, reaching over the the ledge and yanked as hard as he could toward him. With Will's strength he was able to pull Enzi off of her feet, and onto the tracks with him, no doubt having scrapped her back along the edge of the floor as he did so. He grabbed her hand that held the gun and bent it backwards, the pain causing her to release the weapon so the it was now in Will's possession. He hurried to successfully climb up onto the ledge and off of the tracks, blood escaped his open wound more as he used it to hoist himself up.

Will began to feel the tremble of the tunnel once more, without looking up to see the oncoming light of the car he knew what the loud sound meant. Enzi was getting up from the floor as fast as she could, but Will doubted it would be fast enough. He fought back the images of her suddenly dieing before his eyes and instead focused on his instincts and reached out his hand to grab onto her arm. In one quick grasp he pulled her up with his arm, the extra momentum allowing her to get onto the ledge quicker than if she were to have hoisted herself up.

((Lol, funny thing is I’d originally thought of the object he thrown at her to be his phone too XD.))

Okay, so maybe a more impacting shot should have been the way to go. Sure it was vital that Mackenzie get whatever info was in the man’s mind, but what was more important was staying alive. So just kill him. Fine. Enzi hurried to get her aim back to the hunter, but he managed to get a hold of her ankle and gave a hard jerk.

If there was one thing that any fighter could tell you, it was that losing your footing could be the ultimate game changer, especially when it’d cause you to fall a couple of feet down. The fall was far from majestic; one of her hands left her gun in attempts to make sure the back of her head not crack to the concrete of the platform she was being pulled from, while the other stayed gripped to her weapon. She managed to push herself enough upright to protect her head from hitting, but she couldn’t prevent her back from sliding along the corner of the uprising, each vertebrae taking a beating until her feet hit the tracks.

It only got worse from there. The guy bent her wrist backwards, easily able to force her grip loose and retrieve her gun. Damn it! The hunter now had a weapon with ten more rounds at his disposal and the upper ground. If she tried to climb up, no doubt he would probably just bury his boot into her face, or break a few bones in her hand with a good stomp when she tried to pull herself up. And he was out of reach for her to get hold of his ankles as he had her—and even if he was in reach, he could still just shoot her before she could try and yank him off balance.

So...your next move? Do you know it? Because time’s running out, another subway car is coming—can’t you hear it’s screech, feel it’s shakes, see it’s lights? Have you figured it out? Well, have you?

The immediate threat was the subway car. It would crush her for sure. Getting to the other side of the tracks was no longer an option. The only thing Enzi could do at this point was chance a climb up on the side with the hunter. The fucker’s going to kick you in the face and knock you back to the tracks in front of the freakin’ train. Ignore it, ignore the possibilities. You’ve failed, you know that now, right? You didn’t think far enough ahead. You weren’t ready. You’re going to die.

So imagine for just a moment that you are Mackenzie Harth. Image what it’s like to have everything taken from you, soon to include your life. Imagine you’ve lost. Imagine it. Now...imagine your surprise when the bleak ending staring you in the face vanishes. Imagine your shock when the hunter after your life helps you to the platform not a second too soon. So again, I ask you, have you figured out your next move? Well, have you?

Enzi didn’t waste time questioning why her attacker had hoisted her the rest of the way, didn’t waste time wondering why he’d saved her life. Instead, she ignored all of that. This was still a life or death situation, he was still a hunter, and he was still her prey until proven otherwise. Getting her arm from his grip with a jerk, she moved her right forearm to his neck, and she drove him back to the wall, keeping her arm pressed firmly against his throat. She placed her left palm to the gun he held in his right hand, and pushed hard, causing his hand to slam to the wall, his grip being lost on the pistol. The weapon hit the floor, and Enzi’s gaze went to the hunter’s. For the first time, she got to see his face.

The girl’s brow furrowed, lips parting as disbelief settled in. “Will?” the name left her lips without her noticing. No. There was no way that William, a guy her father had practically thought of as a son and Enzi had considered a brother at one point was…. He was there hunter? He was here to kill her? Wow, as if those son of a bitches hadn’t screwed up her life enough. Now they were taking the only tiny bit of family she had left and using it against her? No...

Will felt MacKenzie's grip tighten around his wrist, accepting his help and that gave him the cue to pull back, moving away from the ledge to give her room to get up. He wouldn't have cared if she had refused the help, had she wanted to be a martyr that was something he wouldn't allow. No such thanks were given to the rescuer once they were both safe, she immediately jerked her hand away from Will and pushed her arm straight into his neck. She was merciless, giving no room for Will to feel at ease, in fact he lifted his head as high as he could to try to breathe correctly.

The subway car rolled by, the sound of it engulfing the space but he didn't need to hear what she had said in order to know what word escaped her lips. He had read it on her expression, she finally saw that it was him who had been chasing and fighting her this entire time. "Hello Enzi," Will said with slight difficulty, the words straining to come out of his mouth. He lifted his gaze at her, enough to look past the bill of the baseball cap he was wearing in order to look into her eyes.

He didn't care that the gun was not in his possesion any longer, he didn't even care that Enzi seemed to have the upper hand at this moment. It was enough that she was here, before him, alive and from the looks of it, doing rather well. He noticed for a split second that due to the shock of his sudden face reveal that she slackened her grip against him. He took the opportunity and freed his hand from hers and grabbed the arm that was pressing against his throat. He swung her around, pushing her body to the wall and now their position was entirely switched. He had twisted her arm just enough that it was placed behind her back againdt the wall, unable to be of use to her while he used his forearm to hold back her upper shoulders, applying enough pressure to make it difficult for her to move.

"I am going to need you to come with me, before the others find you," he said strictly, a command in all respect of anything else it could have been. He wasn't asking politely, he wasnt offering a deal to her, he needed her to follow him and that was an order. He needed to know the answers to his questions that had been racking in his brain for months now. What did she know? How long did she expect to be hiding? What information had her father known in order for him to be murdered and only have it covered up by an accidental fire? How did Enzi survive? The dim light in the tunnel reflected off of Enzi's eyes, he often remembered them as a mysterious storm and looking at them now, all he could see was the girl whom he deeply cared for.

As soon as the hunter gave confirmation by letting a ‘hello Enzi’ leave that mouth of his, the girl’s jaw cliched tight, anger starting to swell. Out of the entire world, it would be the last ‘family’ she had that they’d choice to sick on her. Will was always a good lap dog to her father, no doubt he was focused on living up to his obedient and serving military boy getup. The mother fucker. He really—rule number one: never let your guard down. Failed.

Anger was a weakness, and it flowed through her like a drug, which left her open for a moment just long enough for her hunter—her former friend to turn the tides. Getting from her hold, he yanked her around so her back hit the wall, one of her arms tucked tightly behind it with his hand gripped tight to her wrist to ensure it stayed there.

Shaking, or at least harnessing her bubbling anger was required. The way she’d been able to defend herself well every time before this? She’d had no emotion to hinder her. She just focused on the situation, on the fight. She had to do the same here. Just because her hunter and prey was now a face she knew...knew well, didn’t change a thing. The third thing William had done in line to tracking her down and chasing after her into the tunnels was draw his weapon. What had he planned to do with that thing if not shot her?

It wasn’t a toy, after all, it was something designed to sear through flesh—it was designed to bring harm. Will had wielded something that was built solely to hurt things. He was her enemy, now. It was time to sever all ties to him and treat him as she would anyone else.

“I am going to need you to come with me, before the others find you,” he told her, acting as if he cared. There was no way to tell if his words were true, so there was no way she was going to trust him...but he didn’t know that. Years back, she would have trusted him without a second thought. She would have put her life in the palm of his hand, knowing he would protect her in the end. But that was over three years ago. No telling how much had changed, how much he had changed. Same goes for you. He doesn’t know how much you’ve changed. He doesn’t know that you aren’t the same girl who’d put your life in his hand…use that to your advantage.

Waiting a moment, letting his words ‘sink in’, the girl made sure to wash all anger from her expression. “Go where?” she asked in a normal tone as she gave a bit of a buck to his hold. For a moment, he didn’t give her lead way, not sure if she were calmed and okay to be released. But he eventually caved, believing things had smoothed over pretty well. Bending down, Enzi went to pick up her gun, but Will put his foot on her hand as she grasped it, pushing down enough to cause a small twinge travel up her arm. Her eyes shot to him. “Really? You want me to trust you, but you won’t trust me?”

Another moment of pause, but like before, Will caved just enough, lifting his foot slightly to let Mackenzie get her gun and stand up. Motioning for her to follow, Will began to take steps down the tunnel, starting to say something right as she grabbed his arm and said his name, getting him to turn and face her. One very forcefully and very precise back with the butt of her pistol later, and William was knocked out cold. Nothing could get a grown man downed than a good pistol whip to the side of the head. It was a requirement. After all, this was a life or death situation. Trust him, and Enzi could be walking straight to her death or worse. Before she risked that, she needed to get answers...she needed to be in control of the situation.

She needed to have Will restrained at her will.

Taking in a deep breath, Enzi stayed still for a moment, eyes locked on the unconscious man. The ball cap he’d been wearing was gone, now, having fallen off after he the ground. Out of all the people...it had to be him.

Bending down, Enzi grabbed hold of Will’s ankles, and she started to slowly drag his heavy ass on the small ledge of the tunnel. There had to be a maintenance area somewhere near by, a small nook in the tunnel that a ladder up to the surface, considering she hadn’t passed one during her venture into the tunnel yet. Sure enough, several yards down, she found one. Pulling his limp body into the room, Enzi dropped Will’s legs and proceeded to glance around for something, anything, to use as bonds to tie Will up with...and to tie off his leg wound to keep the boy from bleeding too much before Enzi got her some answers.

Not seeing anything in particular near by, her gaze fell back to Will. Any kind of fabric would do, would it not? Including cotton. Fishing a knife from her back pocket, Enzi leaned down and went on to cut a straight line through Will’s shirt. She put the knife back into her pocket, then ripped two long and thick strands from his shirt. One was used to tie off his leg. And after propping Will up against the wall, the other was used to tie Will to one of the welded in steps of the ladder that lead up to the surface.

Now, all she had to do was wait for the man to wake up. Sitting on the other side of the small room, Enzi kept her eyes on the hunter. How’d he find me…? That question was a particularly bothersome one. Maybe that’s why they’re using him? Because he knows me better than anyone else alive? Knows how to find me... A groan snapped her from her thoughts. “You’re put on more weight. What are you, like seven percent body fat now?” she asked, the question not really being thrown out for an answer. If anything, it was a bit of a smartelic thing to say.

There was a still silence in the tunnel now, the two of them trying to decide what their next words would be. Will was never that much of a good speaker, he knew how to follow orders, he understood them very well and executed them with prestige. Speaking however, was always a crutch that held him back, he wasn't eloquent, and in this type of situation it would have been better for him to come straight to the point. 'Enzi, there are people after you but I am trying to save you.' What if he had said this instead of issueing a command? Would she have trusted him then? Could he have avoided what was to come? No, no matter what he said, he still would have trusted Enzi, letting himself be open to danger.

She had asked where he wanted her to go, all he needed was a safe place, away from cameras and away from a moving subway car that could kill a person if eaither one of them fell onto the tracks again. "Somewhere safe," he said as he released his hold of her, stepping to the side. He had felt her struggle, but he knew that was what he would have done to, it wouldnt be right speaking to her if he had her pinned down. Her sudden advance toward the gun on the floor made him react instinctively. They had only just been in a fight a few minutes ago, one where she had shot him, it hadn't been a fatal shot, nor life threatening but nonetheless she did shoot. But then again, that was when she didn't know his identity so he lifted his foot off of the gun and allowed her to proceed.

Will glanced down at the tracks, remembering his gun that had been kicked away at the beginning of the fight. It now lay on the tracks, split into several pieces, having been run over twice by the subway car, it was now useless to him. He would have to get another when he returned to the agency, for now, he wondered if MacKenzie had any others in her possession at the place she was staying at. That detail hadn't been in the files, no one knew where she was living, he suspected she wasn't living anywhere for too long.

"Once we get out..." Will began to say, turning his body to away from her and advancing deeper into the tunnel for another exit. He heard Enzi call his name, he felt her touch, there was an urgency to it and he faced her quickly, unsure of the situation. But, if there had been an emergency he wasn't sure, he had blacked out as soon as he turned, barely noticing the lift of her arm and gun. He had felt a thud on his head, that was for sure, but silence and darkness enveloped his mind.

Will awoke with his head slightly throbbing, feeling constricted, pressure centered around his left thigh and a burning that he felt all along his back. He blinked several times, regaining his understanding of the situation and the place he was now in. It was no longer the tunnel but he heard a slight rumble from afar, and he saw maintenance machine against the wall with control panels. But most importantly, he saw Enzi leaning up against a table, staring at him, her mouth had made a sound but he had barely heard what she had said. Instead he decided to ask what was the most bogging thing in his head right now. "Why did you tie me up?"

Yes, he understood that he had fought her, chased her, even was holding a gun but that was all for precaution and necessary means to get close to her. He didn't know how she would react to him, but he had felt she would trust him after everything they had been through in the past but he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. He took in the fact that she had torn at his clothes to wrap the wound on his leg, at least she cared that much.

"Enzi, I need to tell you something," Will began saying, feeling uncomfortable with his hands tied up the the steel bar, "I have a letter to give you from your father before he died. Also, there are others chasing after you but I asked to be sent on this mission, they believed you would allow me to come closer because we know each other. But my intentions are not to bring you back to them," Will finished saying, wondering how much he would tell her now and how long they had before others would follow him, wondering where he went and that he had turned off his tracking device when he stepped off the plane into Seattle.

((super bad, in my own opinion. Rambled a crap ton. Very sleep deprived lol. But anyways, here's some crap XD))

Really? That was actually a question? Will should know very well why she tied him up—why she didn’t...couldn’t trust him. Or maybe he didn’t understand. While Will was a man of the military, he had always kept his head down, followed orders—followed her father’s orders, to be more precise. He never had to think for himself when there was a man with all the answers there ready to hand them over. Enzi, on the other hand, was her father’s daughter; she wasn’t good at sticking her thoughts aside to obey others, always following her own gut, learning from trial and error.

As such, Mackenzie could see things, could imagine things, while Will...he only heard and believed what others said. At least this was what the girl thought of him. There was nothing wrong with a warrior ready to follow orders without question; they were required to win any fight. She respected his loyalty, his ability to react without question. It was because of this that she questioned William’s motives. How could a noble, to-the-T following man stray from orders, stray from everything he was told? He couldn’t. Could he?

Dismissing his own question, Will leap straight into saying how he needed to tell Enzi something, then he went on to tell her. “I have a letter to give you from your father before he died.” Her eyes went from the blade she’d been fidgeting her fingers and to him, the twirling of the knife stopping. The breath she’d been taking was caught in her lungs, the girl not noticing she’d started to hold it. There was a possibility that such a letter did exist. When her dad went off the grid, he hadn’t talked to her, told her anything. Maybe he’d trusted his words to a letter to be given to her from someone he trusted...to Will, the guy he’d grown to see as a son.

But Will stepped from that topic quick, throwing out there that others were after her. Of course they were. What, did he really think she wasn’t aware that there were people trying to kill her?

Then her jaw clinched. He...asked for the mission? How...how had he even gotten hold of the details? To her knowledge, she was listed as ‘deceased’ and every tail sent after her was working off the books. Enzi was a smudge at the edge of the paper that needed to be erased. No one got to read outside of the lines but for a select few, so no one ever got to see the smudges that were in need of erasing. Yet, here William was saying he’d not only been able to see the smudge, but he’d manage to ‘talk them into’ giving him the mission?

“What’d you do to get their trust?” In other words, what dark and twisted shit had he done to prove that he was capable of working in the blacker part of the government? What had Will done that gained the trust of people who were incapable of trust? “There’s no way that they’d just be like, ‘oh hey that girl you used to know, she’s not dead, but we need her to be. Wanna do it? I mean, we know you used to be tight with her dead daddy, but...wanna go cut her throat for us’ unless you’d done something to get their trust.” Unless you’d followed their darkest orders so closely that they believed you capable of carrying this out. “And how am I to know which of us you are betraying? Because in any case, you are betraying someone. You are a traitor. Traitors aren’t exactly trust worthy. Hence the ropes”

It was just way to...well, off. This didn’t make any sense. How could it? They weren’t careless. They wouldn’t make a mistake. So either he was here to, indeed, kill her and he was lying to her. Or...they knew he wouldn’t be capable of betraying her, but he would lead them right to her. Or—or he’d, as she’d already asked, done something so bad already that they believed him capable of doing this for them. Three possibilities, none of which were very good.

The rope that held William's hand together to the metal bar beside him was starting to make him feel agitated. He hated being held down, incapable of moving freely and yet, he had been in that situation so many times in his life. This wasn't the first time he had been tied up, and pinned down with questions in order to get answers, answers that his captors wanted to hear.

What did MacKenzie want to hear from Will? Did she want him to be her enemy, therefore making it easier to cut all ties with him, finish him off without leaving any weak points in her plan of escaping. That's what people that you cared about in your life were, weak points that others could use to do more harm. That's what had happened to Will three years ago when the news of their disappearance reached the government's ears. They had gagged Will, took him away, tried everything they could in order to get the answers they wanted from him, hurting him so that the pain would force him to speak. But, Will had known nothing, they had only suspected that he knew something of Commander Harth's whereabouts as well as his daughters. But when they finally figured it out, he was of no use to them, so they locked him up.

Will stared at Enzi, taking in her every word, if only he had brought the letter with him then he could easily show it to her, to reveal that he was telling the truth. "Look, you can choose to believe me or not. I know that pulling out my gun in the beginning was misleading but I didn’t know if you would be armed as well, I had to be cautious." That was one of the many things Will had drilled in his head over the years. There was never a safe situation, he always had to be on his guard, however he had failed to follow that rule when he believed he could trust Enzi with a gun.

"As to why they trust me," Will moved a bit, as best he could to feel more comfortable, "they must have believed you would come nicely after seeing it was me. After all, we were close in the past, I would like to say that we still are if you let me out of these ropes." Will tried his best to smile sincerely but it came out looking dashingly teasing. "The agency that I am working for wants you brought back to them alive, they want to know what your mother had found in the lab and if you knew anything about what your father discovered. But, I wont be bringing you to them, I came to warn you, however they dont expect that of me. Yes, I did earn their trust but I wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

Everything was complicated, Will knew that and he also wondered how much of what happened to him in these past three years he would have to tell Enzi in order to win her trust. Time was ticking, he knew that the agency would start to get suspicious with the lack of contact. But, he had wanted to make sure Enzi was safe, and after three years, he wanted to tell her that despite appearances, he had been working the past year to find her and help her.

Of course I’d be armed; being cautious and being stupid are two completely different things—something I know Dad taught you. You weren’t being cautious. So which is it? Were you being stupid, or were you just being a backstabbing son of a bitch? It didn’t make sense—he wasn’t making sense. He was stumbling, or so it felt like that. It felt forced, all of his words, all of his train of thought. It was weird...it was off. Something was off.

But what?

Everything used to be easy, didn’t it? Conversation with one another, it was easy before...right? Or was it always off? Was there always a missing link that kept the two from having a natural conversation? A chink in their relationship that was not capable of mending that’d formed somehow...or perhaps that’d never been filled to start with? Was she only now noticing the break because she was looking so hard for it? Looking hard for anything to condemn Will, to shake the last tie she’d made before she’d stepped from her previous life?

Her face soften for a brief moment, perhaps so briefly it went unnoticed. What if.... Gone, it vanished as soon as his reasoning for why they trusted him was given, gone was her moment of thinking that maybe, just maybe there had always been a void, a chink, a break in their relationship. It has always been natural, right? This wasn’t. It wasn’t. Right?

Because, there was absolutely no possible way Will was telling the truth. He didn’t actually believe that she would buy in to that complete bullshit reason as to why they were having him come after her. They knew that she would never go nicely anywhere, no matter who was trying to lead her in. They knew she’d never trust anyone. They...they knew that she wouldn’t trust him, that she’d be even more suspicious of Will than anyone. They knew that she would delay in killing him, that she would be hesitant. They knew that she’d be left open to making a mistake.

Son of a bitch. They were using him. If he was a willing participant to their plan or if he was a gullible little kid trying to reach out to the only ‘family’ he had left after losing his father figure, Enzi couldn’t say, nor would she spend the time to figure it out. This was too messy for her to get into, for her to get her feet stuck in—for her to get trapped just like thy were, surely, hoping she would.

He knew why she was being hunted, why her father was killed—he knew that it had to do with her mother’s work. So they’d told him that much...or he’d figured it out on his own somehow. Maybe the did trust him? Or maybe they fed him just enough for him to squeeze through her guard. What if... She couldn’t afford to waste a second more.

Just a moment longer... For old time’s sake. Yes, messy, the situation was messy, but, well, they’d thought right. Heading for the hills was hard for a girl like her when faced with the one thing that could keep her from the climb to safety. Family. It was everything to her, and Will was the only ‘family’ she had. What if...what if he really does want to help you?

Didn’t matter. He was a liability at best, a loss end that could be tugged on to make her fall, to make her falter—to make her hesitate just like she was doing at that exact moment. No matter of his intents, Will was a hindrance.

Standing to her feet, the girl was silent. She dropped a knife right at the bottom of Will’s boots. “You may not hurt me, but if I see your face again, I’ll do more than hurt you.”

The one thing she hadn’t realized, she’d done just what Will had asked of her to prove that they were as close as they used to be. She’d given him the means to cut himself free, granted she hadn’t done it herself, but close enough. It was a mistake, a slip up, one of many she’d surely make if Will didn’t get from her life once more. She hadn’t wanted to leave any hope that there was still some sort of tie between them. She wanted Will to believe there was nothing there, that he was just some memory lost in her past.

She began to walk passed Will to get hold of the ladder. Pausing at the base of it, she looked down to him one more time. “I’m sorry...” for getting you mixed up in this. I’m sorry for the ending your story holds because of the chapters my family has wrote for you. I’m sorry that you’re going to die either by them or by me. I’m so sorry. “But I can’t trust you.” With that, she began to climb the ladder, hand going up to push the manhole out of her way and allow her to pull herself onto an empty, street cast in shadows as twilight began to leave the city and night approached.

Her feet now steady on the asphalt, Enzi pulled the manhole back in place, trying her best not to spare any last glance to Will. This was how it had to be. It was safest for him, and it was safest for her. This was how it had to be.

Standing straight, she began to turn around to leave. Her guard was down, just as they’d surely predictable it would be. Her senses were off. Her skin didn’t even crawl a single bit from the pair of eyes burning into her. Her paranoia didn’t kick into gear in the least, not even as her gaze landed on the guy several strides away. She didn’t have time to click pieces into place, to shake the effect that Will had brought onto her off, before the guy pulled the trigger on the pistol he had held out straight and aimed at her. Even as the sound cracked through the thickening night air, and the sting in her shoulder splintered sharply through her entire body, she didn’t put the pieces into place.

She’d made a mistake. She’d let her guard down. He’d made her let her guard down. That’s what they wanted. They wanted her to doubt him, to question everything, they wanted her in a state of contemplation. They waned this exact thing to happen, didn’t they? As another sting of pain sunk into her flesh and snaked through her body, it started to click. This was her fault. Wasn’t it? She should have known this was what they wanted. Another pop rattled down the alley, and another stab of pain.

This was what they wanted. Wasn’t it? As darkness started to dot her vision, as she stumbled back a few steps before falling to the ground, Mackenzie realized she’d done what her father had. She’d let her guard down around family. She was going to die the same way he had, because of family.

Will studied the knife that landed close to him for only a second before using his foot to drag it closer to the bottom of the steel bar his hands had been tied to. He slid his hands down, grabbing the knife, turning it around so that it pointed directly at the rope and he started working at it so that he could free himself. He knew he had to act quickly, Enzi was already making her way up the ladder and out of his reach. Damn it all, he wasn't about to lose her again without talking more to her in the very least. If she wouldn't accept his help willingly then he would just force her to oblige.

She did give him the knife to free himself, she had a gun, she could have used it against him. But, despite Enzi's upfront image of appearing strong and independent, he knew that having lost the family that meant so much to her, she must be feeling empty and alone. She was on the run, a fugitive that could never rest, never go back to living a normal life. Her days were filled with hiding, making sure she hid from security cameras, avoiding any suspicious eyes by whichever means necessary. Will knew that in Enzi's heart that she feared trusting others, trust led to relationships and once that formed, there was a fear to losing them or being betrayed. Betrayed. That's what she felt from him now.

Will looked up to the ladder, and barely caught a glance of Enzi before she disappeared out of his sight. "Wait!" He tried calling out to her. She didn't have to be sorry, she didn't need to apologize for anything. Will knew what he was getting into the moment he accepted the first mission from the corporation. He knew what would happen when he first started pulling the trigger of a gun. He knew, from the moment that he entered into Enzi's life that he had found something, no, someone that he didn't want to lose. He had already failed at protecting what was important to him, Commander Harth and Enzi's mother, he wasn't about to lose Enzi as well.

She wanted to hurt him, she had warned him, it was a threat to say the least. For sure, if Will didn't know any better he would walk into the end barrel of her gun, waiting to see if she would pull the trigger. He knew what she was capable of, she was the Commander's daughter after all but not only that, Enzi had a mind that once it was made up, she didn't falter. Nothing would make her falter, she would pull that trigger, she couldn't take anymore chances after everything she has been through.

Will got the ropes off of him, and hurried after Enzi, each step he took up the stairs made the bullet wound that was still in his leg sting with pain. It was barely noticeable to Will as he made his way up, he saw that the manhole was covered, but he hoped that Enzi couldn't be far away from him. Then a loud strike of sound shot through the air, with the ringing in Will's ear that accompanied it, he knew what that sound meant.

Will's eyes widened, his stomach dropped, and he climbed out of the manhole faster. Once he reached the top he shoved the steel cover out of his way and climbed out of the hole. He looked up to see the man that he had been sent on this mission with holding a gun straight up, pointed directly at Enzi, another bullet had been fired from the gun. He watched, trying not to let the shock overwhelm him from seeing Enzi slump down to the floor, her body becoming limp as she blacked out.

He wanted nothing more than to run to her at that moment, hold her in his arms and take her to a hospital. But, there was one thing that he had to do first. Will breathed in slowly and deeply, the exhale coming out a bit shaky, then, the tense feeling in his muscles completely disappeared. Will looked up at the man who accompanied him, "I heard that there were two people seen running into the tunnel of the subway station, I figured it was you and that girl, so I scouted out here just in case. Looks like I was right in thinking that way, I-" As the man spoke Will had walked up to him, grabbing the gun that Enzi had stored in the back of her belt and shot him in point blank sight.

Will didn't blink when the shot was fired, he saw the man's pupils dilate as soon as the bullet had pierced his heart. It was what Will had been trained to do, and in fact, what he had been doing these past two years, there was no remorse, or even a slight hesitation. Will had not given the man time to react or even see Will's intentions. And nor would anyone else think that Will had shot him, he already had it planned out that he would blame the man's death on Enzi. That was when and if he ever got back to the base, for now he had to take care of Enzi first. Will put away the gun, turning away from the man on the floor and ran to Enzi who was unconscious a few feet away from him.

He saw the bullet wounds to her shoulder and another to her right hip, the blood was coming out but not rapidly. Will had time to take her to a hospital, she would live, the organization had ordered them to harm her if necessary but they needed her to live, but only if she received care in proper time. Will lifted Enzi off of the ground, one arm supported her shoulders as the other held her legs. "Stay with me Enzi, I'm not losing you." Her head leaned up against Will's chest as he walked toward the nearest hospital, all the while feeling the warm trickle of blood on his chest that was escaping her wounds.