A Special Encounter

A Story by Aphinion

When Lauren makes the seemingly unwise decision to walk through an alleyway alone at night, events take an interesting turn as she encounters agents from the very corporation she's been avoiding.

It was a dark and stormy night. Lauren walked slowly down the abandoned alleyway. Not because she was a f*****g dipshit who didn’t understand that alleyways were dangerous at nearly midnight or anything.

She was looking for trouble. But you couldn’t tell, not from where they sat. To them, she looked like any other girl.

Small.

Defenseless.

She had her arms crossed, holding her loose jacket closed. She walked slowly, taking small steps and looking every way but never focusing on any single location.

They looked at each other. He nodded his shaggy head subtly in agreement.

She was the perfect target.

They emerged from behind the garbage bins like cartoon characters, puffing out their chest and approaching Lauren in formation. He lead confidently.

Lauren stopped, holding every muscle in her body still. For a moment she listened. They held equally still, remaining silent despite the fact that they intended to absolutely destroy her in less than sixty seconds, and that was certainly going to make some noise.

As if hearing their disgustingly excited thoughts, Lauren turned her head to one side, letting her ear face their apparent silence. After a moment’s pause, she turned the rest of her body to admire their approach.

They broke their statue-esque poses and held a more relaxed position. He stared Lauren down intently, ignoring the fact that one of the men behind him had started cracking his knuckles like some kind of tv thug. God d****t, he had told Trey that he didn’t look cool doing that, he looked like he was about to develop arthritis. Rolling his eyes, he set his shining gaze back on Lauren’s.

She stood exactly how he imagined she would be: shoulders hunched, head bowed, fists clutching her jacket into tight clumps. Still, something about her appearance was off. Initially, he couldn’t pin down exactly what was wrong. She was a small girl, and they were three large guys. Not even a feel-good novel written by a feminist would put Lauren in good odds. But there she was, tiny yet intimidating as all hell.

“Honestly sweetheart, you could have planned this a little better.” he crooned arrogantly, letting his confidence weave its way into his voice. He was fine, he’d done this dozens of times. Sure, she was one of the specials, but she wasn’t anything special, if that made any sense. He shook his head slightly, then froze, hoping that she hadn’t noticed his brief moment of distraction.

Her hands relaxed, and she let them slide smoothly into her pockets. “I guess it all depends on what I’m going for.” With a gentle roll, she stretched her spine and broke her curled stance.

“Yeah, sure.” He heard Trey chime in bluntly. He was never good at speeches, but thank god at least he stopped cracking his knuckles.

“While we’re on the topic of motivation, what brings you here, Samuel?” She drew the last word out softly, as if calling out to a loved one.

Samuel paused. How did she know his name? Not that it mattered. A name was just a name, and it wouldn’t matter if she knew every secret on earth once she was dead. “I think you know, Lauren.” He dropped her name in boldly. “They say you’re special, but in my opinion that’s just an excuse for you to run around like an idiot and endanger the rest of us.”

“Oh sure, I’m the dangerous one!” she scoffed, crossing her arms, this time in defiance, “I’m so sorry that I was born like this. I should have chosen to be normal like you, because it was completely my decision.” She spat the last words out angrily, letting sarcasm mask any possibility of underlying feelings.

“That doesn’t matter. You’re still mine.” Samuel smiled widely. Maintaining his predatory gaze, he pulled a black metal handgun from its holster and pointed it loosely at arms length. “Now come on, lets do this the easy way.”

Lauren remained still, feet planted firmly into the dirty asphalt, “There’s no way in hell I’m coming with you. I don’t care if you have a gun.”

“You’ll care if I shoot you.”

“You’re assuming that you’ll get that far.”

“I’m a professionally trained bounty hunter with two men for back up. I like my chances.”

“Please, you’re a trigger happy teenager. The guy to your left seems excited just to be let outside and I don’t know if the other one can even speak.”

Samuel feigned offense briefly, then began walking towards Lauren, gun now directed sharply at her forehead. “No messing around. They want you alive, but I couldn’t care less.” Adrenaline pushed his heart into a tap dance as he turned off the gun’s safety. Electricity ran through his limbs and he strode closer, feeling the familiar and welcome sense of power that came with having someone completely under your control.

Lauren dropped her gaze to the ground; the only indication that she was less than comfortable.

He stopped and held the gun inches from her face, perfectly still and completely ready, “Now, last chance.” He spoke patiently, like a father to a child. “Follow me, or I’ll shoot.”

For a moment, all was still. There was no motion in the alley. No lights from passing cars. Samuel’s senses were consumed by the buzz of adrenaline in his veins and the tiny sound of Lauren’s breath as she let it hiss nervously through her teeth.

A second passed. She still looked down, ignoring his threat altogether. She made no attempt to obey or disobey. She did, and was, nothing.

A surge of delight bloomed in Samuel’s skull. She wasn’t complying. He was free to act as he wished. At this point, he could get away with anything, so long as he used the right words in future explanations. His finger slid down to the trigger and he tensed his shoulders with anticipation.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, it occurred to him what had been off about Lauren. It wasn’t her stature or her words. It wasn’t even the way she stood completely still with a loaded weapon at her head. It was her eyes. Dark. Defined. Yet full of a light that told Samuel her story. As he stared into her eyes he knew why she hadn’t run away screaming and flailing. She was right to not be afraid, because she wasn’t the one in danger.

He was.

He might have been holding the gun, but in that instant he knew that he did not have the upper hand. He never did. But once that thought hit him, it was too late.

Those eyes flicked upward to meet his with an intense stare, and it was all over.

In one swift motion, she wrestled the gun from his grasp, struck his side, and sent him straight to the floor. His face crushed into the stone as she pummeled him with a ferocity that spoke for her. Each blow sent an explosion of pain through its contact point. He felt his bones crack and a warm sensation spread over him. Blood. It was probably his blood.

Two gunshots sounded, but none met his form. At least, he didn’t feel them. Somewhere in the back of his mind Samuel thought of the two gorillas that had accompanied him.

However, shock never turned to grief as he was interrupted by another attack. A foot met Samuel squarely in the chest, knocking him to his back five feet away. He laid there motionless, feeling nothing but agony in every inch of his body.

Delicately, Lauren stepped over him, placing one foot on either side of his waist. Looking pointedly into his bruised eyes, she sat lightly upon his abdomen.

He let out of groan of agony. Even her feather-like weight caused lightning bolts of pain to shoot up his spine and down his legs.

She grinned at his suffering, “Ah, it isn’t much fun, is it?” Her eyes glinted fiercely, and she unbuttoned her now-bloody jacket. With a happy flourish, she tossed the gun to the side and reached into the lining of her coat.

“Now, I’m not going to kill you. But you’re going to wish I had.” Lauren admitted bluntly, clutching tightly at something dark and shining.

Samuel spat blood into Lauren’s face, taking a small amount of pride in the fact that he could still be an annoying piece of s**t whilst having his a*s handed to him. “Doubt it.” he croaked, maintaining whatever dignity he could despite being plastered on the floor.

Lauren smiled, “Oh, I think we can both admit that I’m full of surprises.” She held the dark object in her hands, letting him view it fully.

Samuel’s heart dropped to his stomach. He recognized that blade. Long, sharp, cruelly crafted to be a merciless instrument. But it wasn’t the twisted bit of shining metal that caught his eye, it was the glowing orb at its hilt. “You’ve been collecting souls.” he stated firmly, trying not to let his voice tremble.

“Yeah…” she viewed the blade fondly. “It wouldn’t be this easy if you just left me alone.” Her eyes turned back to Samuel and took him apart with a mechanical interest.

Samuel reached desperately for the blade, thrusting his arms forward so carelessly that he almost cut himself.

Lauren blocked his advance instinctively, pinning his wrist to the floor, "Stop that." she commanded irritatedly, "You know that the blade won't work for you anyway. Seems that it's about as useful as a broken toothpick for you normal people."

“Please,” he whispered desperately, growing limp under her hold, “Don’t do this. I won’t tell anyone I saw you.”

“Oh will you now?” Lauren dropped her knee into his shoulder, effectively pinning him against into the ground. She positioned the blade comfortably in her grasp and held it above her head.

Tears swam in Samuel’s eyes, and he let them run quietly down the side of his face. “They can find other specials.” He spoke determinedly.

“You know that they’ll search your mind once you lose me. Don’t lie.”

Nothing. No response.

“Ah don’t fret, things are better this way.” she crooned mockingly. Her hands lined the blade up with the center of his chest and held firm. “After all, I could have endangered you.”

The knife dropped instantly, sending an explosion of fiery pain through Samuel’s chest. He screamed in agony and fear, because they both knew that it wasn’t over.

Peering stonily into Samuel’s eyes, Lauren pressed her thumb across the glowing hilt of the blade. The luminescent stone flared, encompassing both bodies for an instant. His scream died off slowly, like it was being pulled further and further until distance made the noise imperceptible. A tendril of light peeled away from the orb and buried itself into Samuel’s chest, feeling in the cavity gently until it caught hold of his soul. They withdrew together, glowing, whining, into the blade.

Then all was silent.