The seconds seemed to pass by in lingering, torment fuelled hours of convulsion, the tenebrous air lingering as a reminder to the sinister souls hunting me down. I tried focusing my attention to anything, anything but the paroxysm howling from my rib and back of my head. Blood continued to rapidly disperse from the two areas and I knew that I wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer. My back remained slanted against the algid concrete of the warehouse behind me; my body slouched in an unbearable position, but the pain that would surface from moving would be even worse. I had recognition of time, or how I ended up here, with the only memory obtainable being waking up in the midst of this modern warfare.
My mind wasn't too aware of what was going on as I'd been drifting in and out of consciousness repeatedly, surviving for the moments in which everything went a sheer white and the agony only a distant memory. Though, as more time past, the more energy I lost and I found myself clinging onto every ounce of what little strength remained within me, both mentally and physically.
The night had been growing expeditiously hiemal, the bitter wind clawing at my senses, intensifying the agony even further. My entire body ached as it shivered under the iciness, only a thin layer of clothing covering my body, most of which was wringing in the claret liquid oozing from various limbs.
I hadn't heard gun fire for a considerable amount of time, though I could say the same about the screeches etching from him, which both relieved and petrified me, partially for the fact that no more defunctive ammunition had been knifing the air around me, while the other part longed for the safety of him.
Glancing up at the sky, it remained the same charcoal black that it had previously been, though now it was smothered by paramount clouds rumbling boisterously throughout the landscape, which was shielded from my view by blocks of crates and boxes, firing suspicions that I was in some kind of port. My deep breathes were my soundtrack as I remained in silence, waiting. I wasn't sure what exactly I was waiting for, though part of me wanted to be waiting for someone or for him or him to find me before the gun fire was ignited once more.
"Where could she be?" My breathing caught in my throat at a voice, not even ten metres away from me. The voice was deep and gravely, the kind of tone created from years of smoking on cigars and late night whiskey binges. I didn't recognise the voice, but I knew it wasn't a voice I wanted to be hearing.
"No idea man, she can't be far. We've got men surrounding the area, she'll never get out." A second voice sounded and as they moved closer to where I was hidden, I could make out a faint outline of the two men as I strained my eyes over the box shielding me from their sight. They were stood in clear eyesight of my previous position, so I found myself thankful for my previous determination to move.
"What about Bennett?" The first guy questioned, pausing his steps to turn to the other guy, it was from that angle that I caught sight of the hefty rifle strapped to his side.
"What do you mean, what about Bennett? He'll be a goner, probably already is,'' the other replied.
"Mate you have not seen him in action. That guy's survived more than you realise, taken at least three bullet wounds for that girl of his,'' he stated, before pausing for a breath. "You heard him screaming her name at the top of his lungs for at least an hour, yet we still haven't found him."
"Why'd he stop shouting though?"
"I don't know why he stopped, but he's top level, trust me, he knows what he is doing. So if he finds the girl before we do, they'll both make it out alive."
"So we need to find the girl,'' the second replied, turning to glance around the area. "She's got to be round here somewhere, I mean she couldn't have gotten that far, not after she was hit."
His words forced my eyes to where my hand remained locked over the pouring wound smothering my ribcage.
''How will we identify her?"
"She's got some tattoo or something, something in Arabic, I think. But trust me, we'll know if it's her or not."
My suspicions that they had been talking about me were confirmed once the words left his throat. My heart began palpitating rapidly in my chest, with the air being ripped from my lungs, knowing that with their close proximity, they were certain to find me.
I waited for the other man's response- it never came. Instead two ear-splitting detonations following after one another, stealing the lives of the two men, a bullet hitting each of them in the exact centre of their foreheads as they collapsed onto the floor instantly, blood gushing from their limp corpses.
My eyes shot open, a shriek slicing through and out of my throat, my breathing uneven as I frantically searched around my surroundings, only to find myself in the safety of my bedroom. I took a deep sigh, attempting to control the indomitable shaking of my body.
I took a glance toward the window in the far corner of the room, the light signalling that it was presumably mid-afternoon, meaning that I had been asleep for a couple of hours. I dragged myself to my feet, once I felt that I had the strength to do so, walking over to sit on my bed as my mind drifted back to what I had witnessed while asleep. I hadn't experienced any nightmares of that kind in weeks; therefore I was certain that they arrived when my mental state was at a weakness. So, considering the state I was in, when I must have fallen into unconsciousness, it wasn't surprising that a night terror had surfaced.
My memory held a vivid account of all of them; each had felt as if I had lived through them, but from what I know about night terrors, that was a natural occurrence for anyone experiencing them. However, this didn't stop me questioning the events within my bloodcurdling night terrors which seemed to be blending into some sort of story that was slowly beginning to make sense.
The conversation between the unnamed men was on loop within my head, trying to make sense of what they had said. It was evident now, that Bennett, whoever he was, was the person responsible for the screaming of my name, he had been the 0ne searching for me, or supposedly trying to save me. The name meant nothing to me and I had never heard it before, hence my mind bypassed it to focus on who had shot the two men. Their aim was inconceivable, I had no idea as to where whoever it was had shot it from, though it must have been a significant distance if they had remained undetected the entire time.
