She is like the person I believe to be was the first thought that came to my mind after listening to what made her the way she is now. Born from a suicidal prostitute who was already dead by hanging from the nose, Eve endured a harsh life when fate brought abusive parents who adopted her as their own.
Never have I expected that Eve was forced to be prostitute just to satisfy her adoptive parents greed for money while having to endure physical abuse at the hands of her parents and others around them, but despite all those things, she managed to survive through it all until one day, a mysterious man took pity on her and adopted her as his own child, where he trained her to become a deadly and merciless assassin for organization he works in.
“The Order of Solomon,” I mumbled under my breath, glancing at the sleeping Eve with her eyes closed, that is who she worked for, huh. Focusing on the road and thinking about her past, I wondered how much more painful her life must be than mine.
Not like that matters anyway, she endured it all so that she can live like me, free from any form of oppression or control over us. The only thing that makes sense is to trust her completely because if not, then we are nothing but a bunch of idiots following our whims, “I am sorry Eve, for doubting you.” I quietly said to her, hoping not to wake her up.
Regarding the organization, she explained to me about how they previously used to be good before human selfishness and power hungry corrupted them into being evil and corrupt. They were once a benevolent faction, being the stereotypical knights that protected people and fought against tyranny until the corruption in their system broke apart everything that they stood for.
Sad to consider it, but it is what it is. Humans are humans and will always remain like this no matter how much we try to change ourselves. It is also quite amusing that she believes in God despite being a former assassin.
I focus on the road ahead of me as I drive, the mention of her belief in God makes me feel like laughing out loud. For someone who had been trained to kill and has seen many dead bodies of innocent people, she still believed that there is a god watching over us? How naïve could she be?
Sure, demons and the supernatural exist; but God? Where the hell did such an idea come from? For once in my life, he has never appeared to me or shown himself in any form, so why should I believe him at all? Besides, religion is just a tool for tyrants to control the masses and instill fear in their hearts while making them obey and follow their rules without question.
The peaceful atmosphere in the roads is always there with every passing minute, leaving only snowflakes to float around freely. The constant sound of the calm wind howling against the windows of my car is something that I am accustomed to by now.
When a couple of seconds had past, we arrived at a scene in my neighborhood. Across the houses was one curious site where police vehicles and swat trucks are present. However, the sight made it more eerie when there are no cops anywhere in the area.
Instead, only one figure wearing full black suit of Swat armory with a black mask that nearly covers his face with the exception of the eyes. While sitting at the side of the entrance door with his back resting on the wall beside him with slouch posture and an advanced-looking firearm strapped around his chest.
Something has happened and I intend to figure it out.
Parking near the sidewalk and turning off my engine, I lightly tapped on Eve’s shoulder to wake her up, “Eve, were here,” I announced to her.
She lazily rubbed her eyes before slowly opening them and blinked a few times to see the scene in front of her seat. She then looked at me, “where are the other cops?” Eve asked as she yawned loudly. “I don’t know yet, but this looks bad, let’s move our ass,” I said while unlocking the doors of the car and getting out with my keys at hand.
As Eve left the vehicle, I locked the doors and placed my keys in one of my pockets, “come on, the man there could give us the important details of what had transpired here,” together, we walked towards the entrance door where the armed officer was sitting. He did not notice us until he around to face us with an annoyed tone before speaking, “who are you two?” He demanded as his voice carried a sternness and fatigue.
“My name is Adam and this lovely lady beside me is Eve. We are cops like you and Chief Walker sent us to deal with the problem,” I stated firmly, but with a hint of compassion for the poor fellow from not only the way he sounds, but how young he might appear to be, from based on his voice.
He released a breath and nodded slightly, “so that means it time to introduce myself…names Hughie, a 16-year old guy that was recently recruited into the swat force, I am currently assigned here at the precinct.”
“So you are new then?” Eve inquired curiously.
“Yes, I just got this armor last week,” he answered, continuing to stare at us with a blank expression. I noticed his eyes were bloodshot red as if he had been crying nonstop since long ago, “like I had any choice, I was in a dire situation to support my autistic sister financially, you know? One of the police corps were offering job opportunities and I took the job since finding work in this damn city was more difficult than it appears,” Hughie replied bitterly while rubbing his temples.
“I see, so what happened?” Eve asked with concern.
Hughie leaned back against the wall, “you mean how my friends just got butchered entering this house? Yeah, their dead and oh, I am the only one here alive,” he sighed deeply and slumped forward on the ground, staring up at the sky, “the psychopath is probably inside waiting for me to make my move. To bad for him that I lost all hope now…”
His voice, his posture; they scream of broken man that lost his comrades and has nothing left to live for anymore. Although, there is still a glimmer of light from his eyes, “I think I will go to sleep now, probably just stay here until the freezing temperature kills me or I quit my job, like none of that matters anymore,” Hughie murmured softly before falling asleep with his head leaning against the wall.
Eve looked down at him and whispered, “what are we going to do about him?”
“His coming with us,” I stated firmly.
She tilted her head, “how Adam? The person appears to be a broken man,” her words had some truth in them, but I know otherwise. Hughie has some glimmer of hope in his eyes and I am not going to let that slip by just yet.
“Hughie! Get up!” I shouted, making him wake up instantly, looking at me wit mixture of shock and confusion, “don’t lose yourself to the darkness, there is still hope for you,” I said as I extended my hand towards him, “take my hand.”
He hesitated for a moment before taking my hand, which was surprisingly warm compared to my own cold hands, “why?” Hughie asked as I pulled him up, his expression was notably written with doubt and uncertainty.
Letting go of his hand, I continued my presentation, “you must try fighting until your last breath, even if you have no chance of winning. You need to continue and try to win as losing is giving up on yourself and those that believe in you. It is only through trying hard that we can achieve our goals and ensure that everyone survives this ordeal. If one gives up easily or becomes complacent, then they are nothing more than useless dead weight that would get in the way of other people’s achievements,” the speech came out from nowhere because it felt right, “I don’t like to see people give up on themselves so easily when I could help them find their light again. So, fight, Hughie, fight and keep preserving your life for as long as you can.”
The young man looked at me with eyes full of hope and trust, “you…you are right!” he said softly before taking a deep breath and getting ready to face his next challenge, “lets get that piece of shit,” Hughie exclaimed as I nodded.
Hughie opened the door, before we enter, he turn to us with questioning remark, “do you guys have any weapons?” He asked as Eve nodded her head, not knowing what else to say, while I simply shrugged my shoulders, “nope,” I replied honestly.
He then shook his head, “I thought so,” he sighed, “here,” as he took out a pistol from his waist and extended his occupied hand towards me, causing me to gesture a wave of objection at him.
“Don’t need it,” I said as Hughie stared at me with confusion written all over his face, “I have everything I need,” I continued, hoping that Hughie would understand, “right?”
The awkward silence between us came through for a moment before it was broken by the shrug of his shoulders, “your call,” Hughie said as he turned away from us and entered the house without us. Eve then grabbed my hand, making me look at her with surprise and question in my eyes, “I am your blade,” she reminisce the words from the night before, “don’t leave my side Adam, you are my sheath.”
Eve commanded as I looked down, “without a sheath, the meaning of your blades is meaningless,” I muttered, but my voice sounded like it came from somewhere else as if I was talking to myself, “the knife becomes nothing more than a sharp stick that can be used against someone’s flesh,” I continued as I looked back up to see Eve staring at me with anticipation, “but I am the sheath you use,” I said softly, “you keep me safe, and I will do the same,” I added as Eve smiled.
I smiled in return, letting go of her hand as we enter the house, only to find out that…it looks like any ordinary house expect the part where Hughie isn’t present, “Hughie! Where the hell are you?!” I loudly said before looking around the place, only to come empty-handed.
Weird, Hughie was just with us seconds ago. Where the hell did he go and especially, why is there no bodies or blood anywhere here? It is just too…suspicious, “Adam?” Eve called out, causing me to turn towards her, “what is it?” I asked while keeping my guard up for whatever reason, perhaps because this house feels so creepy.
“Why don’t we check upstairs first,” Eve suggested as I nodded in agreement, making our way up the stairs and then in a random room, finding nothing but dust on the floorboards and a few cobwebs along the walls. “It does not look like anyone has been living here recently,” Eve whispered as she kept her voice low, not wanting to disturb anything.
This is getting stranger and stranger by every minute. What could have happened to Hughie? And how come there is no trace of him at all? Why is it that I feel so uneasy inside this house? It feels like something bad will happen soon, even though I cannot explain why I am currently feeling this way.
“Eve, found anything peculiar?” I asked as I turned around, only to find Eve looking through a glass window with her eyes wide open and mouth agape. “What is it?” I asked as she pointed to the window, “look outside,” Eve commanded, I looked out the window, seeing nothing but multiple windows of itself.
Confusion spawned in my face, but when I placed my finger on the window, an uneasy gut feeling came through from within me, “this is wrong…” I muttered, “how did it get so big?”
“Adam!” Eve shouted, causing me to look back at her as she grabbed onto my arm tightly, “get down!” she pulled me down to the floor as swinging axes emerged from the ceiling, one after another.
“We have to leave, now!” I shouted at her, we crawled downstairs only to meet with the front door closed and locked, “shit!” I cursed as I frantically tried to break it open, but to no avail.
The walls around us opened dangerous makeshift weapons that spew out projectiles at us, but all of them missed us thanks to my intuition and her fast reflexes. “Over there Adam!” Eve yelled out, pointing to a nearby door that I did not notice from earlier, making our way towards it only to ascertain that it was unlocked.
As we opened the door, a bright illuminating light hit our faces before it consumed us whole.
