"Where the hell did they go?" said guard one.
"I think they both jumped," said guard two, peering down from the high mountain peak to the snow-covered ground very far below.
"Jumped?!" the third guard exclaimed. "They are both crazy people! So, what do you think?"
"They must be dead. No one can ever survive a fall from such a height," said guard two.
"But what if they were able to survive somehow, or they had a parachute on them?" said the Boss of the guards.
"Boss!" they all exclaimed.
The Boss was a white American man with a huge body, wearing a black vest and gloves, holding a shotgun in his hands. He had a striking, jagged scar slicing down the left side of his face.
"We can't let this slide. At least we have to find their dead bodies to confirm. Boys, arm yourselves and get yourselves a parachute with some coats," said the Boss with a serious face and a huge, booming voice. "We are going on a hunt." He stared meanly down the side of the mountain.
Clinck! Clinck! Clinck!
P was climbing down the sheer mountain face using two daggers to pierce the solid rock. His left arm was completely broken. When he had jumped off the mountain peak with Hanabi in his arms, they fell rapidly. Once they reached a certain altitude closer to the ground—where a fall would still mean instant death—P had pulled out a dagger. He pierced and pierced and pierced the mountain rock while falling until the blade successfully drove deep into the stone, snapping his left arm under the violent pressure.
He had snarled in pain as the blade held them both. P clung to Hanabi with his right arm, and that was how he started climbing down. Hanabi, hanging onto his back, clung to him tightly so as not to fall. P kept driving the daggers into the stone, and after some time, they got close to the snow-covered ground and jumped down, landing heavily in the snow.
Hanabi slid off P's back and sat in the snow, letting out a huge sigh of relief. P was breathing heavily, taking a huge deep breath to relax his racing heart. He tucked the two daggers into the belt behind his back, then walked up to Hanabi.
"Okay, get up. We have to keep walking. We are not safe yet," said P, stretching his right hand out to her.
"Really?" she said with a heavy, exhausted voice as she took his right hand. He pulled her up instantly.
"Yes," said P, letting go of her hand and nodding. "We only just finished the first half. Now it's time for the second half." He turned toward the left side of the mountain. "Let's go, and walk as quickly as you can."
He started walking hurriedly, and she scrambled to join his side. Hanabi looked at P’s deep bruises and cuts. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, glancing at him as they moved.
"Yes, I'm fine." He turned an eye to her. "Well... not completely, but I'm okay. I can manage."
"But yo—"
Before Hanabi could complete her sentence, P cut her off. "The sooner we get out of here, the better," P said immediately, his voice sharp and serious.
Hanabi turned away from him, annoyed. They walked in quiet tension for a moment.
"So, do you know where we are going?" Hanabi asked, looking around the frozen waste.
"Well, we are going across and around the mountain. It leads to dry land that has roads, and we can find our way to any city close by from there," said P.
They relapsed into silence, trekking through the deep powder. Meanwhile, back at the landing site, someone had spotted their deep footprints in the snow. It was the Boss.
"We're close," he muttered.
P and Hanabi continued walking. Hanabi stared at him, and P stared back with a side-eye. The moment their eyes locked, they both immediately snapped their gazes away. Hanabi began rubbing her crossed arms, her breath pluming in the freezing air.
"So... why is your name P anyway? Were your parents just really bad with names?" Hanabi asked, trying to break the silence.
P turned to her, staying silent for a bit. "It's not actually my name, but my nickname. It's what a lot of people I know call me," said P.
"So, if you don't mind, wha—"
Hanabi stopped mid-sentence as three guards suddenly burst from the trees. Two lunged forward with raised machetes, while the third held a gun, stepping backward to get a clear shot.
P reacted instantly. Snatching Hanabi with his left hand, he yanked her behind him out of the trajectory of the first charging blade. He jumped, delivering a heavy kick straight into the chest of the guard coming at him. At the exact same time, P’s right hand clamped onto the neck of the guard who had been chasing Hanabi. With a surge of raw force, he threw the man directly in front of him!
BANG!
The guard holding the gun fired, but the bullet slammed directly into his own comrade, who fell dead over the shooter's barrel. The first guard P had kicked recovered, lunging wildly with his machete again. P countered instantly, grabbing the guard's left wrist to redirect the blade, spinning him around to face the gunman.
The gunman furiously pushed his dead ally's body away, attempting to raise his rifle to fire again. But P was faster. He ripped the machete from the guard's grip and hurled it like a javelin, piercing the gunman straight through the chest! Without missing a beat, P tossed the remaining guard hard onto the ground, knelt down over him, and snapped his neck with a sickening crack.
Hanabi watched the entire sequence in stunned silence.
"We have to hurry," P said, stretching his hand out for her to move.
They took off, sprinting forward as fast as they could.
"It's them! Get them!" a guard shouted from far behind.
A massive swarm of guards began pouring out of the treeline. It was as if they had completely abandoned the hidden building and the rest of the hostages just to hunt these two down. Hanabi ran with everything she had, panting heavily behind P, who stayed just ahead of her. They were nearing the far side of the mountain where the dry land began, and the light of the setting sun was rapidly fading into darkness.
The swarming guards opened fire, bullets ripping through the snow around them. P slowed his pace, dropping back to reach Hanabi, and scooped her up tightly into his arms.
Hanabi panted heavily, staring up at P's face. He was wheezing, pushing his body to its absolute limits as bullets sprayed the air behind them. A few rounds struck P squarely in the back. He gritted his teeth violently, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. He looked like he was going to run out of breath and collapse at any second, but he kept charging forward.
He sprinted behind a giant boulder, completely breaking the guards' line of sight. They had finally reached the edge of the mountain that led down to the dry land, but they would have to climb down with their bare hands since the cliffside was a treacherous mix of loose sand and jagged rock.
P dropped Hanabi to her feet. She turned to him, her mouth opening to speak, but P cut her off fiercely.
"Climb," P said, his voice deadly serious. "Hurry."
"Bu—"
"Climb quickly! I'm right behind you," P panted, clutching his bleeding waist.
As Hanabi began scrambling down the rocky face, P’s vision started to blur. Black spots danced in his eyes, but he forced himself back to reality as a dangerous sound echoed right behind him.
Crack!
The Boss stepped out from behind the trees, not too far away. He raised a heavy pistol, aiming directly at Hanabi as she climbed. P reacted purely on instinct. He lunged forward and tackled Hanabi down, sending them both crashing flat into the snow just as a bullet slammed into the stone wall right where her head had been.
The Boss fired a second time. P dragged his battered body forward, shoving Hanabi ahead of him to keep her moving. Reaching into his belt, he pulled his remaining dagger and whipped it hard at the Boss. The large man tried to dodge, but the blade buried itself deep into his right arm.
"Arrrrgh!" the Boss roared, ripping the dagger out of his flesh. "You son of a bitch!"
P and Hanabi scrambled up, trying to run as fast as they could away from the ledge, but a sudden wave of dizziness and a pounding headache hit P. His legs gave out, and he crashed hard into the snowy ground.
Puff!
Hanabi whirled around. "P!" she screamed in pure panic, sprinting right back to his side.
"What are you doing?! Run!" P shouted at her, his voice hoarse.
Hanabi ignored him, hooking her arms under his massive, heavy frame to lift him. "I won't leave you behind! It's my turn to help you now!"
"Are you stupid?! This time things are different!" P yelled, trying to push her away. "I'm already a dead man! You go without me!"
"Shut up!" Hanabi shrieked, dragging his heavy body through the snow as the shouting guards closed the distance.
"Stop!" P commanded.
POW!
P’s eyes widened. In agonizing slow motion, Hanabi’s mouth fell open, a look of pure, unadulterated shock freezing in her eyes. Her grip loosened, and she collapsed heavily onto the snowy ground. P fell right beside her.
She had been shot cleanly through the torso by the Boss.
The Boss walked slowly toward the two fallen bodies, his boots crunching in the snow. The massive squad of guards swarmed in behind him, all lowering their rifles to aim directly at the bleeding pair. The Boss finally reached Hanabi, kneeling down to look at her as she breathed slowly, heavily, losing an immense amount of blood.
He looked at her, then glanced over at P, who was glaring back at him from the snow. The Boss turned his attention back to the girl.
"You... you are a very lucky girl," the Boss murmured.
"Go to hell," Hanabi whispered faintly.
The Boss frowned slightly, standing up. He walked slowly over to P, kneeling beside him. P painfully turned his head to the left to face him.
"You are not the one who actually interests me. It's this man," the Boss said, gesturing his pistol toward P’s mangled back. "Because I know you wouldn't have been able to pull all that off all by yourself. Just look at him. He was gunned, sliced, and looks very tattered."
He tapped the barrel of the gun against P’s head, gesturing it up and down. "He really is a man," the Boss said, nodding in genuine respect. He turned back toward his squad. "Am I right, boys?"
"Yeah!" the crowd of guards agreed, breaking into honest, amazed chattering.
"I really got a lot of inspiration from him," one guard admitted aloud.
"He's giving me goosebumps," muttered another.
"I want to be just like him when I grow up," said a third.
"He's my mentor," added another.
"One day, I will have a son just like him," another guard said proudly.
The Boss turned back to Hanabi. "You see? He's a great guy. Everyone loves him," the Boss said, standing up straight to look down at both of them. "But one thing I'm not comfortable with is that no one escapes from me alive. I've been running this business for decades, and I have never, ever seen a hostage escape from my grasp until today. It's just like a predator capturing its prey..."
He mimicked a claw capturing something with his pistol-bearing hand. "...and keeping it in its den to come feast on it later. But when it returns, it doesn't find the prey. It instantly becomes angry and goes out hunting for it. After so many years, do you think both of you can be an exception? You lie."
He pointed the dark barrel of the gun straight down at Hanabi, who was on the verge of fainting. "You could have remained in your cage and died there, but now you are going to regret it."
The Boss squeezed the trigger.
POW!
The Boss’s eyes flew wide open. "What?!" he exclaimed in pure shock. "When did he get here?!"
Hanabi’s eyes fluttered open, looking up through the haze. P had thrown his entire broken body over her, taking the bullet squarely in his back. He was panting heavily right above her, his hands planted firmly in the snow on either side of her head, completely shielding her from the world.
Looking up at him, every single moment she had spent with him flashed through her mind. Tears poured freely from her eyes, mixing with the snow. "Please don't die... it's my fault. I'm sorry... please don't die, don't—"
The last thing she saw was P’s face. He was panting, but a strange expression of pure relief crossed his features, as if an immense, suffocating burden he had been carrying had finally been settled.
Then, her world went completely black.
"AWWWW!" the crowd of guards suddenly erupted, moved by the display.
The Boss stared down at P’s back. "You really are a good boyfriend, and a very good man, too," he said, shifting his aim to point the pistol directly at the back of P’s head. He smiled. "Men like you are rare. Too bad I'm gonna kill you now."
P remained deathly calm. Slowly, with agonizing precision, he turned his head slightly to the left, his blood-chilling side-eye locking directly onto the Boss.
"Do you know I'm a good person?" P said.
The sheer, terrifying weight behind his words sent a violent shiver straight down the Boss's spine.
The scene instantly turned pitch black with a deafening—
POW!18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUtcg7Blygy
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