Part 7: Can’t Get Rid of Me

It was dark and his head ached. His eyes slowly opened. He was sore everywhere. He took a deep breath. He was in a bed and the sheets smelled of lavender. He clutched them in his fingers; they were soft and familiar. He’d missed this bed, but also had never been in it before. The thought made his head hurt more.

“I told you things were about to change,” a voice came from the opposite side of the room.

He spun quickly, throwing the sheet off his body.

Ace stood by the large apartment window, leaning casually against it. The city behind her was bright with neon and the window was covered in rain.

“How did you get here?” he whispered, but wasn’t quite sure he knew who she was.

“I’m just a flicker of a memory buried deep inside your mind. If you can remember who I am, then you can go home,” she said calmly.

“I… am home…” He blinked and she was on the bed facing away from him. His fingers extended to touch her shoulder but passed through her.

The bedroom door opened, flooding the room with light, “Honey, who are you talking to?” Abigail asked as she entered.

“No one,” he said. He looked back to the bed; Ace was gone.

“Are you feeling any better? You had a pretty nasty spill,” she said as she sat next to him and placed her hands on his.

“Yeah. I must have had too much to drink,” he answered, but knew he hadn’t.

“You can’t get rid of me,” Ace’s voice came from behind Abigail. He looked up to see her face, identical to his wife’s.

“I must have hit my head pretty hard. I keep seeing…” Ace shook her head ‘no,’ “…things.”

Abigail grabbed is face. Her hands were soft and he felt his eyelids get heavy as her hands pressed against his cheeks. His instincts told him to fight, but he didn’t know why.

It was dark and his head ached. His eyes slowly opened. He was sore everywhere. He took a deep breath. He was on a couch with a familiar blanket pulled up to his neck covering him. Have I been here before? He sat up.

“Every time you try to realize the truth they will drag you a level deeper into this world,” Ace’s voice echoed from the kitchen.

He looked at her.

“Fight back. Don’t let them touch you.”

He stood, “Who are you?”

Her eyes focused back on him and like a recording she spoke, “I’m just a flicker of a memory buried deep inside your mind. If you can remember who I am, then you can go home.”

“If you’re from my mind then how can you know this?” He asked, stepping toward her.

“Learn from me. Look at this knife. What’s the first thought that comes to your mind?”

His eyes locked on to the knife and everything seemed to flicker. Ace was standing beside him, “What did you think of?”

“Cutting vegetables,” he answered without hesitation.

“Wrong. Try to think.” She moved from his side around the counter top. Her palms came to a rest on the granite. Her fingers stretched out, framing the knife.

He stared and everything began to twitch again.

“Fight it!” Ace yelled at him, her eyes bearing down on him.

The twitching subsided and the colors in the room began to change to something that felt more real.

“What do you want to do with the knife?”

His eyes lifted to her, “Fight back.”

His picked up the knife very slowly walked down the hallway. A low light came from a crack by his bedroom. He pushed the door open. Abigail lay quietly in the bed. Ace was sitting next to her. She reached out and slid a piece of Abigail’s hair behind her ear.

“Remember when you tried to touch my shoulder? We are from your mind.”

He lifted the knife and knelt by the edge of his bed. His heart was racing. Ace’s voice drowned out as he stared at his wife.

Abigail opened her eyes and looked at him, “Hey,” she spoke quietly.

“I’m sorry.”

“For?”

His right arm jutted forward, slamming the knife into her torso. She let out a violent scream. Her right arm flew from under the covers and smacked Landon on the cheek. The momentum threw him across the room and out of the window. Glass cut against his face and arms as he flew out over the city street. A building approached. He braced himself and crashed through it like paper.

He tumbled to the ground in what appeared to be a recording studio.

“That’s the first step to go home,” Ace shouted from his bedroom window.

He moved to the edge of the paper and looked to her. Abigail stood from the bed, holding the knife above her head.

“Look out,” he wanted to yell, but couldn’t. Abigail brought the knife down and sliced across Ace’s neck.

The ground began to crumble underneath his feet. He held onto the paper but it tore with his weight. The darkness below him was cold as he fell into it. He broke into a sweat as he continued falling. His limbs flailed as he panicked.

He reached for anything.

Part 7: When We Danced

Something felt wrong, but he couldn’t place what was off. His tongue ran over his teeth, he tasted liquor. It had been years since his last drink and the flavor burned slightly. His left thumb was twirling a silver band on his left ring finger.

“And that’s when I caught her,” a familiar voice finished.  Landon’s eyes rose to meet the source of the voice. Xander sat across from him. He didn’t startle but felt like he should. His insides screamed like the end of the world was coming, but his eyes remained locked on Xander’s.

“I’m sorry, man,” Landon felt himself say.

Abigail approached the table with three wine glasses. The warm light from the chandeliers reflected off a large diamond on her ring finger. Landon stood as she got closer and took a glass from her hand.

“Boys, sorry that took so long,” she leaned in and kissed Landon softly.

“Has Sam moved out yet?” Abigail said as she sat, crossing her legs as she faced both men.

“Yeah, she packed her stuff and was gone yesterday,” Xander responded. Landon’s eyes left Abigail’s face and looked at the room for the first time.  The walls were gold, almost reflective of the color temperature in the lights. Ornate crown molding edged against the hand-painted ceiling. A row of crystal chandeliers hung down the center of the long ball room. The crowds danced to a live jazz band. Suddenly, the right sleeve of Landon’s tuxedo began to pull on his arm. He stretched it out and pain surged through his ribs. His eyes widened.

Abigail noticed.

“You alright, sweetie?” she said as she leaned toward him and placed her hand on his knee.

“I’ll be right back,” he said, placing the wine glass on the burgundy table cloth. He moved through the crowd. His suit slid off another tux’.

“Sorry, excuse me,” he said as he placed his hand against a shoulder on his way to the restroom. The heavy door opened. The bathroom was a single. He locked the door and spun, barely catching himself on the countertop.

His vision went double, almost shifting his brain somewhere else. His feet flashed as if they were bare, and the bathroom tile was cold, until his shoes reappeared. He faced himself in the mirror. His perfect hair flickered between nicely combed and gelled to disheveled and sweaty. His face seemed to change with it; drained.

“Relax,” a familiar voice came from the stall behind him. He spun, his feet bare again and his whole tuxedo gone. He ached everywhere. He lifted his shirt; the ribs on his right side were bruised a deep purple and red. The stall door opened. Landon’s eyes drooped taking his whole body with him to the floor.

“Things are about to change,” the voice echoed through the bathroom.

His mouth burned of wine again; his eyelids lifted as if the weight had been dropped to the ground. Abigail and Xander were chuckling across the table from him. He blinked at them. He let out a deep breath. He stood, gently placing the stemware on the navy tablecloth. His eye twitched for a moment, he shook it off.

“Excuse us,” he said, extending his hand to Abigail. She reached up and softly placed her fingers into his palm.

“Oh, fancy. You never like to dance,” she said as they moved away from the table.

His vision flashed a moment; the room as bare and Xander was a stooped machine. Landon squinted and everything faded back to normal.

“Having those headache’s again?” she asked.

He smiled at her, “I’ll deal with them until I can get into Dr. Rosen’s on Monday.”

They moved out to the dance floor. The quartet began playing a half-tempo version of Book of Love. They swayed slowly together. Her head rested against his chest.

“Did you pay them to play our song?” she asked. He lightly squeezed her arm.

Her hand slid down his back and rested on his side. A sharp pain flew through his ribs. His eyes widened and he stumbled back away from her, the pain searing through his head.

“Landon? Darling?” she said as she chased after him.

He bumped a table. The table cloth changed from navy to burgundy. His eyes were heavy again.

Everything vanished in a burst light.

Part 7: Run. Jump. Run.

They slammed to the ground, only from a couple of inches. A circle of grass lay around them. Landon lifted his head and looked to her.

“Abigail?” he asked.

Abigail’s fingers slipped again from Landon’s hand. Steam billowed off her exposed flesh. He dragged his exhausted legs and feet so he could be beside her. He collapsed next to her.

“Where are we?” she asked, her palms flat against the concrete. Her skin rose with goosebumps and tears came from her eyes.

He looked around, wiping moisture from his forehead. It was dark and the ISO-squared building towered over them.

“Back where we belong,” he said.  She sat back onto the concrete, her arms crossed across her chest. She shook slightly. They sat calmly by each other and Landon released a sigh. The bracer on his wrist was quiet and dark.

A loud thumping grew from the distance until a spotlight lit them up from the sky. A Vertical Intelligence Group helicopter hovered above them, the insignia almost obnoxiously visible from the ground. Landon stood trying to block the spot light with his hand. The chopper began to lower. The spot light flickered a very familiar pattern.

Landon turned to his side, his bare feet scraping against the hard concrete.

An explosion of particles came from the side as Heavy sprinted from the void.

Landon pushed Abigail away and drew his sidearm. The gun on the chopper spun up, firing hot lead into the concrete and Heavy. He didn’t stop. The chopper banked away as the barrel stopped firing and slowed its spinning. Heavy lifted Landon from the ground. The gun on the chopper glowed orange as the pilot moved the machine into a different position.

“Drop him,” Samantha’s voice echoed out from the helicopter.

Heavy looked up at the spotlight, his mechanical body littered with holes. Samantha nodded through the windshield, her hand clutched on the radio. He lowered Landon, brushing the device on Landon’s arm. A spark bounced between the two, shocking Landon lightly. It began to beep. Landon’s gaze dropped to his wrist. He struggled to remove it. Heavy lifted him again and spun in a circle, throwing Landon into the air towards the helicopter.

The chopper pilot tried to evade the incoming Landon. Landon braced himself for impact then suddenly vanished in a slew of particles that bounced off the fuselage. Heavy turned back to Abigail.

The helicopter landed on the ground quickly and two soldiers climbed out before Samantha. The soldiers immediately opened suppressive fire on the machine. It didn’t flinch as it moved toward Abigail. The small caliber round bounced off the metal and rolled away on the blacktop.

“Stop,” one of them yelled. Samantha’s gun rang out three times. Abigail shuttered with the different gunfire. The soldiers fell and the pilot’s blood covered the windshield. Abigail stared at Sam in shock, her hands covering her ears.

“You look like her, but there’s a certain fierceness missing,” Samantha said as she approached the machine and the girl.

The hologram of the Suit appeared from Heavy’s chest.

“Walter?” Abigail asked it. He ignored her.

“Bring her in,” he said to Samantha.

“Where is Landon?” Sam asked.

“Somewhere completely different,” Walter answered, his teeth glowing in the light. He looked back to Abigail.

Part 7: Change the Future

He blinked. The journey felt similar to the first couple of times he jumped but the end was far less painful. Instead of being vomited to the ground it was almost as if the Earth spun around him and placed him gently on the grass. Steam came from his body. His bare feet burned, as he flexed his toes.

A crash echoed behind him. He turned to see Abigail thrown from himself and a scuffling Heavy. The girl moved away from the fighting and then suddenly with a burst of light and particles Heavy and Landon were gone, leaving only singed grass. Abigail stood in shock. Particles settled on the ground around her and she began to weep.

“Abigail,” he said quietly, his voice hoarse. She turned slowly, her eyes lighting up as she saw him.

“Landon?” she asked, stepping lightly toward him and then looking back to the burnt grass.

“It’s me. It’s been so long,” he said.

She wiped her tears and then ran to him, wrapping her arms around him. She was bruised and scraped; her dress was still its original blue, though slightly torn.

“I thought I was going to be stuck here,” she said through tears.

He wrapped his arms around her.

“I tried to get here as soon as I could.” The moment of peace seemed to hang in the air.

A loud boom echoed behind them. They spun. A beam of light came down through the clouds revealing a taller, bigger Heavy. It stood upright, as if unfolding from a cube of metal, and looked at them. Landon pushed Abigail behind him, her fingers laced in his.

A light flickered on Heavy’s chest projecting a hologram of The Suit.

“You will run from us. You will try to hide from us, but we will follow you no matter where you go or when you go,” he said, his image flickering in and out. Abigail squinted, trying to place the voice and blurry image.

The bracer began to hum. The four looked down at Landon’s wrist.

“You’ve stolen my tech.” The Suit said, looking back up to Landon.

“Kill them,” The Suit’s voice echoed as Heavy had already began moving with a loud mechanical whine.

Xander sprinted forward, covering almost four feet in a single stride. The hologram blurred out as Xander passed through it.

Landon twisted around Abigail, pulling her hand as they began running away from Heavy.

The grass was wet and made traction difficult for Landon and Abigail. Heavy’s feet crushed through the grass and threw mud into the air with each step. The hum grew louder but he could barely hear it over the thumping of his heart and Heavy’s feet.

Abigail’s fingers slipped from his sweaty palm. She dropped to the ground, staining her dress with chlorophyll. Landon stopped, his bare feet sliding across the wet grass. His center of gravity shot to his feet and as he tried to turn around he fell. His ribs cracked against the ground and he extended his arm out. Abigail’s hand reached toward him.

The hum grew louder, blaring as Heavy gained on the two.

Landon slammed his other arm into the grass and lunged himself forward. His finger touched Abigail’s as Heavy leapt into the air, his giant-metal feet close together, preparing to slam down on Abigail. The hum stopped and they vanished.

Heavy destroyed the grass that was under Abigail as particles moved away from the newly blackened grass.

The light flickered on again. The hologram of The Suit faced Heavy.

“Begin the trace. Follow them until they’re dead,” the Suit said between gritted teeth.

Heavy pressed a button on his arm and relaxed back, folding back into his cube. In the blink of an eye he vanished, leaving residual hologram and throwing grass and mud into the air.

Part 7: Bloody Metal Hands

The elevator was moving, but none of the floor lights were illuminated. The car slowed. Before the doors opened a gunshot rang out. She drew her pistol and the doors opened. Landon stood before her firing down the hallway. He turned and fired at the glass. As he sprinted toward the damaged glass Ace dove from the elevator car and tackled him away from the pane.

They slammed to the ground. Landon rolled and looked to her.

“Abigail?” he asked, confused.

She looked to her side as Heavy ran at her. She clamored across the Italian marble floor away from her attacker.

Landon fired at Heavy, the bullets bounced around his legs and into the ground. He continued toward Ace. She fired at Heavy landing a bullet in his eye. He stumbled and tripped around her, slamming into the bullet riddled window.

The panes shattered as the machine fell out of sight. Glass danced lightly on the tiles. The two agents looked to each other breathing heavily.

“How did you get here? I lost you in…” He paused trying to catch his breath.

“You have to go back and save me,” she said through gasps for air, “I can’t be here when you come back.”

They pushed off the ground and walked toward each other.

“I don’t understand,” Landon said, “You’re right here.”

“But if you don’t go get me, then I won’t be here. I’m not your Abigail and she can’t…”

She began walking down the hallway Landon had came from. She checked a corner and disappeared around it. Landon looked back to the broken window and then followed her.

He found her in a room similar to the one in the ISO-squared labs. She was typing into a computer.

“I’m sending you to moments after you and the machine vanished,” she said, not looking to him.

“Why not for the amount of elapsed time?”

“She…” A lump dragged her throat down, tears beginning to well in her eyes, “can’t become me,” she responded.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to put her through that. It’s too much pain to put on someone else,” she said, lowering her head and flattening her palms on the desk.

“But if we change things…” he started but was quickly interrupted.

“I am the target. The person I’ve become is the target. If she doesn’t go through the events I went through she won’t become me. She’ll be able to have a different life. You have to bring her back to yours and her time. Forget you briefly knew this version of her.”

She was staring at him. Only the hum of the computers filled the room.

“What happened?” he asked.

She looked away and began typing again, “I’m preprogramming the device to jump you to her and then return you both to your time. The only caveat is when the timer goes off you must be touching her.”

Her finger slammed against the return key and the computer began to whine. Across the room a hole in the wall slid open and a drawer came out. A wrist bracer sat on the drawer. Ace made her way to the device and inspected it before picking it up. Landon took a deep breath as she made her way back to him.

“Wrist,” she said unlatching the underside.

He held out his left wrist and she slid the bracer onto his forearm. She pressed a single button near his elbow and the bracer tightened down to his wrist size. Several small needles pierced his wrist from inside the bracer.

“Ah!” he said stepping back and shaking his wrist in pain.

“You are the battery; it only works if it’s attached to a person. Come with me,” she said walking passed him out of the room.

He followed her in silence back to the elevator lobby. She stopped by the elevator doors and faced him with her back to the missing window. The bracer on his wrist began to make a humming sound.

“That is warning that you’re about to jump. The new design won’t hurt like it used to.” A loud thump came from outside the window.

Ace closed her eyes. Landon took a step forward. She lifted her hand for him to stop. He complied.

Another thump came from the outside, this time it shook the floor. Her eyes opened and she looked at Landon. The hum was almost so loud he could barely hear.

“You have thirty seconds once it starts the jump process,” she said her eyes welling up with tears.

“What happened to make you the way you are?” he asked, stepping forward again.

Another loud thump. Long mechanical fingers came from the window opening and dug into the marble tiles.

Landon stepped back, pulling his sidearm, “Abigail!”

“Take her dancing,” she said quietly.

The hand pulled up the damaged Heavy machine. It looked to Landon and then to Ace. It moved its free hand toward her. It’s long fingers wrapped around her torso.

“Landon,” she said. He looked to her.

“I lost you,” she said as a long blade pierced through her chest. Her eyes widened.

Landon jumped forward. Heavy’s hands slid off the tile, dragging Ace through the window. Her body collapsed out of the hole as a swirl of particles engulfed Landon.

The lobby sat empty, only glass debris and bullet casings littered the floor.

Announcement: Friday

I know, it’s only Monday. But on Friday there will be a new post marking the beginning of Season 3.

Announcement: Year Break?

So quite a few months ago I went on spring break, with the intention of returning sometime over the summer. A lot of things have happened since then. For starters, I wrote a 7,000 word short story that falls inside of the Variance universe. I tried getting it published, but it was not. Perhaps I’ll post it on here soon.

The second thing is that I’ve been totally obsessing over the feature film that I wrote and am directing in February. We are currently crowdfunding and that alone feels like another full-time job.

So for now, more Variance to come soon.

Announcement: Spring Break

Hey folks,

Thought I’d let you all know, I’m going to take small break before starting Season 3. It’s been really difficult lately to keep up with the blog since my son was born in March.

I promise you Variance will continue, and you might get a special something before Season 3 begins.

H.

Part 6: Jump

Ace was not proud of what it took to drag Samantha’s unconscious body through the hospital’s parking garage. In fact, if asked she would never tell, and leave it to the asker’s imagination.  She would often refer to this segment of her life as her dark period. Samantha was kept locked in a small room with a slit for a window. Ace would feed her but never communicated with her.

As the months went on, Ace became more mobile. Eventually she removed her cast herself and began the long arduous task of physical therapy. After a time Samantha stopped pleading for her freedom and they lived in silence.

When Ace could walk again she took to running during the evenings. Since her escape, VIG had plastered her photo on every news media channel that could fill 30 seconds with it. Most ran her story for days, “Deranged Hospital Escapee Kidnaps Government Agent”.

The months turned into years. Ace was tired; tired of hiding, and tired of being alone. Samantha’s cell had gotten an upgrade. It fit more like a bedroom, and the two began speaking in short sentences.

One morning Ace awoke to find a small note on her nightstand. She instantly noticed it was out of place and upon further inspection recognized her own handwriting. There were three words on it, “Save him. Ace.”

She flung her covers back and stormed across her secret hideout to Samantha’s room. She nearly busted the door down as she entered, scaring Samantha from her bed.

“How did he die?” She screamed.

Samantha cowered on the floor by the bed.

“How? When? Answer me!” She screamed again.

“The heavy machine forced him out of a window,” Samantha cried.

“When?”

Samantha began crying, “The future…”

Ace turned away and slammed the door, locking it behind her. Samantha’s waking could be heard through the steel door. Ace walked slowly across the cold floor until she reached her computer terminal.

She began searching for the same keywords that brought her to find the orb. She found another facility, once run by a facility until it was bought by ISO-squared and shut down for unethical testing circumstances. A marketing ploy she thought. Something in her gut told her to check it out.

She gathered her things: a flashlight, handgun and tactical vest she’d bought from a military surplus store. She missed her old gear.

She made her way down to a later 90s model pickup truck and removed the tarp from it. She climbed in and pulled the keys from their storage in sun visor.

The truck started without issue. She pulled out of the parking garage and made her way out of the city. It was going to be a long drive to Pennsylvania.

At first it felt like breaking and entering as she slid the large metal door to the side. She paused a moment as the screech echoed down the concrete halls. She flicked on her flashlight with her left thumb and drew her pistol. It was 3 a.m. and there were no lights.

The layout was similar to the facility she’d met Wyatt in. She followed signs toward the main computer room. She checked her corners as she entered the large room. Two staircases edged the sides of the room. To her right was what seemed to be a control booth with large glass windows separating the two rooms, and directly across from it hummed another orb.

Her pistol quickly found its place in her holster as she sprinted to the orb. Etched in the dust on the orbs panel was her handwriting: Do it, Ace.

She took a deep breath and reached out for the orb. Inches from her palm wrapping around the smooth metal casing of the orb, a hand reached from the dark and latched onto her vest, yanking her away and tossing her across the room.

She shattered through the glass of the control room and bounced off an old computer terminal. Ace was dazed as she tried to pull herself up from the ground. The hand wrapped around the back of her neck and lifted her.

She saw her attacker for the first time. It was the heavy machine, only this time he was different. Before he hand been a behemoth of machine, and now he was slick, small red LEDs accented his shape. He threw her again, deeper into the control booth.

She slammed against the rear wall of the room, cracking the drywall. Her tailbone crashed into the ground as the heavy machine made his way to her. She drew her pistol and fired at his head. The bullet’s ricocheted off his helmet, destroying whatever they hit next.

Her pistol clicked empty. He was towering over her. The machine reached down for her. Just before his fingers could wrap around her she slithered between his metal legs.

With running speed she clambered from the ground and over the first computer terminal. The heavy machine spun and jumped after her, smashing through the three rows of computer terminals.

He stopped at the front of the room. Ace was gone. His head lifted. She was in a full sprint across the main room. Heavy burst through wall of the control room, running after her. His feet made loud thumps as he gained on her.

She wanted to pause when she reached the orb to see how far ahead of the machine she was, but she didn’t. Her palm slammed onto the orb, the pressure from her skin skidded against the spinning metal.

Light enveloped her, and just as Heavy reached her she vanished in an explosion of particles. His momentum carried him through the orb and it’s terminal. A crash of metal and wires and sparks spilt across the front of the room. Heavy lifted the orb from the ground, examined it a moment and crushed it in his fingers.

The particles rushed passed her eyes, burning and drying them. She was cold and hot and sore everywhere. The space around her ripped open as someone might rip open a plastic bag. She flung hard, slamming into a tile wall.

The whole room shook and in that moment she realized she was in an elevator. She coughed up mucus and spat it on the ground. Condensation had built up on her sleeves. She wiped the water onto the ground as she stood.

The elevator was moving, but none of the floor lights were illuminated. The car slowed. Before the doors opened a gunshot rang out. She drew her pistol and the doors opened.

Landon stood before her firing down the hallway. He turned and fired at the glass. As he sprinted toward the damaged glass Ace dove from the elevator car and tackled him away from the pane.

They tumbled across the ground. Landon rolled and stopped, his gun aimed at Ace.

“Abigail?”

Part 6: Plan?

“Agent,” one of the suited men called to Ace to get her attention. She turned her head to the suits.

“Who are you really?” the tall one continued.

“Why don’t you ask Samantha?” Ace spoke.

Samantha smiled back at Ace, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Agent Vasden is an integral part of VIG, you are the one in question here. Not her,” the tall one said, pulling his sidearm.

“I said you don’t want to do that,” Ace said, pulling her blanket back from her non-casted leg. Samantha edged toward the door as Ace spun her weight and placed her good foot on the cold tile floor.

The tall one nodded to his lackeys They stepped forward, each grabbing one of Ace’s arms. The bed rolled away from the hallway and toward the window overlooking the city. The bed bounced to a stop against the window sill. The shortest man unlatched the  window and swung it open filling the room with cold wind. The tall one approached, Samantha leaned against the door.

The suits pushed Ace back, her head hanging out of the window.

“Let go of me,” she screamed, her voice lost in the wind.

“Since you are not an agent of this company, you are not required,” the tall one spoke, almost laughing.

Something snapped in Ace, the knife still in her hand. It flipped and then she slammed it into the short one’s ribs. He released her arm and stumbled back. Samantha panicked, her hand clutching the doorknob. Ace rolled; her momentum slamming the other suit into the window frame. She put her good foot on his leg and flipped him over her head. He spilled out of the building, bouncing slightly off the glass until he came to a stop at the ground.

Ace sat up. Samantha was gone, the door still hanging open. The tall one’s handgun was aimed at her head.

“Very impressive, little girl,” he spoke. In a simple move, Ace fell off the bed onto her good foot. All her weight collapsed as she bent her knee. The tall man couldn’t keep his aim as Ace sprung forward and slammed her shoulder into his crotch. He plummeted to the ground. The gun skidded across the floor toward the open door.

Ace rolled, grabbing a wheelchair as the tall man gasped for air and rolled away from her. She pulled herself into the wheelchair. And started rolling toward the open door. She scooped the gun from the ground and entered the hallway. Samantha stood at a corner near the elevators. Ace began rolling forward, switching the gun from hand to hand as she went.

“Freeze,” she shouted. The elevator door opened and Samantha jumped in, pushing several people out onto the floor. Her fingers slammed onto the door close button. Ace dropped the gun into her lap and began rolling faster. She dove from the chair and slid across the floor in her hospital gown into the open elevator. The door closed and bounced off her casted leg. She let out a small squeal.

Samantha slammed her heel into Ace’s back applying pressure. Ace grabbed Samantha’s planted foot and threw it to the side, dropping Samantha to the ground. The doors bounced again off her leg. She pulled her leg in as she climbed on top of Samantha, lifting her by her shirt. She pulled back her fist once, it hung in the air as Samantha pleaded for mercy.

Ace’s fist slammed into Samantha’s face.