An extra’s tale

Reshi left half an hour later. He carried with him a standard issue pistol, and a variety of hunting knives.

He made his way to where he had been discarded onto the street. Out of habit, in the van he had been counting how many klicks they had gone before turning left or right. He reversed it, following the route back to the abandoned building.

He felt light now, his steps firm and fast. Reshi felt like who he used to be, someone that he could be proud of. 'Maybe changing was never the way after all.' He felt more at peace now than he had ever been.

Soon he found the abandoned building.

'God, you never answer me. I don't know why but I reckon you owe me one. Let me save them.'

He entered quietly, gun raised. Now that he was paying attention to his surroundings he saw the abandoned building was split into three large rooms. Slowly, he entered one. There was no one here.

He checked every corner, before moving onto the next one.

This room was empty except for one body that was on the floor. It was surrounded by blood. Slowly he made his way closer.

Reshi's heart sank.

"Mary", he croaked.

Her face was a mass of bruises, cuts and slashes. He knew straight away she was doomed. Her chest raised and dropped slowly, her breath rattling. Her green eyes fluttered open, they searched around before the found him.

Then she smiled. Gods, she actually smiled when she saw him.

"Hey Reshi."

"I-I'm sorry Mary. It's all my fault. I'm so sorry." Tears fell freely. "I'm so sor-"

"Shhhhhhhhhh" she interrupted. "You saved my life once, you gave me one week of happiness I never would've had otherwise. You got nothing to be sorry for Reshi. I loved that week. Thank you."

He shook his head, "It shouldn't have been just a week. It should've been much longer."

She laughed at that, it turned into a cough, throwing up flecks of blood.

"Is that an offer, you want me to move in now. You do like to move quick don't you."

Reshi smiled sadly, "How about it Mary. After I save Judas, all of us should move into a place. Live together, what do you think?"

"Bit of an odd way to tell me you wanna get married Reshi"

Reshi chuckled through the tears.

"Alright then, how about this. After I save Judas, and we save you, I'll consider it. But your gonna have to say alive until then."

Mary smiled. Her eyes were no longer focused. "That'd be nice. Alright then, it's a deal."

He held her hand tightly. "It's a deal then."

Reshi stayed by her side. After a couple of minutes he felt her breath slow, until it stopped. Her hand became slack, and her livid green eyes fluttered close, never to open again.

Slowly getting up, he felt the wretch whispering to him.

'Failed someone again haven't you. You're disgusting. All you do is fail and bring death. You should kill yourself, you don't deserve to live. You're a monster.'

Not again. He wouldn't make the same mistake again. Pushing his thoughts away, he slowly made his way to the third room.

Smashing open the door, hoping for the element of surprise to buy him some time, Reshi took the moments he bought to scan the room.

In the third room there were twelve people. They all turned to see the source of the sound. Four of them died by his gun before they ever saw who it was that killed them.

Jumping to the side out of instinct, he scrambled under a piece of metal furniture. There were two people with guns. The other six would be advancing with melee then.

Ducking above cover he fired at the first shooter. One bullet hit the chest, the other the shoulder.

Before he could duck into cover, a bullet pierced his shoulder.

He rolled to the side, out of cover, firing moments before the second shooter tried to shoot again.

The bullet caused brains to splatter on the wall in a marvelous display of pistol art.

His shoulder was leaking blood. Thankfully, adrenaline was coursing through him, preventing him from feeling it.

Another three bullets all made their mark.

Only three left. Aiming he pulled the trigger at one hulking figure with a large metal bat in his hands. He flinched when the pistol was aimed. But nothing happened.

'Shit, it's jammed.'

Cursing his luck he threw the weapon at the man, causing him to flinch. At the same time Reshi ran forward, unsheathing a knife from his belt. The man swiped at him with a power laden wild horizontal swing.

Ducking, Reshi pivoted to the side, embedding the knife into the thug's throat.

Kicking him back, Reshi felt a flair of pain. Turning he saw a knife embedded into his side.

He stumbled forward. Then a bat swung into his face, crushing his nose, causing him to stumbled backwards.

Keeping his mind clear, he charged forward, ignoring the stream of tears and blood. He jumped onto the second attacker, ignoring the one that was stabbing him from behind.

There was no time to draw with his weapon. With a bestial growl, Reshi bit the 2nd attacker's windpipe, crushing it and ripping it out with his teeth.

A pair of hands grabbed him from behind, dragging him onto the floor. He felt the person kicking him, breaking his bones.

"Stop." It was a rich, smooth, alluring voice.

He felt his body being hoisted into a kneeling position.

Through a veil of blood, he saw the Boss. One arm held a pistol, the other was wrapped around Judas.

'He's unharmed, thank God.'

The boss regarded him, his dark eyes held something within them. They were no longer impassive. They held a flicker of emotion. Was that fear? Good.

"Again we meet again, Reshi. It seems you have a habit of attacking my men." His tone remained emotionless.

"Don't worry I'll keep my promise. I won't kill you."

He handed the gun to Judas. "Son. He's the reason why I had to kill your mother. If you kill her, I'll forgive you Judas. You want to be forgiven don't you?"

Judas was shaking, his arms trembling.

Reshi smiled. His teeth were mostly missing, blood poured out of his mouth. "It's alright Judas. Don't be afraid."

Tears were streaming down Judas's face. Slowly, he raised the gun, its barrel pointing to Reshi.

"You killed my mother", he stammered.

"Yes, I did. I'm sorry Judas."

BAM.

Reshi felt the bullet pierce his chest, causing him to fall backwards onto the floor.

1ST PERSON - RESHI

I heard a clatter, and a running of small footsteps. Judas's face covered his vision, his tears splashing onto my face.

I smiled. I felt a strange sense of peacef now. I had never been afraid of dying, this entire time I'd had been afraid of living. If only I had one more chance, I'd live properly. I'd do it right. Shame really.

"Why'd you come", Judas moaned through hiccuping sobs.

"Well, I couldn't just leave you here, could I. After all, what would I do without my bodyguard?"

My eyes wandered beyond the boy. I could see it. A living room full of people. He could see his father reading a newspaper. His twin brother playing around with his little sister. His mother was cooking, but she was with someone. A pretty women. Beautiful really. She had light skin, lovely hair, and bright livid green eyes that seemed to hold the sun within them. They smiled at each other, like two summers as they cooked.

I raised my hand, reaching. Instead of touching the room, my fingers brushed against Judas's face.

I smiled again. "You've only got one life Judas. Don't waste it, like I did."

Darkness clouded my vision, and in a sigh I breathed my last, feeling my soul depart my body.