A Time of blood

David raised his right hand in what he hoped they would take as a friendly greeting, whilst his left slipped down to touch the black hilt on his hip. The touch alone and the feeling of power were enough to give him the confidence that he would survive this encounter.  As the three riders pulled up, the leader appeared to raise his hand in a similar greeting, hower the second rider was already drawing a sword and swinging towards his shoulder. He ducked and rolled out of the line of the attack and when he came to his feet he already had his sword drawn.  He wondered if the three attackers knew the danger they were in, understood what sword they faced and how little chance they stood to come away from this encounter un-harmed. The third rider had unslung his bow and was already drawing a bead, but David paid him little attention he knew that any kind of bow offered him no danger, in fact any of the weapons before him were of little concern.  The sword lept to his left, dragging his hand across and swatted away the arrow harmlessy and slid to his right to intersect the attack the second rider was making, David managed to control the sword and the rider was turning his horse away, clutching at his leg which had been nearly severed. The remaing two riders had both dismounted and seperated, attempting to attack from both sides at once, David let the point of the sword dip almost lazily, giving the two men a sense of confidence.  Both now held swords in their hands and they began to stalk towards him.  He kept his eye on the man on his right, obviously the leader whom he had to place as the more dangerous opponent, the man who had fired the bow did not appear to have the same confidence even with the two to one odds. As David quickly glanced to the man on the left the other attacker made his move and lept foward sweeping his sword down towards Davids shoulder, however once again the sword swept up and deflecting the downward swing found the chest of the attacker delivering a fatal blow.  Even as David was registering the blow the sword came up again and down over his left shoulder again preventing a strike to his neck from the final swordsman.  He turned and saw the man stepping back, recognising what David knew, that any attack against him would be fatal.  The man began to turn but the sword swept out cutting across his neck releasing a torrent of blood.  As the man fell to his knees his eyes met Davids and as the light faded from his eye, David  could see the questions being asked. “Why?”.

Live by the lens, die by the sword – Part 2

She pushed through the crowd causing guests to turn at the commotion, something that never happened at these parties.  As she moved foward she could already see men in suits with their hands to their ears by the main entrance and she knew that route was impassable.  She stopped in her tracks, her mind running through her memory of the party thus far and the geography of the room, her reminicense threw up a door in the wall to her left that had appeared to be unguarded.  With that knowledge she moved in it’s direction hoping that it might provide a means of egress, with a plan in mind her, panic took a back seat and her training came to the fore. Her movement through the crowd was now more measured and attracted less attention from the crowd allowing her to quickly reach her objective, a quick twist of the door handle confirmed that it was unlocked and she slipped through.

Her luck was in a short corridor with a number of doors greeted her as she gently closed the door benhind her.  She glanced back at the lock and quickly realised there was no way to prevent anyone following her so moved to the first door.  The handle turned but the door remained locked, she pushed against it, testing the level of it’s resistance, and decided that any attempts to make her way through that door would take more time than she likely had, before someone discovered that she had escaped the hall.  She moved to the second door and again tried the handle, the door opened this time and she look inside.  A small room with shelves from the floor to the ceiling packed full of nothing that would help her current situation.  She closed the door behind her after noting the small barred window, high on the wall at the read of the room.  She moved to the third door and again turning the handle discovered the door unlocked, she opened the door wide and movd inside closing it behind her.  She now stood in what appeared to be one of the bathrooms specifically for the staff, the gold taps that she had seen earlier when using the bathroom off from the main hall, were missing and the mirror on the wall that was cracked in one corner certainly would have been replaced.   However her main interest was on the window at the back of the room and 3 hurried steps carried her over the tiled floor and allowed her a closer inspection of her target.

The window was locked and had re-inforced glass, however the frame appeared to be weak around one corner and when she applied pressure to it she could feel a certain amount of give to it and a chance of escape.  She knew that any kind of sustained attack on the window would attract her pursuers, she had to get through the window in one attempt or face capture and all the inevitable interegation that would bring.  She surveyed the room and only one possibility presented itself, she dragged a table from a corner to the wall near the door and set it up about a foot away from the wall and facing the window at the far end.  She slipped back out into the corridor and grabbed a fire extinguisher that had been placed there and dragged it back into the room.  She examined the top of the extinguisher and was able to unscrew the handle to expose the valve at the top of the cannister.  She lifted the extinguisher onto the table and lined it up with the window, then looking round she managed to find a spanner that someone had left in the room.

From outside the room she could hear voices raised and she knew that they were close, she raised up the spanner swung down with all her might on the valve.  The spanner met the valve with a loud clang and the valve broke off, the pressurised CO2 gas immediately started shooting out and for a brief moment she thought that the cannister was not going to move, but with a sudden whoosh the fire extinguisher lept forward and across the room, it arced from it’s launch point on the table across the room and crashed straight into the window and collided with the re-inforced glass.  The glass broke, however the re-inforcement kept it together and this transfered the force of the impact to the frame of the window.  The right hand side gave way and her escape route was there, although the voices in the hall were outside the door as she lept to her feet.  She crossed the room and reached the window as the door was flung open, a shout went out but she could not afford to look behind.  She reached the window and flung herself at the opening, however she realised immediately that the frame had not bent as much as she had orignally thought.

None the less she had managed to get most of her torso through the whole and was just turning her hips to drop out when hands wrapped round her legs.  She attempted to kick out but more hands held her legs tightly and began to drag her back in.  She tried to gain leverage on the frame to prevent them pulling her back in and whilst she intially made some progress the strength of her captors quickly dragged her in.  As she landed back on the floor of the bathroom she began lashing out at the bodies around her.  She managed to connect a fist with a chin and someone went down, another crumpled to the floor as one of her knees connected with his groin, however this was a numbers game and she was clearly fighting a loosing battle.

In the end one of the captors pulled out a taser gun and gave her a quick blast of 50k volts and her body was no longer in her control.   When she regained her senses she discovered that her hands were bound behind her and she was being half dragged half carried down a set of stairs into the basement of the building.  “This does not look good” she thought to her self when a door ahead of her was thrown open showing a single chair within a sound proof room.

Live by the lens, die by the sword – Part 1

She watched them from across the room, their two bodies intertwined as they glided across the dance floor.  She raised the camera again her eye drawn to the view finder and with a bried hesitation as she framed the shot and then gently squeezed the button to capture the image.  A tiny click was the only evidence that the photo had been taken, the new mondern digital cameras did not have the tell tale click of the shutter or whirr of the motor driving the film forward to the next frame.   She furtively looked around and after checking that no-one was paying great attention to her, she clicked off another couple of pictures, before slipping her camera back into the small evening bag she had picked out to go with the outfit. The slinky black dress was by some new designer that she had never even heard of, but was apparently all the rage and consequently in a price range that her salary would never stretch to, however the instructions for this assignment had included funds that covered the dress and the state of the art micro-camera as well.

The brown envelope that had appeared under her hotel door had included a key to a luggage compartment at the local train station, that had contained the dress, camera and details of the target along with a substantial amount of cash that would cover her for incidental expenses.  She had been on missions before but never with this level of outlay for such a small return.  Previously she had sabotaged computers, planted explosives and on two occasion been at the trigger end of a sniper rifle, delivering the bad news to someone who had upset the wrong people.  For once the mission requirements were to get photos of all the guest at the party, admittedly a party at the presidential palace, but none the less simply some photographs.  Getting the invitation had been somewhat taxing and she had cashed in a number of favours from a few member of the political party who had been caught with their pants down, in two cases literally,  by her employers.  She had managed to smuggle the camera in to the party, the guard at the door seemed more interested in trying to look down her cleavage than actually searching her bag, whilst she did nothing to hinder his attempts.  She had managed to capture around half of the guest at the party when she caught sight of a face across the room, a face that shouldn’t be there and a face that could spell disaster for her mission.

He had been the school jock, an expert at any sport he turned his hand to.  He had captained the basketball and baseball teams and had been the guy that every girl at the school had wanted to go on a date with.  She never understood why he had asked her to the prom but he had and they had spent a glorious evening wrapped around each other on the dance floor, followed by a what he probably thought had been a glorious night in a room upstairs in the hotel.  Her memories of the event were less than glorious and it was something that she had regretted for many years. They had broken up soon after and he moved onto the next in a string of conquest, whilst she spent months shunning the opposite sex before she let herself open up to another.

Her appearance had changed since that night 5 years earlier and it’s likely that he would not notice her, however having reviewed guest list supplied to her she knew that his name was not on it.  The question that immediately filled her mind was if his name wasn’t on the guest list, what name was he using and why was he here under a false name.

It only took a second for the information to flow through her mind and when she glanced up she couldn’t see him.  “I imagined him” she thought, “or I just saw someone that looked like him”.  However she couldn’t let herself rest on those assumptions and she slowly began to circle the room to see if she could see him again.  She began scanning the faces she could see, her mission currently forgotten and with each face her concern lowered.   However once again in the far corner she had a brief glimpse of a face and again she had the flash of recognition.  She needed to be sure and began to move through the crowd with a purpose, her training taking over allowing her to flow into the available spaces that seemed to appear as she needed them, never needing to ask someone to let her by, therefore never being fixed in their memory.

Her training was good, her luck today not quite up to scratch as she moved past a group of three people, only a couple of meters away from him, a large space opened up giving her a clear view of him.  This gave her the confirmation that it was him, the only problem was that he was looking straight at her.  She saw the confusion cross his face as he probably half recognised her, however that passed before she could move and she watched his right hand move towards his mouth.  She could see the microphone concealed in his hand, saw his left hand move to his ear where an ear piece was half concealed.  She knew she was in trouble, he may have known her then, however it was unlikely that there previous relationship, if you could call it that, would have any sway upon his actions.   The only people with that kind of equipment had to be the security detail and with the camera in her bag and the photos she had taken of the guests and rooms she was caught red-handed.

She turned away from him and back into the crowd, flight the only thought on her mind.

Christmas Morning

He awoke slowly, his brain focusing on the warm cosy feeling that being wrapped in the duvet gave him.  In turning over his foot left the confines of the duvet and he could feel the cold in his bedroom. The snow that had started last night and he along with his brother had spent some time outside racing around enjoying the excitement that the snow had generated, his mother and father stood at the back door, arms around each other, watching their two children enjoying themselves with the rare abandon that they did not see too often.  It had taken a momumental effort to get the two boys inside and then into dry clothes, the excitement coursing through all of them.  Eventually the two boys had been tucked up in bed, although it had been some time later when he had finally fallen asleep.

He lay their luxuriating in the warmth, no need to worry about getting up for school, it was the holidays after all and he didn’t have to go back for another couple of weeks.  He was close to dozing off when his brain finally pieced things together and he lept out of bed.  “It’s Christmas Day” he said out loud.  Even with the excitement levels rising, he could not ignore the cold and pulled his dressing gown on and tucked his feet into his slippers, combined with his pyjamas it went some way to keeping him warm.  He pulled his bedroom door open and stepped out onto the landing, then taking the two steps across to his brothers bedroom, threw open the door.

He could see the still sleeping form of his brother in bed, he contemplated his options and decided that the simplest approach was the best, running across the room he lept onto his brothers bed, landing on his brothers legs.

“Wake up, Wake up.  It’s Christmas” he called.

“Wzzat” his brother voice came from under the duvet.

“Wake Up, WAKE UP” he shouted.

“Ok Ok OK” his brother’s voice rising in volume as he continued to bounce up and down.

“It’s Christmas” he said

“It better be” his brother growled ” anything less would not allow me to forgive you for bouncing on me.  Do you know what the time is?”

“Err No” he replied glancing round at the clock.  “6:42″

“Oh well at least it’s not as early as last year” his brother said.

Last year he had woken before 5am and waking his brother up they had decided to sneak downstairs and look at the presents.  However the two of them had become somewhat noisy and woken both of their parents up, words had been exchanged, well mainly from their parents to the boys  and they had all returned to their respective beds.   The bad feeling from the early hours had however soon melted away and everyone had enjoyed the rest of the day.

This year they both recognised that it was late enough to go downstairs and maybe even do something nice for their parents.  However all thoughts of making breakfast left the boys minds as they walked into the lounge, the christmas tree which had been put up last night had been fully decorated now and with streamers and tinsel criss crossing the ceiling, their was no mistaking the festivities being planned.  The two of them paused in the door way drinking in the splendour and it wasn’t until his brother spoke that he snapped out of his daze

“Presents!!”

That one word half whispered had the same effect as though someone had shouted “3…. 2…. 1…. Go” and fired  a starting pistol, the two boys glanced at each other, looked at the base of the tree, glanced and each other again and threw themselves down within reach of the pile of presents.  The two of them began sorting them with each of them now or then handing a present to the other with a simple “Yours”, they also created two additional piles, one for each of their parents, however these piles were significantly smaller than the mountain of presents that each of them had been given, Santa had been generous this year.

“Having Fun??” a voice said and both heads turned towards the door seeing their parents standing there, their father with his arm around their mothers waist.

“We weren’t up too early” his brother said as they both looked guilty.

“That’s ok” father said, “a much more reasonable hour than last year I seem to think”

“Let me put some coffee on” mother said “and then you can start opening your presents”

The two boys quickly finished their sorting out of the piles of presents and before long their mother returned with a mug of coffee for herself and their father.

“Ok boys” she said “Lets open some presents.”

Behind the lines

The cloud moved across the face of the moon and the darkness deepened, this would be his last chance tonight, sunrise was barely 30 mins away.  He stood in the shadows, watching, clenching and un-clenching his muscles, as he had been taught, so that he would not cramp.  His eyes were fixed on the target, as they had been for the last 6 hrs, the window across the street showed a figure moving in the house, something that was somewhat un-common at this early hour of the day, however for the target this was a sign of their nocturnal hours that the seemed to follow.

A final glance around him assured him that if someone out there was watching him or on the lookout at all, they were both more patient and also better than he was and that he knew was highly unlikely. He slowly drew up to his full height, moving individual limbs and joints slowly to make sure that nothing was going to cause him to be at less than 100% efficiency, even after the long period of enforced in-activity.  His path followed the wall and it’s shadow, even though he was confident that there were no observers around, this was no excuse for him to not follow his normal procedures.  He reached the corner of the wall and paused, listening for any alarm, anyone moving or any noises out of place that might signify someone else hiding.  He reached into the pouch of the front of his webbing and pulled out a small mirror and using it along with his bowie knife he was able to see round the corner.  After verifying that the way forward was clear he slowly peered directly round the corner before moving across the open space to the alcove in the wall opposite. He paused once again as a dog barked in the distance but after a brief moment or two the silence resumed againg. He turned around and for the first time was able to get a close look at the door that stood in his way, he had observed the target returning some hours earlier and knew from his actions that the door had some kind of lock on it, however he did not know whether he would be able to defeat it.  In the darkness he had to rely more on his touch to ascertain his options and it didn’t take him long to realise that whilst the lock was fairly old he would be unable to use the tools he had on him that were aimed more towards the modern locks.  He turned around still merged into the shadows and surveyed the surrounding landscape, the wall with the door in it should be climbable but it didn’t really want to climb it here on the roadside even at this hour.  A glance to his right showed him the edge of the property and the alley that led to the next road over, he moved forward from the doorway and jogged the distance to the alley entrance, he glanced carefully down the alley and although the darkness prevented him from seeing anyone hidden their, his earlier surveillance deemed it unlikely and the darkness would now also hide his own activities should anyone appear on the street.

Moving down the alley he kept his eyes moving, scanning the ground at his feet for anything that would trip him, looking at the wall to his right that he would have to climb and repeated glances towards either end of the alley for any observers.  Once he felt he was far enough in the dark to be hidden he ran his hands along the wall looking for any kind of handhold that might assist his climb.  Whilst the wall was old it’s plaster style facing offered little assistance and his only choice was to attempt to leap and get a hand hold on the top of the wall, less stealthy however he was now faced with time running short and he knew that his window of oppotunity would close for tonight and he did not want to have to find another spot to hide in during the daylight hours.  He reached into his webbing and withdrew a pair of gloves, these were very hi-tech, with high levels of grip due to some new material NASA had developed, however they were also embued with a new Kevlar style residue that actually gave the glove a higher level of resistance to cutting edges.  This would prevent his hands being damaged if the walls were topped with glass shards or anything else designed to deter climbers.

With the gloves how in place he stowed as much of his kit in his small rucksack and attached a lightweight rope to it.  This he measured out 10 feet and then tied it round his waist, he could now get to the top of the wall and then pull up the remainder of his equipment.  He tensed his legs and then flinging his arms up to give him momentum and also reach he lept for the wall top.  One hand grabbed the top of the wall and the other missed getting a purchase, he hung from one arm for a second before he was able to grab again with his second hand and get a grip.  He hung briefly listening for any sounds of alarm and when it was clear that he was still undetected he pulled himself up and was able to see the top of the wall.  It was only a few inches thick and thankfully it was clear of anything that would have hindered his progress.  He hooked his right arm over the wall and pulled himself up so that his body was now flat on top of the wall with an arm and leg hanging down either side.  He reached down and slowly pull his rucksack up,  taking care to not disturb the wall surface any more than necessary, the fewer traces of evidence of his presence the better.   With his rucksack now also on the top of the wall he withdrew the nightvision goggles and surveyed the grounds of the house for the first time.

The house was surrounded by a lawn with a few trees and bushes and some areas that may have originally held shrubs and flowers, but the relentless had dried up all but a few stalks.  This did mean that whilst he had little cover should someone be observing from inside the house, there was little to prevent his descent from the wall.  A quick roll of the shoulders and he was off the top of the wall, he landed slightly heavier than he would have liked, however there was still no signs of any alarm and he jogged towards the house, scanning his surroundings as he moved forward.

He reached the wall of the house and flattened himself against it just as the moon made a brief appearance from behind the clouds, lighting the garden up.  He hesitated briefly taking an advantage of the increased lighting to survey his surrounding, before moving towards the back of the house whilst hugging it exterior wall.  He turned the corner and was quickly at the back door which appeared to open into a small unlit kitchen, he could see a light further towards the front and he assumed that this would be where his prey would be.  For the second time that night he examined a lock, however this time his tools would be perfect for the task and retrieving them from his webbing, in fact the moment he reached for the lock to  attempt to pick it, he realised that the door was in fact unlocked.

That immediately set his mind on alert, the information about the target had all suggested that he was meticulous in his routines and this un-locked back-door did not fit within the profile they had built of the man.  He immediately reached around the back of the webbing and pulled out his silenced pistol, if the users profile had changed, it was entirely possible that he might not be able to acheive his objective without leaving some residual evidence of his presence.  “Oh well the best laid plans etc” he thought.

He gripped the pistol in his right hand and gently turned the handle with his left, feeling for the bite point of the lock and attempting to minimize any noise caused.  He pushed the door open and entered the room, closing the door behind him but not allowing the locking mechanism to engage.  In the event of an emergency egress this would save him precious seconds if he simply had to pull the handle.

He spent several seconds once again listening to his surroundings, all was quiet and this again was a concern, the target would normally still be up at this time but at the moment there was no sound of any movement.  He moved through the door from the kitchen into the downstairs living area, a desk on his left showed signs of recent use with a half drunk glass of water sat near the edge, condensation still clinging to the side, suggesting that it had been poured within the last few hours.  His scan of the room showed no other evidence and he moved forward towards the entrance hall and the stairs.  The rug in the hall muffled and slight noises he might have made and he reached the bottom of the stairs.  With no obvious noise in the house, the stairs now presented the biggest obstacle for him to pass without creating any noise.

He put his foot gingerly on the first step and slowly transfered his weight to it, ready to reverse the process if the stair felt like it was going to move and make any noise.  He continued up the first few stairs repeating the process all the while his pistol trained above him anticipating some kind of attack from the target.  By the time he was halfway up the stairs he could clearly see much of the floor above him and of the three doors leading off from the open landing, one was closed and one of the two open doors lead to a lit room.  He reached the landing with barely a squeak of the floorboards and moved forward his eyes moving constanly surveying his surroundings and attempt to spot an attack before it came.  His attention was focused on the lit room as it was more likely where the target would be.  He moved forward and was now at the side of the door, he slowly moved his head around, all the while tensed for an attack or the chance to take out the target.  He had around half of the room in view when he spotted it, lying on the floor, not what he had expected at this point.  The body was clearly dead, the head did not normally sit on the shoulders at quite that angle, although it did not appear to have been dead long.  He moved forward now with a little more speed, the target was down, although he had not been the one to effect the kill, he needed to quickly sweep the upper floor to make sure that it was clear and then get out of here before the sun had risen.  Questions were running through his mind as to who had taken out the target, but that would be up to his bosses to determine.  He moved with speed and determination now clearing the upper floor, there were signs that someone had been in here searching, a number of drawers had been cleary opened and not pushed back completely, he had no idea what they had been looking for but this was not part of his mission.  He retraced his steps downstairs and to the backdoor which now stood open.

Sometime since he entered the house he had passed another killer, someone he had not spotted, someone who had been calm enough to let him pass and not attempt to kill him.  Someone who had managed to get in and kill the target whilst he had been outside watching the property.  Someone who had realised that any kind of incident between the two of them would have alerted someone close by and this was certainly not something he would have wanted to do.  It would have most likely lead to his death, dragged through the streets by a population that hated his country.   Too many questions and too few answers, he moved out into the garden and across to the wall the gate to the street now stood ajar, he moved into the alcove and closed the door behind him hearing the clunk as the lock engaged. He looked up and down the street as he had 10 minutes ago, once again there was no sign of any movement, yet he knew that somewhere in the darkness of the surrounding streets another expert was moving away from the property, the question was  whether this was simply a case of crossed lines sending two operatives after the same target or was their a third player involved.

Into the Darkness

The lights from the road side passed by in a blur, the darkness held back by from the roadway by these lonely sentinels holding vigil at the edge of the tarmac surface.  With his foot to the floor the car was speeding down the road, all thoughts of speed limits and road laws firmly out of his mind.  The blur of a car passing in the opposite direction snapped him back to reality as he realised the danger of the situation he was in and his foot eased off the peddle and the forward momentum of the car slowed slightly.  His mind was a whir of emotions, the piece of paper fallen from her coat had revealed the treachery, his fears that he had dismissed over the years, his self doubt, and yet his trust in her that had kept them at bay before, now ripped away.

Out with friends, that had been the excuse tonight, but the slip of paper with an address in, what he recognised, as a seedier area of town, had told him the truth.  His rage had built slowly and he had managed to restrain himself from throwing thing in the apartment.   He hands had been shaking and it had taken him three attempts to get his key in the ignition of his car, but from red mist had now become a cold calculating white within him as he imagined what lay ahead.

He didn’t know who she was seeing but various images ran through his mind, each time the strawberry-blonde hair of his wife filled the image as she cavorted with the faceless lover.  His hands began to grip the wheel harder and his knuckles now lost all colour as they turned white.  A sudden sharp turn of the wheel and he had overtaken a car that had been travelling along at something closer to the the actual speed limit.  As the countryside began to be replaced by buildings and he entered the city, a rational part of his brain pulled his foot back from the accelerator and he slowed down to something closer to the speed limit.  He dragged the steering wheel to the right to take a turn towards the lower end of town, his wheels barely keeping the car on the road as he fishtailed down the street.

He slowed down as he headed further into the estate, his eyes scanning left and right looking for the road that had been named on the paperwork.  In the darkness he nearly missed the road sign, however he spotted it at the last second and slammed on the brakes before turning into the road.

There was her car, the final proof he needed, he pulled up behind it, effectively blocking any attempts to pull her car away from the kerb.  He turned the engine off and sat there for a moment trying to calm himself, when this failed he grabbed for the door handle and got out onto the pavement.  He resisted the urge to slam the car door and after checking it had locked he turned towards the buildings.

A number of doors were ahead of him, some leading to ground floor flats, others to those above, he walked down the row searching for no. 31 when he reached it, the shock was plain on his face, like all of the other doors, the bell had a small space for the name and whilst he was expecting to learn the name of the man who had stolen his wife from him, he never expected to see her name listed there instead.

Darkness Falls

He struggled up the stairs, the body cradled in his arms, smoke billowing past him cutting his visibility to mere inches.

His feet shuffled forward, trying to find a clear path through the gloom, avoiding the maze of furniture that strived to catch a knee or ankle and pitch him and his precious cargo to the floor.

Breathing was now difficult, he could taste the smoke and every breath started him coughing, with his hands full he could no longer hold the cloth across his face that had filtered the air for him. He glanced down and could see the bundle in his arms, her face looking up at him, the terror in the eyes plain to see.

“It’s going to be okay, we’re nearly out” he said. Her only response was to bury her head tightly into his chest.

A wall appeared in front of him and he paused, trying to get his bearings and find the door that must lead into the hall. Behind him there was a loud crack and a glance showed him that the fire had now funneled up the stairs he had left moments earlier. Panic began to set in and he turned to the left, moving along the wall, crouching to try and lessen the effect the smoke was having.

His hand traversed the surface of the wall searching for a door frame or even a window but as he moved forward what seemed an impossible distance the un-relenting even surface continued. Hours had passed, or so it had seemed, when his hand finally discovered the door frame, he moved the girl around in his arms so his hand was able to reach down to the door handle.  He grasped the door knob and twisted it, nothing happened, he tried again and still the handle would not budge.  He looked down and for a third time twisted it.  This time the handle moved, and after what seemed to him to be a super-human effort the door opened, cooler air rushed in and without looking back he knew that this air was already feeding the flames behind him.  He threw himself through the door, his body twisting as he fell to protect the young girl, landing on his side painfully just as the flames reached the door way behind him.

He struggled to his feet, shift the weight in his arms, feeling the damage that the fall had made, to his right leg and arm.  He looked at the doorway and could see the room beyond now on fire, in a moment of inspiration and self preservation he once again reached into the reached into the room and grabbing the door handle, that mere seconds ago had been a barrier to him, he pulled the door towards him and slammed the door shut once again, this time with the two of them on the other side from the fire.

With that task complete and hopefully buying them some time he looked around his surroundings again, a non-descript corridor, some smoke in the air, but nothing like the room they had just come through. A glance left and right showed no obvious signs of an exit and both directions turned corners away from the fire behind them.  Mentally flipping a coin he turned to the right and staggered down the corridor, he was able to breath more easily here, but every so often a coughing fit stopped him and he leaned on the wall to prevent him falling to his knees.  He reached the corner as the corridor turned to the left, looking back down the corridor they had just travelled he could already see the flames licking under the door he had shut, smoke starting to pour along the ceiling.

His gaze shifted to the path ahead and locked onto a door at the end of the corridor, with the welcome sign of a fire exit motif above it.  He pushed off from where he had been leaning on the wall and stumbled forwards, his eyes single focus that door, he mentally counted the doors as he passed them, his grip tightening on the bundle in his arms.  His energy was dropping and his feat dragged on the carpet, the smoke was already starting to affect his breathing once again, but the fire exit was now in front of him, he kicked out at the bar and the door swung open in front of him.  He was not prepared for the sight in front of him, he expected another stairwell, smoke or even fire, but what greeted him was blue sky, a horizon and fresh air, as he crumpled to the ground, the adrenaline leaving his body, his eyes took in the sights, the blue of the sky, the white clouds drifting lazily by, the buildings towering above, the people held back by the police barrier and the firemen with their hoses directed at the building, people streaming from the building into the arms of the ambulance men.  All he could think was that they looked so small, from the up here on the 8th floor.  He had no idea what had happened, where the fire escape had gone, how he was going to get them down, he could see the fire engines with the big ladders, could see them reaching to around the 6th floor, but that was two floors down. He stood up slowly and looked down into the face cradled in his arms, “It’s okay, we can’t go that way we will have to go out the other way” and smiled to re-assure her.  He turned his back on the outside and looked once again back down the corridor, smoke was billowing towards him and  he knew that the chances of getting out of this were slim but he must try.  He glanced once more over his shoulder at the sky and then with a simply “Okay” turned back and walked into the smoke.

Just a short story to whet the whistle

Rain, rain and more Rain, that’s all he saw when he poked his head of his front door that fateful Friday morning. Rain pissing down like it had been for the last 3 days. “But you just know that the moment the fucking sun shows it’s face they will be moaning about a lack of water and banning people from using hose pipes.” Dave thought.

#

It had really been a crap week, on Monday he rolled into work, trying to find the enthusiasm to actually make some progress on any of the myriad of projects that were currently on his todo lists, however that had gone out the window when he was collared by one of his co-workers, before he had even managed to get his coat off.

“Why haven’t the GI specs gone out yet?” Martin asked.

“Errr” Dave started, trying desperately to remember which of the projects they related to.

“Come on, they should have gone out to the Client on Friday, Mr. Lucas phoned chasing me up and you know that he’s going to be on the phone to the director by lunch time if they haven’t got them.”

“Ok, I’ll get them together and get them out straight away” he replied, still no clearer in his mind as to which project this was, which spec and even who Mr Lucas was.

When he reached his desk , the message light on his phone was blinking away like a harbinger of doom. Deciding that ignoring it for now was the best policy he began to search for some indication of who this client was and which spec he had forgotten to send.

He was still searching some time later when his office door burst open and his Manager burst in. From the look on his face Dave could tell this was not good news and from the moment that Simon opened his mouth, things just got worse and worse.

“David, this GI spec was due with the Client on Friday, they have just spoken to the Director who I have just spent 5 mins on the phone with persuading him not to fire your ass on the spot. If that wasn’t bad enough, when I located the spec on the system it was not finished and what was there didn’t meet up to what I consider were acceptable standards. I have given the spec to Martin to do and I want you to spend the rest of the week reviewing everything that you currently have outstanding and putting together a status report for each and every project. Consider yourself on a warning and lucky not to be being escorted out of the building by security.”

Simon left the office, slamming the door behind him, leaving Dave slumped in his chair behind his desk. He sat there for the next 30 mins staring at the walls, Did he really need this job? Was this really what he wanted to do with his life? Sadly enough while the answer to the latter question was no, he did need a job and whilst he hated this job with a passion, he had to hold on to it until he could find something else. The rest of the day was spent alternately updating his CV and starting putting the status report together. When he left work at the end of the day, the sun that still shone seemed to be mocking him and his state of mind. He left the office on foot and walked down to the bus stop and joined the lengthy queue for the bus, it was almost inevitable that when the bus finally arrived, he had just made it to the doors the bus driver announced that the bus was full and had shut the doors and driven off. Rather than wait the 30 mins until the next bus, Dave trudged home on foot.

#

Tuesday was no better he struggled in through the rain and when he arrived in the office it was was obvious that his co-workers were shunning him, conversations stopped when he walked into the coffee room alone, because no-one had put their head into his office to ask if he wanted a drink, as they had previously. He knew that his days here were numbered, he was not blind to the fact that this status report was simply a tool to allow the company to hand his work over to someone else. He wasn’t even sure why he was bothering completing it anyway, but some kind of inner-professionalism kept him going forward.

He left work that night heading into town rather than home a date with his on again off again girlfriend arranged when they had gone out on Saturday. He met Carla out side the cinema where she had already selected the film they were going to see.

“It’s the romantic comedy of the year” she gushed as they entered the theatre.

Dave was already trying to work out if there was anyway he could actually fake some kind of seizure to get out of this, but Carla’s grip on his hand was a clear indication that this was something he was going to have to suffer through.

And suffer through he did, the inane characters and stupid plot did nothing to improve his mood and Carla picked up on this.  She began with a simple “Are you OK”, to which his simple one word “Yes” was obviously a lie and she began what was obviously in her view an attempt to get him to open up and feel better, whilst he saw it as her attempts to pry.  In the end words were said by both of them, tears shed by her and she stormed off probably in his view for the last time. It hadn’t been the greatest of relationships by any means but she had been one of the people who he considered a friend and he had very few of them.

#

Wednesday morning, more rain, at work it was as if he was moving round in a bubble of silence as no one spoke to him, even his boss ignored him in the corridor and his e-mail inbox sat empty.  At lunch time he left the office to go somewhere different, having eaten lunch in the restaurant at work for the last 2 years, sitting there now with everyone ignoring him would be too much.  After purchasing a sandwich from the cafe at the corner he returned back to his desk and looked down at the concoction of dried bread and rubbery ham, eventually throwing into the bin without even tasting it.  He left work that night and didn’t even bother waiting for a bus, but stopped at his local supermarket for some food.   It wasn’t until he arrived home that he realised that he had failed to buy his normal lottery ticket and the pessimist within him was hardly surprised when his numbers came up.  No he wouldn’t have won the jackpot but £79 was not to be sneezed at.  He crawled into bed that night feeling that the whole world was against him.

#

Thursday and the rain was well and truly set in now, his walk to work would have seen him wet through, however that was the least of his worries as a car passed straight through a large puddle as it went passed him, he was now wet, muddy and he could taste a metallic taste in his mouth which he suspected was motor oil.  He arrived at work a mess and as he walked in the door he bumped into Simon who was hardly impressed with his appearance.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing coming in like that”

“But it wasn’t my fault, a car splashed me”

“I don’t care, we have some clients coming round today and there is no way that they are seeing you like that.”

“But But But”

“Go home and don’t come back today, I’m going to dock you a days wages for this”

“But But But”

“GET OUT” Simon nearly shouted and Dave turned round and back out of the door into the rain.  He slowly made his way back home, the rain thankfully hiding from all around him the tears making their way down his cheeks.

#

Rain, rain and more Rain, that’s all he saw when he poked his head of his front door that fateful Friday morning. Rain pissing down like it had been for the last 3 days. “But you just know that the moment the fucking sun shows it’s face they will be moaning about a lack of water and banning people from using hose pipes.” Dave thought.

He wasn’t sure if it was worth heading into work, he had managed to wash his suit and get it dried, at least that had been one benefit of being at home yesterday, but in the end he was out of the door at the normal time.  He walked down the road his neck bunched up trying to stop the water running down his neck, his umbrella long ruined by the heavy rain and wind of the last few days.  He got to the main road and walked to the pedestrian crossing and waited for the traffic to stop, once it had he began to cross.  He never saw the lorry coming down the road from the left until the noise turned his head in that direction.  By that time it had plowed into the back of the Volvo Estate.  His mind had time to process this fact and in those last seconds his mind was marvelling at how strong those cars were that it had withstood the impact with so little damage.  As the Volvo crashed into him and he slid under the bonnet the one thought went through his head.  “FUCKING TYPICAL!!”