Chapter One:
“Loyalty Among Murderers”

11 Years Later

It was dark outside, the pale purple streaks ran through the star-lit sky like paintbrush strokes. I remember staring up there for a while before looking back down to him. This was the punishment for traitors, no one should be allowed to walk back into the world after displaying such signs of cowardice. There were certain morals, and statures of a person that should not ever be shown to the world. This was one of them. On both our parts.

I slide the heavy weight of the .45 caliber weapon from my purse and pressed it against the little pussies temple. His eyes got huge, as his mouth seizures and gasp began to pour out of him, I could not help but find my self smiling. Only in the face of death do so many people show us their true self. “Are you regretting letting your mouth slip now, Charlie?” I cooed out grinning to him. Pushing his head to the side with the gun as I showed him how serious I was.

This grown man then began to cry, like a little girl, it disgusted me more than his treachery. “P-p-please, just don't do this, we can fix this. It does not have to be like this, it's all just a huge misunderstanding.” Drool and tears all ran from his pores, mixing together as it fell from his pathetic face. I smiled and slammed the butt of the gun against his skull. There was a loud crack and he fell like a rock.

I was not dignifying that question with a response. I pulled the trigger and his forehead peeled back letting blood splatter across the cool sand of the midnight desert. I did not hear the gun shot, just the echo as it reverberated its justice around until it surrounded me. My head fell back and the sky began to come into view again. My long black hair fell back into the middle of my shoulder blades as I watched the world forget the life of Charlie Cooper. It was done and it was what was necessary.

A sigh rolled up from my throat as I now began to dig a hole to bury this fool in. It took me about 3 hours, the whole time spent reassuring myself the what I did was right. I kicked and rolled his body into the sand pit that I dug, this was probably enough to make sure no one found him. But chances were meant for dumb asses with faith, I know damn well the world does not have any chain of command. Just actions and reactions.

I grabbed the gas can from the back of my old '72 Cadillac and covered Charlie with his last bath. Lighting up a cigarette, I hit it a few times before returning my mind back to him. I ripped off a small piece of my black V-neck shirt and lit it. I tossed it onto the body and for a second almost expected him to scream as his body flared up. The stench as usual was terrible and it invaded my nose ferociously as I watched him burn, grinning most the time. Hector was going to be please with the way this worked out. If not then he could fuck off anyways. This was for me.

I thew the sand and dirt back into the hole as his body smoked, he made some sizzling sounds as it happened, which made me actually laugh to myself. Order up, well done. My blue jeans hugged my hips and curves to much as I bent down to get into the driver seat of my car. This was the beginning of the end for this world, and it was going to be at our hands. It was time someone did something.

The highway was rolling past me endlessly it seemed as I watched the lights and signs smudge past me on the way back to base. We were that organization you always feared that existed. We did not waste time with giving ourselves a name, because that just got you caught faster. Pride would be an inevitable end for us, if we did that. We did all have names and roles though.

I have gained the code name, Scythe, it seemed fitting for of the lives I always took. The grim reaper might be getting jealous of my numbers up to date now. The two hour drive back to civilization was relaxing, which was just what I needed. I smiled as the gate patrol men stopped my car like it would be anyone else coming here. Brick leaned into my window and as usually his eyes landed right on my cleavage, he thought he was slick and I never noticed, but I let the boy think what he needed to stay alive.

“How's it going Scythe, everything go alright tonight?' He inquired like I did not always do my job to perfection. I gave him a seductive smile as always playing into his vulnerabilities. My bright green eyes then looked up to him through heavy lashes and with a raspy voice I returned, “I hope that the fire in hell is hotter than normal fire is all I'm saying, cause that bastard deserves it.” I let a grin slide across my face as I nodded forward.

“Can I get outta here now? Hector is waiting on me, as usual. God forbid he dirty his hands anymore.” I laughed out to him as he motioned for the gate to raise to our base. Driving through the gate. I smiled and slowly blew Brick a kiss as I did so. He was so naive that one. He really thought he was in charge of things and not just an expendable pawn in this game. My head shook uncontrollably as I realized how true my statements were, as much as I did not want them to be.

My car jolted to a stop as the frustrations became more relevant and I slammed the door shut as I approached the beaten down headquarters of our stolen base. I took in the view around me quickly as I tried to prepare myself for the meeting to come. All the building around me ran parallel to each other and to the streets. It was quit a maze of a base really, the streets were all perpendicular to the last but each one leading to another and so on. I had only ever had to check in here and really had no concern with the rest of it. Coming from the gate there was the mess hall off to the left, then the headquarters, followed by several more abandoned buildings that we had not found a use for yet.

We were getting bigger though, and would soon need to start using them for housing. Several men came running in and out of the other empty buildings moving and cleaning them for this very reason. I watched for a minute, the organization was impeccable, it was awe striking what Hector was capable of when he put his mind to it. He was the type of man that when he said move, you did, and very fast. I let the door fly open as my hips swayed through the door and into his office.

He sat there with papers in front of him as usual, his striking features still catching my attention to this day. Capable of getting any woman he wanted, he simply used his charm to rally them as opposed to fucking them. Said there was more important things to worry about then sex right now, it was not the time to feed into our animal instincts. I agreed with him, but if he would ever tell me to do it, I would be naked and willing in a second.

Hector's eyes slowly moved up from the paper and look to me, no smile, no expression at all. Typical. Waiting for my response I approached his desk and gave a quick salute, which he still seemed to have problems accepting. Nodding his head to a seat as I took it, he folded his hands in front of him, then he gave me his full attention. His humbling voice then spoke out to me, “I take it there was no problems with Charlie?”

“Begged like a bitch until I blew his head off.” I grinned out, “It was interesting to see his character fall apart in the face of death though. After as many lives as he destroyed I figured he would be used to and almost willing to die, but I guess he was just scared.”

Hector sat back in his seat as I told him this just nodding his head. “Good Scythe, I knew I could count on you like always. Now we have other problems at hand. I wish I could just tell you to take a few days off, but you know as well as I do that things never go as planned in this business.”

A small sigh rolled from my mouth instinctively but I gave him my full attention as I waited for his following statements. He looked down to me as he stood and began pacing around the room. “You are not dumb Scythe, I have always known this. That is why you are where you are in the company.” He gave me a complimentary glance as he made his way around the room to a locked cabinet attached to the wall.

“So this should come as no surprise to you when I tell you that the world is fucked right now. There is no governing body that is not corrupt and the people are getting restless and tired of dealing with the responsibilities that come with making the rules. Crime is at an all time high, and the police are doing nothing about it...” Hector sat as he pulled out a folder from the drawer that he then quickly shut behind him.

He handed me the file and waited as I opened it to find a name and a picture as usual. This time though there was no reason of or briefing, just a simple kill this man because I said to persona going on. I did not understand what had come over him. Usually he was calm and decisive based on reasoning and wisdom. This seemed like a revenge attempt in my eyes. Who was I to question his authority? I hung my head as he continued.

“This man is David Knowles, he is an escaped prisoner from a camp of ours off of the south border of Virginia. As you know the law can't be trusted nowadays and there are times when we must take matters into our own hands. This man escaped out grasps somehow, which is a first for us, and no one deserves the punishment for his actions more than this man. Do you think you can handle erasing his life so quickly after the last?”

Who the fuck did he think I was? Of course I could take this man out, I never had a worry about that. I just always try to justify my actions with some sort of logic, and something about this whole thing just felt wrong. For the first time in my career as an assassin here, I wanted to tell him no. To just walk away and let them deal with their own bloody hands.

I let a snicker rumble out of me as he asked me the question. “Of course Hector, do you really think I am that unreliable that I couldn't handle taking out another traitor to the organization?” I smiled and stood and slid the file under my arm as I began to head for the door. “Is there anything else you are going to need from me?”

Hector just stared at me for a minute and gave me the weirdest look I have ever seen from him. It was hard for me to tell if it was a look of distrust or a look or admiration, either way it gay me an uneasy feeling in my gut. “You are good to go Scythe, just make sure to take care of this guy quickly, we don't have time to be dealing with suck little problems as this so late on in the process.” With that statement he went back to the paper on his desk and began the mundane task of leading this group of mindless mercenaries to the brink of extinction.

The view of the orange tinge cascading across the pale purple sky, caught my breath and my eyes for a while. I must of stood there standing and staring at it for a full ten minutes for by the time I realized what I was doing it was already day break out. I slammed the door to my car and lit up another cigarette as I began the escape from all of this for a while. The base shrinking behind me was always my favorite part of checking back in. The faster the better.

Normally after such a long night, I enjoyed relaxation and sleep. Tonight though, something sat out of place. My senses were finely tuned over years of observing my environment, so when they told me that there was something wrong, I always listened. The last thing I really remember was staring out the windshield of my car up at the bright sky. Thinking of the times when there was more to the world than the corruption and the chaos. It made me smile to think of the family that I once had, and how I would kill a thousand more people just to obtain the right to have one again.

That is the problem with this world to many people take what they have for granted and I used to be one of them. Then the war started, our over confidence as country led to our ultimate demise, but what took everyone by surprise is that once they won the war, they just simply left. Like our land was not worth their time, they would rather watch us all burn without the leadership of the big wig assholes, then take us over and have us labeled with the same name as them.

God forbid we actually had unity in the world, or peace...