// We're getting closer to the end. She's finally facing this demon of her past, but not alone. With Alex//
A young blonde woman was stirring a pot of soup. Her face was swollen on its left, a nasty bruise left by the fist of the man who held her family hostage. Her hair was disheveled, and her blue denim dress was worn out. Her arms were covered in cuts, caused by Dylan's thick combat knife during what he called his "rough play". Her face was messed up: Red and puffy from a slap she had just received. A trail of dried tears and mascara stuck to her unwashed face. Her lips were dry and cut after days spent in captivity. She was shaking from head to toe, barely able to focus on the task at hand. Marina was cooking. Since Dylan Atwater took her family hostage, it was one of the few moments of respite granted by him. One where she wasn't tortured or used for Dylan's sick pleasure. The woman couldn't bear the sight of that man; therefore, she made cooking last longer than it should have. Her husband, Tomas, a slender brunette man, was sitting against the wall. His own face had a massive bruise on his jaw, from punches he received several times at the hands of their torturer. He was sitting there, feeling pain with every breath he took, and dread since he was staring at the man responsible for this dreadful situation. He had cried so much that the tears had dried on his face, and he couldn't produce more. Why did it happen to them? They were planning their holidays and had bought tickets abroad when this man knocked on their door with a charming smile and a thinly veiled threat. How did it fucking happen?
The man had been forced to watch his wife get brutally raped, punched, and tortured several times a day without being able to help her. He was bound and gagged; the only grace given to him was so he could go to the restroom to take a leak or when they were allowed to eat. His child, Johann, a slim brunette like him, was, for the time being, only slapped around by Dylan. His demise was dangled on top of his parents' heads to force them to comply. Dylan fully intended to kill them all, but he did enjoy having the least effort to make for a couple of weeks. Dylan sat there, a huge beast of a man wearing a pair of khaki pants, a Kevlar chest piece on top of a black long-sleeved top. He had scars all over his chest. He had been stabbed, shot at, and whipped even during his numerous years of service, and carried proudly the testament of his work all over his body. He had salt and pepper hair, a five o'clock beard, and bushy eyebrows. He was a fit man, even as old as he was, he still cut an impressive figure. His eyes were alight with lust and delight upon watching the suffering of his victims. For him, the hostage situation was simply a moment of fun. He didn't have to do it, as a matter of fact, he simply could have found an empty Airbnb or hotel room and stayed there for as long as he needed. His bloodlust prevented him from being quiet. He wanted to have fun and decided to pick a random family to play with.
"Oi, Marina, maybe you should be a bit faster while cooking. I might lose my temper and hurt little Johann here."
"I'm almost done. I'm almost done! Please don't hurt my boy..." -She sobbed.- "We did everything you asked of us, why are you still hurting us?" -He laughed and shrugged his shoulders-
"I do it because I can. If I wanted, I could kill you right now, Marina, but I'm enjoying myself very much." -She sobbed harder and kept stirring the pot, now frightened for her husband and son's lives.-
Marina believed that lunatic because he didn't hesitate to hurt her son in front of her. He severely beat her husband and herself, and she knew that he was not playing games. She prayed for her son to survive this ordeal, and despite being subjected to the worst of Dylan's torture, all she did was wonder how they could help him overcome this traumatic experience. Johann had been quiet since meeting the old man at the market yesterday. He was the only adult who treated him well since /that man/ entered their lives. He replayed the moment in his head, wondering if he could have said something to that man so he could help his family. He was exhausted, his face almost sunken by the weight of his trauma at such a young age. Johann watched his mother barely walking with the soup pot and put it on the table. Johann prayed for someone to rescue them so his mother wouldn't suffer anymore.
That was when the light went off. Immediately, Johann bolted out of the dining chair and sprinted to his bedroom. He locked the door and went to hide underneath his bed. His mother started to scream, out of surprise, but also because Dylan grabbed her arm and pulled her against his chest. Something exploded nearby, blowing the windows into pieces and giving enough cover for Ghost and Jackal to enter the apartment unnoticed. Quickly, the Jackal noticed the screaming and crying woman held hostage by the big burly man behind her. He pointed his gun at them, and Ghost found Tomas first. He grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet. He couldn't speak, but his agitation made her shush him down. "I'll come back for your boy." She whispered while dragging Tomas out of the room and the apartment.
"How did you know I was here?" -Dylan asked, surprised but entertained at the idea of having a fight.- "Careful, One wrong move and I kill that bitch. Is that why you're here? For this family?"
"..." Alex didn't speak. He didn't want to. Dylan walked further into the living room. He circled the table so it put a distance between Jackal and him. Alex preferred to keep Dylan Atwater distracted and frustrated. He could tell that the big man didn't like not being answered to. Dylan glanced at Ghost, who came back after she put the father to safety and set his hands free so he could remove his own gag. The glance was brief, but enough for him to realize there were two of them.
"Please! My son! Please! Save him!" Marina screamed. Dylan laughed and pressed his gun to her temple. "Please! Please don't shoot me!" She screamed, terrified at the idea of dying and leaving her child behind.
"Do you really think that I give a flying fuck about this woman?" -He felt nothing about his victims now that two people wanted to kill him. He welcomed the distraction and the action, but made sure to still threaten his hostage-
"I don't care." The Jackal replied, gaze stern and focused on Dylan. His voice was sharp and dry, covering the bubbly anger that lay within Alex. He wouldn't lose his temper. He never did before and wouldn't do it now, but his tranquil fury was easy to read only for the trained eye. Dylan didn't know him, so he easily overlooked the rage that animated his opponent. He mistook him for an opportunist-
"I see. You didn't come for the hostages. Your friend did. You just went along because you wanted a piece of me. Is it a hit job?" -He asked, his voice hoarse and laced with excitement-
"It's not." -Jackal declared, his voice sharp and dry. He knew by now that they were studying each other and were both waiting for the other to make a mistake and give an opening. Dylan was thinking fast, thinking about using the partner of that mercenary against him at some point. He intended to shoot her and use the distraction to kill that young man.
While these two were studying the other, Ghost was searching for the young boy. The father told her that he was probably hiding in the bedroom, so she went there first. She walked slowly, carefully taking one step after the other so she wouldn't scare the boy. She whispered his name, saying that his father was safe and she wanted to take him out of this room and to his father. Johann didn't respond, unsure about the true intentions of that woman. She whispered that she came to kill the bad man who terrorised his family because he hurt her family and herself when she was Johann's age. She knelt on the floor, hands up, and described the man to him, and the way he looked when he was inflicting pain on others. She talked about his scars, especially the one he had on his chest, near the collarbones that only someone who had seen him up close would notice. The young boy crawled out of the bed and stared at this woman. She was beautiful despite the scars on her chin and mouth. He liked her hazel eyes that stood out the most. She was sincere, he could tell by the way she was staring at him, and for the first time in a long while, Johann started to cry. He had not been able to shed a tear when Dylan hurt his parents. The young boy was too traumatized to be able to cry. This woman came and brought Hope to him again. Diane's features softened, and she wiped the tears off his face with her warm palm. The hitwoman stood up and helped him get on his feet. They still had to leave the apartment unharmed.
It lasted only a brief moment, but the sight of this young child, crushed by the horrors he's witnessed and the thousand-yard stare, broke her heart. It reminded her of what she went through, the shell of the child she used to be after they slaughtered her village. She couldn't undo what Dylan did to that family, but she wished to be able to save them all. Diane grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard enough for him to feel that she was really there and was going to help him. They made their way out of the room and into the living room. Just when she turned around to glance at the Jackal and the hostage situation with Dylan, she froze upon seeing the older man. She couldn't help herself, but the terror her body experienced at the hands of Dylan came back to her and forced her body to freeze. Johann noticed she was shocked and realized, upon seeing her eyes, that this man had hurt her just the same as he had hurt him. The cries of his own mother turned his blood cold, but he had to snap that woman out of it. He tried to get her attention by pulling on her arm, but Diane didn't even register it. Dylan furrowed his brows upon seeing that woman before him, freezing like a deer in car lights. She seemed to know him, given the shocked expression on her face. Did they have a history? He racked his brain, trying to find where he could have met her, while being convinced that she was the one who wanted to rescue the family and not the man before him. Johann managed to pull Ghost's arm hard enough to snap her out of her trance, and she scurried him out of the apartment. It took some time, but Dylan finally remembered her.
"I know her! I remember now!" Dylan claimed in a dark laugh. "I remember that bitch! I didn't think she'd survive after what I put her through! Yet look at her! All grown-up now! Hey, girlie, did you come back for seconds?" -His voice boomed, barely covered by the screams of his hostage.-
"Shut the fuck up!" - Alex interrupted him. He couldn't help but swear at the man. His eyes were wide open, filled with hot rage. He tried to take a step forward, but Dylan shot him in the chest. Fortunately for him, he was wearing a bulletproof vest, so the shot wasn't fatal. It forced him to take cover behind the door that led to the kitchen.
"Aahah, this is so rich! A ghost from the past came back to me! Can you believe it, Marina, that little girl from a remote African village survived my assault and decided to come and kill me! Ahahahah Is that why you're here, pretty boy? Did you come here because of her?"
Marina squirmed and tried to wiggle her way out of Dylan's embrace, but he held her so tightly that she couldn't run away. Desperate, the blonde woman bit his hand hard enough to draw blood to her teeth, which forced him to release her and drop his gun. She managed to run a couple of steps forward, but he grabbed her hair and yanked it back. It made the woman fall on her ass and flail her arms as she tried to catch herself. He was about to fire his gun at her when Ghost jumped on him and punched his face. He released Marina, who didn't waste any time and crawled her way out of the apartment to find her husband and son. Diane gave him a barrage of punches, some landed, others were parried with his arm. He didn't expect to see her after watching her freeze on the spot moments earlier. Diane herself didn't know if she could, but she mustered the courage to run towards danger, motivated by the desire to save Marina and help this family survive the ordeal. He laughed, appreciating the bravado of this attack on him. She was trained, he could tell, and the few successful punches did hurt him, but he was more experienced than her. While she hit him, she left an opening in her stance, which he used to push her away. One hard hit with his fist in her solar plexus was enough to send her flying across the living room. He had cut the air out of her chest, which allowed him to crack the muscles of his neck.
Alex shot him and got Dylan's leg. It wasn't enough to stop the mercenary who launched at him with a spear. Jackal dropped his weapon at the impact and hit Dylan's back with his fists to make him release his chest. The mercenary didn't let up; he squeezed Jackal's chest harder with the intent to break it and didn't flinch when Alex pummeled his back with his fists. Dylan was heavy, so heavy that he was starting to suffocate Alex. He squeezed harder, and Alex stopped punching him, Instead, he looked around him and noticed that the spear had made him hit the kitchen table and throw off anything that was on top of it. A bottle of wine was within arm's reach, which motivated Alex to try and grab it. He squirmed underneath Dylan, who managed to crack a bone, eliciting a painful groan from the Jackal. Alex smashed the bottle against Dylan's head. The glass tore open the skin at the base of his skull, forcing Dylan to release Alex and the Jackal to push him off of him, roll back, and hold onto his chest. He noticed the knife near the sink and painfully walked towards it. Dylan managed to get back on his feet, and just as Alex grabbed the knife, he punched him on the side, right where the cracked bone was. Alex turned around and tried to hit Dylan's belly, but the mercenary blocked him with his arm. The Jackal headbutted him, grabbed his face with both hands, and pushed him against his knee, once, twice, before he pushed him forward. Dylan hit the kitchen table, but his reflexes were quick enough to help him escape a punch from Alex.
Heavily breathing and still on the floor while the battle was ongoing between the Jackal and Dylan Atwater, Ghost had managed to catch her breath. Her hazel eyes scanned the room, and she realized that Alex and Dylan were fighting in the kitchen. She tried to rise on her feet, but they refused to move. Her body was still remembering the pain Dylan inflicted on her. It still went on flight or fight mode and left her paralyzed. She put her hand on her chest, curling her fingers into a fist, and she rubbed her chest in an attempt at self-soothing. She had to keep it moving! She had to! Alex was fighting with Dylan, and Diane could hear the noise of broken furniture, screams, and grunts. She trusted Alex and knew he was a very strong man, but she also knew that Dylan was extremely resilient and would be extremely dangerous to the man she loved. It became clear now that she was in love with Alex. She wanted him to survive this encounter with Dylan and live with her. She wanted... She wanted... She had to! Gathering her strength, Ghost pushed herself back on her feet. She rolled her head and stroked her neck just to ensure that everything was alright. The commotion was louder in the kitchen, and Alex fell on his back from the door that led to the living room.
He opened his eyes just right when Diane jumped above him, fists first. Dylan didn't expect her to recover from his hit, nor did he expect a renewal of her rage, but here she was, enraged and with renewed motivation to punch his head in. Ghost screamed, throwing another punch on his shoulder and another one at his neck. He chose not to counter them so he could stab her leg. When the blade sank into her flesh, the woman screamed, but she managed to gouge his eyes with her thumbs. Dylan screamed. "You fucking bitch!!!" He grabbed her wrists and managed to force her hands off his face. She quickly reacted and headbutted him, unwilling to give him an inch in this fight they were having. "You are nothing! You are no one!" Diane screamed again and gave him another headbutt. Dylan painfully groaned and tried to stop her from hitting him, but she persisted and gave him a third headbutt, more powerful than the previous ones. It was enough to force him to his knees, and it opened a wound on his forehead that bled. She was bleeding from the mouth and nose because of the violence of the hits she gave him, tears streamed down her face as she was reeling from the pain three heatbutts caused.
She could have fractured her forehead for all she knew, but it didn't matter. Diane wanted Dylan dead. She needed him to take his attention off the Jackal so he could surprise the mercenary. Dylan laughed, confused yet amused by the whole situation. He always knew that his time would come someday, but little did he know that he would be found out by one of his little victims. Seeing Diane, so capable and determined to take his life, shocked him. How did she survive? How could she face him? His rage renewed, the mercenary, now able to reach the knife that was stuck in her thigh, grabbed it, pulled it out of her flesh, and tried to stab her. She managed to block some of his attacks and even snuck in a right hook. He didn't drop the knife and instead managed to stab her under the collarbone. She painfully screamed and tried to push him away, but he used the last of his strength to pounce on her and squeeze her neck. He squeezed hard, enough to make her scratch his skin to blood, enough to break blood vessels in her eyes, enough to make her suffocate. She moved her arms and started to scratch his face. She was fighting flashbacks from her assaults, as well as fighting to stay alive. She heard the sound of a gunshot, felt something warm splatter on her face, and Dylan released her neck, and his body fell on top of her.
She started to scream and pushed him off her body. Diane crawled away from the corpse, sat on the floor, and removed the knife lodged in her collarbone. She managed to get on her knees, eyes wide open and focused on the corpse before her. Dylan lay there on the floor, lifeless, harmless.... She screamed her pent-up rage and pain. She walked on her knees, crossing the distance between her and Dylan, and punched his chest, shaking his body. She finally could do it, unleash her pain on him, avenging the victims he caused. She yelled at him and ended up sobbing. She sobbed and shook. Alex was still catching his breath. He had managed to grab the gun he had lost during the fight. He didn't even think twice once he saw Dylan on top of Diane. He saw he was choking her, and she was struggling to break free from him, and once he aimed at Dylan's head, he pulled the trigger and shot him dead. He walked closer to the corpse, and after a while spent watching Diane beat the body of Dylan into a bloody pulp, he knelt next to her, put the gun down, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She cried and stopped hitting Dylan's body to sob louder. It was a soul-piercing cry that came from deep within her. The one that released all grief, all pain, and everything she kept inside. Alex could do nothing but keep her close until her sobs stopped and she looked wiped her face. They had to leave, mostly because the police were securing the perimeter, and they knew the family Dylan had taken hostage would come back to their home. She stood u,p and the two of them escaped by using the exit stairs. Finally, the nightmare was over.
-TBC-
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