Weekly Expressions Week #9 Joe

        There I was, camping with a sniper rifle in the shadows. I'm a member of the prestigious gang known as "The Unknown", and currently my job is to keep watch over our borderlands, waiting for someone or something to appear in my sights. If they did, death would be the inevitable outcome. Objectives that I've lived with ever since I became apart of this clan of sorts, although it was more like a dysfunctional working bunch of oddities, if you ask me. Fixing ourselves in the darker, more secluded corners of the remains of rubble and ashes along the waterfront area, we were hardly ever bothered by anything. Only sometimes there will be the occasional unfortunate fellow who, in coming too close for comfort, either would be picked off by yours truly, or would be ransacked and brutally beaten for all he had. But alas, no one dared come near to the abode we called shelter, home, living quarters. The meager supplies we'd taken from all oncoming miscreants, were always tended to.

       Huh, what's that? Positioning my weapon, I sighted down the scope, aiming for the place I heard the noise. Crouching in silence, I patiently positioned myself to be ready. Let them come. Nothing, nobody there. Just my nerves. Think man, think. Pay close attention. We wouldn't want anyone getting through the lines. I mean, it's water-bound, there's no way of escape if they approach too carelessly. It's fine. Calm yourself. You'll be safe. Anything, far or near, can't get past without you or someone else killing them. The way everything has been going so far, it will be smooth sailing for you, my friend.

       A gentle breeze passed over me. Peaceful, if you could call it that, and beginning to seem more that it was only jitters I had felt. I'd hadn't thought of that in a while, my feelings, that is. Then an arrow whisked past my skull. Wait a minute. There was a girl down there. Alone. Dressed in a tank-top, torn khakis, with a white scarf around her neck. Armed, her repertoire included a bow, arrows, and a kind of blade. Couldn't make out the type of fighting item it was, but no matter. She'd used one of her arrows against me, or she was a terrible shot, which I firmly doubted. Then before I'd had a chance of targeting her, one of the thuggish filth I associated myself with jumped down before her. Drawing a machete from the holster on his back, he sliced through the air with exact precision. To that, she countered the blows meant for her with the hard steel of her blade, although his weapon bore hard upon hers. Taking the shiv from a pouch on her shirt, she continued to struggle against him with one hand, while she slit his throat with the other. Gasping, he fell. After he was done breathing, she retrieved the dagger-like shiv from his neck and kept on walking. Successful? Not at all. Three more came from the cracks and crevices of the dead walls surrounding her.

     "Really?" she said under her breath."Observe if you will. I just annihilated this destitute bone-head: do you really want to hurt me?"

     The three gave brief glances to each other, then proceeded forward revealing the arsenal strapped to their bodies. The girl let loose a sigh, instantaneously drawing back an arrow, thus shooting the front man in the forehead. Knees buckling, he ripped the arrow from his head with an agonized cry. Motioning between winces, he sent the other two after her. Running towards her, the one threw punches as the other brought a sleek sword from his cloak, moving more carefully than his counterpart. Using a risky move, she rushed through them with the steely blades in hand, and bled 'em there. Those two out of the way, she went for the wounded one, still trying to recover from the previous attack. She knelt on one knee, stared into the eyes of her enemy, and raised the bow to aim once again. But this time, with swift agility, he kicked her knees out from under her. Flipped over, she was stunned by this move. He began kicking her repeatedly, at first slowly, then becoming faster, draining his prey's body of life. Her face was bloody and bruised.

     "You're a hard one ta kill," he sneered in weird broken language. Slurring his speech, he cussed, then muttered,"I've never met anyone lok you befur! Oh, wull, you're just gonna have ta die, I suppose. It was nice knowing ya...." Just as he was about to raise his knife to thrust it into her, she grabbed her shiv, and flung it at his chest. He became motionless then, staring at his upper body where the shiv had struck him."Oh shoot, ya gone and done me in!" he blurted, as he slumped lower, falling flat on his face. She removed her weapon from the remains of the beastly brute, wiping it on the dead felon's chest. Struggling to get a firm footing on the slippery ground, she managed to bring herself up to her feet. That's where I now come in.                                                                                                                                                                                   I jumped from my hiding spot, and chose my direction of landing to be 5 feet away from where she was, the spot was a corner darker than the grave. A perfect assassinating place, she'll........my thoughts trailed off. I watched her take her scarf, tearing it in two, making bandages for her wounds. The emotion on her face was that of a tired, weary, and frightened girl, who didn't want to be bothered by any scum that tramped near her for murdering purposes. All she wanted was to go her own way. To have safe passage through wherever she wished to plant her footsteps, and I, at this moment, would be the only thing in her way. At least, if she noticed me, but she didn't. My duty now was to kill this person, of whom disturbed my home, my shelter, my...........it didn't matter. She'd come a long way. By the looks of it, she's hurt. She, this beautiful girl, had fought four of my comrades, bravely. No doubt about it, whatsoever. Letting her live, or giving her a bullet to the head. I drew a pistol a pouch on my gear, raising it to fire, and........