Ad13

I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was the anger from having been betrayed. Maybe it was the will to survive.

Maybe it was the fact that Urge believed in me.

Yes. I'd see Urge again.

“WHY WON'T YOU DIE!” one of the boys screamed out.

I refused.

I was bloody by now but far from dead.

Romance had betrayed me and left me. Three boy had approached me. Two of them had started the attack trying to hit me with their weapons but luckily I had moved. I had stabbed on with my butcher knife.
It went up his spine. I could hear the tearing of the skin. It was a sick sound. It drove me crazy hearing it but this was necessary. This was all necessary.

I would never forget his scream, “Oh my god!”

“Greed!” one of his friends said.

That must have been his codename. Greed. Greed coughed up blood as I slit open his esophagus. The name would be ironic when I was done with him. I stabbed him again in his throat. The screaming stopped then. Two left. I wasn't in the clearing yet. They weren't so quick to attack now that I had gotten the first one down. Now they knew that I was dangerous. They knew that I had serious skills with the knife.

The one threw his spear at me.

It hit me, hit my arm.

“Fuck!”

It hurt but not as bad as I was making it sound. I wanted them to think that I was seriously injured. Idiots. The other guy who had a club came at me. He tried to hit me with it. I let him. I let him because I wanted his arm closer to me. I wanted him to think he had the upper hand. Yes. Desire. Now! NOW!
I stabbed him in the same hand he used to hit me with the club. He tried to choke me grabbing at my neck. I was chocking. For some reason the one who had thrown the spear felt like this was the best time to try to jump in. He tried to choke me from behind.

I felt myself passing out. It would have been so easy. It would have been so FUCKING easy to give up at that moment but that wasn't going to happen.

Urge. That's who came to mine.

I screamed.

I let out the most terrifying scream I could think of. It caught off guard. I took my knife out of the one boys arm. I plunged it into the eye of the guy who was choking me. Not enough, Desire. More. More. Hit him one more time. Yes. I managed to get it in his other eye. He fell to the ground scrambling as I blinded him. He wouldn't be a problem anymore.

One more. One more, Desire. You're still alive.

The spiked club came at my head. It almost got me. I was bleeding already though and had just managed to be a little lower then usual already so that I wouldn't choke on my blood. It was nothing to get just a little lower. Just a little bit.
He missed me. Yes.

Now was my chance.

I reached up grabbing his neck, snapping it.

Two were dead. The last one was still crawling around the floor looking for his eyes. I thought about finishing him off but that was pointless. All together I defended myself against 6 people. 6 FUCKING people all alone. I walked off. I stared at the camera. I stared deep at the camera. It wasn't smart what I was doing. It was dumb in fact. I didn't care though. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe it was the loss of blood.

“Hey Tom,” I told the camera, “I know you're watching. I just want to let you know that it's going to take a lot to kill me. Is that all you got, you psychotic piece of shit? Too bad. It's not enough...”

I was limping. I was bleeding. I didn't even know how it was possible that I was walking still. It was hard for me to breathe through my nose. I figured somehow the guy had broken my nose when he tried to choke me up. The pain was more than I had probably ever felt before. I just kept moving though. I just kept dragging my feet.

I wasn't far now. I had made it to the end of the road. The room was in front of me. I could see the light ahead. As I round the corner I could see the flag.

Then all of a sudden I just felt this force at my feet.

I fell face first onto the ground beneath me.

I turned.

I noticed who it was almost immediately.

“Romance,” I said.

She was standing above me. Romance had somehow managed to trip me up as soon as I walked into the room. Funny how she could do that to me who was on her team but she couldn't do that to the actual people that weren't. Her face had a confused look on it. I would have been confused if I were her too.

“How are you still alive?” she asked, “How the FUCK are you still alive?”

“I guess you aren't happy to see me.”

She was breathing heavy. I was laying on the floor not because I wanted to but because I felt too weak to get back up. She was keeping her distance a little though. She knew how dangerous I was with the knife I had in my hand no matter how wounded I was. She wasn't stupid. I clutched onto the knife hard and I could see her eyes darting between my eyes and the knife.

I didn't care what kind of kickboxing moves she knew I would make sure she never used those feet again if she was sloppy with her next attack.

“Look...it wasn't personal,” Romance told me, “Tom offered me a deal and I took it. He wants you dead, Desire. He wants you dead bad. He's going to get you one day or another. So I just decided why not? I wasn't going to say no to Tom.”

“I get it.”

Her face wrinkled.

“You do?”

I smiled, “Of course. I get it. I forgive you.”

For a minute Romance thought she was in the clear. She let down her fighting guard. She was standing normally.

Romance nodded, “Look. I didn't want you to take it personally. I really did like you.”

“Put your guard back up.”

“What?”

Romance was confused. I wasn't though. I was very clear.

My hand still clutched heavy to the knife, “Put your guard back up, bitch. I said I forgive you, I didn't say I wouldn't be killing you. I understand. You chose your life over mine. You chose to leave me to die so that you could be in Tom's good graces. The cameras are watching now Romance. Put your guard up.”

“You can't be serious,” she stated shaking her head, “I'm not fighting you...it's over.”
“Put your guard up, BITCH!”
“Look at you, Desire. You are in no condition to fight...”

“You leave me to die fighting six assassins on my own and you think I'm done. You think a few wounds are going to stop me now. No. I'm mad as hell. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe it's stupid. But thre is only room for four people on that team Romance. You knew it when you left me to die. Only me or you...get ready. M'kay? Here I come...”

I had managed to get to my feet. Romance was shaking her head. The stupid bitch really thought I wouldn't want to kill her. She really thought it would just be over. We would hold hands walk across the room and grab the flag in victory after I did all the work?

Fuck that.

I started to Romance first. I wasn't as fast. She saw me coming a mile away. She dodged my knife thrust and elbowed my wrist. The knife dropped across the floor. She kicked it out of my grasp. When I went for it she grabbed me in and tossed me to the ground.

She tried to step her heel into my face but I managed to roll away just in time.

“It honestly doesn't bring me anything to kill you,” Romance stated.

She was fully charged. She hadn't been the one fighting this entire time. She hadn't been the one with bruises. She didn't have a scratch on her. She was confident that she was going to win.

“You going to keep talking or are you going to come at me?”

Romance didn't take that lightly.

She started to run towards me. I hadn't really even been able to get up off the floor. She kicked me again. Her feet were so fucking deadly. The kick went to my back at first. The next kick went to my side. The next kick went to my head. The final kick I finally caught and managed to use it against her. I found myself biting into her leg. BITING!
“What the fuck!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. I was desperate. We damn sure didn't learn that in Jujitsu, wrestling or kickboxing classes. This was me being desperate to stay alive and doing whatever it took. It slowed her ass down but clearly she was angry now.

I could hardly stand up straight. All the kicks to the head were causing me to lose my balance. I was staggering back and forth, back and forth.

I hadn't even seen her trip me.

I hadn't even seen her trip me until I hit the floor hard. All of a sudden her heel was at my throat. She was standing over me...choking me with the heel of her foot. I was losing consciousness. I was losing consciousness.

I could feel myself dying. Dying slowly...painfully being choked by Romance's deadly heel.

And there was darkness.

My eyes opened. I was in a different room. There was a window right beside me. I wasn't in the maze anymore. I didn't know where I was but when I looked over to me I saw a moderator. The moderator gave me one of her soul-less expressions.

“He's up.”

The moderator seemed to lose interest in me completely when I woke up. I woke up screaming. The moderator completely ignored the screaming and walked out of the room as if this was normal behavior. I was screaming at the top of my lungs trying to get some air. There was pain all over my body at that moment. I looked over at the person next to me. It was Craving. He was at the side of my bed. He was alive! He was alive! He grabbed me and gave me a hug as soon as he noticed I was up.

“You're ok,” Craving was saying, “You're ok. I'm here. Well...we are here...”

“Where am I?” I asked, “How am I alive?”
“You're in the med room...” Craving replied.

I looked at the foot of the bed. Urge was standing there. He was just looking on. He didn't say anything much. He just stared on. A part of me wished that Urge was the kind of guy who would comfort me and give me kisses. I wanted to kiss him so bad. Instead he just put on a very, very slight smirk. He crossed his arms and just watched.

Luckily I had a friend like Craving who showed me more than enough attention.

“Is it over?” I asked.

“Victory!”

I turned to notice other people walking in the room. It was Love, Lust and Allure. Allure had a flag in her hand. Craving was clapping as soon as she saw Allure. He wasn't the only one. Love and Lust were clapping as well. Allure had the flag in her hand and was waving it high above her head.

“We won?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Romance she was...”

“Approached by Tom,” Lust explained, “I didn't know for sure but I had my suspicions. That's why I warned you.”

It made sense that Lust was suspicious of her. I had figured the warning made sense. I just kept looking at the flag in Allure's hands. Victory. I didn't know how to feel. I felt happiness. I felt sadness. I felt scared still. What was next? How was I even here?

“She had her foot on my throat. I was dying...” I said.

“I got there in time,” Allure stated raising her head, “Lust told me to watch your back with her. I paired the two of you up on purpose. I figured if she was going to try something she would try something when the two of you were alone. I stayed back long enough to watch the flag and then I followed behind you guys. I was going to save you in the hallway with those six guys but you were kicking ass by yourself!”

“You were there?”

“Right behind you,” Allure stated, “I had your back boy. I only interfered in the end when Romance was about to get the upperhand.”

I was so grateful. I could almost cry looking at Allure. Maybe it was the drugs that they had given me for pain. I just found myself being so emotional. My face wrinkled trying to fight off tears that I hadn't been alone in that hallway. I felt so alone. I felt like I had been abandoned. The idea that Allure had been tracking Romance and I made me feel so much better. I felt like I wasn't alone.

Allure had surprised me. She had shocked me.

Still there was this sadness I had.

I turned to Allure regrettably, “She was your friend though.”

Allure shook her head, “Listen. The way I look at us we are all friends. We are all family. We are a team. Romance chose to go against us when she plotted with Tom to kill you. I wasn't having that.”

Friends.

Family.

Team.

The words entered my head like a wave really. I just stood there thinking about it.

“We are a team now?” I asked

“Almost. There is going to be an initiation ceremony and you will be a part of my team,” Lust explained, “You'll have some downtime before you start your missions. The best part about it is you won't have to stay in these walls anymore. You'll be able to see the outside world. When you aren't on a mission you'll be able to live your life as you choose.”

Craving was clapping. Allure was waving the flag.

Urge was well..being Urge.

Lust was smiling. She was seriously smiling. It was the first time I saw her look actually happy and I knew she was actually happy for us. I smiled back. Her and I had a connection. I wasn't sure what it was. Maybe I did have similar qualities as her. I just knew there was a soul there. There was a smile there. In a place like this a genuine smile was saying the most.

“We can leave?”

Lust nodded, “With trackers of course.”

“Trackers?”

“GPS trackers will be surgically inserted in your spines once you are initiated into the Assembly. You'll still have to report in for missions. You aren't free...no, not free. But there is more of a sense of freedom. You can go out into the world again...”

Trackers surgically inserted into my spine? The idea made me sick.

I saw the look on everyone else. It wasn't over. It wasn't going to be over, but it was still better. It was still better then being stuck in the training grounds.

I turned to Urge, “Ayo...we will be able to watch Romeo and Juliet...”

The others laughed. Urge just stared at me squinting a little bit. He didn't smile with his face but he seemed to smile with his eyes.

I was surprised when Love stepped forward.

“We should probably give these two some time alone,” Love stated.

I thought I was in the twilight zone. He wasn't hitting on my man but he was actually giving Urge and me time alone to talk. I sighed a little bit.

Craving gave me another hug. Allure laid the flag on my bed beside me before smiling and walking away. When everyone left the room Urge was just there with me.

He walked over to the side of my bed that Craving had been sitting on. He sat on the bed with me. We sat there in silence.

“Six assassins?” Urge finally stated in the silence, “You're a beast aren't you? Remind me never to get on your bad side...”

“The murder...the death...I don't like it.”

He nodded.

“Here. Let me put my arm behind you. I know. I know you don't like it. That's who we are now. We don't have a choice.”

“Your dad won't stop until he kills me.”

“Let's not think about my dad now. Let's just be happy ok?”

We sat there for a moment. I hadn't even known how to be happy anymore. I hadn't even known how to really appreciate something like this anymore. I found myself crying. I thought Urge would find it weird when I started. If he did find it weird he didn't show it. He just continued to hold me wrapping his arm behind my head.

I cried on him. I didn't know why I was crying. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I was officially a killer now. It probably shed some tears over Romance. I probably cried because I would finally be able to leave this damn training area and go out in the world. I wondered how the world was. I wondered if there was anything new and exciting out there.

I had cried myself to sleep and when I woke up Urge hadn't moved even a little bit. He was still just laying next to me...watching me. Guarding me.

“You been up this whole time?” I asked him.

“Yeah...don't trust my brother really. We can leave soon. He'll be...desperate to be around you,” he stated.

I didn't even want to think about Wrath.

“You'll protect me I'm sure.”

“You already know...”

“So what does that make us?”

“What do you mean?”

“The fact that you are going around protecting me all the time,” I asked, “What does that mean for us? I mean. I ain't trying to sound like a little bitch or nothing.”

“Shut up. You don't sound like a little bitch. What do you mean? You know you have to explain things like this to me a little bit.”

I took a deep breath. I knew where I was getting at. I knew what I wanted. I knew what I wanted from him but I just didn't know how to say it.

“I like you. I more than like you Urge,” I told him.

He nodded, “Kinda clear I feel the same way.”

“So...”

“Spit it out. Why is it so hard? This isn't Espionage 101. Spit it out.”

He was making me so nervous. I just didn't know how he would respond. I just didn't know how he would respond to what I wanted to ask him. I felt like he would just be his regular Urge self. He would just not have that emotional connection that I wanted.

“Listen,” I started, “I want us to be more than we are right now. I want us to define what the two of us are a little bit more.”

“What do you mean by define?”

Anyone else I would have thought they were just playing at me at this point but with Urge I was pretty sure that he had no idea what I was talking about. It was pointless trying to throw soft cues at him.

“People around here keep calling you my boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah! I heard that too. What's up with that?”

“Well maybe they got a point. Maybe....maybe you should be my boyfriend.”

I held my breath. I didn't even look in his eyes. My face was immediately turning red. I almost spit out the words. I just stood there trying to find a way to get this to mean something more than it did but I didn't know if it did. I felt so fucking nervous right now.

“Well...”

Was he hesitating? I wasn't sure.

I was looking at the floor.

I was too nervous to read his face.

“Well what?”

“I think that would work. I mean. The way things are right now I'd be willing to do anything for you. So if this is what you want.”
“I want it to be what you want too though?”

“Listen. I'll be honest. I never been in a relationship before. The most I heard about relationships were from when I was really young before my dad snapped. I remembered watching television back then and learning. I'll keep it real, Desire, I am not 100 percent sure what it entails...”

“Well...you'll have to be honest.”

“I can do that.”

I smiled before putting up two fingers, “You'll have to be loyal.”

“I can do that as well.”

“You'll have to put me first.”

“You are already first.”

“You'll have to have sex with me...anytime I want...”

Urge licked his lips, “Damn. Oh hell yeah. I can definitely do that. This seems easy. Why did it take us so long be boyfriends then?”

I smiled. Urge leaned into me at that moment. He started kissing me. He started kissing me hard on the lips. He bit my lower lip. He pulled me in closer. His tongue went my mouth. I sucked on it. We continued to kiss on and on until we fell asleep again.

Urge was officially my boyfriend and I couldn't be happier.

“Can't believe we are going to officially be assassins.”

It was a day before the initiation. Craving was stretching in the room beside me. The four of us had been in good spirits.

“Allure, Urge, you and me...that's the team,” I stated.

“And Love. Don't forget Love.”

“Dammit, I was trying to...”

“Relax. I think he let up trying to get with Urge,” Craving told me.

“Shh...”

I didn't want to talk too loud because Urge had just walked into the room. He had come with Allure. By the looks of the sweat they had just come back from the gym together. Urge was still awkward as hell but I could tell he was trying to be more social. I knew the conversation was probably more than awkward between Allure and Urge especially since Allure has spent so much of her time trying to assassinate Urge at one point. Urge was trying though. That's all that mattered.

“You so sexy when you're all sweaty like that?” I told Urge.

“Oh you like it? Come here then...”

He grabbed me on the bed and tried to wrestle me over. He was being a lot more open. He was giving me this sweaty hug and I was trying to pull away. Allure and Craving laughed. The more I thought about it the happier I got. It made me wonder just how long this happiness would last.

Craving sighed shaking his head, “Oh my god. You two are so cute. I'm fucking jealous. It's annoying. What the fuck? Don't the two of you have anything more important to do then just lay around and be over each other all day?

“No...”

It felt good. It felt good to say that no...we didn't have anything better to do.

Craving nodded as though snapping into it, “Right. Don't you just love that feeling?”

“I wish this could last forever,” I said.

“What?”

“Just us...being happy. Not having to worry about...the Assembly.”

Allure nodded, “God. Since we passed Rank 5 I felt like a weight was off my shoulders...almost like...almost like...”

“We were free?” Craving asked.

“Exactly.”

“We'll never be free.”

“Is that what you want?” Urge asked, “Do you really want to get out of here? Do all of you want to get out of here?”
We all looked at Urge. Urge had a serious face on.

“Of course, don't you?” I asked.

“More than anything,” he replied.

Craving had his eyes widened like a kid who just offered him candy or something, “You are acting like you know something, don't hold the weight. I am not afraid to use torture techniques on my bestie's man.”

I elbowed Craving for the millionth time. I couldn't take him anywhere.

Luckily Urge seemed to be understanding Craving's personality a little more. He didn't take it serious. He did however seem to have something on his mind. Something serious. I think by now he had all of our full attentions.

Urge nodded, “There is a way to escape for good. One way. One chance...”

To read ahead now please go to www.crushedcrown.com