Deserter: New Life-Chapter Five-Escape [Two Years Earlier]
Sam Kincaid draped his arm across the back of the bench and leaned back,
eyeing his companion. “She’s a Ranger,” he argued.
Steve Johnston didn’t care. “Who cares? The Company doesn’t tolerate
problems, and that’s what she is. Take care of it.”
“What can one woman do?” Sam continued. He didn’t like this. She was a
Ranger and she hadn’t done anything. Yet. At least that’s what Johnston kept
telling him.
“Like I said. Who cares? She’s raising problems that could become serious.
This woman is of a mind to start a revolt. We’ve seen her kind before.”
Johnston shook his head slowly. “Just do as your ordered, Kincaid. Problems
aren’t tolerated, so you don’t want to become one.”
With that parting shot, Johnston took off.
Sam turned and looked out over the workers. A dark haired woman stood among
them. “Rain,” he whispered to the woman, “you’ve got problems.”
~~~
One Year Earlier (From Present)
*
Rain couldn’t take it any more. The beatings were to familiar. The pain to
raw, even after all these years. Watching these people battle with that sort of
torture day after day had finally taken its toll. Rain was getting the hell out
of there.
There was no way The Company would just let her go. She knew they’d sent
someone after her. He just never got close enough for her to find out who he
was. He seemed reluctant to finish his job. He’d been on her tail for a year
now, making sure she didn’t do anything. He was out of range now, though, she
sensed. Now was the time to leave.
Arming herself, Rain took off across the compound. Rangers prowled quietly about
the grounds, making sure no one went AWOL, and that no workers tried to get into
the compound and attack the Rangers sleeping there.
Rain flattened herself against one building as a light swept the grounds and
waited for it to pass. The second it was away, she rushed to the next building.
Suddenly, a young woman rounded the corner, stumbling over Rain. With reflexive
speed, Rain drew her blade and slit the woman ear to ear. The body dropped with
a dull thud to the ground.
Another light. Rush across, hide and flatten. Two more guards. Damn, she
thought, that’s three. Light, rush, hide. Guard. Four, Rain told herself as
yet another Ranger hit the dust.
Twenty minutes and six guards later, Rain finally made it to the head office of
the compound. Her boss, Tom Foully, would still be inside. She could see the
light coming from the windows and the edges of the door. The light swept the
door, then Rain rushed up the ramp and shoved it open.
Foully stood to his feet indignantly. “Rain, what’s the meaning of this? Get
the hell outta here!” he ordered, pointing one long finger at the door.
Rain pulled her teeth back in a snarl. “I’ve had enough. Enough of this
place. Enough of The Company. Enough of watching these beatings. Enough of
you.” Contempt came off her in waves and with it came all the images of the
past that lay locked in her head. She conjured up every terrifying image she
could and flooded Foully’s mind with it.
Fear swept across his features and he grasped his head, backing away from her.
The backs of his knees hit his chair and he fell into it. Then Rain was on him.
She leapt onto the desk that stood between them, then jumped down to stand in
front of him, blade in hand. Rain pressed him back into the padded chair with a
hand on his chest, then she shoved her blade into his gut, slicing left to
right. The Company issue blade was sharp and slid easily through the layers of
muscle and skin.
Foully screamed, but Rain silenced him by sliding the hand on his chest to his
throat and choking off his air supply. She began to rip his stomach wide. He’d
live, she knew, until he bled to death or shock got the better of him. His face
was deathly white as it was, his screams choked off. Foully grew weak quickly
and couldn’t even move by the time Rain was done gutting him.
Rain stared down at him, leaning back against the desk and crossing her arms
across her breasts, knife cleaned on Foully’s pants before being sheathed at
her calf, where it strapped to her boot.
The foot long blade had done its work, she thought calmly. Foully’s mouth was
open in a silent scream and with fierce brutality, Rain pushed her hands into
the mass of bleeding flesh that was his stomach and grabbed his intestines. A
quick yank had them spilled across his lap and he gurgled, blood spilling from
his lips.
With the sort of mindless, cold and calculating indifference of a psychopathic
killer, Rain wrapped the innards around Foully’s shaking form and his chair,
effectively tying him to it.
He was still gurgling and Rain slapped him across the face, leaving a bloodied
hand print on his cheek. His head snapped to the side then his chin dropped to
his chest.
“You disgust me,” Rain hissed fiercely, grabbing his jaw in her hand and
forcing his head up so his glazed eyes locked with her emerald ones.
A pad of paper laid on Foully’s desk and Rain dropped his head back to his
chest with contempt. She wiped her hands on her pants and snatched up a pen.
“Sick Fucks” she scrawled in sharp, neat letters across the yellow lined
paper. She ripped off the section she’d written the note on and grabbed a
black stapler.
Turning, Rain eyed Foully critically. “You’re bleeding,” she stated
coldly, pulling a white kerchief from her pocket. She threw it at him. “Clean
yourself up.”
Then, with a sneer plastered on her lips, Rain held the note up to Foully’s
forehead, opened the stapler wide, and pumped a staple into his forehead. The
note stuck and she left him like that; tied to his chair with his intestines and
a note stapled to his forehead.
~~~
Two Days Later
*
“I told you to take care of her!” Johnston bellowed.
Sam kept his face controlled. He couldn’t really blame Rain for what she’d
done. Tom Foully had a reputation for beating the workers. And the female
Rangers that worked at the site. Enough to make anyone snap. Sam was only
surprised someone hadn’t taken the man out earlier. “She seems capable
enough,” he commented, referring to her brutal methods. “How do you know I
even could have taken her out?”
Johnston turned frustrated features to Sam. “I don’t. But you should have at
least *attempted* to do your job and follow orders,” he spat.
Sam shrugged. “What’s done, is done. I didn’t want this assignment in the
first place. I’ve been trying to get out of here for a year. I want out of The
Company. This isn’t even what I was trained for, for God’s sake.” Sam
shoved an impatient hand through his coppery hair. “I’m a med. tech,
Johnston, not an assassin. I’m supposed to be saving lives, not taking
them.”
“It doesn’t matter what you want or what you’re supposed to be. You were
given a direct order and you disobeyed it. You’ll be lucky if you’re not
locked in Ursa Lunar for the rest of your life,” Johnston stated vehemently.
Another shrug from Sam. “Listen, just get me out of here. Place me on some out
of the way mining colony and I’ll work in a hospital there. You’ll never
have to hear from me again.”
Johnston dropped into his seat, finally stopping his frantic pacing. “Sam,
because I’ve known you since you joined The Company, I’ll see what I can do.
I might be able get you an assignment somewhere like that. But you can’t get
out of The Company just because you want to.”
Feeling better now that Johnston had quit walking back and forth across the
floor, Sam relaxed a little. “That would be great. But could you maybe just
shoot me in the leg and I could be done with this mess forever?”
~~~
The Present
*
Rain stared at Sam incredulously. “You’re a Ranger,” she mumbled again.
And with that, she leapt from her chair and ran for the door.
Sam jumped after her. “Rain! Wait! It’s not what you think!” Sam raced
after her, but Rain had been keeping in better shape than Sam, and she out
distanced him easily.
Sam’s pleas fell vainly on Rain’s ears as she sped blindly down the
corridor, slamming into a nurse as she went and sending them both sprawling to
the floor. She was up in an instant, the tears blurring her surroundings and
running unheeded down her cheeks.
***