The 6th Hour

This is the halfway mark. The 6th hour. Things get a little more interesting at this time. I should be scared, but l had no intentions of running. The announcement was obviously targeting another saviour, maybe it was one of my dad's crew. I can't just leave them to die...like everyone left my dad to die. I have to do something, and who knows, I might find the guy with the mask. This might be my only chance to kill him.

Hendricks grew tired of my resistance. Why the heck won't he just leave me alone! It's so frustrating to have someone lecture you and threaten you at the same time. I know he said he can't just sit and watch but what are his true motives?

There's definitely more to what he's letting on.

His face is concealed behind his oversized black turtleneck. I don't have a bandanna because they're soaked in Damien's blood. I winced. The thought of Damien tore at me but I did let him go. In the end I walked away. I might as well have killed him myself.

"Are you deaf? Did you hear the announcement? All the gang members are going to unite and execute someone again. We won't live to see it happen. Now hurry the fuck up and move!" Hendricks exclaimed.

He just made me angry. I leapt onto him, throwing my fists into his face at rapid speed. He fended me off and shoved me hard on the ground. The side of my face was grazed but I ignored it and gritted my teeth. That's when I felt my hands being braceleted by metal restraints.

"YOU'RE HANDCUFFING ME?!"

This is ridiculous! Gosh I just wanted to stab in the face. Why the hell is he still here? Doesn't he know I'm just going to delay him? I don't want to freaking run away from this! I want to find my day's murderer!

"Shut up the fuck up or I'll sedate you," Hendricks warned. My insides screamed. I thrashed about but he scooped me up easily and swung me over his shoulder, hands bound behind my back.

Argh, I wished I shot him when I had the chance!

"Why won't you just let me go! What I do is none of your business. I don't want to be saved, do you hear me?"

Hendricks turned around sharply and purposely did so to ensure that my head hit the pole.

"Oops." He muttered with mild amusement.

My brain felt like it was expanding and contracting, filling my skull and then shrinking. The throbbing was intolerable and I couldn't concentrate properly. My vision blurred and I felt more disorientated as he jogged across the streets.

"Fuck you," I managed to utter.

It wasn't long before we heard the distant rumble of engines and bullets being fired. The chanting of bloodlust was also among the ruckus. My stomach flipped.

Where the hell is Hendricks going to hide us?

I'm still hanging over his shoulder like a potato sack, totally useless. I kept attempting to slip my hands out of the restraints but he's secured them tightly. Freaking hell. Just then I felt him kick open a door and he rushed up various steps.

There was a loud bang.

"Get out of here! Get out of my house!" A woman screamed.

Hendricks was confronted by a rifle. He slowly lowered his guns and then propped me up against the wall. I looked at the frail women, whose sleep deprived eyes told me that she was struggling to remain calm. The tremor in her hands indicated that she was tentative with pulling the trigger. Maybe she hasn't killed anyone yet. Well, I don't really want to be the first victim.

So I had an idea.

"Please help me! He's going to kill me!" I cried.

Hendricks glared at me, betrayed. I know I'm playing dirty but I really need him to get off my back. I've had enough. He's interfering with my plan.

The women looked at me pitifully. No doubt I looked like shit. I've been roughed up for the past six hours. My alibi would have been believable to anyone.

"Are you home alone?" Hendricks asked the women, almost in a causal tone. I could tell he was still angry with me.

"I have three kids." She said. She regretted those words as soon as they left her mouth. I suppose she was meant to keep that secret. But with the way Hendricks had asked it, she just answered him automatically.

"Now you have four." Hendricks dug into his pockets pulled out a key and uncuffed me with haste. I massaged my wrists but avoided his eyes.

The women still had the gun aimed at Hendricks but it was blatant at this point that she had no intentions of shooting him...or anyone for that matter. I mean as if you would've have shot him. If it were me I would have killed anyone who even tried to enter my home especially if I had three kids.

"Leave the girl and get the hell out!" The women ordered. I rushed to her and we both glared down Hendricks, who just shook his head in dismay and then disappeared.

I know that he'd have to think fast if he wanted to survive. The gangs are now clotting the streets, they are travelling down George St trying to find the next victim for the public execution.

I don't know why but I suddenly felt guilty.

No, I can't. I made the decision to cast him away. I betrayed him. Almost had him killed. If this women was not timid, then he would died from a gunshot wound.

"Are you okay?" The women asked me.

I nodded.

She led me up the rest of the stairs and into the kitchen. There were no signs of her kids so I assume they're somewhere hidden. I sat down on the kitchen chair and breathed. She pulled out a first aid kit and started wiping the dirt and blood off my face with a disinfectant wipe. I winced. My face has been bruised, swollen and grazed. I don't even want to look in the mirror.

"What's your name?" She politely asked.

"Elle." I replied automatically. I regretted that. I am no longer Elle. So why use that name anymore. "My name was Elle." I added, solemnly.

The women applied some brown stuff to a wound on my temple, I think that's where Hendricks whacked my head to the pole. It would probably leave a scar, but I might not make it out alive tonight to find out.

"What happened to you?" The women's voice was incredibly soft compared to her tone moments ago. She looked so fragile that even with the rifle in her hands, I didn't feel threatened. She had this innocence about her that I missed. I started to wonder what it would have been like to be afraid of killing someone. To have your morals intact. To abide by the rules. To feel remorse.

To be human.

"I lied to you." I said. The woman recoiled. She still sat next to me but she was unmoving and her pale face creased with worry. "The man who brought me here...he wasn't going to kill me. I only said that so you would kill him." It sounded so bad when I said it aloud. That plan of betrayal really struck as one of the worse things I've done tonight. Damn, I hate these conflciting thoughts. I'm trapped between killing for vengeance and being rational. Is it possible to be both?

"Why would you do that to him?" The women had stopped assessing my injuries and I didn't blame her. But she hasn't reached for her rifle...yet. I don't know why but speaking to her brought me back to reality and allowed me to weigh my sins against my deeds. I needed this. I needed to vent before I go back out there and live through hell again.

"My dad was murdered tonight. He was the only family I had. I came out here with the mindset to avenge his death. Hendricks, the man that brought me here...he tried to stop me. I got mad. And now I don't know what to do. I'm a horrible person. I am really just another demon on the streets."

I remembered distinctively, the man I first murdered who told me what I was.

He was right.

"The Purge changes people." That was all the women said.

I decided to get out of here when I caught sight of the television which was turned off. The public execution would have taken place and so the urge to turn on the television overpowered me. Without the woman's consent I went through the channels until I found George St.

The scene was even more anarchic.

The next intersection after my dad, was crowded with so many gang members that it literally looked like a mob of people in a stadium. At the centre of it all was a man being crucified. Gosh, is that a mandatory component now?

As they did with the first, gang members gathered around with hay. They're going to light this man on fire. The camera zoomed in on the butchered face of the victim. He was a dark skinned man with a large frame...and a prosthetic leg.

Al.

I don't know what stirred within me but there was no regret in switching on the television.

"You reap what you sow." I muttered to myself.

"Jesus Christ." The woman gasped. "Do you know him?"

I almost laughed in her face.

"He killed my father..." I said, my eyes narrowed to his helpless body. Now he knows what my dad went though. "He was one of them."

Satisfaction.

That is what I'm experiencing. I almost grinned before the woman turned off the television and grabbed her rifle. This time she aimed it at me but I didn't flinch. I was curious. Did she have it in her to kill?

I stood there like an open target. She was still a little shaky but there was determination present in her eyes.

"I'm going to ask you once to leave. I'm sorry but you're threatening my family and I can't have that."

I nodded, because I totally understood where she was coming from. My plan was never to refuge in her home anyway. I was going to leave right after I saw Al's execution. So without wasting anymore time, I brushed myself off and left through the front door. When I heard the door shut behind me I jogged down this dark narrow street. From a distance I saw fire, it was a block away. That must be Al.

Burning.

The cheers and stampede of gangs made me itch away but I knew that running would only drive me further away from my task. But I'm not properly disguised. I may still be in the red bandannas clothes but there's nothing to conceal my face. Damn.

As I trailed down the road I found a store that was broken into. It looked promising so I decided to check it out. I brought my handgun, just in case I ran into a loitering gang member. The shutters were torn off and the door hinge was surviving on the fact that the wind didn't blow it off. It was dark inside and awfully quiet. Should be safe enough.

Determined to find something useful I snuck in and to my surprise it was a costume store. Most of the costumes were missing or destroyed. What do people have against lousy imitations of superhero attire? I scanned the racks but they were mostly ridiculous Halloween costumes for kids.

There were several aisles so I did a quick run in all of them until I came to a particular section.

War paint.

This is it. This is how I'm going to survive tonight. Let's just hope it doesn't decide to rain. I grabbed a red tube of paint, cracked the lid opened and then smeared the contents on my face. It will be a multi-purpose weapon.

It conceals my face, making me unrecognisable as a girl and because it's red I can just pretend to drop dead.

Perfecto.

I was also pleased with the fact that there were no mirrors in the store. I wouldn't want to know what I looked like. Probably would have resembled Bloody Mary at this stage.

The paint dried rapidly and I felt like it was time to get out. As I did I heard noises coming from outside the store. Shit. I rushed behind a full rack, and gripped my handgun tightly.

"These public executions will sure scare future interference."
"It better. Why else would the government permit it."
"Fuck The Purge is amazing."
"What should we do next?"
"I don't mind fucking a hot chick."
"The red bandannas raided the streets for pussy. Doubt they share."
"We'll find our own."
"The purge games are still going. You'll probably end up banging a chick with no eyes."
"Fuck man!"
"Let's just break into someplace fun."
"Lollypops play land?"

They laughed.

I gulped. They're literally right there, three metres from where I am. I wanted to get out of here but I've watched enough thriller movies to know that if I move now I will give my position away. So I just have to wait for them to leave.

"Why are you guys still here? You got a new job to do." Said a demanding voice. It got my attention immediately, there was definitely some sort of authority to it. I peeked through the racks and my heart almost leapt out of my chest.

The guy with the mask. He approached the two misfits, large guns in both hands. He towered over them both and although he wore a mask that covered his entire face, his voice was not muffled.

"Job? But we already collected the big black guy with one leg." One of the misfits said. So they were the ones that found Al. I wondered how easily they did that. Surely Al didn't turn himself in. What about his family? Where are they? Are they alright?

Wait, why should I care? I hate him. He betrayed my dad.

"It's an important job," the masked guy said, his tone was monotonous. "The first guy I executed was Kieran Crimson. The surveillance cameras have caught him driving in a van saving people for years. It was about time we put a stop to that. But I just had a call from the office. Apparently Kieran's daughter is lurking around. There's footage of her purging. I need you to find her."

My heart skipped a beat.

"Find her and then what?"
"If she's hot I'm going to nail her!"

"No!" The mask guy shoved one of the misfits up against the broken window of the store. "You find her and you bring her to me. Alive." He growled. I could shoot him. If I just pull my gun out right now and go for it. I can shoot him.

"Alright! Fine! Geez, what do you want from her anyway? Isn't she doing what the government wants? I mean we're not meant to target purgers-"

"You have one job. Fail and then it's lights out, understand!" The masked guy held his gun to the head of misfit and he whimpered.

I was frozen with my handgun. I was in an uncomfortable squatting position behind a rack of polyester costumes and I can't fucking move without falling prey to the enemy.

The misfits were eventually released and they hurried off, muttering cuss words to each other. The mask man produced a walky-talky from his pocket and spoke to it in a mysterious tone.

"We're finding the girl. Her boyfriend told us everything. She's after me. I think it's about time we met."

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A/N

6th Hour - betraying Hendricks, using red war paint to disguise myself, eavesdropping of the enemy and his plans and my butt hurts from squatting.

Hey guys I really hope you like this chapter, it's different and reveals a lot of about the masked man. I really want to incorporate him more since he is the Villian here. Please comment and vote x