Minutes of Decay

Helen did not cry out or show any sign of weakness throughout. Her eyes remained locked onto the closet as the men brutalised and demeaned her in every way.

They took their time with her, but eventually biology proved superior. One by one the men exited both her and the room itself. She watched in silence as her likelihood of survival increased.

"I'm going for a smoke. She's all yours until I get back. Try not to kill her just yet, Luck is coming back with more men."

The remaining SWAT looked down at her and laughed.

"Look at the fucking state of her. If she dies before she talks it's not my fault..."

The other SWAT picked up his rifle and turned to the man.

"Tell that to Luck..." He smirked as he left the room.

Helen began to tense her knuckles, now was the time to fight. It was now or never. She thought about jumping to her feet and snapping his neck, but reality disagreed. In truth she was too weak, she barely had the strength to move her legs. Never mind fight, kill, and flee.

Then there was Ruin to think about. She was her daughter, despite hating the sight of her, she still cared for her. It wasn't her fault that she looked so much like her father.

She thought about how she had maintained a maternal distance with her daughter and felt tears run down her face. If she had fled the city with Alec, this never would have happened. Ruins father would never have been an issue. She remembered the way her brother begged her to run away with him and remembered the tears and the anger behind his words... but he had no idea.

How could she have told him that she was pregnant with Wormwood's child, that she was already deep inside his organisation. She was afraid he would have killed the child whilst it was still inside her. It would have only taken one good blow to the stomach. To Alec the end always justified the means... But still... What if?

It was during this self-torture of what if that Ruin silently lifted the trap door open. The guard had his back turned to them both and was watching something on his phone. She creeped towards her mother's rapist with a face warped by wrath. It was in this moment that her daughter reminded her more than ever of Alec.

She retrieved a knife from the man's discarded attire and leapt on him in fury. She screamed out a battle cry as she repeatedly stabbed the man in the back.

Her daughter was still stabbing him and screaming as the other Swat ran into the room. Helen didn't hesitate, she rolled to the side, snatched at the dead man's rifle and held the trigger.

The SWAT who had run into the room, stood open-mouthed as he watched his friend being repeatedly stabbed by a feral child. He was so engrossed in the sight that he didn't notice the gun fire until the bullets slammed into his chest and knocked him into the corridor.

His eyes opened wide with shock and his heart ceased pumping his life blood through his body.

Ruin continued to stab the man, she was locked inside her own rage, the man was barely human anymore, and looked more like carved meat with every puncture.

Helen slowly dragged herself to her feet and grabbed her daughter tight in an embrace.

"I'm sorry... I wanted to help but I was scared." Ruin muttered through tears.

Helen chuckled and wiped the tears from her daughter's face.

"It's okay to be scared... I was scared." She admitted to her daughter, being truthful for the first time in their relationship.

Helen stumbled and her daughter kept her on her feet through sheer force of will alone.

"Are you dying...?" She asked her mother.

Helen looked at her bullet wound and Ruin and smiled weakly.

"I've been hurt a lot worse than this before..." She lied.

Her capacity for truth was limited. She needed to keep her daughter rational. Helen knew these were her final minutes of decay but she would pretend just a little while longer for her daughter's sake.

"Come... We have somewhere we need to be." Helen muttered after her daughter had helped her get dressed.

The two walked out of the room. Ruin carried her mother, and her mother kept Ruin hopeful.

They made it to the end of the corridor before they saw Luck and her goons.

Luck pointed down at them, one of her men opened fire and Luck twisted the gun into the air. The bullets shattered the ceiling plaster.

"Fool, we need his daughter alive." She screamed and snapped the man's neck.

The other men watched in silence and waited. Luck pointed down at them and the men charged down the corridor.

Ruin laughed as they ran close to them and smiled before pulling a machine gun from her back and slaughtering the men in a hail of bullets.

The bullets that strayed, glided towards Luck... She grabbed one of her men, used him as a human shield and waited for the bullets to stop flying.

The bullets did cease flying, but when Luck gazed down the corridor both mother and child were already gone.

"Get them..." She screamed to the men still at her side.

They hesitated but after seeing her foul mood they soon gave chase...

Helen staggered against the stairwell wall and sighed.

She was in no condition to run from anyone. Ruin stared up at her, hopeful, and it enraged her even more that she had to spend her final moments lying to her daughter.

"Go down to the basement, there's a way into the sewers..."

Ruin glared at her mother in defiance and crossed her arms.

The men slammed into the door that they had jammed and began to throw themselves against it. It was only a matter of time before they forced their way through. Helen had no choice...

"Go!!!" She screamed and slapped Ruin across the face.

Ruin stared at her through teary eyes and Helen hated herself even more.

"I always hated you... You know that, right? You disgust me..."

Her daughter recoiled from her words as if psychically struck...

The two stared at each other in silence before Ruin sighed and began to walk down towards the basement.

Helen used her body to give her daughter the time she needed for escape.

Ruin made it to the third floor when she heard the door crash open. She paused, unsure whether to keep running or go back to aid her mother. Then she remembered her mother's last words to her and clenched her fists.

She continued to run down to the basement...

Helen was thrown against the wall by the force of the door crashing inwards. The man charged into the room and she used her last reserves of energy to fight them tooth and claw.

By the time Luck made it to the stairwell, Helen had killed two of her men before being beaten to near death.

Helen lay on the floor, blood seeped from her mouth, her eyes and nose, her face was unrecognizable, but she was smiling nevertheless.

"I always thought there was something odd about you..." Luck smiled before grabbing her machine gun and emptying the magazine completely.

She turned to the rest of her men and spoke.

"Go and get her..."

They charged down the stairwell after her.

Ruin was crawling into a drainage pipe as they entered the basement...

A Different World

Alec stared at the list in his hands, the names contained everyone involved in the rape and murder of his sister. Alec gently folded it in his pocket and whispered his sister's name under his breath.

Ruin opened the way for him to return to the city above.

She pointed at the ladder that led to another extensive network of tunnels, but with Ruin's map to the sewers, that wasn't an issue for him. He knew exactly where to go to get back.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay and live with us?"

Alec shot her a look and Ruin smiled.

"I thought not, but the others demanded that I ask..."

Alec nodded and clutched onto the ladder, he began to climb when Ruin stopped him by grabbing his foot.

"Good luck uncle. Try not to kill yourself before we've spoken again."

Alec nodded, he still couldn't get used to the idea that Ruin was his family now. He wanted to ask if she was happy, but he knew the truth no one was happy in this shit hole of a city.

That would change very soon however...

Alec climbed the ladder and began to make his way to the surface once more. The fires of vengeance burned inside him brighter than ever.

Ruin closed the hatch and used the mechanism that hid the entry. She leaned against the wall and sighed.

She should have gone with him, they could have avenged her mother together.

The truth was that she was not a child anymore, she had responsibilities and a mind of her own. Her purpose was clear. Lead The Eye to its ultimate goal of reclaiming the city.

Just because the wound was fresh for Alec didn't make it so for her. She had had 6 years to come to terms with her mother's murder. The anger was still there, but the heat had become less over the years. Now her anger burned cold...

She wished Alec good luck and turned to rejoin her friends.

She stopped as soon as she heard the sound of gunfire.

"They are here..." She cursed and ran in to the skirmish.

By the time Alec had successfully navigated the sewers and found the access point back to the surface, the mid-day sun was at its zenith. He returned the manhole cover back to its default position and marveled at the silence of the city.

He walked the desolate streets, the comparison to his last visit was shocking. This city was either infested with a vampiric populace or more ominously, Wormwoods men held a tighter grip on the city during the rising of the sun.

Alec walked, he didn't know his destination, but sometimes feet found their way. He paused outside of a boarded-up store and knew this was fated.

He peeked through the wooden slats and saw what had caused him to abruptly stop.

"You're a hundred short, Benny, you know what happens next..."

Benny, who had been previously statuesque, with eyes gazing at the floor, looked up in bewilderment.

"I'm not short... I gave you this exact amount last month and I wasn't short then Grendel..."

Upon hearing one of the names on his list, Alec clenched his fists so tight that his knuckles cracked like a gunshot.

Grendel exchanged a look with his partner and smiled.

"We set the rates not you... And we say you're short."

Before Benny could react, Grendel drew his pistol and fired.

Alec tensed and contemplated kicking in the door, but his cold anger guided him and he accepted the folly in being a hero for someone he did not know. No... He would hold back his vengeance and tail his target to a location that served him better for what he had in mind.

Benny screamed as the bullet collided with his shoulder and knocked him to the floor. The impact from the bullet knocked him into the shelving and gravity did the rest...

"Wait a minute... This bastard has a piece," said his partner, and pointed at the revolver that had fallen along with the shelving.

Grendel's eyes burned with rage. He walked over to Benny, who was currently pinned under the shelving and knelt over him.

Benny begged, whimpered and cried. but the cop merely smiled.

"You know what happens now, don't you?"

Alec tightened his fists around the door knob but again resisted. He had already resigned this man to his death. He thought back to what he used to tell his sister whenever he was caught doing something shady. The end justifies the means.

"Please don't, its empty... it's just for show, I don't have any ammo for it." Benny begged and reached for Grendel's leg.

Grendel glanced at his partner and the two communicated with unspoken words.

"Don't worry about it... but we want the extra hundred now Benny..." Grendel teased and smiled.

Benny breathed a sigh of relief and cried with happiness.

"Really?" he sobbed. Grendel's smile faded and he spoke. "No..."

The room exploded with a loud flash and bang once more.

Alec sighed and moved away from cover as his target left the building. He hated himself for not intervening but this was a different world now...

Alec followed Grendel silently for several minutes until he paused outside of a building that Alec immediately recognized. It was the same building that Helen called home before he had fled the city.