TARGET ACQUIRED
Eric awoke to a shove from Rachel next to him in the bed. "Honey, wake up, something is happening."
"Mmmmm?no?I don't wanna?"
"Honey, please wake up."
"You were probably just dreaming. Go back to bed."
"No dammit. Wake up. I definitely heard something outside."
"Don't worry Rachel, go back to sleep," He said, slowly coming to life and growing more irritated as he did so. "You know how this apartment complex is. People come and go all hours of the..." His statement was interrupted by a gunshot.
He sprang instantly to full alertness, that adrenaline fueled kind of hyper-awareness you get when startled from sleep. He looked at the clock, 2:11 AM. Just then they heard another gunshot. They sightlessly locked eyes in the darkness, got out of bed, and moved to the window. It was covered by a closed mini-blind but there was still a faint glow from the moonlight coming through and he paused for the briefest of moments to admire her naked form. They pushed up one small panel and peered outside.
In the center of the parking lot sat four, all black vehicles straight out of some sci-fi movie. All of the lights were out in the parking lot and in all of the buildings, as if the power had been cut to the whole complex. Only the full moon illuminated the vehicles in the center of the five buildings that ringed the lot and made up the complex. Two men were standing around the vehicles. They were clad head to toe in black, even black masks covering their faces. One had a large rifle in his hands pointed at the ready, sweeping back and forth over the complex. The other had his slung over a shoulder while smoking a cigarette through the small mouth slit in the mask. They were talking but were too far away to hear.
Two quick gunshots rang out. They saw a flash in a third story window in the building across from them. Rachel's small hand crept into his and squeezed down hard. A moment later, six men came out the front of the building, garbed as the two men in the parking lot. They wordlessly proceeded directly to the next building. Before the outer door shut the couple heard crash as of a door being kicked in, thirty seconds of silence, then two more gunshots. They stood transfixed by the scene, more so because they could not see anything but only hear the random gunshots. When the men came to the second story, the couple heard two gunshots and saw two flashes in the bedroom window where their friends lived.
"Jesus Christ, that was Laura's apartment. What the hell is going on?!"
"I don't know Rachel, but it looks like they are exterminating everyone."
"Who are they? Why are they doing this? What should we do?"
"Calm down," he said with shaky voice. "Grab your phone, I'll call the police." Rachel retrieved her phone from the night stand.
"No signal."
"That's strange," Eric said. He walked around the bed to the other nightstand to get his phone as more shots rang out. "My phone has no signal either."
"But we always have great reception here."
"They must be jamming it somehow."
"What? How can they do that?"
"I don't know. I'm fucking making it up. This is like some fucking weird movie. We have to be dreaming this shit."
"What do we do," she asked, her voice rising in panic?
"We have to get out of here."
"How the hell do we do that? They are right outside." She was freaking out, nearing hyperventilation as more shots rang out. He put his arms around her.
"We take a deep breath, calm down, and think clearly. We will panic later."
"Okay," she breathed hard, visibly trying to catch her breath.
"Get dressed." He crossed back to the window and looked out. He saw them exit the second building and enter the third. "Alright, they just entered building C which means they are halfway to us if they stay in the same pattern. We don't have much time." He quickly threw on some clothes as she did the same. They kept no firearms in the apartment but he grabbed a large knife that was kept beside the bed. He grabbed his phone and his keys.
"Okay, here is what we do. The car is right out. It is in the lot with them. We go to the laundry room and out the rear exit. We move along the back of the building and make for the street. We make for Grant's house two blocks up."
"Okay, okay, just give me a second." Just then they heard the soldiers emerge from C and proceed toward D.
"No time Rachel, we leave now." They slowly opened the door, crept into the black hallway and locked the door behind them. They slipped into the laundry room and closed that door as well. As silently as they could, they opened the back door. It was darker over here, the building blocked the moonlight. Seeing no one they slipped outside, easing the door closed behind them. They skirted along the back of the building and when they arrived at the corner, they saw two more of the black vehicles parked in the street.
"Shit, shit, shit," Rachel swore before Eric clamped a hand over her mouth. With his other he put a finger over his lips, demonstrating the urgency of quiet. He stood and contemplated for a moment and then bent down to whisper in her ear.
"We will move to the front corner of the building and hide in the bushes. From there we can survey the entire scene. We can either wait it out there or try to find a way out." Her eyes grew wide with every word but she nodded in acquiescence.
For the first time, the darkness was their ally. They escaped unnoticed into the bushes on the front corner of their building, just outside their bedroom window. These were tall, full, thick bushes, suitable for a fort making had they been younger. Once inside, they were practically invisible in the darkness. Of course, they really couldn't see out of them either, but they could hear. They picked up the conversation of the men by the vehicles.
"Why are we killing everyone? Our target is just one person."
"There can be no witnesses. No one can know we were here."
"Won't two hundred dead bodies tip someone off?!"
"That is for the sanitation team to take care of when we leave."
"So all these people die because they live next to the target? They are not the target; they weren't even on our radar before tonight. We just kill everyone whether they are the person we are supposed to kill or not?
"Those are our orders."
At this point, the couple realized the hit squad was in their building. Even more, they were in their bedroom where they had made love just hours before, mere feet from where they now hid. Rachel took Eric's hand once more and clamped down. Realizing they barely escaped being shot themselves at that exact moment, Eric leaned over and whispered "I love you" in her ear. He leaned in and kissed her when suddenly they both felt cold steel on the back of their heads.
In those few, brief moments, so many things tore through Eric's head. He thought maybe his life would flash before his eyes like in the movies, but only confusion reigned. He was so busy trying to process why this was happening to them and praying that he was still dreaming that he scarcely noticed the warm spray of blood and gray matter that had once resided in his beautiful girlfriend's head running down his side. "Target acquired" was the last thing he heard before it was his turn.
rating: 7
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