As Luci’s head met the hard cold yet strangely comforting ground, she laid there simply staring at the dead women’s lifeless eyes. All life was gone in them, it was very bizarre how her brown eyes were so empty and she had only been dead for a few moments. Everything in Luci’s mind was telling her to get away because what she was staring at was a bloody corpse, but she didn’t care. The only reason she bothered to sit up against the pillar was the blood was still pouring out of the woman and she didn’t want to get any more blood on her today.
Glancing at the shaking group next to her, half their eyes were still on the body and a few had their eyes on Luci, perhaps wondering why she just laid there for so long. She didn’t care. One of the men was looking particularly more nervous than the rest as his gaze moved from the corpse to the goons rapidly. Eventually he made up his mind and begun to move towards the body, people noticed and began to sputter their complaints, “What are you doing?” “Get away from her!” He swallowed and stuttered, “I’m just going to close her eyes! She deserves that decency.” Luci swallowed the scoff that was itching to come out, “It’s not going to work. If a person dies with their eyes open the muscles won’t die for another two maybe three hours.” The man gasped and looked as if he was going to throw up as he moved back to his spot in their little hostage huddle.
“So was it easy catching that little nymph?” Luci’s body ran cold when that whisper met her ears. “Ya ya Benny tell us!” The voice that made Luci sick to her stomach came next, “ Now now my little ogres I don’t kiss and tell.” They all broke out into a hearty laughter and Luci slowly turned her head to them and got a glance of him in the light. He wasn’t an ogre but she could have hardly cared what he was, he was blonde and had a green eye and a blue eye both were as empty as the corpse next to her and he…abused her so wrongly.
The ogres clung on to his every word, “Do you think the Boss would let you take her with us?” “Oh I don’t work for Jackdrawl like you two do I’m just doing a little freelance for the freelancing terrorist. How ironic right?” The two idiots laughed loudly again. He beckoned the two to come closer but Luci was just able to make out what he was saying, “In all honesty, Jackdrawl doesn’t care too much about hostages. He gets what he needs and then kills em all. I think if I just ask him for the little sweetie he’ll just make sure I keep her from any authority and she’ll be mine.” Before she could look away his gaze met hers and she froze. The hunger in his eyes spread dread and fear all over her body. Her heart picked up speed and she begun to shake.
He smiled and started for her but another goon walked up “Mr. Daniels the Boss would like you to remain close to him in case he needs your expertise.” He huffed and slapped on that same sick smile to the guard, “Well a vault experts job is never done I assume? Lead the way fine Sir.” Once they were gone Luci let out the breath she’d been holding taking in short uncontrollable gasps. Her shaky hand reached into her pocket and discreetly checked her phone, the call to Akira ended long ago and not attempts of him calling her had been made.
Anger swelled in her. She was not about to let some British, bad breath smelling asshole take her life and her virtue away and she didn’t count on rescuing. ‘Maybe he didn’t pick up, ya maybe he was just tied up, he wouldn’t just ignore my call.’ There she goes, again sounding like some fucking teenager. She had to get out of here. Looking behind her the front doors were guarded as well as the other exits. She had no doubt that guards were scattered throughout the labyrinth of bookshelves. ‘There’s that little window on the east side if I run fast enough and use some ice I might be able to get out into the alleyway then my life depends on if Akira decides to answer his phone.’
Luci looked up at the idiotic ogre goons and waited for them to turn their backs when a high pitched sob gained her attention. There was a little girl sitting near the center of the crowd, the adults around her were trying to sooth her with no avail. “Momma *hick hick*..” One woman wrapped her arms around the child stroking her hair, “There there honey, you’ll see your Momma again soon.” But the tears in her eyes said that she thought that was a lie. From the looks of it probably all of them were human, if one of them was a sup they would have tried something by now. She couldn’t just leave them, Jackdrawl was going to kill them as soon as he got the information he needed in the vault. Luci’s eyes widened the vault. Jackdrawl was going to open the vault; she had a chance to get viable information about Operation Freedom.
She looked towards the closest human and nudged him with her foot, “Psst.” As his gaze met hers she nodded her head to him as a gesture for him to sit next to her. He moved to the pillar and leaned back against it whispering harshly, “What?!” Luci ignored the tone, “I’m planning an escape.” “You? What can you do?” Sighing she glared at him, “I am half water nymph and the best chance y’all got on getting out of here alive.” “Fine what’s your plan?” “We are in the main lobby area, farthest away from the books and the vault. There are only four goons in charge of us.” She nodded towards the ogres, “Dumb and Dumber,” then pointed at the door “And those two guards at the entrance.” He nodded, “So you take them out and we run out?” “God no! Don’t you see those military trucks with more goons outside? Y’all would be shot on sight.” “Then what do you expect us to do?!” “I take them out; you all get their guns and go hid in the librarians’ office while I go after the masked man.” “Ok. What do you need us to do?” “The two goons here are ogres, not the sharpest tools in the shed and get distracted easily, you and two other people get them talking. But before that I need you to tell anyone who has water with them to pour all of it on the floor and I’ll take it from there.” The man nods and moves back to the group puts Luci’s plan into motion.
Two women pull out their bottles and hesitantly pour its contents onto the floor; no one dares to move even though most of them are getting wet. ‘Only two bottles…not going to be easy.” As the guy and two others get the ogres talking about baseball, Luci slowly dragged her hand across the floor pulling the water towards her. The water gathers at her fingertips and she feels happiness, pure happiness and safety and above all confidence.
Luci sprang up and ran towards the door as if she was trying to escape. The guards tense up and raise their weapons…perfect. She stops and raises her hands then lunges forward swiftly pushing her hands out towards the first guard. A fast jet of water flies past her ears and hits the man head on knocking the gun out of his hand and sending him tumbling to the ground. The other guard raises his gun and aims she gasps and ducks to the ground as he squeezes the trigger and misses her. He takes another shot and she rolls over pulling the water that’s all over the stunned guard and throws it at the remaining guard’s face. He screams and releases his machine gun.
By now the Ogres were charging towards her. Luci reaches down picking up a machine gun aiming blindly. One hit the first in the shoulder and the second in the leg and they both fell to the ground crying rather loudly, Luci rolled her eyes walking over to the two “Shut the fuck up you sissy monsters.” And jammed the barrel of the gun on both their heads making them go silent. She looked up at the gawking humans in front of her, “Stop staring at me and go hide in the office.” They all scrambled into the room sparing a few who decided to collect the guns and stand watch.
Luci started for the back of the library when a tug on her jacket stopped her, it was the little girl from earlier holding up a talk plastic water bottle. “I f-filled it up for you, it was empty when you asked for water I’m sorry.” A smile cracked through her façade as she patted the girl on her head, “Honey you have no idea how much I need that right now.” She held it out to her but Luci stopped her, “Open the cap.” The girl obeyed and Luci’s smile widened as the girl looked at her in awe as she bended the water out of the bottle and up her arm. Luci winked at the girl telling her to go into the office.
Walking down the hall through the bookcases she realized that she was bleeding. One of the bastard’s bullets grazed her right arm; “Fuck...” at least it wasn’t her dominant hand. Now she was even weaker than she was before, going after the vault alone would be impossible now. One of the library staff mentioned a man by the name of Victor and that he was a detective of sorts that must have been the guy who accused her of being affiliated with this chaos. Begrudgingly she started calling out in a whisper, “Victor? Detective Victor? I need your help. Hello you there?”