West could feel the heat getting to him, his heartbeats loud in his ears, and the stench of blood was making him nauseous. It took him a moment to realize his surroundings, his eyes focusing on the scene before him.
David stood holding his gun at arm's length. He wasn't doing any better than West. A trail of blood seeped down his cheek from the bullet that grazed his face before hitting the wall behind him. The blood mixed with the sweat falling down his temples. It took him a moment to let his gun down.
" Are you crazy, David!" Julian yelled out. "You could've been killed if West didn't miss!"
West straightened his posture and lowered his gun. He didn't know he has been holding his breath until he felt the air rushing into his lungs. He held his hand out to stop Julian from protesting any further.
"Did he miss?" David mumbled under his breath but his voice echoed on the walls. He eyed West carefully knowing that he heard, but a reply never came. Instead, West held on to his poker face.
"Why didn't you reply to our calls?" West asked instead. "We said that you need to report every move you make."
"I lost mine while engaging with a guard," David said.
West looked around the hallway, his brows flinched. "Where are the others?"
West's question made the others shudder. They came to note the same thing West did. David was alone. Where were the others?
They all turned to David with their eyes drowning in fear. Did they already lose two of their own when they haven't even started yet?
David raised his head slowly. The silence was shattering whatever was left of their nerves. Just as the silence started lasting too long, something clattered behind them down the hallway.
They hurriedly turned around, guns shifted in their hands as they swiftly placed their fingers on the trigger. Their heartbeats are loud in their heads.
The footsteps getting closer, and it was hard to make up sentences from the muffled voices. The guns were raised slowly in rhythm with the approaching noises. They heard laughter.
"West?"
West lowered his gun instantly at the call. Margret, Park, and Mathew appeared through the darkness. Their expressions were confused.
"What's going on?" Margret said, eyeing the tense scene. "Is everything okay?"
"You guys look like you have seen a ghost," Mathew added with a frown. "We checked out the entire floor. It's clear."
"Why haven't you been answering your transmitter?" West said ignoring their questions. "You all know what we agreed on."
Margret shared a look of guilt with the two men next to her.
"We tried to answer but the transmitters were cut off for some reason," Park said, stepping forth. "We thought it was perhaps because of the bad signal up here. Since we knew you would come up here in the end we waited, just like you said, don't leave your position under any circumstances."
West was silent. Something was unsettling inside of him, but the sudden movement from Allen next to him wiped the feeling away.
"We got 15 minutes before the cargo arrives," Allen broke in between to prevent the tension. "We need to get these in place, and now!"
Allen swung the backpack to place it on the ground. He hurriedly went to his knees and started unpacking the heavy equipment. The others stood in a circle around him in a daze, their feet pinned to the ground.
"What are you doing?!" Allen snapped causing the others to flinch. "We got to get this done in 5 minutes!"
They didn't stop another second and they returned to their posts at once. Each of their roles is known to them by heart. Allen handed out the wires for the others to spread across the building, and finally, it was his turn. Allen turned around to the sealed box laying next to him. He took a deep breath and undid the seals on either side of the box, slowly lifting the lid off the box.
West stood behind him petrified while holding his breath, making sure to give Allen the space he needed. From behind, West could see Allen's trembling hands as he placed the lid on the floor.
They both turned back to the box.
It was a bomb.
A bomb strong enough to blow the building up with them inside and no one would know they even existed.
Allen eyed the turned-off panel placed in the middle of the bomb. He took a deep breath and turned to West.
West knew what he had to do and moved to the opposite side of Allen, he took hold of the handle. Allen signaled ones and they both started lifting the box together, making sure to keep it balanced between them. One wrong move and they would all be turned to ash.
"Can you feel that?" West said, staring at his hand in curiosity.
"Feel what?" Allen replied a second late. He didn't think that West would be striking a conversation at a time like this, with sweat trailing down their foreheads.
"This box," West started while turning to Allen. "It's supposed to be at least 100 kilograms, and yet I don't feel so."
Allen instantly knew what this was about.
'He barely got time to understand himself after the treatment,' Allen thought. "It took me a while to get used to it," he said. "I barely get tired now."
"But you are sweating," West pointed out.
"Well," Allen was silent for a long moment. "This thing can turn us to ash beyond recognition."
"That's heartwarming," West muttered, feeling the tension get to him. "No pressure at all."
They stayed silent till they reached the stairs. It was too narrow for them to walk side by side, Allen took the first step, and West followed after. Now that the building was practically empty, they could move the bomb to any floor without trouble. One flight after the other, they climbed down slowly till they finally reached the sixth floor.
"The sixth floor," Samael told them as he explained the plan. "It's the perfect spot. Enough to cause damage but not too much to damage the cargo or the railway."
The moment they felt the floor beneath their feet, they placed the box down to catch their breath.
"Where do we place it?" West asked scanning the floor around them, the stench of the blood intensified.
Allen glanced around, his eyes landed on a vast room opposite them. He walked towards it cautiously feeling invisible eyes pouring holes in the nape of his neck. Something inside him turned at the reminder of the others just across the railway from where he stood.
Allen halted near the window, placing his bag against the wall and away from the light pouring out the window. He hoped to see the other building from across the street but it was out of view.
'Right, they are a few buildings before us,' Allen reminded himself as he recalled the floorplan of the building. Allen couldn't help the disappointment that he couldn't catch a glimpse of the others from the other side. The transmitters have failed to cover such a huge distance.
The only signal between them was the explosion.
"This should do it," Allen said as he walked out of the room and back to West.
"Are you sure?"
"Don't worry," Allen said, walking to West's side. "This bad boy would reach the targeted location."
West nodded and glanced down at his watch. The seconds seem to be moving faster on the screen of the digital watch on his wrist, and with it, he could feel his heart beating faster in his chest.
"We have 7 minutes before the arrival time," West said. "We better hurry."
"We are in position," Julian's voice broke through the transmitter. "We are waiting for your signal."
"We are almost done," West replied.
"Roger."
West and Allen returned to their spots around the box and lifted it on the count of three. They carefully moved the box to the middle of the room Allen chose and they sit it down carefully. Just as they were straightening their backs, they heard static coming from somewhere in the hallway.
Someone was out there.
"Didn't they say this floor was clear?" Allen asked.
West nodded. "It could be the walkie-talkie of one of the guards," he said and walked out the room, following the trail of the noise. "We need to get to it."
"What?!" Allen exclaimed. "Are you going to reply?!"
"Someone needs to reply or they will figure something is wrong," West explained, his head held low as he pulled out a flashlight from his pocket and scanned the floor.
The static from the walkie-talkie got louder as they made it closer to the corpse of one of the guards. West halted in hesitation.
"This is Alpha 1," a voice said through the static. "The roof is clear how is everything below?"
'I need to answer that,' West urged himself to move but something held him back. The thought of meddling with a body of a dead human made his stomach turn. He killed, many. But God knows it was never for the fun of it.
"Everything is clear."
It was Allen who replied. He was on his knees and held the walkie-talkie in his hand before he got back on his feet. He could feel West's stare. "You needed a little help," he said. "Let's go."
Allen turned on his heels and headed to the room in a hurry and sank to his knees next to the box. He rethought the whole process with his hands hovering over the open lid. West joined him.
"Thank you," West muttered as he untangled the wires on top of the bomb.
Allen nodded with a forced smile and returned to the control panel. He checked his watch.
"5 minutes," he said. "We will need to rush to the 10th floor as fast as we can."
West looked him in the eye and nodded.
"We are setting the timer," West transmitted while Allen handled the control panel.
He could swear he heard the gasps on the other side of the transmitter.
It took a mere minute to set the bomb. The digital panel started glowing with the red numbers as it started its count down. Allen jumped to his feet and grabbed West by the arm.
"We need to go now!" Allen yelled out, dragging West up the stairs.
They ran up the stairs, taking it two at a time. They climbed up flight after flight without looking back to the tenth floor. By the time they made it, they were already out of breath. They looked at each other as they panted and glanced at their wrists.
"Our part is over," West said, glancing at the window on the other side. "Now it's time to pray Samael did the same."
Allen followed his gaze. "If it's him, I'm sure he made it."
"I know," West said quietly and headed to the last bag leaning on the wall. He brought out one of the riffles packed inside and shoved his gun in the holster around his waist. "It's time to use this bad boy."
"Looks like you were looking forward to using it," Allen said, grabbing the other riffle.
"Who wouldn't look forward to putting a bullet through some noble's head?" West said sarcastically.
Allen saw through the mockery.
He knew that each kill leads further astray from their humanity. But it was a price they were willing to pay.
If they have to become monsters themselves.
Then so be it.