Page 1 of Cut Me Down

Chapter one

Damien

‘Erase The Pain’- Palisades

‘Disguise’- Motionless In White

Six Months Ago

“Breach in three…two…one…” I raise my foot quickly, slamming the bottom into the door, right by the handle. The cracking from the door breaking rings through the room as the captive women begin to scream. They don’t know us, or that we were coming for them, and at least they were used to the threat at their feet. I get the hesitation. Stay with the threat you know or put your faith in that the threat in front of you isn’t as bad as the current?

The moment we entered, the harsh chemical smells flooded my nose, knocking back a few brain cells at least. Ammonia, battery acid, and paint thinner cloud the air around us. Heavy humidity and filth surround us, and that’s not accounting for the targets standing on the opposite side of the room. Ten of them, five of us, and six girls. Simple enough. With Zeke, Alex, and Chris getting the women to safety, Henry and I can take the men alone. My guys can come back once the women are safely escorted out, they’re our primary objective after all, and once their out of harm’s way, we can move forward.

My hands have become so accustomed to holding a gun, I feel like it’s missing when I don’t hold the gripped metal. The training I received from my father assured me of that. So, when I raise it to the first man attempting to draw his weapon, I don’t falter. One quick shot to the head and he’s on his back. If any of their men were unaware of our presence, they’re aware of it now.

The moment the bullet hit, I could smell the sweet crimson in the air. Billowing towards me like an approaching storm. The humidity in this warehouse is now serving a purpose. It carries my vice through the air, allowing it to seep into every pore of my body. I know I shouldn’t, but I know I’m going to sleep very well tonight.

I’ve asked myself thousands of times over the past few years why I feel such relief after I kill. Trying to justify it by saying that I’m taking evil out of the world, but the thought of my first kill only continues to cast out that accusation.

My father meant well, only allowing me my first kill so if and when I had to do it again, I wouldn’t hesitate. I don’t think he knew he was creating a monster, but he damn sure made it so I would be hard to stop. If I could be stopped at all.

A man rushes me from my right, and I yank my knife out of its sheath. Throwing out my left fist, he stumbles, and I take the opportunity to strike. I grab him with my left hand, balling the material of his shirt and I plunge my knife into his stomach twice with my right. Finishing him off with a quick jab into his eye socket. He didn’t even have time to scream before the point of my blade sunk into his brain, but now he’ll be more useful than before.

His body is now a barrier between me and the incoming gun fire. I release my knife, keeping it lodged in his skull, as I fist my gun once more. Aiming out, I fire a round into one’s chest, and move on to the one behind him. The distance is now too short to readjust, so I shove the body in my hands into him, the dead weight knocking him to the floor. Subtle footsteps are coming from my right, and my ears immediately pick it up.He’s trying to be sneaky.

I jab out to my right with the gun, and I’m not surprised that I hit a man on the temple with the butt of it. He stammers back, and that gives me enough distance to aim out and pull the trigger. It instantly stops his movements and I watch as he falls to the floor with a trail of blood following him.

I turn back to the other man, still adjusting to the dead weight of his fellow worker and raise my pistol to finish him off as well. The muscles in my arm have become so accustomed to the action, that the kick-back is almost non-existent.

Turning to my left towards the hallway, I see two more men running in, guns drawn and pointed to Henry. He's so busy with his own victim that he doesn’t hear them, and by the time he did, it’d be too late. I aim, pull two quick shots, and all other gunfire ceases. Their bodies drop one on top of the other like I piled them up for show. I take just a moment to savor the quick victory, inhaling my nightly fix of carnage as Chris runs into the room from down the hall.

“Fan out!” I yell to my men. My boisterous voice echoing off the walls. “Be sure we’re not missing anyone!” Henry and Chris start to scramble, checking rooms and hallways before Henry walks back in with a wicked grin on his face.

“Jesus Christ, D, you only gave me three of them!” He says with a grin. His shorter, brown, spiked hair now looking disheveled and messy while his eyes look black from his pupils blown from the pleasure.

“Well, you want more? Get faster. Oh, and more accurate.” I smirk and flash my white smile at him.

“Fuck you, dick wipe.” We laugh as I yank my favorite knife out of the man’s skull. The squelching noise sending a repulsive, yet satisfying, shiver down my spine.

“D!” I hear Zeke’s needy yell, and I immediately run in his direction. My heavy footsteps slamming against the concrete, sounding sturdy and sharp. Entering the small room, I see one of the captive girls. Young, late teens to early twenties. Long, curly, ginger hair, watery and blood shot green eyes, sunken and bruised face. She’s naked, just like the other girls. I gesture back with my head, signaling for one of my men to run and grab a blanket.

Once we get them out into the van, we have clothing and warm drinks waiting, so until I get that blanket, I’m sure to only keep eye contact with her. These girls go through enough, they don’t need us assessing the damage. That’s what Danielle and Lauren are for, behind closed doors. When we can, we don’t even escort them out. Lauren and Dani do that for us, but we didn’t have that luxury tonight. We don’t have a lot of time, and the drugs and dealers needed to be handled at all costs.

“Stop right there or I'll fucking shoot him!” She screams out with trembling words, holding one of the warehouse guards by gunpoint. Her grip is shaky at best, and the man she’s holding looks much more afraid of us than her. He’s probably wondering why we’re hesitating, wondering when we’re going to grab her up and jerk her around like they do.

Piece of shit.

“I think she’s in shock, man. I tried telling her we’re here to get her out, but it’s like she can’t hear me.” Zeke says, his voice laced with a hint of worry.

I slowly walk up to her as she presses the gun to his temple. She looks directly into my eyes, and she begins to focus on them. Her pupils contracting from the concentration. I think it’s the color that draws women in. The icy, teal blue helps in situations like this. The mix of cool colors calms their nerves as they try to pick out each shard.

My mom always said our eyes were like kaleidoscopes. Fragments of always changing colors that morph with our movements. Any blue ranging from an almost icy white to the deepest of navy, I’ve seen in our eyes. There’s a term for our genetic color, but I can never remember what it is, some kind of natural polymorphism. It’s very rare, but is definitely a dominant gene in my family. My mother has it, her father had it, my sister had it as well…

“We’re not here for him.” I say as calmly as I can to her, sure to keep my voice as smooth as possible. “We’re Devil’s Hands, a local vigilante group, and we’re here to take you home. You’re safe now.” When I don’t see a change in her expression or concentration, I quickly pull my pistol, point, and shoot the man between the eyes.

She shudders, and screams a little, before dropping his lifeless body. Her gaping mouth and wide eyes leads me to believe that the notion was the worst she’s seen in her time here, and a part of that makes me feel better for her. Knowing that she hasn’t been completely destroyed by the animals that once occupied this building.

I know there are probably a hundred other ways I could have handled that situation, but she was not in the right mind to listen. Adrenaline and shock were wracking her brain, and I needed her to understand the need for her cooperation sooner than later. We don’t have time for pleasantries.

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