Blood Stained Breaths

It has been long since the inhabitants of Earth can remember a time of peace. The world that surrounds the residents of Earth has become bleak. What used to be a prosperous planet filled with the peak of technology has now become as technologically advanced as the world was a thousands of years ago. The remnants that remain are tall, delapidated high rise buildings, rusted ware houses and long forgotten apartment buildings, heritage sights from the era of the 2000's. Weaponry has become primitive, no longer high powered lazer guns or the most advanced phazers, instead knives with steel blades and guns with lead bullets. A powerful and prosperous world reduced to ancient ruins. Few can remember how the people of Earth got here.

Thousands of years ago a long forgotten country tried to rule everything. But like all powerful monarchies their own thirst for dominance and power became their downfall, and so too took the world with them. The people were corrupt and lost. With no one to guide them they were plunged into chaos. Now, in the time of reform there is an organisation, The Elite Beretta's, who are taking charge and working to bring around change in a world run by mobsters. The regular inhabitants of this desolate place obey the new rise of law, as determined as this new organisation to return the world to its original status. A time long forgotten. The world seems to be getting better day by day. The people are obedient. There are few who dare to oppose them. One of those few is Valdis. A child named after a godess of death. She, a child born to no one. A child left alone. A child found. Valdis was abandoned as a child, destined to never know her parents. But when she was found by a man who had no room for emotions or feelings could she ever really get the chance to miss them? He sought to erase both liabilities from the small five year old staring him down, a look of fierce determination etched into her russet eyes. A five year old Valdis. He didn't know why but he took her in. He tought her to bare great pain. He tought her to banish her emotions and feelings. He tought her to kill. It wasn't long until Valdis was plunged into a life that thrived with more violence than most adults would experience in a life time by the man who found her, her boss. Not her father, never her father. She destroys all who stand in her way. The soul of such a ruthless slaughterer of man has never existed in such a being. Those who know her name are over taken by fear they didn't even know existed. If she wanted you dead, you were dead. She does what she was trained to do. She does what she was raised to do. She does what she was born to do. Her, a young and beautiful sixteen year old girl, a mercenary, a killer.

The Elite Beretta's have been chasing Valdis almost since she begain this line of work five long years ago, never able to catch her because she never left behind even a hint of evidence that could lead them to find her. With stresses high The Elite Beretta's resorted to the only course of action left to take against Valdis, put one of their agents in danger, risk his life, to go undercover and find out more about this unattainable, mysterious girl. This prooved useful, delivering a precious gift they didn't dare hope they would obtain. Now they knew where and when her next hit was.

The night is dark, even the moon too afraid to show itself tonight for fear it may get caught in the crossfire, leaving everything enveloped in the midnight shadows. The cold winter night reflected her entire life, the chilling winds, the lonely streets, a slow, yet constant snowfall that ended up covering every flower and killing the last rays of light. These terribly cold nights were like her heart. She glanced around the empty city, a spiteful wind whispering up and down the streets as if it was joining the low voices seeping out of the abandoned buildings now occupied by gangs. She ruffles her jet black hair, the snow flakes drifting past her obsidian eyes, binding and melting with the shadows. Valdis hugs the sniper rifle to her body, the butt of the rifle resting on her shoulder as she looks through the eye piece with her right eye. She takes her time, lining up the shot with her target in sight and tightening her finger on the trigger confidently, knowing that her first shot is almost always her last.

There is danger everywhere, a select few of The Elite Beretta's are closing in, not even daring to draw in a breath for the fear that Valdis' acutely trained hearing may detect them. Across the street, an abandoned museum - now occupied by one of the most powerful gangs in the state - is crawling with guards. Their eyes are keen and their hearing is focused as they patrol the area. Valdis, unaware of The Elite Beratta's presence, waits for a clear shot. Her heart drums in the cavern of her chest, her adrenaline driving her, this is what she lives for.

Valdis pauses as one of the roaming guards stops, as if he's considering something before his gaze slowly turns in Valdis' direction, he is searching for something. He couldn't know she was there. He just couldn't. Valdis pauses, lowering her rifle slightly and edging deeper into the shadows, her breathing shallow. The guard seems hesitant to turn away but once he is satisfied that he can't see anything perched on top of the building he continues on his way. The Elite Beretta's move closer, not quite having reached the roof of the buildings, still wandering the inside halls to find their way to the door that will lead them to the roof and their prize. They are a symble of hope in these desolate and troubled times, hope for a new world. A world Valdis unknowingly threatens to shatter.

((Valdis is not her real name, it is the name she was called by the man who found her and in turn she became known by that alias. Few know her real name, Jayda Mandal, because it is never used. ))