Melanie gathered herself up, peeking first out the door before she snuck out peering every other way. She closed the door behind her as softly as she could but the rusty hinges only made the sound squeak annoyingly worse. She thought she might have stirred up some suspicion, but she checked for little over a few minutes and not a sound was heard down the rusty halls.

            She eyed the pipes that ran across the walls even in the hallways; they were narrow walk ways, at some points requiring one to duck under some of the crude pipe work.

            Melanie checked what she had, her pistol she took out first out of its holster. It was surprisingly heavy to her, but she thought that might be due to her lack of food… or water for that matter. She held the pistol up to her eyes releasing the ammo magazine into her open palm. She weighed it carefully on her hand, she determined perhaps about 12 bullets maybe even less laid in the clip and the dead guard in the room behind her, didn’t carry a spare clip. He clearly didn’t think he’d have to use it. Melanie entered the magazine into the pistol again, and then observed her weapon. The gun itself didn’t seem very deadly, but by closer inspection of the way it was built inside. She knew it was some kind of high powered and quite loud she might add, piece of equipment, thinking to use it as less as possible if not at all.

            She holstered her pistol again and slid quickly and silently along the pipes, using what little hand rails were there to support herself, she didn’t have all that much strength. She passed corner and on corner peeking past every turn. Oddly she hadn’t seen anyone else.  An itchy feel poked at the back of her head, a creepy thought of maybe she was being observed somehow, she dismissed the thought of that and continued on farther.

            Melanie wandered for about a half-hour encountering nothing but occasional rats that scurried around behind her as she passed. The rats had made her tingle inside like a small childish fear, but she didn’t care.

            She peeked past another corner and saw a hatch that led upwards but there were also two guards with the same armaments as the last. She toyed with the idea of taking both out, but she thought it would cause too much attention so she would have to find another way out.

            She doubled back and went another way, soon coming to a door. A solid metal door with a wheel in the middle rather than a knob, she laid her hand on the wheel and tried turning it, but it wouldn’t budge it might have been locked from the other side, or she was just too weak to open the door. But she eyed something else, there was a panel beside the door, it had been ripped open at the bottom and hotwired to house a card scanner that just hung there.

            Melanie wondered if her card might work the one she had taken from the dead guard, she didn’t think it wise since there could be a type of alarm if she was wrong. Abruptly she heard foot steps coming her way, and there wasn’t anywhere to hide. She had to make a decision and she made it forcefully despite her fears, she shoved in the ID card into the reader with shaking hands. The door wheel started spinning automatically and popped open. She gasped a sigh of relief and hastily slid into the door, grabbing the ID card and shut the door, the wheel on the door spinning to lock behind her.

            Her heart beat heavily thinking whoever was coming might follow her through the door, so she couldn’t stay there. She rushed down the hall but stopped in her tracks as she heard muffled gunfire that was beating from above. She looked up and around hearing shouts and screams.

            Melanie quickly looked around, seeing another hatch that led up; she opened the hatch and winced at the bright sun in the sky, and the wind that ruffled her hair. She pushed herself out of the hatch, now being outside. The vicious gunfire sounded, she quickly shrieked and pushed herself hiding behind a metal wall.

            She peeked out and saw she was on a ship, an extremely large ship with a deck the size of maybe two football stadiums. On the deck, guards she had encountered before were firing up into the air. She tried to look at what they were shooting at but the sun impeded her vision, all she could hear was the rumbling sound of a helicopter and more gunfire.

            She almost screamed when a bullet ricocheted off a pole next to her inches away from her head. She shut her eyes tightly not wanting to see anything, she was afraid.

            A loud shout echoed in front of her, she screeched as she opened her eyes to one of the guards sticking a rifle muzzle in her face. She froze in fear, she didn’t understand what the guard had said, the shout had been in a completely different language, she didn’t know. The guard repeated the phrase more loudly; Melanie curled away whimpering, until she heard a gunshot and the sound of a body hitting the floor. She looked up seeing the man had been shot in the temple and was bleeding tremendously in his own puddle of blood right beside her, he was dead obviously.

She looked to side seeing the guards who were firing up in the air before, had been overrun and a helicopter had landed on the deck, with men pouring out of the chopper. They carried different armaments, most with a blackish rifle, with a clear jagged edge at its back some others who just carried a smaller gun, equally black in color though loomed with a flashlight at its front. Most notable was the emblem that was painted on the chopper: another rectangular emblem except with blue, red and white stripes, with another blue square with many white stars painted on it. She didn’t recognize the pattern at all.

She watched on in fear still curled up against the wall as the black uniformed men started scouring the deck for any survivors, she was afraid they might find her, she assumed perhaps they were friends. But on the other hand they might not be so pleasant.

Suddenly before she could even stand one of the black uniformed soldiers peeked over her corner and pointed his rifle at her, he had a mask so his face was hidden.

She shrieked loudly being in mid stance she fell to the floor sliding out her pistol on instinct and pointed it back at the man, her heart beating feverishly, all pains forgotten.

“Wow! Easy there!” the man said with a surprised tone, “I’m not your enemy.”

She didn’t lower her weapon she was too scared too, her mind was paining again, trying to calm herself, she couldn’t. Melanie didn’t notice moments later, 3 other people had gathered around her, training their weapons on her.

“Put the gun down,” one of them said calmly, she couldn’t see who.

She gulped pushing up against the wall, breathing hard and sweating, she saw the men whispering to each other somehow, she heard faint voices even under the sound of the running helicopter.

“She’s crazed…what do we do?”

            “She’s in shock, Quincy.”

            With that one of the soldiers who were closest behind Melanie dove on her, tackling her weak body face down into the floor, her pistol launching out of her hand. She screamed and struggled under the man’s grip. But then the rest of the black men over took her. Her arms were twisted behind her until her shoulders cracked softly, then someone lashed her wrists together with something. She kept jerking around in vain until she was turned around to lie on her back, and one of the men covered her mouth with his hand with a firm grip, muffling her cries.

            “Quiet! Jesus!” he said.

            Melanie choked she just couldn’t handle it, she felt herself go limp from lack of air, she had been too weak to endure anymore, Melanie slipped into darkness moments later.