The café smelled of burnt espresso and stale pastries. A man, Fitz, sat at a table in the middle, yellow eyes flicking to the door every few seconds. His phone vibrated in his hand, but he barely noticed it. The bell above the door jingled. In walked a girl. A storm of black hair, tattoos, and heavy boots peppered with dirt. She spotted him instantly.
Walking over, she slides into the booth across from him. She leans forward and rests her head on her hand as she looks at the guy with a smirk.
?: Long time no see, Fitz.
Fitz tried to smile, but it came off nervous. He sets his phone face down on the table.
Fitz: Glad you could make it Shelly. Was starting to think you forgot about me.
Shelly leaned in, grinning mischievously.
Shelly: What's got you so twitchy?
Before Fitz could answer, the front door slammed open, and three men in plate carriers stormed inside, raising AK-74s.
Shelly: Hm? Hey—
Fitz interrupts, trembling.
Fitz: Shelly, don't say anything
?: ALRIGHT! EVERYBODY STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE! BARISTAS, HANDS UP!
The lead guy shouted as he raised his rifle to the terrified baristas behind the counter.
Shelly: Is this, a coordinated robbery?! Who the fuck would rob a cafe?!
Shelly thought to herself as she kept her eyes fixed on Fitz. The two kept still and kept their eyes locked on each other. Not muttering a single word.
?: Quick, go find the safe in the back!!! I'll watch everyone out here!!!
The lead man shouted to the other two men. Immediately, the two men took off and ran to the back of the shop, a hallway behind Fitz's booth. Leaving just the lead man to watch everyone in the room. Shelly took a second to glance away from Fitz and did an immediate head count.
Shelly: The other two ran into the back, leaving just him. They didn't come with an extra to assist him in watching everyone here?
She looked back over at Fitz, now expressing a hardened look.
Shelly: Kind of a mistake on their part. This is America after all...
The man was already looking in their general direction. Even if Shelly had a chance, she knew she wouldn't have enough time. Fitz knew this too. He looks directly at her and signals with his eyes. He then casually swipes his hand across the table and knocks his coffee cup off.
*CRASH*
The cup shatters on the ground, and the robber looks directly at him.
Fitz: Oh, my bad. Let me get that
He said as he got up out of his booth and knelt down, pretending to clean up the mess.
?: Rgh! Hey! You! What do you think you're doing?!
Fitz:...
Fitz ignored the man and continued with his act, further throwing him off and distracting further. While Shelly continued to sit in silence. Her heart began to beat rapidly as she started to ask herself a bunch of questions that she only had a few seconds to answer.
"Am I going to have enough time to get up?"
"What if he shoots me before then?"
"If I miss, will I have enough time to duck for cover?"
"Can I react faster than him?"
"What if he's well trained and has a better reaction time than me?"
"What if his gun is jammed?"
"Will his two friends come back to help him?"
"Am I going to die?"
At that point, she knows it's too late. The plan is in motion, she can't back out.
?: Hey! Answer me! Or I'll fucking shoot you right here and now!!!
So she answers all of her questions with a single ultimate answer.
Shelly: Fuck it, might as well do it now.
At that moment, Shelly jumps up from her booth, lifts her shirt, draws a black M18 handgun with a red dot optic from a comically big concealed waistband holster, and quickly aims it at the man. Her eyes are set, focused on his form.
Shelly: Round in the chamber, safety off!
*BANG*
*click*
A shot rings out, immediately causing everyone's ears to ring like hell as people yell and scream in immediate reaction to the deadening noise. It was a single shot that flew across the room. The robber had barely gotten a haircut as the round wizzed by and slammed into the wall behind him. But what no one knew was that there was supposed to be more than one shot. Shelly pulled the trigger a third time...
*click*
Nothing. She realized that there was a piece of brass sticking out of the gun's chamber. It was a spent casing stuck in place. The gun was jammed. Shelly's heart skipped a beat as her eyes widened in fear, seeing the robber aim his rifle in the most pissed off response. She realized that some of her questions needed more than one answer. There was little to no time to correct the error.
"If I miss, will I have enough time to duck?"
*BANG*
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Shelly: Hngh!!!
It feels as if her breath had just been stolen from her. Shelly's body is filled with burning terror as a single round of 5.45 rips through her abdomen and flies out of her back. Fitz watches, eyes wide as her blood hits the wall behind her.
?: Bitch! DIE!!!
*BANG BANG*
It was done. The man mag-dumped his AK, firing round after round into Shelly. Fitz saw it all, a front row seat to her sudden demise. Blood splatters against the wall as she is riddled with endless holes. It was a burning hell as she fell to the floor and dropped her handgun. Her breath quivers, stutters in short bursts. And her arms shake violently as she holds her hands to her abdomen. But covering it wouldn't help, she knew her entire body from chest to waist was torn will holes. Blood poured from her like a leaking faucet onto to floor. And it streamed down the side of her face as she coughed it up too.
Shelly: *COUGH* Gh! A-Ah!
Fitz sat on the floor in shock as he stared at her leaking, draining body. Watching her cough and cry in pain as she lay in a puddle of her blood. It wasn't just a horror for him, but for the other poor patrons of the shop as well.
Fitz: S-SHELLY!!!
?: SHUT UP!!! AND STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE DAMNIT!!! BEFORE YOU END UP LIKE HER!!!
Her legs and toes curled tightly, arms crossed over her stomach, pain surging.
Shelly: Fuck! It hurts!!! FUCKING HELL IT HURTS!!! I KNEW IT!!! SOMETHING BAD WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!! FUCK!!!
From head to toe, all she could feel was pain. Her life slowly being drained from her in the form of red liquid on a tiled floor. She grits her teeth, tears gathering in her eyes as the agonizing pain ripped and jolted up and down through her.
Shelly: GOD DAMNIT! YOU'RE SUCH A FOOL!!! A DUMBASS!!! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS TRY TO BE THE HERO?! THE ONE WHO STICKS UP FOR EVERYONE?!...now look at you!!! Bleeding out on the floor of a fucking cafe!!!
At that moment, everything started to flash before her eyes. Every memory, and every moment ever. Trauma, terror, pain, humiliation, loneliness.
Shelly: Always trying to be something I'm not!!! My entire life, I've been nothing but an outcast! I could have not done a thing, and we'd probably walk away when this is over...but what's the point...
Shelly: What does it matter if I die...? "19 year old, shot dead in robbery"...a headline for no one to care about. Not even my own family... maybe it was supposed to happen this way... maybe I am supposed to just fade into obscurity... a dark void to never be found again...
Hearing nothing but intense ringing in both ears. And feeling nothing but pain. She opens her eyes, and all she can see is blur as she started to lose sight. It was all so sudden, but now she knows what's coming. Darkness is closing on her. Claiming her. She tries to make out anything around her, and can see just barely her handgun within arms reach, and the man, the robber, who turned his back to her, standing just a few feet away.
Shelly: Please...just this once...let me have something...to be remembered by...
She thought to herself. She mustered up any strength left, as she started to reach her bloodied hand out. Fitz watched her with a quivering breath as she placed her weak hand on her gun and strugglingly lifted it up. Shaking. Shocked, terrified, but mesmerized at the sudden strength she mustered to reach out and grab this hefty tool.
Shelly: Please... God, before you take me...just this once...let me, help these people...
She reaches her other shaky, blood-covered hand out and grips the slide of the gun.
*CHIK CHIK*
*Tonk-ti-tink*
The sound of the slide racking back, and a brass casing hitting the floor catches the robber, and he looks back at Shelly in surprise.
?: Huh?
Only to be met with the sight of the barrel of an M18 looking straight at him.
*BANG*
A final shot is heard, and Shelly watches with blurred vision as the man's head is pierced. Everyone, though still shocked and terrified, watches as he then falls to the ground. At that moment, the sound of the front door opening is heard. Five officers rush in and raise their guns to the other two robbers who were coming out with a money safe in their hands. Shelly's arms fall limp with the gun still in her hands. She feels the darkness taking her. This is the final moment. Her last seconds before the world continues on without her.
Shelly: And, it looks like...that's it...
Her vision starts to blur even more, and eventually fades to black as she can feel the last bit of her life bleeding onto the floor.
Shelly: Nineteen years...so long, yet so short...
And with that, everything fades into nothing.
—————
There's a silent breeze among this grassy landscape. The sound of light wind, whispering gently through the leaves of a tall oak tree.
Shelly: Mmh...
Lying on a dirt path beneath, in the same position she passed away in. Shelly began to wake to the rough feeling of the dirt surface beneath her.
She could hear the wind swooshing through the tree's leaves so clearly. The ringing in her ears was gone. She opens her eyes, and the blur disappears in a matter of just a couple seconds. The first thing that pops out to her is the gorgeous grassy landscape under the bright sun. Then she notices the thick oak tree next to her. And finally, she realizes that there's a feeling in her right hand.
She was still holding onto her M18, with her finger still on the trigger.
Shelly: Mm?
But something else also caught her attention and made her a little confused. The blood on her hands and arms were gone. And the burning white hell that flooded her body had faded completely. Not a sting of pain.
Shelly: Huh?!
She puts her gun on safety and sets it down as she lifts her head and sits up. That fact that she can even move caught her off guard. As she lifted her shirt, and there was nothing there. Her skin was as smooth as could be. Not a bloody tear or scar to be found. Her eyes widen in surprise. Not even her shirt had a tear in it.
Shelly: W-What?! How am I, okay?!
Now she was put into a world of confusion as a load of questions flooded her head.
"Is this a dream?"
"Am I dead?"
"Is this Heaven?"
"Or is it hell, masked as a heavenly landscape?"
"Where am I?"
"Where is this place?"
"How long have I been like this?"
"Am I the only one here?"
"If I'm somewhere else, can I find my way back home?"
"How far from home am I?"
Shelly: Everything feels so real, but I can't tell if it's fake
She thought to herself, looking down at her hands. She looks over at her M18 and reaches for it. She picks it up and ejects the magazine. Pushing down on the top round to see if she'd truly shot off any rounds. And sure enough, the spring in the magazine collapses under the force of her finger. She then pulls back the slide of the gun, and sure enough, a live round flies out and lands in the dirt next to her leg.
Shelly: So it was all real. That part wasn't a dream at all...the pain I experienced was true
She sets the empty handgun on her lap, pointed away from her and at the tree, grabbing the bullet off the ground, cleaning it off, and sticking it back in the magazine.
She picks up the gun and inserts the mag, ensuring it was on safe. Racking back the slide to chamber a round, putting the gun in her bulky but concealed waistband holster.
The dirt rustles and crunches beneath her black boots as she stands up and wipes the dirt off of her butt and her legs. For a moment, she takes in a deep breath. The air is clean. Not a hint of an odor anywhere. She takes a moment to look around, observing the vast landscape.
Shelly: So, then where the hell am I...?
She looks way off into the distance, and another sight catches her eye. Atop one of the grassy mountains sat what appeared to be a fortress embedded in its soil. A high walled structure surrounded the area, and its towers and buildings appeared to rise quite high. It was a strange looking place. Nothing Shelly had seen in person.
Shelly: A walled city?
She thought to herself. She expresses a face of pure cringe and disgust.
Shelly: It looks so... European. Don't tell me I'm in a European country...that'd be a double downgrade from hell
?: Hail, mysterious traveler!
Shouted a girls voice.
Shelly: Huh?
Shelly turns and looks back behind her to see the girl in question who made her presence known in the form of a waving cape and elegant armor.
?: State your name, traveler!
Shelly: Eh...
Now things were starting to get more confusing for Shelly.
Shelly: These anime cosplayers are really getting good with their acting...but I will admit, I'm cringing physically
Shelly: Uh—my name is Shelly Kuznetsov!
?: "Kuznetsov", what an odd name! What language might that be?
Shelly: Eh, it is Russian!
?: "Russian", huh? I must say, I have never heard such a language, you must hail from a different continent!
Shelly tries not to tense up as she continues the awkward interaction.
Shelly: Uh, y-yes! I am a Russian-American woman from America! Land of the free!
?: Don't be so foolish! There isn't a crevice of this world that is "free"
Eventually, Shelly breaks the act. Her shoulders fall limp, tilting her head as she crosses her arms.
Shelly: Eheh, yeah...anyway, cool costume.
?: Huh? A costume?! Preposterous! Listen up young traveler, for you are speaking to a Knight of the Holy Aunoss Empire! Iris Aerialheardt!
Once again, Shelly's face cringes visibly.
Shelly: I just gave you a compliment, lady! Drop the act already! This is getting weird...
She re-engages in the awkward interaction and continues her act. Tensing up again as she straightens her back out.
Shelly: E-Eheh...a Knight, huh? I-I am the Gun fu master of the American state of Tennessee! I hail from the backwoods, south of the shit-hole of Nashville!
Iris tilts her head, seeming confused.
Iris: "Gun fu" huh? Is that a form of magic?
At this point, Shelly unconsciously becomes more invested and confident in the interaction. She puts on a smug smirk, crossing her arms again.
Shelly: You could say that. In fact, it's the most powerful form of magic! No foe dare stand in my way!
Iris: That so? Very well then, Gun fu master Kuznetsov!
Iris then raises her elegant silver and gold claymore sword, blade whispering as it cuts through the air, and points it at Shelly.
Iris: I challenge you to a duel! Let us spar! I won't be using magic, instead, I shall use just my sword, handcrafted and forged by the hands of the most skilled blacksmiths in the universe!
Shelly: Huh?!
At that moment, Shelly's heart nearly skipped a beat as she began to realize that this girl probably wasn't a cosplayer. Her eyes open wide in surprise.
Iris: Show me what you can do, Gun fu master! I won't hold back!
She shouted as she ran at Shelly in full speed. Shelly shouts in sudden panic.
Shelly: Woah, woah, woah!!!
But immediately, her instincts kick in! She lifts her shirt and draws her M18 faster than ever before, flicking the safety and aiming the gun straight at the center mass of Iris's body. But before she pulled the trigger, she noticed the girl suddenly come to an immediate halt, the heels of her metal boots digging into the dirt.
Shelly: Stay back! I'm not afraid to exercise my right to bear arms!
Looking past the sights of her handgun, she started to notice something about the girl changing completely. She wasn't in full confidence mode anymore. Instead her demeanor looked the exact opposite. Her breath began to tremble in short bursts, and her eyes widened in a state of what looked to be pure fear.
Shelly: Yeah, that's right! You don't want to learn about the art of the nine mil, do you?!
Iris: W-Wait a second. N-No! This cannot be!
Iris thought to herself as she lowered her sword, starting to slowly back away.
Iris: Y-You...your arm...y-you have, arm insignias...
Shelly: Huh?
Shelly tilts her head slightly.
Shelly: Arm insignias? Does she mean my tattoos? What about them is scaring her so bad?
Iris's eyes widen further.
Iris: T-that means...y-you're a...
Shelly: I'm a what?
Iris: G-Get away, get away from me!!!
She shouted as she stumbled backward and started to sprint away in the opposite direction.
Iris: Get away from me!!! HYBRID!!! GET AWAY!!!
She shouted in fear as she ran away as fast as she could. Shelly puts her gun back on safety, lowering it as she watched the girl run off into the distance. Feeling even more confused than she was before.
Shelly: What was that about? "Hybrid"? Is that some kind of insult...? Whatever.
Shelly then turns and looks back at the distant mountain city as she re-holsters her gun.
Shelly: Guess I'll go see if I can find out anything in that city over there. See if I can figure out where the hell I’m even at.
