The Meeting

In the dark of night, a man was running, his right arm dangling by his side uselessly while covered in blood. This man was Melvin Hawkins and it was clear that he was not having a good day.

---2 hours earlier---

Walking out of my office on the top floor of one of my buildings I was in a good mood, looking out the windows in the hallway I admire the sprawling city below dreaming that, one day, I will control all of it.

Exiting the hallway I come to a large reception room where the only person in it is my secretary. Nodding to her I say "I am leaving for the night, please don't let anyone disturb me for the next few hours. She nods back but says nothing.

Stepping into the private elevator I contemplate my life. I am one of the richest men in the world and have everything that I could ever want, but even then I still want more. Its almost an insatiable hunger for wealth and power, no matter what I do I will never be full.

Is there something wrong with me? Possibly, but it is not like I can do anything about that. It's so tedious, even if I take a vacation it cannot help me relax, if anything it makes me more stress because of the opportunities that I am missing.

*Ding*

The door of the elevator slides open revealing a dark room on the other side, white fluorescent flicker to life illuminating a small parking garage and two cars.

The cars, one a black SUV, and one a sports car, shimmered under the light. Getting into the Suv I pressed the button notified the gate guards to open the main gates as I inserted the key into the ignition.

On the way out of the garage and into the streets of the city, I admire the sign proudly illuminated above the main entrance "Melvin Bussiness Group" it reads. I remember 16 years ago when I was planning to start my first company, I was young, lazy, and naive at the time and almost drove that company into the ground. But as soon as I started to taste success I got addicted to it causing me to be do anything to achieve it.

After an hour of driving, I had finally reached my destination. Turning into a road I was stopped at a large security gate.

"Identification?" coldly asked a man wearing a black uniform and carrying a large rifle.

"Melvin Hawkins" I responded while handing him my identification card.

Handing back my card after scanning it he states in a slightly warmer tone "You are good to go, parking spot 139".

Rolling up my window I precede to drive past the security checkpoint and into a tunnel leading underground. At the end of the tunnel, there is a large underground space packed with parking spots, most are occupied by large armored vehicles, but some are more standard SUVs and luxury cars.

Finding my spot I park in it and exit the vehicle, nearby I spot someone that I know, it is a friend and one of the board members for the conglomerate.

"Melvin, it's good to see you" he said as he reached out his hand.

Shaking his hand I reply "Roman Bennett, how are you doing".

"Tired and not looking forward to this meeting, you know how I feel about them"

"I feel the same thing, even if some of the most powerful people in the world attend we still don't get anything done asides from arguing and creating new grudges between us all".

Turning I start walking towards a door that is set into the wall on one side to the parking area.

Walking through the door we reach a desk, behind which are two security guards dressed similar to the one at the front gate. We both hand over our identification and after a moment we are allowed to pass.

Behind the two guards in a bank of elevators. Entering one Roman Turns to me and asks "Have you noticed that security today has been much tighter than usual?"

"I have noticed that too, I wonder if someone important is attending today".

Laughing He replies "More important than usual? Most of the meetings have some of the most powerful people in the world in attendance. What makes today any different".

Before I can say anything the elevator dings and the doors slide open silently, the hallway that is exposed is crowded with people all standing around and talking. Exiting the elevator we find a place to stand that is off to the side and out of the way. Neither of us makes a move to talk to anyone and we just stand in silence.

After a few minutes, a voice comes over the loudspeakers. "All guests have arrived, please make your way to the meeting room".

After this announcement is made the crowd in the hallways begin to slowly make their way through two doors on the other end of the hallway.

On the other side of the set of doors is a large, domed room, similar to a concert hall. There is a stage one end that is surrounded by around one hundred seats arranged in a horseshoe shape. Finding my seat I sit down. Silently complaining to my self because I am in one of the worse positions, directly to the side of the speaker and almost perpendicular to the screen mounted above the stage.

While waiting for the meeting to start, I observe my surroundings, I am on the end of a row with the head of an international bank to my right and an aisle to my left.

Shivering as a cold breeze brushes past me, looking around curiously wondering about the source. My eyes wandered towards the wall and I see a slight crack in it. On closer inspection, there seems to be a hidden door that was left slightly ajar. Someone had left it open and nobody noticed or cared enough to close it.

Hearing a light cough from the direction of the stage I look over to see a heavyset man walking up to the podium. He picks up the microphone and speaks into it "Welcome honored guests, the meeting is about to begin so please if you have not found your spot find them soon".

The lights started to dim and the screen above the stage lights up to reveal seven black humanoid figures. One of them speaks in a deep synthesized voice "Welcome to the 120th annual meeting of the Ronson society, we have a few topics of interest on the agenda for today".

For some reason after the figure said that I got a slight sense of unease. As the meeting went on the feeling only became stronger. Glancing back towards the exit I notice a few of the armed guards entering.

Then one of the figures of the screen said "our next topic does not require any discussion but we have decided to remove a few undesirable members from the society because they have been acting against the interests of the society as a whole.

Bang, Bang, Bang.

The sound of gunfire suddenly reverberated throughout the enclosed space.

Ducking down I felt a sudden sharp pain coming from my right arm. Taking a moment to process what has happened I look at my arm and notice a splotch of red blossoming through the fabric of my suit.

Looking over at the banker who was sitting next to me I stifled a scream. The head of the banker was practically gone, shards of his skull and a lot of blood were scattered across the seat in front of him.

Gunfire and screams could be heard throughout the meeting hall. Glancing over to my right I spot the crack in the wall that I had seen earlier, deciding that it would be better to run for it rather than be slaughtered like cattle in a pen I charged at the door.

Yanking it open I feel a slight pain in my leg, plaster dust fills my view as someone opens fire in my direction. Ducking through the door I slam it shut behind me. Looking around I seem to have run into a maintenance tunnel of some sort.

As I run through the tunnel I can hear the sound of pounding footsteps behind me.

Without looking back I throw open another door and jump through. I sign in relief seeing that the door leads out of the building and into what appears to be a loading bay of some sort. Hiding behind a stack of boxes I try to catch my breath.

My head is starting to feel fuzzy because of the blood loss and I try to think straight. Realizing that I was not safe where I was I start creeping towards one of the open doors near me.

Right before I reached the door I stumbled because of the dizziness and fell out of the open door… And right into the path of an armored truck that was speeding down the road. The last thing that I saw before everything went black was the front grill of a massive black vehicle speeding right towards my face.

As the darkness engulfed me I could swear that I heard a quite [*Ding*] like that of an elevator.

Slowly the world faded to black.

And Just like that, Melvin Hawkins, one of the worlds wealthiest and most powerful men died.

He had everything that he could ever wish in life, he had achieved some of his dreams, he thought himself better than everyone else, but he was still mortal.