The Countdown Begins

"So... what's it gonna be? Will you continue to point that dagger at my throat and ask me questions or...will you deal with them?"

Kyra narrowed her eyes at the masked man in front of her.

He didn't even try to fight back or retaliate when she reached for her dagger and pointed it at him.

Did he think she couldn't kill him?

Taking one last glance at the other men blocking the exits,she sighed as she withdrew the dagger away from his throat and flung it at one of the men who was coming towards her. It stabbed him in the shin and he fell in pain, causing the other two beside him to trip and fall along with him.

"Good choice leaving me to focus on them but..."the blue-eyed stranger behind her said as he took out his gun and tightened his grip around it.

"Now you're weaponless...and very vulnerable,"he continued as Kyra's eyes widened, expecting him to attack her but...

Bang! He shot two of the intruders behind Kyra simultaneously with the same bullet; a headshot!

"Here take this to defend yourself," he tossed a gun at her which she caught with ease.

Just then more of them showed up and surrounded them.

"I'll handle those on the right,you deal with the left," he uttered and left to deal with his attackers, with Kyra doing same.

They moved slowly towards her, underestimating her probably because she was female and didn't look so tough.

One of them charged towards her when he was close enough but she deflected his attack and countered with a heavy punch straight to his jaw. He spat out blood and lost his balance, causing him to crash- land on the floor.

He tried getting up but before he could Kyra shot both his legs,and he passed out due to blood loss and extreme pain.

Without wasting much time she dealt with the others; knocking out some and shooting at the others.

And in no time it was down to just about five people left on her side.

She found something off about the way they fought though; it was like they weren't even trying to hurt her,as if they were just playing. Were they toying with her? That thought irked Kyra and only made her attacks harsher on the rest that remained.

Meanwhile the blue-eyed man was having no trouble with those on his side. The way he moved with such agility and speed was almost inhuman.

He shot with great aim and swiftness so much that his attackers couldn't even get four steps closer to him, even though with him they fought more seriously than with Kyra.

Within a few seconds more, there was no one left to attack on both Kyra's and the blue-eyed man's side. They were all on the ground, either dead or unconscious.

"Now that this is all over I suggest you tell me who you are and why you're helping me," Kyra said as she glanced at the person in front of her.

"Who said it's over? Besides I prefer not to take your suggestion," he replied and prepared to leave when Kyra stopped him.

"It wasn't a suggestion..." she aimed the gun at him.

"It was a command...and it comes with consequences when unheeded to." she looked hard at him as she spouted those words, but all he did was return her gaze with an indifferent one.

"Trust me...you don't want to pull that trigger."

"Oh? And why is that?" she asked as she held the gun more firmly.

However the man didn't seem at all threatened, he just continued to stare at her with an indifferent expression.

"You're not holding a normal gun" he answered plainly.

Kyra just looked at him confused as ever? Not normal? What does that mean? He wasn't making any sense?

"The gun shoots backwards after every ten shots. I used one,and you used eight on the others so, be careful of the direction you point it at or else...you might hurt yourself badly."

He explained and before Kyra could do or say anything else he swiped the gun away from her and aimed it at the ground as he pulled the trigger.

Instead of the bullet hitting the ground it shot backwards and hit the ceiling instead, bounced off of it, and crashed into a window.

"See?" he said and Kyra shifted her gaze from the broken window to him.

So that shattered window could've been her if she had taken the shot?

"Now instead of wasting time asking me questions, I suggest you focus more on leaving this place; there's a xarnyx -loaded bomb going off in about two minutes." He said calmly,the tone in his voice not sounding like someone who had two minutes before he'd be blown to bits by a bomb.

How did he know all this? Kyra wondered.

"I prefer not to take your suggestion." she used his own words from earlier against him as a smug smile formed on her lips.

He sighed as a slight smile appeared on his face.

"Hmm.. suit yourself then." he added.

"Well I- "

"Kyra!"

Kyra couldn't continue her sentence when she heard someone call out her name.

She turned back to see Ethan coming towards her.

He sighed with relief when he saw she was unhurt.

"Good to see you're okay. I should've known you could handle things by yourself. Guess I worried over nothing." he said when he was now in front of her.

"You were worried about me? That's unlike you."

" Don't flatter yourself I wasn't worried about you, I was worried about what your brother would do to me if he found out you got hurt. So I was more worried about myself actually." He said as he flashed smile, causing Kyra to roll her eyes at him.

" Where's Kelsie?"she asked, deciding to ignore his comment.

"I asked Vade to take her home. She's safe don't worry."

"Good. We have to get out of here as well it's not safe."

"Why?" Ethan asked.

"There's a bomb loaded with xarnyx here and we have less than a minute to leave before it goes off."

"Xarnyx? But that's...wait how do you know all this?" Ethan asked both surprised and a bit confused.

"Well he-"

Kyra turned to look behind her but there was no one there.

There wasn't even a trace of him on the long corridor.

How could he leave so fast? It was as if he just vanished!

" He was right here a moment ago,"she said, turning her direction back to Ethan, who looked even more confused now.

"Who are you talking about?" he asked her but Kyra just kept glancing around her, like she was looking for something.

He couldn't have gone outside because then she would have seen him when he did. Strange,where could he have gone?

Looking down on the white marble floor, Kyra saw , '65 seconds' written boldly in red on it.

How and when did he get the time to do this?!

There was no time to ask questions though,the countdown had begun!