War is the Answer

[Mistress K. Darq-Chylde]

This might not be Sparta, but there was definitely some heavy shit about to go down. We were dealing with a hostage situation -a mother and her child, two men, another young female, and a pregnant woman were trapped inside that bank- and the negotiators were doing their best, but sometimes the crazies just couldn't be talked down.That was where they brought in the ones like me, the ones not afraid to take a life to save seven. Life is precious, but sometimes we have to end it to protect others.

My breathing was calm, quiet like my steady heartbeat. My hold on the weapon resting peacefully on the bi-pod was solid like rock. My finger was poised just outside the trigger guard, waiting for the order to come through my ear piece. The heavy sigh of Captain Roslyn Simkins eased into my ear, followed shortly by: "Do it, Wintermute."

"Aye, Captain." And everything around me became silence, muffled by my focus. It was quickly over as the bullet pierced straight through the captor's brain between his eyes, exploding through the back of his skull and spraying the counter and two of the women nearby with blood, bone, and chunks of grey matter.

They'd probably be screaming, but they were alive, and that was all that mattered. I'd done my job. I quickly packed up my equipment and headed down from the rooftop, my hands only trembling slightly as the adrenaline began to wash itself out of my system. I straightened my flak vest and rolled my shoulders to ease a knot I hadn't even known was there, preparing myself for the bombardment by the press when I opened the door to the emergency exit that poured out onto the street. I lightly pushed my way through them, not speaking a word or making eye contact as I made my way to Captain Simkins. She congratulated me shortly and then I did something I never do...

I stopped to watch as the hostages all exited the building.

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[Jenna]

As any of my friends could tell you, it's not often that I'm rendered speechless. When I first meet people, I'm a little more reserved, shy, almost quiet. But almost never speechless.
But as it turned out, it was to be a surreal day in many regards.
It started normally. Morning sickness. Forcing myself to eat something for breakfast. Getting ready for a doctor's appointment and then work after.
It all started to go wonky during the ultrasound. My second, at 24 weeks in. It was just supposed to be a morphological scan. Counting body parts, maybe find out the gender. "This is strange..." said the tech, worrying her lower lip. I was impressed by her lipstick's ability to stay.
I wasn't too worried. She didn't seem distressed, only confused. "What is it?" I asked, fighting my desire to sit up. "Is something wrong?"
She made eye contact with me. "I found another heartbeat."
I shocked up, and she dropped the transducer in surprise. "Please lay back, Amy. Let's see."
I obeyed best I could, my eyes glued to the screen. "Here," she said, running the transducer over my belly. "Here's baby one."
"B-baby one..."
"And..." Patiently, she screened and then there it was. "Baby two. Twins!"
"Twins!?" I gasped, my head falling back.
"What a surprise," the tech chuckled. "Let's see if we can get their genders..."
But the rest of the appointment was somewhat of a blur. I sat in the car after and stared at my phone, trying to figure out if I should call anyone. Mom would want to know, and I could get anyone else through Facebook. I finally realized the time and nearly panicked. Almost time to be at work. I screamed out of the parking lot.
Maybe I should've just been late.
I just made it, dropping my bag carelessly on the break room table and running out to the bank counters. My boss smiled at me; he knew where I had been. "Just made it, Amy. Good news, I hope?" He winked at me and I breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't going to press me about it. Good news, indeed.
I fell into the daily routine, but the comfort of monotony was not to last. It all happened so fast, I had just turned around to get more receipt paper and then there he was. The kid and his mother in the lobby screamed, my boss stuttered, he forced others to barricade the doors. Then he was around the counter, pulling me and Stan out with the customers and the boss. The boss was trying to talk with him, steady and nonthreatening. I could only stare. The college kid was shaking in her UGG boots. The kid clung to his mother, who was trying to calm him. Stan was trying to be manly, but his lower lip was quivering and his hands shaking. He guarded us, forcing the boss to the safe with the threat of harm to us.
That's when we all heard the sirens. Silence fell over us. He stood over Stan and I, screaming. Which one of us had flipped the alarm? I didn't remember, so I didn't say anything. Stan shook and tried not to beg for his life.
The cops were here, and our captor was caught. The standoff had begun. He lined us up to show that he meant business. He would kill us all unless he got what they wanted. He would start with me, then the mother and her kid.
The negotiators valiantly fought on, but their words were lost on me. My eyes were on the barrel that jerked in my face. The kid was whimpering with his face against his mother, who was ashen faced, eyes on my belly.
And then it was over in a shower of glass and blood and brains. Everyone screamed except me and my captor. His last expression was of surprise as he dropped with a wet sound. My face and the floor and the wall splattered. Instantly. It was all over.
The cops swarmed in, plucked us off the ground, started to pull us outside. The others were crying, but I was numb. I looked at my blood-spattered hands with confusion. It felt like they were attached to someone else.
I was the last one out of the bank, a rescue blanket dropped heavily over my shoulders. I surveyed the crowd, their faces were a blur but one. I made eye contact with a man, an officer with a serious expression. A sniper. Our sniper? Our savior? How could I know? Our eye contact lasted a long moment, but I was whisked into an ambulance so I could be away from the prying eyes of the public while they checked my vitals.
"Are you alright?" said the EMT, wiping my face clean.
"Eh, yes," I finally managed. I realized that i was shaking. "I'm...I'm alright. Thank you."