Chapter 388 - Like Blood (Checks and Christina BG, can skip, last)

Christina knew that she was in deep trouble. There was no way she was going to get out of this harness unless she pulled herself upwards.

She groaned, suspended in the air, around more than a hundred feet off the ground. She had never been one to be afraid of heights. Her stomach did not crumble on its own with being high, in the near prospect of death.

Christina planted her feet on the wall as best as she could and started to pull herself upwards. After about three steps, she realized how hard this was. She was pulling her overall weight with her arm! The wind blowing down on her was not helping either.

"Alright, let's try this again," she told herself and pressed the button on the mid-section of her body. Maybe it was just malfunctioning earlier. Maybe she was not in the right position to be lifted by the machinery. Maybe—

She was suddenly clinging onto dear life. The button in her midriff collapsed and the harness that wrapped around her body came undone.

"Oh shit," the words left her mouth without her permission. She was going to die. She was going to be the first assassin of the Red Hand that would have had a very public death.

She doubted that she would be recognizable when she reaches the ground. With how high she was, she imagined that she would be only a splatter of red on the frontage of the building.

"F.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k," were going to be her last words. She didn't want to waste more air from her system and focus on climbing this hard and slippery metal rope.

I'm not going to make it, she thought in her head. But at least she tried. She pulled herself upwards a few feet but her arms felt like they were already ready to give up on her.

She still had about twenty feet left to climb and she did not know what to do.

The least thing that she wanted was to start regretting. All the thoughts of "I should've just listened to Checks", "I should've asked for his opinion", "I should've asked for him to come", "I shouldn't have been letting my head get in the clouds", and "I had been way to confident" were all pushed out of her mind.

She didn't want these to be the last thoughts the she would have. She wanted to come up with a happy memory. Something that would make her smile as she faced her death.

There was not much happy memories inside the academy. They barely had time to make new activities. They were always studying and training.

But there was one memory that her mind pushed to the front on the back of her eyelids. It was the day that she graduated the second level. She was the top of her class. She squashed down Checks.

She had enjoyed a thick strip of meat for dinner. It was the kind of dinner that one would have in a fancy restaurant abroad. It was even served with mashed potato and the most delicious gravy. They were even allowed to have one glass of wine that night.

But other than the food, she had enjoyed looking at Checks from across the table. She had thought that he would sulk the whole night because he didn't come first in the rankings, but he was beaming more than her. He was genuinely happy for her.

Christina didn't think that people would actually care for her. They were all just tools here. They were hired to do things that others could not do. They were taught to keep to themselves. There was no point getting attached when the prospect of them dying whenever they were out on a mission were always at a hundred. 

Emotions were avoided as much as possible. 

But that night, she felt happy.

She felt happy because someone was happy for her.

The rest of the class only gave her a fake smile and a congratulations that sounded more like "I want to kill you" than a celebration.

But Checks was happy. He smiled at her from across the table the whole night and they talked about what they were going to do when they start with the third level of the program.

Checks… her mind thought.

"What the hell, Christina?!"

Christina opened her eyes and saw the dark hair of her friend against the shine of the moon. He was mostly a silhouette at this point. "Am I dead?"

"Are you f.u.c.k.i.n.g kidding me? Get the f.u.c.k up here," he said and he didn't look happy AT ALL. He was mad. There was a huge frown on his features.

"I can't," she said. "I can't do this anymore. I can't climb. I feel like if I move anymore I would slip."

"Then don't f.u.c.k.i.n.g move," he said. "I'll pull you up, just hold on."

Christina waited and could only imagine what was going on in the rooftop. Checks had enough physical power to keep on pulling her upwards and Christina hated him for it.

She started to weep because she hated him so much. She hated how much she had needed him. She hated that he had to save her. This was not even a legit mission yet. It was a passage of rite and she could not even do it properly. 

When she got close enough to the barrier, she lifted herself upwards and Checks pulled her to safety by the waistband of her jeans.

"This is the last time that we will be speaking to each other."

"What are you talking about?" Checks asked, already cleaning up the items. "We have to get out of here. It's not safe."

"I hate you," she told his back. He was in all black. He was like a shadow moving.

"Why?" he asked, spinning around. "Because I am everything that you are not?! You should hate yourself because you're stupid, Christina! No sane assassin would do what you did."

"How did you find me?" she asked, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand.

He glared at her. "Does it really even matter?"

"Does Jaws know that you're here?"

"What do YOU think?" Checks used his dismissive tone. He knelt down again and began pocketing everything. "Stop being stupid. Let's go home."

She stepped away from him. "I don't want to go home. Not with you. As I've said, this is where our friendship ends."

"Just because I could things that you can't? Because I'm a better assassin than you? You're going to throw away years of friendship over this?"

"Jaws was right. There was no such thing as friendship in this field. We are each other's competitors."

Checks shoved the heavy bag against her chest. "Fine. If that's what you want, I'll give it to you. Have fun going back alone."

Before he left, she realized that the air smelled like blood.