A familiar person had become a corpse and was now lying motionless on the ground, a shocking, gaping, messy cavity where his chest was. Looking at his second fallen underling, the leader saw red. “What are you standing around for? Find them! Kill them both!”


  An underling bit the bullet and said, “Boss, these woods are dark and we’re not familiar with the environment. We’re at a disadvantage.”


  The other underling’s courage had also taken a hit. “Yeah, boss. We already know where that woman goes to work. We can lie in wait for her when she goes to work or leaves work. That guy that’s with her also goes to the same workplace. We can ambush them and get them easily,” he said apprehensively.

  Annina pressed her lips tightly together and clenched her teeth in a corner in the darkness. She had already killed two people under Xia Lei’s guidance and the feeling of killing was dreadful. She did not want to keep killing but overhearing the conversation of the three underworld members made her so angry she would not hesitate to kill them right away.

  It was then that Annina understood why Xia Lei did not just run but stayed to fight it out with these gang members. They already found her address so if they could come once, they could come twice. They would only be rid of the problem if they took it out at the root!

  Xia Lei seemed to sense Annina’s anger and highly emotional state and he reached out to hold her gently by her shoulder to say in her ear, “Calm down.”


  Xia Lei’s voice was like a sedative and Annina gave a small nod as she slowly calmed.

  On the other side, Navas hit an underling across the face and shouted, “Bastard! We have two dead. If we don’t kill them tonight they will describe us to the police. We’ve already killed an innocent person - the police won’t let us off. We have to kill them tonight. Find them! You, over there! You, over here!”


  Navas pointed in two directions with his gun, directing his underlings while he himself stayed in the same place.

  The two underlings bit the bullet and went off to search in two different directions. Their steps were slow and both were very nervous.

  One of the underlings went searching in the direction that Xia Lei and Annina were hiding in.

  Next to Annina, Xia Lei said softly, “Get ready.”


  Annina lifted the gun and waited for Xia Lei. They had already done it twice so she was used to Xia Lei embracing her from behind.

  Xia Lei stuck close to her back, reached past her waist and put his hands over hers. He was not taking advantage of her - he was also taking into consideration the recoil from the shot on top of being her gun stand and scope. The recoil from the gun was heavy and the shot could go wide if he did not hold Annina tightly in place. It would be a fatal mistake if that were to happen!

  Xia Lei moved Annina’s hands firmly and pointed the gun at the cautiously approaching gang member, then said in Annina’s ear, “Fire.”


  Bang! The gun roared and the flare of ignited gunpowder in the darkness of the woods was especially eye-catching.

  The approaching hang member was hit and he fell to the ground. The buckshot had hit him in the chest and neck, pulverizing his entire front. He twitched twice after he fell, then lay still.

  Annina lowered the gun and made to run but Xia Lei held her still.

  “What are you doing? We’ll be discovered,” said Annina nervously.

  “Wait, you’ll see,” said Xia Lei in her ear.

  A shower of bullets came at them, almost at the same time the gang member collapsed. A few bullets hit the tree trunk they hid behind, making chips of wood fly onto their bodies and faces, stinging them.

  Annina turned white as a sheet. If Xia Lei had not held her still, she would have run out of her hiding place and been hit by those bullets. She had almost gone to meet the Grim Reaper!

  “How…… How did you know?” asked Annina in a small, shocked voice.

  “We ran after shooting the previous two times so he has an idea of our next course of action. If we had repeat this the third time we’d be dead. That boss told his underlings to search while he stayed in one spot to wait for the flare of our gun to show so he can locate and shoot at us,” said Xia Lei.

  “You’re amazing!” said Annina.

  Xia Lei kept mum. He did not actually predict what Navas would do; he had seen Navas stand in the same spot to wait for them to shoot his underling. He of vicious heart had used his underling as bait. However, Navas’ seemingly calculated move was laughable in Xia Lei’s eyes.

  “Over there! Get them!” roared Navas.

  The only remaining underling came running with a gun but Navas still stood in his original position.

  “Get ready,” said Xia Lei in Annina’s ear.

  Annina raised the gun obediently and aimed it at the approaching gang member.

  Bang, bang, bang!

  The gang member shot blindly as he approached and a few bullets hit a tree next to them. Annina looked nervous but Xia Lei seemed calm. He kept his eyes on the gang member and waited for his target to move within shooting range. The hunting gun was powerful but its range was short. If Annina had had a rifle or sniper rifle at home he would not have to go through so much trouble and just direct Annina to kill all five of them long ago.

  *

  It would all end soon.

  “Fire.”


  Bang!

  The gun roared yet again and a ribbon of flame shot from the muzzle. The gang member who had just got to his comrade’s corpse crumbled and, like his comrade, twitched twice before he grew still.

  Annina learnt from the previous experience and did not move from her hiding place.

  Bullets came flying again and this time, Navas emptied a full clip.

  The spray of bullets made Annina very uneasy and Xia Lei hugged her tightly to help her calm down.

  Navas started running in the direction of his motorcycle after he emptied the clip. He wasn’t sure if he had hit Xia Lei and Annina but he was definitely not brave enough to make sure. He had brought four underlings and those four were now dead. His courage was long gone.

  “Chase him!” Xia Lei pulled Annina with him in a run.

  “Chase him? He ran away?” Annina could not see anyone running away in the darkness.

  Xia Lei said nothing and just pulled her along as he ran in the woods.

  “We’re…… going to kill a fleeing man?” asked Annina uneasily.

  “You make the choice. You heard them. They know where we go to work and know where you live. Do you want to let him escape and gather more underlings to come kill you? I’m here tonight but what will you do when he brings his gang to your home tomorrow night?” said Xia Lei.

  Annina bit her lip. “Help me. I want him dead!”


  “Come with me.” Xia Lei took her with him on the chase.

  The ground underfoot was complicated in darkness; stones, weeds and vines everywhere. A normal person would need to strain to see well enough to navigate and Navas had no way of being quick in an environment like this. He’d been very careful but he was still tripped by a vine when he was close to the edge of the woods.

  “Fuck!” Navas picked himself up and continued running.

  The sound of a gunshot came from behind.

  Navas’ body flew a few steps forward before he dropped to the ground. He wanted to get up after he fell but he suddenly discovered that he could not make his arms move anymore. He stopped breathing two to three minutes later with his eyes wide open in death.

  “Did I hit him?” asked Annina nervously.

  “You did. We’re safe,” said Xia Lei.

  Annina suddenly flung the gun in her hands away and turned around to hug Xia Lei and kiss him on the lips.

  Xia Lei froze. This was his first kiss. He’d never imagined that he’d have his first kiss in this sort of environment and especially not after killing five people!

  *Paragraph removed. Superfluous writing which spoils the story-flow.

  Annina was still this time and did not wriggle her hips but Xia Lei was still very sensitive. A certain part of his body had gone erect and gone down, then went up again the previous four times. He had a starved dog and Annina had a meat-stuffed bun and she kept using the bun to tease his dog. How could his dog not give in to temptation? This was very uncomfortable indeed.