How to cut a Ruby - Chapter 5 A

The evening screamed by as though the night was made of seconds rather than hours. Ruby stared at herself in the mirror, tracing her fingers over the faded lines that were once cuts made from a piano wire. So much had happened since the day she earned them. She raked her fingers through her shiny white hair, thumbed over a few fresh cuts on her face, and neatly pulled her neck cover on.

Placing a hand on each side of the mirror, she leaned forward to study her own fierce jade eyes. Arrigh', Red. Time t' lose a fight.

Reinhold was waiting at the kitchen table. She glanced at the items he had spread out before him: the drug (in a rather scary looking needle), rubber cord, rubbing alcohol, cotton balls, a vial of adrenaline, and the first aid kit. She forced herself to smile at him, and he returned an equally fake grin. They watched each other in silence for a minute before he piped up.

"Ready, Red?"

She unclasped and resnapped her gloves tightly. "'Bout as ready as I'll ever be, I guess." She took a seat at the table, rolled her sleeve up, and snugly wrapped the rubber cord around her tricep. "Are the others ready to go?"


*****


Infiltrating a Council base was never an easy task. Nor had it ever been such a forced and unwilling task. The four friends approached the base just as the sun set over the dreary Striga horizon. Their usual banter had died to a thick and heavy silence.

Reinhold jogged ahead of the three women, breaking into a sprint and expertly using trees, rocks, and his own will to propel, kick, and launch himself onto the towering wall surrounding the bustling base. He crouched momentarily to ensure the soldiers were in the midst of changing shifts, then lowered a rope to pull the others to his level. Ruby placed a flat palm against his back and lightly patted him. She glanced over her shoulder at the wide-eyed Cecily Fay and the reluctant, but still willing, Andie.

The four silently dropped from the wall and rolled neatly onto the ground below. They crept through shadows, around warehouses, avoided patrols, and finally made it to the building of their choice: a central control bunker. Ruby gave Andie and Cecily a tight hug each, then turned to Reinhold. He pulled her close and squeezed her lovingly before planting a kiss on her lips. "We'll come for you, Red. This, I promise." She tore her eyes from his face and nodded curtly to the others.

"Arrigh' guys. Time t'dance."

The door to the bunker flew open from the force of Ruby's steel-toed combat boot. It barely hung on its hinges as the blazing white inferno of the petite woman screamed past the guards and into the central chamber. The men started to yell frantically, and the alarm was set.

The others filed into the building quickly as Ruby filled her role as "The Diversion".

"Get the fuckin' file, arready, Rein!" She barked, "We gotta get th' fuck outta here before it's fulla rats!"

Reinhold, Andie, and Cecily sprinted towards the central database as Ruby battled the growing number of Council soldiers at the door, using the small entrance to bottleneck them. They quickly downloaded a file to a flash drive and prepared for their departure.

Ruby screamed as she drove her fist into the face of one of the soldiers. His nose exploded with a mixture of blood and cartilage and he dropped to the ground, unmoving. His buddies, just as stupidly fearless and loyal to their organization, rushed Ruby.

The fires surrounding her body mercilessly seared the men around her and turbulently deflected most of their bullets. Her fist made contact with more faces, chins, and chests than she could keep track of. She kneed more groins, legs, and heads than recent memory could recall. The natural adrenaline flowing through her body made her feel as though the fire in which she was engulfed also ran through her veins.

The alarm echoed throughout the complex, calling more troops. It was the perfect spot to hit. The perfect, less than obvious, hot spot to attract their attention. She felt rough arms wrap around her waist and concentrated to increase the heat of her fire. The man screamed in agony as he released her and curled into a trembling ball of burning misery. She stepped on his head as she sprinted towards another soldier about to open fire at her, point-blank. She grabbed his gun before he could squeeze the trigger and ripped it from surprised hands. She threw the gun across the room, picked him up with alarming strength, and threw him into the growing group of men at the door.

The men began to push their way through the entrance, past the man she threw, and quickly towards her. Their sheer force in numbers was far too much for Ruby to handle by herself. She threw her arms down to summon an blazing inferno of flames at the entrance of the door before taking a step back, clearing the room of as many stragglers as possible, and preparing for the main assault.

"Get outta here, guys! I'll be arrigh'....!" Ruby called out to them as the force of soldiers at the door fearlessly dove through the flames and began to pile into the room. Cecily and Andie darted out of the building through the back fire exit with Reinhold heading up the rear.

He paused at the door for one final moment as the few men inside the building doused the fire she had set with an extinguisher. With the hazard cleared, several dozen soldiers stormed in to surround her. The angry mob knocked her to the ground, and despite her very enthusiastic and completely genuine efforts to fight back, they easily, viciously, relentlessly, and furiously beat her like she had never been beaten before.