Grace hurried down a conjoining alleyway, deciding to take her route through the longer path. She hoped there would be less people around the back, so she started at a jog through the maze of buildings.

She would do anything to avoid a panicking crowd; she'd seen it all before. People did things they would have never dreamed of doing when their life was put in danger. She knew that from experience.

Most of the buildings in Kavala were two stories and had apartments above the shops. It was nearly pitch black if it hadn't been for the full moon.

Grace squinted against the darkness and slowed her pace. She could faintly make out two men crouched near a trashcan, a plastic bag in each hand.

The scent of heroin assaulted her nose.

This isn't going to be pretty. She thought dismally. She couldn't turn back now, so she clutched her knife tighter in her fist. Maybe she shouldn't have given Nolan her gun...

Avoiding eye contact, she tried to walk briskly past the two men but, as expected, one hopped to his feet and yanked on Grace's arm.

"Hey there—"

"Let me go." Grace interrupted, her tone flat.

"Now why would I do that?"

Grace kept her mouth shut.

The man laughed and Grace could smell the acrid odor of drugs on his breath. "We've got a smart one, Achilles."

"You look expensive, miss." The other man, Achilles, said. "Care to spare anything for our...worthy cause." He brandished a knife of his own.

Grace could tell by the way he held it flat in his fist that he wasn't exactly skilled with the weapon.

However, a person high on drugs was sometimes capable of more damage than an experienced fighter.

She had to get out of there.

Just as Achilles stepped forward, knife held out in front of him, Grace slashed the other man's wrist and he immediately let go of her arm with a howl. She went to slice him across the chest, but ended up cutting through his throat. He let out a gurgling scream and fell to his knees.

"I'm so sorry!" She gasped, looking then at a shocked Achilles. "I really didn't mean to. It's kind of a habit—"

Outraged, Achilles lunged forward and Grace shifted to the side. He was a lot faster than she'd given him credit for.

He adjusted his grip to where the blade was pointing downward and swung for Grace again.

She ducked down and brought her knife down through Achilles' foot.

He screamed in pain.

It was a good stab...too good. Grace had nailed his foot into the ground and couldn't unstick her weapon.

"What the—come on!" She grunted, still trying to yank out the knife.

Two meaty hands found their way around her throat and jerked her to a standing position.

"You killed my friend." Achilles snarled. "Thankfully there aren't any cops around to see what I'm about to do to you."

Grace landed a solid kick to his stomach and dropped to a knee, gasping. Apparently Achilles had dislodged his foot from the knife when he took a painful misstep, so Grace scrambled forward and grabbed it.

Before Achilles could come too close, she plowed her blade into his chest and yanked it out quickly, adding two more speedy stabs before he could react.

Achilles blinked for several seconds before tumbling to the ground. His gaze froze and his breathed stopped.

Grace sat down with a slow exhale, wiping the sweat from her brow. There are at least a dozen fully armed terrorists chasing me. She thought. And I just had to run into the drug dealers.

After resting for a few moments, she continued her journey, deciding to stick closer to the main road this time.

Since she was somewhat separated from the noisy crowd from the street, she was able to hear a low hum coming from somewhere.

She stopped, craning her ear to listen. It sounded like an airplane of some kind, but the droning sound was more like that of a military jet. Had someone sent help already?

The sky was ablaze with stars and crystal clear. She waited for several heartbeats as the buzz grew closer.

It sounded like a key being scraped across piano strings and it was coming in fast. If it was a rescue plane it should've been slowing down.

She squinted hard at the sky. Two broad wings came into view.

Her eyes widened.

There was a cylinder-shaped object attached to the bottom

Grace tore through the alleyway and dodged into the main street.

She wouldn't be able to get out of range in time.

"Get inside!" She shouted desperately to anyone around her, her arms pumping fast. Finally, she decided to take her chances and veered off into a butcher shop.

Hardly anyone was inside except a mother and a young girl, who was about seven years old, huddled in a corner.

Wasting no time, Grace yanked them to their feet.

The mother tried to protest, but Grace wouldn't let go.

"Get away from me!" The mother begged.

"I'm here to help you. You have to follow me right now if you want to live."

She spun around and detected a large hatch that led to a cellar on the floor and half dragged the mother and little girl after her. She could at least save them...

"Mom, I'm scared." The girl whispered.

Grace felt along the floor for a handle.

A metal ring found its way into her grip and she yanked open the door of the cellar.

"It'll be okay," Grace reassured them. "Just get inside—"

A huge, bone shattering explosion rocked the earth and threw Grace into the depth of the cellar. She landed headfirst on the metal floor and pain split through her skull. The building shook and rumbled before collapsing as fire ripped through the windows.

Spots clouded Grace's vision as two screams tore through the air and her world went dark.

~~~~~~~~



The scent of burning rubber brought Grace to her senses. Her eyes blinked open warily and she groaned, rolling onto her back. Sheets of drywall and brick had fallen on top of her, but somehow the larger pieces of debris lay scattered elsewhere.

The smoldering fire up above somewhat illuminated her surroundings as she pulled herself into a sitting position.

It was absolutely silent and that was more suffocating than the horrible smell.

Grace's head pounded and she felt nauseous, but she got to her feet, supporting herself against the metal wall. Dust clouded the shafts of light filtering down.

She drew in a breath. What had just happened? Who was responsible for this?

She licked her dry lips and dragged a ladder out from the corner and set it up.

Once she had her elbows propped up on the rim of the butcher shop's floor, she looked around.

There was nothing.

The entire building had collapsed and the missile had leveled a good portion of Kavala. All of the second stories had crumbled to nothing, leaving only a portion of the bottom halves.

She caught a few glimpses of charred bodies partially buried by rubble...it didn't look like many had made it.

She stood in silence as tears filled her eyes. Soon those tears became sobs.

"Why?" She whispered.

It was all wrong.

All of it.

She tried to help people but always ended up getting them killed. How many people had survived this?

Why did I?

The only thing the CIA had shown her was how twisted the world was. How easily innocent lives were taken. How broken the system was. How heartless neighbors were to one another.

She'd joined the organization to help people. But who had she helped?

Grace observed the decimation at her feet.

She'd failed at helping them.

She'd failed at helping her team.

Now everyone was dead.

A muffled scream yanked her back to reality. She spun around, her heart giving a jolt.

She immediately got to her knees and began searching through the rubble of bricks and drywall.

"It's okay!" She shouted, tossing away debris.

Another scream told her she was looking in the right spot. After digging down about a foot, she caught sight of a bloodied arm. Panicked, Grace moved with lightning speed.

Soon she uncovered the body of the mother she'd tried to save. Her eyes were wide open and vacant, blood dripping down from her temple.

Grace gulped back another sob, but then noticed something. A foot was sticking out from underneath the woman.

Grace quickly shoved aside more clutter and found the young girl still tightly wrapped in her mother's arms.

Tears clouded her vision as she lifted the girl up. Apparently she'd fallen unconscious, but her breathing was regular.

She cradled the thin body in her arms and immediately began feeling for any broken bones or deep gashes.

She had a nasty cut on her forearm and her wrist seemed to be sprained, but other than that she was okay. All because her mother had sacrificed herself.

"Mom..." The girl whispered, her eyes shut firmly.

"It's okay, you're safe now." Grace murmured. The girl clung tightly to her shirt, but didn't cry.

Another buzz filled the air.

It didn't sound like a jet this time, but Grace didn't waste any time. She held the girl close to her chest and rose to her feet.

It would be hard to wade through the aftermath of the missile, but she started running anyway.

Once she was out of town a long, dark stretch of highway loomed before her.

As she walked, she glanced down at the body in her arms.

The girl was whimpering. "I want my mom..."

Grace gulped. What could she say? She couldn't just tell her...

The girl began trying to wriggle free of Grace's hold. "I want my mom!" She wailed, making another attempt to kick free. She let out a scream as tears filled her brown eyes.

Grace firmed her grip. "Shh, stop. It's okay. We're going to go somewhere warm to get something to eat and get some rest..."

She kept rambling for a solid five minutes or so, basically trying to empty her own brain and distract herself. Her legs and back ached as she went, but she tried to be upbeat.

Once she was sure the girl was calm, she said, "My name's Grace. What's yours?"

"Tracy Upton." The girl sniffled. Suddenly she looked as if she were about to cry again.

Grace flashed her most convincing smile. "Don't cry. We're almost there."

Tracy bit her lip.

Two figures in the distance caught Grace's eye. They were running towards her.

"Grace?" Toby called.

She let out an exhausted laugh as they neared her and Tracy.

"We thought you were a goner." Toby said. His eyes fell to the girl. "Survivor?"

Grace nodded. She was surprised when Nolan took Tracy into his arms.

"What happened?" He asked, his face set.

Grace glanced tentatively at Tracy before whispering. "There was a missile strike. I managed to save Tracy." She gave a nod towards the girl and then mouthed, "Her mom didn't make it."

"You haven't told her?" Nolan seemingly disapproved.

"I—I couldn't..."

Nolan sat Tracy down on the road, careful of her injuries, and squatted in front of her. "You okay?' He asked, his voice soft.

The girl shrugged.

"You've had a rough night."

"Where's my mom?" She asked bluntly.

"She died in that blast, Tracy." He explained, his tone low.

"Nolan—" Grace started, but Nolan silenced her with a glance.

Tracy looked shocked and took several slow blinks. "But—"

"I'm really sorry."

She took in a shaky breath before giving a heart wrenching sob. She buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly.

Grace could barely watch. How could Nolan do this? The girl had just narrowly survived a horrible event and now had to deal with the death of her mother.

She kept glaring hard at him, but he ignored her. She then looked at Toby, who shrugged.

Nolan placed a hand on Tracy's shoulder quietly. Much to Grace's shock, Tracy threw her arms around his neck, continuing to cry. Nolan held her quietly.

Grace half expected him to give her an "I told you so", but for some reason he didn't.

Miraculously, Tracy began to calm down.

Once she was able to walk on her own, cradling her arm, they made their way further down the road, trying to reach another town.

Grace crossed her arms as she strolled in between Toby and Nolan. After a while, she glanced up at Nolan and said, "I have to admit I'm impressed."

"Yeah, you actually didn't screw it up." Toby added.

Nolan shrugged. "Mom skills, what can I say?"

Grace rolled her eyes and turned her gaze to the girl walking at a slight distance from the three of them. Her shoulders were slumped and she kept hiccupping.

Flashing red and white lights appeared up ahead.

Hope surged through Grace's heart. They must've come from another city, possibly away from Kavala entirely.

They stopped and waved down an ambulance.

It came to a stop and a middle-aged paramedic hopped out. "Are you alright?"



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey everyone! Thank you for reading! I know this probably wasn't the best chapter, but I was going through some writer's block and...well, here ya go. I hope it was okay, though! Since school has started back up again, I'm going to have to cut down my posting days to every Wednesday *cries*. However, if I'm feeling particularly inspired (and have a good amount of time) I'll occasionally post twice!

~What are your thoughts on the chapter?

~What do you think about the way Grace handled Tracy vs. the way Nolan handled the situation?

By the way, I'm STILL getting around to Grace's backstory--I haven't forgotten about it XD

{Thank you again for reading and don't forget to comment, vote, and share! ^_^)