THE MERC

My life was spinning out of control, and I had no idea of what direction I should take. I was only good at one thing, and I had made money at that skill. I had been injured and was healing when my life began to fall like that well-known ton of bricks. 

I had gone to do some shopping for something to eat for the next few days. My injury was serious by some standards but I'd been hurt worse. My arm was in a sling and I was pushing the cart one-handed when I saw her.

For the briefest moment, I was no longer the man I had been for the last ten years. The man my family refused to talk about. 

She walked up to me and smiled: "You look like you could use some help."

I was rendered speechless for a moment.

I nodded and she took over pushing the cart. "You don't remember me do you?"

"Wish I could say yes, but I'd be lying."

She smiled this really incredible smile and her eyes drove me wild with desire. "Maybe, I'll keep it a secret for a bit just to tease you."

"That would be mean, you don't look like you have a mean bone in your body."

She smiled and put her thumb and forefinger on my chin. "You'd be surprised at just how mean I can be. What do you do for a living John?"

Shit, she knew my name.  "I solve problems for people, who need extra help in their lives."

"Interesting way of putting it, John. You're a bodyguard for some people, and for others, you're a soldier."

"How do we know each other? I know we've never worked together."

She was just about to speak when the burst of gunfire interrupted the calm of the store. It was instinct for both of us to dive for cover.

We both crawled for cover and we could see the gunmen and we could see the victims laying in a pool of their own blood.

Okay, enough of kidding myself. I am who I am, as well as what I am. I crawled backward and stood up against the stack of can goods. I saw the towel someone had lay on the stack of Golden Corn. I took one can and wrapped it in the towel.

I could hear the sound of the gunman walking my way, he was cursing and firing his pistol, and I heard him pause as he reloaded. That was when I spun around the corner and swung my weapon face high. It hit him with a loud whap, and he was knocked off his feet. I grabbed his pistol and fired one shot into his skull.

Rule number one never leave a living, breathing enemy behind you. Kill them or leave them to be a no threat to you or others.

It was growing quieter. Jesus...everybody must be dead. I never heard any more shots.

I went forward watching and was preparing myself for an attack.  I was getting closer to the front of the store, and I was seeing even more dead bodies. But I noticed that some of the bodies were those of the gunmen. They still had their bandanas tied around their faces.

What The Fuck was going on?

I got to the front of the store and there on the counter sat the woman, she had a gun in her hand. "Took you long enough. No need to concern yourself about any more of these fuckers. They have been seen to  and they were found to be lacking."

"Lacking?"

"Lacking the skill to survive The STORM."

I had heard of a Merc that went by the name The Storm. I had always thought her to be some wild tail. A myth. Nobody had ever seen her fight, they just knew that she had. She moved like a whisper of smoke, but her wrath was that of a violent storm.

The police had entered by then and as if on cue she and I both dropped our guns to the floor. The cops were shouting orders, but I don't think that we heard a one of them.

We had moved closer and we could now touch one another. My hand moved out and touched her's. We turned to face each other, and again I saw her smile and those eyes. All I could hear was what sounded like whispers.

Somehow my arm had slipped out of the sling, and I felt no pain at all.

I felt the rushing of air and we were both suddenly standing on the outside of town.

My brain caught up with me and I found myself kissing her wonderful lips, and my brain was fighting to keep the memories. 

"You should be safe here." She replied softly.

"How did we get out of that?"

She looked at me with a brief moment of confusion on her beautiful face. "Your memory should return to you in a moment and you'll have all the answers you ever needed."

I felt as though my body was on a merry-go-round spinning faster and faster. I remember falling to my butt, and then I was flat on my back,

I slowly stood up and looked at her with a smile.

"You've been lost for many years, but now you are found. I went undercover to find you. Posing as a Merc to sort out all the wrong ones. Now we go home, our own world needs us to save them."

"Eath?"

"We save our own world and Earth will be saved at the same time."

I took one last look around and smiled. "See you all later."