Magnolia Assassin

Assassin - (noun) a murderer, especially one who kills a prominent political figure

My job had left my hands drenched in blood, theoretically of course, not literally. The government had taken me, or better yet kidnapped me ten years ago. They had told me that they kept me under surveillance for a few years and had determined that i had possessed the character traits of a killer, of an assassin. They had black mailed me into working for them, if I didn't work for them I would have been in prison for life.

What choice did I have? They had twisted my arm behind my back and with my head hung low I had taken one of the most secretive jobs in the American Government.

At 18 I had become an Assassin. The word had become romanticized in America, but it's not to be thought of as something magical. We are cold blooded killers, with no family, no love. At 18 the government had faked my death, gave me a make-over and a completely new identity. I had been born as Brian Elwin Haner Jr., now I was known as Eric Ketchum.

After initiation I had a year of training, my body had become a weapon. This training determined if you were worth the governments time. If you weren't they would frame you and through you into prison, file you as mentally insane. Men who didn't pass the year of training ended up spending the rest of their lives in prison or mental asylum's, the government ruined us.

If you had passed the year of initiation, then you got a distinctive tattoo, that had marked you as an Assassin for the American Government. It was a small yellow magnolia tattooed on the inside of our right wrists. It was our mark and that was how the government had identified us on government premises. None of our enemies had been able to crack it, after all it wasn't something you connected with an assassin. It wasn't deadly nor was it manly.

"Brian, I don't know how much longer I can hide you in my house. The boss is getting suspicious. Do you know what would happen to me when they find out that I have been hiding their most wanted man?" I sighed sitting on the couch, cold metal digging into my hipbone.

"There is no way that they can find out that you are housing me. We cover our tracks and I use the underground tunnels to get around. There is no connection of me to your house." Zacky sighed and plopped down on the couch.

"I just don't want to fuckin' die or worse, spend the rest of my life in a mental asylum." Zacky turned the TV on. There was nothing that I could tell him, knowing that either of those things could happen to him for just helping me. All of sudden a breaking story came on, interrupting the show currently playing. There had been a massacre in a near-by abandoned factory. All ten men that were found were dead. All of a sudden a picture of me flashed across the screen and I had quickly sat at attention. I instantly became an infamous man, I was the bloodthirsty mad man that had murdered ten people in cold blood.

I had become a hunted man.

I had become America's most wanted.

God the government could get away with anything.

"Brian, we gotta get the fuck out of here. They must have found out where it is that you lived, because the choice of location is too close for comfort." We got up and slowly headed to the escape hatch that we had installed in his apartment. It had led down to an intricate system of tunnels that had been abandoned over fifty years ago.

I had grabbed Zacky by the arm and motioned for him to be quiet. I had heard the distinct snap of the magazine entering the gun. The click was the next noise that I heard, signifying that the gun was locked and ready to kill.

Looking towards the door a small dried magnolia flower was pushed under the door and I had realized that we were fucked if we didn't disappear from here in the next twenty seconds. Quietly but very quickly I had pushed Zacky into my bedroom and into the closet. A pile of 'dirty' clothes had been permanently attached to a certain part of the floor. Under that was the secret door that I had used for the past year to get in an out of Zacky’s house.

Opening the hatch I had pushed Zacky down first. I had heard the door break down and quickly jumped down, quietly closing the door behind me, making sure to be as silent as I possibly could.

I had understood that Zacky and I couldn’t exchange any words even in the tunnels. Nothing was sound proof here so talking was out of the question. We had to move as quiet as possible, neither of us wanted to die and after a decade of doing this we had realized that we we’re natural born killers. Men of silence and the dark, we were the unknown.

I had created a room in the tunnels. I had housed bulletproof vests, armor and guns… many, many guns. I headed there, throwing a bulletproof vest at Zacky showing him with my hands that he needed to put it under his shirt. There were special compartments in the vest that if I was shot at, there would be fake blood oozing out of the vest. Under a shirt it would all seem as if I was murdered in cold blood. We had armed ourselves with an assortment of weapons and headed out.

I had told, or better yet showed, Zacky that I wanted him to follow me. After using these underground facilities I had learned to know them like the back of my hand. At one point they had wanted to build a subway system in California going from all the way up in Berkley going down to Orange County. The tunnels were carved and prepared and then the great depression hit and the funding died. After WWII they had wanted to pick the project up and had attempted to start working for a year but by 1950 they understood that it was useless and the project was once again abandoned.

It was put into the government’s top-secret offices and everyone lived in oblivion, not knowing what it is that existed under their streets. Stopping at an intersection I had tried to figure out which way to go. All of a sudden a flash of color appeared before me and floated down to my feet. Looking down I seen the ominous white Magnolia.

“You of all people should know that it is impossible to outrun us.” Looking to my left, there was Matt standing with his men from Sector L50, which doesn’t exist.

“All I want is to be out of this life. I’m tired of the blood on my hands, you wouldn’t let me leave unless I paid for it somehow so what other choice did I have? Your division bribed and black mailed me into this job, I can’t fuckin’ do this anymore.” Chuckling he starting to walk towards me. He always dressed professionally. Black suit accompanied with the usual dark blue tie and a white shirt. His outfit never changed. I on the other hand was never able to conform to everything that the government wanted me to be.

“You don’t get it do you Brian, you can’t get out of this life. Now I will kill you and you will die unknown. All records of Brian Elwin Haner Jr and Eric Ketchum have been destroyed. Neither ever existed and when you are found, you will just be an unknown dead body.” Matt started to walk away but stopped abruptly, flipping a coin in his hand. Turning back to me he had his evil smirk on.

“On the other hand, I think that kind of end is too simple. Hank grab him, Jeremy bring her out.” A guy who I presumed was Hank grabbed Zacky and handcuffed him in the mean time Jeremy disappeared into the darkness of the tunnels. “Zachary you know what happens to you now right. You had disobeyed us and harbored a man who can’t follow his duties.” He was thrown down onto the floor. Soon Jeremy had appeared and my heart had dropped to the floor.

He was holding Michelle, my Michelle. She had duck tape over her mouth and eyes, her hands and feet were tied together. She tried to fight against Jeremy, but he was simply too strong for her. He had dropped her on the floor. Matt walked over to her and ripped the duck tape of her eyes, while Jeremy held his foot down on her feet so that she wouldn’t move.

“Now she can watch you die. You get to leave her and your best friend to fend in this world. Just so you know. Whatever happens to them from now on, is all because of you.” He wanted to break me, wanted to see me beg or better yet cry. I wasn’t going to break. I had learned to become solid as stone, keeping all of my emotions in.

Matt had given the sign and his men opened fire on me. I must have been hit over thirty times. Falling to my knees, Michelle’s face was covered in tears and Zacky was sitting there in blatant shock. Falling on my face the world had went blank in front of me.

Matt had left Brian’s body in the tunnels, knowing that there was anyone that barely ever went into them. He was going to let the Earth take the body and decompose it for it’s own purposes. What Matt had failed to do was to check if Brian was truly dead.

Hour’s later; Brian awoke in a small pool of blood. The bulletproof vest had saved his life, though he was shot in his arms and legs, they had miraculously missed his head. He was still alive; he was still well. Brian wasn’t the type of person to go down without a fight.

He refused to die alone
Though a loner most of his life, he had found something apart from his killer life.
He wasn’t leaving this world without a fight
He wasn’t leaving this world without saving his girl and best friend.