I fight like a dervish, beating my assailants back, even though the exertions leave me gasping for breath, the wetness covering my side telling me that the slash across my ribs has reopened. My arms ache, my vision is blurry, and sweat is drenching me as I wrench my sword from the ground, slashing upwards to block a sweeping assault aimed at my wounded side. The slash does what I wanted it to do, disarming my assailant by destroying her weapons, which I followed up with a solid kick to her midsection.

The pain is almost enough to make me collapse, but there’s three more. I sweep my blade across towards my closest assailant, and nearly take off his head as he ducks. He’s skilled at avoiding the sword, but I’m herding him towards my right side, which is relatively unscathed. Another diagonal slash misses him, but he ducks too close to my side, and I snap my hand up, slamming my favourite knife through the man’s head like it’s made of paper instead of flesh and bone.

I’m too slow, pulling my knife away, and pay the price. An earsplitting crack sounds from my left, and then everything goes nuts.

I feel forces all around me,
Come on raise your head.
Those who hide behind the shadows,
Live with all that’s dead.

I feel my body hitting the ground, hard, but the pain doesn’t register. Slowly, I roll onto my front, trying to get up, but a half-dozen kicks to my side stop me from moving. I felt that, and it was not high on my list of appreciations. The agony in my side sort of took over all my other bits and pieces, so I just curled into a ball, trying not to vomit from the pain. The fact that I hadn’t eaten helped out a bit, though not by much.

I feel my body being lifted up, but it’s like it’s happening to a ghost image of me. Raising my head, I spit at my assailant, drawing a sneer from him.

Look at me... Look at me... Look at me!
At least look at me when you shoot a bullet through my head.
Through my head,
Through my head,
Through my head!

He does not pause, but punches me in the stomach, repeatedly. I barely feel it, but the impacts fold me up like bad origami. My injuries are bleeding freely, and I’m lightheaded from the blood loss. I can actually feel the blood oozing down my side and pooling somewhere around the vicinity of my boot, but I’m concentrating on my right hand instead. Slowly, I move my hand towards the pouch of explosive cards resting on my hip, barely paying attention to the words being uttered by my assailant. I feel a tingling in my left arm, and sense the sword still being held by my hand. It seems to be feeding energy into my body, allowing me to remain conscious of all that is going on around me, even though I should be off in a dead faint by about now.

In my lifetime when I’m disgraced,
By jealousy and lies.
I laugh aloud ‘cause my life,
Has gotten inside someone’s mind.

He pulls his pistol, audibly wondering if he should kill me, or just cripple me and carry my body back to the headquarters. The energy from the sword is now visible, crawling up my arm in a series of sparks and lines that begin to writhe like angry worms. My right hand is slowly grasping every explosive card in the pouch, which, together, should have an explosive payload big enough to fry my enemies. I look at the murky grey eyes of my enemy, then smile.

He’s looking right back, and frowns when he sees the smile. It’s the same one he’s seen every time something bad would happen to someone near me.

Look at me... Look at me... Look at me!
At least look at me when you shoot a bullet through my head.
Through my head,
Through my head,
Through my head!

His frown again turns into a sneer, and he brings up his gun, aiming at my left eye. I can’t dodge, but I keep my gaze locked on his own as the sword’s energies reach my neck. Just behind my enemy, I see Six slam her iron-hard fists into the back of the bigger of the two other survivors of the squad that had been hounding me. He drops like a ton of bricks landed on him. Just as Six turns towards me, I refocus my gaze on my final opponent. Slowly, I squeeze my right hand shut, crushing the cards and letting the chemical reaction bloom into the beginnings of a massive explosion.

Hey, all I want is what’s real,
Something I touch and can feel.
I’ll hold it close and never let it go,
Said why... why do we live this life,
With all this hate inside?
I’ll give it away ‘cause I don’t want it no more,
Please help me find a place.
Somewhere far away, yes I’ll go and you’ll never see me again

My eyes lock onto the face of the man who has hunted me for over five years, just as he is pulling the trigger. His eyes do not meet mine as the pull of the trigger breaks, firing the gun aimed at my face. Just as it does so, the sword’s energies, manifesting themselves in a shroud, cover my face and body in a glowing red sheath. The next thing I see is the blue-white flash of the pistol’s acceleration chamber, sending the metal spike on its date to destiny.

He still does not look at me.

Look at me... Look at me!
At least look at me when you shoot a bullet through my head.
Through my head,
Through my head,
Through my head!
Look at me... Look at me!
At least look at me when you shoot a bullet through my head.
Through my head,
Through my head,
Through my head!
Look at me... Look at me... Look at me!