Page 79 of Two Sides of Sin

Isat huddled in the shadowy corner of the barracks, my knees pulled tightly to my chest and my hands clamped over my ears, trying to block out some of the deafening noise around me.

It didn’t work. The compound’s perimeter alarm shrieked continuously, a repeating wail that vibrated through my skull. Beneath it was the terrifying, recurrent pop-pop-pop of automatic gunfire echoing off the massive stone walls of the cathedral, accompanied by the frantic shouting of men and women fighting for their lives. Slices of blinding white light bled through the cracks in the window shutters, casting nightmarish, strobing shadows across the floor.

They promised this was a safe zone, I thought frantically, hot tears spilling over my eyelashes and tracking down my mascara streaked cheeks. This entire world was a bleeding war land, and I had walked right into the middle of it with nothing but a box of paint and pencils.

The heavy crunch of tactical boots on the pavement outside the window, immediately caught my attention .

Footsteps.

Heavy, deliberate, and moving directly towards the annex door.

I held my breath, my entire body trembling. I pressed myself harder against the wall, hiding behind a stack of metal footlockers. The footsteps stopped right on the other side of the door.

“Julian?” I whispered into the dark.

Silence. And then, the aggressive rattle of the handle.

“It’s locked,” a voice growled. It was a harsh, gravelly accent I didn’t recognise.

A deafening CRACK echoed through the room.

I flinched, biting down hard on my own knuckles to swallow a scream. The heavy door shuddered, its iron deadbolt giving way with a sickening pop of metal. The door swung open, letting the blinding glare of the floodlights flood into the room.

Two large silhouettes stepped over the threshold, assault rifles raised.

“Check the corners,” one of them barked. “Door was bolted from the inside. Somebody’s in here.”

I Squeezed my eyes shut, fresh tears burning my face. I tried desperately to control my breathing, but my chest was heaving with silent, ragged sobs.

“Come out, come out,” the second man taunted, his heavy boots stalking across the concrete floor. He was kicking over metal chairs, overturning cots. “We don’t have time to play hide and seek.”

The footsteps grew louder. Closer. He was walking right in my direction. The shadow of his rifle stretched across the floor, creeping towards me. He was going to find me. He was going to turn the corner and aim that gun right at my head.

Move. Survival instinct overrode my paralysing fear, and just as he stepped past the first locker, I burst out from the shadows.

The man shouted in surprise, swinging his rifle around, but I was already moving. I scrambled past him, shoving a metal chair into his path to trip him up, and bolted through the shattered doorway out into the cool, damp night.

“Hey! Stop!”

I didn’t stop. I ran straight into the chaotic nightmare of the plaza. I ducked between the supply tents pitched on the concrete, my lungs burning, the sirens deafening.

I rounded the corner of a transport truck and slammed to a halt, gagging.

A trail of bodies littered the pavement. They weren’t just dead—they were mutilated beyond recognition. Throats slashed, limbs bent at impossible, horrifying angles, chests caved in. I had never seen real violence before, never seen what human bodies looked like when they were broken like this. The sickening brutality of it made me momentarily falter.

“There she is! Get her!”

The shout came from right behind me. I spun around. The two men were less than fifty meters away, sprinting across the cobblestones towards me.

I bolted down a dark alleyway between two massive steel storage containers.

CRACK

A gunshot rang out, echoing off the metal walls. Instantly, a sharp, tearing pain sliced across the outside of my right thigh. I stumbled, crying out as my leg nearly buckled, but the paralysing fear of being caught kept me going.

I rounded the end of the containers, plunging into complete darkness, and slammed directly into a massive wall of muscle.

I screamed, thrashing wildly as two hands clamped down on my shoulders with the strength of ten men. I kicked, fighting like a cornered animal, caught in the dark.