Mission: Failure
by Sara Baughn
She hated her
name: Zopium. It sounded like a drug; sure to
cure what ails you, but rife with every side
effect known to man. It’d clear up your rash,
but may cause death.
Death.
Maybe it fit after all.
When the
clouds finally drifted in front of the moon,
‘Z’ attached the suppressor to the end
of her HK45, then crept along the balcony. The
security team would be making their rounds on the
other side of the house by now. She eased open
the glass door and slipped inside, pausing to let
her eyes adjust.
Dressed all in
black, ‘Z’ was the last thing her
targets ever saw. If they saw her at all. Her
only flaw was her startling blue eyes. One she
remedied by wearing contacts—cutting edge
tech with built-in night vision. In her
profession, the more bland and unremarkable she
appeared, the better. Unlike those she eliminated.
They were all
the same. They’d made a bad deal. Lied to
the wrong person. Slept with the wrong person.
They wanted to stand out, wanted fame and riches.
It was the wanting that led to those bad
decisions, led to attracting the wrong kind of
attention—led to mistakes.
‘Z’
didn’t make mistakes.
The man slept
soundly, oblivious that he was taking his last
few breaths—thinking himself safe. No one
was truly safe in this world. As she pressed her
pistol against her target’s forehead, he
woke, blubbering and pissing himself. Her lip
curled in disgust as her finger tightened around
the trigger.
Then, out of
the corner of her eye, she saw what was waiting
for her, and slowly turned her head.
As big as a
horse, stiff, black hair covered its body. Its
mandibles oozed greenish slime, and multiple eyes
glistened with malice, watching her every move.
It crawled closer, and her muscles locked up. She
could have sworn a low hiss escaped it. Crouching
low, it bunched its many legs, and pounced.
Jen screamed
and jumped off the couch, dropping the controller.
Zopium, her avatar of six years, was immediately
dispatched by the elite bodyguards who flooded
her target’s bedroom. “Mission: Failure”
flashed across the screen.
Derek’s
voice spoke into her headset. “What the hell,
Jen? You had the final boss in your sights!”
“Shut up,
Derek!” Jen yelled, frantically searching
her clothes.
“You’re
never gonna live this down on the forums. What
happened?!”
“There
was a huge spider!”
“A spider? The deadliest assassin ever got
taken down by a spider?”
Derek’s
derisive laughter reverberated in her ears, but
Jen’s focus was on finding the hairy little
creature, which had disappeared like a ghost.
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