He snatched up the knife up as he picked himself up off the ground and faced his tormentor.  They looked at each other as he tightened his grip on the handle.

In his mind, he stood at a fork in the road.  One road he knew meant turning the other cheek and walking away.  He knew it was the right thing, but also believed that things wouldn’t change for him.  The other, darker road pulled to him though.  The road he felt would change things forever.

He took the darker path and felt reborn as the life left the tormentor’s eyes

He was a gifted man who found fame and fortune which he was not looking. All she wanted was fortune when they met. While she only saw dollar signs, he was blinded by love and they were married. Eventually, the constant public attention ate at him and he grasped to feel anything besides emptiness. He reached out to her, but found that her heart was not there for him so he found his escape down the barrel of a gun. In public she cried her empty tears, but had found her fortune and happiness on the coattails of a dead man.

Perfect spheres of red liquid gently drifted in the gravity free environment as they poured from the slash across the soldier’s chest. Too shocked by the wound, the soldier just stared at the space pirate as the man placed the sword back in its scabbard.

“I guess I should introduce myself since you will never forget me. I am the Dread Pirate SqueekyFoot and I did ask you to step aside so you wouldn’t get hurt. You now have some limited options. You can stand between me and my goal again or step aside and wait for help. It’s your choice.”

The blood stained trigger finger slowly pulls back with even pressure against the metal. The hammer slams forward and strikes the silver bullet, igniting the primer inside. The explosion of gunpowder expels the round from the barrel and sends it on a path to its target. The round makes contact less than a second later. It rips into the flesh and shatters the ribs that are in the way as it passes into the heart. Silver residue enters the blood, poisoning the werewolf, and ends its ability to regenerate. The bullet continues past the heart and explodes out the creature’s back.

He thumbed through the card catalogue to double check the book’s location. He noted the book’s identifier before he started through the thousands of feet of library to return the bundle of books he had already read. He loved spending his time in the ancient library.

The human race had long been wiped out when his people came to the Earth. Humans had been a primitive race and most of his kind wouldn’t be bothered giving them a thought.

He was different from the others. He enjoyed their stories. He particularly found pleasure reading the works of the writer, Michael Schultz.

The guy before him did nothing to him, but this guy did something to someone. He didn’t care. He didn’t ask many questions and only had few rules he lived by.

He appeared behind the guy without being noticed. No one ever took notice of him; some not even after it was too late. His blade entered the guy’s back and pierced his heart with the skill of a surgeon. The guy was dead before he could understand what had happened.

Walking away, he was already working out the next job in his head. He enjoyed his work. He was Assassin.

Isolation imposed by the dictatorial rule of the country has kept it naïve to its horrible existence.  Few know the truth like those that see over the fence as they guard the border.  They guard not to keep people out, but to keep citizens from leaving. 

Park and Pang, two guards, face each other and not the border.  Policy dictates this rule to make sure one does not desert.  Park has decided to try for a better life, but knows Pang would never go with him.  He rests his hand on his gun.  One way of another, Park will be free.