Fiction : Walking Alone

Being alone was something that Kilan had been used to. In his younger days, there was never any friends to speak of, and his family hadn't cared what he did or what happened to him.

“Come on,” Hithal said.

The young man speaking to him was Kilan's newest colleague. They were assigned to do this task together. Apparently it was impossible to do alone.

“I'm coming.”

The two men jogged over the dusty street and came to the high wall surrounding the small mansion they were to infiltrate. The moonlight was bright enough for Kilan to make out small cracks and imperfections in the wall. Equipped with hand claws, to make the climbing easier, the two partners proceeded to scale the tall barrier.

It was never part of Kilan's life plan to be illegally entering people's homes and climbing walls to achieve this, but he needed the money. He actually hated the idea of being put in such a dangerous position. Mostly, Kilan had avoided danger, but now he was walking directly into it.

After a few seconds, Kilan and Hithal landed on the soft grass on the other side. The sheer size and beauty of the garden not only astounded, but also disgusted Kilan. Such a waste of precious resources and time to create these overly vast yards.

“The window is over here. You go around to the dogs. You know what to do,” Hithal whispered.

Kilan nodded and split away from their meeting. The plan had been thoroughly explained to him beforehand. The boss had said that there was only two ways that the night could end for Kilan : Success, or death. Since he didn't want the latter, Kilan hurried to his designated spot.

The rather useless dogs lay in their kennels, and had seemingly not heard the two intruders. Kilan crept closer and hid behind a large square cut bush. He lifted his hand and checked his watch. The seconds counted by, every one bringing him closer to the time they had agreed upon. Hithal would now be on his way to the window, getting ready to break it.

Kilan counted the last few seconds while taking out the slim gun from inside his jacket. On the fifteenth second, he fired a single bullet into the air. Hithal would use this opportunity to break the window without being heard. The shot had waked the dogs and served as a distraction in itself. Now that the dogs were barking, all the attention would be focused on Kilan, leaving the path clear for Hithal to slip into the house and get what they had come for. Now, all that was left for Kilan to do was wait and run.

After only a few seconds, the front door flew open, revealing a middle aged man dressed in an expensive-looking robe. He was waving around a rifle, shouting some words in a foreign language. After Kilan had made sure that the man had seen him, he started to run. He jumped onto the wall, gripping it with his hand claws, and started to climb furiously.

The robed man fired off a shot, sending pieces of stone and bullet ricocheting off the wall. Luckily he had missed, but the next shot could hit. A sudden fear gripped Kilan, almost causing him to stop moving, but the sound of the gun being reloaded snapped him back to action. Surely the police would soon appear. Kilan had to get away before then. Finally, Kilan vaulted over the top of the wall, landing safely outside the premises.

“Halt!”

Kilan turned his head in shock, staring into the illumination of a bright flashlight. The police couldn't possibly have made their way to the house already.

“You're under arrest! Put your hands behind your head!”

The voice confirmed Kilan's suspicions. The police had indeed already come. There had to have been a tip-off. Kilan's first impulse was to go back and warn Hithal, but he quickly realised that it was impossible to achieve.

Instinctively, Kilan started to run. He ducked into an alleyway immediately. A gunshot sounded and Kilan saw stone shatter next to him. He increased his pace and took as many turns as he could, criss-crossing the town through its narrow alleyways. His knowledge of the back routes probably gave him an advantage, and for that Kilan was relieved. More gunshots sounded, causing a stab of fear inside him. If he couldn't get away, they would surely kill him. Even if the police didn't, someone from the organisation would.

Shouts and footsteps followed Kilan wherever he turned, seemingly becoming more as they went on. Sometimes it sounded like he had finally gotten away, but then another police officer would catch sight of him and the chase would ensue.

Panic and uncertainty filled Kilan as strange paths started to appear around him. He seemed to be in another part of town. A part he did not know so well. Perhaps the police also had little knowledge of it. It was Kilan's only hope.

Then the end came. Kilan turned into a thin alleyway and was greeted with an impossibly high wall. Flashes of light appeared behind him. There was no turning back. He ran for the wall, jumping onto it. His claws dug into the rock, allowing him to climb.

The police were not such bad shots as the rich man had been however. Pain pulsed through Kilan's right leg when a bullet hit him. The next was through his chest. Pain filled his entire being. He lost his grip on the wall and fell to the ground. He could feel the blood flowing from his wounds.

Regret filled his mind. The bad choices he had made now revealed themselves. If only he had been able to see them earlier. Now it was far too late. It had all started when he had made a friend. His friend had gotten him this job. His friend had doomed him from the start. Maybe he never was a friend. A final conclusion entered Kilan's mind as his vision started to blur and the voices started to fade. If only he had followed this motto from the beginning.

You can never succeed if you don't walk alone.

His vision faded to black. Whether the reaper or the devil was coming for him, he didn't know. But just in case, he made his wish clear.

“I... I walk alone...” he said with his dying breath.