Jakari — Point of View
The bridge felt too small.
Steel groaned beneath our boots, the wind howled through the cables, and every direction we looked—guns. Red dots jittered across bodies. No cover. No escape. Just waiting.
I looked at Asia first. Her jaw was tight, eyes sharp but scared—she was hiding it well. Then Jess. Hands clenched, breathing shallow. Everyone was bracing for impact.
No one moved.
“SHIT—SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING, DAMN!” Kelo screamed, panic cracking through his voice.
That’s when I saw it.
One of the soldiers turned his head. Just for a second. A mistake.
I took it. I exploded to my left.
Boots slammed against metal as I closed the distance, my body moving before my thoughts could catch up. Asia broke the opposite direction, drawing fire, shouting—anything to pull eyes off me. Posida turned too late.
“Shit—KILL THEM!” she shrieked.
The soldier barely had time to react. I slapped the barrel aside, wrenched the rifle from his hands, and drove the stock into his throat. He collapsed choking. I didn’t hesitate—I fired.
One round. Center mass.
He dropped.
Kelo panicked. I saw it in his eyes.
He slammed the shield generator into the ground.
WHUMMM.
Energy flared outward, forming a glowing circular barrier around him, Jayla, and Lina. A fragile pocket of safety in a collapsing world.
I moved again.
Another soldier rushed me—wild punches, desperate. I blocked, redirected, let him burn himself out. A second joined him.
Too slow.
Everything slowed.
That familiar heat crept up my spine, into my shoulders, my chest—like my blood was turning molten. My breath deepened. My body felt right.
I dropped my level, rotated my hips, and drove a body hook into the first man’s ribs.
CRUNCH.
He folded like paper.
I sprang up, left hook snapping across the second soldier’s face.
CRACK.
His jaw shattered. He went limp before he hit the ground.
Another came in swinging wildly. I checked his leg kick, slipped under his hook, and drove my shoulder into his chest. I felt his breath leave him.
I dropped my hips, turned, circled his body, grabbed the back of his vestand threw him. He vanished over the edge. The scream followed.
Then—
“ASIA!”
I spun.
She was down. Hands on her shoulders. One soldier pressing her into the metal. I drew my M4.
BANG!BANG!
The body jerked, then collapsed.
Asia scrambled back, eyes wide. She looked at me like she didn’t recognize me anymore. I scanned—heart pounding.
“Where’s Jess?!”
No answer.
Then I saw her.
Hanging.
Her body was torn in half, suspended from the bridge structure like discarded meat. Blood dripped steadily onto the steel below.
And there was Posida. Giggling.
Holding Jess’s severed head by the hair, blood running down her arm, dripping onto the ground.
“Hehehe… I think you missed oneeee.”
Something inside me shattered.
I didn’t scream.
I didn’t cry.
I grabbed everyone and ran.
A van—somehow—was waiting near the access road. We piled in. I drove like hell toward the airport.
“J… Ja’kari…” Asia said softly, struggling to say my name.
I couldn’t answer.
My vision blurred. I slammed the brakes. Silence. I stared back at the bridge.
“Bro—what are you doing? DRIVE!” Kelo yelled.
I opened the door. Stepped out. Grabbed my M4.
“I’ll be back.”
“WHAT?! NO!” Lina screamed.
“Ja’kari, we have to GO—she’ll kill us!” Jayla cried.
I looked at Asia. She knew.
I closed the door and walked back toward the bridge—alone.
That’s when I saw Posida walking toward me.
Both of us already knowing.
One of us was not leaving.
“Jaaa’kariiiii,” she sang. “I knew you’d turn around. For someone who was top-ranked, you sure run from your problems a lot.”
She twirled two short blades, smiling.
The others stood frozen near the van. They’d seen me kill soldiers. Assassinations. Clean work.
This was different. I kept walking.
“You want me, right?” I called out.
“You all want me dead, right?”
She tilted her head.
“Show me you want me.”
She giggled.
“Always the hard way, Ja’kari.”
The wind shifted.
Something dark rose inside me—cold, heavy, ancient.
She charged.
Steel flashed.
SMACK.
I slammed the butt of my rifle into her face. Bone crunched. Blood sprayed. She stumbled back, screaming, clutching her nose.
I dropped the M4 at my feet. Emotionless.
“YOU BROKE MY NOSE, YOU LITTLE BITCH!”
She rushed again.
I dodged three slashes. Evaded the fourth. Pivoted.
“You missed.”
She screamed and attacked again.
I rolled, came up behind her. The group watched—silent now. Unsure if I was insane… or unstoppable.
“HIT ME! OR YOU SCARED TO HIT A WOMAN?!”
“Fine.”
She lunged—thrusting to a fast closing I didn’t move. I clapped my hands together—
SNAP.
Her blade shattered between my palms. Her eyes widened. She swung the second.
I ducked, spun, and drove a back kick into her chest. She flew back, skidding across the bridge. She coughed. Blood spilled from her mouth. I stood there. Calm. Watching.
“Get up.”
She struggled.
“NOW.”
She staggered to her feet and lunged again.
I sidestepped, grabbed her vest, lifted her clean off the ground, and slammed her down.
I walked around her as she groaned.
“Star’s going to kill me if I don’t bring you in,” she gasped.
I yanked her up.
“Send her this message.”
I loomed over her.
“Tell her if anyone comes near me or my people again, I won’t show mercy. That’s not a warning. That’s a promise.”
She nodded.
“Yes… sir.”
I pulled her closer.
“That was me holding back.”
I released her.
She looked at her broken blades.Then at me.
“Fuck you.”
She attacked again.
Big mistake.
I caught her wrist. Disarmed her. Twisted—
CRACK.
Bone punched through skin.She screamed.
I pulled her in. Elbowed her face.Threw her to the ground.Drew my handgun.
“How you want it? Quick… or slow?”
“You’re not about shit.”
I shot her knees.
BANG! BANG!
She collapsed, screaming.
I pulled a grenade from my chest rig.
Pulled the pin.
“I tried to avoid war,” I said calmly.
“But I’ll fight for peace—by any means necessary.”
I dropped it.
Turned away.
“STAR WI—”
BOOOM!
I didn’t flinch.
I walked back to the van.
“Let’s go.”
No one spoke as I drove.
They knew now.
Jakari wasn’t running anymore.