Daisy nodded wide-eyed, but kept asking the question the Assassin hadn’t been able to answer: ‘But what happens when I’m dead? Do you go on? Do you die? What happens to you?’
He closed his eyes and then nodded to himself. When he opened them again he met her terrified gaze with one she had never seen: confusion.
‘Do you even know why they sent you? Whoever they are?’
When he didn’t answer, she asked another question:
‘What is achieved by killing me?’
‘My mission,’ he said, glanced away and with an imperceptible nod stepped forwards quickly.
The door splintered as a result of a boot hitting it.
‘You’ve got me where you want me,’ said Daisy with a certain fatality, then asked: ‘Will it be poison or a gun?’
‘I have, haven’t I?’ He smiled, then nodded calmly in the direction of the door. ‘They’ll be through pretty soon.’
The Assassin suddenly leaned close to Daisy. She could smell his after-shave: Gunslinger by Gardin.
‘But will they make it through in time,’ he hissed. ’Because something has changed.’
He stood-up straight, picked up a needle from the table beside her and raised it. She watched the arc as his arm rose, then screamed as it descended suddenly. He placed his other hand over her mouth to silence her.
But it didn’t strike her skin. He jabbed it into his own arm, and drew a colourless liquid from his own body.
‘A little needle won’t kill you,’ he whispered as he yanked it suddenly from his arm. Then he pushed the needle into the junction point attached to the needle in her hand.
She winced as the contents were injected, feeling the icy liquid sliding down the needle into her body.
‘And you know why it won’t kill you,’ he said, lifting his hand from her mouth and leaning back. ‘Because you’re right. If you die, they don’t need me anymore.’
Daisy stared at the Assassin and winced as he yanked the needle out.
‘You’ve just had a flood of DMT.’
‘What?’
‘Dimethyltryptamine,’ said The Assassin, checking his watch, then glancing up into her eyes. ‘Which means you’ll jump… now.’
Bzornt!
She woke with a killer headache and instinctively felt between her legs.
Daisy stiffened slightly as she realised there was someone sitting on her lap.
‘An I wanna x-box, anna zap gun anna–’
‘Who’s Anna?’ she asked with Donnie’s voice. Well, that sorted the gender thing out. ‘And who are you?’
‘I tol’ you. Jason is my name. Except it’s spelled with a K instead of a J and a Y instead of an O. And it’s got a U and an M instead of an N. An I want a whole bucket of chocolate an–’
Donnie zoned out momentarily, trying to work out how the child’s name was spelled and how to actually pronounce it. The child continued to talk, going off like a junkie on speed.
‘You listening Santa?!’ screamed Kasyum (pronounced Jason).
Santa?!
Click to see the next installment: Christmas Crackers
