Reborn To Be The Prime Empress

Chapter 4

As the figure walked forward, the dust around seemed to exalt him, rather than dirty him as one would ecpect.

Every step he took forward caused the men around him to retreat backwards. Like they were scared puppies staring down an Alpha. It was amusing to watch. If it weren't for how helpless, disorganized and manic she felt, Sally would've been overwhelmed with awe. But she was too f****d up right now to give a proper reaction.

The man on the other hand, wasn’t frantic. He wasn’t rushing. He wasn’t even breathing hard, despite the amount of smoke and dust in the air. While everyone else clawed and screamed like mad dogs, he simply existed, and that was enough to silence them all.

Nonetheless, the men around and their hunger for Sally had yet to die. Some still reached toward her, grabbing and yanking, with their hands bloodied from fighting, lips curled in snarls. But even they hesitated under his shadow.

Then, like a quiet storm, he spoke.

“Stand down.”

The words weren’t loud. With his presence, he didn’t need volume. The sound of his voice moved like a blade through all the smoke and panic.

Men froze in place, too scared to break the silence he'd created. A silence thicker than the dust that surrounded him. Broken only by the sounds of burning cars and the blades of the helicopter behind him.

Sally felt shivers run down her spine. She clutched her scraped arms against her chest as a single reckless but hopeful thought settled into her mind. “He's here to save me.”

And almost like clockwork, the man’s gaze fixed on her. Cold. Unshakable. Then he raised a hand, not to her, but to the crowd.

“She belongs to me.”

“Huh?” The words cracked through her like thunder.

Meanwhile, the crowd instantly erupted into and explosion of opposition and protest:

“What?!” “No! She’s mine!” “She can’t be—” “I saw her first! She belongs to me!”

A tall hefty man broke out from the crowd, blood streaked across his face. He charged forward towards Sally with saliva spraying from his mouth as he screamed in defiance, “Over my dead body! She's mine!”

Two others followed behind me, desperation burning in their eyes. They lunged toward Sally, arms stretched out.

Sally's eyes darted to the man in black. He didn’t flinch. Didn't move an inch to protect her like she'd anticipated. Ethan's face lined up with his in her head and she felt her heart turn into mush.

Just then, gunfire split the air.

From the helicopter, soldiers Sally hadn’t even noticed raised sleek black rifles and fired in unison. The three men stopped immediately, blood bursting from their chests. They fell to the pavement before they could even scream. The crowd screamed and stumbled back, trampling over each other in terror.

Then, the man in black took another step forward.

Silence followed immediately. An eery kind. Even the screams and wails of the wounded from the earlier wrecks seemed to fade beneath the weight of what had just happened.

The crowd no longer moved toward Sally. No one dared. Not anymore.

The man’s eyes swept across the street once more, the calm look in his eyes daring anyone to make another move. Unsurprisingly, no one did. Then, finally, he turned to face Sally.

She was shaking so badly she could barely stanf on her feet. Her scraped knees wobbled, and her vision blurred with tears and dust. Every instinct in her screamed at her to run—but where? The mob of manic men behind her, the fire to her right, the soldiers with guns to her left, and in front of her… him.

He raised his hand slowly and stretched it towards her. Considering how f****d things had been here, she couldn't tell if he was offering her help or something else entirely.

“Come,” he said.

Her throat tightened. She shook her head instinctively, terrified, as she backed away from him. His eyes narrowed, not in anger, but in calm sterness. As if he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“You don't have a choice,” he said. Without anger, malice, hate or forcefulness. Just a finality that made her realize what position she was in.

And upon realizing it, something inside her broke. Maybe it was the will to fight, maybe it was the hope she’d clung to all her life. Either way, her legs moved before her mind did. One shaky step after another. Past the men’s dead bodies laying on the asphalt. Past the shattered glass and twisted cars. Past the eyes of hundreds of other men who stared in silence, powerless. Until she reached him.

He didn't smile, didn’t gloat. He simply placed his hand behind her waist and guided her back to the waiting helicopter. The soldiers adjusted their weapons to face the crowd, making sure that no one tried any funny business.

As she approached, the sound of the helicopter blades roared in her head. The dust made her choke and gasp for breath. But still, she couldn't get what he said out of mind: “She belongs to me.”

At the door of the helicopter, he climbed on before her then offered his hand again. She hesitated for a second before taking it. His grip was strong and steady, pulling her inside as if she weighed nothing. Then, the door slammed shut, sealing her from the chaos outside.

Inside, the noise dulled into a faint hum. Soldiers lined the benches with their rifles held closely against their chest. Not a singl one of them looked at her. Their eyes locked forwards like a robot on duty.

The man sat across from her, his leg folded and his frame unshakable as the helicopter lifted into the sky. The city below her shrank. The men, the burning cars, the damaged roads — they all grew smaller and smaller until they were completely out of sight.

Sally was too scared to move. But managed to raise her knees up to her chest and hug them like her life depended on it. Her heart was still pounding incessantly against her chest. Her hair clung to her face with sweat and dust. Her cuts and bruises stung like hell as blood dripped from them. Every nerve in her body screamed at her to scream, but no sound left her lips. She was frozen in place.

The man finally spoke again, quieter this time, but just as stern as before.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be safe now. It's a promise.”

“Safe.” The word didn't sound right coming from his mouth. With what she had just seen him do to the men down there, and the guns and weapons that surrounded her, she wasn’t sure if safety was what he offered at all.

But it didn't matter now. The helicopter flew higher and higher, vanishing into the clouds, carrying her away from the nightmare she’d stumbled into—and straight into another she couldn’t name yet.