Fear gripped the seven people who camped outside the forest. Vince had not expected such a situation, but as an assassin, he knew better than to let his guard down at any moment. Since it had come to this point they might as well fight to the death or get killed by the wild animals. "Captain, four tigers are coming our way," Scarface shouted as sweat dripped down his face as he knew tigers were more fierce than even lions. Just as they were alert to their surroundings, two large tigers appeared behind them and two more in front of them." Crap! this is bad." Despite their bulk, tigers are remarkably fast and agile. When running, they can briefly sprint at over 35 miles per hour. With their muscular legs, they can leap distances of over 10 meters horizontally so running away from them was not an option. Everybody took out their weapons and began to fight. Number 05 or rather Seko was standing near the little girl whose face was pale, she looked pitifully frightened and her whole body was shaking. "Little seven stay close to me", he instructed as he gripped the knife he had. He had trained the shortest amount of time compared to his seniors in the group but he knew he wasn't that much different from them, especially after the numerous experiments the professor had conducted on his body. He had not planned to show his true strength to his teammates so he decided to use half of it. He remembered that he had studied the anatomy of the human body and also of animals so killing a tiger would not be difficult if he could attack their vital points. He jumped forward and stabbed the knife at the tiger's heart. Blood splatted on his face but he didn't care about that as he immediately attacked the next one which was close to him.
"Noo!" one of their members screamed, "Hang on please Manu, I will take you back to ZERO to receive treatment." Vince and the others had finished killing off the two remaining tigers when they heard their comrade known as Yakama screaming and kneeling beside the dead body of Manu who was also a member of their group. The two of them were unusually quiet and very close to each other. They had gone through several life-and-death missions together which made them like sworn brothers. "It's that little brat's fault! If Manu hadn't tried to protect her the tiger would have never had a chance to attack him."
"That's enough!" Vince told him. Although he agreed with Yakama, he still needed to stop him from getting too emotional about it. How many comrades had he seen die for the past nine years? many! he could hardly count. "Yakama, I understand how you feel, but keep in mind death is a matter of time, especially as an assassin so quit being dramatic about it. Scarface, prepare a place to bury Manu's body quickly before we leave this place."
"Yes, captain."
Vince threw a glance at the little girl whose body was still shaking with fright. The color disappeared from her face which was visibly pale and her big dreamy eyes were wide open as she let out a soft whimper and fell on her knees. He was certain what happened would make her a different person especially when he saw some kind of determination in her eyes that was not easy to detect. The rest of the team members had already wrapped up their activities by sunset and they began their journey back to the organization. Hawk and CJ were awfully quiet as Manu was their comrade as well, though they were not as close compared to Yakama, they still had spent a few years training together. Meanwhile, Yakama was still glaring daggers at the little girl who shivered when she felt his murderous gaze. "You are weak, train hard from now on to protect others and stop being a liability to other people," Seko told the little girl. Little Seven stared at him without answering but at the back of her mind, she was keen enough to store whatever advice this big brother had given her.
When they came across a river, they camped there to rest for the night. Yamaha decided to stay at a distance from the others as he needed some time alone. He walked along the river until he reached a certain spot and sat down. He couldn't believe he had lost a friend....scratch that a brother in just one day. He had always known a day like this would arrive but he didn't expect it to be so soon. They had even planned how they were going to escape together from this hellish place during one of their missions but his bro was no longer alive. He clenched his fist and his chest tightened as he labored breathing. He made great efforts to make himself come down and then spotted a figure at the corner of his eyes which made him grin.....