Bridget Bundy - The Secret Weapon

She wondered what else had changed since she left. She was expecting to see her apartment empty, but instead, she found everything as she left it. The computer was still on the coffee table. The black leather furniture was in the same spot. The window curtains were still open showing a panoramic view of the afternoon day. There was a light film of dust, which normally bothered Coraset.

She went directly to her bedroom, and placed her bag near the foot of the bed. Coraset pulled out her cell phone and placed it on a black solar plate near the window. She waited to see if it would respond. With one single beep, the Federation crest appeared in the center.

Satisfied that it would charge, Coraset went over to her dresser and pulled out her lacy white underwear and matching bra from the top chest of drawers and found a long tank top that stopped around her calves. Coraset went to the shower, and she immersed herself in the sprays of the hot water from the tiled walls.

Coraset noted for the first time in a year and a half she could take a shower without being watched. The water wasn’t cold. She could use her favorite peach smelling soap instead of the hard unscented prison brand. She scrubbed her body, wanting to get every part of her past down the drain. By the time she was finished, Coraset was exhausted beyond words. She quickly changed out the sheets and comforter on her bed and with a sigh of relief, she crawled under the clean linens, and she let the sleep takeover.

The next morning arrived with the rain hitting Coraset’s bedroom window. She sat up in bed, still exhausted, but she was glad to see and hear the rain. The desert didn’t give such a gift, and she took a moment to take it in. The rain drenched the window, distorting the view. Coraset smiled and settled back down into bed. For the first time in a long she was relaxed and not worried about a thing.

Her room was like an abyss, devoid of any semblance of human attachment. There were no pictures depicting the family she once knew, not of her biological father Michael Prescott or her mother Rhea Jefferson. Not even her two sisters Salina and Penny Prescott.

When Coraset first left home, she ventured off to college, excited for a brand new start. She hardly came home during school breaks. Living with her parents were always difficult, the arguing, the fighting, and she didn’t want to go back to that turmoil. Coraset worked all she could when she wasn’t in school, and she barely called home. When her dad left her mom, she kept going with her life, never stopping to take sides or to hear her parents’ explanations. Coraset already knew the reasoning for the dissolving of the marriage. Rhea was overbearing, strict, and a workaholic. Michael loved spontaneity, travelling, and enjoying life to the fullest. He believed in working hard, but he believed in playing hard, too. Michael Prescott worked in advertising, and Rhea was a chemist. It was better they ended their marriage. When her mother found Brecco, she found her equal. He was older, more settled, a chemist, and Rhea was more compatible with Brecco. Coraset’s sisters were not happy with their mother getting married, but Coraset understood. She gladly accepted Brecco into the family as long as her mother was happy.

Coraset got out of bed once the rain stopped. She slid the tank top off and put on jogging pants and a tight fitting t-shirt. Coraset brushed her hair back, allowing it to hang down her back. Coraset went into the living room to check the points on her card. She pressed the on button for the computer. Once it was finished loading, Coraset scanned her point card. To her surprise, all 400,000 points were there. She walked out of the apartment, feeling rejuvenated but a little reserved.

The streets were still empty. The smells from the damp sidewalks and asphalt consumed Coraset’s nostrils. The once windswept flags hung from the heavy soak of the rain. Coraset looked up at the building in front of her. It was completed. The last time she left her apartment, it was an empty shell reaching up into the sky. Nothing about it was different. The same steel building like the one she lived in. No individuality, just a show of the power Erato had over everyone.

Coraset exhaled and went back inside of her building. She took the elevator down to the first basement level where the entire floor was a store. Anything a person could ever want was found in that store.

Coraset picked up a basket and looped the handles on her forearm. She went to the produce section and stared at the perfectly displayed fruits. Something as simple as picking out fruit became difficult. She was hungry, but she had no idea what she wanted to eat. Coraset huffed in aggravation, and decided to grab a pound bag of grapes, four apples, and four oranges. She knew the fruit alone wouldn’t hold her over. So, she went to the meat department. Coraset wasn’t much of a cook, considering everything else she was capable of, and it kind of bothered her that she couldn’t put together a simple meal for herself. She put the meat and fruit back. She exited out of the grocery store with an intention of going up to the penthouse restaurant to eat dinner.

She walked out of the store, hit the up button to the elevator and waited. Coraset noticed a brunette was sitting on a marble bench on the far end of the foyer. Coraset thought it was strange that someone would be just sitting outside of a grocery store in the basement level of the building. No one ever did that.

She took note of the woman. Her brunette hair was in a French roll. She wore black perfectly creased pants, a tight fitting double breasted jacket with an ivory blouse, and pointed toe high heel shoes. Coraset didn’t have a good feeling about her. She touched the elevator down button but moved on to the stairs to go up. She wasn’t about to climb 40 or more flight of steps, but Coraset didn’t want the woman to have advantage of her by using the elevator. She dashed up the steps.

Coraset stopped when she heard the door from the first level basement come open. She peered over the edge of the stairs to see if she could get a glimpse of who was coming. She heard murmuring, the door slammed shut, and then she heard the familiar sound of guns being cocked. Coraset started running up the steps, and the footsteps below her was quickening, as well. When she got to the 10th floor entry door, she listened and waited breathless. The pursuers were still coming up the steps, but they’d stop on every level opening doors, checking for Coraset. She continued going to the 15th floor and stepped into the hallway. She couldn’t hide nowhere on the floor. Every single door was locked, and there was no breaking in because all of the doors were steel. Coraset straightened and listened for the footsteps in the stairwell.

After she heard two sets of footsteps go pass, Coraset moved to the other side of the door so she wouldn’t be seen just in case someone peeped in. She peered up and down the hallway to see if anyone was coming out of an apartment. Slowly, the knob turned. Coraset held her breath.

The barrel of a gun began to appear. Coraset waited until she saw a hand. She positioned herself carefully, and she kicked the gun out of the assailant’s hand. He grunted and swung the door open meaning to hit Coraset with it. She jumped out of the way and with one swift motion, she kicked him square in the neck. He fell to the floor with a deep yell, and Coraset kicked him in the stomach and grabbed the gun. The man curled up in utter pain grabbing his sides and stomach, and she jumped passed him and started running down the steps. The other aggressors heard her, and they started running back down. Coraset got to the 11th floor landing and pulled out the magazine to make sure it was fully loaded and checked to see if there was one in the chamber. Seeing that the gun was set to be fired, Coraset knew they meant to kill her. Being taken as hostage was not a part of their plan. She took in a deep breath, and she continued down the stairs keeping close to the wall. She got to the lobby level, and a man busted through the door. She shot him in the chest. Coraset knew if she tried to make a break for the lobby entrance, she probably wouldn’t make it. She continued down two more flights to the first garage level.