Life As Though I Knew It

Prologue

A snore escaped my lips, which scared me awake. My head flew up, hitting... I'm not sure, something. I moaned in agony. Regaining all bearings, realization flooded me and I saw what I was laying under. It was an end table and my forehead made straight on contact with the edge of it. My hand reached to the tender spot, and I cringed.

"Daniels! Get your ass up, now!" A deep voiced man charged from oblivion, grabbed my forearm and slid me out from underneath. He was dressed up in some bullet proof padding and several different weapons. His face was covered but I definitely could recognize the voice. It was my partner Jacobs. I could feel the dried blood crack on my neck when I rubbed it. The smell of smoke began to surround me and he tossed a cloth my way.

"Cover your mouth." He commanded, as he stomped around the room with his heavy boots in search of something. I did as he told and looked down at myself, realizing my shirt was torn and had holes throughout it as if I was shot. Jacobs started rummaging through a chest nearby, shifting around useless things.

"Tracy, what's going on?" I grumbled angrily. I rubbed my eye, stumbling over towards Jacobs to investigate. I could see his eyes through his mask, a red glow beginning to light the room. Jacobs grabbed my bicep gripping it tight.

"We're gonna get you out of here alive,just keep the cloth over your mouth and stay close behind." He turned his body around towards a doorway, flares of red and orange lighting the hallway. He whipped out his pistol and marched out of the room, with me not far behind. I wondered what he meant when he said we. But as I limped down the hall, that wasn't my main concern. I looked up, finally understanding the true aspects of the situation we were in. The building was seriously on fire, the walls melting on either side of us. I fell against a part of the wall that wasn't ablaze, coughing through the piece of fabric covering my mouth. My legs felt weak suddenly, Jacobs coming back to give me assistance. I shoved him off of me when offered a hand, stabling and getting ahead of myself. There were a set of stairs that surprised me and a yelp escaped my lips as I fell forward. But someone caught me, and sure as Hell know that it couldn't have been Jacobs. It was another one dressed like him though except he forcefully took me along, dragging me down the steps and through corridors I didn't recognize.

But the fire grew larger, and even at the speed the man was dragging me at, there was no way we could make it to the entrance which had to be only a few meters away. His voice was angrier than Jacobs but I recognized it as Lashawn Briggs.
"Only one of us is gonna fit through this, Andrew!" He growled pulling me back and sending me flying forward between two walls of fire. I slammed against the door and looked back at Briggs, Jacobs now stood next to him. Panic set in their eyes, but they took a single glance at each other and nodded. I didn't have a single clue as to what it meant, but whatever they had in mind, it was set.

"Andrew," Tracy Jacobs, my partner for over a year now and probably my best friend, called to me. "You're important, and that's why you have to live. Leave now while you've got the chance, buddy." His voice stern, expression serious. I couldn't help but do what he says. I started to protest when I heard shots fired past Tracy and Lashawn. They whipped around their heads with worry.

"If you don't leave, then this mission is a dud, Andrew!" Lashawn hissed, annoyed with conflicts. He looked back and forth between me and the area he thought to be where shots were fired. I nodded at both of them.

"I'll see you out there." I grinned, the two returning the favor. I stood there, gripping the warm door handle. I ripped open the wooden door, all oxygen being sucked in and I dived to the ground as the fire exploded behind me, devouring all oxygen left to be eaten. And blackness ensued.