Walking down the street, Michael could feel the cold wind blowing against his cheek. There was no one to be seen, only the whir of cars passing by, trying to get home before Christmas started. Snow had already begun to fall and the cold, wet flakes fell on his fingers. Then suddenly out of the blue, he was jerked to the side, into an alleyway. His head was banged against a wall, making him bleed. For a full ten seconds, he couldn’t collect his thoughts as five people melted out of the shadows and appeared in front of him. He could only think about getting away as he kicked and tried to scream. One of them poked his arm, injecting a fluid that could only mean one thing. The power sank out of his body, almost like all his muscles had been removed. His body fell limp and he could feel a sack being put over his head. As he was dragged off to who knows where. He could only think of what his life was like before this all happened. His peaceful life with his friends and games would all change if this turned out wrong.

His surroundings changed and he found himself to be in an old and abandoned warehouse. He was sitting upright in a chair, tied tightly and tape covering his mouth, preventing him from getting any kind of aid. The metal chair to which he was tied was cold and hard. He could hear scraping noises off to the side like someone was dragging a rake across the metal floor. It smelled musty and he could almost see his surroundings. A deep voice came out of the shadows, “You have been chosen.” Chosen? Chosen for what? he thought as he squirmed in the hard metal chair. “You will carry out the mission we give you to the fullest extent. If you do not complete it, you will be hunted down and killed.” His blindfold was suddenly ripped off his eyes, exposing him to the dim light. He could faintly see his surroundings.

With all the thoughts in his head, the one that echoed loudest was, Why me? A big, white screen dropped down from the ceiling, and a projector from the back showed him the layout of a building. It looked impenetrable, with hard iron walls surrounding the premises and barbed wire covering the area. The video also showed the immense amount of soldiers patrolling the building. They all had scary-looking weapons. Before they even told him, he knew what he had to do. It had something to do with breaking into the building and getting something that they wanted. In the movies, it was always like this. Michael tried to look around the building and found a speaker in the far corner of the room. From it, the voice spoke again.

“As you have already guessed, this building is the one you will be breaking into. If you turn to the right, you can see that another person has been chosen to assist you on this mission.” Michael turned to the right to inspect his future partner. The drug was just wearing off so he could only see the outline of the person. He was also a guy, about the same height as him. He looked a little bit familiar. And then it hit him like a ton of bricks. “Henry?” Henry had been one of his lifelong friends. They would always talk together and hang out.

“This mission will require a lot of practice and training. For the next week, you will be put in an intense training program and be built to be more suitable for this mission. You will now walk out the door on your left.” The ropes suddenly loosened and dropped to the ground, ineffective. Michael was curious to find out what happened but he was more in a hurry to get out of the place. He stood up stretching his muscles out. Walking through the door, he went back out into the wintry wonderland. Henry walked into the snow, disappearing from sight before Michael could talk to him. That’s weird. I would’ve thought that Henry would talk to me. Michael started walking back to his house through the wintry cold. It only took about 5 minutes to walk and he was at his doorstep in an instant. He flopped back on his bed and as his eyes closed, he could only imagine how messed up this all was.

The moment he opened his eyelids, he could feel the cold air entering through the window. Then he remembered about yesterday. Rubbing his eyes, he got out of bed and got dressed. There was a note underneath his door. As he opened it, he read the contents. He was supposed to meet the men at 10 o'clock sharp at a place in New York. It was already 9:40. Michael quickly put on his jacket and headed out the front door, hoping to make it in time. The car engine started and all he could think was what would happen if he was late.

As the car sped down the icy roads, he could see the distant outlines of the city coming to life. Shops opened up and prices were lowered because of the upcoming holidays. The building came into sight and Michael pulled into one of the empty parking spaces. At the door, he pressed a button on the left side and he was let in. He walked down the stairs to an open room full of weights and benches. As soon as he got in, the men took him and threw him on the ground. 

“This is not girls scouts anymore. If you don’t work hard, you will die.” On the board, Michael could see his workout schedule. There was only one break assigned and the rest of the 5 hours were various exercises that would knock him into shape. He found Henry sitting on the far side of the room, already sweating. He walked over to him. At first, they were awkward, talking about how it was a coincidence that they were both kidnapped. After a couple of minutes, they decided to find a way to escape. As they both worked out, they thought of various plans, all of which were too hard. Still, it was good to talk with each other because it calmed them down and made them feel more comfortable. All the while, the trainers were always watching them with hawk-like eyes and whenever they messed up, the trainers would beat them with a metal rod.  

The first day of training was cruel and harsh. The trainers made Michael and Henry work until their arms would fall off. During break periods, Henry and Michael talked to each other and exchanged comments about all this training. After a week had passed, both Michael and Henry had become significantly stronger and fitter for the mission. 

The next morning, he got dressed warmly and headed outside. A black limo was parked outside his house, waiting for him. As he climbed into the car, he could see that Henry was already there. As they were driven to the location, Michael felt strangely excited. Not nervous because he was about to infiltrate a building, but a sense of courage. The building came into view, a looming castle. That building was the one deterrent between him and his freedom. During the car ride, Henry and Michael discussed a game plan like they usually would.  Henry told Michael that he was walking out of a store when they grabbed him. Both Henry and Michael could feel the sweat on their foreheads. This was a life-or-death situation, one that they had been forced into. The car came to a stop in front of a huge building. With determination, Michael got out of the car with his buddy. They quickly hid behind one of the bushes nearby to avoid being seen by the guards.

Henry started to speak, “I’ll create a distraction. Can you go hack the database?” 

“Yeah, I’ll do it.”

Henry ran out into the open, throwing a stun grenade. The soldiers in the area scattered, their guns clattering on the pavement. Michael ran as fast as he could for the control box. He had memorized the entire layout of the building and knew where to find it.

When he arrived at the control box, there were two guards standing sentry. He quickly pulled out a dart gun and put both of them to sleep, allowing him access to the booth. There were a few people in there who he subdued immediately. He got to work, hacking into the code system of the building and disabling all the security cameras. He could hear scuffles breaking out outside and the faint noises of guns and bombs. 

Ding. He had broken in. Now he had access to everything that was going on inside the building. Michael went back outside and shot up a flare, giving a signal to Henry that it was safe to go inside. Now all he had to do was wait until he got the signal and they could escape together. Then all of this would be over. 

5 minutes passed. 10 minutes passed. Still no sign of Henry coming out. Michael started to think that something bad had happened to him when he saw Henry coming to the control box. At first, Michael was happy to see him until he saw the guards behind him. They pointed guns at Michael before he could even run. 

“Get out. Now.” Michael got out of the booth and followed them to a shed. There were already a lot of people in the shed, formed in a ring. The guards forced Michael and Henry to walk inside the ring and closed off the gap. From a clearance, Michael could see a person walking up. He had a suit on and he walked to the center of the ring with an air of importance. 

He began to speak. “You two have attempted to attack our base and have failed. I will give one of you a chance to get out of here alive. You will fight each other with your fists. Henry and Michael looked at each other reluctantly. Then they began to circle each other. If one of them was going to get out of this alive it would be Michael. 

Henry threw the first punch. Michael dodged it and pulled Henry’s arm, making him lose balance. Henry fell to the floor and Michael took that opportunity and started punching Henry. The other men in the ring quickly interfered and pulled Michael off of Henry before he could do any serious damage. Then, they took Michael and released him. Michael started walking away, the guilt piling up on him. He had just left his best friend behind while he was walking free. In his shame, he walked away with his grief tormenting him.