Attack on One of Ours

Mark met with his marketing team that night at a coffee bar in Makati. The place is the fave hang out of yuppies like them, young executives hungry for power and money, longing for attention.

He came in a cream suit with a light pink polo underneath. His slightly shaved beard and mustache made him look ten years younger as the lights of the bar shone upon his gorgeous countenance.

After he broke up with Sarah, his outlook on life greatly changed. He is no longer the young man he used to be. That man with a carefree attitude is long gone. Mark now has a clear goal in his mind, to become a member of the Fortune 500, an elite group of millionaires. However, unlike Sarah, he is determined not to use others or do anything illegal to get there, for he knows full well that this is against the teachings of the Lord. Unknown to Sarah, he has been a good man since the time he put the Lord at the center of his life. The truth is, he is even more active in their church than before.

A few moments later, as he was starting to enjoy the soft jazz music played by the band on stage, his associates began to arrive at the venue.

"Dude! I'm here!" shouted John as he sauntered towards the table where he was sitting. John is Mark's sidekick. If heroes have one, so does he. They have known each other since the time they got hired by the company. From that time on their acquaintance grew into an unbreakable bond, it is so strong that when Mark got promoted as the Marketing Executive, John immediately asked to be a part of his team. They have been working together for almost five years now and may I say their marketing team has been on the leaderboard for that long, too. Making them the most sought-after team in their office. This is also one of the reasons why Sarah has always been hard on them. She doesn't believe that Mark can make it this far and stays in her Crypto trading business until now. She expected him to resign as soon as the going got tough.

"Waiter! Can I have some cappuccino please," John asked as he gestured at him while raising his hand? The waiter acknowledged his request and proceeded to the counter to place his order.

"So what's the plan, man? '' he inquired as he turned to Mark who was then busy encoding data on his iPad. His friend glanced at him a bit then went back to what he was doing. It took a while before he answered.

"This is the objective of our meeting tonight. We need to come up with a new strategy because Ms. Sarah vehemently rejected my proposal of lowering the initial trading deposit of our clients."

"Oh, I get it. No wonder you sounded perplexed while we were talking on the phone earlier. I was alarmed so I canceled my appointment tonight to join our brainstorming."

As John was speaking, Mark can't help but scour the shop if their colleagues have arrived.

"Where's the rest of our crew? What's taking them so long?" he commented.

"They must've been stuck in traffic. You know that right. The streets here are always full of vehicles no matter what time of day it is."

Mark shrugged his shoulders and decided to concentrate on editing his presentation.

An hour passed and his team members began to trickle in. First was Cherry, then Sophia, and eventually Macky. The group is finally complete. John signaled the waiter to bring in more coffee while Mark addressed the three and briefed them about the objectives. They all listened intently as he went about explaining his proposed marketing strategy.

The clock struck midnight as Mark was just wrapping up his discussions. There are no worries on his part that the owner of the shop might ask them to leave since he is a loyal client and he is aware that they close at around 1 am.

"Are there any points of clarification?" he said.

Cherry raised her hand.

"Go ahead, Cherry."

"Sir, I was just wondering, do you think that our strategy would work. I mean there is a multitude of crypto trading companies and I'm quite certain that they would also devise a plan that can effectively compete with ours."

"Hmmm… Yes, I know that, Cherry. Our world is as volatile as the cryptocurrencies we are trading. Thus, we need to constantly monitor our competitors so we can stay abreast at what they are doing and are planning to do."

"By lowering our entry requirements through what we termed as reservation fee and creating a temporary account for our new clients once they send their payments, they will be hooked. I know this is gonna create a huge controversy once management finds out, once Ms. Sarah finds out but we have to execute this, or else we stand to lose a lot of prospective clients. "

None among the rest of the team dared to raise another question. So Mark called it a night and reminded everyone to drive safely home. He mentioned the rumors that were spreading like wildfire about a half-bodied woman with wings of a bat, killing people with jobs similar to theirs.

Undeniably this statement of his struck fear in the hearts of his colleagues, most especially Cherry.

As she got out of the coffee shop, she began to hallucinate about what her boss just mentioned. What if she happens to be the next victim? How would she fight that mysterious creature? She doesn't even know karate or any martial art for that matter! Oh my… Her heart started to beat faster as she goes out into the parking area.

Cherry heard a flutter of wings above her as she sauntered to her car. She froze from where she is standing. Her mind is willing to grab the keys from her bag, open her car and move away from the area, but her body says otherwise.

"Hey, Cherry! Run…  you gotta run! That winged monster that Sir Mark is talking about is hovering above your head!"

She is deaf from all the fear running all over her veins. Acting out of the desire to save Cherry, John got hold of a twig and threw it at her. This brought her back to her senses!

Cherry snatched her keys from her bag and hurriedly open her car, stepping on the gas pedal heavily, she maneuvered out of the parking area in a matter of seconds.

Noticing that she has escaped her would-be attacker, John, Sophia, and Macky rushed into their respective cars and also drove as fast as they could out of the venue. Only Mark is left inside the coffee shop, observing the events that transpired.