Chapter 26 #2
Another demon was approaching fast, and I didn’t have time to linger. While he lay there, I ran. I didn’t even register the pain in my shoulder or the blood trickling down my skin and soaking into my shirt. The adrenaline kept me from feeling anything except fear—except the primal drive to survive.
No matter how many demons came after me. No matter who betrayed me, I had to survive.
My feet barely touched the ground as I bolted across the forest floor, pushing through the burning sensation creeping down my arm.
I could hear his heavy footsteps behind me, eating the distance between us.
I felt myself getting weaker and weaker as the burning in my veins spread throughout my body.
I knew I didn’t stand a chance of outrunning the demon.
This time, he wasn’t playing. He was hunting.
Up ahead was a massive boulder jutting up from the earth like it had risen from the hells themselves.
An idea flashed in my mind, one that was reckless and risky.
But it was all I had. As I rounded the bend, I snatched up a loose rock, the biggest I could hold.
Once I was out of sight, I turned and planted my feet firmly on the ground with my arm raised, trembling from pain and anticipation.
I saw the shadow first, allowing me to gauge the distance of the nearing demon. My stomach twisted violently, knowing I would only have this one chance, or I’d be killed. The second I saw the top of his head slip into view, I screamed and swung.
The rock connected with the side of the green-masked demon’s temple with every ounce of strength I had.
His head slammed into the side of the boulder as I crushed his skull with a gruesome crack.
I grunted from a jolt of pain shooting up my arm and into my burning shoulder.
Then, his body slumped to the ground in a lifeless heap as blood poured from the gaping wound in his head.
I did it. I actually killed one.
My chest heaved, and I blinked through the spots of black growing in my vision as I stared down at the twisted body for a long moment. I’d never killed anyone before. I had thought it would make me feel sick, but surprisingly, it gave me a sense of empowerment.
Relief poured through my body. I loosened my grip on the bloody rock, and it clacked against the ground. Now that I had stopped, I realized that my entire arm was trembling. My shoulder throbbed, twinges of intense pain shooting down my arm and up my neck in time with my heartbeat.
I hardly had a moment to catch my breath before I heard the cry of a familiar voice. Inka.
Her betrayal hurt worse than Natascha’s. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to forgive her for what she did, but I knew she didn’t deserve to die. Yet, nor did she deserve my help.
My body made half a turn, ready to flee in the opposite direction, but my feet wouldn’t move in the direction I needed to go.
Like an idiot, I turned and ran back the way I came.
My vision wavered as I ran, and I didn’t make it ten paces before I saw her running toward me, her face pale with terror as two of the demons followed behind and gained on her.
At that moment, a war ensued within me. I truly believed she deserved this because of what she just did to me only minutes ago.
But just as Amalia had warned me before; the drive for survival would make anyone do just about anything.
None of the women here deserved to be hunted down like animals.
But what she had done… I should have turned around and left her to reap the consequences of her actions.
So why couldn’t I will my feet to move?
Maybe it was the small connection I’d made with her in our time here, having started to believe she truly was a friend. Maybe it was because she reminded me so much of my mother who I was desperately fighting to get back to. And, just maybe, I hadn’t lost as much of myself as I had thought.
I reached out for her as she approached, frantically stumbling toward me. But then suddenly I was weightless, my feet being lifted from the ground as an arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me back.
“Let me go!” I screeched, kicking and writhing in the demon’s hold.
I already knew which one it was. I had killed Green, and the two chasing Inka had grey and purple slashes.
I glared up at him. The traitorous blue-mask demon ripped me back. He was drenched in blood—more than he’d had only minutes ago after he bit me. I could feel the crimson fluid soaking into my clothes as he held my back to him.
“No!” his voice thundered with command. “I won’t let you get yourself killed.”
What?! He bit me, and now he’s worried for my life?
“You son of a bitch! I can’t let them just kill her!” He clamped a hand over my mouth, stifling my pleas, as he dragged me backward.
“She’s already dead,” he whispered in my ear coldly, and my body slumped against him. “She was dead the moment she stepped on the island.”
I screamed against his hand as I saw her through my wavering vision, still running toward me. Until she wasn’t.
Purple launched through the air and slammed into her back. Her legs buckled, and she crashed to the ground. Her scream was brief—cut off with a crunch that echoed through my ears.
They tore at her clothes and skin with their claws—ripping off their own clothes and shredding her apart inside and out while she still breathed.
“Look away.” The demon spun me around and lifted me into his arms as he dashed behind the boulder and fled.
I couldn’t have fought him off if I tried. My body had become so weak I barely had the capability to lift my hand and hit him in the head with the bloody spoon. My lids grew impossibly heavy, and I slumped within his grasp, my muscles giving out as the burning spread through me entirely.
“Get away from me,” I slurred, but my voice was gone as sobs threatened to consume me. “Leave me alone.”
His voice was the last thing I heard before I slipped into unconsciousness as he carried me away.
“I can’t.”