A massive tree, just a few feet away, a deep cavity in its trunk, seems to beckon to me.
It’s pointless, I know. They’re going to find me anyway. But it’s the one hope I have. Digging into the deepest part of myself to find my last particle of energy, I lunge forward just as yet more gunshots ring out, crawling toward the cavity.
Then I sag against the bark, so exhausted, scared and in pain that I can only wait as the tears stream uncontrollably down my face. I hold the broken bottle limply in my hand, knowing very well I could never use it.
Footsteps crunch toward me, increasingly louder, and I don’teven need to look up to see him standing before me. Coltello. He’s found me.
“Thought you could run away, eh? Thought you could escape my soldiers? I got news for you, Aurora. No one can ever escape me. Now think your last thought and get ready to die.”
He pulls out his gun, trains the barrel toward me, and his finger finds the trigger.
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to find a good last thought to think, but my mind comes up blank at first. Then I inexplicably think of that time I tried to surprise Dad with homemade pizza for his birthday, and accidentally started a small fire. Only to discover after the fact, while bemoaning the charred pizza, that I’d seasoned it with sugar instead of salt.
“Well, pumpkin,” he’d said, “look on the bright side. At least I don’t have to eat sweet pizza and pretend to like it.”
Dad. The memory of him is like a punch to my gut. I wonder if Heaven exists. I wonder if I’ll see him again.
The gunshot I’ve been waiting for cleaves through the air, abruptly drawing me from the bittersweet memory. My entire body goes numb, I lose the ability to breathe, it feels like I’m being plunged into icy water.
Is this how it feels like to die?
Why am I still here?
Where’s the pain? Don’t you feel pain when you die?
I bring a trembling hand to my head, but there’s no wound there. Nothing on the rest of me either. What the fuck?
At last, I manage to open my eyes again and stop in frozen shock. Coltello is still standing towering over me, looking just as surprised as me. His gun is still pointing at me, and then, a little trickle of blood escapes his mouth, before he suddenly crashes backward in a thundering noise.
Behind him is the man who shot. Or rather, the soldier. And beside him is a second soldier.
They both whip off their masks, and I stifle a scream when I look upon the faces of my two rapists.
There isn’t anywhere to go, and even if there was, I couldn’t move with my bleeding knee and my extreme exhaustion. All I can do is cringe backward into the tree as they walk slowly toward me.
“Fuck! Stay away! Stay away from me!” I threaten them with the broken bottle, but they don’t pay attention. In fact, as they close the distance between us, Dane reaches out and takes it from my hand. I can’t even muster up the slightest resistance.
What’s going on? Why did they kill the man whose orders they were following just a little while ago? Why are they savingme, the girl whose life they previously destroyed without a moment of hesitation?
No, they can’t be saving me. Fuck. What if they’re planning to do it again? I can’t handle that. I just can’t.
The silent tears streaming down my face turn into loud, terrified sobs as they crouch before me. I hide my face in my hands, as if shielding my eyes can possibly change this reality.
“Don’t be scared. We won’t hurt you.”
I keep my hands firmly glued to my face, unable to look at the faces of the monsters in front of me. Unable to believe they’re capable of anything but cruelty.
“We’re here to save you.”
Bull fucking shit.
“Let us tend to your wound.”
I feel a sudden touch to my knee, and manage to jerk it back, hissing in pain.
“Fuck you,” I manage at last. “Fuck you. Just do whatever you’re going to do already.”
“We’re not going to do anything,” says Dane quietly, “other than help you.”