Um...uh. I don't know what to say. "Sorry" doesn't quite cut it after being inactive and un-updating for so long, but uh...SORRY! I've been so caught up in Kendo and swimming and academics that I barely have time to write anymore. Anyhoo, it's only a week until Christmas break so maybe I'll get some writing done during that time. Thanks to Laurie Jupiter for her extremely helpful tips on how to write Vaas, if you have more or really, any constructive criticism you wish to say, please share them! :D I value your reviews.


Prey

I didn't know the dead man back when he was alive, but I certainly got to know him in the eternity that I spent staring up at his face.

Did I mention that he had three eyes?

Two normal ones that stared sightlessly at me and a third one, about the size of my fingernail, in the middle of his forehead.

The third eye was crying; I could feel its tears pitter-pattering onto my hair, coloring it red.

I had to force the ringing in my ears to go away when I heard Kyle calling my name.

"Yeah?" I answered, my throat feeling dry and parched.

"Thank God." The relief in his voice was unmistakable. "I thought you wigged out on me again. You okay?"

As okay as you can expect me to be. More okay than Lindsey or that man lying dead above us, at any rate.

But I didn't say that, instead I said, "Yeah."

He obviously didn't believe me, because he leaned close—as close as his bondage allowed."Don't think about it all right? Wait until we're safe."

I looked up at the dead man again. I didn't want to die like him, with a bullet hole in my head and only a stranger to mourn me. Neither did I want to die like Lindsey, with the sole witnesses to her death being her murderer and a friend too cowardly to admit she was dead.

I didn't want to end up like either of them, I wanted to live.

So I nodded at Kyle and said, "Okay. I won't think about it."

But my eyes kept coming back to meet the dead man's.

"Look, that psycho said that he'll grab the keys and come back, right? Anna, taking us somewhere. He's going to have to untie us. I'll rush him and you grab his gun, okay?"

And then what? I thought. Fight our way out of a camp filled with gun-wielding murderers?

Should we take the psychopath hostage? Use him as a bargaining chip to get out?

I thought back to our tormentor: with his fever-bright eyes, scars and insane smile. And shivered.

No. A man like him would die before he was taken hostage. He'd put his own gun inside his mouth and swallow a bullet before Kyle and I could take him prisoner, he was either too proud or too crazy to bend knee.

We'll have to find some other way to get out of the camp.

"Good to have you back, Anna," Kyle murmured. I tried to smile at him, but the muscles in my face felt like they had frozen over.

We waited in silence. It was the kind of silence that buzzed in your ears and filled your mind with thoughts of all the things that could go wrong.

It was the kind of silence that suffocates.

What if the guy was just joking about letting us out? What if he came back with a shotgun instead and shot us? What would we do then? What if he simply got bored and forgot about us? Would we die here of thirst? Starvation? *

These thoughts buzzed relentlessly inside my skull, permitting me no rest.

It could have been minutes, it could have been hour—days even, before we heard the sound of jangling keys and whistling, I wouldn't know, all I knew was that it took too long for him to come back, too long to leave me alone with my thoughts.

I was almost relieved to see our tormentor's face, which was sporting a Chesire-like grin.

"He-ey, guess what I've got for you!" he said, jangling the keys in front of us. It was obviously done to rile us up, but my eyes were glued to the gun on his hip.

Get the gun away from him, get the gun away from him, my mind chanted.

How I was supposed to do that with my hands tied up was anyone's guess.

I felt, rather than saw, Kyle tense as the man knelt down to unlock the chains.

The chains and the padlock fell to the ground and the door to our cage opened.

I could feel myself tensing.

Get the gun away from him, get the gun away from him.

I didn't know what Kyle was planning, but I knew what I had to do.

The man crawled inside. Turned to me and smiled.

Behind him, Kyle was mouthing at me not to panic.

"Now, don't panic okay, hermana? I'm not going to fucking hurt you or anything, hmm? Be a good little obedient hermana and it'll be over in a sec." He let out an insane little giggle as his right hand moved to trap my wrists in a death grip and his left moved to his waist.

And pulled out a large knife.

I froze. My mind locked up.

Nononononononononono.

What was he planning? Murder? Rape? Dismemberment?

His knife moved closer to my wrists.

Oh God, what was he doing? Was he going to cut off my hands?

The roar of blood in my ears grew louder, louder LOUDER until I realized I am screaming.

My legs beat out a useless staccato against the dirt, trying, trying to kick him away, to escape.

Kyle was yelling, the man was yelling and I was screaming.

I was so scared, so scared, someone help me, please.

Suddenly a huge hand clamped around my mouth, stifling my screams.

"Fucking—shut the FUCK UP!" With frightening speed, psychopath's hand moved from my mouth to my hair, gripping it tightly and yanking my head backward.

The knife's tip, cold as ice, touched my throat.

My eyes teared up in pain and fear. My heart was beating so fast and so loud that I could've sworn everyone in the whole damn island could hear it.

So this is how a rabbit feels when it feels a fox's jaw clamp down on its body.

This is what it's like to be prey.

"Jesus fuck, I'm not going to fucking murder you or anything. Shut the fuck up okay? It's fuckin' annoying. I'm just fucking...fucking..."

Mumbling darkly, he starts sawing at the twine that bound my wrists to the bamboo cage. Every now and then, his knife hit skin and I couldn't help but flinch.

He was so close I could feel the warmth radiating off him.

So close that could pick out the individual scars on his head, could smell the sweat and gunpowder that clung to him like perfume.

I held my breath, counted. Counted down to the moment when he wasn't so close anymore.

One, two, three, four...

At last he was done, my hands came away from the bars of the cage, still bound, but now a great deal more mobile than before.

"There, that wasn't so fucking bad was it? The way you fucking screamed, you'd have thought I was trying to fucking kill you or something."

By this time, I was numb from fear and dehydration, pushed too far, too fast. I found myself—despite my instincts screaming against it—saying, "Gee, wonder where the fuck I got that idea?"

Then, the psychopath did a strange thing.

He laughed.

Not a happy, you're-funny laugh, no, it was a my-pet-amuses-me-so-I-think-I'll-keep-it-for-a-little-while-longer laugh.

"You know what? You're not that fucking bad, hermana." He cuffed me gently in the jaw.

That was when I—no, my body, not me—also did a strange thing.

I smiled at him.

Then Kyle, who had remained quiet throughout this entire exchange yelled, "Now Anna!" and everything changed.


* If you look closely at the beginning of FC3, just as you and Grant are getting out of the cage, take a look at the cage beside yours, you'll see a Rakyat eating his fellow Rakyat.

Pretty creepy stuff o.o Ha, just thought I'd add that part in about starvation.

Anyhoo, thoughts, comments, suggestions? :)