I know I don't have the guts to kill him. I'm too afraid of my situation to have someone's blood on my hands. This boy has the mindset that this is some battle to the death event. Could that be why our tongues are missing? To keep quiet of country's secrets? Well, maybe it is but there's a bigger picture. Our country is falling apart. And somehow we're the solution.
The boy dives for the weapon just inches before it touches the grass. I kick the mace out of his reach. He doesn't even want to waste his time with me. He wants me dead.
I wish so hard that I had the note in my pocket. Then he would know that killing me wouldn't solve anything. The hovercraft is long gone, leaving us to fight over it. We both walked into their trap. I'm just lucky that he didn't have a weapon already.
I start to run for the mace but his fingers grab my ankles. I fall on my hands and knees. I reach behind to free myself but then I'm pulled into a full-on fight. We roll around in the grasses, getting in as many hits as possible. I bust his nose and he hits my jaw. He has me pinned down by the throat now. I wish so desperately that my voice will return. But it's all just useless thinking.
And then someone joins us. A dark-skinned woman runs out of the bushes. Just from look at her and I can tell she's been bitten by a mosquito. Her elbow has swelled up immensely. The conflicted look in her eyes tells me that she's fighting something. She wants to scratch it so bad.
Even with her shaking arms, she pulls off the parachute and grips the mace. It doesn't seem heavy to her, considering her muscular arms. But then her eyes set on the boy and I.
Get off! I want to scream. I shake like a frightened animal and nod to the approaching girl. She's coming closer. And so is death. And then all the weight on my body is gone. Rubbing my sore throat, I look where my attacker has gone.
The woman slams him on the ground with has much force as a machine. Her strength probably rivals that metal claw. The boy is on his stomach, face in the grass. But I can see his body rise and fall slowly. He's trying to play dead. But the woman is backing off. In fact, she raises the mace way above her head. I want to warn him to run. And then the mace comes down on his skull.
Like a bomb, blood explodes from his skull. And she repeatedly strikes him. His body shakes a bit with each blow but I know he's dead and gone. All I hear is the woman's animal growls. And just when I think the violence is over, she drops the bloody mace and falls to the ground. The boy's blood irritated her mosquito bite. And her fingers are scratching in a frenzy. She's digging up blood.
I get to my feet and look at the mace. It's a few feet away from her. And I need a weapon. But as I reach down to take it, the woman looks up at me. Her eyes are frightened. But so am I. So I take the weapon and I dash back into the forest.