Two weeks earlier
Zhalia rested her quivering hand against the cracked brick wall, panting as her trembling legs gave out beneath her. Her insides ached, burned, fueled with an overwhelming desire that blistered her beating heart. She slowly raised her quivering fingers to her swollen lips. "How can one kiss create such an explosion within me," she gasped, banging her thumping chest. She wobbled to her feet using a nearby metal trashcan for support, her nose wrinkled in disgusted. "Great of all the places I could have run to, I decided on a smelly, old alley in a forsaken town," she muttered, wiping off her filthy knees.
"Mmm, talking to yourself again" spoke a voice. Zhalia went five inches in the air and two steps to her left away from the voice. "The only time I could ever sneak up on you is when you're unbelievably stressed and emotionally compromised." Zhalia glared at Ahab, who glanced at his surroundings. "What are you doing in this smelly alley, when we are about to unleash mass destruction on some puny and rather annoying hunters."
Zhalia crossed her arms across her chest, kicking a small pebble and replied, "I needed a place to think and calm myself."
His eyebrow lifted. "This isn't your normal thinking place," stated Ahab, waving his hand at the alley. "It seems more like you were-"
"Shut up," snapped Zhalia, shoving past Ahab. "We have work to do." Ahab sighing dramatically at the empty alley before disappearing behind her.
Zhalia reappeared a mile away from an underground base located deep in the Amazon jungle. She swatted a mosquito on her neck. "Why is it in the freaken Amazon jungle?"
Ahab stood beside her and pointed to the sky. "Look at the bright side, it's not raining." As soon as the last word left his mouth, the sky opened up and rain started to poured down.
Zhalia scowled at the stunned Ahab. "You just had to say that, didn't you." She plodded into the dense jungle.
Ahab examined the sky and drawled, "Look at the bright side, it's not pouring money." He paused. Then carelessly shrugged at the raining sky. "That always works in mortal's movies." He jogged after Zhalia, who was crouched behind thick shrubs.
She scanned the area with a pair of black binoculars, spotting six hunters guarding a small, flimsy cabin. She sensed Ahab squat beside her and handed him the binoculars. "There are four constantly patrolling the perimeter and only two are standing by the cabin entrance." She pointed to the outer trails of the area. "We can spilt up and pick off the outer guards." She stood and headed to the right.
Ahab glowered at the cabin, and grabbed her wrist. "Wait!" he whispered, harshly. Zhalia spun to glance at Ahab, whose eyes turned into a pair of pale yellow with a stain of red and a sliver of a black line down the center. His true eyes. "Look at the outer guards." He handed back the binoculars. "They seemed to be following a specific trail and avoiding certain areas of the perimeter." She peered into the binoculars. "They would not just leave six hunters to guard a base without some extra precaution."
Zhalia grinned. "The area is booby-trapped," she said, excited. "Nice!"
Ahab slowly shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder what goes through your head," he muttered. "Try to leave one alive, we may need him." Zhalia looked insulted as if it was her first time infiltrating a base. "You tend to get carried away," he elaborated. She tapped her foot against and overgrown root. "Remember in Bulgaria."
She pointed at him and snorted, "Actually that was you that got carried away."
Ahab blinked, twice. "Oh, that's right." He rose to feet. "Maybe we should have invited Gahiji and Fukayna."
She shook her head, shaking off a few drops. "The least the better." He rolled his forest green eyes. "I will take the treetops to the right and you will circle around the left."
Before Zhalia could leap to the lowest limb of the tree, Ahab spoke, "You know if we do find him here, then you know what this will mean."
She dug her fingers into the nearby truck. "I will get to spend some quality time with her," she spat. "You ready." He nodded. "Then lets rain hell on them."
Present time
Torin wrung the stained towel, red drops briskly plopped into the bloody water below. Gently, he wiped the brown blood from her sweaty, burning forehead and carefully pushed back her clotted, sticky hair. Her beautiful creamy face was now battered and swollen. Her left bloodshot eye was swollen shut and an angry purple bruise ran across her right cheek to her hairline. Her pump lips were now chapped and spit, her nose was slightly bend with small cuts. She withered beneath his hand, moaning and whimpering as he wiped her scarped right shoulder.
He gently lifted her sticky shredded black t-shirt and his pale face jerked at the purple and black bruising across her right rib case. "Broken ribs," his voice shook. His body vibrated with rage. He slowly staggered to his feet towards the bathroom, dumping the dirty water down the drain. Gazing at the blood covering his trembling hands, he gripped the soap and scrubbed his hands raw. Torin had seen blood countless of times and never had a problem cutting down a man, but having her blood on him made his stomach clench painfully. Guilt clawed his insides, and yanked his pulsing heart. I failed to protect her, he thought angrily.
He tottered back, resting the fresh bowl of water on the top of the drawer and stood to observe his work. Her torso had deep precise cuts across her stomach, chest and along her broken ribs. Her arms had multiple punctures, and most of the skin was lacerated. Her right hand was gone, only the stump remained covered in a red stained bandaged. Her left hand only had three fingers remaining but without any nails, so he bandaged her whole hand. Her right knee was swollen and twisted at a weird angle, mostly likely it was shattered so he gently tightened a bandaged around it. Her lower left leg was tightly wrapped in a sling and wrapped to cover her ruptured bone that penetrated through her skin.
He needed to remove her shredded bloody clothes, clean the rest of her and wash her tangled hair. But he was afraid to move her around or even touch her, so many injuries on her fragile body that even the slightest movement caused her to whimper in pain. Deeply sighing, Torin bend to searched for a pair of scissors in the top drawer and leaned over to cut her clothes.
"Aren't you suppose to buy me a drink before you start removing my clothes," rasped Zhalia, amusement sparked in her right eye.
Torin gawked at her, and stuttered "I- I -you're- didn't-I'm not-your hurt." Chuckling at his stud reaction, she moaned and jolted as pain shot through her body. Concern flashed on his face, "You shouldn't laugh or move in your condition." She swallowed heavily, licking her parched lips. He quickly reached for the pitcher on the drawer, pouring water into a glass with a straw and guided the straw to her mouth.
Jerking as her lips wrapped around the straw, she carefully drank her fill and release it. She shot a glance at the bowl with the red stain washcloth on the drawer. "If you pinky promise to be on your best behavior I will allow you to help me wash up in the tub," she smiled. "I will also pinky promise not to jump your bones even if I desperately want too." She held her right arm at him. She paused and blinked at her stump. "Oh, yea I have no pinkies."
Frowning at her hazy eye, he snapped, "How can you joke about this!" He ran a hand through his hair, yanking the ends. "I want to rip apart the person who dared to lay a hand on you." He caressed the bruise on her face. "When I saw your broken body my heart stopped. I thought you were dead and that nearly killed me." He paused. "That person deserves to suffer slowly, so tell me who did this to you, so I can kill him."
"Aww, I didn't know you were so charming," she jested, trying to fan her face with her bandaged left hand. "Oh stop, you're making me blush."
He glared at her. "Fine! Continue with your jokes and here I'm being honest with you," he grumbled, lifting the edge of her shirt towards the scissors.
"It was my mother," she whispered, staring at the ceiling with a glassy expression. "I make jokes, so that I can cope with everything that happened." She swallowed, twice. "I do not what to remember those horrible moments." A tear slipped down her bruise cheek. "So please don't make me, not just yet."
Something inside him broke. He rested his forehead to hers, wrapping his arm under her pillow to hold her tightly as she sobbed. His own tears falling gently on her as his soul wailed within him.