Raine retreated a few steps, and staggered. She was lucky that even though she was semi-realistic, she still remained with two legs, rather than one. The harder that she tried not to stare into Malice's humorless eyes, the more that she found herself tempted to do so. There was no point in running; she might get stabbed in the back if she did so. Raine took in her surroundings. To her dismay, Devin was being seperated away from her by zombies as he swung his sword frantically at the zombies' bobbling heads.
Malice rolled her eyes in disdain. In order to force this absurd girl to face her, she had to jab a sharp fingernail underneath Raine's chin, forcing Raine to look up at the overlord.
Raine felt the sharp fingernail, press under her chin warningly. She could feel her mind tingle, warning her that layers of skin were slowly being cut if she kept refusing to look up. Raine thought that she saw stains of dried blood on Malice's black fingernails as she was forced to face this tyrant. Her eyes met the Queen of the Undead's gravestone-gray eyes as Raine shivered and tried not to stammer.
Malice hissed, annoyed by this girl's slow pace, "Let me repeat that, child. You don't know yourself well now, do you?"
"What do you mean by that?" Raine whimpered as the cold wind seeped through her red sweater, "I know myself best. I know my own thoughts. I know my life's story. Therefore, I should know myself best."
Malice tilted her green head as her red hair cascaded down her shoulders and onto her frayed, black dress. She cackled, "Perhaps, but you're not good at solving your own mysteries." She tittered at Raine's questioning face, "It is a simple compromise, little one. You give me what I want, and I let you and your friends go."
Raine felt Malice's needle-like fingernail jab harder and cut a few more layers of skin. Raine looked to the others pleadingly an answer; she didn't want to make a decision involving all of their fates alone. Hearing what Malice had said, Devin frantically shouted, "NO! Don't, Raine!" Devin believed that it was too good to be true. Malice had put Fern, Eve, and Cyndi up for kills, so she couldn't be merciful to them. Talia nodded in agreement, but she didn't think about Raine basically becoming a hostage now. If the deal was not made, then Raine was up for harming.
This was all that Raine needed, she knew that the others would agree to if they weren't so distracted by horrific zombies.
Raine glared back at Malice, and in a daring tone, drew all of her wits together for this moment. She shook with anger as her cut lip stung for what Malice had done and refused, "No. What you've done to Fern, Eve, and Cyndi was pitiless, they could be stuck like that forever. You hurt them to the point where they secluded themselves without a choice. We don't need your deals. You'll just let us go? Ya right, go towards Death's hands, you mean. I don't negotiate with unfair people like you."
Malice hissed. Raine wasn't sure whether she had guessed correctly, but judging by Malice's sudden, blank reaction, she took it as a 'yes, that she had read Malice's mind. The Queen of the Undead's face contorted into fury at her revealed plan and she screeched, "Well, guess we'll have to do it the hard way then!" And Raine felt the sharp fingernail pierce through her skin.
Raine felt a drop of blood ooze out, before Malice morphed into a whirling coil of gray smoke. All at once, Raine heard shrieks echo all around her as the world spun faster and faster. She couldn't tell whether it was her own screams or anyone else's but each was bloodcurdling. Raine felt as if she was going to vomit on herself before her head tilted from facing the landscape to the sky, and her eyes rolled from her blue irises to blank white patches, and her world went black.