She grabbed Marama by the waist and steadied herself as she lifted her over her shoulder, Marama seeming to not even notice as she was lifted into the air and carried over towards the truck. With Marama out of the way she could see a giant scaled animal stretched out on the rocks, brown saggy skin hanging off it's long menacing body, a forked tongue snaking out from it's mouth as it hisses viciously at them, slowly dragging it's powerful legs forward to edge ever closer to them, Atsuko ran as fast as she could with a grown woman over her shoulder to the truck, quickly getting inside and gently placing her in the truck next to her, the truck had no doors, so she decided that it was time to leave. Fast. With her heart racing she turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared into life, the noise scared the Komodo dragon and caused it to strike; pouncing towards them,
Atsuko screamed as the engine started and they drove away manically, she drove with a heart full of panic and a cloud of uncertainty swirling around in her head, she was so immensely aware that Marama was still unconcious; she knew nothing about Komodo dragons, but the one thing she did know was that they had venom capable of killing a person easily. Could it be that she had been bitten without Atsuko knowing? By this point she was still completely lost, even more so than before. She tried her phone again, doubtful that it would have any signal deep in the impenetrable woods.
"Hello?" New girl?" The voice was quiet and static made it extremely hard to hear.
"Listen Kauri; I'm in a really bad situation, Marama is unconcious and I found her near a komodo dragon. I'm worried she may have been poisoned, how do I check? And what do I do?"
"… Poison… ripped apart….bitemark… unlikely… doctor."
"Hello!?" The phone hung up as signal was lost, and Kauri's coded message had left her with very little information, she tried again and again, but the signal couldn't be recovered.
Atsuko swore aggresively under her breath, stuffing the phone in her pockets.
'Bitemark' If Marama's been poisoned she'll have a bitemark! Atsuko reasoned, grinning triumphantly at her revelation. She checked her back, anxiously biting her lip as she saw deep red blood soaked into her clothing, "Oh god please no." She murmured, close to tears, as she tentatively lifted the back of Marama's shirt with shaking hands, and to her surprise saw her dark skin was clear of bitemarks or any open wounds.
"Are you undressing me?"
Atsuko jumped in shock and relief at hearing her companion's voice once again, albeit a suspicious and mildly annoyed voice, and dropped the fabric of her top.
"No!" She shouted, blushing embarrassingly red. "I thought maybe you had been poisoned by a komodo dragon because you didn't wake up."
Marama simply laughed in response
"Aww you city girl!" She chuckled with a patronising smile "You'd know if I'd been bitten because I'd have been torn into several pieces, komodo dragons are vicious little shits." Honestly Atsuko had just been proud of herself for successfully recognising its species, but decided that might make her get patronised even more.
"What happened, why did you pass out like that?" Atsuko asked quietly, if she knew Marama at all; she knew she'd be ashamed of herself, but Atsuko had to know why, or she'd be wondering forever.
Marama sighed and brushed her hair from her face.
"I'll tell you while we drive home." They swapped places so Marama was once again in the driving seat; where she belonged.
Heavy rain drops splattered on Marama's face as she looked up at the sky, dark and filled with a deep and suffocating dust, that swirled around the sky, the dust clouds reminded her of vultures, circling in the sky; waiting for something to die. 'Don't worry vulture clouds, it won't be too long' she thought grimly. The rain had soaked through her clothes, freezing her to the point she was shivering violently, her teeth bared as she closed her eyes to avoid getting raindrops in them. "Tuahine?" A small voice murmered from beside her. She looked down and saw Maako, his long fringe plastered down his face with rain drops trickling down his dark face. They were sat close together in a useless attempt to try and retain some warmth. Marama couldn't respond, a gag stuffed in her mouth, they were both tied to the inside of a bamboo cage, their wrists burning with the pain of the rope gripping tightly into them. "Tuahine, someone's coming." Marama looked in the direction that Maako was looking, and saw two men walking towards them, one of which was holding some kind of assault rifle in his hands, the other had a massive scar across his face.
The one with the scar knelt down to their level. A massive grin on his face, Marama shuddered, not just from the cold, but from a deep sense of dread that this man gave her.
"That vicious little bitch fucking bit me." The one with the gun complained, revealing a slight flesh wound on his wrist.
"Hey you fuck! Be polite to our fucking guests. Afterall they're going to make us a lot of money." He commented flashing them a sinister grin. "Oi niño, what are your names?" He asked Maako, who just stared back with a vague sense of confusion; he had never bothered to learn English, despite his parent's best wishes, Marama however understood every word, but couldn't reply because of the damn gag. "Hm? You know I almost feel sorry for you kids; your parents don't love you enough to come for you. Nobody fucking wants you back, there's not even any point ransoming you, your piece of shit parents wouldn't respond. Your only hope at being wanted is from some sick scumbag."
Marama yelled in response, the noice muffled by the gag. The man with the scar started laughing.
"So you're miss Fiesty; the girl who did this?" he gestured to the other man's arm. Marama nodded confidently, determined not to be scared by him. He studied the the mark carefully. "Not bad, Hermano, take the boy and find a customer for him. It looks like we'll have to kill the bitch's spirit before she can be sold." With that both her and Maako were untied and taken to separate places. "Let Maako go." She growled at the man who had taken her, the one with the scar.
"The boy?"
"Yes him. He's my brother. I won't let you sell him. It's my job to look after him."
"I'm afraid not hermana, from now on, your both ours."
Marama elbowed the man in the stomach, which wasn't far below her head height, and ran towards her brother desperately, her heart pounding.
Bang. A shot rang loudly, hurting Marama's ears. It flew just above Maako's head.
"Take another fucking step and I won't miss." Marama stopped dead in her tracks. She felt stupid for acting so rashly; her parents would've told her to bide her time. But she panicked…
"Then what happened?" Atsuko asked, near speechless from Marama's tale.
"I don't want to get too deep into it; but I was hit around the head and passed out, when I woke up I must've been rescued, because I woke up in a bed in Amanaki village, with Maako by my side. He was so young at that time, we both were. And they wanted to sell us off." Her voice trailed off weakly as she was forced to remember it. "Ever since he's done anything to mess with me, just like he's doing to you now. But when I heard you say Maako was in danger, it was if I was right there in that moment. It was awful."
"He didn't kill Maako."
"Hm?"
"Back then he didn't kill Maako, so why should he now?"
Marama didn't respond, neither of them talked after that point. They were both exhausted from the mental duress they had been put under.
As they drove back into Amanaki village they were greeted by an excitable and confused Kauri.
"Well I see Marama's still alive; so things can't have gone too badly." He commented, resting against the frame of the truck. "You caused quite the disturbance when you rode up in that thing." He gestured towards the red paintwork. "We're still waiting for that attack you promised." He grinned warmly.
"I'm afraid we still don't have time to explain. Now we need to know where Maako is being kept. I tried phoning again and again but the signal sucks." Atsuko explained as she clambered out the truck.
"You need to rest; you've both been put under a lot of stress and look exhausted, I just talked to the people looking after Maaka and they said he's fine."
"But Vaas told us he was after him." Atsuko protested
"You stay here, I'll send some people to pick him up and bring him back. They won't let Vaas get to him, I promise."
Atsuko looked at Marama questioningly, and she nodded in response, Kauri was right; Marama did look exhausted, her eyes tired and vacant.