*Updated 17-05-2018*
Chapter 59 - The American Tourist
"You came running back pretty quickly." Rosa joked sarcastically.
Liza had tied her to a tree in the middle of the jungle, Rosa having no clue where she was.
Liza had come back and entered the warehouse through the secret door, waiting for her moment. She had bagged Rosa over the head and dragged her away, pulling her through the jungle. Yet, Rosa didn't feel panicked or scared about it all which was strange. Perhaps it was because Rosa was getting tired of it all. There was still a part of her that was anxious, for Vaas did not know where she was.
"I just couldn't keep away from you. Your pirates should party a little less loud and then I might not have known that you were still alive." Liza replied, the tribal knife back in her hands.
Rosa rolled her eyes, getting sick of Liza's games.
"What about Vaas? Don't you want to kill him too?" Rosa asked, glaring at the knife that seemed to haunt her.
"He'll kill himself once you're dead, I wouldn't worry about it." Liza replied.
The atmosphere was oddly relaxed between the two as Liza walked over to Rosa and sat down, taking her by surprise.
"When we all got back home, everything was different. Riley went into depression; none of us know the shit your father subjected him to and we're not going to ask. Both of his brother's are dead and his family had no bodies to bury."
"My heart bleeds for him." Rosa replied, sarcasm thick in her voice.
Liza ignored Rosa, continuing on.
"Keith's gone off the map; we haven't seen him in months. Last time I heard, he was travelling around Asia. Could be dead for all we know."
"I fucking hope so ... You do know what Buck did to him, didn't you?" Rosa asked.
Liza turned to look at Rosa, her look dark.
"I heard. Revenge was more important to me. I wasn't the one in Keith's position."
Rosa let out a low whistle.
"Damn, chica. You're heartless." she said, a grin on her face.
Liza rolled her eyes.
"Ollie nearly died from a drug overdose. He'd mixed too much at once, his heart giving out. The doctor's brought him back and he's been depressed ever since. He'll try and take his life again, it's just a matter of time." Liza explained.
Rosa remained quiet.
"Daisy ... well, she's been putting on a front. The grieving girlfriend tries to get her life back together, putting on a brave face. Everything I should be doing. She could always do everything I couldn't. She'll be the only one of us that survives this."
"You're not planning on surviving this too?" Rosa asked.
Jason's friends had been fucked in coming to Rook - that's just what it did to people.
Rosa tried to feel bad for them but couldn't; years of violence had desensitized her from it all. She remembered when she asked Vaas if he ever felt guilty for killing people and he told her to ask again when he was high. Rosa had meant to but had forgotten.
For the first time in her life, Rosa was trying to go through the mental process of what it meant to kill someone. When she had first killed, it was filled with anger. Since then, she did it without a care in the world. She didn't kill people like Vaas did; one shot, they're gone and then onto the next one.
The actual concept was twisted but Rosa didn't seem to care; it was how she lived.
"Me? I'm here, aren't I? People that come to this island don't usually make it out alive." Lisa replied, snapping Rosa out from her thoughts.
Rosa spied the knife next to her and tried to think of a plan to escape from Liza's clutches. She wondered about Vaas and whether or not he was coming to find her.
How could he? They were in the middle of no-where.
"Tell me about what happened before you left." Rosa stated, thinking that distracting the girl would buy her some time to think.
Liza sighed and got to her feet, stupidly leaving the knife on the floor. Perfect.
Rosa discreetly took the knife with her foot, sliding it over to herself and into her hands, so she could begin cut herself free. All the while Liza had her back turned, leaning aganist a tree.
"Stupid bitch." thought Rosa, chuckling internally.
"Those tribal people came into the cave and took us all away. We arrived at this temple, bags over our head and they tied us up. Jason and Riley came in; they grabbed Riley and took Jason away. He came back and was acting so fucked up. That tribal lady had done something to him."
"Citra." Rosa spat.
Liza nodded to herself.
"Yeah, her." she mumbled and continued on, "Jason got up, mumbling and walking, mostly saying my name. Next thing I know, he's got a fucking knife to my throat."
Rosa was manically trying to cut her way through and was almost done, Liza still contemplating, looking out into the dense greenery.
"He chose to save us but told us he was going to stay. He said that he belonged in the tribe. You know ... I waited for so long for him to grow up and finally, he had. I was so happy! But this jungle had changed him. He left me. Next thing, we're all on a boat home, eventually getting back to the US."
"How did you make it back into the country?"
"They didn't believe us, you know, about this place. About you and Vaas. About Hoyt. We got back in after a while; I never wanted to leave again."
Rosa smirked to herself.
"They know about us, alright. Don't always believe what they tell you. You'd be surprised to know that our biggest buyers come from the United States Congress."
Liza scoffed, still looking out into the open jungle.
"You know, Jason, he saved us physically from this island, but we're all still trapped here. Everything has been dark for a while. I couldn't tell one day from the next. Then out of the blue, I'm getting a call from Buck saying he needed some help. I was so numb that when he told me Jason had died, I felt nothing. So I decided that if Jason couldn't finish the job, then I would. And here we are."
Rosa cut through the rope as Liza finished her sentence and she breathed a sigh of relief. She pushed the knife further away so it looked like she hadn't touched it, resting her hands and the rope behind her so they were concealed; Rosa had been tied up too many times now to not know how to outsmart people.
"And here we are." Rosa replied.
Liza walked over to the girl, unaware of her being untied and free.
"Do you not understand the damage you inflict on people? How you ruin their lives? You kill innocent people!" Liza exclaimed.
"Everyone has a vocation in life. Ours happens to be murder. We have to make a living but we just do it in a different way." Rosa stated.
Liza scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"You don't have to! I'm sure there are plenty of others things that you could do."
"On this island? Look around perra, there isn't exactly a lot to chose from. Rook has always been this; a place where people come to die."
Neither said anything and Liza cleared her throat.
"Why are you being like this to me?" Rosa asked, intrigued.
"I don't know. Just wondering, I guess." Liza replied.
Rosa watched the woman's moves carefully.
"What about you and Vaas then? What's your deal?" Liza asked.
Rosa was confused as to why Liza cared; she hated Rosa and Vaas' guts.
It's the jungle, Rosa thought, it messes with your head.
"Us? We're married now. We rule this fucking kingdom. He's me. And I am him." Rosa replied.
"Sort of sweet isn't it. You meet someone, you get married, you have kids with them. Everything I dreamed of having with Jason, until this island took him away."
Rosa snorted as Liza flashed her a dark look.
"Are you pregnant?" Liza asked.
Rosa was taken aback by her audacity. She must have seen the urine test or must have heard her and the Doc's conversation. Rosa shuddered slightly at the thought that Liza might have been in the warehouse for longer than she thought.
"I - I don't know. I might be." Rosa replied, stuttering a little.
"Aw, shame. I hope you're not otherwise I'll have to kill two people and Vaas will be crushed." Liza taunted, snapping back into murder mode.
This sparked anger within Rosa and her head snapped up.
"You're going to kill me then?" Rosa asked, the venom oozing from her words.
"That's the plan. Why else do you think I brought you out here. Buck was incompetent and couldn't finish the job. Once I've killed you, I move onto your bastard father."
Moving her hands ever so slightly so the knife was in her grasp, Rosa felt her breathing grow shallower, her eyes darkening. Rosa wished that Vaas would find her soon but there was no time like the present.
"Liza, is that a tiger over there? Oh shit -" Rosa said, causing Liza to turn and look.
Seizing her only, and possibly last, opportunity, Rosa leapt to her feet and attacked the woman from behind. She jumped onto Liza's back, shouting and screaming and she pulled the woman to the floor. Liza was struggling as she was taken by surprise, the pair were rolling around in the dirt. Liza managed a few punches to Rosa's face as she tried to hit her stomach.
Liza started scrabbling for her only handgun, but Rosa was too quick; she grabbed it and threw it into the bushes before Liza could react. Liza began trying to get Rosa off of her but Rosa was too strong. She blocked Liza's advances with her forearms, yelling out in frustration. She managed to sit on top of Liza, the knife hanging above her head.
Rosa was murderous but she paused to look at Liza's expression, hearing faint mumbling. Liza looked genuinely frightened; she looked like she did when she first arrived on the island, alone and scared. Something in the woman had changed in that split moment when faced with death.
"Please, no please. Please." she begged.
Rosa softened slightly, before remembering what she had done to her. She lowered the knife down slightly but then grabbed Liza's hand. Without a word, she sliced off Liza's ringer finger, Liza screaming out.
"Now you can Jason can match." Rosa snarled.
Liza's scream were blood curdling and fearful. Rosa was about to bring the knife down and slit Liza's throat but took one look at the shrieking woman and all Rosa could do was think back to the recording of Jason's camera.
Liza had a life, she had friends and boyfriend and she was happy. She could have that again; Liza Snow could be free from Rook Islands.
If Rosa had a chance to do something right with her life, she could do it through Liza.
Silently moving off the woman, Liza was sobbing and clutching her finger. Rosa got up and hauled Liza up, her sobs then subsiding. Rosa had cracked her.
"What ... are you doing?" she asked.
Liza looked so fragile and weak; Rosa couldn't believe that she had broken her that easily.
"Listen to me." Rosa started, her voice stern, "You are to leave this island. Go back to your life in America. Be free. This would have only ended in one way. You would have died or I would have and neither is going to bring you Jason back. So, leave this fucking island and never come back. If I ever see you here again, I won't hesitate to take more than a finger next time."
Liza blinked rapidly before tearing some fabric from her top, wrapping her finger. She looked at Rosa and then down to the knife, the female pirate following her gaze. Stepping over the knife and dragging it away with her foot, Rosa shook her head.
"Go. Tell no one of this."
Liza nodded, a little confused before then stumbling into the jungle, turning back to face Rosa.
"I will kill you." Rosa stated.
The young woman began to run. Liza seemed to have transformed back into the small, scared American tourist who had just gotten too into the jungle. Rosa thought back to a conversation she had with Vaas, when they were trying to capture Jason.
"California boy's got a hard on for jungle fever." Vaas stated, twisting his knife into the wooden crate.
"They all do. All that 'white saviour' bullshit. Pisses me off." Rosa replied, taking a sip of water.
"These fuckers, they grab a gun and think that they can be one of us. Jason gets inked and he thinks that makes him like me."
"There's only one of you Vaasy, don't worry about it." Rosa replied, pecking him on the cheek.
"Of course. All I'm saying is once this jungle gets under your skin, into your veins, becomes a part of your being ... then you know you're truly fucked."
Rosa watched as Liza pushed her way through several branches and into the forest.
Rosa didn't know if she could guarantee that Liza would never come back but that was the chance she was willing to take. Reality came bursting back into life as she fell back into the tree, her weapon holster next to her. She smiled a little.
Had she really just let Liza go?
Rosa wasn't quite sure what had come over her but there was something in Liza's pleas that she had never heard before. It shattered all illusion of who Liza had become and showed Rosa who Liza truly was. What would she tell Vaas? Was he even out looking for her?
For now, there was only one problem.
Where the hell was Rosa?
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Hm, I don't think that Rosa should have let Liza go or to let her still be alive as I think it could cause some trouble ;) Let me know what you think by leaving a review or a follow! It might seem a little strange but you know me, I always have something up my sleeve planned. I will now probably be using something that Commando64 had suggested to me so I haven't forgotten! Liza might go away for a while but as she's still alive she can always come back (dun dun dunnn!) Love ya and happy reading my littler cherubs :D