Page 18 of Dead By Dusk

“What what feels like?”

“Living.” Her eyes look toward me, wide with a dream-like wonder as a small laugh escapes her.

I gently smile and say, “When we get out, maybe you can tell me.” I say as I reach toward her, not wishing to get any closer as each beat of my heart seemingly comes faster than the last. She hesitates before she reaches toward me, her finger a hair’s breadth away from my palm, and a small blue current of electricity darts out and zaps me. I yank my hand back, but she steps forward as if her feet have a mind of their own before dropping her hand back down to her side and steps to the side.

“But we need to actually get out to find out. Let’s go, Little Dreamer. I don’t want to be anywhere near this if we getattacked again.” A few steps is all she takes before she stops dead in her tracks again.

“Little Dreamer,” she says in a questioning and bewildered voice as our eyes lock. “That feels familiar.”

She’s not wrong. I’m not sure what compelled me to call her by that nickname, but something about it felt right—safe even regardless of the position we’re in. But I don’t think I could place a time that I’ve met her before yesterday, the memories of “before” still a fog that washes uncertainty over me. Pieces. I’ve gathered bits and pieces together, but nothing that would have me believing that she and I knew each other.

Now I’m not so sure anymore.

“It does, doesn’t it?” I ask as I consider her for a moment longer. Maybe we’ll remember soon, but we should keep going. Sundown is no more than a few hours away, and we need to find a safe space to lie low for the night. She nods and begins her trek through the forest again. Shivers run up the length of my spine as a chilling feeling of being watched sinks into me. I check our surroundings one more time, though there doesn’t seem to be anyone or anything around.

Including Carmen.

9

Say It Again: Silene

Panic settles into me when I realize that she’s no longer in my line of sight. My heart jolts and sets me off in the direction I know she wandered in. I’m trying to listen for any footfalls other than my own, but the roaring of my thoughts are drowning out any other sounds. For a woman who never walks too fast, especially if it means creating distance from me, Carmen made it further than I thought she would have. My stomach churns at the possibilities of what could happen while she’s alone, and I’m about to stop and reevaluate when I hear it. Her soft, muffled cries that sound closeby.

My steps are hushed but hurried as I follow the sound and see her pinned against a tree, paralyzing fear written all over her face as tears fall down her cheeks and drip onto the arm of the man holding her there. I can’t hear what he’s saying, neither do I care to try, as she squirms further under his touch.

He’s hulking in size, someone that gives the same impression as an impenetrable wall, with soil-dark skin covered in white tattoos. His clothes are disheveled and dirty as if he’s already been out here and in some trouble of his own, but there’s only one word that I could use to describe the feeling that radiates from him.

Dangerous.

And yet, I don’t care. I can’t bring myself to care as I watch her petite form struggle against his larger one while a blade is held under her chin forcing her to meet his eyes. I check our surroundings as quickly as I can to ensure he doesn’t have any lurking friends, and when I see no one else, I take off in a dead sprint towards them. Any effort to be quiet has been forfeited as I’m hoping to bring his attention away from her. He marks my movement instantly and throws the blade toward me while shoving her away from him.

I study the fall of her body while sliding my own onto the ground to avoid the strike of the blade. Carmen’s body hits the stone and leaf covered ground harshly enough to elicit a small groan. I rise from the ground and take back off toward the tower of a man. He cracks his neck and shakes out his wrists before stalking towards me, but he only makes it a couple of steps before I’m using every muscle in my legs to push off the ground. Then, I’m using the momentum to catapult my body into the air.

The shock coursing through him is palpable as I wrap my legs around his neck and dig my thumbs into his eyes. He swears loudly, but quickly recovers from the force of my impact, wrapping his large fingers around my wrists and easily yanking them away from his face regardless of how tight my hold on his head had been.

He throws them back harshly and goes to grip my waist, presumably to get me off him, but I quickly force my upper body back before thrusting forward, gripping the sides of his headagain. My forehead collides with his nose, and dark red blood immediately floods from it. He removes his hands from my waist just to place them on the undersides of my thighs, forcing my legs apart and up. I fall to the ground beneath us so fast, that I don’t have time to brace myself before impact. Don’t even have time to take in any air after it all leaves my body before the man is straddling my body. He goes to take hold of my hands, but not before I reach for his bloodied nose and twist it sharply.

“You fucking bitch!” he yells and rips my hands away from him.

He’s holding them together with one hand before his knuckles hit my jaw with brutal force. I bite down on my tongue hard enough for the tangy taste of metal to fill my senses, and all I can do is laugh.

“What the fuck is so funny!?” the man asks incredulously, which only makes me laugh even harder.

“You called me a bitch,” I start and laugh more when I’m met with furrowed brows and a glare. His tilted head sets off another bout of laughter before it dies. I fix him with a steely gaze and smug smile before I add, “Say it again. I liked it.” I don’t give him time to react before I use my legs to flip us over and bring our joined hands to my mouth and bite down on his hand with as much force as possible until he releases me. As soon as his hands are off me, I lurch off of his body and quickly rise.

I slowly unsheathe my axes out while he reaches for the metal staff that, at some point, was removed from Carmen’s possession before I arrived. He moves to stand. He soaks in my stance, probably assessing me for weaknesses. I stop myself from wincing or squeezing my eyes from any sudden movements, not wanting him to know I’m about one more hit to the head away from passing out. I scan him and see his only real injuries he seems to have obtained are from me. His nose, still bleeding at an ungodly rate as he spits out blood, likely due to how much isrushing down his throat. If he doesn’t get it under control soon, there’s a good chance it will cause light headedness, which would be good news for me if the both of us last long enough to get to that point.

I consider the outcome of this fight, unsure of how it ends. On one hand, this feels evenly matched despite his size. On the other, something tells me he held back when he hit me, and the idea that he’s pulling punches for any reason doesn’t sit well with me.

I take a moment to glance at where I knew Carmen had fallen earlier but she’s not there anymore. I retreat a few steps, scanning as much of the area as possible until I see her.

She’s trying to reach for me but being restrained by a slightly bloodied Nathaniel, his eyes cold as they bore into me. She starts to say my name, but his hand covers her mouth as he whispers something in her ear. Her entire body stills as she slowly looks at him, her mouth falling open ever so slightly.

The distraction of their encounter distract me long enough that I hardly register when cold hard metal plunges toward my abdomen. I barely block it enough time, and spin out of its reach. We circle one another slowly before I rush forward with a battle cry. I raise both axes, but before I can strike him, he swings the staff at me and I have to jump back to avoid it. I barely dodge the hit by the skin on my neck. At this point, I know we’re just dancing around each other, but I also know that he is the onlyrealobstacle currently standing in between the woman who still has tears streaming down her face and worry etched into every feature.

I will not die today.

I say it a thousand times over and over in my head as a reminder to myself of what’s at stake. And so, he and I continue this ridiculous game of cat and mouse. I know he’s toying withme. He’s had several openings, and he’s taken none of them, but continuously blocked my every attack.

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