For a minute her muscles seized with panic, but she quickly regained enough control to turn and swipe her machete out in a wide arch. The figure behind her hadn’t been expecting her to turn and he stumbled, bringing his gun up in a clumsy attempt at lining it up with her. Staring into the barrel of the gun was enough to make Thea want to run screaming but she knew that turning her back on him right now would be the worst thing she could do. If she kept her cool she might be able to throw him off before he even let out a shot that was lined up at her. It was that or being shot in the back and failing to help the prisoners.
On instinct she flew at the man with her machete raised. The closer she got to him the harder he would find it to line up the massive gun to fire it at her. She was fairly close to him when a sharp boom told her he had let off a shot. Terrified that she might feel pain somewhere any minute she kept running, scared to let herself focus on anything else. Smashing into him, her teeth clattered together, and her shoulder screamed with pain on hitting his chest plate. Great he had armour. Still off balance, he went down right away, cracking his head on the ground and grunting. A strange hot odour lingered in the air and Thea breathed through her mouth to avoid smelling too much of it. Now that the man was on the ground she could get a good look at him. It was the guard from before, the one who was herding the prisoners. His eyes were wild and furious, saliva dripping from between his clenched teeth. There was no question that if he could, he would kill her. She needed to act first.
Putting one foot on the gun while it was still on the ground she forced most of her weight onto the weapon as the man yanked on it. Calf aching and shaking Thea did her best not to succumb to the man’s superior strength as he tried to free the weapon. Suddenly, his other hand shot up and grabbed her leg. His nails dug into her flesh and she heard herself yelling past the pounding of her heart. Damn he could hold on tightly. Slashing at his arm with the machete she was surprised that when she hit him he didn’t let go. He growled and blood sprayed out from the wound on his forearm, but he held on and pulled her leg, removing her foot from the gun. Thrown off balance Thea almost fell but something behind her pushed her to her feet again. Without hesitation she rushed the man who was doing his best to line up the gun. Everything happened so fast. The gun levelled at her face, her throat closed, and she stopped breathing, the muscles in her legs locked, stopping her progress towards the enemy. She was staring at death and her body refused to move, fear making her into a statue. He was lined up just as he needed to be and any moment now she would die. A sinister smirk came over the guard’s face, spittle hanging off his wide teeth. The roar of the gun was so loud it made her ears ring. It took a minute for her to realize that she was flying to the side. Scanning her body, she was surprised to find no bullet holes. How? Did she dodge? That was impossible.
A howl of agony drew her attention to the side. She hit the ground with a painful thud, but she hardly felt it. Harvey was standing where she had been. There was blood pouring down his front from somewhere near his chest. Please not his heart, Thea thought. The guard prepared to let off another shot. The smoke had cleared enough that now he could see Thea no matter where she fell. Through the lingering haze she spotted the others, trying to run as the guards on the walls started to open fire. A line of the prisoners were lying on the grass, bloody and unmoving.
Just as the guard had lined up another shot a knife stuck through his throat from behind. He gurgled and grasped at the wound before falling to the ground, knife still stuck in there. For a minute Thea couldn’t tear her eyes away from how he was leaking out all over the ground.
“I don’t mean to be pushy but are you going to lie around all day!” The voice was shrill and breathless.
Thea looked up to see the girl in the bikini pulling at her chain, still attached to the group of corpses. But she had to help Harvey first. The large man was on his knees, dark stains all the way down his clothes. Thea crawled over to him, reaching him just as some of the others did.
“Harvey, can you hear me?” She felt over his chest, looking for any sign as to where all the blood was coming from.
In a hurried fashion the others dragged him up to standing. He staggered and they started to haul him towards where Thea knew the camp was eventually. Harvey’s eyes were twisted shut and his face was sweaty and pale.
“He is in too much pain!” Thea started after them, but a woman pinned her with a hard look.
“Go and help the kid get the girl. We will get him out of here.”
Thea balled her hands into fists, but she did as she was told. They had to get out of here or Harvey would die. The young boy from earlier was over wrestling with the chains holding the girl. There was a lot of blood on his hand, and he was trembling all over. At first Thea thought it might be an injury but very quickly she realised he must have been the one to stab the guard. His gaze kept flicking to the dead man, face down in the grass.
Shaking off her feeling of unease Thea slammed the machete into the thin chains once more and they broke with a satisfying clunk.
The girl dashed after the fleeing group and Thea fell into step beside her. The kid was a few paces behind, and Thea waited for him every few steps. They got to the brow of the hill. Once they were over they would be out of the guards’ line of sight. Lungs burning and heart beating almost out of her chest Thea pushed on. She was nearly there when she heard a cry from behind her. Slowly she threw a look over her shoulder. The kid was on his knees, trying to scramble back to his feet, almost hidden in the long grass. He was thrashing around in such panic that he could hardly stand. Thea went back for him, taking his tiny hand in hers and pulling him up to standing.
A crack like thunder broke the air and the boy jerked and went completely rigid. The blue of his eyes seemed to dim as his mouth fell open. One gasp passed his lips before he was falling forward into Thea’s arms. He was so light that she didn’t even stagger as she caught him. Dampness seeped onto her arm as she wrapped it around him, trying to force him to his feet again. Vision blurry behind tears and body shaking too hard to control, Thea pulled him as far up the hill as she could manage. There was no beating in his chest anymore, but she told herself that was only because he was hurt. She was imagining the worst and he would be fine once they got back to camp. Bullets stabbed into the ground around her, but she had managed to get far enough away for their aim to be impaired. A metallic stench surrounded her, and she couldn’t breathe. The little body in her arms got heavier with every step. Once she managed to get over the top of the hill and to the other side she dropped to the ground, the grass soft beneath her as she folded over the boy who wasn’t breathing.
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