Till Death Do Us Part

Chapter 18 Me or Him?

Karolynn is bigger than me, stronger than me, and way better at fighting than me. She ends up pinning me on the ground, but I see the knife and frantically try to get away from it. I twist beneath her and claw at her with my free hand. I'm laying on my backpack awkwardly and it's restricting my movement. I should have taken it off, but it's too late now.

She shoves me back onto the ground hard, using her weight against me, and my head hits the ground. It doesn't hurt a lot, but my backpack is arching my back and I think the canteen is stabbing me. She holds my arms down with her knees and I see the knife jerk toward my chest.

Suddenly, she flies off me to the side. I scramble up and grab the knife I dropped on the ground. I see Levy jump back away from Karolynn and attack Dylan again. I scramble away, feverishly trying to get the straps of the backpack off my back. I'm so scared right now I don't care how wet my pants are. I clumsily attempt to get up after the backpack releases my arms.

She starts to get up and I scurry backwards in a furious attempt to get away from my adversary. She has something in her hand. She swings her arm and I see the whip snap toward me. It hits my upper arm. I yell and crawl away backwards. My arm stings and she snaps it toward me again. I am completely at her mercy as I try to get away and she follows me. Again and again the whip bites my neck, my face, my arms, my legs, anything. It wraps around my neck and she tries to pull it back, but I am jerked forward. I can't breathe and I claw at my neck, trying to get it off. She pulls on it, but it isn't helping; it's hurting. My lungs are begging for air and, in an effort to stop her pulling, I launch myself at her. Surprisingly, I still have the knife in my hand and I attack her. I feel the knife connect with flesh, and my mind throws me back to the sound of the arrow cutting into Nicole.

She throws me off of her with a yell of pain as the knife is pulled out of her side. I find my footing and we face each other, breathing hard. One of her hands is pressed against her side. My face stings from the whip and I feel it swelling.

Karolynn swings the whip at my head and my left hand instinctively protects my face. I give a scream of pain as it cuts through the fabric of the jacket and grab the whip before she can tear it lose. I yank on it, but I am not strong enough to pull it from her grasp. Instead, it takes me closer to her and we are locked together. I feel it biting into my arm but try to ignore the pain and propel the knife at her. She blocks it with her arm and knees me in the stomach. I double over by reflex and she punches my throat. My air is cut off for a second and I cough. She shoves me down to the ground and the whip comes off my arm.

She moves her foot to kick me and I move my uninjured arm in the way. The knife I forgot was in my hand cuts her ankle and her foot hits my wrist. She looses her balance and falls over. I jump at her again and aim the knife at her heart. She blocks it, but I keep stabbing. She grabs my wrist and squeezes some kind of pressure point. I drop the knife and it hits her chest. She yells and blood stains her shirt where the knife hit. It's not deep but the smell of fresh hot blood churns my stomach. She holds both of my wrists. I bring my head down and hit her chest where the wound is as hard as I can. I feel the hot, sticky blood on my forehead and feel nauseous. She screams and loosens her hold on my arms. I pull away and grab the knife. She reaches for me, but I bring the knife down on her throat. Blood splashes out onto my hands and she pushes me off of her. She lays on the ground, choking, and a stream of blood comes out of her mouth. I can't look away, though I want to. I watch her body cease its twitching and her eyes grow still, frozen in the panicked look she had for the last seconds. The blood barely trickles out of her mouth.

She's dead.

I rise to my hands and knees and retch until everything in my stomach and what feels like my intestines are on the ground in front of me. The foul liquid stains my mouth and I cough a few times. I look at her body and vomit again. My stomach contracts so hard I could swear it wants to kill me. This time, only acid comes up. I squeeze my eyes closed and try to remove the picture from my mind. I'm shaking.