The First Lost Girl

Chapter Twenty-Four: Kill

Felix's P.O.V.
I didn't know what to do for Rufio. I knew she didn't want to kill, but I didn't have time to talk to her or Pan about it. I couldn't do anything about it.
We all got in our groups and set out to our appointed positions.
It was a clearing that was surrounded by tall trees. The branches were positioned so that if you sat in them, you were shielded from sight. Outsiders couldn't see you, but you could see them. And that's why this was the perfect place for Pan's trap.
We climbed up into different trees around the clearing. I couldn't see where Rufio was from where I was sitting. I wasn't sure if she was in the tree beside me or in the tree on the opposite side of me.
I wondered what she would do...

Rufio's P.O.V.
I couldn't think right. All I remember is getting to the clearing and seeing the other boys climb trees, so I did the same. I found a good position behind a bunch of leafy branches. I perched on a branch, making sure I kept my legs up with me and not dangling in the air.
The silence of the jungle helped to clear my mind and I began to think clearly.
What was I going to do? I was supposed to kill the Pirates, or Pan's plan would fail.
I wish I had had more time to talk to Felix about it, maybe he could have talked to Pan. Where was Felix?
I peeked out from behind the leaves of the tree I was in to look around at the others. I couldn't see anyone. They were all hidden in the trees.
"Felix?" I whispered.
If he had heard me he wouldn't of had the chance to respond because just then, I heard shouting coming from the distance. Mixture of boy and man. The shouting got louder and I could now see the group of pirates coming this way, with the boys close on their tail. Arrows were zooming past the group of men, getting stuck in the thick wood of nearby trees. I held back a gasp. My heart started beating louder and quicker as they neared. About thirty-five men, against the five of us archers.
Take down as many as you can. Pan's voice came back to me. Take them down. Kill them. That's what he meant. Kill.
The Pirates were entering the clearing now. I could see all of them. Some of them were already shot. The poison from the arrow tips was in their bloodstream. They would die.
These men who had families. I felt tears stinging my eyes as I watched them. They were scared. Even Captain Jones seemed to have a bit of wariness in his eyes.
"Fire archers!" Pan yelled as he ran into the clearing with the boys. Arrows whizzed by from the trees, their owners seeming to be invisible. Almost every arrow struck its mark. I saw men falling everywhere. Five, now ten men were down. But there were still enough to outnumber us. I rose my bow. My hands were trembling. I couldn't do this. Fifteen men were down but the others were standing strong. The plan would fail.
"Archers to the ground!" Pan ordered. He was in hand to hand combat with a pirate, as the rest of the lost boys were. I began to climb down, unsheathing my knife when I reached the ground.
I could see Felix now. He made eye contact with me before yelling:
"Rufio look out!"
I turned in time to catch a pirate's blade with my own. The sudden attack surprised me so that I couldn't react in time when the man kicked me to the ground. I lost grip of my knife and it flew out of my reach. The man lifted his sword and started to swing down but Felix erupted into the scene, blocking the man's strike and forcing him back.
"Don't touch her." He growled at him. The man stumbled backwards as Felix advanced on him. He tried his best at blocking each of Felix's strikes, but Felix was too fast for him. The man faltered and Felix went for the kill. Unfortunately, when I say he went for the kill he actually did. He forced his knife into the man's stomach and we both cried out. Him in pain and I in distress. I ran to him as he fell to the ground.
"Rufio no!" Felix yelled but I was already at his side.
I looked at the cut in his side and covered my mouth to keep from crying out again.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" I told the man. I looked at his face, which was writhed in pain. Once he saw me the expression of pain was replaced with anger and he lunged forward, sword in hand.
But before he reached me, Felix jerked me away by the hood of my cloak and he finished the man off before I could stop him.
"No!" I cried. But it was too late. He stabbed the man through the chest, more than likely hitting his heart. He didn't move again.
"Felix what have you done?!"
"I killed him before he killed you that's what." Felix growled, staring at the man's lifeless body in disgust.
I didn't know how to respond. I couldn't say anything.
"Don't you see Rufio?" He said looking down at me. "That is a pirate. You were coming to help him and still he tried to kill you." I looked up at him with a new realization. He was right. The man had tried to kill me when I came to his aid. Why would he do that?
"Look around princess." I did as he said. Several men were lying on the ground, lifeless, either with a knife or arrow wound in each of them.
"These are pirates."
Each lost boy had busied himself with a pirate, but still the Pirates outnumbered them.
"They kill for no reason."
I heard a boy cry out in pain and looked over to see Devin grab his side, where a pirate had stabbed him.
"And these pirates just happened to cross our path."
Anger boiled inside me at seeing one of the boys hurt by the enemy.
"We have to kill them before they kill us."
Devin fell to his knees.
"Kill." I repeated, glaring at the man. I stood up, pulling an arrow from my quiver and notching it into my bow.
"Before they kill us." I aimed and loosed the bow just as the man was about to strike him down.
"You stay away from him!" I yelled, aiming another arrow. The man grabbed his shoulder, where the arrow tip had embedded in his skin.
"Back away! Now!"
He glared at me and pulled out his sword, not heeding my warning. I shot the second arrow, this time aiming at his hand. He cried out in pain as the arrow struck its mark, making him drop his sword. I advanced on him.
"I warned you, but now you've done it." I heard someone growl. I thought that the voice was mine at first, but it wasn't. It was the monster inside me finally coming out to play. The monster that I had kept inside all my life. The monster I kept at bay whenever someone made me angry, or caused me pain. It had grown stronger and stronger over the years, and I had weakened in the past minute, when the pirate had hurt Devin. And in that moment, the monster had escaped.