Fear. Fear was the emotion that flooded Katerina’s swelling eyes, fear for her life and for Declan’s. The sting of tears burned her eyes, and her lip quivered as droplets began to trickle down her cheek. Katerina scowled and shook her head vigorously – she couldn’t let her wet tear touch the tanned tattooed skin of the man that clutched tightly onto her. As she began to move he squeezed her tighter, and Katerina whimpered out a muffled squeal, certain that this man was making bruises on her skin. But when Katerina gazed into Declan’s gentle emerald eyes, she saw how completely different they were to her eyes. They remained calm – peaceful like undisturbed water. How is he this calm? He has three guns pointing to his head. Katerina thought hysterically, still struggling in the grasp of her kidnapper, why isn’t he doing anything? Wasn’t he supposed to be useful for things like this?
“Get the fuck up pirate!” one of the men spat, tilting his rifle closer to Declan’s skin.
Declan raised an eyebrow at him, and shifted his body away from the mouth of the gun. “How about,” Declan coolly exclaimed, with his arms still calmly raised beside his head, “ya kindly move ya gun from out of me face. I’ll have room to stand then.”
“Just get the fuck up you fucking Irish cocksucker!”
“That ain’t that nice.”
“Believe me pirate! I will put a fucking bullet in your brain! Get the fuck up!”
“Alright, alright.”
Declan sighed and slowly began rising to his feet. The man that he spoke to a second ago, was boiling with rage. His eyebrows arched harshly above his eyes and his mouth tautened, with the corners of his lips curling up into a snarl. The veins in his neck and arms were pulsing harshly against his skin that had turned pink from his anger. Declan peered at him but quickly looked away again, biting down on his tongue to hold in his laughter. What was he doing?
“Is that all of you? Are the anymore of your kind lurking about?” The same angered man hissed, pointing his gun closer to Declan, with the mouth of his gun grazing against his neck – Katerina was shocked to see that he still remained so calm. How did he do it?
“Do ya see anyone else about lad?”
Katerina stiffened - she could feel a horrid lump growing in her throat. What is he doing? Her thoughts screamed, with her fingers tightly coiling around the tattoo arm swathed around her. What the fuck is he doing? He’s going to get killed. We’re going to get killed! What the fuck is he doing? Why can’t he just shut the fuck up?
The men snickered to each other – surrounding Declan like a pack of vicious hyenas in the wild. Wild animals is what they were. They had seized Katerina and Declan like wild monsters right out of a story book. Katerina couldn’t believe what was happening. She was supposed to be somewhere safe. Away from all of this. Away from danger. She should have known something like this would spring up. She was away from Vaas, thus away from any safety she had. If Vaas was here, this would never have happened. Vaas would have put a bullet in their skulls by now. She would have been safe with Vaas.
The last thing she witnessed was the pink-faced man from before suddenly smash the side of his rifle against the back of Declan’s head, knocking him unconscious onto the floor. Katerina winced, shrieking to the horrific thud of Declan’s skull, but before she could blink the same was done to her. She lay there, in the mud, with her ears ringing. She couldn’t hear anything but the annoying buzzing sounds and echoes of sirens ringing through her ear drums. She couldn’t lift her head and she couldn’t move. All she could see was a daunting pair of shoes in her direct view. She glared at them with dread, until everything went black.
“Wake up sweetheart! It’s morning!”
The blinding white light raced into Katerina’s pupils and she flinched her body, squinting her eyes until she felt that her body had adjusted to the vivid unnatural light in the room she was in. Where was she? She scanned around frantically and tried to move her arms and legs, so that she could leap to her feet and make desperate a run for it. Though her movements only made her topple over, sending her harshly crashing onto her ribcage with a hard thud onto the rigid floor. She squirmed her body, but scowled, sensing that horrible familiar burn around her wrists and ankles. She wriggled her body again, testing the coils of sandpaper rope that was swathed around her wrists and feet. Her body lurched on the floor as she thrashed her body, pulling at her arms awkwardly, trying to move her arms that were tied behind her back.
“Hey! Hey!” she heard someone snap, with a vicious spark to their tone of voice. Katerina stopped writhing her body and glanced up to the man that spoke. She was greeted with a pair of trainers, then, as her eyes trailed upwards, a knee, then a chest, a neck and a face. The man kneeled beside her, swaying a dagger in his fingers, gawking at her with ravenous eyes. He was quite full in the face and his eyes were very small with dark circles beneath them. Katerina noted how bad his skin was – blotchy, and riven with small scars and burns. He gave a smile, but Katerina knew it was not friendly, it was cold, and startling, as if deep behind his fake grin, he was delivering a warning.
“Listen bitch,” he laughed, still smiling that wicked grin. Katerina would have smacked it off his face if her hands weren’t tied with the maiming knots of rope. Still showing that grin, he continued “you try and get out of these ropes, you try and escape and I will break your legs, got it?”
Katerina expected a familiar emotion to shudder its way up her body. But a new emotion boiled within her, anger. She was tired of being pushed around, and she would not be pushed around by this prick. “Fuck you!” she spat, glaring into his dark empty eyes, with an angered scowl.
“Yep,” he chuckled, glancing over his shoulder and picking himself up. “You’re right!” he called, but to whom Katerina did not know, “she is one of them.”
“Fuckin’ told you.” a man replied.
Katerina lifted her head and glanced around her, with her eyes darting in all directions, frantically scanning the room she was confined in. She had been dumped in an old grimy shack that smelt of mud and sweat. There was only one door – a small dark metal door with a rusted door handle – and no windows. The only light that was supplied to the room was from the one light bulb that swung from the ceiling. There was nothing in the shack but piles and more piles of boxes that were messily littered the room. Katerina began scanning the room more anxiously. Where was Declan? Where was he? What had they done to him?
“Shall we take her for interrogation?” one man shakily asked the other. Katerina squirmed to the word. Interrogation. She shuddered to the sound. She dared to imagine what the hidden meaning behind that word was. What sort of unspeakable acts would take place during Interrogation? She shuddered again, and wriggled her body on the ground, hauling her arms and legs towards her chest.
“Hey! Quit your struggling!” the man who addressed her before snapped, smashing his foot against the ground.
“Bite me motherfucker!” Katerina barked back, still tugging her arms and legs and grinding her teeth together as she rocked her body on the floor. Her body jolted to the thunderous thuds of a stamping foot on the wooden floor, getting closer to her. An eruption of pain tugged at the back of her skull, and she squealed as her body was yanked further and further away from the ground. Her body stopped moving once she was on her knees, with the burning sting still pricking at the back of her head. She shivered to the hot sensation of warm breath scratching against her neck. “Do. Not. Antagonise me! Girl!” the man viciously growled, tugging abruptly at her hair strands. She couldn’t help but slip another yelp as the man yanked at her hair, intensifying the nipping sting at the back of her skull. The man gave a chilling hiss before he dropped her, sending her to tumble onto the ground, crashing onto her chest and cheek with a thump.
Katerina jumped to a loud slam, the echo bounced off the wooden walls and crates. She snapped her head up quickly – her face felt damp and warm. Her eyes scanned to the floor and she noticed splashes of blood where her head had whacked onto the floor. Blood trickled from her check and splashed onto the wooden ground. The splashes seemed so loud, and they echoed around the shack she was in and rang in her ears, sounding similar to a cow bell or a wind chime. Great, she mused with a grunt, looks like the wound on my cheek will never heal.
Being alone, she quickly sat up, roughly tugging her arms and legs once again. She groaned and grunted as she pulled and pulled again, wincing as the sting on her skin became stronger, and burned deeper into her skin. She stopped, panting and glancing over her shoulder to glimpse at her wrists. The ropes were doused with what seemed like blood, and her skin glowed red. Once she stopped moving the sting burned at her skin, scratching away at her like an animal. She gritted her teeth and turned her head, peering down to examine her ankles. They glowed red too, but didn’t seem to bleed as much as her wrists did, but god did it hurt her! It stung like a million bites of an insect or pricks of a nettle or thorn. She squirmed her body, her face scrunching and wincing every time the rope lanced at her seared skin. How was she going to get out of this?
It wasn’t long before the door was kicked open, stridently clashing against the wall as it rapidly swung ajar. Katerina jerked her body, leaning back on her knees with her head bowed to the floor. She heard the clatter of shoes stamping like elephants against the floorboards, then she sound of a loud thump and a groan. She scowled at the cluster of snickers that echoed in the room. “We’ll come back for you girl!” someone growled with an evil chuckle, slamming the door behind them as they left.
Katerina finally looked up, flicking her tangled hair over her shoulder. On the floor lay a familiar face. Declan. But Katerina frowned to the sight of him. She gawked at him with pity, studying his beaten face that looked agonizingly painful. His whole face had turned red and purple with his swollen eyes that could hardly be opened, and his cheek that was like a red balloon with purple blotches flecked on it. His eyes were closed, with his body motionless. Katerina worried that he might be dead but the loud, heavy breathing proved otherwise. She found herself shuffling closer to him, kneeling beside his head sulking and whimpering beside him. She wanted to comfort him, feed him words of solace or stroke his hair. But she couldn’t, she couldn’t move her hands and she couldn’t bring her trembling lips to move. It was Declan, who spoke first.
“Kat?” he croaked, hardly able to move his lips or let out enough breath to speak. His words were just a low rumble in his throat.
“Yes?” she whispered back to him, sniffling and holding back the tears that stung her eyes.
“Don’t… don’t say nothin’. Nothin’! Tell em’….”
“Declan what….”
“Tell em’ you were kidnapped. Okay? Tell em’ the truth. But ya don’t know nothin’.”
“Are they going to kill you?” Her words became more hysterical, and tears began to stream from her eyes, splashing onto the floor beside Declan’s face.
“Ya have nothin’ to tell. You’ve been kidnapped.”
“What about Vaas, he’ll come…”
“Ya know nothin’, okay? Act like ya know nothin’.”
She sniffled, nodding and shuffling away from him. Why wouldn’t he let her speak? Why did she have to put on an act? How dangerous where these men? Where was Vaas? Why hadn’t he come?
Katerina shuddered to the horrid creak that grumbled in the shack, and she quickly wiped the tears from her cheek onto her shoulder – smearing blood on her arm in the process. The same man that spoke to Katerina with that wicked laugh, and the horrid snarl with the evil hiss, stood in the doorway, waving at Katerina as she glanced up to glare at him.
“Your turn missy,” he hissed, as he marched over to Katerina, clicking his fists as he came closer to her. Katerina could feel the quickening of her heart, it made her sick – she wanted to vomit. This was fear. She knew she was going to come back out looking like Declan, or worse. Worse still, she may not come out. What if she died? What if he was going to kill her?
As he came closer she shuffled backwards, squealing between her gritted teeth and falling to her back. She kicked her legs as he hovered over her, snickering as he roughly clutched her arm and hauled her to her feet. He seized her chin and squeezed it with his finger and thumb – Katerina snarled, spitting in the man’s face with a growl. He snarled, wiping the saliva from his face with his thumb. He then snickered and flung Katerina over his shoulder, tossing her in the air like a lifeless doll, slapping her across the ass once she was hurdled over his arm. Katerina squealed, thrashing her legs against his chest and rocketing her body against his body, but the man held her tight, laughing as he carried her out of the shack into a different one.
She felt the pain rushing up her back and through her legs, her muscles throbbing and tightening as she lay on the floor – the air knocked out of her once lobbed to the ground. She felt another burning pain across her cheek and along her jaw, and her head swung to the side, hurting her neck as it quickly twisted. She could feel a handprint forming on her skin - feel the finger marks burning her cheek. The man stood above her, crouching so that he was to her level.
“So, you wanna’ tell me where you’re holding up? Eh?” the man growled, his face nearly colliding with hers. “Where your boss is?”
“Boss?”
Without warning, he slapped her again, crashing his palm against the other side of her face. Her head swung the other way with quick motion, and she yelped, feeling and hearing the horrid click in her neck and suffering the lancing pain on the other side of her face. She spat out droplets of blood on the floor and coughed, chocking on her own breath that she struggled to take in.
“Don’t fuck with me bitch!”
“F…fuck you!”
Again his hand collided against her skin, this time with added force. Katerina yelped and collapsed to the floor, crashing her ribcage onto the ground and scuffing her cheek across the rough floorboards. She coughed into the floor and buried her face in the ground, spluttering out sobs and letting tear droplets flood her throbbing skin. Her squeals rang through the shack and quietly echoed outside as the wicked man yanked her up by grabbing a fistful of her hair.
“Tell me where it is!” he screamed, roaring down her ear – still tightly clutching onto a clump of her hair.
Katerina shuddered as the whimpers continued to slip from her bloody mouth, “I don’t know anything!” she cried out, stuttering on her whines and squeezing her wet eyelids tightly shut – preparing herself for another blow. That other blow surely came, as the man soon delivered another callous clout to her face with an added roar, sending her to tumble to the floor once again with more blood trickling down her skin that was now glowing red.
“Lair!” he bellowed, his voice seeping with ferocity, now standing up and raking his fingertips through his damp brown hair.
Katerina whimpered, curling her body into a ball. “G…go to hell!” she spat, spitting out more blood onto the floor. The man growled, and Katerina squealed. Coughing and wheezing hysterically, crying from the unbearable pain in her stomach after receiving a cruel boot to her gut. The man had kicked her so hard that she thought she was seeing stars in the dark room she was trapped inside. Her stomach felt like it was going to collapse, and her ribcage felt like it was tremoring inside of her. Her stomach turned and twisted – now she thought she was going to vomit. She tried to call for help, but only air would escape her lips. Yet again, that sting lanced at her eyes, and soon they were swelling with tears. Why did this had to happen to her? For the first time, all she wanted was to go home. The comfort of her bed, the safety of being inside her own home. Where no one would harm her physically. Where people were good. Her body quivered on the floor and she wept, like a child, digging her head into the floorboards and letting her tears drown her and saturate the floor. One more blow, one more blow and she was sure it would be the end of her.
The man went to kick her again but his boot stopped mid-air – beside her chest. Katerina wailed quietly, scrunching her face and squinting her eyes. Her body flinched to the tiniest of movements. She couldn’t bare it. She couldn’t take another blow.
“You’re needed.” She heard someone grunt – she opened one eye and saw a small man standing in the doorway. The light that speckled into the room blinded her, and stung her eyes and wounded skin.
“I’m a little busy, can’t you see?” the man grunted back, slowly lowering his foot back to the floor.
“You’re needed.”
A low growl seeped from his lips. Katerina winced at the sound of his shoe scuffing against the wooden floorboards, and her body jerked once the door was slammed shut. Why did this have to happen to her? What had she done?
Come on Kat, she mused to herself, slowly and shakily lifting her beaten body off of the ground so that she rested on her knees, you need to get up. You need to try. You can do it! You have to get up. You can’t die here. Every movement she made sent a tremor of excruciating pain to shiver its way up her body, cruelly wrenching at her muscles and scratching away at her skin. She felt that if she was to stand, she would only crumble to the floor again, collapsing into a big lump of broken mess. Though, it wasn’t like she could stand anyway – her hands and feet were still tangled with rope.
No. She had to try, she had to try and escape this. What was the point in waiting around to be killed? That wasn’t who she was! She was a fighter! From the first day she set foot on this island she fought her way through it, fighting the pirate lord himself. She bit him! Bit Vaas! She couldn’t believe she had done that, but she still did, and then she escaped from him – clambered out of his tiny window and skulked her way through his camp. No one found her, she revealed herself! She remembered how she had even killed someone. She had attacked a trained man, who was twice the size of her, and she won, killing the brute in the process. She would not sit gnawing at her cheek, glaring at the door awaiting the moment where the monster would barge his way back in to inflict more and more pain onto her – smashing her into pieces until there was nothing left of her. No, she would not allow that to happen. She would fight. She would not make it easy for him. She was a fighter! She was a survivor!
“Right, how am I getting out of here?” Katerina asked herself, once again trying to haul her stinging bleeding wrists out of the maiming knots of coarse rope. She could try this all day – she wasn’t getting out of the ropes without someone or something to help her. Biting onto her lip she quickly scanned around the dark tiny room she was in – holding back the tears that pricked at her eyes, as every twitch, every movement, sent a rush of pain to rip at her body. “Fuck!” she yapped aloud, tugging at her arms again – her face dripping with sweat and blood.
Katerina squinted her eyes, shielding her pupils from the white glimmering light that jabbed at her pupils. But, the door was not open, and there were no windows and hardly again light coming from the dim light bulb that dangled from the cobwebbed riven ceiling. Where was it coming from? What was it? She fidgeted on the floor, whipping her head side to side in a frantic motion, scanning her eyes desperately around the hazy room for whatever caught her eye. In the corner of the room, a wondrous silver object glistened and Katerina let out a sigh of relief, and tears trickled down her cheek as she shuffled closer to what seemed to be some sort of screwdriver.
Her teeth gnawed down onto her lip so harshly that she drew blood, tears brimming her eye lashes as she scuffled her body closer to the corner. Each movement made her body scream. She wanted to stop. She wanted to allow her body to plummet onto the floor and remain there lifeless and still, but she couldn’t allow that – she had to get out; she was focusing on her survival now. She couldn’t rely on anyone to save her; she had to rely on herself. Vaas had abandoned her, left her to rot. She had to save herself.
Katerina leaned her body back and fiddled around for the screwdriver that was lobbed in the corner. Her tongue stuck out from the side of her mouth as she stretched out her fingers, scratching at the floorboards and rummaging her fingers around the floor. At last her fingers coiled around the object she needed so badly, and she grinned, laughing with ease as she panted heavily – her body thriving with agony. Though she knew she couldn’t stop, and bit down onto her lip again, twisting the screwdriver in her hand and using it to slice the rope. She quickly began to move her wrist up and down but stopped, squealing with her mouth tightly shut, dropping the screwdriver onto the floor in the process. The agonizing sting lanced at her wrist, and she growled at the warm wet sensation trickling down her hand. She bit onto her tongue and tried again. This time proved successful and at last she could move her throbbing wrists. She grimaced at the sight of them – seared, bruised and saturated in warm blood that continued to dribble down her hand. But there was no time to dwell in self-pity – there was no telling when the monster would stalk his way back in.
After untying the knots from around her ankles, Katerina sluggishly stumbled to her feet, but after balancing on them for just a second she soon toppled to the ground again, crashing onto her stomach. She let out a groan, rubbing her cheek on the floor and letting her hair fall over her face, covering her like a blanket. Her arms quivered violently as she pushed herself from the floor. She moved as quickly as she could possible move, treading one foot in front of the other with care but with haste. There was only one way she could do this, and that was to rush out of the door and slunk her way around the back of the shack so that she was out of view. She could only hope that she would escape unseen. Hopefully luck would be on her side.
She took in one breath, and held it in her lungs, as she slowly shoved the door open with the tips of her fingers. She kept the screwdriver hidden in her back pocket – this was the only protection she had, and no one was going to take it from her. Her tongue raced across her lip, snapping up speckles of blood, as she peered outside with a grimace. Luck was on her side – no one was there.
She had one chance, this one moment to sneak out quickly, and run, run and never look back. She had to go, and she had to go now. She took in another breath and sneaked through the doorway, leaving it ajar as she left it. Her body remained low – staying in a stone like crouch as she limped away from the door. She couldn’t risk being out in the open, so instead she slunk her way towards a cluster of lush bushes beside the shack. The hot sticky air clung to Katerina’s damp skin, latching onto her like an illness. Why did it have to be so hot? Plus, dragging her feet across the ground was a strenuous, excruciating task to carry out – she thought that her body was going to crumble into pieces at any moment. She wanted to stop. She wanted to stop so badly.
Declan! She forgot about the gentle Irish pirate. Could she really leave him to die? He was so kind to her, he was like a brother – a friend. He was the only person she had spoken to besides Vaas. How could she leave him to die? Die here? She didn’t have it in her to do that, she wasn’t stone, and she wasn’t impassive, not yet. But how would she help him?
The familiar shrill explosions of gunshots trembled through the air, and they got louder and louder by the second. Katerina’s gut tightened and twisted – she could feel butterflies flutter in her stomach. She moved the leaves with her fingers and peered out from the bush – she couldn’t see a thing.
“Fuckers!” she heard a man scream chaotically outside with a jovial tone to his voice – it was like he was enjoying it. “Think you can fuck with me, eh? Who’s laughing now?”
That man, she knew that man, she knew that voice – that familiar soothing voice, which was like music to her hears. It was chaotic, it was loud…. It was Vaas. Who else would it have been? He came! He actually came! She could feel her body sink into the ground – she felt her stomach drop and sink deeper and deeper inside of her. Tears teemed her eyelashes. She was so relieved. She couldn’t believe that was him. Vaas was here.
More gunshots echoed in the air, with that horrid clatter of howls and screams. Again she heard Vaas speak, she was so happy to hear the sweet sound of his voice. “You fuckers thought you were being smart,” he screamed, his voice bouncing with jest, but with added anger grumbling in his throat, “look where it got you. Look where it fuckin’ got you!” “I’m taking back my camp and my men, by taking your camp and your people! Destruction! It’s a price you must pay!”
Smash! Katerina felt the sudden thump of her head smash against the ground – her ears chimed; she was certain that she could see stars in the daylight. Her throbbing body dragged along the ground – the grass scratched at her skin, wickedly nipping at her body as she was hauled roughly out of the bush that clawed at her face and yanked at her hair strands. She squealed, raking her fingertips through the mud as she was lugged out into the open. Just as she feared – that same horrid monster crouched above her, clutching onto her hair as he lay above her as she laid on her stomach.
“How the fuck did you get out?” he spat, tugging viciously at her hair as he hissed on her neck. She shivered from the warm repulsive breath that reeked off tobacco and beer. The alcohol that swamped her when she was with Vaas smelt like cologne compared to this horrid creature above her. With one quick movement of his hand he swiftly flipped her around so that she toppled onto her back, laying with her head submerged in the grass as she peered up to look at him. His hand came down on her, hitting her with brutal force on her cheek, in which she screamed and kicked her legs as she thrashed her body.
“I’m going to kill you!” he growled, laughing as he grabbed her wrists, “and I’m going to do it slowly. Look at me, I should have been a pirate, because I’m enjoying this.”
“No!” Katerina screeched, rocketing her body on the floor – adrenaline pumping through her blood – and screaming at the top of her lungs. “Get the fuck off of me!”
Somehow she managed to slip her hand away from his grasp, but instead his hand dove for her neck, in which his grimy fingers coiled around her skin, shoving her head into the ground as he squeezed her tightly. She could feel the air from her lungs fading, and she knew that colour in her face was being drained by the second. But she would not give up! She refused to die by his hand! With her last breath she rummaged through her back pocket, grasping onto the screwdriver that she stashed away, and with all her strength she plunged the tip of the screwdriver into the monsters waist. He let out a thunderous growl, darting away from her, with blood trickling down onto her bare stomach – for some reason her top had shrivelled up to her chest, exposing the bottom part of her breast.
She shuffled away quickly, coughing and wheezing and still clutching tightly onto her weapon – no one was going to take it from her. No one. She waved it in the air, clutching onto it with both hands. He was enraged. His eyes looked as if they were going to pop out from his skull – she could feel the heat radiating from his incensed body. Her heart jerked in her ribcage, and the blood rushed to her head with the adrenaline still flowing through her veins. She managed to stumble to her feet, giving a snarl as she incited him to make a move. She could no longer feel the pain shiver its way through her body, it wasn’t there anymore. She wanted this. She wanted to fight this man. She wanted to kill him. He deserved to die.
“Come on you fucking piece of shit!” Katerina barked, crouching with a daring predatory manner. Who was this girl? “Let’s see if you have dick? Come on fucker! Give me your best shot! See how much of a man you are!”
“I’m going to enjoy this!”
“So am I!”
He made the first move, darting towards her like a wild lunatic animal. She grinned and swivelled her body away from him, slashing him with her weapon as he lunged past her. His groans echoed through the air, with his blood oozing to the floor and smearing on his clothes. She felt like a wolf, wild and untamed - fresh out the pride, hungry for the first kill. She knew she could do this. She felt it within her. The fire within her burning, growing and growing with power and humidity. She was dangerous. She felt dangerous. She grinned and goaded the confused brute on. He gave a snarl and lunged for her again, rushing towards her with his giant paws raised above him. This time he got her, knocking her to the floor. But this wasn’t the end. She grunted, and swiftly rolled away from him, leaping to her feet and charging at him with a growl. She ripped the skin in his chest with her screwdriver, digging her weapon into his flesh with great satisfaction, growling and howling as she smashed her foot against his ribcage, and harshly smashed her heel against his shin. He stumbled backwards moaning, gasping for breath as she continued to strike him with her fists, feet and screwdriver. She pounced towards him, stabbing her weapon into his shoulder with a bark. He wailed with fury, reaching up and snatching a clump of her hair, dragging her down to floor with her squealing.
He began laughing, Katerina glared at him with a snarl. “Now,” he chuckled, with a low growl rumbling in his throat, “You’re going die. I’m going to kill you, just like I did to your fucking Irish friend.”
“You didn’t. You lie.”
“No. He’s dead, and your next.”
He continued to chuckle, his grin widening, stretching to his cheek. Katerina’s face boiled, her eyebrows arching over her eyes and her nose scrunching up on her face. She scowled, gritting her teeth and growling like the vicious wolf within her. She stuck the screwdriver in his mouth, resting it on his tongue, and he froze, his eyes growing wide and flooding with dread. “You’re wrong, you’re the one who is dead.”
He squealed and went to dart to his feet but he was too late. Katerina sliced her weapon across to the side of his mouth, ripping it through his flesh, slicing up and up and up until she reached the top of his cheek, in which she pulled her weapon out again. He wailed, blood seeping from his mouth and drenching his clothes, and before he could look up to react Katerina plunged the screwdriver into his chest, again and again and again, screaming with tears splashing from her eyes.
She didn’t take the screwdriver out. She just watched as he collapsed to the floor, crashing onto the ground like a sack of flour. She could feel her lip tremble as she watched the pool of blood ooze from his body. Was he telling the truth… about Declan?
She sluggishly shuffled her feet across the grass, slowly turning her body around – feeling that horrific rush of agonising pain tug at every body part and score her skin. She glanced up, slowly raising her head and then she stopped – stopped moving, stopped breathing even. In front of her was him, glaring with wide eyes filled with shock as he glared at her, then at the body on the floor. Vaas. He was here. He came closer, his jaw dropped and his hand rushed to her body. What was wrong? Katerina glared at him, her eyebrows raised in confusion. His body was so close to hers. He smelt so sweet, and she wanted to keep him close forever. The pain seemed to flush out of her body when he was near. He glanced down to her stomach and back up to her face - a dreaded grimace drowned his face. Was he worried? Why was he worried? She was safe now. But suddenly she felt as if she couldn’t breathe – she was choking on her own breath. Her gut tugged painfully, and her lungs strained and tightened. The very air made her dizzy and she felt as if her world was spinning. She felt something wet ooze down her leg, and looked down to herself seeping with blood. She never realised that he hand was clutching the bottom of her stomach, and when she moved it away she seen how it was red and dripping with her blood. She gasped for breath and glanced down, tears trickling down her cheek and onto her breast. She tapped the blade that was plunged into her stomach then felt herself falling. She panted and sobbed in Vaas’ arms as she felt herself slipping away. She didn’t want to die. She couldn’t! Not now. She wanted to speak, tell Vaas that she think she loved him. Tell him something but nothing would slip from her lips. More and more blood seeped out from her flesh, until everything went black with her body as still as stone.