A guttural, wet groan came from behind me. I flipped around to see the creature pulling his body toward where I stood, and the fear came rushing over me. The pounding heart. The sweaty palms. The millions of cells inside of me that flared alive. But I didn’t have time for any of it. I had to fight.
I looked around at my father’s men, but none made a move to help me. “I don’t get you. Any of you,” I yelled, scurrying away from the creature. I had the advantage of speed, but that was about it. “You walk around like you have all the answers, but if you did, then why are our women still dying? Why do we have to hide away in the woods, praying that they won’t find us? You don’t know how to fix this world because there’s no fixing it. This is all just about power. That’s why you hate the council. Not because of what they took from us, but because you weren’t smart enough to take it first!”
“Don’t think that thing won’t tear you limb from limb. He gets ahold of a leg and you’re done for. How long can you run around that pen till you get tired?” my father asked, ignoring my tirade. “He’ll never get tired. That’s the way he’s been made. He’s an exterminator. And there are two ways to take him down—the heart and the head. But you got no gun. So, what do you do?”
I had no gun. I wouldn’t be able to take him out with my fists alone. I continued to move around the perimeter of the fenced-in cage, searching the ground for something, anything to use. A large rock lay just outside of the post. If I lay down, I might be able to reach it.
“It’s a risk,” my father called out, seeing me eyeing the rock. “It means turning your back to it. It means you have to be fast.”
“It’s the only option I’ve got,” I spat back. The monster roared, snapping his teeth furiously. He was tiring of this game as much as I was. I took a deep breath. I didn’t count to three. I didn’t have time.
With a grunt, I threw myself down to the ground, stretching my arm as far as it would go under the fence. My side was still tender from the stab wound, and it burned as I pushed my body to grab for the rock. I felt pressure before I could react. The creature bit down on my foot, the hard sole of my shoe saving me from getting it torn clear off, but it wouldn’t save me for long.
I didn’t scream. I didn’t panic. The minute I did, I would be dead. I pushed my arm even further, and I nearly wept when my hand clutched onto the rock. I knew I had only one shot, and I hoped one shot was all I needed. I lifted my free foot high into the air and brought it down right onto the back of the creature’s skull. It was enough to leave him disoriented. Enough to get me to my feet.
Now came the moment of truth.
Would I be strong enough to bring it down?
I lifted the rock high above my head and it came down with the force of a hundred scared girls. Girls who were told they were nothing. Girls who were abandoned. Girls who weren’t as lucky as me. And then I brought it back up and down again. And again. And again. Until I couldn’t lift my arms anymore.
The creature wasn’t ever going to move again.
I turned around, my face covered in blood, and looked up at my father. He was smiling. “We start training tomorrow,” he said proudly. He reached forward a hand, helping me over the fence.
Once I was safe, I planted my hands on my father’s chest and shoved as hard as I could, considering my strength was spent. “Who the hell do you think you are? Are you crazy?” I screamed. Before my father could open his mouth to speak, I shoved him again. “I could have died!”
The fear that I had buried washed over me. I could barely contain the tears that threatened to spill. My hands hummed and buzzed with an energy I had never known in my entire life. I clenched them into fists. My father stared down at me, seemingly calm except for the way his eyes narrowed. “But you didn’t die,” he said slowly.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I looked around to see my father’s soldiers enclosing us. Sensing their alarm, my father held up his hand. “Everything is fine. Leave us,” he commanded.
“But, sir…” One of his men hesitated.
“I said leave us,” my father clipped in response.
Without another word of objection, my father’s men disappeared, leaving me with the man who had set up my demise and the chosen one I had killed.
The chosen one I had killed.
I had killed something. I slowly dragged my eyes to the bloodied mess of a creature that lay on the dirt ground. I brought a shaky hand up to cover my mouth; I wasn’t entirely sure I could keep at bay the nausea that was coursing through me.