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Completely dazed, Lauren leaned against a tree and slowly slid down to the ground. Their shaky legs could barely hold their weight anymore. Panting, she looked down at her hands, although their vision was unclear. Their eyes refused to focus on their hands, creating a confusing image of two dancing sceneries right before her. Lauren felt lost, but at the same time, she couldn't be more relieved. They knew what they did and they knew just how wrong it was. However, with an unclear vision in the middle of the night, the blood on her hands looked like a black void dripping down her fingers. Somehow, that thought was comforting. It was like she didn't have to face their actions, not yet. They were still covered by the night's blissful darkness.
“Christ...” they sighed, although it was almost inaudible.
The teen brought her knees up to her chest and carefully tried to lean her head against her wrists. All that trouble just to avoid touching their hands.
The sharp metallic smell of blood seemed to dissipate into thin air, no longer bothering Lauren. They couldn't tell whether it was from stress or whether they already got used to the wretched smell so much so they could no longer detect it.
Fucking hell. Don't say that, Lauren thought, closing their eyes tightly. Their exhausted panting quickened. She bit the inside of her cheek and tried her best not to make a sound. She knew keeping quiet wouldn't save her from any possible dinosaur encounters, of course. The silence was more for their own comfort, rather than safety. The teen needed to focus on their breathing and their rapid heartbeat. They needed to focus on calming down before thinking of what to do next.
“It was in self-defence. I mean, it's not like you killed him, right? He'll be fine. He'll walk it off,” with a trembling voice, Lauren kept whispering these weak reinforcements, trying to justify their actions.
“Yeah. It's fine. You just stabbed him here and there, a few times... But he grabbed you, right? He wanted to use you as a hostage. You're not a damn-”
Before they could finish, Lauren was cut off by someone putting a hand on her left shoulder. They exclaimed loudly, surprised. They could feel their heart racing, feeling like she was about to puke it out.
“Well, you're a chatty fellow, aren't you?” The large man behind her grinned with blood streaming down his lips and crooked teeth. “Wish you were this excited to talk when I fucking needed you to be."
His pale hand tightened the grip on Lauren's shoulder with much strength, sending a wave of pain through their entire body. She whined in discomfort.
“What--” They stuttered before being thrown on the ground. The man kneeled right beside her and grabbed their short hair, forcing them to look at him.
“What ‘what’? Oh, are you surprised to see me? I mean, of course, you didn't expect me to look for you right after you stabbed me, did you?”
The man spat on Lauren's face with saliva and blood. He smelled of sweat, blood and mud. The stench hit Lauren's nose with such force she almost felt dizzy.
However, come to think of it, maybe he was right. Maybe him chasing after them was the first thing Lauren should've expected. What now? It's not like they have any chance against him. Even with a stab wound, barely standing, the man had the upper hand. That meant, no matter what, Lauren was gonna end up dead. They looked the man in the eyes and found no remorse nor a hint of pain. They were filled with pure rage. The kind of rage that could instantly put anyone in a state of agonising fear; of course, Lauren was no exception. Their heart skipped a beat, as the man laughed mockingly, pushing their head to the ground and finally letting go off her hair.
Laughing, right now? What kind of a sick, deranged, crazy...
“I've never seen anyone scared so shitless. But don't you worry, I'll put you outta your misery soon enough."
With that, he slowly stood up. His piercing gaze never left Lauren's stiff body and the teen could sense a wide, toothy grin spread wide across his beaten face.
“No knife, no nothing. Finally a fair fight.”
“Oh, ‘fair’ my ass,” Lauren said without thinking. They were as confused as the man standing above her.
“Excuse me?”
But she had nothing else left to say. She looked up and, if it was even possible, the man seemed even more furious than before.
“You're gonna regret fucking with me,” he said, though it sounded more like an aggressive bark.
It was clear he was about to beat the shit out of Lauren and, despite being sure of their oncoming death, a little voice of reason appeared in the back of their mind within moments. Without having much time to think, the teen decided to act on their preservation instincts and tried to get up. If she successfully got onto her feet, she could probably try to leg it again, or perhaps even try to fight off the guy!
With absolute ease, the man launched himself at Lauren and tackled her, pinning her to the ground.
Seems like someone has got pretty shitty preservation instincts.
Confidently, the man continued smiling, already assuming he'd be triumphant. That's what Lauren assumed, too, but that little voice - that tiny screaming - it grew louder and stronger with each passing millisecond. It was almost hopeful, fuelling Lauren's surprising will to survive. Her eyes followed the man's arm slowly extending backwards. He was about to strike, that much was obvious. With her free hand, Lauren started feeling the ground.
No knife, fine, but please, give me something else, anything, they thought, while thanking the universe that the knackered man was moving so slow (was he trying to show off?).
“Looking for something to fight with?” the man asked rhetorically. The build-up fear inside of Lauren resulted in their movements being extremely frantic and he clearly took notice.
“Yeah,” they answered, “and it seems I just found it.”
While the man spoke, Lauren got a hold of a big rock. Sufficient enough. Caught off guard, her opponent frowned, allowing Lauren to find the perfect opportunity to swing. With a single swift movement, they hit the man on the side of his head with all the force they had left. Luckily, that seemed to be a lot of force, as the man fell onto his side with a loud groan. With her newfound freedom, Lauren quickly sat up and threw herself at the man. They knew that logically, they were far too small to pin him down, so instead their arm swung once again, hitting him across the face.
After that, Lauren hurried to their feet, planning on running away again, except this time they had no intention of stopping. Their plan was immediately interrupted, as the man grabbed their ankle and with a smashed face, he looked up at the teen and bared his teeth like a wild dog.
“Where d'you think you're going?”
Almost completely out of breath, Lauren shifted their balance to their captured leg. They took a deep breath and said, “Right now, I'm going away and you are going to hell.”
Without letting the man finish, she put her leg up and stomped on his face. She could hear him swear in pain and she did it again. They stomped and kicked and at one point, they were pretty sure they felt his nose entirely crumble under their foot. Each kick forced a pained yell out of the man, and a grunt out of Lauren.
All the fear that previously had Lauren in a chokehold vanished like a distant, meaningless memory. Their worries of losing were all thrown out of the window, as they continued to massacre the man's face. They knew they were triumphant. She knew she was going to win, the man was at her mercy and she could sense the terror in his yells.
Who's scared shitless now, huh?
Nothing could stop them now. Not even the fact they knew they were safe. Her mind was almost entirely blank, except for a hint of rage and confidence and the sweet taste of victory. How foolish she felt, knowing that just a few minutes ago she thought she was going to die. Lauren's unnerving chuckle filled the cold air, accompanied by the man's whining, and moaning, and begging. It's not that they found this whole situation satisfying, no, they weren't some sick, deranged, crazy...
Silence. Twisted silence rang in Lauren's ears, somehow deafening her. At the same time, it brought her back to reality. They stared at their foot, practically engraved in the man's face. Cautiously, they lifted it and their eyes opened wide, they were on the verge of falling out. No wonder the silence swallowed up the whole island. Lauren was no longer laughing and the man was no longer yelling. As a matter of fact, he was no longer breathing. His bloodshot eyes stared at the teen and she could tell there was no more life left in them. His limbs were spread out and his limp body presented itself in front of Lauren like a statue. There was no soul, no heartbeat, no nothing. It all left along the way, as she was beating him to death. They stumbled backwards, tripping over their own feet and violently hitting their back against the tree they hid behind not so long ago. Even in the overbearing darkness, they could still see the crimson footprints they left. Once again, the blood looked like a black void but, unlike before, now it was devouring everything around the teen - even the teen herself. Within a second, Lauren felt numbness and guilt spreading over their trembling body.
“Fuck,” she gasped and finally looked away from the helpless corpse.
There was no time to panic. With all that blood the dinosaurs were bound to appear sooner or later. Lauren had to get out of there, get somewhere safe, somewhere far away from the corpse, their guilt, their wrongdoings-- somewhere far away from here.
She ran. She dashed through the thick jungle for what felt like ages. Just like that, they left the body behind, calling up any nearby dinosaurs for a free meal. How they wished they could leave the guilt and regret behind... But there was no time.
It was in self-defence, she thought in an attempt to calm down. I mean, it's not like you killed him.