sob, when Zach turns, stomping toward me, and I realize what he’s going to do. I try to fight him off, but my limbs are suddenly weak, and the back of my head feels damp. My movements are slow, and my body feels as if it’s been drained of strength.
Zach tears at my clothes, and my sobs ring around us, intermingling with the reckless sway of branches and the stream nearby. As pain rips through my body, I keep my gaze fixed on Vincent, tears leaking down my cheeks. He tries so hard to remain calm, but I see it, the pain in his eyes. The anger brewing in his body, as he watches his friend defile me in order to prove a point.
He snaps.
With an animalistic growl, he yanks Zach back by his hair, dragging him away from me. His fist sails through the air, connecting with Zach’s cheek. My body is screaming in pain, and my chest is wracking uncontrollably with sobs. I try to roll onto my side, dirt and stray twigs digging into my flesh, as I stumble onto my feet.
My hand closes around a small, jagged rock, and I push my body upright, despite the pain, despite the fact that my ears are ringing, and my vision keeps swaying before me. Zach and Vincent go at, throwing blows at each other. On my way up, I stumble forward and launch the rock blindly at them. It hits Zach in the back of the head, and it’s enough to make him roar with rage. He whips around and charges me. His movements are so fast, I’m no match for him in my state.
I put up as good a fight as I can. I swing and scratch, kicking any part of him I can manage. Zach’s hands wrap around my throat, and he slams me onto the ground, dazing me. With one last effort, I summon my strength and slam my knee into his groin. He lets out a howl of pain and grips my shoulders, slamming my body down. I hear the crack as my skull connects with something. Zach freezes. I can’t see where Vincent is anymore.
His form swims before me, pain filling my body, burning through my skull. I open my mouth to scream, but nothing happens. Zach scrambles away, his hands going to the top of his head, fear written all over his face.
“What the fuck did you do?” I hear Vincent roar, somewhere in the background, but his voice is drowned out, like we’re underwater. “She’s fucking bleeding out, man!” His panicked voice takes moments to register, and when it does, I realize he’s talking about me.
Zach crawls over my body, and though I try to, I no longer have any strength to fight him off.
“This is the only way.” He clasps his hands around my neck and squeezes. My body spasms, my lungs fighting and clawing for air. I feel the life leave me, slowly spilling into the ground and out of my body. I let go, and, as soon as I do, his grip is gone.
“Fuck, what do we do? What do we do, man?” Zach mumbles over and over again.
A small passage of air infiltrates my lungs, and I cough, prompting them both to swing toward me. “Fucking hell! Just die already, you fucking bitch.” That same jagged rock I used earlier is curled in Zach’s fist as he climbs over my body for the last time. His arm swings down, and through my bleary-eyed gaze, I see the rock coming toward my face and pain explodes. I gasp. He swings again, and the sound of something crunches. I slam my eyes shut when he swings his arm back again. Pain tears through my skull, the sound of something gushes and splatters, until I hear nothing and feel nothing.
The darkness swallows me whole, and when I wake again, the pain is gone, and I’m left holding the most precious thing I’ve ever seen.
My daughter.
For an eternity.
I stumble back, shaking my head, after Zach finishes relaying the events of that horrible night. It was so much worse than I could’ve ever imagined. I feel my heart split in half, crumbling into pieces. Sobs wrack my body, their silhouettes swimming before my watered-down gaze. With each step away I take, they come closer, closing in on me.
I dart away, trying to make a break for it, but I don’t make it far. An anguished scream rips from my chest, rattling the