Page 20 of The General's Captive
He pulled something small out of his back pocket, and I stared in awe as it turned into a good-sized drawstring bag. Hestarted to fill it with all the batteries I had missed, a whole big box, at the back of the shelf, I might add. But this also made me realize that I had dropped my CD player after coming face to face with that first Harpy.
Damn it, I hope they weren’t broken.
But then my mind circled back to what he had said and that he could only bring back those who could fight. The thought excited me. Because there were obviously other survivors. And yes, although I wasn’t really technically in that same classification as being able to fight, I knew I could still hold my own.
Plus, he didn’t know what I had been through or how many things I had killed. Okay, so most of which were through dumb fucking luck. Like that dog creature that had chased me into the restaurant. I had cut it in half when slamming that freezer door on it. I mean, those things could do some serious damage…who knew?
Or that huge, horned snake thing! The one that I had accidentally set on fire when I was trying to blind it with lighter fluid from the can I had in my bag. One I had picked up from the store to help me start fires at night because I was useless at it otherwise.
I mean, I didn’t know it was going to butt its horn on the car I was hiding behind, make a spark, and set its slithery self on fire. Either way, these were Myths I had added to my kill count. Technically, they had all still died by my hands. So yes, my methods might be unconventional, but no one could deny that they were also effective.
“Well, that’s not a fair assumption to make,” I stated, crossing my arms over my chest at his presumptuous comment.
“From what I’ve seen, honey, you’re clumsy as hell, can’t use a gun for shit, and you haven’t got much going on in there,” he said with a slight southern drawl I hadn’t noticed before. Oh,and one I lost interest in the second he tapped his head twice with his finger, before pulling the drawstring bag closed and throwing it over his shoulder.
The cheeky bastard! Was he calling me dumb?!
“And anyway…” he started to say, ignoring my outraged looked, “…you’d just be another mouth to feed, another person’s back we would need to watch… another weak link in the chain,” he finished insulting me further as he headed toward another section of the store. A place where he picked up two heavy car batteries with ease. I then followed him like a damn lost puppy, that definitely no longer wanted to hump any part of him, as he carried them close to the front door, then he headed back for more.
“We’re just not ready or set up to help civilians at the moment,” he added, as if I wasn’t an actual person, just a number to feed and a potential noose around his neck.
Of course, I had so many questions, including who was the ‘we’ he spoke of and how many mouths were they feeding? But those questions were going to have to wait while I defended myself, before going on my merry way, because I could see I wasn’t going to get anywhere with this handsome asshole.
“Listen here,honey…”I forced the pet name he had given me out of my mouth with as much malice as I could muster. “You, and whoever the hell you report to, sound like a bunch of heartless assholes anyway. Besides, I have managed to keep myself alive so far and would have handled those Harpies in the end, even if you hadn’t shown up.” Okay, so this was something I doubted, but regardless, I didn’t need GI up his own ass here, to know that. Instead, I carried on listing my personal triumphs after he mocked,
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, really. In fact, I have fought and killed bigger and badder things than those scrawny, baggy-skinned witches.”
His lips twitched, like he was fighting a grin.
“Oh yeah, like what?” he taunted.
“I’ve fought a lion with a fire-breathing goat on its back and a…” I didn’t finish as his obnoxious laughter interrupted me, grating on my last nerve. Because, in that moment, there was nobody on this Earth I wanted to punch more than this heartless dickhead in front of me. Action Man, ha! I couldn’t have been more wrong. Action Man would have saved every civilian he could. This guy in front of me was nothing but a selfish prick who most likely was just trying to show off!
“Nobody can survive a Chimera. Especially a silly girl like you who can’t even use a gun.” As the words left his mouth, his smug face suddenly paled, and his expression changed to something along the lines of horror.
He grabbed me roughly by the shoulders and threw me to the side. I threw my hands over my head as I crashed into shelving, electrical items crashing to the ground around me. Pain coursed through my arm and shoulder from the impact.
I was about to ask what the fuck, when a flash of something flew by me and my mind whirled as I watched it grab hold of Action Man. This sent him flying into the far wall of the store, a good twenty feet away.
“Fuck!”I hissed as I wrestled with the contents of the now destroyed shelving unit I was strewn across. I managed to get myself back up right and quickly scrabbled for my bag that had my gun in it. But then I looked toward Action Man, my jaw dropping.
He was up against the wall, with another Harpy practically sitting in his lap. His shotgun was currently pressed sideways against the creature’s neck, keeping the beast from sinking its large canines into him.
Its talons shredded his uncovered arms, leaving long streaks of deep gashes which poured profusely with his blood,splattering the walls and floor as he continued to fight. I knew that there was no way I could shoot the thing, because even if I somehow miraculously hit it, I would only end up shooting him too.
I looked around frantically until I saw something on the wall, then I knew what I had to do. I sprinted toward it, glancing at where he was being attacked, panicked to see that he was losing the battle. The amount of blood he was losing was too much and I knew he wouldn’t last much longer.
The Harpy was close to sinking its teeth into his handsome face, and was an inch away when I looked back to the wall. Then I lifted the plastic shield and yanked down on the small lever on the fire alarm. My uncle told me once that even when the stores were without power these worked on their own power supply. And thankfully, he had been right. Because the shrill, blaring sound suddenly filled the store, making the Harpy drop to the ground, letting him drop with it.
The thing wailed and flayed around like it was dying, but just in case, I ran toward them both. Then I skidded to a stop and grabbed the shotgun he dropped. One that I knew was loaded after watching him do so.
I aimed it at the Harpy’s head, close range, and shot the fucker dead.
Then I looked down at the injured action man and said…
“How’s that for killing shit?”
