What's Left of Me

My feet hit the ground hard, each time more difficult than the last. The woods seemed never ending as my legs throbbed in resistance. I couldn’t go on, but I needed to. Not for me, for her.
The van veered off to the right, according to the wet, muddy tire tracks. Rain was pouring from the sky, making the tracks less distinguishable. I forced my legs to move faster.
I made it out to a highway. I stopped to breathe, seeing light for the first time in an hour. My head throbbed from the gaping cut on the back of it. I saw the mud continuing onto the street, so I followed it.
I lost my footing and slipped on the pavement, face first, knocking my nose against it. I felt blood trickling from it, but I don’t care. I won’t stop until I know she’s safe.
I kept going as strong as I could be. Tears started blending with the rain and blood falling down my face. How could someone do this to an innocent girl?
I saw headlights in front of me, and the black van came into view, though hard to see. It seemed to be pulling into a gravel driveway. I hid behind a building until they were out of sight up the driveway.
I almost collapsed against the building from weakness and joy. She has a chance.
I got my legs going again up the driveway. It was steep and slippery, rocks sliding everywhere beneath my feet. A house came into view, one light on. I checked to make sure I still had my gun and knife. These guys, these bags of scum, will not live tonight. Either they die or I’ll die trying.
I hid against the rodding wood siding of the old cabin they decided to hide out in. I hesitated, but once I heard Kristen scream, I knew I had to go.
I turned to face the door and kicked it in, surprised at how much strength I still had. The strength didn’t last long, though. As soon as the door fell over, I fell on top of it, almost blacking out.
I saw two guys standing in front of Kristen, who was tied up to a chair and gagged, tears falling down her face, fear in her eyes.
“Get the fuck away from her.” I said, my voice stern and full of pure acid.
The two guys turned around, and I almost doubled over when I saw who it was.
“Mike? Jared?” I asked in complete disbelief.
They had to take a double take at me as well.
“Beau? What happened to–” Jared started.
“Shut up, the both of you. Beau, get in that chair, now.” Mike said, his voice cold and bitter, pointing to the chair next to Kristen with his gun. I was going to retaliate, but my mind started going fuzzy and my vision was blurring out. I felt myself falling as I passed out on the floor.
“Why don’t we just kill both of them now? It would make it a lot easier.” I heard Jared say as I woke up. I made it look like I was still passed out, slumped over the edge of the chair, the rope being the only thing holding me up.
“No, that’s stupid. It’s always better to kill them when they’re fighting back. You get more of a high when you actually see the light leave their eyes.” Mike said like it was some sort of mesmerizing supernatural ritual.
I almost scowled.
I heard a huge bang outside, like the sound of fireworks.
“What the fuck was that?” Mike asked. I heard him stand up rapidly in his chair, resulting in the chair falling over. “Lets go check it out.”
“Should I stay here?” Jared asked.
“No, come with. Beau’s not gonna wake up anytime soon.” Mike said.
Once I heard both pairs of feet go out the door, I shot my eyes open and looked at Kristen. She jumped and looked at me, relieved and fearful.
“Are you okay?” I mouthed to her.
She nodded, then looked at my back pocket, the handle of my knife sticking out slightly. I got a slight buzz of excitement. I’m surprised they didn’t pat me down beforehand.
I reached and finally grabbed my knife, cutting my hands free, then untying me the rest of the way. I got out of the chair and grabbed my gun before going over my Kristen. I untied her gag rag and threw it on the ground behind me. She coughed and let out a huge sob.
“Come on, Beau, they’re gonna be back any minute.” She said, her words barely audible through her panic and tears.
Comforting words were at the tip of my tongue, but I held them there. I wasn’t about to lie to her. She knows as well as I do that one of us is going to die tonight. I’m hoping to God it’s me. The best thing I could do, the one last thing I wanted to do before I never saw her again, was kiss her. I pressed my lips against hers, although crusty from the blood. I held her lips there for what seemed like a split second.
“I’m gonna miss you.” I said quietly, tears starting to fall down my cheeks again as I untied her hands. “When you get free, run. Run as fast as you can. Don’t worry about me. Get to the police as soon as you can and report them. I’m not gonna be here to see it, but I want them to be locked away forever.”
“Beau, what are you–” Kristen started.
I kissed her again. “I love you. Now hurry up before they come in.”
“Beau I don’t want you to die–” She said, starting to go into hysterics.
“Shhh, it was meant to be this way, trust me. I’ll only die happy if you’re safe from them.” I said quietly, caressing the side of her face.
She looked me straight in the eyes, and nodded solemnly. She tried racing through the rope to get herself free of the chair.
I heard a gunshot and felt the pain of it in my leg. I screamed and fell to the ground. “Kristen! Go!” I yelled as she got herself free.
She glanced back and ran out the door.
When I turned around to look at my leg, my line of vision was stopped by the barrel of the gun resting on my forehead, forcing me to look up into Mike’s hateful eyes. I looked at Jared and he looked like he didn’t want to do this. If he was the best friend I thought he was, he’d stand up against Mike and save me. It didn’t look like that was going to happen.
Mike got an evil smirk on his face, cocking the gun. “Ready to die, Bokan?”
“I’ll die happy in a hail of bullets as long as she’s safe.” I said, the pain in my leg slowly fading, the blood from the wound seeping into the carpet.
Without mercy, Mike sent the bullet through my head. My vision was a blurry, bloody red as I fell to the ground. My vision faded to black and my life started fading from me.
Before I was completely gone, I made sure to smile, showing they didn’t win.
They could never win.