look back. He just kept moving forward.
A knot formed in the pit of stomach as panic set in. What was going on? Where was he going? Why didn’t he answer me? I was doing my best to try and catch up with him, but I was starting to get winded. The sound of the three cannibals’ footsteps were right up on me. “Colin!” I shouted out desperately. “Colin, help me!” I knew he heard my fearful cries. He was only six feet in front of me.
A pair of hands grabbed the back of my knapsack and yanked. “COLIN!” I shrieked. “HELP ME!” He still ignored me. The guy behind me yanked on my knapsack a second time, this time with a little more force, and he knocked me off balance. I went face first into the ground and ate a mouthful of charred debris. I spat it out and crawled forward, watching in horror as Colin ran farther and farther away. My heart was shattered and not only that, I felt like he had just stabbed me in the back.
The guy who knocked me off of my feet ripped my knapsack off of my back as I got to my feet. Two more cannibals stopped next us. “This one looks tasty,” said the slightly larger one.
“Ahhhh!” I yelled as I started moving my feet.
“Go get the boy,” said another with a stern voice. “This one is mine!”
I didn’t get very far and now Colin looked like a speck of dust dangling in the atmosphere. “COLIN!”
The guy behind me cackled as he wrapped both of his hands around my ankle, and pulled me back down to the ground. I tried to kick free but he started dragging me backwards.“Colin! You promised to protect me!” The guy pulled me underneath him. “YOU PROMISED!” My last cry was agonizing, painful, and bloodcurdling.
Every ounce of strength left my body when the guy flipped me over and slammed me into the ground. I coughed out, catching my breath and kept my eyes squinted shut. He pinned me down, digging both of his knees into my elbows and let out a low growl.
Damn you Colin. I could never forgive him for what he did. A slap on the face is forgivable and not to mention, he totally deserved it. Leaving someone to die was unforgivable.
Rough, calloused fingers brushed across my cheek. I winced, opening one eye at a time, mentally preparing myself for the hideous creature I was about to look at. Warm tears drizzled down my cheeks as I blinked and the guy above me came into focus. I opened my eyes wide as I took in his appearance.
He had a smooth almond-colored complexion that had a mixture of ash, dirt, and blood smeared all over his face and arms. His deep, dark chocolate hair was a bit on the long side and was sleek and shiny. He shook his head and the pieces of his hair moved away from his forehead. He had a very thin body-frame, but I could tell from glancing at the muscles in his arms he was more on the athletic side.
The guy couldn’t have been more than three years older than me. And his eyes, I had never seen eyes that color before. They were so different, so breathtakingly beautiful. A dark navy blue mixed with voodoo purple. Violet. He had violet-colored eyes.
Most people had blue, green, brown, hazel and a few times I’d seen people with gold eyes. But never violet. He gave me a cocky grin, his teeth perfectly aligned—and white. “Who are you?” I squawked, a tremble in my voice.
I focused on his upper canines that were sharpened to a point. He grinned wider and looked more sadistic as he ran his tongue along the edges of his teeth. “Who are you? I asked again. He still didn’t answer.
He contorted his abdomen, reaching off to the side. When he faced me he had a small rock in his hand lifted high above his head. “I’m starving,” he said in a rich, powerful voice. “And you must be dinner. Believe me, the pleasure is all mine.”
Tears flowed out of my eyes like a river. “Are you going to eat me?”
He licked his lips and gave me another sinful smile. “Yes. Yes I am.”
Then he let go of the rock and I closed my eyes tightly just as it came crashing down into my skull.
Chapter 10: Memories
Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
The right side of my face was resting against a cold, hard and flat surface. I shivered, as a frosty chill spread throughout my limbs. Moaning in agony, I tried to lift my head up off of what seemed to be a slab of rock. “Ow!” I only managed to lift my head a few inches before a sharp pain overtook me and I had to put it back down.
A warm, thick liquid ran down the middle of my forehead, branching off on each side of my nose. The sharp pain in my head began throbbing and intensified so much that I thought it would cut off the air to my lungs. I inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, trying to stay calm. I knew that if I tried to lift my head again, the intense, throbbing pain would get worse. It was already excruciating, if it got any worse than excruciating I might have contemplated smashing my head into the rock and put myself out of my own misery.
Opening one eye at a time, I blinked several times to adjust my eyes and get rid of the blurriness. I glanced around the room, trying to decipher where I was. Muddy walls, muddy ground, a round open doorway at the end of the room where a certain brightness shined through. The same brightness I witnessed on new earth. The colony. I was lying on top of the entrance to my home.
Instinctively, I cried for my mother. “Mom!” My voice was hoarse, soft, and weak. There was no way that she would be able to hear me. But maybe if I tried to move the rock, I’d be able to get back inside. I tried fanning my fingers on each side so I could give myself a good push, but I couldn’t move my arms. Then I tried digging my knees into the rock to hoist myself up and that wasn’t working either. What the hell happened to me? And why couldn’t I remember?
Paralyzed. Could I have been paralyzed? It was either that or my whole body was extremely locked up. A part from the minor movement I made with my head, no other part of my body was budging. I went as far as trying to wiggle my toes. No movement. It didn’t matter how hard I tried to move, none of my limbs were cooperating.
Now, I was truly terrified. My body wouldn’t move. My head had to be split in half. And I had no recollection of how I got home. I felt like a science experiment gone bad. The person who put me here should have inserted bolts into my neck and painted my face green. I could have been Frankenstein. Oh, wait. Frankenstein could walk.
I was going to die on top of this stupid boulder. I had no protection, no way of defending myself. Any monster that lived out there could waltz right through the open door and find me, Georgina Carver, bleeding, paralyzed, and ready to be consumed. I’d die without ever seeing my family again. And I’d die without ever fully living my life.
It wasn’t like me to feel sorry for myself or ever want any type of self-pity, but even though most of the time I was a logical person, I was still human and humans were flawed. They made mistakes. I made a mistake. I had to have made a stupid decision that led me to where I was. And that stupid decision was going to end with some kind of consequences. If only I knew what kind.
I began to drift in and out of consciousness. I’d pass out for a minute, maybe two, and every time I woke up the same questions replayed in my mind. Who did this to me? And how did I end up at home? Amnesia sucked.
I mentally drilled myself over and over again. I’d done this so many times since I had realized where I was, my brain was throbbing again. For a while, the pain had died down but now, I felt the inside of my head pounding, rippling, and sending shooting pains all across the top of my head.
Closing my eyes, I sobbed, “Why me?” I placed my cheek flat on the cool rock as puddle of my tears formed. Snot dripped down my nose and I couldn’t even wipe it. “I might as well be a vegetable.” I’d seen a human other people called a vegetable once. When my grandmother was in the hospital I passed her room and saw a man hooked up to a ton of machines. “He’s a vegetable,” my mother said.
“A vegetable?” I questioned. “Like a carrot?”
