Chapter 30: Kidnapping VI - Hurting People

The world seemed to slow down around her. Annabelle grabbed the heavy cut rope out of the air and swung it at Bear. He simply crossed his arms in front of himself and endured the lash of the makeshift whip. No smile remained on the face that peeked out from behind the arms—just a look of quiet determination.

At the last second, Annabelle ducked and dodged aside, letting the huge man charge past her. His boots ground against the gravel until he slid to a stop against one of the tracks.

“Stop! I don’t want to hurt,” Annabelle shouted. She raised her knife. “Just let me go!”

Bear gave no signs of even considering her words, though. He just raised his hands, bending his knees and falling into a grappling stance. Annabelle knew that if she was caught by even a single hand, there was no way she would be able to break free.

Against just Chameleon and Gecko, she was confident that she’d be able escape, only leaving them with minor, easily fixable wounds. Toss in Bobcat and the difficulty of escaping without killing someone escalated enormously, but Bear was on a whole other level.

She had never planned for someone like Bear. How was she going to escape him when she had no leeway to go easy on him?

She swallowed, suddenly nervous. The knife shook in her grip—no, her hand was shaking. 

For all her training in operating a machine of war, her opponents were always other machines. Sure, she knew that her future enemies will be human all the same, but mech pilots rarely aimed for the cockpit in real battles. 

Just disabling the mech in some other way was enough.

Even if she did kill the enemy pilot, there were two degrees of separation. She didn’t kill them—her mech did. Her mech didn’t kill the enemy pilot, it merely disabled the enemy mech. 

Over and over, her teachers pounded that concept into her mind, telling her it was fine until she felt she wouldn’t be wracked with guilt even if she had someone’s blood on her hands.

That is, if she had been piloting. It was different here. If she killed someone here, it would be just short of killing them with her bare hands.

Could she really do it?

Bear stepped forward, no longer charging. Each step was slow and methodical, ready to react to anything she did. There will be no jumping aside this time.

She lashed out with her whip, but Bear was still too far. She backed up.

“Stay away!”

“It’s no use. Bear is an honorable man. He won’t stray from his duty when he’s being paid.”

Annabelle glared at the speaker. Bobcat had gotten out, along with the other two. They stood beside the jeep as if they had nothing better to do but to watch. At least Bobcat and Chameleon were. Gecko looked restless.

“Shut up!” she yelled at him. “Are you going to let me go or not? I don’t want to kill anyone.”

Bobcat rolled his eyes while Chameleon scoffed. 

“Don’t want to kill anyone? That’s not something I’d expect to hear from a psychopath,” Chameleon said. “You’re not fooling anyone.”

Bobcat nodded. “You’re not getting away. Bear alone will be more than enough to capture you. He’s not a bumbling, clumsy oaf—I’d expect you to learn that soon.”

As if she needed someone to tell her. She could tell just by looking that Bear was trained and had excellent control over his body. Her dodging his first charge was just a fluke because he underestimated her. He won’t repeat the same mistake again.

She looked nervously at the man steadily closing in, weary of any sudden moves. She searched him for openings. The problem wasn’t that he didn’t have any, but that his reach was so much greater than hers that she’ll have trouble safely targeting any of them.

To even scratch him, she’ll first have to get past those formidable arms almost as big around as her body. Even if she did get close... then what? Her joint locks won’t work on someone that much stronger than her.

Did she use her knife then? What if she killed him?

Her plan... involved bleeding out her opponent because causing her enemy to accumulate damage and wounds because that was what she was good at. It had seemed so easy when she made that plan, but now that it was actually time to put the plan into action, she wasn’t sure if her trembling hands will let her.

If I don’t do it, I will have to face Vesmelda.

If I don’t do it, I’ll have to face Mother again.

It’s me or him. Them.

I have to do it...

Annabelle swallowed and dropped her body, holding her knife forward. I have to do it.

“I’m not scared of you. I will hurt you.”

I will hurt you.

Having come this far, it was too late to regret or turn back. She had already revealed that she could somehow produce a knife. Even if she apologized and turned herself in, there was no way they’d let bygones be bygones and risk letting her have a second chance.

In that case, there was no more reason to hesitate.

It was better to take the initiative before she got cold feet. She could only hope that after the fighting starts, the adrenaline that will surely rush through her blood will wipe away her doubts until it was all over. She didn’t have the leisure to worry about anything right now.

She took a deep breath to gather her wits.

She waited until Bear took another step. The instant before he raised his foot, his balance shifted to his other leg, and Annabelle charged forward, wincing as the rocks beneath her stabbed into her bare feet.

She had to ignore it, no matter how painful it was. The alternative was much worse.

Bear lunged, his arms extended. His huge hands flew towards her and she reversed her movement and backed away. “Ah...!” 

Tears gathered in her eyes as the gravel dug into her soles, piercing the skin. She blinked them away and slashed at the approaching hand, the impossibly sharp knife easily parting the reinforced leather gloves and reaching the flesh beneath.

A strange rasping, gurgling sound came from Bear... 

Was that a scream? He...can’t talk. 

Bear’s vocal chords were damaged for some reason. But even knowing that, Annabelle did not let up. The pain in his hands forced Bear to draw back instinctively and Annabelle followed him, stepping in for his step back. She slashed at his ribs, the knife cutting into the bone.

Then she pivoted and spun, ducking under Bear’s arm, circling up behind him.

As Bear powered through his new wounds and turned towards her, she kicked at the side of his knee. It felt like kicking a thin tree and drove bits of rock embedded in the bottom of her foot further in, but the knee she kicked buckled, forcing Bear to the ground.

Annabelle jumped back, breathing hard, creating distance just in case Bear was faking it.

He wasn’t.

Bear glared up at her silently—no; even kneeling, his eyes were level with her’s. He had no need to look up at anyone. 

He held the spot on his chest where she slashed with a bloody hand, trying to stem the bleeding. He nursed his wounded knee with his other hand. From his gritted teeth and heaving chest, even if he said nothing, Annabelle could tell he was in a lot of pain. She knew exactly how deep she had cut with her knife.

If Bear made any careless movements, his ribs might break off.

Her stomach turned at the realization.

No! You have to stay focused. He is an enemy. You or him.

But he’s hurt. There are other enemies!

The sudden sound of footsteps on gravel behind her alerted her to the other three’s movements. She ducked and charged forward before she even turned around. 

She twisted in midair, catching sight of two hands swiped through her former position in a bearhug an instant later. Chameleon!

More footsteps. Gecko ran at her, his knife out. His eyes were wide, focused on her completely.

She raised her knife as well, ready to meet him in combat when Bobcat’s voice echoed through the tunnels. “Gecko stop!”

At the sound of his name, Gecko slid to a stop. “Why?!”

“Put away your knife!” Bobcat shouted.

Annabelle froze. What was going on?

“You can’t hurt her or we fail the mission!”

“Screw you! I’m not fighting her barehanded!” Gecko pointedly turned his back on his superior and fell into a knife fighting stance. Annabelle mimicked him. 

She had a bad feeling about him. I think I underestimated him earlier...

Knife fights were deadly. People rarely died instantly and they always got at least one possibly deadly hit in return. She couldn’t afford one when there were at least two other people that could capitalize on her weakness.

She had planned to disable Gecko first in the tunnels before he got his knife out, but circumstances forced her to focus on Bear first this time. Like against Bear, facing Gecko in a knife fight was never her intention.

She had no other choice. She held up her hands.

“Wait. I’ll throw away my knife and you throw away yours, okay?”

Gecko narrowed his eyes. Bobcat called out from behind him. “Do it! Do as she says!” The younger man gritted his teeth and nodded. 

“On three. And the rope too.”

“Fine.”

“One. Two. Three...”

As Gecko’s countdown ended, two knives flew through the air, clattering onto the ground.

As her knife and rope left her fingers, Annabelle charged forward.