One Killer Maze

Chapter 33

"I'll just have to kill you before this poison kills me."

Ronan lifted his hands out of his pockets, showing off four throwing knives around each finger, each laced with a small bit of slow-working poison. His enemy wiped off a bit of sweat from his forehead and bent his knees, ready for what the other was about to throw at him.

An arrow pierced the skin of Barbara's enemy, burrowing into the shoulder of the silver-haired girl. She cried out, loosening her grip on the sword she held. Barbara had gained a few new cuts, one clearly created on the right side of her face, cut cleanly from the corner of her eye down to the side of her jaw. Another cut was made clean from her left shoulder, deep, like a stab wound.

The redhead brought up the metal bat and slammed it down on the other's wrist, the hand she held the sword in. This momentary distraction was enough for Barbara to gain an opening. The crunch of a bone was audible to the two and she smiled at the girl's visible pain and frustration.

"Thanks, Sarah!" She jumped back as the injured woman attempted to sweep at her feet with a low kick and managed to dodge just in time. She spared a glance towards Ronan who had begun to fling his knives at his enemy, who had managed to dodge them all so far.

"Alright," Barbara grinned, throwing aside her nearly broken bat. She clutched the metal hilt, racing forward, "let's get a bit more personal, shall we?"

The red-head rammed into the other female, the two fighting to keep the standing ground; but Barbara was stronger in strength, the other was with height. The end of the bat scraped against the silverette's side and rolled to the ground, Barbara swooped low, wrapping her arms around the other's waist and hoisted her up.

A scream ripped through the air as Barbara threw the girl against the enemy's back, toppling them to the ground. Dust flew up from the sandy clearing. Her blue-haired friend laughed, bringing out a larger knife and sinking it into the male's arm who was struggling to get up. The girl had rolled off to the side, but Ronan threw two knives at her, one embedding into the tree behind her, the other sinking into her gut.

"I win," Ronan wheezed, holding his gut as he sunk to the ground, blood trickling out of the corners of his mouth. His eyes were dazed. Barbara swept low to pick up her bat and hurried over to her friend's side. She cradled his body, his breathing ragged.

Another scream shook the air, followed by the sound of a gunshot. Those two sounds were very close.

"Sarah!" Barbara called, looking down to Ronan, then out to the trees again, "Sarah?!"

The male's body shuddered and she lowered his head onto the grass. She picked up her bat and hurried over to the male that writhed on the ground, blood pooling out from his knife wound. Said knife had broken through the other side of his arm, digging painfully into the ground below him; it would be a struggle for him to remove it.

Barbara heaved her bat over her head and swung it down onto his torso, then up, then back down, repeating this process until she heard the crunch of his bone. She looked over at the woman who was curled up on the ground, shivering as she watched Barbara murder the one before her.

"The...poison," Ronan's voice shattered her thoughts and she whipped her head to him, "the poison...will kill them- soon.."

She raced to his side, looming over his body as she tossed her bat to the side, she hushed him quickly. Panic was rising behind her eyes.

"Don't. Don't talk, don't close your eyes." She told him, looking out between the trees, then back at him.

Ronan had raised his hand, which was soft against the side of her face.