The Vicious Queen

t w e l v e

"Shoot him if you want to get outta here alive." He whispers again in my ear.

I stare at Azul, Azura and then lastly at Rune. They all look terrified.

I shut my eyes for a second and then I shoot.

The red head behind Rune collapses onto the ground and blood splashes all across the ground. Everyone around us gasps and screams in anger.

"Kora!" Rune exclaims, sounding relieved.

"You really thought I was going to kill you?" I twirl the gun between my fingers.

"Elijah!" The brown bearded man cries with his hands in his hair. His eyes are locked on his friend that is now lying dead on the sloshy mud.

His eyes slowly meet me and they turn from sadness to burning anger real quick. "You stupid bitch!" He shrieks through yellow teeth.

Then he sprints to me fast with his arms in the air ready to squeeze the life out of me. The next thing I know, a loud gunshot is heard. A bullet goes through his skull, spilling blood all over.

"Oh." Rune murmurs at the sight of the next man I killed. I shrug defensively.

Men run at us screaming from all directions, their eyes flashing with anger. Luckily, there aren't much.

Rune grabs a tall man by his hips and shoves him on the ground. The man twists and turns in the muddy ground as he groans in pain.

I don't throw hands, instead I keep on shooting. Bang! Bang! Bang! I'm shooting quite clumsily, of course. I never had the need to shoot before. I mean, why would a princess need to learn to shoot anyway?

Swift bullets fly through their heads and blood swashing all over the place turning the muddy ground into a pool of blood.

I dash to the red head lying on the ground and slide onto my knees next to him. I dig through his pockets and find a pair of crummy gloves. I toss it away with an impatient "tsk." Then I finally find the pair of keys.

I run to the cage Azura and Azul are locked in and unlock the cage with so much tension that the keys almost slip out my hands.

"You killed them all!" Azura exclaims as she stumbles out of the cage.

"I had to!" I defend myself.

"For a second, I thought you actually killed Rune. Good actress, aren't you?" Azul asks playfully. I shrug with a crooked smile.

They grab their weapons but I don't. I continue to examine the gun quite proud of myself. Then we hear loud angry screams approaching us from a distance. We turn around in unison to see at least a dozen men running towards us with knives in their hands.

"They don't look so friendly." Azura swigs with a nervous chuckle.

"Looks like they wanna snap off our heads." Rune gulps.

A bald man sprints to me and I pull the trigger pointing the gun at the man but...nothing. I immediately panic. I pull the trigger a few more times in disbelief fast and full of tension as if it's going to magically work.

The next thing I know, the man throws me to the ground. He pins me to the ground with the sharp tip of the knife pointed right at my eye. I try to push him off of me but he wouldn't budge.

The man cackles with the knife about to pierce my eye and I'm literally shaking when Azul pushes the man off me and the knife scratches my arm exposing blood.

"Ow!" I groan in pain.

The bald man rises once again but Azul hits him in the eye knocking him down to the ground. He kneels down next to me "Are you okay?"

I slowly rise to my feet clutching my arm "Definitely not but it's alright." I tear a piece of clothing from my shirt with my teeth and wrap it tightly around my arm.

Azura pulls out arrows and aims whoever comes her way. The arrow goes through flesh and bone and the men collapse onto the ground. Meanwhile, Rune thrusts the kunai into their bodies and Azul's Shuriken swiftly cuts through air slitting throats.

The second I grab my sword and spin around, I see a knife spiking through the air ready to rip off my skin. I slide beneath it and the man's legs, knees skimming across the mud.

With swift moves, I thrust my sword deep into his back and a loud painful cry escapes his mouth. Before I can turn around, another man grabs my arm and squeezes my wound with rough hands. Blood sprints out of my skin and I yelp in absolute pain.

Without much thought, I swing my sword backwards and the blade spears through his right eye exposing the bloody blade behind his head. He collapses to the ground screaming as he shakes.

A man approaches me fast, he grabs my neck from the behind before I could make a move and shoves me against a trunk of a great pine tree. I stumble back with my hand clutching my forehead and luckily, it's not bleeding.

I turn around and my vision is blurry. I feel dizzy. Everything around me looks like its spinning. I feel my body swaying. I blink a few times with the hope that my vision would adjust but it doesn't.

Through my dim vision, I see Rune running towards me and the man tries to punch him. With great strength and anger, he thrusts the Kunai into his chest over and over again spilling blood all over.

The man stumbles back clutching his chest, half dead. Rune grabs his neck and hits the man's head repeatedly on the tree until the man collapses onto the ground, lifeless. Such great hatred flickers in his eyes and it surprises me to see Rune this furious for the first time.

He runs to me and grabs my cheeks. I see his mouth moving but I don't hear anything. I feel my legs shaking and my throat sore.

Then I doze off.

****

My eyes slowly open and I look around. I'm lying on an uncomfortable bed and I'm certain it's the only bed in this room. I'm in a small old room and it's dark.

I see Azura cuddled up on a wooden arm chair with her arms wrapped around her knees. Azul lays on the ground with his palms beneath him head.

I see Rune sitting on the ground with his head resting on the bed I'm lying on. I slowly rise confused about so many things. Then I notice the bandage wrapped around my wound in my arm.

I stare at them for a second. Tears fill up my ears to see how great these people are. I know there are people in this world that pained me but these people. I love them. They make me believe that humanity still exists.

I'm going to treat them right. I'm going to make their dreams come true when I gain back my powers. I'm going to give them and Mr. Yoshida what they deserve. It's a promise.

"Kora..." I hear Rune mumble sleepily snapping me out my thoughts. "Are you crying?"

I wipe away my tears and smile. "Thank you."

"What are you thanking for?" he asks as he gets onto his feet and silently sits next to me on the bed.

"Everything." I smile again as I stare into his eyes. "Things that recently happened in my life made me hate everything but you guys make me believe there are still so many good people out there."

He stares at me for a second and takes my hands in his. He gives me a soft smile with a nod.

Then the image of Rune stabbing that man returns to my mind. "You killed that man because of me last night."

I feel him shift in his place and he speaks no word. I ask "Why?"

He turns to look at me. He stares right into my eyes with so much intensity and I feel my cheeks burn.

"I'm ready to burn this whole world for you, Kora."