“Yeah! Take that, bitch!” Reaper cried out.
Her victory was short-lived.
With all the noise she was making, anyone on the island could have heard her. By now, she’d led everyone to her position. From way off to her right—the farthest point from me—a crossbow bolt flew through the air and slammed into her shoulder.
Enraged, Reaper turned toward the direction of the bolt and ran several feet. She didn’t even bother to try to remove the bolt as she dropped to the ground and rolled. Another bolt whizzed over her head and slammed into the ice a few feet away from me.
Never one to turn down an extra weapon, I grabbed the bolt out of the ice and headed up the ridge to get a better view of the fight. It took a few minutes to reach a place I could scale over—the mountain cliff was sheerer at this location—and I had to be careful about my steps to keep from falling down the outside of the ledge. I wouldn’t fall very far, but the landing would be a rough one. The sounds of the fight were louder here and coming from slightly below me. Harsh voices and the sound of scuffling brought me to the very edge where I looked down and saw Hunter and Reaper hard at it.
I settled back a bit, lodging myself partially between two rocks for protection from above and from the sides. If Hunter or Reaper looked up, they would have been able to spot me, but they were far too intent on killing each other. My vantage point allowed me to look directly down at the battle. As soon as one of them killed the other, I could jump in and finish it before the winner had a chance to recover.
“Why don’t you just put that down and let me give ya a little of what you got last night?” Reaper danced around, her eyes wide open and wild.
“I figure once you’re a piece of meat in the fucking dirt,” Hunter snapped back, “I can fuck you in whatever hole still works!”
I could see the handgun shoved into a holster at his side, but he never went for it. As I looked closer, I realized why.
His right hand was completely exposed. I could see his crossbow lying a few feet away, broken in several pieces with the bolts scattered across the ground, and a lone glove lying near it. Without something covering his skin, the metal on the gun would instantly freeze to his hand if he touched it. Even if he won this battle, his fingers would be frostbitten before he could retrieve the glove. He must have removed his gloves to improve his aim with the crossbow.
Reaper continued to taunt him, and he just smiled and gave it right back to her. I wasn’t sure if he was oblivious to the danger of exposed skin or just too high on the fight to give a shit. Hunter definitely seemed overconfident in his own combat abilities, which was fucking stupid. Even from where I was, I could tell Reaper was faster and deadlier than he, even if he had a good foot and a half on her in height.
Never fuck someone you plan to kill.
Reaper had the advantage of agility. She connected several blows to Hunter’s head as she advanced on him. Each time he tried to hit her back, she ducked out of his way and hit him in the kidney.
He was losing, but he still didn’t go for the gun. I probably would have, skin be damned, but he either didn’t realize she had him, or he had just discounted the weapon altogether.
Reaper landed a fantastic blow to Hunter’s face, and he stumbled backward, fell on his ass, and started to roll down the incline to the ledge below. He reached out with his bare fingers and grabbed at the edge of the rock, finally stopping his descent just as he was about to go over. He hung somewhat precariously, grasping at the rock and kicking with his feet to get a better grip. Reaper poised herself just above him, taunting the giant of a man.
“Is that all you got?” she sneered. “I thought a man like you was going to give me some kind of challenge! You couldn’t even give me a fucking orgasm!”
“Bitch!” Hunter growled as his hand began to slip. “I’ll give your ass a good pounding!”
She slammed her metal knuckles into his fingers. He lost his grip and started sliding down the rock again, barely keeping his balance on the lower ledge. He crouched and allowed himself to drop, managing to fall only a few feet before he found a place for his boots on the ledge below. Scuttling off to the side, he hoisted himself up a few yards away from Reaper and began to run up the side of the ridge, passing the area where I was hidden.
I got up on the balls of my feet, my heart beating in anticipation.
“I thought you wanted to play, asshole!” Reaper yelled as Hunter disappeared into the rocky landscape behind me. She started to head after him, but as she got a little closer to me, I decided now was as good a time as any to take her out.
I jumped from the top of the rock and landed on her back, sending us both to the ground. As we began to roll down the side of the mountain, I flipped the piano wire over her head and around her shoulders. With a quick jerk, the wire lodged under her chin.
I wasn’t quite cutting off her airway, and Reaper leaned against me, struggling to get her head out from around the wire. Though I couldn’t seem to get it positioned right to strangle her, she couldn’t get it off either, so she began to punch upward toward my face, hitting the side of my head. My ear rang with the blow, but my grip didn’t falter.
That’s when she went for the oldest trick in the book.
Oldest because of how effective it was.
She dropped one shoulder, brought her arm up, and slammed her elbow into my balls.
Not even Kevlar can stop that shit.
“Motherfucker!” I cried out as I tried to keep myself from doubling over.
Even through the thick clothing covering my body, the impact of her elbow in my crotch was enough to make my stomach clench and for a wave of nausea to wash over me. It was also enough to make me lose my grip on the wire completely. Reaper ducked out of it, turned partway to the side, and clipped me in the jaw with those fucking brass knuckles.
I stumbled backward but managed to grab her arm and take her with me. We tripped a couple of times before both of us fell to our knees, fighting for control over each other’s blows. I grabbed at the crossbow bolt still in her shoulder and twisted it, causing her to scream in pain. Apparently, that just pissed her off because she managed another hard hit to my shoulder.
Damn, that woman could throw a punch!
Forgoing the wire altogether, I let it drop to the ground as I went at her again, grasping the bolt in her shoulder as I wrapped my arm around her throat. She bucked against me, and my hand lost its grip from the bolt’s shaft, but the other arm stayed in place. I tightened my grip around her neck as I coiled my other arm around her head. My position was perfect, and all I had to do was twist to break her neck, but I didn’t get the chance.
I heard the shot ring out, and had no doubt from whose gun it originated. I braced myself for the impact of the bullet, and when the impact came, I was momentarily stunned. The pain wasn’t that of a bullet wound though, rather that of simple blunt force. Instead of feeling an exit wound in my own back, Reaper went limp in my arms.
Thank Landon for Kevlar.
I dropped to the ground and rolled, bringing her on top of me just as another shot rang out, making her torso jump in my grasp. Glancing down her form, I saw a pair of bullet holes in her body—one in the center of her chest, the other slightly below. Beyond her feet, I could see a rocky cliff jutting out from the mountainside just a couple hundred yards away. Right at the edge was Arden, tossing his sniper rifle to the ground as he reached up over his shoulder and brought the assault rifle around and pointed it in my direction.
“Fuck!”
Blasts ricocheted off the ground around my feet and up the side of Reaper’s body as I ducked my head beneath her shoulder. A line of bullet holes ripped their way through the thick layer of clothing up Reaper’s leg, and I felt a searing pain in my thigh.