Her pulse began pounding. The door opened and she sprang out of bed, flipping on her light.
Fang stood in the doorway, holding the keys.
She attempted to cover herself with her arms. She wore only a thin tee shirt and white cotton underwear.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
Fang looked back at her, anger and lust in his eyes. He closed the door behind him.
“I asked you what you are doing here.”
“I came to see you,” he said, the wolf’s grin on his face.
“How did you get the keys?”
He took a step toward her. She wasn’t sure whether to continue covering herself or get in the fighting stance. She wanted to scream for help, but her pride wouldn’t let her.
He smirked. “You won’t catch me by surprise this time.”
“If I scream, the instructors will be here in an instant. They’ll punish you and kick you out of the program.”
Fang laughed. “Who do you think gave me the keys? Lieutenant Lin said you needed to be taught a lesson. No instructors will come.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
His eyes wandered over her body. “It’s true. They told me to teach you a lesson. They said that you needed to be humbled.”
He took another step toward her. “We don’t have to fight, you know. I won’t tell anyone. We could just…”
She gritted her teeth. “Stay where you are.”
If he was telling the truth… the thought made her sick. To think that one of the instructors would betray her trust in such a way. She wanted to serve China, like her father. She had done nothing but excel in the program. She wished only to perform with honor.
She had admired the instructors. They served in the PLA and had always been professional and courteous to her, except for Lieutenant Lin. But the others had treated her fairly. A few times they had even given her words of encouragement as she’d bested her classmates in the various evolutions.
Li didn’t want to believe that one of them would have given him the keys to her room — even if it was Lieutenant Lin. If Lieutenant Lin had handed Fang the keys, he had done so with the knowledge that he would do something reprehensible. That made Lin complicit.
She looked at the larger boy approaching her.
“I said to stop. Don’t take another step.”
“What can you do to stop me?”
She might win again if she fought him. But he would have his guard up this time. She was getting better at the martial arts they were teaching her, but it had still only been a few weeks of training. If she screamed, they might not hear her. If they did, her reputation would suffer. Or maybe Lieutenant Lin would hear her scream and just ignore it. Either way, everyone else would see her as weak. The colonel’s daughter who couldn’t take care of herself. What if they kicked her out of the program? What would her parents think?
Whether she fought him or screamed, she did not like her options. Then she thought of another alternative. The idea disgusted her to no end. But if she could get through the worst of it…
“Fine,” she said. Her eyes conceded defeat.
Fang, approaching her with caution until now, stopped in his tracks. A confused look on the bully’s face.
“What do you mean, fine?”
“When we are done, you will leave immediately. And speak of this to no one.”
His eyes grew wider. His smile faded. His words were shaky now. A nervous teenager. “Yes… of course.”
She turned out the light. “Then hurry up and get it over with.”
When Fang left, she remained in her bed, silent. Stewing. Humiliated and defiled. She waited a few moments and then went to the shower down the hall. She kept the lights off and turned the water on hot. She scrubbed and tried to get his stench off her. Steam filled the room. She wanted to cry. If there ever were a time to cry, it would be now.
But the tears wouldn’t come. She wouldn’t be defeated. She wouldn’t feel sorry for herself. Li focused all the emotion into anger.
Like the races and the fights and the physical competitions, this was just another challenge to overcome. Li must win it. And after what Fang had just done to her, the only way to win was vengeance. Li dried herself off in her room and put on her clothes. It was one o’clock in the morning now.
She worried that he would still be awake. Or worse, awake with the other boys. Telling them about his conquest. So she waited another full hour before making her move. She needed to be sure that he was asleep.
In her desk drawer there was a long, sharp pair of metal scissors. She fit it neatly into her pocket and walked out into the hall. No shoes. She wanted her entrance to be as quiet as possible.
Li crept down the stairs and then along the hallway where all the other candidates slept. The lights were off. She waited outside Fang’s door for a full five minutes. Listening.
Nothing. Just the sound of two men breathing in their sleep.
She cursed herself as she realized that his door might be locked and she didn’t have a key. She tried it anyway. It twisted open. A bit of luck. Either he didn’t lock it at all, or he had forgotten to when he came back into the room.
Bullies didn’t worry about their prey coming after them in the night. This one would, soon enough. And for the rest of his days.
Her footsteps were silent on the linoleum floor. There was barely enough light from the window to discern which of the two boys was Fang. It would be a shame to make a mistake. Like a surgeon amputating the wrong leg.
She figured out which one was which. Li crept up to his bed and stood over him, watching his chest rise and fall. Deciding how to do it. There would only be one chance. Then she would need to be quick.
Fang slept with his mouth open. Big mistake.
She lifted up the thin mosquito netting over his bed, removed the scissors from her pocket, and held them firm in her right hand. With her left hand, in one quick movement, she reached into his open mouth and grabbed hold of his tongue with the tips of her fingers. She pulled up on his tongue as hard as she could. With her right hand, she sliced the scissors hard and fast, pushing them forward into the tongue muscle and squeezing.
His eyes shot open as the top inch of his tongue was sliced off like a thick rubber band being cut in half. Warm dark blood splattered over the scissors and both of her hands.
Then the screams began.
Blood-choked, gargling screams. High-pitched and terrified. Shocked in pain, Fang screamed loud enough to wake up everyone in the building.
Li raced out of the room and up the stairs before the roommate awoke and realized what was going on. The lights behind her flicked on, but she was already out of sight. She kept her bloody hand and scissors in her pocket, making sure that no drops fell to the floor as she ran.
Once on her floor, Li first darted into the bathroom and threw the tongue piece into one of the toilet holes on the floor. She flushed it down several times, and then began thoroughly scrubbing her hands, arm, and the scissors. She scrubbed using the same pair of pants that were already bloody. She only gave herself a minute to finish. If anyone had seen her, they would be up here soon. If not, she would have longer. But she wasn’t sure exactly how long.
She looked out the bathroom and into the dark hallway. No one was there, so she sprinted into her room and placed the now-clean scissors back in her desk drawer. She took the bloody pants and climbed up on her desk. She lifted a ceiling tile and shoved them up top, into the unused space above. Later, she would have to get rid of them. She then scurried under her sheet and pulled the mosquito netting back over her bed.
She could hear the commotion downstairs. Yelling from one of the instructors to get the nurse. Fang’s continued screams of agony. Li listened for the footsteps down her hallway, but they never came. She kept imagining a trail of blood droplets leading up the stairs and to her room. She told herself that there wasn’t one. That she had been careful.