“Don’t kill them all!” Harold calls out. “I want as many as possible to be left alive!”
Suddenly a figure runs into the hut, almost slamming into me. When she turns to me, I realize that it’s Olivia, her eyes filled with fear.
“What are they doing?” she stammers. “I don’t understand—”
A moment later, someone grabs me from behind and slams me against the wall. Olivia screams, but she’s quickly shoved to the ground and kicked hard, knocking her out.
“Move!” a voice hisses, grabbing my collar and dragging me toward the doorway. I try to fight back, but I lose my footing and drop down, only to get pulled out through the mud.
All around, people are screaming as fires continue to burn. Some of the huts have been set alight, while the center of the town’s main clearing is burning bright thanks to a huge bonfire made out of all the crude tables and chairs we’ve managed to build over the years. Everything we’ve achieved at Steadfall is being systematically destroyed, and energy blasts regularly flash through the air, cutting down anyone who manages to make a run for the fence. After a moment I spot Leanne walking past the fire, aiming her gun and then blasting a man who tries to grab her.
Stumbling to my feet while still being dragged by the collar, I turn just in time to see Harold marching past the inferno.
“Put her in with the others,” he tells the guy who pulled me out of the hut. He glances at me briefly. “She’s worthy of special attention.”
I try to lunge at him, but something heavy slams into the back of my head, knocking me to the ground. Unable to get back to my feet, I’m dragged across the rain-soaked mud until we reach one of the other huts, at which point I’m pulled into the darkness and then shoved against a group of screaming women who’ve been tied like the corpses at the other town. I try once again to get up, but a moment later a rope is tied tight around my chest and I’m pushed back down. No matter how hard I struggle, I’m quickly secured on the ground, and the guy with the gun heads back out, no doubt to round up any more survivors.
“What are they doing?” screams one of the women next to me. “Where did they get those guns?”
“Guns aren’t allowed,” stammers someone else. “They can’t have them, they just can’t!”
I try to pull free, but the ropes are too tight. Filled with panic, I look down at the front of my tunic and see that there’s blood and mud smeared all over the fabric, soaking through to my flesh. The ropes are wrapped around my chest and waist, but the guy who put them in place was in a hurry, so I figure there has to be a way to get free. Feeling something bumping against my shoulder, I turn and see a woman still screaming and trying to get free. Looking around, I realize that everyone else is doing the same thing, and it occurs to me that maybe if everyone went limp for a moment there might be enough looseness in the ropes to let us slip free.
Unfortunately, I can’t exactly explain that, and even if I could, I doubt they’d listen.
Figuring that this is my only option, I twist around slightly and watch the nearest woman for a moment, and then I slam my head forward, hitting the side of her face and knocking her unconscious. As she slumps down, I turn to the next woman and do the same. This time I feel a thud of pain in my own head, but at least I manage to knock her out. The ropes are a little looser now but still not enough, so I twist around and look at the woman on my other side.
“What are you doing?” she stammers, her eyes wide with shock. “Iris, please—”
Before she can finish, I headbutt her as hard as possible, knocking her out cold. Again I feel a jolt of pain, but the ropes are even looser now. I twist and wriggle some more, and suddenly my shoulder manages to slip free. After turning and pulling a little harder, I’m finally able to get out, dropping down onto the mud and then crawling over to the hut’s far wall. Looking back at the women who are still tied together, I see that three of them are unconscious now while the other two don’t seem to have noticed that they can get free.
I’ll come back for them, but right now I need to move fast.
Making my way to the hut’s doorway, I look out and see that the scene has begun to calm down. Most of the Steadfall residents have been captured and tied in the other huts, although there are several dead bodies in the mud. Voices are shouting in the distance, and after a moment I realize that I can hear Harold and his two friends trying to catch one final person who seems to have escaped. Seizing my chance, I hurry out of the hut and slip around the side, before dropping to the ground and waiting. I don’t know exactly where everyone is right now, so I need to be careful. Desperately short of breath, I wait for a few more seconds and finally I spot a figure running through the darkness toward the trees, followed by Harold and Ben. Energy blasts race through the air, but the dark figure keeps going. Whoever it is, he seems to be giving them the slip.
I check both ways, to make sure that no-one is nearby, and then I start making my way toward the next hut, figuring that I can start freeing people and—
“Going somewhere?”
Something slams into the back of my head, sending me thudding face-first into the mud. Before I can react, I’m pulled back up and twisted around, and then I’m sent crashing into the side of the hut. When I turn, I see Leanne standing above me with a gun aimed at my face. Her eyes are filled with hatred, as the light from nearby fires dances across her face.
In the distance, voices are still shouting in the forest.
“You’re lucky,” Leanne sneers. “For some reason, Harold really wants to deal with you himself. I told him, it’s better to just—”
Lunging at her, I let out a gurgled cry as I slam into her waist and knock her back. Her gun fires, filling the air with a blast of energy, but I manage to land on top of her and slam my elbow into her face with enough force to knock several teeth from her mouth. She tries to push back, but I start slamming my fists against the side of her head. When she reaches out to grab the gun, which she dropped when she fell, I pull her arm away. I try to get the gun for myself, but she pushes me back against the mud and lands on me, pressing me down harder.
“You’ve pissed me off now!” she hisses, as blood runs from her mouth. She punches me hard on the jaw, almost knocking me out, and then she turns to reach out for the gun. “Harold can’t complain if I kill you in self-defense!”
Grabbing her by the collar, I pull her back and shove her to the ground, and this time she lets out a cry of pain as I hear a faint snapping sound. Looking down, I see that I’ve managed to break her arm, but I know I still need to finish her off so I climb onto her chest. The gun is too far away to reach and I don’t have a knife, so I reach down and wrap my hands around her neck.
“You’re scum!” she hisses, spitting out teeth from her bloodied mouth. “You’re just island scum and—”
She gasps as I squeeze tighter, and at the same time I push down with all my strength. She tries to reach up and force me away, but I focus every last ounce of energy on the task of crushing her throat. Gripping my wrists, she tries to push me back, but I know she’ll kill me as soon as she gets the chance. Her eyes are wide now, staring up at me with a growing sense of fear. For a moment, she seems to stop fighting back, but then suddenly she starts panicking, desperately clawing at my wrists, digging her nails into my flesh as if she’s realized that I’m not going to stop. Her whole body is shaking now, and she twists her hips in an attempt to push me off, but I squeeze my legs tighter around her waist in order to make sure that I can’t be knocked away. My hands, meanwhile, are pushing harder and harder against her throat, and after a moment she starts letting out a series of choked gasps.