Try and Catch Me

When curiosity killed the cat (5)
“General! Miss Lia!”

When she heard their names, Lia knew that they were Eldric’s men. The sound of reinforcement renewed her strength and found the force she needed to knock down Pen.

“Ahhhhhh!” She shouted hoping it would help their comrades find them before the two of them died. Lia tackled Pen, slapping, pinching, clawing at her. But Pen, with her inhuman strength, clawed back and threw punches. Lia almost tumbled back but she found her footing and used this to her advantage by pushing Pen to the ground and straddled her, trying to grab at the pouches on the other’s waist.

Eldric managed to get ropes off of him and went after the leader who tried to escape. Lia barely managed to keep track of what was happening around her as she tried to block Pen’s attacks.

She continued to thrash around when she noticed that her eyes were turning hazy. She blinked and momentarily stopped fighting back, only to look up and see that there was smoke within the tent.

This momentary pause was what Pen needed to give Lia a sucker punch in the gut and threw her off. Lia tried to fight back but she was choking from the smoke. Her limbs turned jelly that even when she tried to throw a punch, Pen easily swatted her arm as though she was killing a fly. Pen kicked Lia on the ground where Lia heaved and gasped for air.

Her vision swirled, her mind as foggy as the inside of the tent, and every inch of her body ached. This was how she was going to die.

Then so be it.

‘But at least, let Eldric live. He needs to find that man.’

Putting her last strength, she crawled on the ground and searched for Eldric. She saw a form lying not far from her and went to that direction even as her head pounded as though there was a circus doing acrobatics inside her skull.

“Eldric?” She rasped. He answered with a groan.

Lia crawled her way and touched a part of him. She could not tell which but from the burning feeling on her fingertips, she could tell that she had the fever.

‘Ah, so we’ll be like them.’ She coughed and fumbled in her pocket, relieved that the vials she took remained intact despite the attacks she received. She groped around until she found Eldric’s mouth and tipped one vial over it. Then she took the other vial.

The world continued to swirl around her and the circus’s performance intensified in her head. It was getting harder and harder to keep her thoughts straight.

Her hands searched for Eldric’s hand. It was still burning. “Please live for both of us. If I die here, I’ll be happy to know that my last deed on earth has kept you alive.”

She did not regret dying here. She already died once, maybe she was not meant to live an old age. But, now, if she died, then she died. She was letting go of all of the regrets, the anger, all the negative things that she was feeling. Hopefully, she would find peace in the afterlife. She wished there would also be a clearing in there where she could loiter and roll around like the old days.

As her eyes fluttered shut, the sound of voices came nearer and the last words she heard were “General! Miss Lia!”

And everything went black.