After a few hours, she needed to relieve herself. This was an unfortunate downside to having water in her system again.
She got up quietly, listening to Tiberius sleep for a moment where she stood before she finally wandered off a short distance away. While ultimately she deserved to get her ass made fun of for how she harassed Tiberius the other day, she still slid into the shadows of the trees to hide, just in case he truly wasn’t asleep.
Tori had grown to appreciate his company. Granted she had been stuck tending to his wounds, and the brand on his back was a bit stomach turning, but that wasn’t too big of a deal in the long run. She wasn’t sure where she’d be right now if she hadn’t pulled this rescue mission.
She refastened her pants and belt once finished.
Something about that piss felt poetic to her. Like it truly meant something. Gisa had told her once before to always value the small things in life, no matter the size or cost. Maybe that included bathroom breaks, like Tiberius had said before.
She willed her mind into submission. Tiberius had to have pushed her beyond the brink of insanity. It was either that or the crippling exhaustion of his was contagious. If she were to mention this to him jokingly, she suspected that he would start apologizing as if it was contagious. She simply kept these jokes to herself, occasionally cracking a smile when she came up with them.
There she stood, deep in thought, staring into the darkness of the trees. The moon had finally disappeared tonight, so it was especially hard to make anything out.
Even though she’d been given more than enough time to sleep while Tiberius was on watch, she always found herself awake anyway. If only they could travel further in a day, she wouldn’t feel this way. Something deep in her gut kept telling her that the bounty hunters were close behind, barely out of sight. While she trusted him more than enough to sleep on his watch, the anxiety in her couldn’t bear to do so.
So she’d stay awake.
Waiting.
Listening.
As she turned to leave the cover of the trees, her head knocked forward, her mind going dark.
----
Her body hung heavy and limp as she regained her consciousness.
The back of her head was throbbing. She’d been hit from behind, and hard. How long had she been out? She tried to breathe, but her mouth was stuffed full of fabric, forcing air through her nose instead.
Reality began to sink in.
Her eyes peeked open, checking the area. With how dark it was, it was hard to tell. Thankfully she made out the trees and realized she was still in the vicinity of the lake. She must’ve only just been knocked out.
As her sense of feeling returned, she realized that she was slung over someone’s shoulders. Her right arm was crossed over their chest and held tightly near her knees while her left arm hung freely off their back. Her hand bumped into metal, her fingers feeling around it. A shotgun barrel. She let her fingertips brush lightly across the leather coat beneath the gun, still feigning unconsciousness.
Taking care to not announce the fact that she was awake, her free hand ever so silently lifted toward the back of her belt. It felt like her knife was still attached under her shirt.
That didn’t make sense.
As the person briskly walked, she could sense that they were trying to avoid making noise. Whoever this was, they had to know Tiberius was with her and still within earshot. There was no other explanation. Otherwise her knife would have been gone by now, and she’d be bound at the limbs instead of gagged. It was too risky to do otherwise.
If she could manage to make enough noise, Tiberius was guaranteed to wake based on their few days together. It was doubtful she was going to get the gag off in time to yell, so she’d try to get her kidnapper where it hurt, so they could yell for her.
She steeled herself for the impending scuffle, allowing her hand to close around the hilt of her knife. If this was Alabaster as she suspected, she shouldn’t have a problem getting him to talk.
The tip of her knife hit metal near his waist, slipping past on a detour and sinking into his side. It wasn’t a perfect hit, but a pained snarl hit her ears, which meant it had done something. She’d have to try again, because he hadn’t yelped loud enough.
She raised her arm to strike, but was cut short as she was thrown hard into a nearby tree, a hollow thump sounding out when her back connected. Her chest began to seize up as she narrowly got to her feet, knife still in hand.
Alabaster was already on top of her, attempting to wrestle the knife out of her grip. They fought hard for a moment, straining against each other before he managed to sink a heavy fist into her gut, dropping her to her knees with a groan. The knife fell from her grip. She couldn’t move.
He huffed quietly, lifting her by an arm and facing her forward, then pulling her into a chokehold. “You’re going to come along quiet,” he hissed into her ear. Hot tobacco breath met her nostrils. While she enjoyed chewing tobacco of her own accord, Alabaster’s breath was awful. She nearly gagged.
“We’ll have a little fun together on our way back,” he whispered. “I’ll get paid an’ then you’ll never have to deal with me again. Now sleep,” he growled, pinching her neck tighter.
She swung a leg back to hook it around his ankle, then bent forward and to the side with all of the strength she could muster in an attempt to knock him off balance. Alabaster stumbled into the nearby tree, still holding her tight. Next came an elbow to his side while he was distracted. She took a deep breath in, then hit again. Alabaster tensed. With the third, something gave way underneath, likely a rib. He cried through his teeth, piercing the silence of the night.
She fell limp moments later.
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