Perceive by K E Osborn
KENZI
“Dammit!” I curse, tears streaking down my face.
The smoke filling the air stings at my eyes, burning my senses, and I know it’s only going to get worse. These trees are dry, the weather warm, the breeze floating through the atmosphere not helping as it shifts the flames from one to the next.
I wipe at my eyes, trying to ease some of the pain.
The second I open them, though, I instantly regret letting my guard down for even those few seconds. Hendrix jumps out from behind a tree, his fist connecting with my cheek, everything going dark for a blink before I find myself hitting the ground with a hard thud. The leaves and dirt doing nothing to break my fall.
“You fucked it up, Mac,” Hendrix roars, pure rage in his voice. A tone I’ve heard before but a long time ago. Years ago. He swings his leg back before driving it with force into my ribs. “You’ve ruined everything.”
I can’t breathe.
I can’t speak.
Another fierce blow forces the little bit of food and water I’d consumed over the past few days onto the ground in front of me, while my entire body vibrates in agony.
“Do you know what I’ve had to do to get here? Do you know what kind of reputation you’ve ruined with this fucking stunt?”
Blow after blow hits me, a relentless onslaught of kicks and punches and shoves as I crawl on my hands and knees across the uneven ground, looking for any kind of protection or escape but simply finding handfuls of dirt and leaves.
“I should have killed you when I had the chance. When you were lying in that bed looking at me so innocent, so confused.”
Another wave of nausea washes over me, I gag, but nothing comes out. The lack of food and water, obvious.
Fight.
Fight harder.
Just stay alive until Axel finds you.
That’s all I need to do—stay alive—and give Axel the chance to get to me. I know he will be looking, searching, coming for me.
I simply have to stay alive.
I just have to fight.
“I was greedy,” Hendrix continues to rant like I’m not even here at all. It’s something he used to do when he needed to feel powerful. That typical villain monologue, the point where they are losing and they need to boost their ego. Climb back up onto their throne and take what they think is theirs. “I wanted you too badly, I couldn’t fucking resist.” His hands twist into my hair, and he drags me across the ground while I kick and fight against his hold, my nails digging into his skin.
But it’s like he feels nothing.
Like he’s finally lost it and gone numb.
That’s the scariest part.
This is the point I know if I don’t fight back and get the hell away from him, I won’t be alive when Axel does finally come.
Hendrix tosses me to the ground like I am a ragdoll, my mouth filling with dirt as he grinds my face into the damp soil. The second he lets me go, I push all my strength into my arms and force my body onto my hands and knees, preparing to use everything I have left to get me to my feet. But in that second, I feel something.
A rock.
Hard.
Sharp edges.
About the size of my fist.
“I can hear your boyfriend and his friends coming,” Hendrix taunts as I wrap my fingers around the heavy object, hoping like hell he’s distracted enough not to notice. This is my only chance. The one shot I have at escaping. He reaches down, his thick meaty fingers wrapping around my throat and dragging me, as I gasp, until my feet are off the ground and our eyes are level. “I just wish I could stick around to see the look his face when he finds you. The love of his life. Dead. By my hand.”
For a second, I see it.
The look on Axel’s face.
The pain.
The way he tumbles down further and further into a hell I created for him. Axel fought six years for me, for a ghost he wasn’t even sure existed, risking his life at the chance I was alive somewhere in the world.
He did all that for me.
And now, I need to do something for him.
Stay alive.
With everything left in me, I swing the rock fisted tightly in my hand. With my air supply being cut off by Hendrix’s grasp, the world is beginning to spin and move on its own, and I know that will affect my aim and how much thrust I can put into the blow.
So all I can do is hope.
It connects hard with the back of his skull and his grip loosens a little, his painful cry so damn welcoming.
But it’s not enough so I swing again.
And again.
And again.
He stumbles back, tossing me to the side, the rock flying from my hand and my body hitting the nearest tree. A savior actually, as I dig my nails into the bark, allowing it to hold me up on unsteady legs while Hendrix hits the ground.
Voices are becoming closer.
Lights moving in the distance.
I can’t tell if they are friend or foe.
Run.
One foot after the other I fight the waves of nausea and dizziness, making it to the next tree before a hand wraps around my ankle.
“I gave you everything,” he growls, gripping it painfully.
“No,” I spit, turning toward him. “You didn’t give me shit! You stole it all. Everything.” With my free foot, I stomp down hard on his arm, the loud crack of his bone breaking almost enough to make me smile. He lets go instantly, a string of curses and threats filling the dark night air as I hurry away, putting as much distance between us as possible, moving further and further into the darkness.
Into the shadows.
Leaving the nightmare here in the dark.
To rot.
The thought alone gives me the strength I need to force my way into the trees, my feet moving faster, pumping harder. I choke and cough, the smoke growing thicker now, and I can’t help but wonder if I’m so lost at this point, I’m running into it and not away.
A breeze picks up, and I look back just in time to catch a flurry of embers floating on the wind, a couple settling on my skin, stinging and burning. I pat at them furiously, trying to keep them from doing too much damage while other tiny embers settle on the leaves at my feet.
It won’t be long before the fire catches up to me.
I may have escaped one nightmare, but this one is brand new.
A sparkle catches in the corner of my eye, and I look over, seeing a small pond just off to the side in a clearing. It’s barely twelve feet across, and probably full of God knows what, but the thought of the water against my hot skin and in my burning eyes already feels like heaven in my mind.
I rush over, falling to my knees at the edge and scooping the water up in my hands and splashing it onto my face.
I desperately want to take a drink, the smoke swirling around me so thick now, it’s hard to do anything but wheeze and cough. More embers float by catch my attention, and I look up just in time to see a small fire starting a few feet away, the flames ravaging a large tree branch stretching up and over the pound.
Right over my head.
Before I can even think about moving, the dead branch snaps, the loud crack sounding like a gunshot, echoing loudly around me.
I squeeze my eyes closed and cover my head, knowing it’s too late to move, so when something hits me hard throwing me into the water, I’m sure I’m done.
I flounder, kicking and flailing, trying to find the bottom. Unfortunately, I underestimate the depth of the small pond and soon I’m not just fighting against the water, I’m fighting the hands reaching for me through the dense liquid. They keep grabbing, and I kick and fling my arms around, trying to fight them off and quickly losing the air in my lungs.
I need to find the surface.
I need to take a breath.
For a second, I force my eyes open, the water is thick and dirty but in that second at least I can make out where the direction of the light is coming from, and I kick hard, my lungs burning.
But I’m not ready to give up.
Not now.
I can’t.
My face breaks the surface of the water and suddenly I hear him.
“Kenzi, stop! It’s me. Stop!”
I blink, the fight in me instantly dead. Water sits on my face and lashes, making it hard to distinguish the figure in front of me through the blur of the droplets and darkness almost completely taking over the sky. We’re both treading water, our faces barely bobbing above the surface. “It’s okay… I’m here.” His voice is already moving through me, soothing my panic, easing the ache in my chest. His touch, though, is so tight it’s almost painful but warming my entire body despite the frigid water.
“Axel?” I mumble, my voice shaking as I reach out for him. My feet kick furiously with the little bit of energy left inside me and the adrenaline that’s coursing through my veins, keeping me from sinking down into the depths of the scummy pond.
He pulls me in, his lips clashing with mine and for a second, we sink. Neither of us giving a damn as we wrap our bodies together and allow the water to consume us.
Like nothing matters now.
Like this could be our last moment, and if we’re going down, we are going together.
I feel him kick harder, forcing us back up, breaking the kiss, leaving us gasping. I cling to him as he fights to swim us to the edge of the pond, knowing just how fucking hard he must be fighting given he was not just keeping his own body and a thick tactical vest from sinking, but my body weight as well.
I want to help, but no matter how hard I try to force my legs to move, or my hands to paddle, they won’t. The adrenaline I’ve been running on just a few moments ago is gone—I’ve drained every damn last drop. The pain I’d been concealing slowly begins to burn through my body, tears prickling at my eyes as I battle the darkness threatening to consume me.
It’s over.
My body feels Axel’s presence, and it knows it no longer has to fight.
He’s here to take over.
My protector.
“Stay with me, Kenz,” he soothes, dragging me up onto the grass, his breathing ragged and uneven. “We’re getting out of here.”
“There’s no way out,” I croak, lying on my back and staring up at the dark sky. The open space above the pond allows me to see the stars, but I can’t help but notice the flowing thick smoke beginning to mask them, moving over us, trapping us here. Several small fires burn at the edge of the trees, a warning, one we may be able to escape now, but not for long. The large raging blaze is only minutes away, and coming from more than one direction—the wind aiding in the spread across a once beautiful thick forest.
Axel braces his body over mine as another sparkle of burning embers floats through the air, the breeze picking up, causing them to swirl and dance above us. “Everly, shit is picking up, we need to get out, now,” Axel growls as if he’s talking to himself before his eyes meet mine. “We’re getting out of here. I’m not losing you. Not this fucking time. Not ever again.”
I believe him.
I see it in his face.
In his eyes.
The same feeling I feel deep in my chest and firmly in my gut. I may not remember what we had back then, but maybe it doesn’t matter if my body or my brain can’t remember.
Because our souls never forget.
The sound of fast-moving blades has us both looking up, the helicopter filling the open area above us, two thick strops being lowered down. They’re basically the thick red floaties lifeguards wrap around patients to help pull them to safety, only these will hook under our arms and lift us into the air.
With my strength completely drained, I’m absolutely petrified as Axel pulls me to my feet, scared I just don’t have enough left in me to make it. But when I squeeze Axel’s hand, I know I’ll give every fucking last part of me to battle through the pain and zapped energy level. Because the pain of these next few moments will mean happiness forever with him.
He hooks one around himself, and the other around me, under my arms. It’s a short-term solution. One that’s dangerous and not exactly foolproof but works quickly.
Within a few seconds, he tugs the rope, pulling me close before the helicopter eases upward.
“No!” A deep roar echoes from below us, a hand grabbing at my ankle, making me gasp.
I slip straight through the strop, but Axel’s reflexes are quick, and he reaches out for me before I can fall. It’s like my body is being stretched and pulled into two, a screaming pain in my ankle as a heavy body drags me down. The helicopter pulls us above the trees, and I look down to see Hendrix dangling there, his teeth gritted as he glares up at me, his fingers grasping painfully, desperate to not be left behind.
I’m slipping.
Axel can hold me, but not the two of us.
Not for long, but enough so we can make it to a safe place to land.
Axel’s legs hang in front of me, and he tries to hook them around me, hoping it will help hold me up. Something hard digs into my ribs, and I look down to see his handgun in his ankle holster.
There’s no other choice.
And at the same time, maybe it’s the best one.
At this point, either I take Hendrix’s life or he takes mine, and while killing is never something I thought I’d do willingly, removing Hendrix from this world will be more of a badge of honor than a smear of darkness across my soul.
I slide the gun along my thigh cocking it and disengage the safety, then point down—my aim is less than perfect, but how can it be as we fly through the air, my body feeling like it’s on one of those medieval torture devices where they literally pull people apart.
“Mac!” Hendrix screams, his arm wobbling beside him as we dangle in mid-air, the limb looking like it’s made of rubber, his fingers dark and lacking circulation. His eyes widen when he spots the gun. “Don’t, Mac!”
“Shoot, Kenzi!”
Axel’s voice is all I need to give me the courage to pull the trigger. I point and squeeze, hoping I don’t hit myself. My aim sucks, the first shot doing nothing but making him grasp my ankle tighter. The pain almost makes me drop the gun. I grip it tighter, sucking in a deep breath and narrowing my gaze.
Then I fire.
Over and over and over.
I don’t let up.
My finger continuing to pull at the trigger, even as I watch Hendrix let me go.
Still squeezing as his body falls, still and limp, jerking awkwardly as he hits the treetops below us and disappears into the fiery brush.
My time with him and the pain he put me through, burning with him into smoldering ash, sending him into the pits of hell, right where he belongs.