He roars in pain, and stumbles backwards. I charge toward the door, but a shot rings out, and before I can do anything more a burning pain cripples my leg, sending me dropping to the ground again. I scream, I scream so loudly that Kane roars at me to shut up. Blood soaks my leg, and it feels as though a hot poker is being driven in and out of my thigh. I roll around, gasping for air as the pain becomes too much.

“Please,” Eric whispers. “Stop.”

“Fucking bitch,” Kane bellows, driving his foot into my ribs. “I’ll fucking kill you for everything you put me through.”

He storms towards me, but I roll at the last minute. It takes all my strength to move, because I’m in so much pain, but I won’t die like this. I won’t let him kill me. He spins when I roll, and I drive my fist up into his groin, bringing him to his knees with a pained roar. The gun topples from his hand. I lunge at him, driving my fist into his face, sending his head swinging to the side. He roars in pain, and grips my wrists, bringing a fist across my cheek. My world spins and I blink rapidly, trying to focus. Eric cries out a few times, but not once does he try to help.

I turn my eyes to the gun as Kane drives another fist into my face. I spit the blood from my mouth, and I twist away, my wrist burning, and I lunge for the gun. Kane moves at the same time, but it’s Eric who grabs the gun before we do. His face is pale and he stares down at the cold metal object in his hand like it’s something he’s never seen before. It’s terrifying him, I know it is, even the thought that he might have to use it would be making him question everything he is.

Kane leaps at me, landing on my back and flattening me into the carpet. My face crushes against it, and I feel blood begin to trickle from my nose. I scream and try to scurry forward, but he has me pinned. “I’ll fucking kill you, you fucking whore!” he roars. I see the glimmer of a knife, and I know I have a split second before Kane drives it into my back and ends me.

“Eric, shoot him!” I scream.

The next moment of my life happens in slow motion. The knife Kane has obviously pulled out is plunged toward me just as Eric pulls the trigger. The loud crack fills the motel room. Kane jerks, his body rolls off mine, and I hear his bellows of pain. I slump in shock, unable to move, unable to escape it. Eric rushes over, dropping to his knees beside me.

“Indigo, are you okay?” he frantically cries.

Aside from the burning pain in my leg, I’m okay.

“You need to go and get help, Eric. Now.”

“I…”

“Eric, get it before he stops screaming and decides to make me pay for you shooting him.”

“I just want to make sure you’re ok.”

I close my eyes, feeling them burn. I open them after a moment, and reach out, gripping Eric’s hand. I know this is the last time I’ll see him, even if he doesn’t. “I love you Eric, ok? You’re so brave. Go and get help, I’ll be ok.”

Eric nods frantically, and shoves the gun into my hands as I push to my feet. Then he turns and bolts out the door. I have minutes. I stare down at Kane, and anger swells in my chest. He came in here, knowing full well one of us wouldn’t come out alive. I know it too, and I decided the moment that bullet hit my leg that it wouldn’t be me. I watch as he lifts his head. Blood pours from his neck, and when he smiles that sick, evil smile, his teeth are covered in blood.

“You couldn’t do it,” he snarls. “You’d never live with yourself.”

“See,” I snap, pointing the gun at him. “That’s where you’ve always been wrong about me. When it comes to monsters, there is no hesitation.”

“But you have to live with it,” he rasps. “Seeing my dead face in your mind every time you sleep.”

“I wouldn’t consider that a nightmare, instead a pleasant dream.”

“You deserved everything you got, Indigo! You’re useless. Not even your own father wanted you.”

I know what he’s trying to do, but it won’t work.

“Your words, they mean nothing to me anymore, Kane.”

“You’re a fucking weak who…”

His voice is cut off when I pull the trigger. The bullet hits him right between the eyes, and his body slumps to the ground. I stand there a moment, in complete shock.

I’m not sure what I expected to feel when I ended Kane’s life. I’m not even sure I know what I feel right now. I’m too frightened, and I know I have only minutes, so I quickly drop the gun and turn, rushing toward the motel door. I reach it and open it, peering out quickly. The guards are grouped off toward the front of the hotel, and Eric is frantically yelling at them.

I look to my left, and see the thick trees. I have to go towards those; it’s my only hope. I have to figure out a plan, but I need to be away from here to do it. I can’t think about my actions. If I do, I’ll panic.

I run out of the motel, and my leg throbs in pain. It’s not enough to stop me, and adrenalin pumps through my veins as I reach the small, wired fence and leap over it, landing with a thump on the other side. I can hear boots crunching, and voices yelling out, and I know they’re about to discover a dead Kane in my room.

I begin to run through the thick of the trees, shoving and pushing branches and twigs to get past as quickly as I can. They’re thick, and the ground is wet, but I keep shoving through it. The trees thicken the further in I get, and it feels like I run for over an hour before they begin to thin out. I squint my eyes through the sweat that’s pouring down my forehead, and see there’s a clearing ahead. Thank God. I shove through the trees further, and when I finally reach the clearing I launch myself out, not even bothering to look first.