Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
But Mina didn’t fall for the scraps. She shook her head, her hands buried in the horse’s mane, and didn’t move.
“She isn’t going with you,” I said to the general in German. “She is staying with me.”
The general raised his chin with a sneer and spoke German back to me. “I forget you’re so primitive that you don’t even speak Russian. I would be careful if I were you. If you cared for her, you would admit to your crimes. You would sentence yourself to death so that she may go free.”
“And what of the baby?” Mina asked.
“Of course you can keep it if you choose,” he said, a blatant lie.
And while this was happening, my bones started to burn, like I was on fire from the inside out. I felt like internal flames were being fused to my veins, that I was growing stronger somehow, unnaturally so, and that’s when the hunger started to kick in. A deep growl from my stomach that made the horse snort and dance nervously underneath us, as if we were going to take off.
We should have, in hindsight.
At any rate, the horse’s movement was enough for the soldiers to spring into action, coming toward us.
Mina’s horse spooked further and suddenly reared back with a loud whinny and Mina was thrown to the ground.
I jumped off just as the horse took off at a gallop and grabbed Mina, hauling her to her feet, standing in front of her to protect her.
I snarled at everyone like I was a wolf in human form.
A few soldiers laughed nervously, eyeing each other in cagey amusement, but their horses were so disturbed that they wouldn’t advance further. They started pawing the ground, throwing their heads, and then rearing when the soldiers kicked their flanks.
It was at that moment that I understood.
The horses were afraid of me.
I was afraid of myself.
But I didn’t know why. How could I? There was no word for what I was becoming.
The soldiers got off their horses, some of them taking off in the direction that Mina’s horse went, and they approached me slowly, spooked as well. It wasn’t until the general barked at them in Russian that they suddenly lunged like the trained monkeys they were.
I did my best to fight them off but it was impossible to do when I was trying to protect Mina. In the end I covered her like a blanket in a futile effort to keep her safe.
But then there were too many soldiers, from all sides, crossing the river to get us and then they were ripping us apart.
They dragged her off, her heels making tracks through the ground, and she screamed for me, hands outstretched and I couldn’t reach her, not with so many men around me, holding me in place.
All the anger, all the rage, the pain, the anguish swelled inside me.
I felt myself transform into something.
The fire in my bones, the hunger in my gut, the pure animalistic urge to kill and fuck and eat. The soldiers felt it too, and all the horses were gone, and even the general had dismounted before his stead took off on him.
He grabbed hold of Mina by her hair, making her scream.
Threw her on her back in the dirt.
“Stop!” I screamed, another inhuman voice that was ripped out of me, tearing apart my throat.
“What will happen to the baby?” the general sneered in German.
He raised his boot.
Brought it down.
In horrific slow motion.
He stomped right on Mina’s stomach.
I howled in pain, panting, clawing, trying to do what I could to stop this nightmare from unfolding. “Mina!” I cried out.
She had the wind knocked out of her, his boot still pushing down and she was trying to reach up for her father to help her, gasping for air, face contorted in pain and terror.
But he didn’t help her.
He just said something in Russian. A word I understood.
Whore.
Then he brought out his sword.
I was done with feeling helpless.
I started to fight harder as the fire in my bones threatened to drown me in pain, but the pain was nothing compared to what was about to happen.
I remember I was calling her name, screaming it until my voice was hoarse, as if that alone could stop things. But I know now that fate is stubborn when it is set in motion.
Nothing can stop it.
The general raised the sword above Mina’s head.
Her eyes widened until the glint of the sun on the sword made her blink.
He hesitated for just a moment.
A moment for the world to slow down.
A moment for Mina to realize she was going to die.
A moment for me to realize that I was going to lose her.
The same moment I knew I would kill everyone in my path.
“My heart will always find yours!” she screamed at me.
He brought the sword down.