by Angela Foxxe
He was never a fighter and he was never the kind of person who should have been mixed up in all of this. He was just a stupid kid who wanted to get ahead without actually doing anything decent or noble with his life. He was a coward and a criminal, but he was dying like an animal in the middle of the street, his body ruined and blown to pieces.
“Got the call,” Faraji coughed again. His voice was a raspy wheeze, like one of his lungs had collapsed in on him. “They said that they needed an extra body,that we were going to kill the Hunters and take over the island for ourselves. They said that there would be no stopping us this time. I thought that they were smarter than this. Never trust a Jaguar. Never should've trusted them.” His whole body shook as he coughed three times in a row, blood running from his dirty lips.
“Jaguars turned on you?” Kheem asked, crouching down beside Faraji.
Faraji’s one good eye followed Kheem, but his head didn’t move. It was too much work for him to move his head. All he cared about was getting out of this life without gathering any more pain. Josie supposed she understood that. He’d had a rough few days. He deserved a quick exit at this point. At least he was keeping them up to date on the current events of this hellish island.
“Yeah, they turned on us,” Faraji said through a struggling voice. He winced against the pain and he didn’t even try to cover any of the bullet holes that marked his body. He was a dead man and there was nothing he could do to keep himself from dying at this point. “Bastards used us and then turned on us. Alizea made a break for it and I think a few of the Hunters were trying to get Kibwe and Tendai. There were just so many of them. I think they got freaked, just started turning on everyone and screwed everything up.”
“You could've just left us alone,” Josie said to him, not feeling very forgiving at this point.
“Could've done a lot of things,” Faraji said, his whole body beginning to shake and quiver from the shock. “Could have done lots of things differently.” He leaned his head back against the side of the car and just stared off into the fiery pyre of the Torch and didn’t say anything.
It took Josie a while to realize he was dead. It wasn’t like in the movies where they shudder and sigh or their heads roll to the side. No, Faraji left this world silently and as she stood up, she looked at Kheem and knew that they were in luck. If the Hunters were still out there, then there was a chance the last of the Shifter renegades could be mopped up and put to rest once and for all. They could be free of this struggle, but they needed to make sure of it.
If just one of them got away, then it would mean fighting for survival the rest of their days. Ony would never be safe and they would be stuck trying to build a life that was always on the brink of collapsing. No, they needed to do something about this and make sure it ended today. There was always a chance that the last one standing could slip away amidst the chaos. Without King Ronald and his lackeys around, they wouldn’t even have the Lions mobilized to find anyone who tried to escape the island. No, this was their fight and their job to make sure it ended today.
They found a gateway leading to the town’s gardens where plenty of tourists decided to come and have their wedding while they were staying at the resort. It was a lovely rose garden and tropical paradise that was meticulously cared for and tended to by the locals. Now, it was a war zone. But stucco walls that surrounded the garden were covered in bullet holes and at the entry way to the island, there was a dead man leaning up against the wall.
She recognized him as Auben with his facemask off and his eyes half closed. There was a slash across his throat and his arm looked horrifically mangled. He’d been killed by one of the Jaguars for sure. It was a grotesque sight and as she stood over him, she wondered who would take his place now.
The treaty was built by King Ronald and Auben of the Hunters; without either of them, the treaty might dissolve completely. What were the odds that the next head of the Hunting Lodge in Warco was going to be as sympathetic or understanding of what the Shifters of Tarobi were trying to do here? What if they just wanted to exterminate everyone and let the bodies fall where they stood?
Josie couldn’t think about that right now. She wouldn’t waste time worrying about the Hunters as well. Regardless of who took up Auben’s post, the Hunters had suffered so much today that there was no way they would be coming back for revenge from those who didn’t participate in the battle.
“Whatever is happening on the other side of this gate,” Kheem stopped Josie for a moment and looked her in the eyes, “we have to survive. We promised each other, right? So, I don’t care about honor or the nobility of our people. We do anything to make sure that these bastards don’t get out of here alive and that we walk away from this. Do you understand?”
“I understand,” Josie said. There was no doubt in her mind that she would do anything to save Kheem and herself. There was no longer a place for honor in their world and all that mattered was survival. “I love you, Kheem,” she said, touching his arm tenderly, trying her hardest to assure him that this wasn’t the end. God, she hoped that it wasn’t the end.
Kicking open the wrought iron gate, they were forced to step through a veil of fire that was blowing across the entryway. It was thick, greasy smoke that had started from one of the explosions that caught a nearby building on fire, igniting it to add to the chaos. Without anyone around to put out the fire, it was very likely that it too would spread to the nearby buildings. This whole town could go up in flames if they weren’t careful.
Stepping through the shadowy veil, Josie watched as a large golden and black cat landed on a Hunter. The Hunter was screaming at the top of his lungs and she instantly recognized him as Cardel. The Jaguar slashed at the man’s throat and all she could see was an arc or crimson that splattered across the manicured grass. The big cat, covered in blood and its eyes full of fire and rage, looked at them before slowly standing up on two hind legs. Josie watched as the cat transformed, turning into something that was a bit more familiar to the two of them.
Kibwe took a step forward and chuckled. “I was hoping we would have the pleasure of killing you later.” Kibwe shrugged at the sudden turn of events. “It would have been glorious, cutting off your head before the Council, Kheem.”
“You’re not walking away from this, Kibwe,” Kheem said, taking a step forward, ready for the challenge that was awaiting him. “Haven’t you killed enough people today? It’s time to stop.”
“I heard them saying that King Ronald is dead,” Kibwe dragged the back of his hand across his face, smearing blood all across his cheek and lips. “It seems like the throne is ripe for the taking, wouldn’t you?”
“You’ll never have that kind of power,” Josie snarled at him.
“I hear huffing and puffing,” a familiar voice cackled out of the side of the garden.
Josie watched as Tendai turned her head to the new comers. She had Alizea pinned up against the wall, strangling the life out of the harlot that had tried to seduce Kheem a dozen times. Josie watched Alizea clawing at Tendai’s wrists and arms, trying her hardest to squirm free, but it was too late. She couldn’t breathe and the life was being suffocated out of her. When Tendai let go of Alizea and she crumpled to the ground, lifeless and motionless, it was the last of the Hyenas to be put down.
Whether by the hands of the Hunters or the Jaguars, the Hyenas were all gone. They had fled Africa in hopes of starting a profitable life in the sanctuary of the Shifters on Tarobi, but now they were all gone. It was the fate that befitted the greedy and heartless Hyenas. They would get no sadness from Josie. She was glad to see them all gone. Now, they just needed to get rid of the Jaguars.
Tendai stalked toward Josie with the kind of feral hunger Josie would expect a vampire to have. The look in her eyes was one of bloodlust that made Josie think that if Tendai won this little encounter, she would think of this as the best day of her life for the rest of her days. Josie wasn’t thrilled about the idea of fighting Tendai, but it was about time that one
of them was put down once and for all.
“I’m going to try not to enjoy this,” Josie told Tendai as they separated from Kheem and Kibwe.
They were going to fight their own battle and Josie was horrified to leave Kheem alone. She trusted him, but Kibwe was larger and it looked like he was armed up to the fight. Kheem was still trying to recover from the last time he got into a fight with an enemy. Josie didn’t trust this was going to end well for Kheem, which meant she needed to put Tendai down as quickly as possible and head back to help Kheem.
“Why not?” Tendai asked her. “Everyone should enjoy their death.”
“Funny,” Josie said, nearly tripping over the body of Dutch. She looked down at the shotgun in Dutch’s hands and was sorry that the scattershot hadn’t found Tendai when he was alive. That would have made things so much easier for her.
Tendai lunged at Josie and caught her. Josie wasn’t ready for that kind of an attack and was thrown to the ground, crashing into a rose bush that defiantly scraped and clawed at her, making her scream out as she felt the branches snap and the shards digging into her with the claws of the thorns digging at her. Tendai laughed wickedly at the sound of Josie crying out in pain as the two crashed to the grass and rolled, trying their hardest to hurt the other.
Landing on top, Tendai pulled up and swung as hard as she could, battering at Josie. Not willing to let herself be a punching bag for her nemesis, Josie held up her arms and blocked her face, taking the brunt of the beating in her forearms as she tried to think of what she could do. Rocking her body side to side, Josie tried her hardest to throw Tendai off her, but it wasn’t working. Tendai clamped her fingers down onto Josie’s arms and dug her fingernails into Josie’s skin. She screamed in pain as Tendai started to pry apart her arms and reveal Josie’s face.
“I’m going to claw out those pretty little eyes of yours,” Tendai laughed with all the malice and venom she had inside of her putrid, foul body.
Josie shut her up by swinging her head forward and smashing her forehead into Tendai’s nose, breaking it with a single hit. Tendai’s fingers released Josie’s arms and cupped her battered face as Josie drove her fist into Tendai’s ribs and knocked the woman off her. Scrambling to her feet, Josie glanced over at Kheem who seemed to be holding his own against Kibwe, but she didn’t trust it to last that long. Kheem could hardly run and Kibwe had a look that said he was just playing with Kheem right then. She wouldn’t leave him to suffer at the hands of that monster. She was going to bring down Tendai and then kill Kibwe.
Kibwe’s fist made impact with Kheem’s face and sent Josie’s lover stumbling backwards. No, change of plans. She was going to deal with Kibwe first. No one hit her man and got to walk away from it.
Rushing as quickly as she could toward Kibwe, her feet were caught and she went down hard on top of Dutch’s body. She could hear Tendai laughing at the sight as she rolled and saw the hag pushing herself up and coming for Josie. She had a look in her eyes that showed nothing short of bloodlust. She was coming to end this. There was no playing around in Tendai’s eyes. She wanted to kill Josie now and she was going to savor it. Reaching blindly, Josie tried to find something, anything to protect herself with.
Her fingers wrapped around something and she pulled it to her chest as Tendai stood up, her head tilted as she laughed, her whole body shaking as she cackled like a mad old woman. Whether she saw the shotgun in Josie’s hands or not would remain a mystery forever as Josie pumped it and expelled the spent shell. When she squeezed the trigger, the shotgun bucked and nearly flew out of her hands, but it did the job. When Josie looked back at where Tendai had been standing, she was no longer there.
Instead, Tendai was on the ground, slowly kicking with one foot, as if she were trying to spin her body around on the ground. Her arms were limp at her sides and Josie couldn’t see Tendai’s head over her stomach since her back was arched so strangely. It looked like her body was possessed by something. Eventually, Tendai stopped moving all together. Her twitching foot and kicking leg came to a restful position and she stopped wheezing. It didn’t take long, just long enough for Josie to stand up and survey the damage she had caused.
It was grotesque and hard to look at, but in the end, it was the corpse of a woman who had tried to kill her and had implied a desire in doing so plenty of times before in their interactions. Josie looked at Tendai, watching her for a brief second before she turned and saw that Kheem was losing his fight.
Kheem was on the losing end of this fight with Kibwe and that meant that he was going end up dead if Josie didn’t act quickly. She grabbed the shotgun and headed as quickly as she could toward Kibwe. It was hard to get her footing, but she made her way toward him, through the wafting curtains of smoke that stung her eyes.
She rushed Kibwe and tried to get a shot at him as he held Kheem by the collar of his shirt and pummeled him in the ribs and stomach again and again. When Kibwe tossed Kheem to the ground, she saw Kibwe was pretty well beaten. Kheem had gotten some pretty good blows in on the fight. It was enough to make her feel proud to call him her man.
“Hey, asshole,” she shouted at him, pumping the shotgun and expelling another shell as he looked toward her. The expression on his face was priceless as he looked at her and she had all the power in her hands. Kheem rolled his head and looked at her, thrown across the corpse of Cardel as he stared at his woman’s impressive display.
“Wait a moment,” Kibwe said, taking a step away from Kheem, getting better footing as he stood in front of the shotgun barrel pointed at him. “You’re going to kill me with a Hunter’s weapon? Is that how it’s going to be, Josie? Is that all you think of our kind? You just think that we’re meat to be put down?”
“You’re the one who tried to kill s us, Kibwe,” Josie reminded him. “Besides, your sister seemed to take it pretty well.”
“You’re a bitch,” Kibwe growled at her. It was as if he understood then that there was no escaping this fate. He stood up straight and looked at her with a stiff lip and a defiant look in his eyes. Josie knew that look. She had seen it in Wahir’s eyes when he was getting closer to the end. “Fine,” He said, lowering his hands. “Let’s get this over with then.”
“So be it,” Josie said, squeezing the trigger.
Nothing happened.
“Ha!” Kibwe roared, lunging at her with a ferocious look in his eyes.
He was born again and he was ready for vengeance. Josie stared at him and took a step back, about to scream before Kheem’s foot lifted from the ground and tripped Kibwe. He went down hard with a loud bang, hitting his head hard. Josie took another step back and got ready to swing the butt of the rifle like a club at him. But Kheem was better prepared. Grabbing a little black tennis ball off the belt of Cardel, he pulled a ring out of the side of it and stuffed it under Kibwe’s shirt before limping away. Josie followed his lead and rushed away from Kibwe who was standing up, watching Kibwe as he pushed himself up, reaching for the ball.
As he was standing up, grunting and trying to get a hold of the ball that was rolling down his back, Josie watched his body be ripped apart. The blast of the explosion was a blinding light that left Kibwe ripped into two mangled and mutilated pieces beneath a mist of crimson. When the smoking chunks of flesh landed away, Josie watched looked over at Kheem. He was standing in the middle of the garden, eyes wide as he looked at Josie in disbelief. It was something that made Josie’s heart grow larger and larger.
They had done it.
They had survived all of this madness. They were here on the other side of the battle and it looked like this was the chance that neither of them thought that they would have. There was nothing that Josie wanted more than this and yet, there was the fear of what’s next to come after all of this. Josie stared at the world around her, smoking, burning, and surrounded by the dead. This was a dark world for the beginning of their new life. It was something strange to feel, but this was the beginning.
“Are you okay?” Kheem shouted from
the garden.
“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “Are you?”
“I’ve been better,” Kheem shrugged, limping toward her.
She refused to let him walk all the way and started to walk toward him, stepping over the torso of Kibwe and trying her hardest not to look down at. As she stepped over it, she looked at Kheem only and refused to look at anyone else. All she could think of was the fact that there were dead bodies all around her. All she cared about was Kheem, she had to remind herself that she was safe with him. They were here together and that was all that mattered. She had to keep positive. When she reached him, everything washed away. All she needed was Kheem.
All she needed was him.
“Let’s go get our baby,” Kheem said as he wrapped his arms around her.
*
The auditorium was abuzz with the whispers and the conversations of dozens of fearful and terrified people looking for an answer to the questions that were floating around the room. They weren’t questions that were bizarre or misguided. They were the kind of questions that had been rolling around Josie’s mind since they decided that it was important to stand against the Hyenas, the Jaguars, the Hunters, and even King Ronald. They were the questions that every sane Shifter had been asking themselves over and over again. They were the only questions that mattered in the end. They were the questions of survival.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Kheem spoke into the microphone at the podium.
It was good to hear his voice and as she looked at him, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. He was bruised, beaten, and he was going to need to recover for a very long time. His face was swollen, his joints pained, and his muscles were sore. But he was standing up there, not as a member of the Clan Leaders, but as the future King of the Council.