Barely Breathing

Chapter 2: I want to live

"A lil' bit’ scared their young fella? Don't yer worry I ain't hurt ehh." The rogue smirked devilishly. I think he was in his late forties and a tall, skinny one. His accent tells me he wasn't from around here either, maybe from the western side.

"Back off!" I hissed when he took a step forward. Glaring at him, I took the two knives attached to both of my thighs and positioned them in front of me. "Leave now, before I kill you."

His gaze drew on both of my hands holding a knife in each. His laughter echoed through the meadow. He pointed a finger at me mockingly. "Yer kill me with those clanky blades?" He laughed again holding his stomach and wiped his eyes at the back of his hand. "Yer holdin em wrong, twas not how one old fool should use ‘em ehh"

My confidence wavered a little but I shook it off quickly. "Knife is a knife, it cuts," I spoke. "Run now rogue before I think you prefer to die in my hands."

His smirk widened. “Slow down there ehh young fella, yer might regret it.”

I didn’t waste more time as I charged at him with a cry, slashing his arm in the process when he used it to block my aim. The cut wasn't deep yet blood already oozed from it. I attacked him again, this time he was able to dodge as step after step, I continued to aim and he swiftly dodged or ducked in every single blow.

It was getting harder to overpower him. As a full-grown werewolf, he was way faster than I am. He managed to punch me on my cheek and I stumbled as pain shoots in my jaw. The air was knocked off of me, making me dizzy momentarily. I spat blood; my lips broke too because it stings like hell.

My breath came in ragged, but I continued my assault. He got a hold of my wrist and I slashed his already marred face with the other knife to free myself. Luckily, his hold loosened.

He wiped his cheek with disgust and his expression got livid when he saw blood. He was gritting his teeth and a feral growl escaped from him followed by an inhuman howl.

"Yer whore pay for 'tis!"

I gasped as he unceremoniously shifted into his wolf, shredding his clothes in the process. His wolf was a dirty brown, even its fur was matted with dirt. He growled louder and madder, bending his body like a wolf does before it devours its prey.

Torn between running fast and continue fighting, my mind went on full alert. Pain shoots on different sides of my body from all my injuries earlier. Breathing hard, I composed myself for his attack any moment now. I was bleeding bad and not yet shifting into my wolf form means a slower healing process.

I adjusted the knives so I was holding the handle downwards, its blade pointing down. My right hand leveled with my ear and the left one in front of my chest. The blades glimmered under the sun's rays. Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

A minute passed as we patiently wait which one would charge first. His wounds already healing while mine's getting worse every minute. The chance I would get out of this alive lay in a thin line. Deep down I know, I’m fighting a losing battle, yet hope touched my heart.

'Just this moment'. I thought desperately clutching my knives tighter, felt more like holding my only hope within my grasp. ‘I may not get out of this, but I will get through it. I'm braver than what my mind allows me to think.'

‘This is not just my battle. Flashes of what happened in the past came rushing back in my memory, blending well with the present. Vague images of my pack members shouting my name in unison resounding in my head, lifting my spirit. I have to survive.

'For them' I mouthed as the wolf finally leaped in my direction and I quickly dodged and aimed his sides with the other blade. I hit the ground hard. I grimaced when my arms embraced the fall. My knives clanked against stones and bounced more before they dropped a yard away from me.

A pain in my lower rib spread through my body and evidence of blood tainted my shirt. He had managed to claw me. The cut was deep and more blood-soaked my shirt. I felt light-headed from all the blood loss.

Suddenly, my hair was yanked up painfully and I was shoved on a hard surface, my back against a boulder. His naked body pressed up against mine. He was shouting at my face and saying something but I couldn't understand, I couldn't focus. I couldn’t feel my legs nor my hands. I spat on his face instead, the last attack I can do.

He growled and to my blurring sight, I saw him wiped his face. He yanked my hair firmer and slammed my head on the boulder and let me fall like trash on the ground.

I’m dying. Pain is all I could think of. I felt numb from too much pain, from too much blood flowing out of my veins. My head probably had some crack. One more hit and I'm gone. I won't last any longer with all of my wounds. I waited, but nothing came.

I flinched as a hand lightly touched my bruised cheek, surprised by how gentle the touch was, different from the harsh treatment I had moments ago.

I was forced to open my eyes but was blinded by the sun's brightness. Then a shadow loomed over me blocking the sun.

‘Is this the end?’

‘Papa, Mama, and all of my pack, will I see them now?’

Tears streaming down my face like rain flowing from the sky. I would love to die in the rain. But in reality, the sun was up high in the sky, just like I don't want to die today.

‘I don't want to die.’ That realization hit me harder. The truthiness behind that thought scares me more than death itself. Is it too late now?

A hand gently wiped my tears away and in my half-conscious mind, I managed to see his face. He was breathtakingly handsome, the most handsome man I had ever seen in my short cruel life. What happened to the rogue? Or am I just dreaming?

He was looking at me with worried eyes. His mouth moving but I couldn’t follow what he was saying. Sadly, I couldn’t hold it any longer. It was becoming harder for me to breathe. I am dying.

'Who are you?' I want to ask, but the words came out different, right before I have succumbed to darkness.

"I want to live."