“I did it this morning… Just do it,” he insisted when he saw me hesitate. “We can have some peace of mind that way at least.”
“What do I have to say?” I asked. The fear made me do exactly as Kinn said.
“There’s a prayer. Ready?”
I nodded at Kinn, palms pressed together.
“A… nan… ta… pad… You have to say it louder,” Kinn urged. I repeated after him, word by word.
“…Cha… ye… A… pad… ti… de… de… na…”
“…Na… Wait, this prayer sounds familiar,” I said, looking at his face. I thought I caught him smirking, but maybe I was overthinking things.
“You’ve probably heard it before—it’s famous. Come on, keep going: A… pad… ti… ya… A…pad… di… de… de… tue,” he continued.
Yeah, right. I glared at Kinn. He laughed and tapped out a rhythm on a tree, singing, “Anantapad chaye Apadti dedena!7 Ha ha ha!” He cackled at me again. I marched over to smack his chest in frustration as he laughed himself to tears.
“You believe in this stuff? Hah! You’re hilarious.”
“Fucking waste of my time! Bastard! If you’ve got the balls to joke about this shit, you’re gonna run into the real thing!” I shouted and punched his arm.
“Ouch! I don’t believe in ghosts, Porsche. I’ve never seen one with my own eyes. I didn’t think you really believed in them!” He kept on laughing.
“I hope you get haunted by one, you shithead!” I yelled. This motherfucker!
We ended up chasing each other around for a long while. When we got back to civilization, would Kinn still let himself act silly like this? Right now, alone with me, he wasn’t putting on airs. He was acting like a total fucking moron and annoying the shit out of me, but at least he wasn’t the regular stuck-up, serious Kinn.
“Aww, you’re stressed out. Your eyebrows are so knotted up they’ve tied themselves into a bow,” Kinn said. He threw his arm over my shoulder and massaged between my eyebrows.
“This isn’t funny, Kinn!” I angled myself away, fuming, but he pulled my head down onto his shoulders.
“I’m just trying to lighten the mood. Don’t be like that…” He was still trying to annoy me. Lighten the mood, my ass! My mood was actively getting worse as he played around and disrespected whatever spirits might be out here.
Rustle!
I jumped at the sound of a bush shaking. I grabbed Kinn’s shirt at his waist and held on tightly, burying my face in his shoulder. My heart thumped wildly against my chest as I thought about all the freaky shit Kinn had just been talking about.
“What is that?!” Kinn yelled, his arms around me.
Rustle! Swish!
Kinn let out a relieved laugh. “Ah, it’s just a hare. Are you scared of bunnies? Hah!” He rubbed my back soothingly as I lifted my head and smacked his chest.
“Aww, it’s okay,” he cooed, lifting his hand to pat my head. I glared at him. Damn it, my tough image is totally destroyed! Now I look like a weak little bitch!
“You motherfucking bastard!” I cussed Kinn out, irritated, then spun around to stride away without listening to any more of his laughter or teasing. The nerve of this asshole! I should just leave him out here!
“Wait for me!” Kinn called, jogging over until he caught up. I kept walking, vowing not to waste any more time putting up with Kinn’s nonsense.
“I think this is the right way,” I said. We’d been walking for a while, and the path was becoming more familiar by the minute. Kinn and I started half walking, half jogging until we reached the cliff face we originally fell from.
“This is it! We just have to find a way to get up there.” Kinn looked upward, thoughtful.
“Find them! Don’t stop until you do!” a harsh voice resonated through the forest. Kinn and I immediately ducked behind a tree.
“Shit! They haven’t stopped searching?” Kinn cursed. He pulled out his gun, ready to fight.
“What do we do?” I asked him. We only had the one gun between us—I’d lost mine when we fell.
“I see footprints over here!” another man shouted. I held my breath, glancing over at Kinn. He cocked his gun and reached over to hold my wrist.
“Give me the gun, Kinn. I’ll deal with them,” I said, but he wasn’t listening to me. His eyes scanned our surroundings.
“We’ll have to fight, or it won’t end here,” he said.
“They’re over here!”
Bang! Bang!
Kinn fired as soon as he heard the men shout, and two bodies fell to the ground in a heap.
“Shit!” I exclaimed. Kinn still wouldn’t hand me the gun. He pulled at my hand, weaving between the trees as gunshots rang out.
Bang! Bang!
“We’re running out of bullets,” Kinn said as he checked the gun’s magazine before sliding it back in and shooting another man until he, too, fell to the ground. Things weren’t looking good, so I shook off Kinn’s hand and dove out from behind the tree, grabbing a gun from one of the bodies.
“Porsche! What the hell are you doing?” Kinn yelled, his face drawn tight. He ran after me, still firing.
Click! I cocked the gun and took aim. There were nearly ten of them circling us. Kinn pulled me behind a tree again to take cover.
Bang! Bang!
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You’re gonna get yourself killed!” Kinn scolded me before twisting out from behind the tree to fire another shot.
“Fuck! There’s too many of them. We have to make a decisive attack, or we’re not gonna make it!” I told Kinn. I didn’t know if I was oversimplifying, but if we went back into the woods it was going to be the same shit all over again. Might as well go all out. Give them a taste of their own medicine.
“Porsche! Don’t you dare!”
Ignoring Kinn’s demand, I sprang out from behind the tree, firing madly into the crowd.
“Kinn, you go that way! I’ll go the other way,” I told him, and ran off, not really caring if he followed my command or not. I took cover and fired back.
Bang! Bang!
We were still outnumbered. Our attackers circled us, drawing closer and closer. I panted heavily as I checked the pistol’s magazine. My eyes locked with Kinn’s worried ones as he looked out from behind a different tree. I didn’t know what else we could do. If we went after them head-on again, I was going to run out of bullets. I tried to gather my wits, but before I could, the muzzle of a gun pressed against my forehead.
“Give up! You can’t win,” the man said. Three of them surrounded me. I closed my eyes. I hadn’t expected to fuck up so quickly. I aimed my gun at one of them, but I was cornered.
Thwack! Kinn threw himself over, kicking at the man’s wrist and making his gun misfire into a tree trunk. To do something so brazen, Kinn was probably out of bullets himself. I tried to find an opening, kicking and punching and knocking another gun from their hands. Weakened as I was, I stumbled and took a couple of punches to the face. I could usually down someone in a single hit, but in my weakened state, my hands and feet were only half as powerful.
Bang!
The men kept firing. I tried to duck, grabbing one of them to shield myself. Another one managed to knock the gun from my hand as I took hit after hit, but I kept fighting back. Kinn was no different, putting up his best fight but getting his ass kicked, too. Someone grappled me into a full-body lock as another kicked me straight in the chest, the pain momentarily stunning me. Kinn’s voice rang out:
“Shit! Porsche!”
My eyes widened in surprise as Kinn’s body crashed into mine, his arms wrapping around me.
Bang! Bang!
I froze when one guy pointed a gun at me, but I couldn’t feel anything as Kinn’s body shielded mine. My heart sank with fear when I felt wetness seep onto my body. Kinn went completely still. I saw the men take aim for a second shot, so I grabbed a fallen gun and returned fire, holding Kinn up with my other arm.
Bang! Bang!
“Over there!” came another shout as the men switched targets from us to a band of newcomers. Blood rushed in my ears. It felt like my mind was short-circuiting. I fell to my knees, trying to hold up Kinn. His eyes were closed and he was bleeding from his abdomen. I didn’t know what to do—my heart trembled and my mouth could only shout his name.
“Kinn! Kinn! Shit! Stay awake!” I yelled at him. The image of Kinn bleeding out in front of me was terrifying. I slapped his face and shook his body. I didn’t care what was happening around me—I was scared for Kinn’s life.
Pete’s blurry face appeared above me. He took Kinn’s weight off of me as Arm ran over to support me, calling out to me.
“Porsche! Porsche!”
The pain and exhaustion made my vision go dark…