Race to the end

RaceTTEnd 9

I awoke with a start. A hand jammed into my face, covering my mouth. I tried to pry the fingers off me, but they were strong. I struggled and squealed into the hand. My eyes travelled up the hand and up the arm.

It connected to Toto.

I grimaced and tried harder to free myself. He snickered and pushed my down onto the ground, crushing my face between the dirty floor and his sweaty palm. I gasped, pain shooting through my face. He lifted his hand off and smacked me on the cheek; the force of the impact twisted my head around.

I tried to remain emotionless.

Toto stood over me and glared down at me. His eyes travelled over me, looking for a new spot to hit. I calmed my breathing and locked my eyes with his. I saw a flicker of fear on his face. He knelt beside me, a glower on his face. He grabbed my face between his fore-finger and thumb and pushed in towards his own face. I stared back at him.

A darker look overtook his eyes, and he threw my head down so it bounced on the floor. I put a hand under my head, it felt wet. I sighed.

Toto had started to pace around the room. He didn’t look at me as I sat up slowly. I glanced around the room, my eyes squinting in the gloom. Tamu wasn’t here. I started to look around in a panic. I turned around to look behind me, my clothes brushing the floor. I fell over onto my side, gritting my teeth against the pain of my bound hands. I felt a foot smack against my side and turned my head to see Toto glaring at me.

“Stop it!” He warned pointing a figure threateningly at me. I glared at him and spoke loudly

“Where is Tamu?” Toto looked confused but then understanding flashed in his face. It quickly changed to a look of mockery.

“Him?” He laughed, striding around me “Why, he’s gone” He smiled down at me. I glared back at him. “Don’t believe me?” He crouched beside my face. I pulled back as far from him as possible. He grabbed my face turning it to him again. I spat at him, causing him to jump back and fall over. I snickered at him. He jumped up a look of dark fire in his eyes. His foot smashed into my cheek. I cried out and tried to move my bound hands. He laughed.

“There’s no point in fighting” He ran around the room, a manic gleam in his eyes. I glowered at him. He strode towards me and stood tall and straight. “He’s dead” He stated. I tried to keep the hurt look out of my eyes. He stood on my stomach, the breath whooshing out of me. I gasped trying to breathe.

He smiled down at me.

He crouched down again this time over my chest. He brought his face down very close to mine. Panic and sorrow swam in my eyes. He saw this and grinned. He quickly forced his lips onto mine, his teeth biting into my flesh. I cried out with the pain and tried to push him off. I bit his lip, drawing blood and he finally pulled away from me. He yanked his head back and snarled at me, blood dripping onto my face. He stood up and left the room.

The banging of his feet on the floor echoed.

I stayed where I was until I heard the finality of the door closing.

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I was aware of movement after awhile.

It was making me feel nauseous.

My eyes opened and widened as I saw where I now was. I was outside. I wasn’t alone. There were hundreds of the strange green people walking and chatting. We were all moving forward. I looked around to see what I was on. It was like a large cage, there was a bottom and a top and long bars stopping me from escaping. I felt my wrists and found metal shackles that dug into my wrists like the last ones had done. My feet were bound with twine. I looked out of the bars downwards and found four men supporting the poles that ran vertically across the bottom of the cage. They were taking me somewhere. I sighed and looked around for someone to ask. I also looked for Tamu. He was no where to be found.

The day after Toto had assaulted me, a woman brought a skull to me. She told me it was my friend’s; she looked weary of me as she laid it down beside me. I checked the skull carefully looking at all the nicks. It was the right time for it to be Tamu, the right age, the right type.

I had cried for the first time then. Tamu was dead, it was true.

My eyes found the woman who had brought the skull. She was clutching a baby in yellow cloth to her chest. Her eyes were again weary. I yelled to her, finally getting her attention. She came towards me apprehensively. I started to speak when a loud cry carried from the front of the gathering.

Murmurs rang throughout the group and they begun to run towards the front. The procession had stopped and people were looking down at the floor. Some people were sobbing loudly. When the cage finally got there, the crowd of people had multiplied. I peered through the bars, wishing people would move out of the way. Eventually I saw what had caused the problem.

A green person lay on the floor, her skull cracked open by a long spear still protruding from her eye socket. I looked at the spear closely. It had a white arrow head as though it had been made from a chalky white rock. The staff was long and made of a firm wood that I knew would feel easy and light in a throwers hand.

These were our spears.

That meant… That meant that Ribo was near somewhere.

I glanced around curiously. Other people around me noticed this and started doing the same. One person ran back to the end of the group speaking quickly to a guard. They rushed over and made the men holding the cave lower it. They didn’t do it carefully. Once I had regained my composure I looked up into the fearful eyes of the guard.

“You!” He pointed at me. “What do you know?” I pretended I didn’t understand and gave him a quizzical look. He frowned at the man who had come to find him. They spoke briefly and then grabbed the roll of keys from one of the men holding the cage. He fumbled with it finding a long key with a unique design at the end. He pushed it into the cage and then pulled me out so that I flopped onto the floor.

 I grimaced against the pain in my legs. He forced me to stand and then marched me through to the dead green person. He threw me next to her and pointed at her and then at me. I nodded slowly and looked hard at the dead person.

The spear was definitely one of ours. I recognised it all the way down to the clever point that curved slightly to stay attached to the prey. I smiled at the handiwork. This was a good shot, clean and quick. Only Ribo had the skill shown here. I glanced upwards pretending to check the top of the spear. Instead I looked far into the distance where the spear, according to the trajectory, would have come from. I squinted hard. In the distance I saw a small speck of red. I smiled and then stood up.

I shook my head and started back for the cage. The guard followed me and locked me in again. I sat down and smiled up at the guard. Confused he turned away.

That’s when the first arrow hit.