Siberia | S. Rogers

eight

.08 | Destiny

Author Note:
Trigger warning for some graphic depictions of violence and death

Merida's vision clouded in and out.

It was like a veil had been put over her eyes. She blinked once and then twice, her ears ringing with a high-pitched noise she was familiar with. It was the same ringing her ears would get whenever Killian lifted his hand to knock her around.

Without thinking, she shifted violently back into her human form, her body momentarily paralyzed by the sudden shift while her hearing slowing started to come back to her. She sputtered on the ground as shock coursed through her veins.

Her hands grasped at the dirt and grass upon the ground, shoving herself up on shaky and frail legs as her arms wrapped around her waist as violent shakes wracked her body. She blinked again and saw one of Killian's hired men shooting at an unknown enemy from across the way.

A bullet whizzed by her that was too close for comfort, and she immediately fell back down to her knees.

Her heart started to pound in her chest uncontrollably and her eyes moistened from the concussion grenade and the thick haze that bared down upon them all. She lost sight of Killian and Diego. Her fear threatened to swallow her whole, but she knew she had to get to some of the animals.

They were sitting ducks in their cages and susceptible to the engaging of gun fire that rained down on the circus.

She started crawling, her knobby knees digging into the grass, but not four feet into her movements she was lifted up by a young black-haired girl named Zoe, the resident seamstress and one of the many girls who rode in on the elephants during the pre and post show events.

Her usually severe straight black hair was in disarray and she had debris and dirt stains upon her right cheek as if she had taken a fall on the ground.

Zoe grabbed her arm and hoisted her up, shaking Merida once and then twice as Merida zoned in and out like a zombie.

Zoe's high pitched voice sounded out with frustration and genuine concern, "Snap out of it, damnit! We have to get to Killian and-"

The girl's body was thrown forward in a weird lurch and she crashed into Merida. Their bodies sank down to the ground, Merida's hands somehow now finding a home on the girl's shoulders, keeping a loose hold on her as a ricochet bullet had pierced Zoe from behind.

The bullet had made a home in Zoe's right lung.

Merida's entire body shook as the girl's eyes went wide with fear and pain. She was silent as Merida shifted her weight so that Zoe lay in her lap on the ground. Her eyes caught sight of the pool of blood around Zoe and the glassy look to her eyes as her right hand drifted up to Merida's thin shirt.