Kendra swore and slammed her knife into a tree. “All that we have amounted to in the last twenty-four hours is two more sprung and failed traps!” she practically screamed. Rainsford rubbed his forehead.
“Kendra, calm down. We will get out of this alive, and you will see your brother again,” he said. Over the last day they had talked a lot, about life and family and anything else they could think of, but nothing seemed to make the situation any easier for either of them. Kendra turned to look at him.
“Three days, Sanger, we have been here for three days!” she yelled. “The only thing we have done to him is kill some of his dogs. How is it possible he is still alive? We have thrown everything we have at him and all he gets is a hurt shoulder.”
“The important thing is that we are still alive, Kendra.”
“Yeah? So what? Do you really think he’s going to let us go? No. He just wants to keep his sick little game going.”
“I swear to you, by the time we leave, he will be dead. Now come on. Just standing here feeling sorry for ourselves won’t help anything,” Rainsford said finally. Kendra was about to argue again, but after a moment simply pulled her knife from the tree and followed Rainsford. The entire place looked familiar to Kendra by now but yet all different. She had traversed this island up and down over the past three days, and at this point wasn’t sure where they had and had not been. It all looked the same. After a while, they came to a small ditch, probably dug by a previous captive. Rainsford beckoned for her to come into the ditch. “This should be a good place to rest a while,” he said as he climbed down into the earth. There was a sudden deafening noise from somewhere above them.
Kendra’s face suddenly twisted as she fell forward in pain. Her hands went to her stomach. As she pulled them away, she saw blood covered them. She tried to breathe, but found her lungs would not cooperate. She gasped as she tumbled into the ravine. Rainsford looked up and stopped dead. Just above them was General Zaroff with a gun in his hand, a smile on his face. He looked from the gun to Kendra, his brain struggling to put together what had happened. She had been shot. “I’d like to thank you,” the General said with a smirk. “This was one of the best hunts I have been on in a long time,” he spoke, smiling again.
Rainsford looked towards Kendra, then back at the General. Anger filled him as he tried to run at the General. The General simply laughed. “Well, that won’t do you any good now, will it, Rainsford?” the general said.
Kendra looked up at the blue sky. “I will not die here,” she muttered, as she glanced around her with all the strength she could. She suddenly froze as she noticed something and she realized why this place looked familiar. “We still have number four,” she said quietly, drawing the attention of both men. With all the effort she could, Kendra rolled to her side and pulled on a nearby sapling. Suddenly a rumbling filled the area. A huge collection of rocks came down from a ledge near them. The General looked up and back down. Kendra smiled, as for the first time she saw a look of fear from the General. There was a loud yelp and finally the Cossack was dead.
Rainsford glanced at the pile of rocks, then raced towards Kendra. He lifted her head from the ground and brushed her hair from her face. Kendra heard a few words Rainsford said, . . . Chateau, and Help, but nothing more before she slipped into darkness.
