Forever and Always

Chapter 39: A Twisted Heart Can Still Love

        Eponine lay on the floor, too weak to stand. Her entire body shivered with the most intense cold she had ever experienced in her entire life. In her feverish haze, she heard the sound of the door swinging open.

        "Joly?" she muttered  uncertainly.

        "Stand up!" a booming voice commanded. Eponine glanced upward. Her vision was blurry, but she could faintly make out two burly figures wearing blue coats and holding guns. Her throat went dry.

        "You're not Joly," she said weakly.

        "Stand up, boy!" one of them repeated, "or we will shoot." Eponine removed her cap, her dark hair falling down her back as the soldiers looked at each other in surprise. Then, she grasped the knife Joly had used to remove the bullet and held it up. "St-stay back," she said, trying her best to sound intimidating.

        The two men looked at each other uneasily. "Should we shoot?" the taller of the two asked.

        "But... she's a girl,"  the shorter one replied. The two of them uneasily pointed their guns at her. "Come with us and we'll let you live," the taller one demanded.

        Eponine did not know what to do. She was too weak to defend herself, let alone stand up. She held her knife higher. Maybe she could throw it at them. Before she could decide how to react, the door swung open again.

        "Drop the guns!" a familiar voice yelled.

        The two soldiers turned around quickly, aiming their guns at the newcomer, or rather, newcomers. Marius and Gavroche stood at the doorway, glaring at the soldiers with disdain and defiance. Marius raised his gun and aimed it at the soldiers. The shorter one laughed.

        "You can't shoot us," he told Marius. "Both of us are armed, so if you shoot one of us, the other will shoot you back before you can blink an eye."

        Marius stared at them apprehensively. Forgetting all about Eponine, the two soldiers both aimed their guns directly at Marius' chest. The air grew absolutely still. Eponine could hear the steady thump of her pounding heart. Suddenly, she had an idea. It was a dangerous idea, and there was no guarantee that it would work, but she had to try.

        Slowly and painstakingly, she crept to her feet, clutching the table for support. Ignoring her pounding head and the dizziness that threatened to come over her, she surreptitiously inched forward until she was standing directly behind the shorter soldier. Her eyes met Marius', and she held up the knife, praying he would understand her plan. Thankfully, he seemed to read her mind, for he nodded slightly and shifted his gun so that it pointed at the taller soldier. Eponine held up three fingers. Marius nodded in understanding. One... Eponine mouthed silently. Two... Three.

        With all the energy she could muster, Eponine wrapped her arms around the shorter soldier's neck and plunged the knife into his throat. At the same time, Marius shot the other soldier in the chest. Both men fell to the ground, dead.

        Eponine fell to the ground, exhausted and drained of energy. She tried not to dwell upon the fact that she had just killed someone. Trembling at the sight of the two limp bodies that lay sprawled on the floor, she wiped the blood off her hands. Marius and Gavroche rushed to her side and helped her stand up.

        "We have to get out of here," Marius said. "Not out the front door. The barricade is crawling with the National Guard. We'll escape through the back door and leave through the sewers."

        "What about Les Amis, and the revolution?" Eponine inquired.

        Marius did not meet her eyes. "They're dead," he said gravely. "All of them. The revolution is lost."