Maya was well-aware that this whole mess was her fault. Confronting Zane was a bad idea by itself, but doing it alone was even worse. After she figured out that the killer had to be a chef, she’d cornered him in the kitchen of the Inked Hunters’ compound, but before she could even get two words out, Zane turned a knife on her, covering her eyes with a blindfold then dragging her out to the woods. And now he was taking her into a cabin surrounded by trees, which she could just barely make out through the blindfold if she squinted as hard as she could.
So I’m going to die here, she thought, the words feeling distant and faded in her mind, like her thoughts had to fight through a layer of fog to be heard. She felt weirdly calm, like some part of her always knew that this was going to happen. She was always going to end up here, back in the darkness, back in a man’s arms, a sharp knife pressed against her throat.
It felt so easy to just accept it, to lean back into Zane’s arms and let him slice her up into meat. That’s what she was, right? That’s what she always was. It was always going to come back to this. Her whole life was one long, protracted prologue leading up to this hopeless moment where she was revealed to be as weak as ever. She was a victim, and she would always be a victim. Trying to be a hero only made it more inevitable.
No. No, no, no! Some voice rose from deep inside Maya’s heart, starting out softly and then building into an internal scream. I am not a fucking victim. I am not just a piece of meat. I’m not just a hunk of useless flesh. I am strong. I am powerful. I do not die like this. Not like this.
Maya bent her spine backwards, elbowing Zane in the stomach, causing him to drop the knife from her neck. She took the opportunity to blindly turn around and knee Zane in the crotch as hard as she could, making him groan out and clutch his balls for a second. “Help! Help me!” she screamed, trying to kick him again but missing this time. Zane quickly recovered, picking the knife off the ground and digging it deeper into Maya’s neck, breaking her skin a little bit so that a line of blood dripped down onto her shirt.
“Stupid fucking bitch. You thought you could come here and interfere in God’s work?”
“You’re not God. You’re just a tiny little man with an inferiority complex,” Maya said before spitting in Zane’s direction.
Zane hesitated for just one moment before smacking her across the face. Hard. Her cheek stung like it had been burned by the force of the impact. But she refused to show Zane that he’d caused her pain, instead grinning at him as wide as she could. “You’re going to fucking pay for this, you know,” she said.
“I’m going to be rewarded,” Zane said before pushing at her shoulders, shoving her closer to the cabin nestled within the trees. “God will grant me good things for wiping the earth clean of dirty bitches like you.”
“That’s what it’s about, isn’t it? Hurting women? Making them smaller so you can feel big? That’s what the whole thing has been about this entire time?” Maya said, and tears burned her eyes, but it wasn’t out of fear or sadness or resignation. They were angry tears that got hotter and hotter as she thought about all the young women who’d paid so this man could preserve his fragile ego.
“It’s about making bitches like you pay,” Zane said before kicking Maya, sending her tumbling to the cold, hard ground, bruising her chin in the process. He pressed his foot down on her back, keeping her down on the ground for a long second, making her feel like her spine was about to snap in half. “Stay down,” he hissed at her, leaning down to grab her hair in his fist, yanking her head up while pressing her back down.
“Never,” she grunted out, digging her fingers into the dirt beneath her body to brace herself as she pushed up, knocking Zane’s foot temporarily off her back as she crawled forward on her hands and knees. I’m going to die here, she thought again, but this time, her inner voice wasn’t defeated. It was strong. I’m going to die here but not on my knees. And not on his terms.
Maya rolled over onto her back, catching Zane’s foot with her hands before he could stomp on her face and pushing him backwards, causing him to fall over, giving her time to scramble to her feet and run towards the nearest opening she could make out through the blindfold. She was going to die on her feet, with air in her lungs and blood in her veins. She was going to die like a woman.
“Fucking bitch!” Zane screamed behind her, his steps coming hard and heavy as he pursued her, and Maya just ran toward the light, knowing one way or another, it would take her home…
There was a loud noise behind her, some kind of scuffle on top of the leaves. There was someone there, someone else besides Zane. It sounded like the two people were wrestling, both men groaning as they punched each other, loud smacking noises filling the air, but Maya couldn’t see what was going on. “Maya, run!” a voice shouted, and it took Maya a second before she realized it belonged to Arsen. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, please, she silently begged, stopping in her tracks. Not him. Anyone but him. Anyone but Arsen. She couldn’t leave him, even if it meant getting away, even if it meant survival. She couldn’t leave him behind.
“Maya, go!” Arsen screamed before yelling in pain as Zane punched him again, but Maya just shook her head.
“Not without you!” she yelled. “Arsen! Arsen! I want you to know! I need you to know. I…”
Suddenly the scuffling noises stopped, and loud panting sounds replaced them. Somebody slowly got to their feet and stumbled toward Maya, the footsteps pressing down heavily as he came forward. Maya just closed her eyes and breathed, saying a silent prayer for what she assumed would be the last time in her entire life…
But then, gentle fingers brushed against her skin, carefully removing the blindfold from her face. Maya blinked her eyes open, tears falling down her cheeks as Arsen’s face appeared before her. “Oh, Arsen, Arsen, I—” She cut herself off as Arsen’s arms wrapped around her, crushing her body into his.
“It’s okay. It’s okay, honey. I got you. Everything’s going to be alright,” Arsen whispered, running a hand down the back of Maya’s hair.
“Zane?” Maya asked, unable to come up with more than a single word at the moment.
“He’s knocked out and tied up,” Arsen explained, holding Maya’s face gently between his two hands. “I brought rope with me. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. I called the MC as soon as I saw him take you through the woods, and they’re going to alert the police. They’re on their way. It’s over, baby. It’s over.”