Poison
“Damn, I wish he’d slow down! He’s hurting my wrist; he’s holding it so tight.” For the fourth time in as many minutes she stumbled, but he only drug her up and continued his mad race through the woods. She cried out sharply at the pain when he jerked her already throbbing wrist. He stopped, giving her a disgusted look and said, “we can rest a few minutes here.”
He leaned against a moss covered tree trunk and pulled a canteen off a hook on his belt, he took a deep drink then offered it to her. “You need to drink.” Giving her a leering grin he continued, “I don’t want you to get sick from dehydration before we get to where we’re going. I’ve got plans for you.” Noting her hesitation he grumbled, “go on...it’s just water.”
With a shudder Lisa took the canteen with trembling fingers. Her thoughts were on the vial in her pocket that Michael had given her. She remembered his words; “it is colorless and tasteless. You can put it in his w ater. He will die in....” At the word die; she had wanted to push the vial away. She wasn’t a killer like Michael and Nikita or David, but she had taken it anyway. She had curled her fingers around the small glass tube, warm from his hand before hiding it in her pocket.
Fingering the vial she thought, “all I have to do is wait, it will only take a second. He just needs to turn away for a second.” Feverishly, Lisa began to pray that David would give her the opportunity she needed.
In answer to her prayer, David gave her a look of warning as he stepped away from the tree trunk. Fingers scrabbling at the zipper of his fatigue pants, he turned sideways around the tree. Lisa didn’t wait. She knew there might not be another chance. Without hesitation, the vial was out of her pocket and the tiny cap off. She poured the few drops of the clear liquid into the canteen and tossed the vial in the underbrush behind her. She was capping the canteen just as the sound of David’s zipper being pulled up reached her ears. Closing her eyes she thought, “for better or worse, it is done. All I have to do is wait.”
He took the few steps to where she was crouched down on the leaf litter of the forest floor and reaches out a hand to her, “are you ready to go we don’t have much further. Only a mile or so.”
She looked up at him with eyes wide with fear. Her lips were slightly parted as if to say something as she handed the canteen back to him. But old memories surfaced, of his hand striking her face when he was displeased with her. So she dropped her head and let him help her up.
The pace David set through the tangled undergrowth of the forest was slower this time, but his grip on her wrist remained tight. It was all she could do to put one foot in front of the other as branches slapped her in the face leaving stinging scratches. The burning from her leg muscles bringing tears to her eyes. Soon, another half-hour had passed. David was breathing heavily himself. He called a halt and yanked the canteen off his belt, twisting the cap off and drinking deeply before offering it to her.
Lisa watched him closely out of the corner of her eye as she tried to catch her breath. Rubbing her bruised wrist she said, “no, I’m not thirsty yet.”
With a shrug David recapped it and hooked it back on his belt. Grabbing her wrist he said, “let’s go.”
“How long will it take? Dear God...I hope it’s soon.” The thoughts circled through her mind as the whirlwind race through the forest continued. “I’ve become a killer. I want David dead. It’s the only way I can be free.
It wasn’t long after that David came to a sudden stop. He dropped Lisa’s wrist and fell to his knees before slumping over to the ground. He looked up at her bewildered, “wh...what did you do?”
Her back straight, head up and eyes flashing fire she replied, “I’ve killed you David. I’m finally free.” With a smile at him as she tossed her wild mane of hair , she walked away.