Fight to Survive

She kissed him again, a bit longer this time, and pulled back smiling. “Well?” the beautiful 16 year old girl asked.
“Hmmm,” John  thought for a moment before answering, “You taste a bit like orange and grape mixed in.”
“Ewww” Mia Kolauna laughingly replied “I hope that’s not bad!”
“Not at all,” he quietly said, as he leaned in for another and another kiss. Mia wrapped her fingers in his blond hair and briefly opened her eyes - to see a gun pointed at both of them. She pulled back quickly and calmly said to John, “It wasn’t smart to leave the guards.”

His eyes were confused for a brief second, until he turned around to face the gun. The assassin smiled briefly as his finger twitched, ready to end the life of the young girl. Then he dropped motionless to the ground from gunshot hole that suddenly appeared in his heart.
Mia turned  quickly to see her favorite guard, Jason, standing with his gun pointed at the murderer. He ran to the assassin and was checking to make sure the man was dead; as Mia ran away, followed by John, down the street. She turned a corner and ran as far away from the assassin as she could, half sobbing as she ducked into an abandon shop.

John was running in, when his chest was ripped open in a bloody shower. “No!” she screamed as he fell at  her feet. She dropped to her knees and held his head in her arms looking at his face. She looked up for the second time that day, to see a gun pointed in her face. The man smiled and reached a huge hand down to grab her around her throat. He effortlessly lifted her and pinned her against the wall.

“Great distraction eh?” he asked her “My man has all of your guards focused on him at the moment.”
Tears streaked down her face as he looked into her eyes. “Your family is a curse on this country” he snarled.
“Even if you kill me our name will live on.” Mia managed to gasp out as she kicked with all her might at him. He grunted slightly as her knee connected to his stomach and pulled her head back to only slam it against the window behind her. The window formed a crack as the right side of her face began to bleed.
He next threw her to the ground and pinned her arms down with his knees. He looked down at her with lust-filled eyes and said, “I wish I have time for more but I don’t”
She kicked and struggled underneath him trying to save herself. When she brought her knee up into his back he turned viscous. “That’s it” he said, lifting the gun and pointing it straight into her face.

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                                                                            Chapter 2

Suddenly his body dropped heavily onto hers not moving. She groaned with the heavy weight and called “Jason?”
“why do you always run off like that?” Jason replied in English as he helped her out from under the man.
She only wrapped her arms around him sobbing with relief.
                                                 ---------------
         “This is enough!”  snapped Kimo, her father’s second in command. He brought his hand down hard onto the table. It sounded loud in the palace’s small room and caused Mia to jump.  “Mia you know that you must marry Prince Eli. It’s getting to the point that this marriage may be the only thing to save our island and our nation. Your alliance to him is incredibly important!”
“I know” Mia sighed. “I’m sorry.” she lowered her eyes to the table in front of her, that was spread with a map of their island and the neighboring one.
Kimo continued, “Jason and another guard will travel with you to Nipa on the coast where you will board a ship that will take you to Prince Eli’s island, Pata. This must be done with all secrecy and cautiousness. There are many rebels ready to kill you to stop this marriage as you already know. All three of you must memorize this map just in case you would ever get separated.
Mia sighed again and leaned over the bamboo table with her chin in her hand.
         Jason walked up behind Mia after Kimo had left and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up into his familiar eyes and said in nearly perfect English, “I don’t want to leave.”
He sat down across from her. “You mean you don’t want to grow up. You don’t want to stop playing with your boys”
Mia blushed slightly and looked down again. “I really did like John. A lot”
“I know you did,” he said softly as he looked at her that strange way again.
Jason always spoke to her in English. He had originally come from America before he moved to Bisucay, and as the head of security and Mia’s main bodyguard, had determined to teach her to speak English fluently. He always claimed it might come in handy sometime.  Right now, his kind eyes painfully reminded her again of all that she would be leaving in only one short week. She loved the life she had. She was the spoiled only daughter of the king and took every advantage of it.
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         “I hate this” Mia complained once again as her mule jolted her going over a bump on the dusty road. The tall palm trees waved overhead as she slapped yet another mosquito away from her arm. Jason smiled at her and informed her that that they had only been traveling 4 hours. It would take them a week to get to the coast.
         Mia played with her food as she sat by the fire in their camp that night. At least tonight she could be dressed as a girl and take off her hot and boring disguise as a man.
“Only 6 more days” she mumbled to herself as she climbed into the tent. Soon she heard Jason come in and lie close by her - always the protector. Quietly she reached out into the dark and slid her fingers into his. “I’m scared.” she whispered. “What if I hate him? What if he hates me? What if he thinks I’m not beautiful?”
She slid closer to him, appreciative of his warmth and heard his long deep breathing that she assumed meant he was asleep. “I don’t want to leave you.” she continued. “ You’re my best friend.”
But he never answered.

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                                                                    Chapter 3


The dim sun that managed to break through the overhead growth woke her. Or maybe it was the smell of rice cooking by the fire. Either way, she decided to crawl out of the tent although stiff from sleeping on the ground.
         The second day on the road was much like the first: long, hot, sticky, and boring. She chatted away with Jason in English, never mentioning the one-sided conversation of last night. She was still frightened of what awaited her on Pata; but now it was more of a resigned fear. She would marry him to save her Father’s rule. The allegiance would give her father powerful allies and resources to crush the rebellion before her family was overthrown. But would he love her?
The question haunted her as the day passed and night fell again. It seemed like that wasn’t the only thing that was haunting her, however. Twice that day she had looked behind her to see a large group of what appeared to be merchants, on the road behind them today. Jason had seen them too and had touched his hand to his gun.
         She shivered even though it wasn’t unpleasantly cool and move closer to Jason and the tiny fire. He had insisted on keeping the fire small and unnoticeable tonight. She had a bad feeling about those men behind them. There had been too many for a harmless group of merchants. She noticed Jason was also alert and watchful tonight. But nobody was ready for the multiple clicks of guns being loaded and the voice that suddenly spoke from the darkness. “I have guns trained on all of you.” the husky, deep voice called. “Move and Mia dies.”  Mia’s eyes flew open with surprise as her world went black.
She realized Jason had put out the fire as she heard Jason’s barely audible voice next to her ear. He gave her quiet instructions in English. “As far as I can tell they are to the north of us. You must go behind us to the south and flee into the jungle. Do not look back and whatever you do, don’t come back. I will find you.”
“Do this for me.” he said as she began to protest.
She turned as quietly as possible and stayed low to the ground. Just before she truly entered the jungle growth she heard - or thought she heard Jason’s voice. “I love you.” had drifted out from the camp.
         She left all caution and flat out ran just as the rebels open fired on the camp.

          She ducked and weaved through the thick trees and dense growth. Worry, terror, and panic slashed through her mind. She ran harder as the shouting of men reached her. Her lungs felt as if they were ripping in half! How could she stand this any longer?
         Mia finally collapsed by the protective roots of a great, knobby, and rough tree. She burrowed herself into the cave the washed out roots provided, and struggled to settle her breathing. She listened to the men’s voices, straining to hear Jason, but cringed when she only heard more gunfire.
“Jason” she moaned as the first rain drops escaped the thick dark sky and slid down her face. She was cold and miserable - a shivering girl trapped in this hell.
         How she ever managed to sleep that night amazed her; but when she opened her eyes, the horrible night had passed and it was morning. She straightened up and tried to brush some of the caked mud off her clothes. Her long, black, and normally silky hair felt thick and dirty. She looked up at the sun and saw it was nearly noon. She remembered Jason’s words from last night but still hesitated before heading to the north. Towards Nipa and the ocean.
If Jason was still alive then he would find her on the way to Nipa. If Jason is still alive … she could barely think those words. Hours later she was still walking north gasping from lack of water. I need to search for fruit or some kind of nourishment. She tripped once again and fell to her knees. She stayed there this time looking up at the barely visible sky that was turning pink with the setting sun. Maybe if she lay down for a little bit she could recover strength…..
         She opened her eyes to see a long, smooth body gliding by just inches from her face. She recognized the markings of a poisonous snake that inhabited Bisucay. Every instinct in her wanted her to jump up screaming and to run. But she knew that that would most certainly mean a bite and death eventually. Instead she squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself to think of something different. The violent and bloody memories that flashed behind her eyelids were worse than the snake. She chose to open her eyes again as the last foot of it’s 5 foot black body slithered over her hand that was stretched out in front of her face.
         She exhaled slightly, more relieved than she ever had been. When she was sure it was completely gone she got to her feet thinking she better keep moving.
         As she trudged along, somewhere mid-morning judging by the sun’s position, she realized that she had been on the way to Nipa for 4 days now. That meant that there was only 3 more days of travel left. Silent tears slipped down her face as she stumbled along. She was so hungry. The small amount of fruit she had found just didn’t seem to fill her. How was she going to survive?