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Just a few more steps, I’m almost there, but he’s catching up. I have to be quick.
I burst into the door and swiftly spin on my heels, closing it shut behind me right before he enters too.
He bangs the doors, viciously screaming and coughing. “Die!”
I turn around to see if I can find anything I can use as a weapon, but there’s nothing more than a pair of scissors lying on the table next to me. It’s not enough.
That’s when I spot them with all the children huddled up in the corner.
A man and a woman stand near the kitchen, one clutching a knife in his hand while staring me down …
And Natalie, hugging the children in the back.
My eyes widen. “Natalie!”
She looks up, and tears fill her eyes when she spots me. “Noah! You’re alive!”
“Noah? The patriarch?” the other guy growls, and he points his knife at me. “Stop.”
The president continues banging the door, attracting everyone’s attention.
“Don’t trust me? Fine, but that monster out there will kill us all, so if you want to live, barricade that door,” I bark. “Now!”
He frowns but moves to the door anyway and grabs the lonely chair standing next to the table.
Then the president screeches. “I am President Lawrence, and I demand you let me in!”
The guy’s eyes widen. “Is that—”
“Don’t,” I interject, holding up a hand. “Don’t you think about it.”
Too late.
He’s already pushed the handle down.
“NO!” Natalie screams, and the children start to cry.
The president slams open the door and grabs the guy by the throat. “Don’t get in my way!”
He rams the butcher’s knife straight into the guy’s abdomen.
Holly squeals in terror, and her eyes roll into the back of her head, then she faints and drops to the floor.
The president throws the guy’s body aside as though it means nothing, his eyes homing in on Natalie, who’s clutching her child close to her chest.
“No,” I growl, blocking his path as he tries to get closer, still clutching the butcher’s knife.
He doesn’t hesitate as he thrusts it at me. I dodge and attempt to steal the knife from his hand, but he cuts my arm instead. I hiss and inch back, clutching my arm in pain.
President Lawrence coughs up blood, visibly losing stamina as he quakes on his legs, but he still comes at me with the knife.
Suddenly, Marsha runs into the hut with an ax in her hands, screaming her head off. “Why won’t you just die?!”
She swings the ax and throws it down as hard as she can … right into the top of the president’s head.
Everyone squeals in shock, and then his body drops down to the floor like a plump sack of shit emptying out onto the floor.
For a few seconds, we stand there as though we’re frozen in time. I stare at Marsha, whose chest rises and falls with each breath she takes. She wipes the sweat and blood spatters off her forehead. “It’s over.”
Her hands unravel, and the ax clatters onto the floor.
And for the first time in a long time, tears well up in my eyes. “We won.”
“No,” Marsha says, straightening her back. “The women did.”
Chapter 28
Natalie
After quickly hugging my mother, we help Holly’s husband by rinsing his wound with alcohol and suturing him up with a needle and thread. It isn’t much, but it’ll have to do. No important organs were hit in the attack, so he should survive. As we bandage him up, Holly approaches and holds his hand. I’m glad she’s happy he survived, and that we didn’t have to deal with another loss.
The kids slowly get up too, watching the adults hug each other. Only Noah stands there in the middle of the room as though he’s stunned we all made it out alive. He defended us all from my father, but ultimately, it was my mother who killed him. She saved us, and I can’t thank her enough.
So I hug her again and say, “Thank you. I know it must’ve been hard.”
She shakes her head. “Actually, it wasn’t. I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time, but I could never find the right weapon.”
I snigger. “Poison wasn’t enough, huh?”
“The fucker just wouldn’t die,” she says with a grimace, making me laugh.
“Well, he’s dead now.” Noah leans back, and says, “We should celebrate.”
Marsha nods. “We should. The entire community banded together to fight against their oppressors. You did that, Natalie.” She squeezes my arm. “I’m so proud of you.”
A tear forms in my eye, but I quickly push it away. “I’m proud of us all. I couldn’t have done this without you or any of the other women.” I look at Holly who’s helped her husband get up, and she nods at me too in recognition.
“One simple act of defiance is all it takes to start a revolution,” my mother says, and she fishes something from her pocket. It’s my old scarf, and she hands it to me. “Everything we did, all of it led to this moment.”
