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“You’re going to cost the world everything!” he was saying, his voice rising. “The oil… it’s the blood of the earth! It has to be fed!”
He swiped at her, his crazed rantings becoming shrill with the motion.
She lunged back, avoiding the blow, but feeling the breeze of his arm lashing through the air.
She wasn’t a talkative sort, so she didn’t point out how insane he sounded.
But if he was talking, he was exhausting himself. So she said, conserving her own breath with short words, “The earth needs to be fed?”
He blinked, staring at her, his knife waving back and forth where he stood, watching her attentively, his body lithe like a snake’s.
“Yes!” he said, pausing if only for the moment. He met her gaze, an eagerness to his eyes, as if he thought he might be able toreachher with his madness.
“The earth needs the oil! It’s the only thing that gives it the power to live and sustain itself! Without it, we will all die!”
Rachel stared back at him, feeling a chill run down her spine.
He seemed to deflate before her, his shoulders slumping.
Rachel watched him, her heart briefly twinging for the pain and sorrow that she saw in his eyes.
He was like a wild beast.
The knife like a claw, talon, or tooth.
She’d faced predators in the wilderness before. This was no different. Hunter vs. prey.
Sometimes, the biggest predators were startled by the smallest of creatures.
In the wild, creatures would often make themselves appear larger. The change in size startling the more dangerous aggressor.
He was staring at her, a mad glint to his gaze.
She met the glare, her eyes hooded, her hands tense at her sides.
“I feed the land,” he whispered. “Someone has to. Like my father. I feed it. What do you do? Hmm? What do you do!” His voice screeched like the call of a vulture.
She just kept her gaze on him, saying nothing.
He was pacing back and forth now, clearly agitated, shaking his head side to side.
She watched him closely, tense, patient, her eyes never leaving the knife.
And then he lunged.
She didn’t hesitate. She’d seen his legs coiling, seen his muscles tense.
Instead of backing away, though, she flung her armsout.
A distraction. Making her frame larger.
He hesitated only briefly, and she went low.
Her hands had goneup,and his knife had followed, and then she’d doveunderthe blade.
She caught him around the legs, hearing the knife clatter as it fell from his hand due to the impact.
She slammed him into a cactus, and he let out a scream of pain as the prickles jabbed at him.
