Cathy

I rear up and smash my head into his chin. Shock waves ricochet down my neck, down my spine. Sparks of red flash behind my eyes.

It feels like I’ve run into a brick wall. The impact slices through my body.

I cry out and fall back on the bed. Tears run down my cheeks. I’d known I wasn’t going to be able to escape, knew it from the moment I’d agreed to this half-assed plan to assassinate the General, that this could go either way. But until that moment I’d not realized I’d held out a last sliver of hope that I’d be able to break out of the grasp of this leader.

He’d given me a chance to escape, and I had failed.

Then he’d allowed me to go at him, and the one solid hit that I’d got in at him had laid me low. The physical pain from the impact rips through me. A dull pressure pushes against the back of my eyeballs. More than the fact that I am utterly and completely at his mercy, it is t