The next morning he waited until him and his mom were in the car. They watched as Mrs Bentley was about to pass by and block their way out of the driveway with her slow walking.
At that point Zach told him mom, ''Wait! I forgot something...''
''What? Right now?''
''I forgot the… homework on my desk, I have to deliver it today.''
On her way to Julia’s car, Mrs Bentley already had a smile glued to her face as she looked forward to telling Julia that Tammy was going go get the new electric wheelchair that afternoon.
''It''ll take a second.''
Zach rushed back in the house but he didn''t go up to is room, instead he went to the kitchen and to a wooden knife block on the counter, to find the biggest one in the bunch.
He hid it in the school bag.
Before running out back in the car, right when Mrs Bentley was about to knock on Julia’s door.
Zach ran in the car, and saved his mom from an awkward conversation.
She dropped Zach in school and the entire day, Mike wouldn''t take his eyes off, him. In class, Mike passed his thumb across his neck and whispered, ''You''re dead.''
Zach, stared back with a smirk - Sadie recognized that smirk, what was he planning?
After school, as Zach walked across the forest path, and eventually saw them.
Mike was there on the tree again with Sadie on him.
They watched as Zach approached with his chest and chin up high. He fixed his eyes on Mike and then moved his stare to Sadie.
Mike also walked towards Zach, Sadie warned, ''Just let him go, Mike, I think there''s something going on with him.’
‘I''ll tell you what''s wrong with him, he''s about to die a very painful death...''
Mike took off his jacket and dropped it on the muddy ground.
He raised his hands like a boxer and said, ''Sadie’s right… You’ve been too cocky today, I bet you’re hiding something in that bag. Drop it faggot, let’s have a man to man fight!''
Zach stared Mike in the eyes for a while and then he dropped the bag on the side of the path.
As soon as he did that, Mike charged Zach at full speed, like a rhino, grabbed Zach’s legs to lift him up and drop him violently on the ground.
After doing so, he mounted up top of Zach, and pounded him with punches.
With those heavy knuckles, cuts and bruises were inevitable.
Sadie watched from behind Mike with some concern - from the way he was throwing those fists, it seemed like he was really going to kill Zach.
Mike looked like a cat playing around with the mouse it’s about to eat.
''How do you like that mother fucker?'' he dropped another bomb - this one was so hard on Zach nose, it bent in an abnormal way, few seconds later, it turned back normal.
In his furious rage-filled attack, Mike barely noticed that all the cut lips and the bruises on his victim were healing after few seconds.
''You''ve got tough skin, uhn? I''ll show you...'' he commented before intensifying his attack, more and harder punches.
At one point, Zach stopped defending his face from punches. Mike thought he was finally getting weak but, Zach had inserted his right hand under his shirt and, with nails, cut deep in the skin of his lower back, until the cut was big enough to fit a hand but he had to be fast, it would start healing soon.
Zach''s dipped an arm inside his skin like a pocket, only to drag out the knife.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
Mike didn''t notice any of that happen, he was so focused on trying to knock Zach out.
Sadie was really worried now, ‘I think that’s enough,’ she said and Mike stopped.
In fact, Mike’s hands dropped limp and his body leaned forwards.
''Babe, you ok...?''
He didn''t answer. Instead, Mike''s body fell on top of Zach.
Zach had pushed the blade in Mike''s throat, and he pulled it out after he fell on him.
Zach pushed the corpse aside, stood up, and faced Sadie - who’s eyes were momentarily fixed on Mike as he bled to death on the ground.
Sadie yelled, ''Help! Help!'' and sprinted the opposite way in the path.
Remember the day before, when Zach was running away from Mike? His only physical advantage over Mike was his insane speed, Sadie couldn''t compete with that.
Zach chased her, with the knife in hand, still dripping with Mike''s blood.
Sadie couldn’t outrun him, so she ran away from the path, into the woods - knowing that she wasn''t going to reach the neighborhood nearby before he got to her.
Zach followed Sadie as she zigzagged between the trees, looking for anything that could save her from certain death.
At the same time she was trying to understand what happened but couldn''t, how could he be unscathed after such a beating?
It didn''t really matter, Sadie was the object of Zach''s revenge, the centerpiece in fact, having her dead would mean the world to him - especially in that moment when, for the first time he saw her terrified as he chased her down the labyrinth of trees.
Sadie looked behind and realized he was closer than she thought.
She jumped over large tree root in the way, very swiftly, adrenaline makes you do insane things.
Sadie breathing got heavier by the second, her body couldn''t handle such speed for much longer.
Zach instead, was having the best day of his life. He would see her blood today, he had no doubt about that.
Sadie screamed yet again, ''Help! Help!''
Dumb bitch, she had ventured in a part of the forest where no soul goes, because it was darker than the rest of the forest - trees were tall, covered the afternoon sun so much that there is more shadow that sunlight.
Maybe it''s just fate''s perverse way of playing with us humans, but as Zach ran he tripped over the tree root, so small he barely saw it and ended up face down on the forest floor.
It did hurt but nothing serious. Sadie had seemingly disappeared.
Other than the sounds of the forest''s animals, there was nothing that could help him find her.
She couldn''t have gone that far, she probably was behind a tree. So he walked quietly, trying not to step on anything that did make any sound whatsoever,
Sadie was indeed hidden behind one tree and was sweating more than she had ever done in her life. To stop herself from screaming, or breathing heavily, she covered her mouth with her hands.
Even if Zach was trying to be quiet, she could feel his presence near.
Would she dare take a look behind the tree to know where he was?
No, she was going to stay put and be careful.
Zach advanced slowly looking left and right.
He walked past a couple trees facing left, while he should have been facing right.
Sadie jumped him from the right side. She wrapped herself on his back, holding the right arm, where the knife was.
Zach spun around while she tried to kick the knife off his hand with her leg - unfortunately for her, he had a tight grip on it.
Not that Sadie was the strongest girl in the world but the grappling practice on that dummy was paying off. She slowly wrapped her arms around Zach''s neck as he tried to get her off him by running backwards into trees.
It hurt Sadie every time he did that but she didn’t let go of him and, soon enough, she was able to get her right arm around Zach''s neck, initiating a chokehold.
She used her left arm as a lever for the right hand to hold on to, thus making the grip way tighter, nearly impossible to get out of.
Zach felt himself gasping for air while he ran on the trees and struggled to stab Sadie behind him with the knife.
Sadie succeeded in wrapping her legs around Zach''s right arm, locking it still, and making him lose balance. Zach fell on the ground and the knife slipped off his hand.
On the ground, she kept the hold on his neck and Zach''s life faded slowly…
Sadie only stopped when sure he was dead.
She took a deep breath and rose to her feet before pulling out the phone from her pocket, and had just typed on 911, when...
She felt her leg being grabbed, and pulled, which made her trip. The fall was hard, but not as hard as taking Zach off her once he took the knife and jumped on top. Sadie was able to move her head in time to evade the first knife strike.
But Zach came at her again with more fury. Sadie wasn''t able to defend this time but she was able to cover herself with her right hand. The huge knife went through her palm and emerged on the other side.
''Ah!'' She screamed, pulling back her hand but, in doing so, freeing the knife for another attack, which she was forced to block with her other hand, this too was easily cut through by the knife, only this time Zach used both hands to press on the knife harder.
With her hand stuck in the knife’s blade, she tried to push him off but couldn’t. He weighed on her with one knee, she couldn''t kick or push Zach off her.
Sadie looked in his eyes and they felt familiar. If eyes are the window to the soul, she was looking into eyes just as rotten as her father’s.
The blade was about to touch her nose.
In a last ditch effort, Sadie begged,'' Please... please, don''t do this... Please...''
''Not calling me faggot now, are you?''
''I''m sorry, I didn''t mean it.''
''Bullshit!''
''No, I’ve got family problems and lashed out my anger on you. I’m sorry! Please...''
Zach stopped pushing but held a tight grip on the knife ''... I see... you had problems...''
He grinned - Sadie recognized that grin, she had seen it in class more than once.
Zach put all his weight into his arms and dove the knife deeper…
A scream echoed throughout the forest, other than the wild animals lurking in the woods, no one heard her.