Emerald could only hear the deafening ringing in her ears, she could feel her head throbbing as though someone was using her head as a drum to beat an arrhythmic tune. Her vision swam, multiple black dots clouding her eyesight as she dangled right off the edge of consciousness.
Letting out an agonising groan, she let her head fall, her forehead hitting the floor as she was unable to keep her head up any longer; it felt too heavy for her to carry, so she remained on the floor, her pulsating head against the cold ground as she tried to recover her bearings.
Vaguely hearing the clicks of heels tapping against the floor she laid her head against, Emerald groaned. To her, the small clicks sounded like the harsh shrill of cymbals clashing against each other. She heard the footsteps stop in front of her and with a pained moan, she squinted her eyes open, seeing doubles of each image as she stared cross-eyed at the pair of spiked heeled boots standing so close to her face.
She ran her gaze slowly upwards, past the black skinny jeans and leather bodysuit until she stopped when her eyes met with unfamiliar ones. An unfamiliar blonde woman stood over her, a look of pure satisfaction on her face as she looked down her nose at Emerald.
Tired of holding her head up to look at the woman, Emerald let her head drop again, her unfocused eyes spotting the drops of red slowly pooling beneath her face; blood was trickling down her nostrils and the side of her head, staining her face.
Faintly, she heard the woman tsk before she felt a hard push to her head, eliciting a sharp hiss from her when her already wobbly head easily followed the movement. Resting her cheek against the dirty floor again, Emerald tried to move to adjust her position when she felt an abrupt pain shoot down her spine, immediately halting her movements.
She screamed, releasing heavy puffs of breath when the pain dulled to subsequent pinches. Hearing the clicks now on the opposite side of where the blonde woman had previously stood, Emerald finally registered that the woman, with the pointy heels of her spiked boots, had walked over her back, purposely letting the heels sink into her spine.
Emerald laid on the floor, unmoving for a while as she tried to recover her breaths. Her entire body thrummed with pain and it was all like nothing she had ever felt before, therefore, her mind could only turn numb from the agony.
Her eyelids drooped, her eyes watered from the pain and she felt every trail of blood trickle down the side of her face and nose as the darkness called out to her, slowly surrounding her and attempting to suck her into its void abyss. But Emerald refused to back down. Jordan needed her, her sister needed her, she had promised to wait for Armani back here, alive and hearty. She couldn’t give up, not yet.
So with that, she sluggishly turned her head in the woman’s direction, resting her other cheek on the ground so she wouldn’t have to raise her head to look up at her. With her eyes refusing to go higher than the woman’s thighs, Emerald spoke between labored breaths.
“W-who. . . a-a. . . you?”
Bridget, the blonde, scoffed, looking at the barely conscious woman lying on the dusty floor of the rooftop. Her lips curled up in a scowl and she stifled a hiss when slight pain emanated from her cheek at the movement. A cut currently ran from her left cheek to her earlobe, drawing a line of blood all the way to the curve of her left ear – Jordan’s handiwork.
The man was skilled with his knives, she had to admit from the countless cuts and slits donning the parts of her body that had been victims of his attack. Her blonde hair, which had once been in a perfect ponytail, was now but a bird’s nest on her head and her body ached in some areas, but it was nothing compared to the agony she had inflicted on Jordan’s lover and she was beyond satisfied with that.
“So you still have the energy to speak,” she spoke, raising the wooden rod in her hand once again. “Looks like I haven’t beaten you enough.” She was about to bring her hand down to hit the wood against Emerald’s back again when a loud thud came from the heavy metal doors, successfully interrupting the women.
Bridget smirked when Jordan’s voice came from the other side of the doors before another thud resounded. “Looks like lover boy is finally here.” She straightened up and tossed away the wood, not caring as it landed on Emerald, before pulling out her gun.
Groaning softly, Emerald shut her eyes and listened to Jordan’s desperate calls of her name as the pounding outside the door grew louder and harder with each passing second. A faint smile played on her lips as she felt her body sag against the floor in what she didn’t know was maybe relief or perhaps, defeat.
At least, she got to hear his voice the last time, she thought when the faint sound of a gun being cocked wafted into her ears beneath Jordan’s desperate shouts.
“Mera! Gem, answer me! Please, I know you’re in there! You gotta hang in there for me, baby, please! I’m almost there, Mera, please hang in there!”
Hearing his words, Emerald’s chin quivered, her small smile faltering at the hope in his voice. She finally let the tears fall when Jordan’s shouts didn’t relent one bit. He had faith in her, he was putting his trust in her to not give up on him, to hang in there for him. So what was she doing accepting defeat?
Emerald’s eyes finally fluttered open and although her vision still swam slightly and the black dots still lingered around her eyesight, she willed herself to remain conscious, to fight against the darkness, for him. For Jordan. And with that thought, Emerald moved slightly, despite the evident protest of her body in pain.
Jordan’s words of endearments for the other woman irked Bridget to no end and his shouts of encouragement seemed to be spurring the almost unconscious woman on, as she began to move, seemingly trying to crawl to her feet.
Bridget scoffed, chuckling at Emerald’s weak attempts to get up. Reaching for the wooden rod again, Bridget called loudly over her shoulder, making sure that Jordan would hear her words. “You cannot save her, J. K.! I meant it when I said that if I couldn’t have you, then no one else could. And if I can’t kill you, there’s always her to use as a sacrificial lamb!”
“No!” Bridget chuckled maniacally at Jordan’s despairing yell.
She looked back at Emerald who was trying to crawl away from her. Stepping forward, Bridget reached for her, pulling her hair back harshly, enough to have her already aching back curve inwardly until Emerald screamed out, weakly struggling against the woman’s death grip on her hair.
“Let’s see if you would still be able to move with a crushed spine.” Just as Bridget raised her other occupied hand to bring the rod down on Emerald, the heavy metal doors finally burst open, the extreme force from the other end harsh enough to knock one of the doors completely off its hinges, causing a deafening clatter to reverberate round the surrounding forest.
Without wasting a second longer, Jordan raised his gun and shot three times at the blonde woman, who had turned to face the entrance, eyes wide with fear and utter disbelief. When the gunshots rang out and Jordan was sure he had hit his target, he wasted no time in rushing to Emerald, who was still lying on her front.