I take back what I said, the author sucks!

Cletus placed me back down on the ground, my vision was blocked by blood and tears so I could barely see. I felt Cletus rub something against my face, and then tie that “thing” to my head. When I opened my eyes, my vision had returned and Cletus looked at me with a smile on his face.

“Looks like Todd helped you one last time.”

I felt my head with my right hand and realized it. Cletus used Todd’s clothes to wipe my face and wrap my head wound. I fought my urge to gag, then Cletus put his hand on my left shoulder. Pain shot through my shattered arm, Cletus looked into my eyes and put in my death warrant.

“Make this fun for me, murderer.”

With that, he smacked me hard on the back. I could feel my spine ringing and my back gash reopen. As I flew onto the ground, I started coughing up blood. I couldn’t take it, and finally vomited onto the floor. On the bright side I was finally able to breathe again, but Cletus had other ideas.

“Aw, does my face really make you that sick?”

I turned to see him towering over me, I crawled over my vomit and screamed as he walked after me. I pulled out my miniature crossbow and tried shooting him with it, but it barely had an effect.

“You really thought that toy would hurt me? Now I feel offended.”

I threw the damned thing at him, only for Cletus to smack it away. It gave me enough time to run though, I found where I left my actual crossbow and tried reloading it with one arm. I struggled because I’m left handed, Cletus started laughing as he continued walking towards me. His face could be compared to a clown’s right now, he could leave Heckler out of a job. With each step he took, I could feel hope slipping away. Please load, please load, please load! Finally it was loading and ready to go. I loaded as much ammo as I could, and got in position to fire.

“Here’s a philosophical question for ya’.”

I gave Cletus a questioning look as I struggled to keep the crossbow raised. He smirked as the words left his mouth.

“What wins, an unstoppable force or an immovable object?”

Oh s***! Cletus entered a charge and rushed straight towards me, I had no choice but to fire the rounds then and there. The bolts snapped like twigs against Cletus’ frame, they barely halted his advance. I summoned whatever strength I could into my legs and dodged through an opening he left on the side. I stumbled as I landed on my feet, only to feel a sharp sensation on the bottom of my foot. This bastard left toilet bowl glass on the ground, no these must’ve been the pieces stuck in his back. Cletus saw my reaction and started laughing.

“You like it, that’s the punishment I set up for dishonorable conduct.”

Dishonorable conduct? You’re trying to kill me, and running away from that is dishonorable? Where’s the logic in that sentence? Cletus wiped the smirk from his face and entered into tackle position again. I was immediately put on guard, as for Cletus, he kept his facade on.

“Like before, the moment that thing’s loaded I’ll charge. If you don’t want to experience hell, don’t run away this time.”

I frantically began trying to reload again, my saving grace being that Cletus was waiting for the click. What the hell am I gonna do? My only option is to deal lethal damage with the next shot, but how? That’s when I remembered I still had my knife on me, I pulled it out with my remaining bolts. My best option is to load my knife in with my remaining ammo, and aim for the head. Hopefully that’ll be enough to take him down, if not then hopefully it’ll buy enough time for me to escape. I loaded them in, and Cletus heard the sound.

“You rang the bell, time for round two!”

Cletus came charging at me, I aimed for his head. That’s when I noticed he had his arms raised to protect his face, damn he’s on to me. Despite things turning south, I composed myself and prepared to fire. I noticed that as he ran, his arms would move out of position. If I time it just right, I can get the shot. All I can do now is take the leap of faith. Cletus ran towards me, his arms fell and the sound of a shot rang out. Cletus’ guard rose again, and he began to laugh at me.

“Ha, you must’ve thought I was a fool. You fell for-”

“My trap.”

Cletus dropped his guard instinctually, and my volley hit his face head on. The sound from before was me purposely stomping glass with my foot, I had a feeling he would block so I came prepared. Cletus yelled in agony, my knife lodged in his left eye. This was my chance, I started moving as fast as I could. I need to-

“Gahhh!”

A sharp pain ran through my left arm, I turned to see Cletus staring at me in rage. He was holding his bleeding left eye, lodged in my arm was my knife. This is the worst case scenario, despite that I didn’t stop running. I heard Cletus rampaging towards me, knocking over crates and barrels in an attempt to swing at me. I ran as hard as I could I need to…

…No, no this can’t be right. The hallway was a dead end, no hallways to the right or left either. I could feel the light leave my eyes, I turned around and Cletus was there. The rage on his face made him look like a war demon, he aggressively picked me up by my left arm. I didn’t scream, I wasn’t gonna give him the satisfaction. That was the plan, until pain shot through my left arm, I looked to see him using his right hand to twist the knife. Tears filled my eyes as I fought the urge to scream, Cletus’ scowl turned to a canine smile. You bastard, if I’m in pain then you’re enduring the same thing. I took my crossbow and smashed it into his head, it broke in two on impact. One half was held in my hand, and the other lodged in Cletus’ head. Cletus’ smile quivered, he decided to keep twisting the knife. I didn’t give in, I used the crossbow piece I held to hammer the pieces in his head. Our contest of attrition began, arm left arm began to twist. Meanwhile, Cletus’ head bled as I beat the splinters in.

My situation was dire, the pain and blood loss was getting to me. I felt my eyes get heavy, but just when I was about to give up.

“Gah, Damn it!”

Cletus ripped the knife out and threw me into a pile of crates he broke. He yelled as he tried pulling the splinters out his head, it looks like my rebellion worked. This is my chance, I need to run and re-

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

My right leg was impaled by some of the broken crate wood. It didn’t go in completely, but I can’t use my leg like this. I tried to motion myself away, sliding myself on the ground, pool trailing of my impaled leg. Of course I was wrong to feel optimistic, Cletus finished ripping the pieces out. He looked at me with enough hatred to burn my family tree. He lunged towards me, I tried to hobble back but he was faster. He grabbed me by my left leg and slammed me into the hallway wall. Immediately I felt warm and fuzzy, I felt like I could fly. Then that feeling left, when Cletus delivered a gut punch so strong it sent a shockwave through the wall. I could feel my broken ribs, at this point I was praying to whatever gods existed in my world to stop my pain. Instead Cletus began to strangle me, and shout curses I could barely hear.

“-Bitch, I should’ve killed you from the start!”

My vision grew hazy, so I decided to let nature run its course. I’m done fighting, this is too tiring. Ophelia had a point, this s*** is tiring. I wish I was home…

Cletus laughed as the light started leaving my eyes, and I felt as if I was entering the other side. That’s when I saw him, it was the author. He was sitting in his swivel chair, with a drink in hand. He smiled at me and raised his drink to my pain, oh so that’s it. This is all your fault, it all makes sense. You’ve been trying to kill me all along haven’t you?

“...y-”

“Huh? Impossible, there’s no way she’s still-”

“...You Cocky Little Bastard!”

My fighting spirit rose like a phoenix, I summoned every ounce of strength into my right leg. I delivered the hardest kick I could to Cletus’ nether region, luckily for me the wood in my leg caught something.

“Gahhhhhhhh, dammit! My balls!”

Cletus started to fall over, he fell right on his back. I laid on top of him, the wood fragment now removed from my leg. Cletus fought to open his one good eye, but he didn’t have a chance. Maybe it was fight or flight, maybe it was the fact that I was tired. I started punching his face with my battered hands, Cletus chuckled from my weak attempt.

“Idiot, what’re you gonna do with-”

“Raaaaaaggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!”

I don’t know what came over me, I found myself screaming my lungs out as I beat his face in. I no longer felt pain, the rage of my ancestors entered my fist. Each of my pillow punches became a fist of stone. Cletus turned into my personal punching bag, he began spitting out teeth. It helped that some of him skull was busted, oh yeah his skull.

“Rahhhhhhhhh!!!!”

“What’re-Gahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!”

I spear jabbed my hand into the opening in his skull, if his eyes could open they would probably cross right now. I pulled out my right hand, and stared at Cletus who started to cry.

“N-no more, please…”

I crawled off of him and grabbed some pieces of wood, I took each piece and beat them into his arms and legs. Cletus screamed as I pinned him to the ground, when I was done I fought to stand up. When I made it to my feet, I looked at Cletus. The once powerful warrior now laid pinned to the ground begging for my mercy. I felt around in my makeshift skirt for my high grade potion, i’ll die if I don’t take this now. I pulled out the cork with my teeth again, and spat it at Cletus. I drank the bottle, and instantly regretted it. The thing about high grade potions was that they instantly healed damage. In return, you feel the pain of your body reshaping itself. I fell on my knees as my puncture wounds closed, as my bones snapped back into place, and even as my arm twisted back to normal. With my throat healed, I yelled loud enough to shake the foundation of the cave. I stood up again, when I did my body felt different. Could it be the lack of blood maybe? I then turned back to Cletus, he finally had his right eye open. I walked over to my knife, I picked it up and walked over to Cletus. I stabbed him, stabbed him again, and another time.

Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. After five minutes of this, Cletus met the same fate as Todd. I stood to my feet, hunched over, and yelled again. This time it wasn’t from pain, it was my victory cry. I probably sounded like a gorilla in heat, but I didn’t give a s***. I looked at myself, there was barely any white left in my clothes. At least I like the color red, I’ll take these new digs as a gift. Then I looked up at the ceiling, and breathed in deep. I saw that, I know I didn’t imagine that. I called forth my status, and the exp bar didn’t budge at all.

“....”

I breathed in again, and opened my mouth.

“I take back what I said, Hey Author! F*** You!”