PART I

SPRING

Red. All I see is red as I fight Abby. My vision blurs as an unbridled flame curl in the pit of my stomach. My brain overloads as it picked every moment that I'd spent crying. The memories weighed down on me but instead of breaking, even more, my heart turn to stone and sinks into the shadows as my brain took complete control.

This is it. The moment I've been anticipating for the longest time. I glare at Abby with great intensity, I have to kill her. I have to. There is no choice. She murdered him. She took him away. There are no words I could use that could express how much I hated this monster. She has no right to breathe the same oxygen as me.

Me and Abby's blood thickens in the air. My entire body is pulsating, my lungs feel as though they've been set on fire. My head is hammering, every cell in my body is screaming for oxygen. I keep fighting until I feel like my head is about to explode.

I pin Abby's shoulders down into the murky waters, we are both growing weaker and weaker, but I keep pushing on. This bitch needs to die. Her head keeps bobbing up to the surface violently.

My free hand digs into the water for my knife. But instead, my fingers find a ragged rock.

With an angry cry, I grip the rock and smash its full force over Abby's head. Abby opens her mouth to let out a loud, stunned, pain-filled cry,

The blood poured from her forehead which is now deeply gashed open. The gore seemed to form a crimson mask that covered her face. I want her death to be slow and painful. No merciful bullet to the head, no single blow to the heart. I want Abby to suffer.

"No! NO!" I submerge her head back underwater, but Abby is twisting and convulsing so vigorously that I lose my grip. Her head shoots up once more. She starts to cry out names. I slam her head back into the water with all of the force I could muster.

Abby's fingers dig into my arms, burrowing trenches into my wrists. Abby manages to slip out of my grip, only her mouth and nose are resurfaced.

"NO! NO! I have to be with him!" Without warning, I feel Abby's hard foot plunging into my abdomen, sending me staggering behind. "He needs me! Please!" Every word she speaks seems to take a great deal of effort.

"No! No! No!" Abby jolt out of the water, gasping and sucking in the air. Her body swaying side to side as if she were in a stupor. "Please.." A violent coughing fit erupts from her.

Her words roll effortlessly down my back as I lunge for her. Abby is too weakened to move as I tackle her into the water. Slamming on my weight onto her body, my knees into her stomach, My only good hand, pinning her down by her throat.

I keep Abby's head above water as I punch her repeatedly.

Abby shakes her left to right as if she was being demonically possessed. "NO! NO!" She screams hysterically.

I get on both knees and forcefully wrapped my hand around Abby's neck. My cold gaze meets the fear in her eyes. She begins to tremble uncontrollably. I put my nose nearly tip to tip with her own. I squeeze her throat more tightly. "You didn't learn from Owen or Nora, did you? You stupid little bitch!" I give her a sharp slap across the face. "You are done just like the rest of you."

Abby's eyes were so wide in fright I thought they would burst from their sockets. She shakes her head profusely. "Please…please stop...Lev...…" She trails off. I slap her across the face. Abby begins to cough intensely.

I punch her square in the nose, breaking it. I rain down hard fists upon her face, reducing it to a bloody pulp.

" No…..." Abby mutters. Abby's bloodshot eyes widen with unfathomable horror.

I give her one more crack across the face. The slap was so hard it made her head snap to the side. When Abby's head reels, she appears different. Pitiful and helpless.

I slam her head underwater.

She kicks and thrashes violently and erratically. But it is useless. Rapid bubbles explode to the surface as Abby screams for mercy. I watch as Abby's movement slows down, her thrashing ceases, her kicking becomes light fluttering. I keep pressing and pressing with all of my strength.

Then she stops moving completely.

No bubbles. No movement.

My lungs are searing with agony, my chest heaves up and down. "I….did...it…," I mutter in disbelief.

I did it. I avenged Joel. I did it. I remove myself off of Abby, her lifeless body floats to the surface effortlessly.

"I did it." I gulp. Then there is a twinge of pain in my left hand. The hand that Abby bit off my fingers. "I finally did it." My eyes drip with tears. The walls that make me strong crumble into rubble. I bite my tongue, trying to hold the tears that threatened to leave my eyes. But regardless I can't hold them back. My eyes flood with them, coming like a rainfall.

I clutch my saturated shirt. "Why? Why?" My voice vanishes. Why do I feel like this? The pain was supposed to go away. But yet I still feel this expanding hole in my heart.

The haunting image of battered Joel flashes in the forefront of my mind. He's gone. I still can't believe it. It didn't feel real, none of this did.

But I did it and that is all that matters.

For a brief moment, I hear the shallow breathing of Lev in the Dinghy. "Please….please…" But I ignore him.

I struggle to pick myself up. Lev is still muttering. He sounds heavily disoriented, his voice going in and out.

"Abby….Abby..…"

I start grasping in the water to search for my knife.

Fortunately, my fingertips feel the smooth edge of my knife at the bottom of the shallow lake. I clutch it tightly.

I stagger towards the dinghy to look down at Lev. He already looks like he is at death's door. I could see the life within his eyes wavering. There is no point in wasting my strength on him.

I ultimately decide to leave Lev to die. I lurch out of the lake and onto the muddy shore. I inhale and exhale deeply to collect my nerves.

I did it. I did it.

Next chapter will come. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm still writing on OE Naruto and the Infection. Update: Decided to make the second part of this chapter into chapter 2.