Apocalypsis 02 - Warpaint

sudden.
    The monster took two stumbling steps back, his knife held out in front of him, dripping with my blood. He held this other hand on his thigh, as if trying to push the pain out of his balls by pressing on his quadriceps.
    “You’re gonna pay for that, you bitch,” he growled.
    “Come on over here and make me pay, then, wuss. Letting a girl my size beat you. I wonder if all those guys know how much you actually suck at fighting.”
    He moved the knife until it was eye level for him, pointing it at me while squinting his eyes, sighting down the blade as he moved it, drawing patterns in the air.
    “First I’m going to cut out your eyes. Then your nose will come off - Duke likes to eat noses.” He smiled, giving me an up front and personal view of his deeply yellow teeth and continued. “Then your lips and ears. You won’t be so pretty then, will you? But I’ll let you live. You’re going to be my personal slave. I’ll take the fingers off one of your hands, of course. I don’t want you getting too frisky. But we need to keep the fingers on one hand, so you can put them on my …”
    I didn’t want to hear the rest. I couldn’t hear it. He was wandering around in an insane landscape that I couldn’t allow to become my reality. I strode towards him, my eyes never leaving the knife.
    He slashed at me as soon as I was within range, but I arched my body backwards, letting it whistle in the air above me.
    His arm continued its backward motion and I stepped up right in front of him, punching him one, two, and three times hard in the face, destroying his nose and sending his head snapping backwards with each strike.
    I kicked him again in the crotch, but he was twisted from my punches, so they landed shy of his nuts, hitting him high on the thigh instead. He grabbed my ankle with this other hand and threw it up, forcing me backwards and onto my ass on the floor. I landed right next to Julio, our faces coming together, the grenade between us.
    “Pull the pin and put it on my foot,” whispered Julio, desperation tainting his voice. “Do it now , before he comes after you again!”
    Dave had staggered back and was feeling his nose cautiously with his knifeless hand, almost in a stunned way.
    I didn’t question Julio’s logic at all. I just followed his instructions, pulling the silver pin out of the heavy, metal, lumpy body of the grenade, before scrambling over on my hands and knees to Julio’s foot. I placed it gently in the pocket he had created, bending his knee and tilting his foot up. It now rested in the spot where his foot met his ankle, on the top of it.
    “I used to do this with hacky sacks and tennis balls all the time. Just get the hell out of here. I’ll kick it into his face as soon as you’re safe. Now go!”
    I backed up, on my hands and knees still, and leaned down to kiss Julio right on the lips. “Tell Yasmine I said hi,” I said, tears streaming down my face. “Tell her she’s a lucky girl.”
    “I will. Please go before it’s too late,” he begged.
    I patted him on the cheek once and then turned around, getting up on my feet and measuring the distance between where I stood and the door. I had about twenty feet to go and a monster in my way. The door was open, so all I had to do was make it to the opening.
    I reached down and pulled my knife out of my boot. Moving forward, I stepped first to one side and then the other, looking for my way out.
    The monster rushed me before I could make my move. One minute he was across the room and the next he was on me grabbing me in a bear hug and tackling me to the ground. It was the worst possible position for me to be in - he was three times my size.
    I stuck my knife weakly into his back, but it didn’t slow him down a bit. He landed on top of me and reached up a fist to punch me with it.
    I was stunned for a minute, unable to think straight. But when he reached down and squeezed my boob hard enough to bruise it, I came to my senses immediately. It was either that or his heinous breath, nearly bad enough to bring the dead back to life, that did it.
    I stabbed him again, drawing the knife over his side a little so he’d feel it more. He growled, reaching down to take it from my hand; I used the opportunity to head butt him in the face. Blood from his nose poured down onto my face, making me gag. I spit it back up at him and hit him in the eye, blinding him for a moment. He roared, letting go of his knife to wipe his face. It freed