You Were What You Eat

36. Fight to the Death

Anna and her friends walked slowly through the trees and into the small clearing where their targets waited. They were about fifteen feet away when the light of the moon caught them, causing Fredrick and Jacqueline to turn their heads sharply, staring at them with wrathful eyes. The light landed on Carmine first, and when Fredrick saw her walking determinedly toward him, he started laughing – a loud, menacing sound. Jacqueline just smirked sadistically.

"You?" Fredrick said in disbelief. As the light shone on Anna and Mia, Fredrick's shock turned to outright glee. "Oh, this just gets better and better! You three sent that note? Are you serious? Just look at you!"

He pointed at Carmine, a malicious grin spreading across his face. "Who do you think you are? Some girl trying to save the city? Everybody already thinks you're crazy! ...And the fact that you even bothered to show up here just proves them right."

Carmine stiffened a little. Anna glanced sideways at her and thought she could see Carmine's ears burning, even in the dark. Fredrick, however, wasn't finished. Now that he'd put Carmine in her place, he turned and focused his attention to Mia.

"And look who else decided to come along." he jeered. "I never thought you'd be the kind of person to even care to show up. You act so high and mighty all the time. Unless..." Fredrick's eyes gleamed maliciously, as if a particularly nasty thought had just occurred to him. "Unless you showed up just to watch that one fail."

As he said the last part, he pointed derisively at Carmine. Mia glared silently at him for a moment before sneaking a quick glance over at Carmine. Anna's eyes widened as she watched the sliver of doubt grow between them, just as Fredrick had intended. Finally, he focused his attention on Anna, his pure hatred for her showing plainly on his twisted face.

"This is all your fault, isn't it?" he said, rage filling his voice. "You weren't even supposed to survive! I meant to kill you! The only reason I didn't come back and finish the job was because I thought you'd never last this long. Well, I'll fix that little mistake tonight!"

Fredrick crouched somewhat, preparing to attack. But, while he had been busy insulting everyone around him, Anna had not been idle. The more she'd listened, the angrier she'd gotten. She was tired of him mocking her friends, and she was tired of him putting her down. She realized she was just plain tired of Fredrick himself.

While Fredrick was berating Carmine, Anna had merely been clutching her little bag tightly in her hands, crushing the fabric in her fingers. But, as he started in on Mia, a thought had dawned on Anna. Slowly, she pulled the bag open, grateful that she'd thought of something so noiseless; despite his outrage, Anna knew that even the slightest sound could alert Fredrick to her plan. By the time he was done with Mia, Anna had her hand in the bag and was groping around inside. As Fredrick stood there insulting and threatening Anna, her hand was feeling about inside her bag – carefully, but quickly.

She felt through its contents as best she could, trying not to draw attention to the fact that she was doing anything suspicious. She needn't have worried; Fredrick was too busy staring intently into her face. Trying to see every bit of the hurt he caused, no doubt.

Anna searched in vain for the little baggie filled with chopped garlic. With no visual cues to aid her, she just couldn't tell which baggie held the garlic and which were the useless mustard seeds. Fredrick finished his little speech too quickly; Anna still hadn't found what she was looking for. But time had run out. As he started to crouch, Anna reached quickly into the bottom of her bag. There, she found a clove of garlic nestled in the corner. Anna clutched it in her hand and in one smooth motion drew it out of the bag and hurled it as hard as she could at Fredrick's head.