Titania slipped over the frozen ground like a ghost. The burlap tied around her feet warmed her toes as much as Stalin showed mercy. She readjusted her grip on the neck of the broken vodka bottle.
A pile of trash leaning haphazardly against the brick wall stirred a meter away from Titania. She jumped back, hissing. She held up her makeshift blade. She didn't really know what glass would do against trash, but it was worth a shot. The trash growled. A lump stood up, sludge falling off it in clumps. It was a man.
Titania looked up at the man and inched forward, angling her body so her back was facing Timofei and Lev. She could see the whites of the man's eyes. His face turned down to her and she saw his mouth open to reveal only gums. Waves of the sharp smell of alcohol met her nose and her eyes watered. From what she could see of his clothes, they hadn't been new for a few years.
The man's voice came out creaky, like a door that hadn't been used in decades. "You, girl. Got any vodka?"
Titania shook her head and shivered. She stuck her chin out and lifted her eyebrow. This was her alley, after all. "And even if I did, I wouldn't give you any."
The man growled again, "Liar. You have a bottle there!" He lurched forward to Titania.
She leaped back half a meter and put her free hand on her hip, "Go get your own bottle, drunkard!"
The man roared and rushed forward, surprisingly fast for a drunk man who'd just been sleeping. He stumbled and fell like a tree. Towards Titania.
She lifted her bottle as the man's weight dropped onto her small frame. She felt the sharp edges sink into the man's upper shoulder and neck. He gurgled and shook, then fell silent.
Titania tried to move. Her legs were caught under the man, and she felt a queer warmness spread over them. A stream of red fluid flowed from the body. She squirmed out from underneath him, and scrambled back, clutching her bottle. Blood covered her like an apron from her chest to the burlap on her toes. The warmness gave way to coolness in the air. She eyed the body of the man who had been alive only a moment ago.
"Tanya?" A quiet voice spoke up behind her. Oh, no.
Titania turned around slowly, her entire body quivering. The little boy stared at her in horror, fear and tears filling his blue eyes.
Titania's heart dropped with the bottle, shattering on the hard ground.
What have I done?
YOU ARE READING
III: The Soldier and the Fairy Queen: Red Eve
Fanfiction(Previously titled 'LAZARUS') ______ Hopefully her heart would give out soon. That would be wonderful. To finally catch a break from this thing called life........ What is worth living for, anyway? ______ 'HYDRA is dead. Long live LAZARUS!' Who...
