Unicorn Riders - Pinch (English)

Chapter 21: The final confrontation

The sun had risen high in the sky, and "Pinch" was running towards her destination. She knew where Johnson was going - there was but one way.

Strangely enough she didn't feel as exhausted as she should have been after taken all those hits during the last fight and after her last race against the clock. She didn't run as fast as before, but she didn't become tired as quickly, and she made very good time. As she reached the hills on which Butter had run away from her, she could overview the valley - and in the distance she could make out a lone, tall figure moving towards the mountains behind the crash site.

That's how it is then. Jesper had pointed the direction, but it was logical the way would lead there, too. The shuttle must have been right above Johnson's hidden space ship as it had triggered the automatic defense with its sensors. Maybe on the other side of these impenetrable rock side - maybe there was a path which she had just not seen in her injured state back then. Otherwise she might have found the ship and would have been finished off by the security system immediately.

She kept running. She was determined to face Johnson. To stop him.

The figure in the valley wasn't moving that fast, it was in no hurry. "Pinch" on the other hand accelerated her steps as well as she could and approached it. She was surprised herself about the speed with which she was chasing Johnson. Not only because after all those events from before she should have been at the end of her bodily strength, but also because she feared what would happen when she had reached him. Jesper's laser pistol was charged and ready, but what would happen if she confronted him? Well, first she had to get to him.

She avoided the woods and stayed out in the open landscape when she herself had reached the valley. This time she noticed that the way didn't feel quite as long as the first time. Sure, with the shock of the crash and her head concussion the way had not been easy for her at all. But now she felt better, apart from what Whitmore had done to her. She felt stronger and more up to the task, physically as well as mentally. She was ready to face whatever was coming to her.

Soon she was close enough to Johnson...

He was about to climb a rocky hill. He had not noticed her yet. "Pinch" pulled out the laser, turned the safety catch off. He legs in a stable stance, the finger put on the edge over the trigger... No, she thought. No hesitation. Not this time. She took the finger down and put it directly on the trigger. The weapon right before her eyes she took aim. She took a deep breath and tried to calm her beating heart through her willpower and to surpress the trembling in her hands. Johnson had his back on her, moving uphill at a leisure pace. A few dozen steps seperated him from her - not a meaningful distance for a laser blast.

Yet she could not do it.

She wanted to stop him. She wanted to prevent him from going about his criminal business, from endangering innocent people. What he did to her and Tammy, what he had been prepared to do to the other children should never happen again. But still it felt so wrong to her. She had never killed anybody, and despite all that happened she still didn't want to. There had to be some other way to bring him down. But if she did anything else, Johnson would react to it. And "Pinch" had the feeling that he wouldn't ract like Sykes and go into panic - he would end her. Without thinking twice, without remorse. Without "Pinch" standing the slightest of chances.

Suddenly an idea came to her. A memory of two days ago, her standing there in a similar situation with a loaded gun, unsure if she had it in her. Until she asked herself:

What if I didn't kill them?

Her finger pulled the trigger. The shot flashed, the blast sounded eerily loud in "Pinch's" ears. She hit Johnson in his right shoulder - got him ice-cold, without any warning. A scream came from him, full of pain and surprise. He lost his balance, fell to the ground, rolled the few steps downhill back into the valley. "Pinch's" heart was thumping inside her chest, and she felt torn. On one hand she hoped that he would survive this, on the other hand she was afraid of what he would do if he did. She kept the pistol pointed at him, the finger ready on the trigger, waiting for his reaction.