The Anubis Plague полностью

The blood belonged to Odai’s brother.

Instead of simply shooting Zahra where she stood, the mountain was going to make her suffer. He wanted to kill her with his bare hands.

Zahra couldn’t let that happen.

She charged.

Zahra made it to the Maasai exhibit first. She leaped onto its raised platform and swung the spear in a long upward arc. Odai blocked it with the blade of his enormous Bowie knife, absorbing a large portion of the kinetic energy with his thick body.

But it did knock him off balance.

Zahra used that moment to press the attack. She went airborne, once again, and launched a strong kick into Odai’s chest. He staggered away, unsure. Zahra doubted he had ever fought a woman with Zahra’s skill or ferocity before. His culture subjugated the opposite sex to the point of treating them like animals.

Odai regained his composure and got his boots back underneath him. He swung his Bowie knife in a long, powerful downward arc. Zahra had only just gotten her own feet set before having to block it, using her spear like a bow staff.

Donatello would have been proud.

An ear-splitting clang reverberated throughout the Great Court, as well as in Zahra’s ears. She cringed but kept her focus on Odai and not on her personal discomfort.

Still, it hurt like hell.

The big guy moved impossibly fast. Zahra dodged his attacks but was driven directly into the platform. She rolled backward, losing a few strands of hair as she mounted the exhibit once again. Odai’s next attack had come that close.

On one knee, Zahra jabbed at Odai’s face and was delighted to see it connect with his left cheek. He reeled back and snarled but didn’t grab for the wound. He never lost concentration and promptly retaliated. The beast’s pain tolerance was as impressive as his physical stature. He attempted to swipe it across Zahra’s throat, but luckily, she wasn’t there.

Her spear was.

Their weapons met with a skull-pummeling clang. This time, it was too loud for either of them to ignore, and both Zahra and Odai responded and grimaced. She wasn’t sure what Odai was feeling, but Zahra’s ears rang worse than getting kicked in the head by a mule.

Or so she thought.

She shook the cobwebs loose and shoved the blunt end of her weapon into Odai’s chest, pushing him back as she dismounted the platform. Back on level ground, Zahra was taken aback by how much taller he was than her. Six inches, at least. It didn’t matter, though. If her life had taught her anything, Zahra was similar to a cannonball made entirely from ill-tempered wolverines.

The elder Kane sibling was a lot to handle, even in her compact, unassuming package. She enjoyed using her stature and looks to her advantage when at all possible. But now wasn’t one of those times. Odai wasn’t about to show her any mercy, regardless of the fact that she was an attractive damsel in distress — mostly because he was the one causing the distress.

Zahra and Odai sized each other up while regaining whatever strength they had left. Both were drenched in sweat and gasping for air.

“I like your knife,” Zahra said, speaking Arabic, trying to delay the inevitable. “It looks really sharp.”

Odai relaxed and looked over his blade. “Yes, it will make quick work of you,” he grinned, “same as the old man.”

It was Zahra’s turn to growl like a feral, bloodthirsty Chupacabra. She rushed the beefy man, and poked and slashed at every part of his body. Every two or three attacks, she made contact. Most of the injuries were superficial at most, but even the smallest of wounds could weaken your opponent if there were enough of them.

It was a classic death by a thousand cuts scenario.

“Bastard!” Zahra shrieked, jamming the spear tip into the meat of Odai’s right pectoral muscle. She smiled like a wild huntress and twisted the blade in deeper. “Oh, look, just like your shish kebab brother.”

This was the first time she had seen a change in emotion on the man’s face. Until now, he had exhibited pure rage — nothing more. He had originally possessed the embodiment of vengeance. Presently, he had an expression of uncertainty plastered across his face.

Zahra savored the moment.

Odai shook off the injuries, charged her position, and hacked and slashed at her uncontrollably. Zahra took the defensive and blocked every swing and stab, but she was quickly running out of real-estate.

The Maasai diorama came up fast behind her, so much so that she didn’t have the wherewithal to roll atop it this time. Odai leaped forward and pinned her lower back against the raised platform, using his prodigious upper body strength against Zahra’s lither frame.

She wasn’t entirely out of options, though. She did what any woman in her situation would do: Zahra kicked her attacker in the testicles as hard as she could.

She imagined every lady’s self-defense instructor clapping enthusiastically.