Posted by PK on October 22, 2001 at 17:38:57:
Amanda shrugged. "Your choice," she said. "We can get to know each other or I can just kill
you now. I do like a little pre-dinner conversation but it's not a prerequisite. Either way, you're
food." She glanced away for a second. Carol twisted and brought her knees up in an attempt
to throw Amanda off. Amanda handled her as if she were a child or a puppy. "Points for
spirit," she said cheerfully, "But no prize."
Carol slumped in the woman's grip, signalling surrender. A part of her was still on alert for the
main chance, but trying to fight the huntress directly was clearly futile. She was far too strong
and too good a fighter, a mouse might as well try to fight a cat.
"What do you want to talk about?" she asked, playing for time.
Amanda let her go. She shrugged airily. "Cabbages and KIingons? Recipes? We have time.
Did you know you have the dearest baby blue eyes?"
She is fucking mad, Carol decided. She let her breath out. "Okay, how did you catch me? I
suppose I was easy..." she managed to look sad and pathetic, an object of sympathy.
"Not too difficult," Amanda admitted. "Not that you were bad for a beginner," she consoled.
"You move well, you didn't leave a huge, blundering trail. I've had worse."
"But..?" Keep her talking.
"I just had a sense of where you'd go. It's hard to explain, a sort of hunter's instinct. I've been
working on it since I hunted Rachel. She had an exceptional talent for the game. I had to
learn her to catch her. Well, one learns and moves on, n'est-ce pas? Or should that be nicht
wahr? Oh, sorry, specifically?" Carol nodded. "You moved about too much. You tried to
outguess me. BEEP! wrong. You can't outplay me at my own game. You should have holed
up. I know it goes against instinct, you think if you stay still you're a sitting target. In fact, it's
the best option. You should have ignored me completely, shut me out and sat tight."
"You might still have found me," Carol protested. She leaned up a bit. She was lying back on
crushed ferns. Her bare backside was in touch with the Earth. Stalks tickled her
unmentionables. Amanda was squatting between her sprawled legs. Enjoying the view?
"Possibly. I had a good connection..."
"The dressing room. You came to get my scent. I knew it."
Amanda's eyebrows rose a fraction. "Very good." Then she frowned. "Actually, I didn't. I
came to warn you, as I said. But you're right, I did get your scent. You have a very good
point. A palpable hit. Maybe that was why I came. Of course, that goes both ways. No
dichotomy at all!" The frown transformed, the puzzle solved. "You got mine. Fair trade?"
"Not fair," Carol said. Mister Logic was back. "Hunting by scent is your forte. No point trying
to play you at your own game, right? You said that."
"I also hinted that I was the hunter with the highest kill ratio ever. That was your cue."
Amanda shook her head. "Nice try to cry foul," she said breezily, "But still no prize. Might
work in an American court of law but I don't accept the defense. Stupidity may not be a crime
but it does carry the death penalty. You were warned. What did you need, a brick on the
head?"
"It doesn't matter what I say, does it?" Carol said. "You're going to kill me anyway." She
noticed that Amanda's nipples were erect. She's going to eat me and thoroughly enjoy it.
"'I'll be judge, I'll be jury said cunning old Fury, I'll try the whole cause and condemn you to
death'. Lewis Carrol has a lot to answer for. But you're right again."
"So this is all about justifying what you're going to do anyway?"
"And you were doing so well. Drat, that's from 'The Silence of the Lambs' isn't it? I've lapsed
into cliche again. No, it isn't about justifying at all. It's foreplay."