Saturday, May 26, 2007

Tongues, Teeth, and Treason

The character finds herself in a dangerous guerilla faction in the southern Philippines after heading down there to find her sister. She disguises herself as a man (since it's not too hard for her) but her identity is accidentally revealed later. This scene is one of the ones that follow as she is taken prisoner.

She experienced a moment's shock when she felt his tongue dart into her mouth savagely, sluicing the tip of its tongue across the cavern of her mouth. It excitedly rolled from the backs of her molars to tangle with her own stiff tongue, and felt very much like a large, slimy worm was struggling its way into her throat.

Despite the scorching heat of the sun, a cold shock wave penetrated her bones and rendered her stiff as she stared at the man. Somewhere in the back of her mind a raving conscience shrieked indignation and downright outrage. Before Jamie could stop herself, her teeth clamped down on the man's roving tongue with the unforgiving speed of a guillotine and with no less force.

Jamie knew a moment's pause as she felt the gummy yet hard tongue grate against her teeth and she let go just as quickly. Bile rose up her throat as she stared wide-eyed at the man, as his scream in her ears sounded strangely tangled as his tongue hung limp over his lips, blood steadily trickling down from the dark pinpricks where her teeth had just been.

A large, blunt force across her cheek knocked her flat on the ground, sharp as marble and just as hard. The world dissolved in a dull blur.

"Bitch!" a voice yelled hoarsely above her after he backhanded her. "Puta!" Another sharp kick attacked her right rib and she rolled to find her heaving face against the dirt.

Gasping for breath and choking on dust and gravel, she shoved her hands upon the ground and lifted herself to breathe. Slowly, she drew herself up on her knees and sat on her heels, still clutching her ribs tightly, with her head bowed down in pain. She could hear the man breathing a few feet away from her right.

Her hair lifted slightly as a coarse breeze flowed past. Suddenly, a large glob of spit caught her across her red cheeks to drip slowly down her chin to mingle with a single tear. The corners of her mouth dripped with a blood not her own.

A spray of dirt hit her face and she heard the man turn around and stomp away. And in the relative silence of the dusty clearing, her body heaved and shook powerfully, almost as if she were sobbing. And she felt acute remorse --- not because she was thoroughly humiliated --- but because despite the vulgarity of it, that had been her first kiss.

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