Marked by Bonnie Lamer

rifle.  Repeatedly.  The djinni howls in pain and begins to back away from her, his hands covering his face.
     
    I watch in amazement as little pieces of the djinni just disappear with each shot of the rifle.  What the hell does she have in those things?  I’m guessing they’re specially made.  I hope she has lots of them, whatever they’re made of. 
     
    Knowing he’s beaten and wanting to preserve as much of his body as possible, the djinni continues backing up, trying to get away from Brielle’s gun.  He looks at me with a sneer and says, “There will be more like him.  A sea of humans will spill blood in your name until you are where you belong.”  Then he’s gone.  He escapes into the corn field next to the road.  Brielle finally stops firing when she can no longer see him.  
     
    “Where does he think I belong?” I ask no one in particular.
     
    “I think it’s pretty safe to say he wasn’t going to bring you to beaches of white sand and sunshine,” Brielle says, rising to her feet.  The anger in her eyes has not abated.  I back up a step as she approaches me.
     
    “Oh, give me a freakin’ break,” she says, disgusted by my leeriness of her.  “If I wanted to kill you, I would have a long time ago.  But I do want to know who you are and why the djinn are willing to brutally kill humans to get you.  This is not their usual MO.”
     
    I shake my head, dumbfounded.  “I’m just me.  I work at a gym and I’m in medical school.  End of story.  How could that make me interesting to the djinn?” 
     
    Brielle gives me an assessing stare.  “There’s nothing in your past, nothing whatsoever that could have pissed these guys off?  Did you run over a few more with your car before this last time?”
     
    I scowl at her.  “You make it sound like I’m a serial killer.  No, I’ve never run anyone over before.”
     
    She shrugs.  “Just throwing out a theory.  So, what do we do with the homicidal note the djinn left for you?  Shallow grave or just leave him here?  Either way, we need to get the hell out of here.”
     
    “There’s nothing more we can do for him,” Roman says.
     
    My mouth drops open.  Aghast, I say, “What does that mean?”
     
    His turn to shrug.  “The man has bled out.  Whatever we do for him at this point significantly decreases our chances of survival.”
     
    “He’s right,” Brielle says.
     
    “Oh. My. Fucking. God.  Who are you people?  A human being is lying in a pool of his own blood and all you can think about is what a bother he is to us?  He didn’t deserve to die.  He died because these monsters are after us.  He was killed because of us; the least we can do is call the police!”
     
    “Technically, he died because the djinn are after you, not us,” Brielle says.
     
    Roman catches my arm before I can slap her.  “Skye, think about this.  There is a dead man with your name carved into his abdomen.  How are we going to explain that to the police?  There’s no evidence that the djinn are responsible.  The police would hold us as suspects and that would make us sitting ducks for these guys.  We need to leave him.  Someone will come along shortly and will call the police.  We need to be as far away from here as possible when that happens.”
     
    Leave a dead man’s body in the middle of the road.  I hate them both right now.  But is Roman wrong?  The police would think of us as suspects and they would bring us in for questioning.  With my name carved into the dead guy, how could they not think we were involved.  And if Brielle’s right, that wouldn’t stop the djinn from coming after us.  After me.  Not them.
     
    I look at the two people who have put their own lives on the line to save mine and I’m questioning their humanity?  I’m being a fucking idiot.  I cross my arms over my still aching chest and walk sullenly back to the jeep knowing they’re right behind me.  If I want to stay alive,