Violet grunted as the sack was ripped from her head and her vision was finally uncovered. Her wrists were bound to the chair they sat her in, her ankles to the legs, and her mouth taped shut. Ollie was passed out tied up next her, a large bruise blossoming on his temple and a drop of blood rolling from right above his eyebrow down the side of his face. From the way her head was throbbing she probably wasn't in any better shape. She examined the room around her, it was small with only a table and a few chairs, the broken window in the corner the only light source.
"Andy, look what you did. He's bleeding!"
A skinny girl in skimpy clothes with a messy blonde angled bob, shaved underneath and on the side, held two empty potato sacks in her hand as she stared down at them with fierce blue eyes.
"So?"
The tall man with copper hair from earlier stared at them with beady eyes from across the room.
"So, they're kids."
"They were fighting back and Karim wasn't doing his job right. If you wanted it done differently you should've been there."
The blonde sucked her teeth, turning to him with a sway of her hips.
"I would've gone in your place, if you weren't stuck so far up King's ass. You jump at any opportunity to impress him."
Andy straightened his stance at that, stepping towards her with a scowl and clenched fists. She only looked more amused by his obvious annoyance.
"Shut your mouth, Ivy."
"Or what? You gonna hit me? We all know how that turned out last time."
She spoke in a flirtatious voice, a smirk on her lips and her arms comfortably crossed. Andy's jaw clenched and the blonde leaned in so their lips were inches apart.
"What would King think?"
She whispered in a mischievous tone. The door suddenly opened catching the attention of everyone in the room and causing Andy to take a step back. Cash's staticky voice caught Violet's attention, lighting up her ears. Her wide eyes fell on the short blonde man who had just entered, a walkie talkie turned all the way up in his hand.
'Violet?! Ollie?!'
The man looked over Violet and Ollie with stern, ice cold eyes. Two long scars were the most prominent features for the fair skinned man, starting right under his left eye and making their way down to his lips causing him to look like he was almost snarling.
'Who are you?! What do you want?!'
"Dickhead, you're on the walkie talkie."
The scarred man threw the walkie talkie over to the girl, who looked notably similar to him.
"Kiss-ass, get out."
The man commanded Andy without even a glance in his direction.
"But King, I can-"
"I told you I wanted them unharmed."
The blond man cut him off with a harsh tone, as if he was a commanding officer scolding the lower ranked.
"It wasn't my fault! Karim forced my hand when he didn't do his job right."
King finally gave him the time of his day, turning and lifting his head to meet Andy's brown eyes.
"Karim can't always do all the work. He has enough trouble using his abilities on one person at a distance, let alone three."
"Well then he should've been closer!"
Andy argued back and King's glare somehow became more intense. This caused the red head to back off a little.
"Are you saying you don't trust my strategic skills? You think you could do better?"
Ivy giggled at the scene unfolding before her, Andy's nervous expression making it all the better for her.
"N-no! That's not what I'm saying at all. I trust you!"
King looked the taller man over before turning back to the hostages tied up in front of him.
"Karim and Nico are setting up things for tomorrow, go help them."
Andy's eyes fell to his shoes as the blonde man continued to bark commands. Ivy smirked at his disappointment, winking his way before he exited the room without another word.
'If you touch one hair on their heads I'll fucking kill you!'
King grabbed a chair from the table, pulling it right in front of Violet and sitting down. Unlike Ivy, King was wearing multiple layers of clothes and a few rings to top it off. Violet couldn't help but notice the blood starting to seep through his thick sleeve.
"You look like you've had a hard day kid."
Violet only stared, unable to make a snarky remark with the tape over her mouth.
Ivy finally lifted the walkie talkie to her lips,
"Hey daddy bear, don't worry, the kids are alright. For now."
Her playfully seductive voice spoke into the device.
"Who the fuck is this? Where are they?"
Even through the static of the walkie talkie Violet could hear the deep threatening growl behind her brother's voice.
"They're here, safe with us until you trade your supplies for them."
It was radio silent for a moment and Violet felt her heart sink at the unwanted anxieties telling her he wouldn't fight to get them back.
"Where do you want to meet?"
Violet's eyes closed, a relieved sigh escaping her nose.
"Not tonight. Tomorrow, 9am sharp. We'll meet you at the clearing you were stopped at this morning. No weapons permitted, of course."
"Okay but I want to hear them first, I want to know they're alright."
Ivy turned to the man who hadn't taken his eyes off Violet, watching her every expression as her brother spoke through the walkie talkie.
"King."
"I heard him."
Without another word King ripped the tape from her mouth causing her to whimper. He snatched the walkie talkie from Ivy's hand, holding it up to the young teen's mouth.
"Cash..."
"Vi, are you okay? Where's O?"
Cash asked frantically, fear clear behind his voice.
"He's here. He's okay, just knocked out. What about Rory?"
"He'll be fine. Just focus on yourself and Ollie. We'll get you-"
King turned off the device mid sentence, standing up from his seat lazily.
"That's enough of that."
"Wait!"
Violet protested, pulling at her restraints to try and chase him as he started to walk away.
"Please!"
He opened the door, seemly unbothered by Violet as she called after him.
"Why are you doing this to us?!"
He slammed the door behind himself, leaving the two hostages alone with Ivy who made herself at home, sitting in the spot King had just left.
"Isn't it obvious? We need supplies to survive. We saw an opportunity, and we took it. It's nothing too personal."
Violet turned away from Ivy's blue eyes, less cold than King's, yet still void of emotions. Instead, brown eyes fell on Ollie, who still hadn't woken up. She swallowed thickly as fear made its way up her spine. What if she was wrong? What if Ollie wasn't alright?
"Oh honey, don't cry. Use this as a lesson."
Violet hadn't even felt the tears sliding down her cheeks until the blonde spoke the condescending words. A thin finger wiped a tear from her cheek, although the wicked smile on Ivy's lips contradicted the gentle action.
***
Cash grit his teeth, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes in attempt to keep his emotions in check. His grip on the thick glasses in his hand tightened in attempt to stop his trembling.
God, he could use a cigarette right now. Maybe it would make his shaking hands calm down. Maybe it would burn away the panic he felt in his lungs. Kyle and Cash found footprints of a hoard when looking for the two youngest but were surprised to see no other trace of the Screechers anywhere. After a while of following them a pair of shoe prints suddenly broke off from the hoard. It was unsual for a screecher to stray from their friends so Kyle followed the outlier while Cash continued to follow the hoard.
Until he finally ran into Rory, already knocked out and covered in blood with a walkie-talkie thrown carelessly on top of him. Cash had called for Ollie and Violet until his throat was sore, tried to wake the blonde up to interrogate him on where they had gone, tried anything to find the two youngest. Then a voice came from the device on top of Rory, catching Cash's undivided attention. A voice dripping with a honey like sweetness told him the people who did this to Rory now had Ollie and Violet as hostages. When they'd ran into Tabb on the way back, Cash had snapped. He'd yelled at Tabb that if they'd gone after them sooner, if he hadn't sat there and been lectured by Tabb, then he could've made it. But he was wrong.
He couldn't protect any of them.
Mable. Finn. Xzavier.
He looked over Xzavier's glasses in his hand again, the lens reflecting the twinkling stars above him.
They worked so hard to get ready for this trip. Finn and Xzavier spent months on their cars, the excitement in their eyes almost palpable as they talked about each of their finds. Finn would always tell him the stories of the crazy things they'd find as if the two had gone on adventures rather than small supply runs. Xzavier pointed out any exaggeration she made with a sigh, before laughing at how mad she'd get at him for it. Mable had always been the one to make Cash laugh when Tabb wasn't around. Of course, there were plenty more times where she had gotten on his nerves by mocking him or putting him in his place when he became too over bearing as a leader. Even so, he loved her. He loved all of them. But now they were gone, as if a blink of an eye. They hadn't even made it halfway there and it was Cash's fault. He was suppose to protect them. Protect all of them. It wasn't until now that he realized how much the three meant to him.
Now Ollie and Violet were gone too.
He couldn't even protect the people most precious to him. He wasn't enough.
Cash could hear footsteps dragging in the grass behind him before they came to a halt. Tabb's jacket was suddenly wrapped around him.
"You act like you're indestructible, but you're not."
His brows knitted at the soft voice. It was too soft. Tabb should've been mad at him, but of course he wasn't.
"Guess you'd know best, huh?"
He tried to keep a stern, deep tone but his voice betrayed him. Instead it was shaky and broken. He cursed himself.
Tabb was suddenly right next to him, crossing his legs as he faced the same starry night sky. Cash shoved his friend's glasses back in his pocket, crossing his arms onto his knees and gripping his shoulders tight.
"It wasn't your fault."
Cash held back his argument, he knew Tabb wouldn't move from this opinion, no matter how much Cash fought him on it.
"I don't want to fight anymore."
Tabb sighed in a pitiful tone.
Neither did Cash. He didn't believe what he spat earlier, not really. He was just angry and he needed someone to take it out on. Everything had been building up for so long and he felt like he was at his breaking point. He forgot to take his part in the blame, and to be honest it was much larger than Tabb's.
Cash was suppose to be a leader and he failed everyone.
He didn't know how to say all of that out loud, especially in his emotional state. He would just sound like a whimpering fucking baby.
So, instead, he changed the subject.
"The way Violet looked at me after I attacked Heidi..."
He shook his head, his chin falling to his crossed arms.
"She was scared of me."
Tabb glanced over at Cash, who was obviously holding back tears.
"How do you destroy monsters without becoming one?"
Tabb sighed, his brows knitting.
"You could never be a monster, Cash. You can be overbearing and violent at times, yes, but you have a good heart. You know what needs to be done and you know how to do it. You're a leader and a damn good one."
"How can you say that?"
He scoffed, turning away from Tabb so he wouldn't see the tears Cash was trying so hard to hide.
"I wasn't strong enough to protect Xzavier, Finn, or Mable. Now Ollie and Violet are gone too and Rory isn't showing any sign of waking up. I'm not a leader."
Tabb reached for Cash's hand, ripping it from it's iron grip on his arm and instead intertwining their fingers.
"We'll get Ollie and Violet back. No matter what it takes. I'm right beside you."
Cash finally lifted his head and Tabb took this opportunity to gently grab his chin and meet his dark eyes.
"All the way to the end."
He wiped tears from olive cheeks with his thumb, soft green eyes looking over Cash with a gentleness he didn't deserve.
"I would walk through hell for the three of you, although I know you'd never let me."
Cash dropped his head to Tabb's shoulder, wrapping his arms around him lazily.
"I love you."
Tabb ran his hand through Cash's patchy hair.
"I love you too."
The blonde leaned his head down, pressing his lips to his boyfriend's head in a soft kiss.
***
Kyle had been unusually silent since they'd exited the forest carrying Rory near death in their arms. Dax understood why. It wasn't hard to. She'd been through so much. A year worth of misery thrusted upon her in only a couple of hours. She'd closed herself off in one of the rooms of the small cabin Tabb had decided to call their temporary home. She'd been in there for an hour. Doing what? He wasn't sure. Whatever people did when they were sad. He couldn't imagine the lively girl crying, even the thought made his chest feel tighter. He'd seen a lot of emotions from the red head. Joy, fear, anger, yet she'd never once shown weakness. At least, not in front of him.
When she finally left the room and made her way out the cabin and under the twinkling stars Dax tried his hardest to hide the fact that he'd been standing outside her door for the past hour.
"I unloaded some of the bags from the backseat so we could go through them."
Kyle didn't say anything, only stopping once she got to the bags of supplies and automatically starting to go through them. Dax limped after her, struggling not to fall behind without a crutch to lean on. His brows knitted as he watched her move like she was on autopilot.
"Are you okay?"
She paused at that, her hands midway into a duffel bag full of boxed ammo. She bit her lip, hiding teary eyes behind red curls. She wanted to answer him. To say 'I'm fine' but she couldn't even find her voice.
She'd lost Ezra and without even a second thought Ollie was taken from her too. Was she not allowed a moment of stability? A moment of happiness? Was pain and suffering all that laid ahead? Kyle's knees began to wobble, barely holding her up. Her breath became harsh as she struggled to hold her tears back.
"Hey..."
Dax's voice was unusually soft as he reached out to her, his light mahogany skin a stark contrast to her pale figure as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Before Dax even had the time to comprehend the situation the red head was falling to the ground with a quiet sob.
In the six years he'd known Kyle he'd never seen her break down like this. It shattered his heart to be reminded that she wasn't just the hardened woman she let others see. She was human too, just as capable of breaking down as the others.
"Why? Why does this keep happening?"
He carefully got down on one knee to be at her level, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. Kyle did the same, her hands shaking as they gripped Dax's jacket. She gasped for breath - tensed, clenched, from the curl of her fists to the grit of her teeth and the stiffness of her shoulders. She grappled with the tattered scraps of control, trying her hardest to reel her emotions back in.
"I'm sorry, Kyle."
The dark headed man closed his eyes as he held her close. He didn't know what to say and he hated himself for it. He wasn't Jude or even Ezra. Dax wasn't used to being in situations where he may need to comfort someone, much less ones where he actually wanted to. It felt as though his mind was scattered, broken up into jagged pieces, because the impulse was there, but he had no idea what to do with it. He didn't dare speak, for fear of saying the wrong thing. Tears and snot soaked his shoulder as Kyle silently let out more sobs. Dax didn't mind. In fact he was happy she'd chosen him to be her shoulder to cry on. He hoped she felt safe and secure in his arms because from that moment on he decided he wouldn't let anything bad happen to her ever again. Not if he could help it.
***
Jude watched over Rory with knitted brows. He was in only his boxers, his abdomen and shoulder covered with fresh medical wrap, blood already seeping through. His limbs were thin, unusually so, and his eyes sunken. His temperature had been rising steadily for the past two hours.
The poor man couldn't get a brake. He'd been locked in a basement for days, and the second he got out he'd been stabbed and beaten unconscious. Jude's face fell to his hands.
He was the one who told Rory to go out on his own. He knew if Rory was awake he would punch him for blaming himself but he couldn't help the thousand pound weight on his chest. He rubbed the crust from his tired eyes as a sigh escaped his lips.
"I'm sorry."
He knew Rory couldn't actually hear what he was saying but he could always hope.
"I'm sorry for what happened to Alaina. I'm sorry I couldn't find you after we were separated in the river. I'm sorry for telling you to go off on your own. It seems like I only cause you pain and I'm so sorry...."
His voice broke in the middle of his sentence and he had to stop.
Jude tried so hard to stay gentle. To stay true to the person he was before everything went to hell. To be the one who shined a light on any bad situation, to keep the other's from breaking down, to make sure no one had to worry about him. He wanted to show anyone and everyone he passed that the world they lived in didn't have to turn you into a monster.
Maybe he was wrong.
Maybe a monster was what he needed to become in order to keep the people he cared about safe. That's all he wanted, nothing more and nothing less than to protect the people he loved.
To protect Rory. Jude knew he was selfish for holding the man before him's life on a pedestal, but he couldn't help the way he felt.
"Please, stay with me."
He took a deep breath and then,
"I love you..."
Tears stung at his eyes as he finally said the words out loud. The words he hadn't spoken sense he'd scared Rory off the first time.
"And maybe this makes me selfish but... I can't be the person I want to be without you here."
Jude lifted his legs to his chest, wiping his tears on dirt stained jeans. He hugged himself close as if it could replace the lack of human connection he felt in his life.
"Please, open your eyes..."
In the next couple minutes Jude felt his whole world start to fall apart.
Rory's body began to shake uncontrollably, his teeth grinding, his limbs jerking.
He was having a seizure.
Jude was ripped from his self absorbed sorrows, standing up and holding Rory's arms down to keep him from hurting himself.
"Tabb!"
The blonde cried for help, tears falling from his cheeks and onto Rory's pale skin.
"Tabb!"
He screamed again, more frantic this time.
"It's okay, you're going to be alright."
Jude didn't know if he was trying to comfort the man shaking in his arms or himself. Where the hell was Tabb? He was the only one Jude could think of that might've known what to do.
"Tabb!"
The man he'd been pleading for finally ran in, his eyes widening at the sight before him. Without a word Jude was shoved out of the way and the other man moved into action. Jude quickly lost his balance, falling to the ground with panic written on his face as he watch Tabb struggle to move Rory in a different position.
"Cash!"
Tabb called for the other, not looking away from his task at hand as he turned Rory on his side. Cash ran through the door, coming to Tabb's aid without hesitation and following any directions he was given. Jude felt useless as he stared at Rory, who was now turned towards him. His lids blinked wildly as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Jude covered his mouth with both hands to quiet his sobs as he backed into a corner.