Days turned into weeks and by now all three were surviving under the turn pass of the bridge. Elizabeth's mobility had somewhat improved unlike the emotional rollercoaster her company was dealing with; everyday the men found new things to dispise about each other and the daily tension could be cut with a dull knife.
It doesn't get any better when William takes Elizabeth to go search for food. He makes sure to tighten the laces of her black leather boots, before helping her off the concrete ledge. She smiles warmly at him as he tries his hardest to return the favor. A few days after they'd ventured out, William left; without a word to Ru, or anything for Elizabeth, he simply walked away leaving her with a man she didn't know, couldn't understand, and didn't trust.
A few weeks, and some added frustration later, Ru comes up with a wicked way to hold power over the beautiful woman. He makes sure to only leave when she's fast asleep and in a few miles comes to stand at the stoop of an old acquaintance's home. Ru knocks on the door calmly and within minutes it's opened to him; the wrinkled face of a man aging before his time opens the door with a grim expression.
"There's only one reason you would be knocking on my door Ru. What do you want?"
Ru fakes offense at the truthful statement but the man glares right through his facade. So he puts his hands up in the air in mock surrender and shrugs his shoulders.
"Alright, you've got me. I want a small bag of your finest ice."
He grins devilishly at the man as his eyes turn black as coal. Wicked intentions seem to physically pour, from the depths of a twisted heart, onto his skin only to ooze out, toward his long time friend. In his eyes flash the cruel seed of pure malice toward someone he doesn't even know. Ru stares unsettlingly at his friend until the man steps backwards into his house.
A few moments later a reluctant hand briefly emerges from behind the wooden door; in it's firm grasp is a cloth bag which Ru greedily takes. Without another word at the man who helped him get one thing he wanted, Ru, turns around and heads back in the direction of camp and a sleeping redheaded woman.
The sun scorches the ground by the time he's made it back and what he finds gets under his skin, Elizabeth had long since woken up, and begun to pack up the things she saw as hers. His eyes flared with hatred for a brief moment before remembering his plan of control. Slowly, as if to not alarm her, Ru, crept closer, stepping over the rusted train tracks, he was almost within reach of her petite frame. At that moment, Elizabeth, decided to turn around and locked eyes with him. He could see she had been crying again; this was almost a daily occurrence since he'd forced the other one to leave three weeks ago.
Ru sighed, and drastically softened his gaze, as he did, something pulled at the strings of his beating heart, something in her crystal clear sapphire eyes was trying to change him. He stops and stares into her eyes, until the sound of rough cloth lightly tapping the packed ground, jogs him out of his trace.
Finally he is able to look away as he stoopes down to retreave the contents; it no longer matters that she's standing right in front of him, because all he cares about in this moment is not losing his composure.