Enjoy!
X.x.X.x
Charlie stood with wide eyes and furrowed brows as Monroe kicked a family of five out of their home, just so he and his men… and she, could have a place to stay for the night. Lightning flashed above them and she ducked her head a bit as the rain started to come down. "You can't just leave them out here in the storm." Charlie argued, her voice nearly drowned out by the clap of thunder that followed the lightning.
"They have a shed in the back." Monroe said sweetly before flicking his head in that direction. Charlie watched as the family was forced into their small shed, before being shoved into the house, "Give her to me…" He ordered and grabbed her by the elbow and guided her upstairs.
Once into the master bedroom he threw her onto the bed, Charlie gasped and began begging for mercy. "Please don't do this…" he took out a knife and she whimpered scooting further onto the bed, to the other side. He grabbed her by the restraints and pulled her back to the edge and she screamed. "Please!" She cried, tears spilling over her eyelids and sliding down her cheeks, leaving trails of cleanliness on her dirt covered face.
"Stop crying." He demanded roughly and cut her zip tie and threw her back onto the bed on her back, sheathing the knife and going to the door. "I have guys under your window," He said and held the door in his hand, already halfway out to the hall. "So don't try anything cute." He closed the door and she sat up, her heart pounding in her chest.
After a moments pause she got up off of the bed and went to the only window in the small farmhouse bedroom. She looked down smiled, the porch cover was right below her, she could easily – movement on the left of her window… on the roof. A man stood in the rain right outside her window, not below her. Beside her. She would never get out.
She stepped away from the window and let out a frustrated huff, running her fingers through her hair to push it behind her ear. She began to pace the room, trying to figure out the best course of action. Charlie ran scenario's through her head to see how each plan would pan out if she tried it. Each of them ended with her getting turned into a human punching bag.
Resigned she sat on the edge of the bed, eventually scooting into the middle and lying under the covers in an attempt to hide away from the cool, late autumn air. She shivered and pinched her eyes closed, using good memories as distractions from the cold.
X.x.
"You have to turn the light off!" She ordered with a laugh.
"Why can't you do it?!" He asked and started to push her to the edge of the bed.
"because I'm a girl and you're a man!" She said in a 'duuuh' tone of voice.
There was a long pause and she thought that they were just going to have to sleep with the lantern lit. Then a thought occurred to her and she smiled mischievously at him before ripping the blankets off of him and kicking him off to the edge of the bed all in two swift motions.
"Cheater!" He cried and ran to the table by the door to their room and doused the lantern before turning to run back to an open bed, where Charlie waited for him with the covers raised for him to jump under. Once under he pulled her into his chest so that they were nose to nose, his breath hot on her face.
"You wouldn't be this cold if you wore a shirt to bed." She teased, though she didn't mind his bare chest. Her proof being how her fingers were already massaging the skin on his chest. Her fingers brushed past the scar and she paused, no matter how many times she saw it or felt it, it always left her feeling somber.
Jason felt her tension and pulled her hands away from his chest and up over the blankets so that they were pressed to his lips, his breath warming her chilled fingers. Charlie looked up at him and noticed that the dark of the night masked the scar she knew to be on the left side of his face, it trailed from right above his eyebrow around his eye and curved t his cheekbone, almost a perfect moon. She raised one hand from his grasp and pressed it to his face.
They were so lucky to be together the way they were now. After they had been reunited they spent a lot of their time healing and staying on the run, to keep away from the militia but now they just had each other. Safe at last.
"Wake up." Jason ordered and Charlie looked at him confused, "Wake… up!"
"Jason…?"
"Damnit Charlie, wake up!"
X.x
Charlie sat up and gasped, Jason's name still on her lips until she saw who was really beside her in the bed, "Monroe!"
"You forget where you are?" He asked and dipped his head in question.
She huffed and got out of the bed to keep her distance from him. "What do you want?" She said impatiently, folding her arms across her chest.
"You take advantage of my hospitality." He said coldly and stood from the bed, "You think just because I unbind you… let you have your own room, that you can demand things from me?" He pressed his hands to his chest as he said 'me' as he walked around the bed and came to a stop in front of the footlocker that sat at the bottom of the bed. "Just like your mother…" he started, taking Charlie by surprise. Monroe used that to his advantage and advanced on her, grabbing her face in his massive hand and pushing her cheeks between her own teeth.
He forced her head up, so that she was forced to look up at his towering person. "Stubborn…" He finished with a snarl.
Charlie shook her head in an attempt to pull herself free from his grasp but he didn't let go until he was good and ready, forcing her against the wall when he did. She grabbed at her face and rubbed her jaw, "What do you know of my mother…" She growled.
"Enough." He hissed and turned his back to her, "Do you remember the day she left…?" He started and she made a sound for him to continue so he wouldn't turn his back. Charlie started to move slowly to the dresser where lantern sat on the side, he continued to talk about how her mother had left and why… and where she'd been ever since. She hardly paid attention, too focused on grabbing the lantern and smashing it over his head.
Her fingers wrapped around the neck of the oil lamp and she slowly picked it up. He never stopped blabbing about what had been happening to her mother and what role she and her brother played in this now that her father was dead. Just as he began to pivot to look at her, "You're taking this all very we-" Charlie smashed the lamp over his head but all he did was grunt and bow a bit with the blow.
Shocked and dismayed that it didn't knock him out she started to step backwards but he grabbed her wrist. "Again, you take advantage of my hospitality" He snarled and pulled her back to him, back handing her across the left side of her face. She let out a small cry while he dragged her back down stairs, ordering his men to get him a chair and rope.
Struggle as she might there was no escaping the several hands of trained men holding her against the chair while Monroe tied her down. When he finished he grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back so she was looking straight up. "No one is coming for you… and if they do?" He pulled out a knife and held it to her neck, pressing hard enough to draw blood but nothing more.
Charlie felt hot tears slip down her cheeks and tried to calm herself. She felt the chair tip back and had the familiar feeling of panic from falling fill her body but when instead the chair began to drag across the hardwood floor she felt a morbid sense of relief. The chair, along with her was brought into the library and set down in the middle of the room. She looked around, not a candle in the room. The only light came from the window but only when the lightning flashed, "Please don't leave me tied up…" She begged, the thought of being helpless to anyone who came into the room terrified her. She had been in a situation like this before, only then she had a crossbow aimed at her head and still Miles and Jason came to the rescue… even if they did almost put an arrow through her skull, however unintentionally.
The door slammed shut in response and she jumped and looked around, she hadn't realized how big the house was when she was standing outside but the more she saw of it on the inside the greater it seemed. It couldn't be defined as a mansion, she thought, but it was close enough.
She sat in the chair, bored. Until the door open and let in a large amount of light from the kitchen, Monroe's figure stood in the doorway. "You have a visitor." He flashed a smile and she felt herself go ill in the stomach. Please not Jason or Danny… please.
Monroe stepped back into the kitchen and another figure took his place, he stepped into the room and closed the door slowly. When the lightning flashed through the room it lit up his face and she gasped, "No…" her chin quivered and she felt the need to melt through the floor boards to disappear completely.
X.x.X.x
"How did they even find us? I mean we're in the middle of the woods… in the middle of nowhere!" Danny continued, he'd been asking questions since they left town.
"I don't know." Jason repeated, his face twisted in annoyance that was lost on Danny since Jason was at least 3 paces ahead.
"Where do you think Miles and Nora could have gone?" Jason pushed a branch out of the way but instead of holding it for Danny to follow he let it go, the sound of a branch connecting with Danny's chest and a "ow, hey" was enough to bring a flicker of a smile to his face. "Do you think they knew Monroe was still alive? Is that why Miles never settled down?"
"I. Don't. Know…" Jason gritted between clenched teeth.
"Well what about Charlie… do you thi-"
"Jesus kid!" Jason spun around to face the younger boy. "I don't know! I'm in the same damn place you are! I know as little as you do, so unless you want me to start makin' shit up so you can feel better I suggest you stop askin' so many questions!" Jason knew for a fact that Danny was smart, that he was strong, and that he was as stubborn and willed as his older sister. He knew that Danny was probably only nervous and afraid for his sister and this was his way of making sense of all the questions that neither of them knew the answer to.
"Kay…" Danny mumbled and looked down at the ground.
Jason sighed and looked around, feeling guilty now. "Look, Danny. I'm sorry, okay?" He let out long breath before continuing. "I'm just as confused and afraid about all of this as you are…" He put a hand on the boys shoulder. "We'll find Charlie… okay?" When Danny didn't move or make a sound Jason shook his shoulder a bit, "okay?"
Danny looked up at him and nodded finally. Jason allowed a small smile to curl on his lips before he ruffled Danny's hair and turned back around to continue walking.
He felt his nerves form a ball in his stomach, making him feel sick, what if we took a wrong turn at the fork in the road… what if we're going in the opposite direction of Charlie? He stopped and looked back the way they came and then the way they were going, then right, then left.
"What's wrong?"
"We've been walking for two days straight, and haven't caught up to them…" He huffed and continued to do circles to look in every direction. "They have a whole armada as well as a prisoner… they can't be that much faster than us." He ran his hand through his long hair and huffed again.
"Could we have passed them up?" Danny suggested. "What if we're going the right way… we're just ahead now and they are, in a sense, chasing us?"
Jason froze and looked at him in surprise before pointing at him with a proud smile. "You're on to something there." He pointed to the left of the road, "let's go,"
"Where are we goin'?" Danny asked while trying to keep up.
"If you're right, which I think you are… we're probably ahead because they made camp… and if they made camp… they went off road."
They ran through the woods until they stumbled onto a graveled drive way, "Here we go, Danny." Jason said between labored breaths.
Danny, just as winded, could only nod as they crept alongside the driveway, until they found the house attached to it. It was fairly large, looked a lot like a farm house, without the farm. Jason counted about 25 horses and two wagons and he smiled, "This is it… we found them." He turned to face Danny who had a concerned look on his face, "You did it," He smiled and ruffled the blond boys hair again.
They sat in silence, just staring at the house. "How do you suggest we get inside?" Danny asked in a hushed whisper.
"That…" Jason sighed, "is an excellent question."
X.x.X.x
There ya have it…. Uh oh… Who's in the room with Charlie…?
Is that enough of a twist for you, hopelessromantic0510? Probably not… but it'll come. I won't let you get bored… hopefully.
