A/N: Hey! so here is chapter 2! I hope you enjoy it. I would love to hear your thoughts on this story :)
"Sarah, I can't believe you confronted Rachel with a gun!" Alison exclaimed from the back seat of the car.
Sarah kept her eyes on the road as she sped down the highway. "Yeah, well, the bitch deserved it" she growled with malice.
"Karma, man" breathed Cosima with admiration, her knuckes white as she grabbed the dashboard. Sarah drove like a maniac, desperate to reach the destination.
"Fuck! Was that the turn-off? Did I miss it?" Sarah snarled. Alison fumbled with the map and checked the address on the post-it note again.
"No, no, it's the next left!" she screamed into the back of Sarah's head. The car squealed into the turn and suddenly, the three sisters found themselves in the wrong part of town.
As the car hurtled past deserted warehouses and boarded up shop fronts, a sense of doom pervaded the air. The streets, although empty of people, were strewn with litter; here and there lay burnt-out cars and gratified broken-down concrete walls.
"This place is so dodgy, Sarah, I don't feel comfortable at all" Alison whimpered.
"Chill, sister" cooed Cosima, turning around in the passenger seat to face Alison in the back. "We're just here to get Helena and then we're outta here."
"Ok ok. Slow down, Sarah, and look for number 30." Alison said.
They parked the car, got out and approached the front door of number 30. Sarah led the way up the steps and was about to ring the bell when she saw the door was slightly ajar. The three sisters crept in through the doorway and were at once assaulted by the pungent stench of urine, vomit, sweat and something else, something... frightening and chemical.
"Holy shite!" Sarah couldn't help shouting. "What the fuck is this place? I can't see Helena setting up house here."
"Um, Sarah, I think this is like a crack den or something" Cosima said gently, as they edged forward down the dilapidated hallway, carefully side-stepping missing floorboards and broken glass.
"Lord preserve us!" Alison squealed as she narrowly missed banging her head on a flashing light bulb which was hanging in the gloom.
Sarah led the others into the first room off the hallway. As soon as she saw what lay within, she pressed her finger to her lips, motioning the others to keep silent. Several bodies lay slumped around over what little furniture remained: a skinny woman in a miniskirt was sprawled over a dirty, sagging couch; a grotesquely ugly man lay face down on the floor in a puddle of what could be his own urine; two others sat slumped in broken down arm chairs, staring in silence at a smashed TV screen. The three sisters backed out quietly and continued their search.
Further on, Sarah peeked through a broken panel of a door and gestured to the others that none of them should go in. A man with shaven head and tattooed face was busying himself with a needle, spoon and lighter. He was muscular but his face could have been that of a 90 year old. A gun lay on the table where he was preparing his fix.
Sarah's fierce confidence was dripping away. This was some serious shit and people like these were...unpredictable. Cosima sensed Sarah's waning resolve and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
The three stood stock still in silence for a few moments until the man had fallen into his dream, then they crept up the stained staircase.
They came upon a small dark room and heard a moan. Sarah's heart quickened with hope and anxiety.
As she slowly peered around the door she gave a gasp. Someone? Something? An animal? A THING lay crouched in a corner, rocking and whining. Alison crossed herself then grabbed hold of her crucifix as she came in behind Sarah, and Cosima swore under her breath.
The thing in the corner might once have been a girl, but the face was so badly swollen and bruised, no distinguishing features could be seen. The skin which wasn't swathed in filthy torn rags was blackened and blistered, like wallpaper after a fire. The limbs were twisted and knarled in unnatural shapes and angles, and the breathing was rasping and pained. The thing did not see the three newcomers, but blindly sucked on a glass pipe, blowing thick toxic smoke out of its busted mouth.
Sarah, her heart twisting with a mix of pity and repulsion, approached the once-was-a girl, bent over her and allowed the hot tears to finally burst from her stinging eyes.
"Helena" she murmured gently. "What have they done to you?"