*December*

Within 2 months of their escape they had managed to travel halfway across the country. Their last ride had left them roaming suburbs outside of the states main city. Though inconvenient due to most places not being a short walk, their current location was in a way safer since it was unlikely for cops to be looking in places that were considered to be relatively criminal free. These cops were significantly more lax than city police.

The cooler weather enabled the pair ot move more freely as well. They wouldn't stick out when wearing clothes that would help conceal their identity. Though Rachel still ran most of the errands...Zacks blood stained clothing wasn't ideal for being discreet. Rachel decided to remedy that problem. She had just returned to their motel from a nearby retail store towing a few bags of clothing for Zack and food; which she tossed onto one of the full beds. She had managed to scrounge up a fairly decent amount of cash while begging on the side of a highway exit. Since they weren't able to find decent shelter for the night she decided they could treat themselves to an actual bed for the night. The place was a bit of a dump, but they didn't ask many questions and it was better than nothing. Both were tired of sneaking bumpy and uncomfortable rides on whatever transport type vehicle they could slip into unnoticed.

Sighing Rachel discarded her excess clothing-a scarf, boots and of course her hoodie. It was extra cold now that snow had begun to fall. Zack was nowhere in sight; the sound of running water indicated her companion was in the shower.

Ray pulled out a set of pajamas pants and fresh bandages out of one of the grocery bags for Zack. She thought it might be nice for him to sleep in something more comfortable than his clothes for once. The motel had a coin laundry room, maybe she could try to get at least some of the blood out of his favored attire. The little blonde knocked on the bathroom door.

"Ray? That you?"

"Yeah, I brought some fresh bandages and pants for you." unsurprisingly the man could be heard scowling. He had told her multiple times the clothes he had were just fine.

She had decided to ignore his ranting this time. Knowing he would more than likely be appreciative at the prospect of being able to move about a tad bit more freely. Plus tonight she had an excuse to get him a few things.

"Tch, what's wrong with the clothes I have?" the bathroom door cracked open just enough for his scarred arm to reach out taking the pants and bandages from her.

He still wouldn't allow her to see his whole body without without the bandages. She wondered if he ever would trust her enough to allow her to see him so she could help with his wrappings. Though it didn't seem to matter if she assured him she didn't care, he would be Zack to her no matter what. He was just too...ashamed? Thinking about it made her sad, he shouldn't have to feel that way about himself.

"Your clothes have blood stains...and I got the pajamas for you so you could be more comfortable." An annoyed grunt was all she got in response.

Zack always took a while since he had to rewrap himself. Taking the time she would have to herself , Rachel changed into her own PJs, a gray sweater, some little baby blue pajamas shorts and white knee high socks.

Sighing she reached for the remote and turned on the television while preparing some microwave dinners that had been on sale. Not exactly the tastiest things in the world, but they couldn't really be too picky given their situation. Food was food.

"After 2 months of endless searching the trail for mass murderer Isaac Foster and missing teen Rachel Gardner has gone cold."

The screen shifted to a pretty brunette reporter and an older man, most likely someone from the police department.

Reporter : Chief Reynolds, do you intend to completely call off the search for the killer and Ms. Gardner?

Chief Reynolds looked annoyed " Of course not, we will continue looking until we find them. The search has just had a few hiccups. Rest assured the killer WILL be caught and executed and the girl will be taken to safety

Reporter "How can you be sure that Ms. Gardner is still alive?"

Chief Reynolds: " When we first recovered the girl she had been shot but not by Isaac Foster. It is unclear why he had her and had not killed her. However I feel it is safe to assume that she is still alive. There was no sign of a struggle in the room, I believe she went with him willingly. I don't think he has killed her. Though I am concerned that he may have darker intentions with the young girl. We suspect that the two were held up for sometime in the building that burned down. He may have been grooming her."

Reporter "Are you saying that Mr. Foster has gone from just killing to the sexual abuse of min-

Rachel let out a short cry jumping in surprise, Zack now bandaged and dressed in his new pajama pants, slammed a fist into the t.v cracking the screen. She hadn't even noticed him leave the bathroom. Ray quickly turned hit the power button on the remote. Isaac looked furious.

"Why the hell are you watching that? Fucking bastards, they really think I'd stoop that low. Its freakin SICKENING! Now I'm fuckin' pissed" His frame shook with anger. His gaze darkening with that predatory red gleam. Killing or breaking shit was how Zack grew up learning to cope with anger.

Ray quickly stood up knowing what was going through his head. Gently taking his hand to get his attention staring intently into his dangerous gaze. Anyone else would have panicked at those eyes, whereas Rachel was completely unphased.

"Calm down. It's okay. What they say isn't true and it doesn't matter." She smiled a little "I was watching to see if they were still onto us...it seems they don't know where to look anymore...that means we can relax a little bit...but if you go out and start killing people then they might find us again."

Zack had been pretty on edge the past week or so. That annoying chill kept resurfacing. He wanted to kill so bad it was nearly driving him insane. The news painting him as some sick pediofiliac made his blood boil. If he ever saw that cop or news reporter he would slash em. Of course he knew she was right. He needed to restrain himself. Rachel's hand over his combined with her logic and reasoning was just enough to calm himself down at least enough to not grab his weapon bolt out the door and cut down the first person he saw.

"Gaaahh! FINE!" he removed himself from her grasp and sat with a huff onto the bed. Still fuming.

He's going to snap soon. I don't know how long I can keep him from killing someone. Not that she felt much of anything towards anyone who might meet that unfortunate fate...but it would really inconvenience them. Ray frowned to herself as she walked into the little mini kitchen to bring him his dinner. Even when he's like this he shows no interest towards killing me…

Zack scrunched up his face, it was some kind of meat and carrots...and broccoli? Gross.

"I thought you said you were going to get FOOD?" he poked his little plastic fork at the nasty green shit evading his plate.

"You can't live off soda, cereal and snacks…" she had her trademark blank lifeless doll stare.

Zack grumbled something about her acting like she was his mom that she couldn't quite hear and forced his frozen dinner down, his face contorting in disgust as if he might vomit; she couldn't help but smile just a little. She even came close to laughing at how ridiculous he was acting over it. Luckily he was too busy trying not to gag to notice.

"Don't ever make me eat this shit again, Ray." he gagged.

The petite girl smiled turning to the bags next to her.

"Here." She'd pulled out a bag of his favorite chips and soda which he snatched from her without hesitation.

"SERIOUSLY?! You made me eat that shit when you had these in there all along? What the hell?" His scowl faded a little popping a few chips into his mouth.

"I told you. You can't live off just chips and soda. Here I got these for you too" reaching into the last bag she pulled out a dark green fur lined hoodie along with some dark wash jeans.

Zack eyed the clothes through the corner of his eye warily. Secretly he was a little touched she had thought to get him anything. Not that he would admit it.

"Ya don't have to do that, Ray." He grabbed the clothes from her, placing them on the nightstand between the beds.

"I know. I just thought you might like to have something else to wear for once." a little small but genuine smile lit up her face, causing her companion to blink a few times in surprise as he sipped his soda. She shrugged trying to appear nonchalant."It's December 24th. I guess you can think of it as a christmas present"

Isaac nearly choked expelling some brown liquid from his mouth. "WHAT?"

"A Christmas pr-"

"Shut up I know what Christmas is...just never celebrated it." His heterochromatic eyes stared down at the floor. If his face had been bare she would've noticed their slight change in color hidden behind his wrappings.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, too many peppy folks." Isaac's featured twisted into his trademark predatory grin. Laughing at the various memories that flashed through his mind's eye; though he never recalled the faces of those he killed "I usually spent it slicing those stupid happy grins from their faces!"

"I see...I guess that makes sense." Rachel supposed that's how he probably was during most holidays.

"What about you? Your piss poor excuse of a family celebrated it?" He asked seeming genuinely curious.

Ray nodded. "Yeah...big holidays were some of the only good days I ever had. There would always be a lot of people around. So my parents would actually be nice to me...I wouldn't get beaten on holidays and on christmas they would get me a present, so that if someone asked what I got for christmas I'd have something to show them."

"Well that's pretty messed up…" he pondered his own past.

He couldn't recall any good memories of christmas...not even from when he lived with his mom. That or he just chose to not remember. He resented the woman for leaving him in hell on earth. Refusing to remember any of the good things...if there was any.

"Zack? Thinking about something?" She sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, looking at him quizzically.

"Huh? Ehh nah its nothin." He didn't really want to get into it. "Well….thanks….I guess...sorry I didn't get ya anything in return."

"That's okay Zack." She would have been very surprised if he had thought to get her anything to be honest.

Maybe she could try to help him experience at least a little bit of the good she did on holidays. Afterall in terms of her life before him those were the only half decent memories she had. Perhaps with her help he could start having some good memories of his own.

***March***

"You've done good Ray. Can't say I would've gotten this far without ya." Zack was stuffing himself, with the french toast she had made that morning. Rachel did know how to cook fairly well. It was rare when her parents would make anything for her so she had no choice but to teach herself. She took a little pride in her work. It'd been a while since either of them had a proper meal. If Zack ever had one to begin with.

Ray had gotten lucky and come across a couple packing bags into their vehicle talking excitedly about their 2 week vacation in the Bahamas.(Zack usually kept a distance to prevent himself from snapping into a bloodthirsty monster at the sight of overly happy he'd done quite well at restraining himself, Ray wondered how long before he wouldn't be able to help but give into his bloodlust.) Even more lucky they had used a spare key to lock the door which they placed under one of those porcupine statues used to clean the dirt from your shoes. Completely unaware of the petite girl watching them through the trees the couple left.

It was one of those really nice homes. Not super big but nice, in the kind of neighborhood where all the houses were hidden within the depths of deciduous woods and evergreens.

Day three, and the 2 hadn't left the house at all deciding it was best to just take advantage of the cover while it lasted.

"Hey Zack?" Ray still hadn't asked exactly HOW Zack had escaped, she'd been much too focused just trying to catch a break for themselves. At last they finally had some time to just relax for longer than a single day.

"Whats up?" He eyed her half eaten french toast. Rachel expelled a small giggle and pushed it towards him, his eyes lit up happily, fork about to go into his mouth, he paused and blinked, "You…?"

"Me what?"

"You just laughed."

"Oh...did it make you want to kill me?" she looked a little hopeful.

"Oddly...no. It was...nice coming from ya."Ray cocked her head at him; Zack quickly redirected his attention back to the food in front of him. He was definitely embarrassed. "Anyyywaaay...uh yeeah...whats up?"

"It's nothing really I was just wondering how you got away...you weren't even in prison clothes...and how did you get a scythe again?" she eyed the weapon leaning against the wall feeling a slight rush of nostalgia.

"Oh. To be honest I don't really know. I was set to be executed when this prison guard I didn't recognize came to get me. He loaded me into avan…come to think of it it was pretty weird that he was by himself. I couldn't see his face since he was wearing sunglasses and a hat. The guy drove off... pulled over into one of the alleyways. He had a gun to my head so at first I assumed he was one of those dirty cops that just wanted to do the job himself."the serial killer smirked dangerously ruffling his black hair "Thought maybe I'd offed someone he knew... I almost made a move on the guy. Would've been easy too."

"What then?"

"Uhh he told me to relax that he was letting me go. So I let him live..he uncuffed me, gave me my clothes and pointed to a box by a wall...which had the scythe...then he told me where ya were...what window and everything...and then he just drove off?"

"Just like that? No explanation?" That seemed odd. Why would a stranger want to set a notorious murderer free? Even more odd why would he tell him where she was and how would he know to begin with?

"Nah, I was too surprised to ask any questions..." Zack regretted that he hadn't asked for more details.

Ray's hummed, "Tell me again what happened...after the doctor shot me and I passed out."

"Uhhh, well he tried to finish the job but the old man stopped him...shot him with a crossbow." Just remembering peepers creepers was enough to irritate Zack "The reverend said he was letting us go. Told me to take ya and go. I don't know what happened after that. Though I do recall over hearing some cops say they found one body burnt beyond recognition."

"Just one body? Hmm well given his condition I think it's safe to say the body they found must have been Doctor Danny."

"Fuckin' better have been. If I have to kill that guy again I'll make sure to slice him into bits to be sure he doesn't come back." Isaac scowled.

"Yeah...anyway...the only people who would know the true story about us are the people from that building. Since 3 of the 4 we know for certain are dead...that leaves…"

Zacks eyes widened understanding what she was getting at, "The priest...he must have survived. You think he was the one who helped out?"

"I think it's highly probable...when I was on his floor he was somehow using illusions...they all felt so real it took me sometime to realize the things I was seeing were fake. He could've made the cops see something else and walked right by all of them without them noticing."

"Okay...I guess that makes the most sense...but why would he even bother?" Isaac had a good question...why...Ray recalled her conversations with the old man. He really had seemed to have a soft spot for Zack.

It made more sense than anything else she could conjure up, he must have some real power, connections and money to be able to maintain the murder hole without raising any suspicion from the authorities. She hadn't even thought til now about whether or not he had survived.

"He had a soft spot for you...maybe he viewed you like you were his son or something." Ray shrugged sipping her coffee.

"Blllrgggggh!" Zacks face showed utter disgust. " The hell? You trying to make me hurl? Don't say creepy shit like that!"

"Anyway...it's the only thing that makes sense to me." Ray had a habit of holding the knuckle of her index finger to her lips while she sorted things out. Her thinking face. "He had to of been the one to help you out. I wonder if we should try to find him..and get some answers. I just don't know if I trust him."

Zack fixated on her face. She still looked lifeless most of the time, but less so than the walking corpse he had teamed up with to escape that hell hole of a building.

"I know what ya mean...though he also saved my dumb ass after I fell threw that stupid ass trap back on your floor. If it wasn't for him never would've figured that shit out." he got slightly agitated by the memory.

It all made sense. It had to be Gray. No one else would know about their bond. Since escaping, Ray couldn't even ask questions about Zack without it getting chalked up to stockholm syndrome.

"I'm sorry you almost died." She meant it.

She was sorry for everything that happened on that floor. Well not everything. She had snapped and the monster inside her had been released. Zack had multiple chances to end her pitiful life...but he didn't. He saved her and helped her accept everything she had done...and herself. Her feelings of deserving death remained unchanged; but she could accept herself now.

"Yeah…well it's in the past now. I'm alive. You're alive..we're ALIVE." She could feel his mismatched eyes burning through her. Sometimes his gaze so intense even she couldn't help but get this feeling...and she felt for a moment that maybe...just maybe her soul hadn't been completely destroyed.

"Yeah...we're..alive."

"Tch, only you would look so gloomy about that." Though for a moment she hadn't. He saw something. It was brief but it was alive. "Anyway, you wanna try to find the guy?"

"Hmm...well...I wouldn't know where to look. Though my guess would be a church."

The only problem with that is which church. It had to be one of the ones back in the same city that they had fled months ago if he even was there.

Her bandaged companion groaned.

"Shit...thinking back. The guy in the car made a comment about a huge ass church we were passing that really reminded me of Gray's floor...but that would mean we'd have to go back wouldn't it?"

Ray stared blankly at him. Did he just put all that together on his own?

"What? Why do ya look so surprised? I may not be the smartest but I can remember shit sometimes okay?" Isaac's eye narrowed, the petite girl dodged his hand to avoid a flick in the forehead.

"Right...well. Yeah we would have to go back to find Gray."

She felt less skeptical about the man after being told how he had saved Zack twice and allowed them to escape the building. Perhaps hunting the old priest down would prove fruitful. Not to mention if he had mentioned a church to Zack...maybe he was hoping for them to come find him. Getting back wouldn't be easy though.

Only reason they had gotten as far as they did was by pure chance. They didn't really know the exact location they would be ending up. It hadn't mattered as long as they got far away as possible. They decided to stay in this area for now since the pair was not as well known as they were in other states. They might have been in the news papers sometimes; but not on the front page.

"Well shit, how the hell are we supposed to get all the way back? We are half across the country from that shithole." Zack stood up ruffling his raven hair scowling.

Ray knew that look. Anytime the situation got complicated it was highly probable he was about to go into one of his fits that resulted in destruction.

"Zack. Stop. We can't break things." Last thing they needed was for that couple to call the cops about a break in once they returned home.

"Shut up! I know that! HEY! What the hell? Back off brat!"

The top of her head came only to his chest, small arms wrapped around his torso. Had his face been naked his embarrassment would have been all too obvious.

"If you minded it that much, then you would have pushed me off." She had a good point. Why didn't he push her off? He didn't know what to argue without lying. The tall 21 year old didn't hug her back exactly, just awkwardly patted her back. "Just relax Zack, we'll figure out something. For now we can just stay here. Oh!"

Ray walked over to what must've been the residents junk drawer and pulled out the flesh colored stress ball she had seen earlier while searching for utensils. "Here take this"

Her delicate hand deposited the ball into his larger bandaged one. "Whats this?"

"It's a stress ball...you squeeze it to feel better."

"Seems stupid to me but okay…" He began squeezing the ball absentmindedly. "Hey! This actually works! Eh? The hells wrong with yer face?"

Rachel was turning red, covering her mouth trying desperately to not bust out laughing. She hadn't realized what the ball was actually supposed to look like until she noticed the pink bud squeezing out between Zack's digits. This really confused her companion he had never seen this face before.

"What the hell Ray? Are...are you laughing?" he followed her watering gaze to the object in his hand. Fully opening his palm. "THE FUCK? IT'S A FUCKIN" TIT?"

She couldn't hold back any longer, the little blondes knees gave out collapsing to the floor laughing. When was the last time she had laughed? Really laughed? She didn't know but she couldn't help herself.

Zack hurled the boob shaped sphere at her expelling even more giggles. A huge smile creeping up his bandaged face. "Damn Ray." He too was laughing maniacally at this point. He was confused though, her laugh...it didn't anger him. It was contagious causing him to laugh in return. What the hell what happening to him? Shouldn't he want to cut her down? No he didn't want that. Her laugh was too beautiful.

Rachel spent the following two days trying to come up with a plan to return to the hell they had been so desperate to run away from. It wouldn't be easy.

When not mulling over how to be useful her and Zack would play simple board or card games, but mostly they spent a lot of time watching movies or T.V shows on an online streaming service. It was something they found they really enjoyed doing together. Zack found any horror film to be hilarious and unrealistic. Rachel seemed content with just about anything. Or rather if she didn't like something she wouldn't give any indication especially if Zack seemed to enjoy it. More often than not she would just fall asleep anyway. The softer parts of the hooded killers personality which he kept hidden most of the time would emerge when no one was awake to see it. He would pick her up and tuck into the bed then take the opportunity to shower and replace his bandages.

They slept in the same room... despite there being an extra bedroom. It'd just become habit. As had Zack allowing her to huddle up to his back in the middle of the night. The closeness still embarrassed him to an extent; but since it'd gotten colder he stopped objecting or trying to push her small body away. He kept his clothes on even while sleeping anyway so it wasn't really a huge deal. Though that excuse would no longer be valid soon seeing as warmer weather would be on the way.

They were in the middle of the extended edition of "The Return of the King" when Rachel felt sharp aching pains in her lower abdomen. Reflexively she clutched at her stomach.

"Ya okay?" Heterochromatic eyes scanned the blonde clutching her sides. She couldn't lie to him. Zack hates liars.

"I think it's just a stomach ache. I'm going to go lay down in the bed a bit, you keep watching. I should be okay." It hurt. It really hurt like her insides were being ripped apart. She wasn't exactly sure it was a stomach ache. No stomach aches weren't usually in your lower abdomen.

Zack gazed at her softly "Ya sure? Want me to lay down with you?", he couldn't help himself when she was hurting. It was another time his gentle side always came out for Rachel because he didn't like it. He didn't want her to hurt.

Ray remained leaning against his side a little longer while he stroked her hair. A rare gesture that she really enjoyed. He only did it when she needed comfort.

"No I'll be alright.."

"Kay. If you need anything let me know."

"Okay I will."

Laying on the bed for 10 minutes didn't seem to help. The cramping would come and was going on? Ray hobbled into the bathroom clutching her sides. There was a fairly large corner tub with jets. Hm, maybe warm water would help. She reachout one small hand to fill the tub and adjust the temperature to her liking.

A faint smile crossed her lips recalling poor Zack getting into that nasty cold water on B4 in order to activate a trigger to open a door in that back room. He hadn't been happy about that at all.

A purple bottle on the corner of the tub caught her eye. Twisting the cap off she poured a quarter of the floral scented contents into the water which began to fill with foamy bubbles. Stripping off her blue tank top and pj bottoms Ray settled into the warm bubble bath with a contented sigh. She hadn't had a bubble bath since who knows when. Probably not since before things had started to go so terribly wrong back at home. She wouldn't focus on that though. It was still too painful.

The cramping didn't leave completely but it was bearable now. Zack's footsteps moved in the bedroom. She figured he'd check on her. Few seconds later a gentle knock on the door, which she had forgotten to close all the way.

"Ya good Ray?"

Blue eyes fluttered open, a cry of surprise escaping her lips. The water had turned pink. Blood? Ray clutched the side of the tub with both arms. Now it made sense. She'd had the education about menstrual cycles that most girls got when they were younger than herself. She had forgotten about them though.

"Ray?" the door swung open Zack looked worried about to rush over and scoop her up clothes or no clothes, embarrassed or not.

"ZACK NO!" he halted his advance stopping 2 feet away eyes whirling with concern eyeing the water and the pink droplets that dripped from her arms.

"Ray if your hurt I don't care about ya being naked!" he closed the gap and knelt in front of the tub. It wasn't like he could see anything anyway with the position she was in and all the bubbles.

"Don't..I...I'm not hurt." she turned her head away feeling her face turning red.

"Then how do ya explain the blood?" Isaac was not convinced, but he wouldn't reach for her when she was awake to tell him not to.

This was awful. Simply awful, of all times for this to happen. She knew he had no education and she was going to have to explain all of it to him. It could be easy to forget that he was the adult and she was the teenager.

"I ..uh.." she hesitated not looking forward to this conversation "I got my first period...that's why there's blood."

"Hah? What is that suppose to mean? You know I don't know shit right?"

Rachel explained in the simplest terms she could find how women got periods and why, Zack's eyes widening more and more with each piece of information. He just stared at her trying to mouth something…

"TCH! That's freakin' disgusting! But I'm sorry it hurts." He hung onto his resolve to be helpful despite his disgust. He could see how embarrassed she was. "So...what do you need?"

Ray pointed to a pink box resting on a shelf above the toilet. He placed it within reach for her and set out a towel. "Your gonna need a real shower now...even your hair is a little pink. Don't wanna look like that prison queen bitch do ya?"

"Yeah...thank you." on a positive note her cramps were gone. But oh my goodness that was embarrassing.

"Ick, freakin gross. So this is your first time?" he asked standing up.

"Yeah. Most girls have it younger...but I'm kind of abnormal anyway."

"Ya think?" Zacks eyes changed from sympathetic to embarrassed. Pulling his hood over his eyes the killer closed the door behind him.

Thank goodness that's over. Ray was really grateful to him though. He could see how embarrassed she was and toned down how weird he must've felt and made sure she was taken care of instead. There's that warm feeling in my chest again. Whenever I feel this its linked to him. How does he do this? Its like...I don't feel so...dead anymore. I feel happy. Smiling she cleaned herself up and prepared for bed.

Zack was laying on top of the covers when Ray came out of the bathroom. What an awkward as hell situation. He understood only a portion of what a 'period' was. Once a month. Pain. Ability to get pregnant. Bleeding from down there...moodiness. Sounds awful and he felt a little sorry for her. Yeah it was gross, but she looked far more embarrassed than he was. Well till he remembered she was in the tub...and blood or no blood she was cute. Shit. The things that girl could get him to do. It was okay though. She was the only one to treat him normal. Something he could never thank her enough for. He could at least try to show her through his actions.

"Your still awake?"

She was cute in her little tank top and pajama pants, wet blonde her sticking to her face, looking even longer when wet.

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were alright. Your not going to bleed all over the bed are ya?" Internally he cringed a little, last thing he wanted would be to wake up in a puddle of vagina blood. Not that blood bothered him...but in this context it just weirded him out.

"Well the things in that pink box should prevent that from happening." He didn't even wanna know how "But if your worried about it I can go sleep in the other room."

She looked so embarrassed, made him feel guilty for even asking that question. He looked at her softly to try to relay his words even more through his eyes "Nah it's alright, glad your okay and it's...uhh..something normal. Heh..ya know your eyes have gotten brighter over the past two months." He couldn't help but smile while also realizing..he still had no desire to end that life which had become so precious to him. Not even when his bloodlust and predatory instincts fought to take over.

Ray huddled up to him. "I think that's because I'm with you Zack."

He muttered something inaudible under his breath pulling his hood down even further and facing away from her.

"Night, Ray"

It was the truth. She wasn't sure why he seemed so embarrassed by it.

"Night, Zack."