Chapter 4

After an hour of crying so hard that I started vomiting, I laid on the floor, curled up in a ball. I had been staring at the same spot on the wall for the last twenty minutes.

The long silence probably tipped them off that I was done, so Ruby and Big Mama came into the room to help me back to the bedroom. Big Mama picked me up and carried me to my bed, with significantly more effort than Pluto, and laid me down. I never stopped staring blankly. I could sense my brother still laying on the other bed. I guess he hadn't woken up yet. How was I going to tell him...

"Lily?" Big Mama quietly said. I didn't respond. I was fully aware of what was going on around me, but I felt comatose. I couldn't move or talk no matter how hard I tried.

"Imma cut these loose. Don't be tryin' nothin' stupid t'night. Goggle's keepin' watch, no way yeh'd make it outta this room unnoticed." She took my silence as agreement and stepped forward to cut the bonds on my ankles. "G'night, Lily," Ruby whispered as she followed her mother out of the room and shut the door.

I didn't sleep for a second that night.

XXXXX

I still had way too many damn questions. After some time to think in the silent room, I started to resent having been so cooperative with them. If I had been more aggressive with them, maybe I would have gotten more answers. But then again, maybe being nice would be just as useful. Besides, they were nice enough last night, but they seemed like the kind of people that could turn very nasty. Maybe I should play it safe.

I looked at the tiny window that was beginning to flood light into the room then glanced at my brother. It had been hours now and he still hadn't woken up, but his breathing was soft and even. It was soothing.

I decided to try to get up. It took a lot of effort before I could finally move. I hurt from the crash, but not moving for six hours straight didn't help either. Eventually, I made my way over to my brother's bed and sat on the edge.

I put my hand on his shoulder and sighed. Lex...what are we going to do? I thought. Say we did escape. We didn't have anybody nearby to contact. The closest family was in Utah, but I didn't know how to contact them. I didn't even know where the hell we were.

Suddenly, Lex inhaled deeply. I gently shook his shoulder. "Lexis? Lex, are you awake?"

"Mmph," was the reply I received. "Oh lord, Lexis, are you okay? Can you talk to me?" I asked frantically. I desperately wanted to hear a familiar voice again. "Li...Lily?" he slowly mumbled.

Tears began to well up. "Yes, Lex, I'm right here." I squeezed his shoulder comfortingly.

"Where are we? Where did they take us?" he asked, panicked, as he winced after trying to move his hand that was covered with gauze, under which were two broken fingers.

'They?' I thought. He sounded like he already knew who our captors were.

"How did you know about them? Were you awake after the crash?"

"Yeah...I saw them take mom and dad..." his voice trailed off.

"What?" I gasped. "What happened? Where did they take them?"

His eyes harbored much fear and pain. "I saw them drag their bodies out of the car, and..." his voice cracked, and I could tell he didn't want to go on, but I had to know. "What did they do with their bodies, Lex? I...I already know that they died. Just please tell me; I can't go on not knowing what happened to them." Lexis nodded.

"They were already gone by the time they were taken out of the car. These...people; they took their bodies...and cut them up." He whispered the last part.

I stared at him, shocked. "Why the hell would they want to hide the bodies? Do you know where they were disposed?"
"Lily...they weren't interested in hiding evidence. They didn't want to dispose of the bodies." I just looked at him blankly, not sure what he was getting at.

"I watched one...he picked up an arm...and started eating it..."
He shuddered and closed his eyes as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

I found myself staring at the wall again.

XXXXX

It was about 1 p.m. before someone knocked on the door.
I jumped. Lex stayed still, not letting go of me. The person on the other side of the door entered after neither of us responded for a while.

It was someone I hadn't seen before. My body tensed at the sight of him. He appeared to be covered in burns and blisters and was wearing a giant neck brace from Hell.

"Mama wanted yeh to know she made san'wiches fer yeh..."
He looked like he was uncomfortable talking to us. Neither myself or my brother responded.

He seemed to have expected this response and nodded. "She...she really wan's yeh to come ou'," he persisted. I looked over to my brother. He looked back at me and nodded. I really didn't want to talk to her, but now knowing what kind of people we were dealing with, I knew we should play along if we wanted to live long enough to at least attempt an escape.

We followed the man out to the hallway and down the stairs. Lex walked between the man and I; I could tell he was trying to be protective of me.
I felt slightly comforted by that.

We found Big Mama sitting at a dining table that had a stack of sandwiches on it. She smiled gently up at us. "Come on in! Eat, ya'll must be starvin'!" She pushed the plate of sandwiches toward our end of the table. The man with the neck brace rolled his eyes and left us with Big Mama.

I grimaced and stared at the floor, trying not to think of what Lexis had told me this morning. Lexis took my hand and held it comfortingly as he stared her down, looking like he was trying to literally pierce her with his stare.

Her smile faded and she quietly said, "I know yeh mus' hate us. If it weren' fer us, yeh'd still hav' yer parents. We may seem barbaric to yeh ou'siders, bu' we still have our fam'ly values. I'd like yeh to think of us as yer fam'ly now, we take good care o' yeh."

My jaw dropped at her suggestion that we willingly stay with them and even call them family. It was disgusting. My brother spoke up before I could spout of some very offensive things that probably would have gotten us killed.

"I thought we were your prisoners. Is this really what you had in mind all along? Kill our parents, so that you could take their place and expect us to accept it?" He had spoken slowly and softly, but his voice was shaking. That could only mean that he was beyond furious.

She sighed, "Ruby ain't like us."

I scoffed, "You mean as in she's actually capable of acting human?"

"I mean she don't like how we live, an'-"

"And you do?" I cut her off, staring at her, dumbfounded.

She averted her gaze momentarily and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"No," she said quietly. "Bu' we do wha' we do to live. Maybe we grown too comfortable wit' tha killings and other things, 'cause we lived like this too long." She seemed to be saying the last part more to herself than us.

"Bu' like I said, Ruby's different. She has a thing fer the ou'siders. She don' like that we kill 'em."

I slowly nodded my head. I could tell from the first time I laid eyes on the brown eyed girl that she was a compassionate person. I honestly kind of liked the kid and wondered if I could trust her enough to let her in on any plan my brother and I could conjure up to escape. Maybe she could help.

Hell, if she didn't like it here all that much, maybe we could even take her with us.

Big Mama continued, "Or I guess she at leas' don' like tha' we usually torture 'em before killin' 'em. She sees no poin' to it. "

"Well of course there isn't any point to it other than for your own sick, sadistic pleasure!" Lexis exploded, his face growing red.

Big Mama almost looked ashamed. There was moment of awkward silence before she decided to speak. "Well," Big Mama sighed, "yer here now. Ruby chose fer Papa to save yeh two to keep her company. Papa's th' man o' the house an' Ruby's his lil' girl. She got him wrapped 'round her lil' finger. Stay wit' her an' Papa'll make sure none o' the others harm yeh."

My brother and I glanced at each other. I asked quietly, "How many of you are there, anyway?" voicing the one question I knew we both had in mind.

Big Mama smiled softly at us. "Well, there's me an Papa Jupiter, bu' yeh can jus' call us Mama an' Papa. Yeh already met Ruby an' Pluto. Cyst was th' one tha' brought yeh downstairs. Big Brain's a couple houses down, Cyst lives wit' him. An' then there are my boys, Lizard an' Goggle. They're ou' a lot. They help take care o' the hunts."

Hunts, I thought. They call them hunts, not murders, like they're just wild game. It made me sick.

"Actually, Goggle's th' one tha' watches fer cars on th' road, spots 'em 'n tells th' rest o' th' clan when they're comin'. When 'e said there were a young boy an' girl in th' car, tha's when Ruby started beggin' Papa to spare yeh two. Lucky, really, tha' Ruby jus' happened to have one o' th' walkie talkies. He brought yeh back quietly. When th' others found ou', though..." She ended it at that and grimaced. I had a feeling the "others" weren't too happy with us being here.

"Course t'night I'll have yeh meet th' whole fam'ly. There are others...in 'nother clan. Yeh run inta any o' them...they will kill yeh on the spot. Or worse..."

I'm not sure if we were supposed to hear that last part, she whispered it so softly. She looked at me sadly when she said it, though.

"So...what do we do, then? Just spend our lives doing whatever Ruby wants us to do?" I asked, annoyed. This whole thing seemed so stupid.

Why bother to spare us like she did? I understand that maybe she saw an opportunity to spare some blood, since she seemed to hate it so much, but it was selfish. I almost wished we had just died. What quality of life is this? To live simply to be a girl's playmates?

"It'd be best if yeh stayed in yer room fer now. Take these san'wiches wit' yeh; no sense in starvin' yerselves while yeh here." Mama stood up and picked up the platter and handed it to us.

I reluctantly took it but stayed where I was. "What...what's in these?" I asked, trying to keep myself from fainting. "Don' worry, hun. They're ham wit' lettuce an' cheese." She gave me a reassuring smile and I nodded, turning to head up the stairs.