Chapter 12 – Phase II

"OW! That stings!" A 15-year-old Ruth had exclaimed. "Come on! Can't you be a little easier, huh?!" Her southern accent had started to fade a little and she had gained a tiny bit of British to it.

"Stop squirming! You're only going to make it worse!" a 19-year-old Gouge had retorted while he put rubbing alcohol on a scrape. Ruth relaxed a little as the two just sat on the cold concrete floor. She looked around at the bland room. She only had a matt with a few blankets as her bed and a bucket for her bathroom needs but at least Gouge was nice enough to bring her a bunch of toilet paper. Why, she even had a bar of soap and a bucket of water to wash herself with. It had been 4 years since she had last seen the outdoors, the sun, and her family. At times this bothered her eminently but she had gotten use to the fact that this was just her new life. The beating had ceased for about a month but she made Alex mad when asked if she could just go outside for 5 minutes to see how the world was. She promised she wouldn't run off, she wouldn't even speak, she just wanted to breathe fresh air…but this angered Alex so he had pushed her, which led to her scraped knee. She hadn't even seen Alex in a while when she asked this, Gouge and their new friend Ned had been there most of the time. It was like they were taking shifts; Ned wasn't near as nice as Gouge. He was just a fat, annoying bloke who wouldn't stop talking about things she didn't understand. Mentioned something about a song called "Dirty Harry" and all she thought about was that Clint Eastwood movie. "There." Gouge said as he got finished. "You're all bandaged up, good as new, eh?" He smiled at her.

"Yea…like new…" She said doubtful. She looked up and down her body, full of scars and scabs from the last four years. Gouge looked at his clock.

"Well, in a couple hours Ned should be here so what you want to talk about?"

"Take me outside Gouge." Ruth stated firmly.

"Wha…What?" He was taken aback by this. "Ruth, you know the rules."

"Screw the rules, Gouge! You know just as well as I do I'm going to die here! I'm going to die by Alex's hands one day without ever getting to see the sun, the snow, the rain, the grass! Just let me take a look!"

"…Ruth…I…" She scoffed.

"I can't believe you! Why are you so nice to me, huh?! You act like you care but obviously you don't! Look at what I'm living in! Every day you get to go home to your warm bed and your parents but I have to stay down here in this cold, dark, clammy, basement thing! Why don't you help me!? WHY?!"

"Ruth, I try! I really do! I'm always asking him to let you go, but he threatens to kill me!"

"But you're not dead." She said sternly and with tears running down her face. Gouge sighed. "I'm not asking you to help me escape or to go tell my family I'm alive, I'm just asking for you to let me outside for 5 minutes." He stood up and looked around the room then, pacing and rubbing the back of his neck. "Every day I live in this hell, every day I regret disobeying my father! Every day I ask myself, why am I here?! Why does he do this to me!?" She paused. "Why did he call me mommy?" Gouge looked at her.

"What?"

"He stopped a month ago, he just calls me Ruth now…but why did he call me mommy when he would beat me? Why would he always make you watch?" Ruth stared into Gouges eyes…he said nothing. "WHY GOUGE?!"

"Because I…never helped him when his mother beat him…" Ruth raised an eyebrow. "I didn't even know she did and I would go to his house, everything seemed fine when I was over but when I left, he would get beat…and he blames me leaving for him getting beat."

"So why does that involve me?" Gouge shrugged.

"He thinks you look like his mom, I mean you all have the same hair and eye color but…that's it." It was quiet for a really long time; Gouge looked at his watch again then sighed. "Let's go, Ruth." She looked at him.

"Go where?"

"I'm going to get you out of here." Ruth smiled with joy.

"Are you for real?!" Gouge grabbed her hand.

"Come on before it's too late!" They ran to the top floor and Gouge pushed her out the door, Ruth squinted from the bright sunlight. The only light she had for the past four years were a couple of lightbulbs. "Run! Go!" Ruth looked around.

"What do I do?!"

"What do you mean!?"

"I never thought I would get this far! What do I do?!"

"I don't know, go run off somewhere! But don't cause a scene near here! You'll get me killed!" Ruth nodded then ran down the street. She felt the hard sidewalk beneath her feet; she forgot that she doesn't have shoes anymore. She outgrew the ones she had, she looked around at all the people busy walking in and out of stores, and this was way different then from 4 years ago. When she had first come there, it was just that abandoned place and a couple other building, now they had put in a shopping center and a few more motels and redone the roads. Everything was a shock to her; she started to hyperventilate when she fell back against a glass window. She spooked and turned around to see a square CD case with four distinct heads on it. The title read "Demon Days." Music blared from the building; she knew who it was…Gorillaz. She slowly walked inside the store and listened to the song, it echoed through her head, "I need a gun, to keep myself from harm, and poor people are burning in the sun." It kept repeating over and over as she walked to the display case and took the "Demon Days" album.

"HEY!" A man from the counter yelled. Ruth turned around to face him. "That's for display only, if you want a copy, you have to go over there." He pointed to an aisle. Ruth looked to right to see where he was pointing. The man looked her up and down. "You are going to BUY one right?" He said cautiously. Buy? She didn't have any money to buy anything but she put the display down and walked over to the aisle so she wouldn't look weird, she then shook her head, wait…she wanted to look weird! She had to tell people that she had been missing! "Hey kid…are you alright?" He asked concerned, she didn't know what to do or say. It'd been so long since she thought for herself and didn't have anyone help her or tell her what to do that she stood there in silence and shock. She had to say something though, anything!

"I…"

"I'll buy this for her." Ruth tensed up as the familiar voice came from behind her. She slowly turned around and looked up to see Alex standing over her. He grabbed a copy of the Gorillaz CD and took her hand, walking her to the counter. "Please excuse her, she's my friend and she's a bit shy." He put the CD on the counter and pulled out his wallet. "Isn't that right?" She looked him dead in the eyes, now was her moment, she could say anything, she could scream, run, do anything and she could be free!

"Yea…" She said softly…fear had overcome her and she let her shoulders sink. Alex bought the CD and walked her out of the storm, back down the street and to the building she had so desperately wanted away from. She took a double take though because even the outside of the building looked different, it was still a little run down but had an incomplete sign on it that read "Motel." "Ned thinks it is a good idea to put that up there for a cover, don't you think it is?" Alex asked. Ruth was still silent. Alex grinned and walked her into the building and back down the basement, he was still grinning for some reason. Ruth thought he would be furious. "GOUGE!" He yelled. Gouge came out of Ruth's room with bruises all over him screaming,

"She did this to me and ran away! She got…" He stopped when he saw her with Alex. Alex laughed.

"Oh really, she gave you those bruises Gouge?" He nodded hesitantly. Alex turned to Ruth, "Well…did you?" Ruth stared at Gouge then back at Alex.

"I did." She said sternly. Gouges eyes widened as Alex laughed.

"Well! And to think I thought you were the big tough guy, Gouge! That's alright though; I'll just have to get more help to keep you down here, huh?" It was dead quiet except for Alex's deranged laugh.

"Well…I guess I'll take her back to her room then?" Gouge said.

"Actually, I'll take her, you can leave Gouge. I think I'm going to stay with her tonight."

"L…leave?" Alex glared at him.

"I didn't stutter…get out." Gouge slowly walked away and left. Alex took her to the room and closed the door. He smiled at her as he pushed her down onto the matt. "You gave us quite a scare, almost got away." He smiled. "But you don't want to leave me…no…I would miss you too much." He slid the back of his finger down her face.

"What…what are you doing?" Ruth asked scared. Alex looked her up and down as he began to peel off her shirt. He held her down by her wrists as she started to breathe heavily.

"You've really grown since we first met, my Ruth." He kissed her cheek seductively. "15, am I right? Perfect age for bearing children." Ruth stared at him with horror. "We'll be great parents to our baby, won't ever lay a hand on him, we'll treat him right."

"Please…I'm sorry…"

"Sssh, shh." He put his finger over her mouth. "We love each other, don't we Ruth?"

Present Day…

"Please Dad, I'm sorry!" James exclaimed, crying and kicking. "I won't help anyone ever again! DAD!"

"Shut your mouth boy!" Alex said as he slapped him. James whined next to 2D and Ruth. Alex started to sharpen Mr. Martin's knife. "Now, pop singer, since these incompetent fools can't get you to stop asking questions, I suppose I will." He put the knife next to 2D's neck and laughed. "Ahhh, not yet." He took it away and played with it. "No, I guess I'll first answer all your questions before I kill you. I guess I can do that."

"You mean, what you did to Ruth you sick bastard!" Alex laughed at that.

"Yes, what I did to her…"