A/N: Hey, everyone. I just wanted to say thanks for all the support and kind feedback so far! It means so much to me, and I'm overwhelmed that so many people view and enjoy my work. I've been missing for a while due to some personal life events and I've had to step back from writing and also just most of the LN fandom in general because the dark themes haven't been so great for my mental health. So, I apologise for the hiatus and slow updates but I'm determined to get this story finished!

By the way, now that LN2 has been confirmed as a prequel, people are wondering what that means for my fic but I'm happy to say that news won't negatively affect my plot or anything! I began writing this before I knew LN2 was a prequel, so for this fic I'm continuing to write as if this is the sequel. It'll all make sense as you keep reading! As always, I hope you enjoy :)

Warnings for this chapter: Violence, blunt force injury, moderate blood, implied ptsd.

...oOo...

Chapter 5: Gruesome Journey

Eight

The image of Six's bright yellow raincoat as she ran away from the clutches of the Ferryman was still burned into Eight's brain, even after the back of the truck had been closed and the caged children and Nomes had been plunged into darkness. The truck had roared to life, bumping over the ground as it drove farther and farther away from Six. Their unknown destination drew nearer with each passing minute. Would Six be ok? Bile rose in Eight's throat when she recalled the promise she'd made to Six. Would she really be able to find her again?

The initial commotion after being loaded onto the truck had died down considerably now that they'd been travelling for some time, and many of the children had fallen into resigned silence. Some of them were still weeping quietly, but it seemed like most of them had accepted that there was no use in screaming or yelling or crying. They were caged again, trapped and sealed, just like they'd been for so much of their time on the Maw. Experience told them that there was no escaping. Eight had given up on trying to lock-pick with her pins and needles. She only had a few left, and she didn't want to bend them beyond saving. She straightened out the used pins best she could and secured them carefully back into her ribbon-belt, wringing her hands as she squinted through the darkness.

The cage to Eight's left held two Nomes, crouching fearfully together with their pointy caps pulled down over their bodies. She'd already tried cooing to them softly, telling them they'd be alright, but they hadn't responded much. To her right was a girl with long, scraggly hair. She was sitting down in her cage with her back to Eight. She'd been silent ever since her cage had been placed next to Eight's, but now her hands were fidgeting nervously and she muttered under her breath.

Eight decided to whisper as soothingly as she could to the girl, always quick to comfort the others around her. "Shhh…it'll be ok." She moved to the edge of her cage and reached a gentle hand through the bars towards her.

The girl made no response except a quick glance at Eight. Then she spoke bitterly: "Liar."

Guilt twinged in Eight's gut at this, but she still persisted. "I know you're frightened, but things will be ok. If we stick together -"

"Liar!" The girl rasped more loudly, knocking Eight's hand away. Despite the dark, Eight could feel the ferocity in her glare. The girl's fidgeting hadn't been from nervousness, but from restless anger. "You and that other girl - Six - are working with the Ferryman! You're just pretending to be on our side."

Eight withdrew her hand back into her cage, aghast. "Th-that's not true! How could you think that?!"

"Six is a monster. Look at what she did to some of us! She could've killed us all!"

"She couldn't help it! She'd never hurt any of us! Six saved us!"

"She's going to meet us in the City again and then eat all of us!"

"No! You're wrong!"

Another voice called out, a young boy's. "Eight? Is that you? What's going on?"

"Three?" Eight replied, ignoring the girl she was arguing with.

"Eight...I-I think something's wrong with Twenny. He...he hasn't woken up yet."

Oh no. Eight drew her flashlight out of her ribbon-belt and switched it on. She glared at the scraggly-haired girl for a moment before turning away from her to shine the flashlight around and find Three. He waved at her grimly from a stack of cages above and to her right, then pointed to the cage next to him. Eight pointed her flashlight there and illuminated the unconscious shape of Twenny. The six-year-old had fallen victim to Six's shadows.

"Can you call to him?" she asked Three, her stomach curdling as she looked at the little boy lying so still.

Three reached a hand through his cage and into Twenny's. His fingers only just reached the tips of Twenny's hair, but couldn't do much more to rouse him. Eight watched in panic as he softly called to the boy, but there was no response from him. Three looked back at Eight and shook his head.

At the unfolding scene, the heavy silence started to give way to bubbling anxiety as many children found their voices again. They murmured fearfully, their worry pressing in around Eight as they expressed the same concerns that Three had. Eight shone her flashlight around to see about a dozen more children and Nomes that were laying stone-still in their cages. They hadn't yet woken up after Six's tendrils had lashed out towards them. Would they wake up? Why was it taking this long? Were they slowly dying? Eight's head spun.

"Your monster friend did that to them," the girl next to her remarked, hatred lacing her voice as she stood up. "If it weren't for her, we wouldn't be in this situation."

Eight turned to her, shining the flashlight right into the cage and causing the girl to shield her eyes. "Six is not a monster!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "And if it weren't for her, none of us would be alive right now!"

"We won't be alive for much longer anyway…" The girl folded her arms and stared daggers at Eight before turning away.

Eight sighed. Clearly, there was hardly anything she could say to change this girl's mind about Six. She just had to prove to the rest of the children that she was on their side, and that Six was, too. They'd be ok. They'd gone through so much already. So much horror. They had to be ok! Things couldn't possibly get worse.

"Listen up, everyone!" Eight called. She pointed the flashlight at herself so everyone in the back of the truck could see her. She felt a collective hush as the eyes of the children fell on her...all the conscious ones, anyway.

Eight steeled herself and continued. "I know many of you are scared and confused...and...so am I. But we have to stick together to make sure we're safe. If we do that, there might be a way to get out of wherever we're going."

"Hmph. 'Might be'," the girl beside her scoffed.

Ignoring her, Eight thought of what she'd say next. "You...you've all been so brave, and don't forget that we all got off the Maw together! We're strong, and if we work as a team we can find safety again. I'm sure of it…"

"What about Six?" a voice piped up. "Why did she try to k-kill us?"

Several others chimed in.

"Yeah, why?!"

"Is she turning into a monster?"

"Are the kids she hurt going to die?!"

"She IS a monster!" The girl beside Eight declared loudly, coming to the edge of her cage. She glared fiercely at a flabbergasted Eight before banging her hand against the metal bars. "Listen to me, everyone! Six is an evil monster who wants to eat us all! She's working with the Ferryman and just PRETENDING to be on our side! And this girl -" she pointed a bony finger directly at Eight - "is working WITH HER!"

No words came out of Eight's open mouth. She swallowed and tried to find her voice. "No! That's not true! Six is just sick, that's all. Something is trying to hurt her, but she's strong enough to overcome it. Remember when she got us all off the Maw? She saved everyone from the Prison! Six is good, I promise. She would never hurt anyone, and neither would I!"

The truck lurched to a halt, causing Eight's heart to skip a beat. They'd arrived - arrived at whatever hellish place lay in wait for them. But so soon? They hadn't even been traveling for that long. How could-?

Eight switched off her flashlight and listened. The rest of the children fell silent once more. She heard a door on the vehicle open, then seconds later, the sound of a bolt being unlatched just outside. The doors of the truck's rear swung open and the Ferryman stood before them with his blazing lantern. A breath of chilly night air swept over the children. It was too dark for Eight to make out where they were.

"A noisy bunch, you," the Ferryman said cooly, malice brimming in his voice. "But it's no trouble. I know how to make you quiet down."

Before any of them could react, the Ferryman grabbed the nearest cage in his enormous hand and shook it violently. The child inside screamed and clung to the bars, but the shaking was too relentless for them to hold on. The sound of their body being thrown back and forth against the walls of their cage rung like a dull bell of death. Eight sank down, hunched with her hands over her ears to partially block out the terror. From the horrible sound, she was thrust into a memory of the Janitor shaking Seven's cage in the exact same way until he'd fallen unconscious...so long ago when they'd escaped from the Depths on the Maw. That had been the last time she'd spoken to Seven. And the last time she'd seen him had been shortly after that. When the Lady had killed him.

Once finished, the Ferryman slammed the cage back into the truck with the others, causing a resounding clang. "And let that be a warning to all the rest of you!" he roared.

The back of the truck was slammed shut and the bolt tightly latched again. Eight didn't take her hands off her ears until the truck was rumbling over the ground again. There was still further to travel; they hadn't come to their destination yet. Tears dripped down her cheeks. Other children were crying, too, but in an effort to heed the Ferryman's warning and stay quiet, they were covering their mouths to try and silence their hysterical sobs. When Eight finally switched on her flashlight again, the scraggly-haired girl was glaring at her.

"This is your fault." She hissed the words very quietly, but they were still filled with acid.

Eight seethed but said nothing. Arguing would only lead to further bloodshed, and she needed to direct her energy elsewhere. Words couldn't teach this girl to trust her, but maybe actions could.

Eight wiped her tears away and pointed her flashlight in the direction of the child who had been targeted by the Ferryman. She was a ginger-haired girl in a white shirt and pants, spread-eagled on the floor of her cage. Red welts on her bare arms and legs oozed blood from where the bars had broken the skin, but Eight felt dizzy with relief to see that her chest was still rising and falling with breaths. She was alive. She could be saved.

Eight risked calling out, as softly as she could, to the children around the injured girl's cage: "Hey. Is she awake?"

One boy shook his head in response, mumbling something she couldn't hear.

"What?" Eight whispered. "I can't hear you."

"Her head is bleeding!" The boy said, louder. "It's bad."

Eight fidgeted with the hem of her dress, thinking. Was there a way she could save this girl? She needed a bandage to stop the girl's bleeding, but there were obviously no bandages here. No medical supplies. The only things that could be used were what they had inside the truck.

Her ribbon-belt! Eight could pass it through the bars so it could be used as a bandage for the bleeding girl. Without hesitation she untied the length of ribbon around her waist and removed the few pins and needles that were left in it. With nowhere else to put them, she carefully threaded them directly into her dress. She didn't have anywhere to tuck her flashlight either now that she was giving her belt away, meaning that she would have to simply hold it from now on, but saving the girl was much more important.

Eight held the end of the ribbon out to the scraggly-haired girl. "Here. I need you to pass this along to the cage next to you until it gets to the girl. We can use it as a bandage."

Though Eight couldn't see the girl well, she could tell that she was making a sour expression at her. Without a word, she begrudgingly took the end of the ribbon from Eight and pulled it through the bars into her own cage.

Finally, Eight thought. She's keeping her mouth shut and cooperating with me.

"Now I just need you to pass it along," Eight encouraged. "The quicker, the better."

"I know that," the girl muttered bitterly. Thankfully, she didn't say anything more. It seemed like there was no hostile remark she could make against Eight this time, seeing that she was actually trying to help. She also couldn't yell or make a fuss anymore, after the Ferryman's warning.

Eight watched as the ribbon made its way out of the girl's cage and into the next one. She guided the kids with her flashlight as they passed the ribbon all the way along until it reached the boy whose cage was right next to the injured girl's. He scrunched the silky ribbon in his hands, looking to Eight for direction.

"I need you to bandage her head as best you can!" Eight half-yelled, trying to keep her voice low enough to not be detected by the Ferryman, yet also loud enough that the boy could hear her. "If you can reach her, pull her towards you and tie the ribbon around her head to stop the bleeding, ok?"

The boy nodded and did as Eight instructed, reaching his arms through to the unconscious girl's cage and grabbing her wrist. He pulled her closer as carefully as he could, then when he had a better grasp on her, slipped his hands to her underarms and lifted her into a sitting position so she was resting against the cage bars. He worked with the aid of Eight's flashlight, wrapping the ribbon around the girl's head and securing it with a knot. Once finished, he laid the girl down again and knelt beside her.

"Will she be ok?" he half-yelled back to Eight.

"I can't say for certain," she admitted, "but you did a good job. Most of the bleeding should be stopped now."

The kids lapsed into silence again and Eight switched off her flashlight, sitting down on the floor of her cage and listening to the rhythm of the truck's engine. The wheels bumped over uneven ground, jostling her about, and Eight wondered what happened to fragile young kids like her when they reached the City. She felt like there was nothing more she could say or do in preparation for their arrival. Almost all her mental energy had been spent, but she'd done her best. She'd tried to reassure the kids and help the injured girl who she prayed would wake up. She prayed that the kids who Six had attacked would also wake up. The only thing she could do now was conserve her remaining energy and wait. She'd have to be ready again when the truck came to a final stop.

...oOo...

The final stop arrived far too soon.

Eight felt the truck gradually slowing down, then coming to a halt altogether. Soon after, the back of the truck was unlatched and the doors swung wide open. The Ferryman was standing there again, flanked by the same monstrous creatures who had loaded the cages into the truck. They were grownups, but something horrific had happened to them. Their faces were swollen and melted, without any eyes or mouths or any of the normal features that made up a face. They moved with jerky, shuddering actions and made sounds like clicking, crackling TV static. Eight averted her eyes from them again, the same as when they'd loaded her cage onto the truck before. They were awful to look at, especially in the ghastly yellow light of the Ferryman's lantern.

"Welcome to the Hospital, little ones," the Ferryman drawled with that puckered, all-too-familiar smile. "The Doctor will see you now."