Author's Notes: This is easily the darkest story I've ever written... in fact, I've never written ANYTHING this dark before. There be violence, child abuse, and death. You have been warned. There will be six chapters, all of which are finished at this point; I will be uploading them over the next week or so as I finish proofreading and editing them.
"Ignorance of the law ain't no excuse for breaking it. That goes double for the law of the land... and this just so happens to be our land, boy."
When David first woke, it took a while for it to register in his mind that he was not in his own bed. The smell of straw and manure was the first thing to give it away.
He couldn't remember much. He'd been exploring outside the wall with Hilda and Frida. Hilda had taken them to see the ruins of their old house, and then deeper into the mountains to see what they could find. At some point, David recalled being separated from the two girls, wandering the woods aimlessly in search of them when the ground seemed to fall out from under him; he'd take a wrong step off the side of a steep hill, and fell for what seemed like an eternity before blacking out.
David finally opened his eyes and sat up, his head throbbing as he took in his surroundings. He was in a dilapidated barn that looked as though it'd been converted into a shed; the doors were bolted shut and the windows boarded up, and the floor was cluttered with old furniture, cardboard boxes, large trunks, and what looked like the stripped remains of an old motorcycle.
David's bed was little more than a bale of hay with a straw pillow and moth-eaten blanket thrown on top. David tried to move; that's when he heard the clatter of metal and something cold and heavy affixed to his ankle.
David threw off the blanket and saw that a length of rusted iron chain was cuffed to his leg, snaking across the floor and up the wall by his makeshift bed, where the other end was secured to a peg on the barn wall.
Oh, cruddlesticks, David thought as he began to panic, his heart hammering against his ribcage. His mind was already running through a dozen horrific scenarios as it tried to comprehend what sort of person would chain him to the wall.
David got his answer when he made a move towards the barn's side door- and realized that he was not alone.
Sitting in a chair across from was a freckle-faced, sandy-haired boy about the same age as him... but a lot worse for wear. His left eye was hidden beneath a large black eyepatch, and his right eye was dark grey. David could see scars across his forehead and right cheek, and a large burn on the right side of his neck that seemed to run down to his shoulder and across his chest. He was dressed in a threadbare fleece-lined bomber jacket, a black sweater, dark grey jeans and brown work boots.
What David found most intimidating about this boy was not his appearance though, but rather the wood-furnished bolt-action rifle cradled in his hands. That the boy had him fixed with a menacing glare through his one good eye did little to help David's nerves.
David's mind wrestled with these circumstances, trying to figure out what to do. The shackle on his ankle meant that he couldn't run, and David was too terrified to scream or even say anything, for fear of antagonizing his host.
David nearly jumped out his skin when the barn's side door crashed open, and two men strode in. One man, the younger of the two, looked to be the boy's father; his eyes were steel grey like his son's, though his hair was darker. His gaunt face was hidden beneath a short beard and mustache, and he wore dirty coveralls and high boots, with tangles of greasy, dark hair hanging from a red plaid mud-flap hat.
He too had a rifle; though his looked more like an infantry rifle, with pistol grip, carry handle, and a detachable magazine.
The old man was unarmed, and seemed to have jumped out of bed in a hurry, with a long coat pulled over his pajamas and the laces on his boots untied. He was bald on the top his head, with dirty grey hair that felt down to his neck, and as he grinned at David in a way that sent a shiver down his spine, David saw that he was missing all but a few of his teeth.
"Well now... what do we have here?" Said the man in a low, rough voice, before turning to his son.
"When did he wake up?" He asked.
"Just now," the boy replied. "Right before y'all came in."
"W-what's going on here...?" David asked tentatively. "Who are you people?"
The younger man fixed David with a stone-cold glare that made him feel as though he were looking into the eyes of a troll.
"Budge up there, Billy-Boy," said the man. His son- Billy-Boy- got up from his seat, which his father picked up and flipped around, placing it in front of David before taking his seat.
"William Abbot, Senior" he said curtly. "Most folks 'round these parts just call me Bill. That there's my papa, and my son, William Jr. I call him Billy-Boy, but you are not permitted to call him that. You will address me as 'Mr. Abbot' or 'Sir', is that clear?"
David nodded meekly.
"As to what you're doing here, I found you at the edge of my property, out cold," said Mr. Abbot. "You've slept through most of the day; we was wonderin' if you was ever gonna wake up."
"Um... I'd thank you for helping me, but; why am I chained to the wall and why is your son pointing a gun at me!?" David asked.
"Straight to the point," Bill remarked. "I like that... well, for one thing we have no idea who you are. I mean, you ain't even told us your name yet, now have you?"
"Oh. I-I'm David," David replied.
"Well then, David," said Bill. "I'm what you'd call a 'cautious man'. I couldn't take a chance at you runnin' off as soon as you woke up, now."
"Then could you please unchain me?" David pleaded. He knew before he even asked what the answer would be.
"'Fraid not," said Bill. "Which brings me to the other reason why I put that chain on you, an' kept you under guard..."
"See, the thing is, I found you on my property," Bill elaborated. "Which means you were trespassin'."
"I got lost!" David defended, attempting to use reason and logic against a man who understood neither.
"Ignorance of the law ain't no excuse for breakin' it," said Bill. "That goes double for the law of the land... and this just so happens to be our land, boy."
"I'm really sorry, just- please," David pleaded. "I didn't mean to trespass, and I'm really sorry to inconvenience you... but could you please let me go? I need to get home!"
""I understand... an' I am deeply sorry for all this," Bill told him mockingly, not sounding the least bit sorry. "But the way I see it, not only were you trespassing on my property, but the only way you're getting home is if I get my truck and take you there."
"Now that'd be askin' a great deal from me, givin' your transgressions," Bill went on. "So if you were to ask me to forgive, and to get y'all home safe an' sound... well, I'd be expectin' fair payment."
"My parents would be more than happy to-"
"Doesn't work like that," Bill interrupted. "I should've said I expect payment up front... and in these parts, neither cash nor coin ain't worth nothin'."
"Meat, furs, crops, cattle, lumber, guns, bullets..." Bill listed off. "Now I doubt a little lost boy such a yourself could provide any of those things. Which means that the only form of payment you can offer that I would be willin' to accept is labor."
"Labor?" David echoed.
"That's right," Bill affirmed. "Come sun-up, I expect you to be out there in the field, workin' the land with me an' my boy. Seein' as it's a days journey to and from Trolberg- which is where I assume you to be from- coupled with the fact that I caught you trespassin', it'll be difficult to determine how long I'd have to work ya' before I take you home."
"But... if it's a days journey," David supplied. "Wouldn't a days labor be enough? That seems like a fair exchange."
Suddenly David was on the floor, his ears ringing and his head throbbing from the swift left-hook that Bill had struck him with. Billy-Boy and the old man sniggered behind Bill's back, and when David looked up, he could see Bill towering over him with his fist clenched, his face red with fury, and his chest heaving.
"Think y'all are gonna be smart with me!?" Bill spat. "I will decide what qualifies as 'fair exchange', and I'm tellin' you right now that one days labor ain't gonna cut it... especially if you're gonna crack wise at me!"
"I didn't mean to-" But David was cut off yet again as Bill kicked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. The next thing he knew, Bill had picked him up by the scruff of his neck and tossed him back onto his makeshift bed.
"You'd best sleep it off, runt," Bill told him. "Gonna be a long day tomorrow..."
"Papa, you take watch for the night," Bill told his father. "Billy-Boy, you come back to the house with me and get some sleep."
"Speaking of which," said Bill, directing his attention towards his father. "Don't you be fallin' asleep while you're on watch again. You've slept all day, old man; and I'm not asking much of you."
"Don't worry," the Old Man assured him. "I'll make sure he stays on his best behavior."
The father and son left the barn, slamming the door behind them. David, who'd been clutching his stomach in agony after Bill's attack, mustered the strength to pull the moth-eaten blanket back over his dirty, beaten body. He would've taken off his sneakers, but it was freezing in the barn, and the blanket did little to ward off the cold.
The Old Man leered at him from his seat across the barn, having taken up his grandson's rifle.
As David tried to get comfortable, he noticed for the first time that there was someone else in the barn besides him and the Old Man; a second makeshift bed was tucked away in the corner. Like David's it was just a bale of hay with a moldy old blanket and a straw pillow. David hadn't been able to make it out before amid the clutter in the barn, but now he could just barely make out a sleeping figure no bigger than him huddled under the blankets.
"Who's that?" David asked no one in particular.
"Never you mind," said the Old Man. "Like my boy said, you'd best get some rest... gonna be a long day tomorrow, and you're gonna need it."
Achievement Unlocked (50G) - Lost and Found
-Met William Abbot Sr.
Author's Notes: That little "achievement" at the end is just a little something I'm doing for fun in this fic... at the end of each chapter, David will earn multiple achievements based on the trials he faces throughout the story. There are 15 in total. Think he can get 'em all? Stick around and find out. Feel free to leave a review, I appreciate feedback and constructive criticism.