A/N: Warning: This story will contain graphic depictions of violence, mature language, abuse and lemons in later chapters.
Chapter Twenty-Two
-Oh, No-
My eyes dove straight into the echoing chambers of the two heavy cylinders blocking my vision.
Everything stopped as my world faded away to focus on the finger trembling on a trigger, the cold metal so close it was leeching warmth from my skin. My breath was coming in short huffs as my breath spasmed between myself and my captor.
I think Masen was saying something. I think maybe I was making some sort of sound as I felt his voice rising in intensity at whoever held that weapon at my head. The roar behind my ears dulled to a thrum as I tore my eyes up, my lips parted, as I met the gaze of the woman on the other end.
Her lips were moving, but I still couldn't hear sound.
Her eyes flickered with wild fear as she moved from my face to Masen's. She was older then me I think, maybe in her mid thirties, and her face wore the pain of the abandoned town in her skin. Her gray bloodshot eyes were wide, red rimmed and twitching slightly from the effort of refraining from blinking. The skin around them, wrinkled and stretched unnaturally framed a pair of too thin lips, curled in a threatening snarl over yellow teeth. Spittle gathered at the corners of her mouth and when Masen, who I think was yelling now, touched my arm, she sprayed saliva as she hissed with furious breaths.
The push of the gun against me made me wobble backwards, and I reached out for Masen, the momentary loss of gravity enough to whirl my senses back into action.
Oh, yes. They were screaming.
"Why does it not respond then?!" The woman sneered at Masen, her too thin arms clearly shaking from the effort of holding the gun upright for so long. She wore only a yellow sundress. Once, it may have been a sunny yellow, but now grime and...dear god was that blood…had dried into a horrible array of sickening mustard browns. Her boney chest heaved as she took a step forward, towards my retreating form.
Masen was growling, vibrating from rage and terror as his emerald eyes became heated with fury.
"She's fucking scared, put down the gun or I'll-"
That wan finger threatened to twitch. Just a breath, but enough that soon the head on my shoulders would be nothing but red mist if she was pushed too far.
"Doe!" I gasped, my whole body shaking as I found the ability to speak. "I'm, my name is…Doe!" I panted, looking now at Masen who was also trembling from the effort of not pulling me into his arms and possibly spooking the unhinged woman.
"Doe is not a name." She hissed at me. Her eyes narrowed. "I will not be tricked again. You think I am stupid? I am not. We will kill-"
"Bella! My…" Pain seared through my chest at the name. "I go by Doe." I side-stepped towards Masen, and the gun followed me. I felt for his hand and he gripped it immediately.
The woman's suspicious eyes narrowed. "You are alive. How?"
I didn't know what to say. How to say my story with it sounding in any way reasonable or plausible. I searched for words, my head spinning…
"We got caught in the storm months ago. We found an old cabin by Goose Lake and have been holed up there for months. We…ran out of food and only now were able to find this place. We are looking for help." Masen's voice was still shaken, and he pulled me further to him, shielding me from the gun now with his own chest. The chest that only this morning I had kissed and licked as he had made me gasp his name and clutch with feverish desire.
"We don't get visitors." The woman's voice lowered to a deadly low whisper, her head cocked unnaturally.
Masen nodded and I wrapped my arms around his middle as I hid my face in his back. I was with him. I would not run. "We aren't visiting. We were on our way to scatter the ashes of our friend when the storm hit. Please…we aren't here to hurt you." The tenor of his plea attempting to soothe. I recognized the tone, as well as the manicured half truths we were spinning to her.
It was quiet for a moment, then the gun slowly lowered, pointing towards Masen's feet. I felt the smallest tremor of relief run through him but he did not waver. Did not lose guard.
"You are an outsider." She whispered.
He nodded, and for the first time the stench of what stood before us hit my nose. Rancid, rotting meat and decay wafted from our new acquaintance. Her dress exposing her left breast in a gruesome tear.
"W-Whats your name?" Masen either didn't smell what I did, or was supremely better at hiding his reaction than I.
The woman's eyes closed briefly, her sunken in features relaxing for a moment as the girl she once was sought to name herself. Her eyes reopened as her chin tilted to the side. "Jessica." She murmured, almost to herself. The gun now hanging limply from her right hand, dragging against the floor. "I…don't remember my last name." She sounded far away, her voice lilting sadly.
The mood shift caught me off guard and I shifted under Masen's arm to get a better look as the gun's barrel flopped to the ground, dangling in her grasp.
She had lost her mind.
This was clear. Her wild gray eyes now staring straight into the white of the sky with unblinking singularity, pupils unmoving. They glazed over and her once pretty face smoothed slightly.
"Jessica. Please. Let's go inside and talk, okay? Just… let us help you." Masen took a tentative step forward, still shielding me with his body.
Jessica's eyes flitted back to us with sagging shoulders, as if the adrenaline had fully drained from her body. The shotgun dragged against the wooden porch as she glanced behind her, then back to us. I moved my palm to the base of his back as I felt him move us forward, towards her.
"There is no help…no one is coming." Her vacant expression shifted as her limp blonde hair fell across her sinewy chest. "You shouldn't be here."
Her whisper entertwined with the frosted air and I felt the cold settle in my bones. Masen remained unwavering.
"Are you alone?"
She picked at her teeth absently, something brown unwedged in her nails and she flicked it to the side. "I am now." Her eyes cut into his. "Did you bring food? There's nothing else, you know. They took it all. It's rotting in their trunks…all wasted." Her voice sounded sad, but her eyes, jesus…those haunting eyes…
The muck on her dress shifted with her as she turned back towards the door. I could see the skin on exposed arms pebbling from the cold, but she seemed indifferent if not completely unaware of the freezing temperatures. She looked over her shoulder at us as she waited for Masen's response.
He nodded slowly. I recognized that look, that assessing gaze.
She nodded and pushed open the door once more, darkness blooming in front of her. "Why are you here?" She hissed once more, the sound grating against my spine.
Masen watched her for a moment, his brow lowered as he murmured softly, "We are looking for a radio. A flare…something to alert the police that there are people who still live in this town. Let me come inside-"
She laughed lowly, joyless and empty. Her bones seemed to rattle with each exhalation as she turned, giving us her profile as she tossed the gun somewhere inside with a dull thump. "No one is alive…don't you see?" Her brows furrowed and a tear dripped out one dull eye, landing on her dress, blending in with the gore dripping down her exposed breast. "There is nothing out there… nothing but death…and hunger. If you were smart you would end your suffering now. We are top afraid…"
Masen remained unwavered even as my stomach clenched in fear. Reaching into his pocket he grabbed a packet of peanuts, stolen from the lobby of the clinic. He held it out to her, an offering. "Here, take this. Let me come inside and make sure you're safe, look around. Then we can talk, okay?"
Me. He kept saying me.
"Masen…" I whispered at his shoulder. He couldn't seriously be considering leaving me here while he exposed himself to that unhinged woman.
He didn't take his eyes off Jessica, but let out a small breath at my voice. "It'll be alright." He breathed. I shook my head but he ignored me as Jessica stepped into the darkness behind the door, beckoning him inside, her eyes glowing in the blackness as her gaze fixed on the food laying outstretched in his palm.
"Masen, no. Please, listen to me. Let's just go home. Please…" Don't leave me, don't leave…
He turned to me now, finally giving Jessica his back as his eyes met mine. I gripped his soft leather lapels, willing him back to Leah. He took my jaw in his hands, tilting my head to his as he kissed me briefly but firmly.
"I can't just leave her little bird. She's starving." I shook my head again but he placed a finger on my lips. "I'll be careful. I'll look around and come back. In and out in five minutes."
A voice whispered behind him from the door, but I could not understand it.
His head turned to look at Jessica and nodded before facing me as he took a step away. "Get on Leah, be ready to leave when I come out. Trust me."
"Let me come with you. Please!" Desperation lined my voice. I can't lose you, you don't understand how much you mean to me. Let me help. Let me do something.
With that, he turned and walked away from me.
He will die, he will die.
I took a step forward, my eyes burning as his voice echoed in my head. Trust him. Trust him. Trust him.
I watched the love of my life disappear into the police station, the door hanging open, taunting me as he was enveloped by darkness.
Masen
I felt Doe's eyes behind me as I entered, felt the weight of her gaze on my back as I turned away from her. I had begged her to understand, willed her too.
Aiming that weapon at Doe had been unforgivable. Threatening her, risking her life…that was not a sin I could forget. But I recognized the signs of starvation…of illness. Knew that if we left this broken woman to her own devices…she wouldn't last much longer.
It was clear whatever illness had plagued the town she was also afflicted with. The paranoia, the voices It seemed she whispered too… She was unwell. And she needed help.
I may not have much honor left, choosing to flee into Doe's arms rather than face the music in DC, but I made a vow the day I had joined the Marines. The core value was hammered into me until it sang in my blood.
Semper fidelis.
Always faithful.
To those who could not fight. To our country, as flawed and horrid as it could be. And to my beliefs.
I knew somewhere in this building…something had to help us. Had to be waiting in a locked drawer or in a cabinet. And that possibility, combined with the clear distress of a helpless victim of disease…
Fuck. This was reckless. This was idiotic but I had to-
A horrid warm puff of air warmed against my neck. I hadn't heard her close the door behind me, and I felt her presence at my back, closer now.
I turned slowly when she did not speak, her pale eyes almost glowing in the darkness as they stared unblinkingly at my palm, where the packet of peanuts lay. It felt almost comical the way she stared at it, her pale skeletal hand reaching for it with an intensity that thickened the air.
I held it out to her, and she let out a low whimper as her fingers made contact.
"You…must be very hungry. How long has it been since you last ate?" I tried to murmur softly as she reverently tore open the packaging and inhaled deeply.
"I think…maybe last week…." She muttered as she popped the first peanut in her mouth and let out a little moan.
The lobby behind her, a black semi circle wooden desk bordering a small waiting room, was facing an now empty water cooler and abandoned set of leather seating chairs. We stood beside the desk, small cubicles to our backs, followed by a hallway leading into further darkness. It was utterly still. Picked entirely clean and spotless, a harrowing contrast to its only inhabitant.
I took a step towards the desk, shuffling through the drawers as gently as I could, careful not to spook her as she ate. "How did you end up here? Were you looking for help?" I closed the last drawer, finding a set of keys and pocketing them.
"I…" She chewed as she watched me search. "I was looking for my husband. Everyone started leaving, and he said that we needed to go with them… but I couldn't leave the children…" The melancholy in her whisper was heady.
I paused, straightening. "You have children? Are they here?" My eyes scanned my surroundings, searching for any sign of them. But everything was in perfect order. Strange, I thought. That the department would leave their space so orderly during what must've been an emergency. Never to return.
She paused, a peanut resting on her pale pink tongue. Those hollow eyes went distant for a moment, then her gaze snapped to the left, towards the now closed door. As if she heard a voice call out to her.
"Jessica?" I whispered, taking a step forward.
She hunched, and her spine arched in an animalistic bow as her upper lip curled upwards to me.
I took a step back, hands raised and her shuddering subsided till her attention moved back to her prize and she shoved it into her throat, plastic and all.
I let out a breath, and quickly took in the office.
Radio, now. Fuck everything else.
I backed into the hallway, never taking my eyes off the disfigured woman until I reached the first door. Locked doors, a few labeled, a few not. Hearing steps towards the cubicles, I knew I just didn't have time to linger and try them all.
The last door to the right, labeled for the basement, was mirrored by the only door with a windowed insert, looking into a dark office. The words, 'CHIEF BLACKWELL' were pantied below the brassknob and I tried for the handle. Locked. I scrambled for the keys, footsteps coming closer as I could hear heavy breathing at the end of the hall.
"So….hungry…" She moaned, her teeth glinting in the low light. Saliva pooled down her jaw. "No, don't…..yes….yes. He's mine. I'll share…" Jessica's voice was hollow as she argued with herself, her throat hoarse.
I tried one key, no. The second, no. The third…
A low hiss behind me as I pushed the fourth key into the keyhole. I could smell that rotten putrid breath on my neck as my heart nearly gave out upon hearing the small click the lock made in submission to the key, and I barreled through, slamming the door behind me as I pressed against it with my back.
A scream, a horrible, aching desperate scream keeled from Jessica as she lunged again, and again at the door.
"DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE US TO DIE!" Her voice echoed through the hall as I heard bones snap in her arm as she heaved against the door again and again.
My eyes scanned the room, my breath leaving my lungs fast and wild as I searched for anything that might help me. The heavy steel desk sat too far away, and the various mounted trout and bass on the walls seemed spectators to my current fight for life.
My eyes roamed the bookcases, the filing cabinets, till they landed on it. A small briefcase, labeled in white stick-on letters, "Satellite Phone."
The moment those words registered in my brain I felt the glass shatter at my back, and a cold frail hand grasp my hair in a vice grip as teeth met my shoulder with a horrible wet spray of blood.
Doe
I sat atop Leah, my hands white knuckling the reins as I watched that closed door. The silence ate at me, and my ears almost ached from straining to hear something. Anything.
I hated this. I fucking hated this waiting. We were a team. I should be there with him. Leah huffed underneath me and I patted her warm neck, my eyes flickering to hers. "It's alright, it's…"
I stopped. Froze, more like it.
I smelled smoke.
My eyes snapped up to the Police Station, scanning for signs of fire, finding nothing. I looked upwards to the sky, searching. That's when I saw, just behind the horizon line, beyond the trees, a column of thick heavy black smoke. Obsidian twisting into the ivory blanket of clouds.
My heart stopped and my stomach fell to my feet.
We had come from that direction. The church lay beyond those trees.
"MASEN!"
A/N: Please don't kill me.
Also, please check out my new fic I'm also updating. "Burn The Witch." Think Dracula vibes.
This story has two main points of inspiration. The first is "The Long Dark" by Hinterland Studios. There are some elements of this story I am borrowing, but the premise is mine alone. This is a gorgeous, gripping and enchanting game. I highly recommend you play it.
The second is "Washed Up" By xrxdanixrx. I loved this story and the idea of amnesia came from reading. I encourage you all to read this wonderful story.
Stephanie Meyer is the sole owner of the Twilight Franchise, and she owns all related characters you may see here. This is merely a fanfiction of her work.
