Chapter Twelve
***Warning! Mature content ahead. Sexual abuse and violence.
The Full Metal Alchemist had always been irritable, but this seemed ridiculous. The teenage shrimp had the gall to be yelling at the Police Captain, as if he had some kind of authority over the seasoned man. To be honest, it was a frightening display and while the detectives were curious, they were also careful to keep a safe distance between the enraged alchemist and themselves.
"How can there be no new leads?!" The infuriated blonde teenager railed at the elder police chief. "You have a tire pattern! You know the man is using chloroform! How have your men not made any progress?!"
"Edward…" The older man tried to soothe, looking concerned.
"Brother…" Al said half-heartedly. The lack of progress was equally as frustrating to the younger brother but causing such a scene surely wasn't helping matters.
"Why aren't your men canvassing the streets and checking more places for matching vehicle descriptions?!" Edward continued to rage without heed to either of the other two's attempts at calming.
"I have my men out as we speak, investigating places of business and asking people if they've seen anything unusual." The captain tried to explain.
"Your men are incompetent!" Ed snarled. "Al and I are going back out there. If you find anything and I mean anything, you send someone to find us." With that, the furious teenager stormed from the captain's office and the detectives still in the building scrambled to stay clear of his path and pretend they hadn't been blatantly eavesdropping.
Exhausted and incredibly painful, Winry had managed to loosen two more welds from the corner of her chain link fence before the repetitive motion became too painful to keep up, no matter how determined she was to escape. She curled into a small ball, gasping from pain, but still felling the need to do something and not just sit idle and wallow in self-pity and horror. She turned her attention back to her left ankle encased in a thick manacle. Her fingertips were already raw and bleeding with no progress being made. She turned her intentions to just tugging it against her ankle, chaffing the pale skin until it was rubbed raw and became incredibly painful.
The burning in her throat was eased as she dunked her bandana in the puddle and sucked the water from the material. At least she wouldn't die of dehydration. What she would die of… well, she'd rather not dwell on the possibilities.
The dogs above picked up their barking, an early alert system that their tormentor was nearby. Winry painfully sat up, fingering the zipper on her coveralls, and making sure it was zipped all the way up. There were a few tears in the jumpsuit, but it covered her far better than her small tube top beneath. The lumbering footsteps on the stairs made Winry's heart race in fear. She tried to sit placidly in her cell, not trying to draw attention to herself but also refusing to give up all hope as she sat stiffly.
Once the man reached the bottom of the stairs, he swung his gaze towards her and he glared, hand subconsciously cupping his groin. "Looks like you still haven't learned your lesson, have you, you fucking bitch?"
Winry tried not to flinch under the harsh tones and his quick strides to the lock on her door. The man scowled at her as he fit the key in the lock. "You nearly busted my nuts with that little chain trick." He said, pointedly looking at the chain gripped in Winry's left hand. "I think I should bust something of yours, so you don't try that shit again." He snarled, flinging open the door. Winry tried to shuffle back, slowed by the pain, and her attacker lunged forward and grasped her slender neck in a large, calloused fist and squeezed mercilessly. The grip she had on the chain faltered and she began to claw at the hand cutting off her oxygen.
Her efforts grew weaker, and she became dizzy, the black slowly engulfing her vision when she was flung roughly away, landing sprawled on the floor, coughing, and gasping for breath. Her next gasp was interrupted by a scream of agony as a booted heal came down on her right arm, a sickening crack sounding as the radius snapped in her forearm. Her empty stomach heaved at the overwhelming pain, but there was nothing for her to bring up. Her broken arm was cradled to her chest as she lay panting on the floor.
The man tugged her to a more upright position by her long, tangled hair and she grunted as the motion pulled her scalp and jostled her broken arm. "That's more like it." He crooned to her, and he stroked her face with his free hand before slapping her hard, snapping her head to the side, a strangled cry dragged from her throat. The roaming hand moved lower and roughly groped her breasts through her clothes, leaving new bruises with the old. Winry squirmed meagerly, overwhelmed with pain, but still trying in vain to avoid any violation. The hand crept lower to cup her sex through her coveralls and Winry felt sobs torn from her throat.
"Thanks to you, I can't have the fun I normally have with my little play mates," he said, emphasizing his point by grinding his hand against her core, "so I'll just show you the other kind of attention my girls get down here." He said, raising a fist to emphasize his point once more, and brought the beefy fist smashing into her left knee and Winry screamed again. It was hard to tell if it was broken or dislocated, but it didn't matter, Winry wouldn't be standing anytime soon. "You're too loud!" He bellowed and backhanded her roughly, the final blow that let Winry find the escape of unconsciousness. Finding his most recent toy to be no more fun, he gave the stubborn girl another kick before he decided to check in on his other victims.
Jered found himself drawn back to the alley where Winry had disappeared. He would wander all around Rush Valley, but inevitably, this is where his feet always brought him. He studied the vehicles that passed and the people, hoping in vain that a clue would come to him. He had asked some of the people he recognized from his days on the street if they had noticed anything out of place three days ago, or if they could remember any vehicles.
The men had shrugged. "Nothing weird until after that last girl went missing."
"We only saw the usual cars, the mailman's truck, the dog catchers' truck, I think the frozen meat van drove past to the butchers, there was a pickup that was hauling a bunch of old furniture…" the second man trailed off with a shrug.
Jered nodded and offered a tight-lipped smile. "Thanks for your time." He said as he continued his seemingly never-ending trudge through town.
Ed and Al were retracing their steps on the first several crime scenes, seeing if there was any evidence left that could give them any further clues. It was so frustrating going in circles and making no progress! Where Prisha Devi had been kidnapped, Al had found something, finally.
"Brother! Look at these!" Al exclaimed, bent over, and examining the mouth of another alleyway.
Ed wasted no time joining his brother and peered down at the faded tire treads left behind on the pavement. Ed quickly dug for his notebook and flipped through pages until he found his sketch of the tire tracks found at Winry's crime scene.
"Do they match?" Al asked eagerly.
Ed swallowed thickly and nodded his head mutely.
"Maybe someone remembers something!" Al exclaimed.
It was a longshot, she had been the third girl who had disappeared, that was nearly three weeks ago. Ed nodded, flashing his brother a weak smile in encouragement that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Couldn't hurt anything." He said as they headed towards the cluster of houses nearest the tire tracks.
Shifting uncomfortably sent a jagged zing of pain through her right arm, causing Winry to jolt awake. She lay in a miserable heap on the floor, praying for oblivion to claim her once again. The only time she didn't hurt was when she was sleeping. She strained her ears to hear over the barking and focused on the wheezing cough coming from the next cell over. That comforted Winry at least a little. It meant at least Yuki was still alive and Winry wasn't completely alone. She turned her dull attention to the water dripping into the small puddle in the corner and that kept her focus until the barking from above increased in volume and urgency. Winry closed her eyes and feigned the unconsciousness she longed for at the moment.
The heavy footsteps came closer, paused, and then continued on. A whimper came from next door, but the footsteps continued again. The door to the far cell sounded and a small moan could be heard. The man growled something, and Winry tilted her head so her right ear was pressed against her shoulder and her good hand covered her left ear, blocking out the sounds the best she could. The rhythmic slapping and groaning still reached her ears, as did the whimpering. Most of the noise cut off suddenly after a heavy thud and dull crack. Winry winced in sympathy, her own injuries throbbing.
The door rattled and a lock clicked closed. Winry desperately feigned unconsciousness but the next door to be opened was the middle cell. Winry winced in sympathy, but it was also mixed with relief. Crying and screaming mixed with the dull thumps that came with a beating echoed in the small space and Winry desperately tried to block out the noise once again.
Screams of pain and crying rang almost painfully in her ears, even through her improvised ear protection. The thudding sounds eventually quit, and she heard the man start to make his way to the door and she tried to go boneless and make her breathing look natural. The door and lock on her cell rattled causing her pulse to jump, and stomach churn painfully. The footsteps approached and it was hard to keep herself limp. A booted foot roughly rolled her over so she was sprawled on her back and Winry couldn't help the groan that escaped as her ribs and arm were jostled.
"You are awake. How nice." The man muttered darkly as he caught her eyes and made a show of reaching in his pocket and pulled out something slender and shiny. With a flick of his wrist, a blade sprung forth and Winry pulled back in fear. "You've been wearing too many clothes this whole time…" He murmured as he loomed over her.
Winry tried to scrabble backwards, not making much progress with her broken arm and busted leg, she was halted with a pained cry as he caught her dislocated knee and dragged her towards him. He pinned her lower half with his legs, straddling her, and held her down by grasping her throat and squeezing, leaving Winry to scrabble helplessly at his hand. Her struggles stilled as the cold bite of a knife grazed her abdomen and she tried to suck in her stomach to avoid the sharp blade as it sliced through the thick canvas of her coveralls. Every time the blade stuttered or caught on the clothing, the man would apply more pressure, pressing the blade into her pale skin and drawing blood in thin rivulets.
Once he had satisfactorily slashed her clothes he began to pull the torn material apart with his hands, leaving only the barest scraps clinging to her slight frame. Winry attempted to cover herself, but a slap left her stunned and he pried her arms away from her exposed breasts and began to knead them ruthlessly, squeezing until she cried out in pain and plucking her nipples till she thought the skin would tear.
He brought the knife down across her hip, slicing the thin material of her panties and he tore them from her bruised and bleeding body. Calloused fingers probed between her legs, and she squirmed in horror at the violation, but a quick blow to her swollen knee drained the fight from her as she lay gasping in pain. Feeling weak and powerless at the violation, Winry couldn't help but sob as she lay sprawled, bare, and broken in more ways than one.
Unwilling to dwell on how long she lay there, finally the man grew tired of her sobs and humiliation and left her in a bleeding, trembling heap on her cell floor, locking the door behind him and whistling as he left behind three horribly traumatized young women.
Edward and Al were hardly ever at the apartment, constantly on a never-ending loop through Rush Valley and practically living in the Police station. Jered only returned to the empty apartment for a nap and shower before leaving again to busy himself with work or walking around town.
Winry lay motionless, staring blankly at the wall of her cell, in a near catatonic state. The ominous footsteps sounded, and Winry barely managed to curl a little tighter into the fetal position, but otherwise stayed as she was. The footsteps didn't slow as they passed her cell or the next, but they did stop at the third and the man swore darkly.
"Fucking son of a bitch!" An exasperated sigh followed and then the rattle of keys sounded in the lock and the rusty gate creaked open and rattled loudly as it was thrust abruptly into the cement wall. There was a pause before more angry cursing. "God damnit! Another one dead."
Winry felt her empty stomach clench violently at his words and burning tears stung at her eyes, but she was too exhausted and dehydrated to cry.
There was a grunting sound and Winry tried not to watch, but as the man walked back into view, she couldn't help staring in horror at a limp, young body, covered in dried blood and wounds draped carelessly over his massive shoulder. Winry crushed her eyes closed and tried to keep her breathing even and repress the image of the lifeless form draped carelessly over her monstrous captor's shoulder. The heavy footsteps continued up the stairs, a door slamming upon his exit. Bile rose and burned the back of her throat, but her stomach was empty, and the dry heaving only served to cramp her bruised and tired abdominal muscles.
Jered was exhausted, but he couldn't bring himself to turn in for the night just yet. An engine sounded nearby, odd for this late hour. Jered made his way towards the vehicle which had its head lights off and only the brake lights lit up the dim lane. The truck idled a few blocks away and as Jered approached, the idling engine picked up and the truck rattled away, passing in a distant street light, Jered's eyebrows rose in surprise. He headed back to Winry's apartment, hoping one of the Elrics was around, so he could share his new suspicion of the raggedy old truck with the stacks of cages on the back end.