"H-Holy shit," Julia stuttered, still dangling from the cliff edge.

He closed his eyes for a moment and then almost let her drop, but she reached up as fast as she could and dug her long nails into his jumpsuit. If he tried to let her go, he was going down with her, and Julia seriously doubted he would make the fall even if he was…whatever the hell he was. A mutant? That looked like what he was, what else would he be?

He grunted as he tried to keep Julia's weight up along with his without going down. But guess what? It didn't work. And you wanna know why? Because a fucking hand came out of the rock wall. Rough fingers wrapped around her ankle and tried to pull her in through the opening but she screamed and started kicking.

"Please! Please let me go!"

A sick laugh came from the wall, immediately sending a trill up Julia's spine. She felt the tears flowing down her cheeks, but she couldn't sob. She couldn't even breathe after locking eyes with the mutant holding her up. He looked hesitant. He didn't know whether to drop her or pull her up.

Are you fuckin kidding me?

Julia grit her teeth and swallowed her fear, digging those fingers of her into his arm. She tried to hoist herself up like that, but the grip on her ankle was a force to be reckoned with. The laugh was still making her spine prickle but she wasn't going to just let them take her wherever they had planned to. She quickly pulled her hand from his arm and latched her nails into the rock wall. She managed to get her leg bent enough to drive her knee where she knew someone's face would be. Julia grinned in sick satisfaction as a howl came through the air and then scrambled up the wall as their grip was gone from her leg.

She pushed the mutant back and landed on her hands and knees, eyes closed as she panted into the hot rocks. When she heard shuffling in the rocks her head shot up, eyes set to a glare through the sweaty curtain of her hair. She hurried to her feet and pretty much tackled the mutant to the ground, forcing him to land on his stomach while she straddled his lower back, her hands planted flat against his shoulder blades.

"You son-of-a-bitch, you were gonna let me fall," Julia panted, closing her eyes again. She was so tired. "What the hell is your name?"

He waited a long time before he answered, and when he did it was a simply mumble. "Goggle."

She stared at the back of his head for a moment longer and then she gave out a tired huff, lying down across his back, arms dangling into the sand. "My name is Julia…now I'm going to sleep."

"Y-You're on ma back."

She grimaced but didn't try to get up. "You almost got me killed…I'm going to sleep."

Julia rolled under the sun warmed blanket, the sunlight bathing over her shining through her thin lids. She reached up and covered her eyes as she sat up, stretching her arms around above her head before she pulled the blanket off of her. She slid out of bed and looked out the window, seeing the red sand twisting through the wind. Her brow furrowed and then she shrugged, walking to the door and opening it.

"Hey Jeb! You wouldn't believe this fucking dream I had," she called.

But she was met with silence.

And that was when Julia took in her surroundings. She was most definitely not in the gas station. Jeb was not in the other room cooking lunch, there was not rattling air conditioner or the constant smell of oil and gasoline. She was on the second floor of a dusty house, an old house by the looks of things. The wallpaper along the small balcony she was on was an old-styled floral pattern and was peeling along the ceiling jam. Julia was beginning to panic a little bit. She looked around for a moment, hands coming up to her chest like a frightened child, and she started down the stairs to her left.

Everything was covered in dust downstairs as well. Old pictures were scattered along the walls and the tables in what could only be the living room. Julia swallowed the lump in her throat and then looked to her right, hearing a door squeaking shut, or open. She locked eyes with a young woman, maybe a few years older than her. She was standing in front of a swinging kitchen door, two plates of some type of meat in both of her hands. She wore a simple camisole nightdress, long raven hair tied up in a messy bun atop her head. She was riddled with scars and looked like she had been through a fire because of the burn marks up her arms and legs.

"Oh um…hmm," the woman unfroze, bright green eyes looking down before she smiled. "You Julia?"

Julia nodded hesitantly, terrified. "Um…yeah, and you are?"

"Oh right," the young woman looked to her left, down a short hallway. "Lizard! Come get this shit!" Julia heard a grunt come from some room and then she caught the young woman's smile. "My name is Veronica, call me Val though. Oh, and don't freak out."

"Wha-"

Julia's words were cut off as a…man (?) stepped out from under the stairs. He was spindly and tall, his eyes a piercing blue and his hair wild, the color gray. He had a twisted cleft than ran up to his cheek bone and his jaw was crooked, the teeth jumbled into an upside down V on his upper jaw, following behind the cleft. His eyes ran over Julia and he grunted, taking the plates from Val's hands. The young woman reached out and clasped on his shoulder for a moment before he shrugged her off and disappeared behind the stairs again.

Julia finally closed her mouth, helping the dryness from her lips. "What the…what was that?"

Val smiled a little. "Figured that…that's Lizard, my husband."

"Husband," Julia asked in disbelief.

Val nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, we got married last year. But enough about that, Goggle said you attacked him."

Julia narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, he was going to drop me over the edge of a cliff."

Val's lips popped into an O. "So you're the one Lizard was trying to catch!"

A sick feeling shot through Julia's stomach. "What?"

"Lizard went out huntin' yesterday and said he almost caught someone on the cliffs near the mines, must have been y- holy shit!"

Julia crumpled to the floor, holding her head in her hands as she groaned. "Jeb was right," she mumbled.

Val crouched down beside Julia, running her fingers across her forehead. "Holy shit, are you ok?"

Julia shook her head. "No…no I'm not. Jeb told me I needed to leave, I almost got killed by your husband and now…now I feel like I'm gonna be sick."

Val chuckled. "Honey, the worst hasn't even happened yet."