※ Edited 2.5.18 ※
Run in an alleyway
Through a dead end street
Murdering promises
That I just can't keep
We could sing pretty melodies
On the unmade bed
Slow-dancing to a silhouette
'Cause I ain't dead yet?
Barns Courtney : Hellfire
Bless This Wayward Daughter
Let's Get Ramblin'
Bad Timing, Kid
It was six months ago her father told his oldest to keep the kids in bed as he rushed their mother to the hospital. A horrible migraine, he said. Nothing to worry about, he said. They'd be back before the kids woke up, he said.
It was more of a promise, really. The first of many he'd break in the months to follow.
Ettie gripped the steering wheel with unnecessary force.
Out of everything, she figured his sobriety would be the one promise he kept. After his faith, of course. Turns out that, too, would crumble.
Her knuckles went almost white as she kept herself from glancing in the rear-view mirror as she drove down the desolate highway. Seeing her father's passed out form would only elongate her anger. She wanted her family to have trust in her again. She really should have been careful what she wished for. Unable to stop, her eyes narrowed as they looked to her father's passed out form.
The high chirping of a new text message shook Odette from her thoughts. Her grip relaxed and her eyes blinked away the clear memory.
"That better not be Kyle." Scott huffed at Kate.
Kate looked back at her brother with a glare that could cut barbed wire. "Shut your trap!"
"Stop it!" The two teens looked at her with surprise. Since leaving the town, Ettie had seemed like a coiled snake, ready to strike at any minute as she clutched the steering wheel like she was trying to strangle it.
Kate's attention retruned to her phone and began a search for nearby lodgings. "We're gonna stop the first place we see."
"We're gonna do what?" Scott scoffed.
"Daddy is drunk." The words seemed to fall off the younger girl's tongue angry and uneasily, his unconscious state one she'd never had to see before.
"I'm aware." Odette laughed bitterly. Her sister was shaken from the encounter, she was sure, but she had nothing on the fury Odette was feeling at that moment.
"He needs to sleep it off in an honest-to-goodness bed."
"Let him sleep right there." Scott looked back at their father. He was sprawled out on the couch, snoring like a bear. He seemed just fine to him. "You should keep driving to Mexico," he encouraged the elder.
"I plan on it."
"If anything, you should drive back to Bethel!" Kate nearly hurt her eyes with how hard she rolled them. "But I know you won't do that. So instead, we're gonna stop at a hotel."
Ettie's brows almost furrowed into a single line. "I'm sorry, did I miss something?" She glanced at the younger girl typing away on her phone. "Since when do you call all the shots?"
"Since now."
"Oh yeah, let the eighteen year old who was seconds from running off with her boyfriend call the shots." Ettie couldn't help a scoff-like laugh.
"At least mine wasn't a junkie."
"No, just a abusive, racist asshole." Ettie's knuckles went white as her gritted her teeth in a smile. Her patience was hair thin at the moment but she wouldn't give Kate the satisfaction of beating her down, intentionally or not.
"Really, we're gonna pretend I'm the family screw-up?" Kate narrowed her eyes and watched as Odette's snarl for a smile fell into a tight frown.
Scott mumbled her name in warning and stuck at her shoulder. It was a tad harsh; something she knew her father would have whooped her for if he had heard her, but she was just so sick of them treating her like she was the baby of the family. As always, Scott went straight to Ettie's defense, never to hers.
"No!" She pushed her brother's hand away. "At least I was smart enough to come back!" Kate raised her voice. Scott didn't know which sister to watch. The one about to break the steering wheel or the one growing red faced. "Did you even for a moment think: hmm, maybe this isn't the best idea!" Ettie remained watching the road, breathing in and out in deep breaths. Scott warned his sister once more. Ettie's silence was taken as confirmation. The younger Fuller's eyes burned as she venomously laughed. "No, because all you think about is yourself!"
Odette's face was shocked into a neutral expression before furrowing into a dark scowl. Pulling over recklessly onto to the side of the road, she turned in her seat and leaned closer to her sister. Kate backed away slightly at the sudden invasion of space. Both teens shaken by the jarring movement and sudden stop of the vehicle.
"You know what, Katie? Enough." Ettie whispered, a coldness in her eyes as she raised her voice for Scott to hear. "No more passive aggressive bullshit." The word made Kate flinch. "Life sucks, people fuck up, get over it."
Kate stared at the floor. Scott looked anywhere but at his sisters. Ettie wasn't done. "Like it or not, we are a fucking family, a nice normal fucked-up American family. Just like we always wanted." She was sourly gleeful as the took a quick glace at both of them. "And from now on, we will act like it!" She turned to her brother, as well, who quickly took a defensive position in case she lunged at him next. "Understood?!" she yelled at both of them.
Scott didn't even hesitate when she pivoted those furious eyes on him. "Yes." Together they peered at Kate with such intensity she couldn't ignore it if she tried. A quiet, barely audible 'yes' came from her turned head as well.
"Great!" Ettie slapped the steering wheel with exuberance before reaching over to snatch the phone out of Kate's lap. At this point she didn't care about their drunken father, she just needed a few hours away from her family before she self detonated. She looked over the nearest hotel options before deciding on what that wasn't rented by the hour.
"There." She tossed the device back in Kate's lap. Looking up and down the empty desert road she put the RV back in drive. "The closest place is something called the Dew Drop Inn. Sounds cute."
Half an hour later, Scott wasted no time calling "dibs" on the bed as soon as Odette stepped back into the RV. Kate having taken over the driver's seat, she settled into the passenger seat.
"I am not sleeping with dad!" Kate yelled in her ear. "I'm too old for that!"
"Both of you, shut up." She handed a key-card to each of them, tossing her wallet and information packet back into her purse. "I got us two queens. If you really want it, there's a couch, too. Have fun fighting it out."Ettie flinched at her mistake the moment their overlapping voices began. It was as if she's fired the racing gun; the two teens not wasting a moment before they began talking over one another to plead their case.
Distracted by the fighting she was now trying to stop, Odette didn't see the man come in from her peripheral vision before it was nearly too late. As soon as the RV has started, it stopped. She yelled for Katie to brake as she clotheslined Scott's chest to keep him from tumbling head first into the dashboard.
The sharp screams from the sisters and sudden stop had finally woken their father from his drunken slumber. "What in the world?!" He was immediately up and trying to find out the source of their panic, swaying on his feet before finally falling back onto the couch.
The suited man showed no sign of moving as he looked over the occupant. When he still didn't move Odette's eyes narrowed, her brows furrowing in slight confusion as he turned to her. He lifted his beer to his lips but hesitated, as if pondering something before taking a drink as his dark eyes settled on her with piqued interest. Leaning slightly forward, her gaze softened, an odd sensation humming around her. Did she know him?
"Ettie?" Her father called again in worry. The call snapped her attention, the feeling gone as she looked back to assure him.
"It's just a drunk, dad." From the slowed movement, slightly rumpled suit, and five o'clock shadow she assumed him just another item to add to her list of problems this day.
The younger siblings returned his gaze, watching till he'd cleared the narrow drive before Katie slowly rolled into the back parking lot. Scott rubbed his chest where he'd collided with Ettie's elbow, an annoyed glare directed to the back window of the RV. "What's his problem?"
"I don't know." Ettie dismissed, her tone soft and thoughtful as she looked at him from the sideview mirror, watching as his face lifted in a sly grin as they left. When she settled back in her seat she found herself under the watchful gaze of her brother and sister. "What?"
This was not how his day was meant to go.
Seth Gecko wouldn't even know where to start his long list of problems, but he knew every one of them today had stemmed from his brother in one way or another.
Unlike Richie, Seth was a man who believed the one rule to successfully robbing a bank was easy. Make a plan and stick to it. Because when you deviate from the plan the entire plan will go to shit and his life usually with it. His current predicament was proof of that.
Though the bank job was nowhere near simple, it should never had turned into the shit show it had. Richard had been sidetracked all morning, going on about his god damn horchata and his broadened views. He'd cold-cocked the one guy they needed and gotten messy with the backdoor. It was shoddy, sloppy work.
Guys like them were always talking about getting out, getting rich, growing old in paradise and dying in the arms of a beautiful woman. They'd talk about it all the time. Before a heist, after a heist, in between heists. But no one ever seemed to get there. Now, affter the shoot out at the bank and the goddamn mess at the liquor store, Seth was beginning to think they never would.
And then there was the bank teller. Seth's stomach dropped at the thought of what awaited him in their hotel room. He'd left Richard alone for half an hour. Half an hour for him to go from being just dandy to him… Seth flinched not wanting to bring that image back.
He said something was happening, something he couldn't yet explain, a force, a presence, a sixth fucking sense that came from nowhere that told him what to do.
Oh, there was something going on alright... His brother was losing his freakin' mind. Richard claimed he could see inside her. Her eyes, he claimed. "Eyes find eyes." He quoted their uncle Eddie, going on about some old Indian saying their uncle taught him about energy and shit. He could see inside her and knew she wanted to hurt them. That's why he had to kill her first. Kill, Seth could understand. But what he did to her after...
Seth could only stare back until he announced he was leaving. Between Richie's continual breakdown, Carlos's lack of help, and the nation wide manhunt, he was fucked six ways till Sunday. He needed time away from his brother and the mess he'd created for them. He needed time to think.
He needed a fucking drink.
Even if he managed to find a way to keep Richie from losing it before they got to the border, there was still that little problem of every ticket taker on the Rio Grande holding copies of his mug shot. He felt like a trapped rat on a drowning ship. They needed a way out, and they needed it now.
Yes, Seth had a long list of problems.
But for the first time that day, he was about to find some answers. And they came neatly packed in a big beige solution.
A beer in his hand, and a burden on his mind, he thought little of the giant beige RV parked in front of the hotel, too preoccupied with a more urgent train of thought. Bbut when the massive bastard nearly mowed him down as he was crossing the drive through, it demanded his attention. Seth prepared to give the driver a piece of his mind. He expected a portly greying man on the road with his equally portly wife and their twenty yapping dogs. Instead he got a surprise when he was met with quite the opposite.
The driver herself was young. All pale skin and doe eyed, her small frame looked like she barely had control over the large steering wheel she clutched in surprise. He doubted with a gun pointed at her she'd be much trouble. Beside her was an Asian kid that brought to mind Bruce Lee, still skrawny under those baggy clothes.
It was the other girl in the passenger seat that really caught his attention. Slightly older than the others, she was just as pretty as the younger girl, a similar bone structure proving they were somehow related though her hair darker and her skin tanner.
It was when brown eyes met hazel that Seth really paused, stopping the bottle just short of his lips. His annoyed face softened into one of interest as he stared at her. A spark of genius suddenly ignited. And the crook could nearly hear the fucking light bulb click on over his head. His thoughts began to race as he finished the last of his beer.
The way she had put forth her arm to protect the boy from going head first into the dashboard made it easy to pin her as the mothering type. Her first instinct was to protect the little ones. Types like her were easy to control with a gun pointed at the kids heads. A nice looking family that would breeze right through the broader in an RV tat had plenty of space to stay out of sight.
It was all coming together.
Their shared gaze was broken when she looked away, addressing someone in the back. Seth mozied out of their way. And when they pulled left into the parking area, his face broke into a smile at the sight of a colorful bumper sticker. 'God Bless You' The words beckoned as they passed.
Finishing the last swig of his beer, Seth couldn't help but break a triumphant grin. "God bless, indeed..."
It seemed she wasn't the only Fuller at the boiling point. After her father's violent outburst towards Scott for a teasing comment, she was reminded why Jacob stopped drinking. He'd never raise a hand to his family but when she was much younger Odette remembered plenty of fist sized holes is the plaster. She told him to sleep it off as she grabbed her bag and headed for the Walgreen's across the street. Time alone is what she craved but after that frightening twenty seconds of uncertainty, she offered Scott to come along. The younger boy refused and seemed fine tuning his guitar and practicing while Kate went down to the pool.
The snacks and aspirin laid in her basket, but Odette wasn't quite ready to go back just yet. So she loitered around the Walgreen's beauty section looking at nail colors, throwing in a color she liked every now and then as she stalled for time. She loved her family, but sometimes she wondered why she ever came back.
After her month in rehab, she had gone to Alex's as she always had when she needed a place to crash. He had welcomed her in with a warm embrace and before she even sat down started pulling left overs from the fridge. Everything was fine until he sat across from her, watching as she dug into the bison and fried corn. His sister must have been by recently, since Alex wasn't much of a cook. Hunting was his forte, but cooking was just something he never seemed to get a handle on. With a calm baritone voice he dropped a heavy truth. "You can't stay here." It made Ettie nearly choke. Alex kept his calm smiling expression as he handed her her coke, no malice or ill will in his face or tone.
"What?" She stared up at him. She hadn't even asked him yet, though it was usually a given. "You get a girlfriend while I was gone?" She joked. Alex never had girlfriends, not as long as she'd known him.
"You can't stay here, Odette." He didn't so much as blink at the joke. "It's time to go home."
"Home..." Odette looked at her plate, pushing it away as she lost her appetite. "You say it like I still have one."
"Then make one." He shrugged. He knew Odette would be taken back. She was too loved not to be. But she was also stubborn and at times unpredictable. He wouldn't put it past her to not even try, going on with her life without a second glance back. She'd tried it once before...
Odette played with her food as she tried to find the strength to speak. She couldn't even look at him. "They don't want me, Alex."
"Whether they want you is unimportant." His hand rested over hers, swallowing it in his large grasp as he sat across from her. "They need you. And that all that matters."
"Need me?" Odette laughed, a shallow and mocking sound. "Me?!" Her voice broke, eyes burning with self loathing. "The fuck-up who can't keep a needle out of her arm for more than a few months?" No matter how hard she tried, she thought bitterly. It was never enough...
"You're stronger than you think." There was a calm certainty to her voice. Enough to make her think, for a moment, it was true. "Now eat, shower, and get dressed." Alex stood up and straightened to his full height. Ettie craned her neck back to look up at him. He always had too much faith in her.
"Maybe I don't wanna go home..."
Alex smirked before turning back, grabbing his hunting knife from the end of the table. Admiring the sharp blade he had just finished sharpening, he spun it in his hand in thought. "Then think of it as going to war."
"War" may have been a bit of a stretch at the time, but Odette had to admit: these past months felt like she'd fought one battle after another.
"Will that be all miss?" The checkout girl rung up the last of her items.
Ettie's attention was brought back to the present. "Actually, do you have any sour gummy worms?"
The cashier could see the hopefulness in her eyes and could only slightly cringe when she broke the news. "Only sugar-free, ma'am."
Odette closed her eyes to keep them from rolling. Of course. Putting on a happy face, she told her that would be fine. Leave it to Scott to forget the one thing she asked him to find.
The sharp knocking on the door woke Jacob from his light nap. With a quick look at the clock, his brows furrowed. "Ettie forget her key?" Jacob didn't think to look out the peephole before he opened the door. His daughter may have been tall, but not as tall as their guest.
The man stared at him with slightly narrowed eyes behind his glasses. "You know, we're actually in the room just below you. Do you think you could keep the noise level down a little bit?"
Sleep and beer may have slowed Jacob's mind but even he registered the request was odd. Scott hadn't even plugged in his guitar yet. His own eyes narrowed in confusion as he leaned forward, wondering if he'd misheard. "What's that, now?"
The man with glasses pivoted, opening up the door frame he took up as he reached for something behind his back. Jacob was stunned by a sudden fist connecting with his face. The blow hard enough to send him stumbling back onto the bed. Scott rose when the two men walked into the room, the taller of the two pointing a gun directly at his head. His shorter partner stood over their father, "The man said shut your mouth."
Seth stood before their two new hostages as Richie brought in their bags. The first was older man in his fifties or sixties, thin but graying; much more what he had in mind for the driver of the vehicle. The second, much younger, an Asian teenager. Sitting together at the end of the bed, they looked an odd pair, and Seth couldn't help but ask, "So, what's with the Asian kid? Trick-or-treat for UNICEF?"
"He's my son."
"Really?" Seth's brows rose. "Well, where's mom?" Seth looked around the room in expectation.
"It's just me and the boy."
Seth cracked a bit of a grin at the attempt, endearing as it was, before going serious. "What about those girls?" Seth watched as the old man tried to think of a response, some excuse to keep them out of it. But as Richie called for his brothers attention, showing the bra that'd been left in the bathroom, they all knew the jig was up. Still, he wondered just how far he'd try to take the lie. "You two like to play dress-up?" Seth challenged.
Jacob seemed to realize they were just as transparent as thought. He looked to floor, ashamed and fearful of what would happen now that they had been caught lying. "No, we do not."
"Where are they?" Seth asked again.
"They went for a grocery run for the motor home. They won't be back for hours."
"He's lying," Richie immediately accused.
Seth challenge them just as quickly and ordered, "Call them." When Jacob hesitated, he waved his gun at Scott's head in a hurry up manner.
Jacob felt like his heart was gonna beat out of his chest the longer the line rang, but when it went to voicemail he suddenly felt he could breath. "She's not answering," he answered honestly.
"One of them put this on before they left." Richie sniffed the coconut scented tanning lotion as he came from the bathroom.
Seth's agitation visibly rose. "Probably at the pool." He stared at the old man who wouldn't meet his eyes. "I'll go get her." But as he neared the door he stopped, the memory of coming back to the hotel room and finding what Richie did to their previous hostage when left alone seared into his brain. "Actually...you go get her, Richie." He wasn't sure he could be left alone with the two men without bloodshed or mutilation. "You spent enough time in hotels today." Richie seemed to catch onto the subtle dig just as quickly as it was put, and with nearly rolled eyes he tried to do as he was told before Seth grabbed him by the arm. "Hey. I need you to just go find her, and you bring her back here, okay? Don't talk to her. Don't touch her." Jacob's attention snapped to the shorter of the men, his voice almost threatening in his last directions. A new fear grew, and Seth could see it when he glanced at him. "Let's get on the clock. Ten on the timex," Seth instructed.
"I've got this under control," Richie promised as he left.
Seth watched him leave with studious eyes. Considering Richard's idea of control was rather macabre lately, the reassurance was not very reassuring. For the first time in many to come, Jacob and Seth were equally uneasy.
And he had good reason to be. Fourteen minutes later Seth sighed under his breath after sending away a suspicious maid that had luckily chalked it up to the usual cheap honeymooners. If only, Seth thought. This was taking too long. "Come on, Richie." He cursed, wondering if he'd gotten picked up or cornered somewhere.
It was heating the name that sparked his memory. Jacob could finally place why they seemed familiar. f anything, it was even more distressing."The infamous Gecko brothers." He stood from the bed.
"I didn't say you could get up," Seth warned.
"I heard about you on the radio. I switched the channel so it wouldn't scare my kids."
"You did the right thing." Seth motioned towards the bed with his gun. "Now sit." His patience was running very thin.
"Radio said you robbed a bank up in Abilene. You're moving south. Means you're going to Mexico. That's what you need us for, isn't it? You're gonna use us to cross. We're your cover," Jacob figured it out.
Seth almost smiled. "You're a smart man. You ever do any acting?" He walked closer.
"Acting?"
"Yeah. Drama club, high school." Seth's brows jumped in challenge. "Nothing like that?"
"Once. A long time ago." Jacob was confused by the line of questioning.
"Well, who'd you play?"
"Joseph."
"Joseph who?"
"Joseph, son of Jacob."
"Interesting guy?"
Jacob's brows furrowed further. "He could see the future."
"Sounds handy." Seth nodded. "Now, did they teach you anything about acting?"
"Uh, what's the point?"
"You see, in my line, you're always a performer. You understand? Now, I like actors. I study them. Pacino, McQueen, Brando. They got a way of looking believable." Seth suddenly held up the gun, clicking the safety off as it was aimed. "You believe me?"
Jacob didn't dare move, nor speak, as he stared Seth in the eyes.
Seth continued. "Now, the first rule of good acting is to listen to what the other actors are saying. Are you listening to me? I'm gonna need you to brush up on your drama skills. Because you're gonna have to get better, a lot better, and fast. We're all booked for a one-time-only performance of "you do whatever the hell I say." I'm the lead, you and your little adopted boy here are supporting. Now, if you kill it..." Seth paused, a suffocatingly tense silence filling the room before he clicked the safety back on and redirected the gun. "We're all gonna get Tonys. Now, you want a Tony, don't you?" he asked Scott.
"Your plan won't work," Jacob objected. "I won't let you take my children."
"Well, it's not gonna work with one creepy old dude." Seth nearly scoffed. "So guess what? We're bringing the whole clan." He waved the gun around in a gather up motion. "So sit down." He ordered one final time before returning to the window. When he still didn't see any movement outside he looked at his watch.
"You told him not to touch my daughter."
"What?" Seth was distracted, the seconds ticking by on his clock seeming to fuel the usually collected man's annoyance.
"Your brother," Jacob clarified. "Why did you tell him not to touch my daughter?"
Seth looked to the floor, seeing the eyeless body of their last hostage lying on the bed when he blinked. "Your daughter's gonna be fine," he reassured.
"He harms her, I'll kill you with my bare hands."
Seth rounded, pressing the gun to the boy's temple. "You're gonna kill him with your big mouth first. What's your name, again?" he asked the kid.
"Scott."
"Scott, do me a favor. Tell your dad to sit down and shut up," he ordered.
"Dad…" Scott looked to his father, the first time since the funeral he's seen him look so weak and helpless. "Sit down," he nearly begged. Jacob didn't hesitate to take a seat.
"Getting better already." Seth removed the gun. But before he could return to his watch-post a key sounded in the door. Seth clocked the barrel and motioned for them to be silent. Jacob held his breath as the door slowly began to open.
Ettie expected to find Scott sulking in the corner with his guitar, her father probably passed out or retching over the toilet, or the both of them digging into a pizza Scott would probably petition for. What she did not expect was to see them both sitting in the silence at the edge of the bed, fear on both their faces as she stepped into the room. "What?" she asked closing the door. Scott's gaze flew to the left of her and, through her peripheral vision, she saw the figure that couldn't have been Kate.
It was not the first time, nor probably the last, a gun has been pointed at her head. The black blurry shadow taking a defining shape as it was raised to the side of her head as the door closed. She ducked low out of the path of the muzzle, and used his own confusion to crash the bottom of her palm with his nose. A similar move to the one he'd used on her father just minutes before. Jacob and Scott stood at the altercation, frightened but hopeful at the advantage she momentarily had when their captor was forced back into the wall.
Their hope was short lived.
As painful and effective as it might have been to anyone else, Seth had taken worse hits in his life. Hell, in the past week. The convict escapee quicker and grabbed her by her shirt. There was no hesitance in his violence this time. He threw her into the door, knocking the wind out of her and electing a muffled cry of pain when her head hit the thick wood. When her brother jumped to defend her, Seth pointed the gun to her head once more. "Nuh-uh! Sit!" he ordered.
Scott wouldn't risk his sister life. He held up his hands like his father did and sat back on the bed.
Releasing her shirt, Seth felt the bridge of his nose and sniffed deeply. No sign of a break. Wiping the underside of it, he glanced down at his bloodless fingers before eyeing the woman. She was prettier up close, her a hair a bit messy and her hazel eyes alight with rage. "You know, usually I like a girl with a bit of moxie but today is not a day you wanna fuck with me, Princess." His joking tone thinly veiled the seriousness of it.
Ettie swallowed, her eyes were narrowed in both pain and fury as she glared up at the man with a curious hatred unmatched. He wasn't the first guy to hold a gun on her but he was probably the most sober. "Who the fuck are you?" Her searching gaze darted over his face. The epitome of tall, dark, and handsome, she had immediately recognized him as the asshole who'd nearly given Kate a heart attack. Now up close, there was a different familiarity to him.
"Ettie," Jacob warned, in both scolding of her language and fear of what the armed man would do at her tone.
"Who the fuck am I?" Seth had the nerve to smile. "I'm Seth Gecko, motherfucker. Now try that shit again and I put one in his forehead." Ettie's rebellious attitude ghosted into fearfulness when the gun was smoothly redirected at her younger brother. He looked at the old man, curiosity getting the better of him. "Wife?"
"Daughter," Jacob corrected. He kept his hands up as he moved towards her. Helping her onto the bed as he wrapped an arm around her. Her father was too busy fussing over her and reassuring her it would all be okay to notice her eyes immediately looked to the door before setting on the gun in his hand.
Seth pulled a hand towel from the bathroom. "Hey," he called for the trio's attention once more. Holding up a single finger he began to wave it warning. "No more hero shit. Next time a bullet's going in someone's knee, got it?"
Jacob nodded on behalf of the family, thought Scott's eyes were focused on the bloody bump forming on Ettie's head, while Ettie's eyes were focused on the gun in their captor's grop. So intently, in fact, she didn't notice the white cloth in his hand until it was inches from her face. Her eyes raised to his, his face a bit softer though still pinched. She slowly pulled the rough terry cloth from his hand. The moment it was passed off he returned to peeking out the curtains.
Placing the folded towel to her head, she flinched at the welt growing. "I leave you guys alone for thirty minutes..."
"It's judgment," Jacob broke the silence that stretched.
"What's that?"
"You're judgment." Jacob looked to Seth. A sad forlorn expression on his face as he came to terms with the truth. He was being punished for not helping his wife sooner, for lying to his children, for abandoning his faith. "You're here to bring his judgment down on me."
Seth gave a tired sigh, not in the mood for any more nonsensical ramblings today. "This isn't in the script, old man."
"My children have paid the price for my actions." Jacob looked to his eldest and youngest, seeing the changes the past year had done to them. They were motherless and it was his fault. Jacob's eyes fell to the floor before raising back to Seth. "I'm the one that deserves this, not them. I'll come with you willingly. Please don't make them suffer for what I've done," Jacob begged. He desecrated sacred ground, burying a sinner as a saint. God was punishing him for his lies and betrayal.
The declaration confused Scott but when he looked to his older sister he saw only pity and exasperation. He nudged her, mouthing a quiet question that Ettie just tiredly shook her head to and ignored.
This was not the work of some great cosmic force punishing them for their sins or lies.
This was the work of two very real and two very dangerous men. One of which visibly brandished the deadly weapon with the flippancy of a man who was well aware and ready to use it. "Don't go getting soft on me, old man." Seth tried to make him shut up. "Now, we still have a performance to put on. Keep the energy up."
The door opened almost expectantly, Kate's wet form visible through the growing crack. Learning from their last mistake, Jacob screamed for her to run before she even looked up from pulling the key out. The young girl took one glance into the room, and seeing an added figure, tried to do just that. She turned just that as her sister shot up from the bed, but both girls were stopped before much could be done. A revolver pointed at Ettie's head as a man blocked the door for Kate.
"Was it something I said?" He looked down at her, his large frame moving her back into the room as she tried to keep distance between them. He closed the door behind him. The small frightened whimper she gave enough to make both Fuller men tense.
"Move and I kill her," Seth warned the males as he pressed the gun to Ettie's head once more, pressing the cold metal into her forehead until she got the hint and sat back down.
"Touch her and you'll have to," she warned back.
In her vulnerable state, 'doe eyes' only added to the anxious tension in the room as she tried to cover herself. Seth spared her a glance, realizing how this must look. Disgusted by the mere idea he stepped back and checked the bathroom. Devoid of any weapons or escape routes, he gave her ten minutes to change. When her time was up he gave three sharp knocks on the door.
"Time's up, princess." When he heard nothing he looked to his brother sitting next to the window, his gun steadily aimed at the family sitting on the bed. Seth's eyes scanned him in hesitant dread, unsure if he wanted to find evidence of something having gone amiss. His brother was unwell, and though he'd deny it to anyone who challenged otherwise, Seth knew Richie wasn't quite right.
The bathroom door opened quickly, and Kate froze when suddenly confronted by the figure again. She moved around, slow and unsteady, like a skittish animal before sitting by her father.
The actors all assembled, it was time to get this show on the road. "Okay, ramblers, let's get ramblin'." Seth stood before the assembled team of hostages. "Now, we can't all go marching past the lobby all at once. It's gonna be a very guilty-looking parade. So here's how we're gonna do it." Seth's gun flippantly pointed up and down Jacob. "You're gonna go first. Alone. You're gonna get into the motor home, you're gonna start her up, you're gonna bring her around front, and then you're gonna wait. Five minutes after that, Richie and boy wonder-" Seth waved the gun between them. "-are gonna go down with our bags."
Ettie bumped her brother's knee with her own, bringing his attention back to her when he glowered at the floor. She gave the slightest hint of a smile, trying to reassure it'd be over quickly and that he shouldn't worry. It did little to help.
"And five minutes after that, me and the girls are gonna go down. Everyone should have their hero switch in the "off" position. I'm looking at you, Xena." He waved the gun at Odette. "I make the plan. Everybody executes it, or I execute you." He looked each one of them in the eye. "Simple as Sesame Street."
After instructing them to get packing, he was approached by the old man. "If I'm going first, I want to talk to my kids before I leave," Jacob requested in a hushed tone. At the back of the room, the kids packed up what little they had unpacked. Making sure there was no sign they'd been there, as per instructions, under the watchful eyes of Richard.
"That's a lovely sentiment." Seth's nodded shortly. "No dice."
"We'll have a greater chance of success if they're calm and focused." He tried to reason.
Seth looked behind the father to see the older one reassuring the younger two it was all gonna be fine. Another reason he hated involving kids, they got too scared, too unpredictable. Fuckin A, if they cried...
Seth sighed. "All right. One minute," he agreed. "One!" He stressed. Their window was closing and he was tired of being in this fucking hotel. Jacob nodded and returned to his family.
"We should move the RV to the back." Richie stood from his seat, a subtly urgency to his tone.
"And why would we do that?"
"Something's telling me that we need to."
"Something's telling you?" Seth repeated in disbelief. "I'm telling you it's fine."
"You haven't listened to a word I've been saying, have you?" Richie's eyes narrowed into into an annoyed glower.
"No, Richard. I haven't. " Seth could feel his jaw tick. "Because actions speak louder than words. Now, would you like to go back to our room and review those actions?" he challenged. There was silence between the brothers as they stared each other down, unaware of the subtle gaze of an older fuller studying them.
Richard was the first to break. "I've tuned in to something." Seth looked to the floor dubious and exasperated by this continued madness. The bank, the liquor store, and the fucking hotel; Richie was seeing things, hearing things, feeling things that somehow only managed to pile onto the shit show this day had turned into. "And it is showing me the way. I am back, which means we are back." Richie was incorrigible. "Tell him to move the RV to the back."
Seth inhaled deeply. This time, he was sticking to the fucking plan. No more deviations. "RV stays." He pointed a scolding finger at him. "There's only one captain on this ship and it ain't you." Seth dismissed, turning his back to Richard's cold and irritated gaze.
"Are you older or younger?" She felt the need to break the silence.
"What?" Seth stopped studying at his watch long enough to see Ettie staring at him. Richard and Scott had left three minutes previously, leaving him alone with the girls.
"Are you older or younger than your brother?" she clarified. She sat across from him in the small table, her gaze rather intense for a woman trying to look sympathetic.
Seth gave her a disapproving look. "Don't even try it, Princess," he chastised. "That "get to know you" shit's not gonna work."
Ettie shrugged, glancing at Kate on the bed by the bathroom. The younger girl was lost in her own mind, fiddling with the gold cross hanging from her neck as she prayed.
"It wasn't a 'get to know you'."
"That right?" He sharply interrupted, dubious.
"More of a warning really." She didn't miss a beat. "Because if you're older, maybe you'll understand just what I'm capable of," she corrected lowly. She had his full attention as she stared up at him. She was not a weak little girl, she could not be bullied. "You or your brother touch her or my brother and so help me God-"
"You'll try another sucker punch?"
"I'll rip your throat out with my bare teeth if I have to." If she had hackles they would have risen.
Seth glowered back, but didn't put much stock in it. "You sure are a violent little thing." He looked her over before glancing back at his watch. "It's almost time, you ready?"
Ettie called for Kate, the younger girl almost jumping out of her skin before putting on her backpack and coming to Ettie's side. Seth looked between the two, clearing his throat. "Listen, um..." He paused, swallowing back the sudden bad taste in his mouth."Did my brother...do anything to you?" He sounded awkward and unsure causing Ettie's brow to raise. Almost as if he wasn't sure he actually wanted to ask. Or know, for that matter.
"He scared me," she admitted quietly. She didn't expand further than that, not wanting to pop open the can of worms that would come from Ettie knowing about the report she'd been reading when approached.
Seth sighed. "You're not the only one."
Kate turned to her sister suddenly overcome with the need to apologize for their previous fights. It was an odd feeling, an anticipation she hadn't felt before, like the air was electric and thick with uncertainty. She rubbed her arms, trying to smooth the hair that stood on end.
Ettie seemed to finally sense her sister's gaze, turning to her she smiled. "It's gonna be fine. Over the border then out of our lives," she promised, her gaze wandering to Seth at the end.
He returned the gaze and seeing the demand for assurance, called for Kate's attention. "Look at me." He had no interest in hurting or scaring little girls. "Remember what I told you. You do what I tell you when I tell you, and you'll get out of this without any bumps or scrapes." Ettie couldn't help but give him a withering, look to which Seth pointed an accusing finger her way: "You hit me first."
Ettie rolled her eyes with such intensity her head turned. Seth took one last look at his watch. "Twenty seconds." He motioned for the girls to get up.
"You're very obsessed with time," Odette commented as she stood beside Kate in front of the door.
"I liked it better when you were silent and glaring." He opened the door, motioning them out.
Ettie was the first to step through the door, her attention pulled to the figure approaching from the left. The first thing her eyes focused on was the silver Texas Ranger star pinned to his chest. The gun aimed and at the ready was second. The third was his face, a look of steely focus relaxing into an disbelieving frown before pinching once more into a furious determination the moment she felt Seth brush past her.
"Shit." She sighed under her breath.
"Hey!" He bellowed at them.
Seth's gun was drawn just as quickly, firing at the Ranger before he'd even been able to recognize him. As the Ranger dove behind a corner to avoid the small canon like bullets, Ettie pushed Kate down and away. The younger Fuller tried to reach for her sister in return, only to have her yanked away. Seth's arm came around the older girl's throat, pulling her close to use her as a shield.
"Run!" Odette ordered Kate. Kate hesitated only briefly before she spotted the two sheriff deputies at the other end of the walk. She scampered to her feet as Seth continued firing at the Ranger, backing up into the room. Nearly behind the safe wall they provided her, herhope was dashed by the sudden return of a figure in all black. Kate couldn't even scream before Richie shot both officers in the back. Kicking one in the face as he tried to turn over and shoot back. The younger Fuller skidded to a stop as he continued marching forward with a cold determination on his face.
He grabbed Kate around the neck in the same hold his brother had used, using her as a human shield as the Ranger tried to take aim. Richard kicked in the closest door, pulling Kate in with him. She struggled to keep up with his strides, almost jogging ahead as he stormed towards the door that connected the rooms. With his free hand he shot at the lock, the unfamiliar closeness making Kate flinch and her ears ring. Richie kicked the wooden barrier wide open, marching her through the room before repeating it twice more.
Kate gasped when the third time a gun was aimed at her head as they entered.
"Don't!" Ettie yelped, clutching desperately at her own captors arm. Seth stopped and let out a heavy breath of air as he lowered his weapon.
"You having fun, brother?" Richie joked as he released Kate, quite sure she wouldn't be running off this time.
"Jesus Christ, Richie!" Seth chastised. He relaxed his hold on Odette as she dug her nails into his arm. "You know, a little "hey, it's me" before you fling the friggin' door open would go a long way in keeping you alive."
"You okay?" Ettie's eyes were wide as she saw her sister's hands tremble. She was trying so hard to be brave but Ettie could see through her steeled exterior. "Kate?!" she demanded an answer. The younger girls green eyes snapped to her, and Ettie could clearly see the glossy eyes that barely held back tears.
Despite their small Texas community, Kate had never had a gun fired so close to her. She'd never seen one used to take away a life, or heard the sound it made as it hit flesh. It didn't sound like the movies, she thought. Kate bit her lip nodding, unable to talk as she tried not to think about those officers or what might happen to them. She payed once more in her head as the brothers argued.
"I moved the RV around back."
"You what?!"
"I told you we had to," Richie cut him off and raised his voice. "Look, we got to get out of here before Ranger Ricardo makes his way in."
"Richie I told you-!"
Three shots rang through the door, splintering the wood as if to prove Richie's point.
"Move." The taller brother didn't even hesitate before grabbing Kate's arm and pulled her back through the door. Seth and Ettie quickly following. His hand clutched hers tightly, pulling her behind to shield his back as Kate shielded their front.
"Freeze!" the Ranger ordered, shooting past Ettie's head and nearly hitting Seth's.
So close to the corner Seth took a risk and released Ettie, pushing her out of the way as he shot at the Ranger less than fifty feet from them behind the cover of the wall. The Ranger ducked into one of the rooms but not before getting off a shot of his own. Unlike Seth, he hit his target, the bullet grazing past Seth's arm.
"Go! Go!" He ordered his brother, trying to keep the Ranger at bay.
"Move it!" Richie snapped, releasing Kate. The gun still pointed at young Kate's head, they didn't hesitate to jog down the stairs and into the the waiting RV. As the door closed behind them, Kate was finally free of the gun. Ettie took her into her arms immediately, embracing her and trying to sooth her.
"Are you okay?" Jacob half begged his daughters, much later and out of breath than anyone expected. Ettie swallowed thickly trying to regain her breathing from the most intense seven minutes of their lives. She looked to Kate, a bit more easy in the familiar setting and without an arm around her neck or a gun to her head.
"Not bleeding," was all she could promise him. She released her, and watched as she slid into the back table with Scott. Her brother looked like a concerned puppy sitting there at the table, his dark brown eyes focused on his sister. She huffed a breath and tried to smile. They were okay. The two shared a nod, Scott's attention shifting to his other sister as Odette looked to Richie. "Well, are you leaving him or-"
"No." He snapped. "He'll be here." He continued to watch the door, his hand relaxing then re-tightening on his gun. He could hear the whispers in his head, the feeling around him telling him to hold on a bit longer.
"Wait." Richard barked at their father when the RV began to move. Jacob stopped it immediately.
"Just a little longer." Richie whispered to himself. Ettie watched him intently, her unwavering gaze drawing his own blue one.
A crash echoed above, denting the top of the ceiling, before something rolled off the top. Silence followed, shredded by the three thudding bangs against the back window.
The gun clicked as it was aimed at her father. "Drive."
Please Review :)
As always I'd love to hear what you thought. This chapters song felt so fitting for that shoot out scene and all the adults sins seeming to come after them in that moment, it really helped me turn this out once I sat down to it. Thanks for the rec, Anna.