Thank you Shiloh Beagle for your review, I had my reasons for killing off Hansel. In every Hills Have Eyes love story where they go to kill off Hades' clan they keep Hansel and I just really don't want to add too many characters.
Missy
Amber and I sat under Papa Jupiter's gaze, our eyes downward and Amber shaking at my side. I reached out and held onto her hand tightly. She looked up at me and smiled slightly, obviously terrified of the tall mutant in front of us. His scraggly beard was slightly stained with blood, and I am pretty sure I know what breed of blood that is, I just don't want to think about that right now.
He sighs and squeezes the bridge of his crooked nose and looked back at Dizzy and her 'mate', whom she calls Lizard. Dizzy looked up as if she had nothing to do with us being here and Lizard stared at her like she was stupid.
"Dizzy…why did you go after my brother and his clan?"
She looked at Papa Jupiter with innocence in her eyes that turned into icy cold snow. "Well, Lizard told me Erica was in there. Said she was Chameleons mate, and I didn't want Pluto or Goggle getting her back so I went to kill her. And anyhow weren't you planning a raid on them anyway, for taking kills? I mean two birds with one stone."
Her tone was so nonchalant about the murder of a girl and several other lives, even if those lives were tainted with evil and hate. I stared at her for a moment before looking around the room at the other mutants. They all stared at the floor or each other. An obese woman and a small crooked eyed girl talked amongst themselves, their eyes flashing to Amber and me every few moments. I blushed and brushed a strand of hair back from my face. The behemoth mutant Pluto stared at me blatantly, a goofy grin on his face. He bothered me, he reminded me of that Hades thing.
"That does not mean you are allowed to take matters into your own hands. I cannot let this go unpunished."
I watched Dizzys skin wave. She was scared, the girl covered in others blood was scared. Lizard reached out and held onto Dizzys hand, squeezing it so hard I saw the skin turn white. She flinched but didn't pull her hand away, just squeezed back.
"What will my punishment be then?" she asked, bravery laced in her tone.
Jupiter stared at her, then turned to me and Amber. When he looked back at Dizzy he seemed to have given up. "I don't know."
And he left the room, followed by the obese woman and the crooked eyed girl. I sighed in time with Dizzy and looked up to see her smile at Lizard. He snorted and let go of her hand, walking upstairs. Dizzy shook her head and skipped over to us, one of her eyes twitching.
"So, guess we need to get you girls cleaned up?"
My eyes heart leapt and I saw Ambers eyes sparkle at the thought of being clean. "Of course, if you show us the way."
She chuckled and waved for us to follow, saying she needed to shower and give first aid anyway. I nudged Amber and she stood beside me, following Dizzy and me upstairs. The bathroom was spotless and there were feminine products lined along the counter. I bought died. It's been a minute since Amber or I had done anything for ourselves in that way since before we in training for our combat skills.
Days before we were shipped out to this god forsaken desert and kidnapped.
"Ok, so let me shower real quick and then Missy you shower and then I'll take care of your wounds and so on."Dizzy piled her clothes in the corner and went to work getting the temperature of the water right. I couldn't help but stare, not because she was so brave as to just stand here naked in front of us, but because of her in general.
She had these scars on her back and stomach, three deep purple stripes on her lower back and on her slightly bulging stomach. She stretched before stepping into the shower, giving me a glimpse of the bites just on the side of her left breast and the ones on her hip bones I hadn't noticed before.
Amber and I shared a look, knowing each other had seen the bites, only amber had the nerve to speak up. "Who bit you?"
I heard her make a choking sound. "Um well…" I heard a bottle snap close. "Lizard likes to bite."
My throat close up for some reason. Why would she be anything besides a hater for these mutants? How did she get here anyway, why is se staying here with those things? Guess we'd be a part of this weird world too.
"How can you do that with him?" Amber pushed herself up onto the counter, grabbing up a bottle of moisturizer to play with. "I mean, I don't understand how you're so willingly a part of their clan or whatever."
Dizzy laughed, a husky alluring laugh. "I have been asked that too many times to count. I asked myself that a lot, but you know the only answer is I love Lizard."
"Love that thing?"
"Well yeah, before I got here my house up in New York burned down with my family inside of it. I escaped with some drugs in my truck but dumped them when my grandma said if I made it to her place I could get the mental help I needed at the time, so I dropped the stash and booked it through the desert. I flipped close to the gas station nearby and Pluto found me. he brought me here and after spending some time with Lizard I found myself sort of normal."
"What was wrong with you?" I asked.
"I had PBA, couldn't control my emotions. Lately it's just been some random crying or blood lust, but some adrenaline in there. Of course Mama says that's my body preparing for the baby."
"B-Baby?" I stuttered out.
The water cut off and her hand came through the shower curtain, showing off the gash in her palm. What was that from? Her own self affliction or her 'mates' spike strip? The jagged edges told me it was Lizard.
"Yeah, the baby. I found out I was pregnant late yesterday. All the pregnancy tests are in the trash there…yep, there they are." She snatched up a piece of toilet paper and went to work cleaning her ears out of water
I leaned over and saw the bin overflowing with them, those dreaded white sticks with pink plus sign. I remember using a ton of those when I missed my period with Clyde. I remember the utter annoyance of waiting, the anxiety of the what ifs. What if I was a bad mom? What if I lost him? What if, what if, what if. So many what ifs and I never even imagined this one. I never imagined when I joined the army I would be shipped out to the desert and kidnapped by mutants, raped by their leader and sent to live with other mutants and never be able to see my child again. I missed him. I wanted my son here with me, by my side. I didn't like him not knowing where I was and if I was safe or not, dead or alive.
"Aren't you afraid your baby will be you know…disfigured?"Amber asked boldly, jumping off the counter and getting ready to get in the shower.
I could see the cuts and bruises beneath the layer of filth on her. I could smell the scent of infection and something else, something sweet and tangy. I could see the bruises on my friend's thighs and ankles and that made my stomach turn. How can amber be so calm in this situation? Well, she is shaking a little, and not from the cold. Maybe she's just bottling it up until she has some alone time to break down quietly.
Dizzy sighed and started brushing her hair. "Not really, I mean my mate is disfigured."
"He seems mean." I mentioned when Amber was safely inside the shower, humming to herself.
I know she wouldn't be listening. She never listened when she was in the shower.
Dizzy smiled and cocked her head, closing her eyes as the bristles of the brush scraped against her neck. "I love Lizard, no one sees the side of him I do. When were alone…well he doesn't really like me to talk about it."
I cocked my head to the side, watching her rub lotion into her skin; it smelt like jasmine. "I don't…I don't understand."
She chuckled. "I don't think you would. See Lizard is very private and shy, he just hides it under all of that meanness. He's never had anyone to care enough about his inner feelings to try and reach them."
It was like she was speaking to me in a movie verse. It was sweet and beautiful and totally weird. But whatever. You can't help who you love, don't I know that to be the truth. Clyde's daddy is nothing but a lazy drug dealer. I don't even remember how I hooked up with such a loser. I remember thinking he was really cute, getting myself a good lay and waking up to find him drinking beer, eating a poptart and watching the same cartoons Clyde watched when he was about two years old.
"Where are we going to sleep?" I asked when Amber stepped out of the shower, soaking up the water from her hair in a towel.
The bruised and cuts were visible now, the cuts red and raw, but clean and the stench of infection was no more, on her at least. I sniffed myself and jerked my arm away to hang by my side. I wanted to shower now. I started to take off my clothes, flinching every time I twisted my thighs the wrong way.
"Well, I would say you can bunk with me and Lizard, but…I don't think he'd be up for that, so I guess you can stay in Erica's old room."
The girl she killed…
"Alright, do you think we could use some of this stuff?" Amber eyed all the products on the table with greedy eyes.
Dizzy chuckled and nodded. "Sure, go ahead. Let me bandage your wounds first."
I jumped into the shower, almost literally. I sighed into the smell of shampoo, the silky feel of conditioner and the faint nick of a razor blade on the back of my leg. I missed the shower, I missed being clean, I missed feeling like a woman. In the mines I was a dog, snuffling in the dirt with my ass in the air like a fucking dog. Not like I had a choice anyway in the matter.
I could still feel his cruel hands, his blistering heat that thumped off of him all the time, the stench of his breath, the drool that he forced onto me, his putrid tongue. I would rather the guy named Chameleon to fuck me. But no, I got their father. Some father, some creature. I would rather a fucking spiked dildo.
"Sit still," Dizzy sighed when I jerked under her touch.
She was pulling pieces of green wood and tiny bits of glass out of my wounds. Amber already had her situation tied up, wrapped, disinfected. She was sitting on the counter nail picking the grime still stuck under her chipped nails out. it was nice to see her in such a normal situation.
A loud knocking on the door made amber and I jump, but Dizzy just sighed and stood, turning to the door, opening it to reveal Lizard.
"When ya gon' get done?" he growled.
"When I'm done Lizard. Both of them need treatments for their wounds right now."
"Get Mama to do it."
She shook her head and stepped closer to him. "Please Lizard, we'll have plenty of time to talk later." She looked down. "I know what you want to talk to me about anyway. Just go wait for me, ok?"
He gave in with a grunt and turned, stomping down the hallway. Dizzy let the door shut with a smack and fell down onto the floor beside my outstretched leg again.
"What was that about?"Amber asked.
"He wants to talk about me snapping in the mines. Long story, I really don't want to talk about it."
She said it in such a rush it all seemed like one word, but I could pick it apart thanks to being a mom. Clyde said things that fast when he was hurt and trying to be my brave little man.
"Alright, hey which room was that girls? I'm so tired." Amber yawned into her arm.
"I know Lizard left our door open, the room he's in, just go to the one to the right of it when you're facing the door."
Amber nodded and jumped from the counter, patting my head as she left the room. I smiled and leaned back on my arms closing my eyes. I couldn't wait until this was done and I could baby myself alone. As if that was the magical thought, I felt the wrappings of my bandages tighten up and then loosen. I opened my eyes and saw Dizzy taping it to where it won't fall off. She smiled at me and packed up the supplies, setting the small box under the sink.
"Alrighty then, guess you'll want to get all pretty for yourself so I'll leave you to it. if you need anything just knock on our door, no one's getting laid tonight."
I chuckled and nodded, standing up using the counter top as a support. Dizzy was gone, wandering down the hallway to her room. I watched her back for a moment, wishing I felt that comfortable around these mutants.
