Noah didn't know how long he'd been asleep, but Tina's stirring forced him to open his eyes. She let out a small, pained moan as the extent of her injuries began to set in, and tried to climb off of Noah's legs. Noah held her as tight as he dared, not letting her stand up for fear she had a concussion and would fall down. She whimpered and pushed weakly against his arms. Shh, shh. He cupped her face in his hands, making her look at him. It's just me. They're not here. She collapsed into his chest and sobbed.
Kurt ventured closer again, scratching at his bare side where the ribs looked like massive fingers clamped around his narrow torso. She saw the inside of the oven, he said. Didn't she?
Noah kept a firm hand on the back of Tina's head, not letting her turn and see. When I said stay away, I meant it.
Why?
You're sick.
Kurt wheezed a laugh. Sick cattle. That's a good one. I get sick, then they get sick... Genius. Remember mad cow?
Noah, who is that? Tina cried softly, her eyes buried in his neck.
It's nobody. Don't look.
Can't hide forever, Kurt said, shrugging and hoisting up his jeans as they began to slip over his jutting hips. They'll come back.
Tina shrank closer to Noah, making no sound.
Shut up, Noah growled, his lip curling. They will not come back.
Another wheezing laugh and a shake of the head. Telling her that won't make them stay up there.
It was dark in the cellar. The only sounds were the shallow, quiet breathing of the skeletons in the shadows; no light came through the slats in the boards over the tiny windows. The air smelled putrid, and it was getting worse as Noah sat against the wall, half-asleep. Tina leaned into his shoulder, wide awake.
Noah?
Hm?
I'm scared.
Me too.
What happens if we never get out of here?
We will.
You don't know that.
No. Are you all right?
Yeah.
Does it still hurt?
Yeah.
What happened up there?
Nothing.
Tina…
Nothing happened.
He gripped her hand. It's okay. Finn's gonna come back for us.
No, he's not.
You don't know that.
Yes, I do. He has to protect Summer. There's no contest. He won't risk her safety for ours. Not after Quinn.
What does Quinn have to do with it?
There was a long silence. Nothing, she said.
The next day, the cellar smelled bad enough to make Tina vomit, emptying the contents of her stomach onto the cement. Noah held her hand while she convulsed and made sure his coat kept her mostly covered, since there were no other clothes he could offer her to preserve her dignity. Earlier she had allowed him to use his hands to apply pressure to most of the areas on her body to make sure that none of her bones were broken, but she had cried silently as he did it, her nails digging into her palms.
When she was done, she wiped her mouth, and Noah helped her sit back down. There were fresh tears leaving dirty tracks on her face, and she held her hand over her nose in a weak attempt to shield it from the smell.
I hope they come soon, she said.
Don't say that.
I do. I can't do this any more.
It's going to be okay, Tina.
Stop saying that.
No.
Later, the door slammed open and two men came stomping down the steps, their nostrils flaring as the pungent odor washed over them.
What the hell is that? asked one.
Aw crap, we lost one.
The men went over to where the lone child lay, one delivering a swift kick to the boy's belly. The boy rolled over, stiff and cold.
Been dead for a couple days if he's stinkin' up the place.
Tina turned away, not watching as they picked him up, dragging his body upstairs and out of sight. She and Noah both knew that the corpse would simply be dropped in the woods somewhere far enough away from the house so they could no longer smell it. No burial, no animals to strip the bones bare, no acknowledgment that the boy was no older than six. Just tossed in the woods to rot. But that was the way things went now, wasn't it?
Poor boy's missing out on his dinner, said Kurt from his corner.
Noah and Tina said nothing, and eventually, the men returned. Tina reflexively shrank as close to Noah as she could, her eyes wide and afraid. The men looked from skeleton to skeleton, and settled on Noah.
They had to call two more of their cronies downstairs in order to separate him from Tina and then force him up the steps, yelling and kicking and struggling all the while. Tina screamed and beat one of the men with her fists, but he backhanded her across the face and she staggered back and fell to the floor. We'll be back for you again later, he snapped, locking the door behind him.
A/N: I know this is a short chapter, and I'm sorry for that. Review anyways?