Chapter VIII

No, no, no, no, not now, this isn't happening, this is not happening.

"Elsa, stay away!" yelled dad at me, his voice breaking at the last word. He was holding my mum's head while she was having some sort of a seizure. Please, don't let it be the virus, please …

"But dad, I want to help!" I cried because I didn't know what to do with myself.

My mum had been feeling sick for hours and at first we thought it was just flu or something like that but as soon as she started vomiting and having seizures we knew it was something worse. The symptoms were all indicating an infection with the "super-virus". I was blinding myself with the thought that such infection was impossible because we'd been isolated from people since the riots had started, maybe even longer, so we had no contact of whatsoever with the virus.

"Get me some cold water and a towel. I have to stop her body temperature from rising." I nodded and ran to the kitchen to grab a bowl and fill it with cold water. I returned to dad as quickly as possible while trying not to spill the water all over the place.

"Here," I put the bowl on the small table next to dad, far enough from mum who was still going through a seizure though spasms were getting less frequent by each passing second. I soaked the towel with water and twisted it. Dad stretched his arm towards me so I handed him the wet piece of cloth.

"Thanks. Now, back away," he murmured and pressed the towel on mum's forehead. I didn't go away though, I sat on the chair and watched, hoping for a new order or task from dad just so I had something to do.

When I thought situation couldn't get worse, my dad collapsed and fell on the floor. My heart stopped beating. My mind was blank. It was just like on the television. People falling down one by one as if someone had a switch and they decided to turn them off. I was sure it would hit me as well but I didn't care. I wanted to wake up my father, to make my mother healthy once again. Somehow I managed to crawl to the couch where my mum was laying. She was still breathing and her eyes were closed. Then I looked back at dad, grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

"Dad? C'mon dad, wake up!" I cried. "Dad, please, I'm scared …" It was all in vain. He was dead as soon as he hit the floor.

"Elsa?"

I looked up at mum who was barely awake, struggling for every breath she took. "Mum! Please, mum, don't leave me!" I couldn't hold tears back anymore.

"I'm sorry …"

"But I don't understand, you said we were safe here! Dad said we would be okay if we stayed away from people …" She shushed me with a shaky finger against my lips.

"Elsa, listen to me. You can survive this. You and Kristoff will be okay."

"How you know? We are inf–"

"Psht, you can get through this! Just stay away from people, okay? Times will change, don't trust anyone …" Her body shook with violent coughing and I noticed her sputum was filled with blood. "Don't trust anyone, okay?" she repeated after the coughing calmed down.

"Mum, I want to go with you …" My mind was spinning and I was so scared of what was about to happen.

"No, stay alive. That's my last wish. Please, stay alive." She cupped my cheek with a trembling hand and smiling one more time. "I love you, sweetie, your father and I are so proud of you."

I whimpered, my vision blurred with tears, and hugged her. I didn't want to let her go. I didn't want to be alone when the stupid virus feasted on my brain. I didn't want to go through all of the pain my mother had to endure; I hoped it would hit me fast.

And then her breathing stopped. I was staring at her chest intensely, waiting for another movement as a sign she was still alive. But another breath never came. I was left alone. You're not alone, you have Kristoff. With that thought in my mind I kissed my mum's forehead and then dad's to say goodbye and sprinted to my room, hoping desperately he was okay. When I reached the door I hesitated for a moment before grabbing the door knob with my trembling hand. I fell on my knees. I was prepared for anything but this.

"Kristoff, please, don't do it," I whispered, my eyes locked on the gun that was resting in his hand.

"I'm so sorry, Elsa, I'm a coward and I can't live like this. I–I don't–want to get killed b–by something I can't even–see," he choked on his words, tears rushing down his face. "I'm sorry about your parents …" he said more firmly. Then he lifted his gun and pointed it to his temple. "Go away, I don't want you to see this."

"Damn it, Kristoff, put the gun down!" I yelled at him, hoping he would listen to me.

He just shook his head. "It's over, Elsa, we are all going to die." I sprang to my feet to prevent the inevitable but I was too late.

He already pulled the trigger.

x

I couldn't hold back the scream that was piercing my insides from the moment the blade made contact with my skin.

"Don't you faint, you hear me? Don't you fucking faint, I'm not done with you yet," the crazy woman sneered with madness reflecting in her eyes. She was holding my hair, by that point it didn't even hurt, and pulled me so close to her face our noses were almost touching. I didn't say anything, I kept staring at her with one functional eye without showing any emotion. My voice was the only thing that betrayed my suffering.

"Elsaaaaa! Damn you bastards, leave her alone!" I heard Anna yelling and pounding on the door with such force I thought she was going to break it down.

"Feisty pants your girlfriend is, huh?" said Jess with an evil grin.

"You stupid bitch, if you keep hurting her, I swear I'm gonna impale you on the first thing I lay my hands on!" Anna continued her assault on the door.

Jess just rolled her eyes at this and sighed. "Shut her up," she said to Greg and he stood up and walked across the room to the door that led to the basement. Now it was my turn to yell.

"No! Anna! Stay away from her!" Despite pain that consumed my entire body I found some strength to try and buckle myself out of ties but they were too strong. It only caused more damage to my sore wrists which were tied on the arms of the chair.

"AAAAArgh! Shit!" I looked down on my thigh where a new source of pain was added to my agony. There was a knife sticking out of my leg and I could feel warm blood slowly soaking my pants. Jess was laughing madly. "You're not going anywhere."

"Elsaaa! Please, stop hurting her!" Anna pleaded.

When did it come to this? My mind was fogged with pain but I could still remember my determination to get Anna out of here. But I was drained from all will and strength. And because of that I was ashamed of myself. Shame burnt me like hellfire and the pain that was caused by it could be easily compared to the one my body felt. It's happening again and this time it's me who's giving up. I wasn't able to do anything to prevent Greg from entering that room.

But someone knocking on the door was. Silence filled the room and even Anna's pounding on the door ceased as if she sensed something was going on. Greg turned around, waiting for Jess' orders. She said nothing but shook her head towards the front door of the cabin. They both drew their guns out and waited for … What exactly? Greg slowly approached the door and stretched his left arm to grab the door knob. Jess nodded when he glanced at her and took a deep breath. Then he opened the door in a blink of eye.

The porch was empty. No one was out there so Greg lowered his gun and turned to face Jess.

"It must have been some stupid squirrel or I don't know what goddam animal hitting the d–"

There was a loud thump and the man fell on the floor, unconscious. The hooded person who hit him with the handle of the rifle was now standing under the door frame, his AK-47 pointed at Jess. There were three other people standing behind him, all of them carrying their own guns and rifles.

"Put the gun down," he said slowly. It brought me so much satisfaction, seeing the mad woman with a scared expression displayed on her bloody face.

She lowered the gun and eventually dropped it. She knew she stood no chance against four people. The hooded guy entered the room and started searching for something. The other three people followed him. "Where's the Mad-dog?" he stopped before my capturer.

"W–who?" asked Jess with a trembling voice.

"Hans. Where's Hans?" he asked calmly.

"I–I–I don't know, h–he left," she answered sheepishly.

"Damn it! Peter, you said the Mad-dog was here," the hooded man said, his gaze never leaving Jess' face. A boy with reddish hair and green hat answered: "I'm sorry, Flynn, I swear he was still here half an hour ago." His shoulders slumped and he tightened his grip on the MP5.

Flynn sighed and pulled back the hood which revealed his brown hair and a stern face. "It doesn't matter, you've done well. We have to work on our communication system more though." Peter's face brightened up a bit at Flynn's praise. "Punz, take care of the girl, Oaken, keep an eye on the Mad-dog's bitch, Peter, you're coming with me," the brunette man called orders and everyone did as they were told.

A thin woman with short, brown hair kneeled before me and I winced when she pulled a knife from behind her belt. "Hey, it's alright, I won't hurt you," said the brunette and carefully cut the ties around my wrists. As soon as my arms were free I stood up, knocking the woman over, and limped to the basement door, ignoring the knife which was still stuck in my thigh. I didn't care that all the guns in the room were aimed at me, except for the one that was pointed into Jess' temple, all I could think of was Anna. I could barely stand by the time I reached the door, pain was becoming too overwhelming but I didn't succumb to it. At least not just yet.

"What are you doing?" a deep voice growled, probably Oaken's.

"Someone–is in–there," I managed to hiss through my gritted teeth.

"Elsa? What's going on?" Anna's voice reached me through the door.

"Anna, I'm–here," I answered, trying to turn the key but it was almost impossible to get a grip on it with my shaking fingers.

"Here, let me," said the brunette and started turning the key. I didn't hear when she came so close to me but I let her turn the key anyway.

"T–thank you," I whispered.

"Punz, what are you doing?" Oaken asked, concern poorly concealed in his voice.

"It's alright," she said calmly while opening the door for me. I was leaning next to the wall when Anna stormed out with confusion forming on her face.

"Elsa?" She asked, failing to notice me behind her. Just when I was about to respond she saw Jess standing beside Oaken. "You!" she yelled, her expression dark as she started walking towards the woman who caused so much pain to my body but before she could reach her, Punz grabbed her upper arm and stopped her. Anna turned around and was about to say something nasty but the words stuck in her throat when she saw me leaning against the wall, beaten, broken and bloody, with that stupid knife still sticking out of my leg.

"Hi," I managed to say with a small smile before sliding down the wall.

"Oh my gods, Elsa, what have they done to you?" she said, sitting down before me and tears rolling down her cheeks. She raised her arms to touch me but drew them back, too scared to hurt me even more. "Please, can you help her?" She turned around and pleaded two pairs of eyes which looked at us with worried expressions. The woman was first to respond.

"Help me lift her," she said and grabbed my ankles. Anna hooked her arms under my armpits, apologizing when I let out a silent groan. They carried me to the couch and when Anna went to take the knife and pull it out of my leg, Punz's hand grabbed her wrist and stopped her. "Leave it to me," the woman said calmly. "I'm a nurse." She let go of Anna's arm. The read-head moved herself so she was looking straight into my eyes. "I'm sorry," I whispered. Anna was about to say something but was interrupted by Punz.

"Flyyyynn!" the brunette yelled while checking on my wounds.

The guy came rushing back into the cabin, Peter following him. "What's wrong, Rapunzel? Who's this?" he said looking at Anna.

"It doesn't matter right now, she's alright. Give me you backpack. Her wounds are worse than I thought," she said with a stern voice which left no room for protests. Flynn handed her his backpack and she pulled out a med-kit and started mending my wounds. If it hadn't been for Anna, who was holding my hand and whispering soft words to turn my attention away from pain, I would have fallen unconscious several times by the time Rapunzel was done with cleaning and wrapping cuts and bruises.

"It's getting dark," said Flynn when Punz-Rapunzel washed her bloody hands with some water from the container that stood in the corner of the room. She nodded and started packing her things.

"What shall we do with these two?" Peter asked and pointed to still knocked out Greg and Jess whose mouth was now shut with duct tape and her arms tied behind her back.

"We could end their lives right here and now," Flynn offered but the way Rapunzel looked at him after saying those words he changed his mind. "Or we could leave them here and let them face the Mad-dog's rage." Even though Flynn was apparently the leader of this group it looked like Rapunzel was the one who made final decisions. "Though, next time I see these two pieces of shit I will shoot them," he said with a disgusted tone.

"What about them?" Everyone's gaze turned to me and Anna. We had been staring at each other for a few seconds before Rapunzel broke the silence. "They can come with us if they want." What?

"What?" said all three men in unison, echoing the same question I was asking myself.

"C'mon, Flynn, you know there's space for them too and she needs proper care for her wounds," she said, taking a quick glance at me.

"Rapunzel, you don't know them! For all we know they could be psychopaths or something even worse."

"Seriously, Flynn? Look at them. And actually, I do know kind of know them."

"What?" asked Anna, once again echoing the same questing I was going to ask.

"Well, uh, I was the one, who, um, interrupted you while having … Fun in snow and, well, it was me Elsa ran after and fell into the river. I'm really sorry about that, I wanted to help you but," she looked apologetically at me and then at Anna, "damn, Anna, you should see her face when she launched herself at me, I was sure she was going to murder me, but anyway, I did want to help Elsa but then you came so I was sure you got it. And, hey, you handled the situation!" she said shyly, shame radiating from her voice.

"It was you I ran after?" I asked sceptically.

"Yes, and I'm sorry for letting you fall into the river, I really am. So let me repay you with a place in our community. What do you think?" She was looking at me expectantly and when I looked at Anna whose gaze wore the same expression I knew I'd have to say yes. After all, we did lose our home. "Anna?" I asked her to make sure she agreed. She nodded enthusiastically so I nodded too.

"Flynn?" asked Rapunzel with a serious tone. He stared at her expressionlessly but after a moment he answered. "Fine. But you have some explaining to do when we get home."

"Okay," she said simply and winked at me and Anna.

"Let's go!" he commanded and with that the six of us left the cabin of horror.

Hello there, I know, I know, I'm sorry I'm late with this update but you know what they say, better late than never.

I hope you like this chapter, I mean, yay, our girls are safe again ... Hopefully.

And as always, thank you so much for reviews, favs and follows. You guys are the best! ^^