Chapter Sixteen: don't feed me violence

Baltimore is surprisingly empty. Caroline hadn't really stopped to actually notice just how much of a wasteland it is, but now as she navigates Nik through the decrepit city she starts to wonder just what happened. Cars without engines or tires and most likely siphoned gasoline are parked by the sidewalks or just stopped in the middle of the roads and streets. Convenience shops and department stores are broken into, their resources cleaned out. Liquor stores are empty, not a drop of alcohol left. Shame too, because she could really use another drink. They all could.

"We're close," she says to Nik as they pass by a collapsed train bridge. She remembers glancing at the train in the dark, how ominous it looked and wondering if anyone was on it.

"There," Caroline tells him, sitting up in her seat as the cement covered building comes into view. She instructs Nik to drive around the back of the building where drop-off is. Slowly he approaches the metal overhead door, apprehension pumps through Caroline's veins, and then suddenly one of their tires is blown out.

"What—"

One of the back windows shatter and Nik forcibly pushes Caroline down in her seat as far as she can go as he attempts to duck beneath the steering wheel, but this car isn't that big so his head is still in clear view.

"And these are your friends," Nik whispers hoarsely.

"They must not know it's me," she says, reaching for the handle. "I'll just go out and—"

"So they can shoot you? Love, I don't think you unders—"

But Caroline is already dragging herself out the vehicle. She lands roughly on her shoulder and fights back a scream and just slithers herself across the pavement. Everything is closed up, the few windows on the top level are boarded up. She can't pinpoint where the shots are coming from, but she'll bet everything that it's definitely coming from Damon. He's a douche, but he wouldn't exactly murder her because he was pissed. It wasn't like she did anything to him. That was all on Elena. Sort of.

"What are you doing, Barbie?" Damon asks himself. He sets down the sniper rifle and continues to peek through the boarded window, the sliver of day peeping through into the small box filled room.

He watches her walk around aimlessly, and her mouth is moving, but he can't make it out. And then someone else comes out of the car, his car, and this guy is just as mouthy as Caroline and he grips her arm and starts forcing her back into the car. Damon laughs.

And he thinks that's the end of it. They will leave, not get far with a busted tired, and goodbye Miss Forbes and stranger. But no. Some reason he's failed to notice the RV that pulls up a few yards behind his SUV. The man that shoved Caroline in the car turns around and starts jogging towards the vehicle and the side door bursts open as a dark-haired man comes out with a megaphone and a duffle bag.

Uh.

He shoots up out of his seat, grabs the sniper, and darts out the room. Megaphone? Big no-no.

"They're looking for a war," Elijah tells his younger brother as he opens up the duffle bag. A rather large, mutant of a gun lays in it and Nik tilts his head at it.

"XM25 CDTE," Elijah explains, dragging a finger along the eyepiece. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Where did you get a grenade launcher? They made these especially to ship off to Afghanistan and Iraq. How did…"

"I don't think that's important," Elijah says as he picks it up. It's heavy but feels so lovely in his grasp. Nik takes the megaphone from off the ground and watches as his brother kneels in front of the RV, loading in the rounds. "If they think they can beat me, well, they can't."

Nik grins as Elijah looks through the eyepiece at one of the boarded windows. He scans over the others ones, searching for an open spot where a shot might've came from. There's a small split in two wooden boards and he figures that must be the location, but he can't see anyone behind it.

"Chances are that if I shoot through the overhead, it'll go through and we'll have clear entry. The thing is, we don't know what they have. They could have a whole arsenal, which I don't have."

"As long as we each have a gun each, then we should—"

"You can't just kill my friends!" Caroline barks.

Nik twists his head around and grimaces. "Caroline, get back in the car."

"Stop bossing me around," she retorts, the fire burning in her eyes. "I can make my own decisions. They're my friends and if I'm the one who confronts them, then it'll be less hostile." She looks past him at Elijah and narrows her eyes. "Blowing the place up isn't going to do anything but make them angrier. Not to mention all the noise it would cause."

"Noise won't be a problem once we get in and get out, Caroline," Elijah tells her. "These are not your friends anymore. There are no such things as friends in this world any longer."

Nik nods solemnly, refusing to look at her. It's the ugly truth. They can't trust her "friends" and they can't trust them.

She sets her jaw and her eyes flick over Nik's face, how he purposely avoids her strong gaze and instead turns on the megaphone. He walks away from them, starting towards the building like he's on a mission. Caroline follows after him swiftly, shouting a string of swears, and Elijah gets back into his position.

"Anything goes wrong, don't hesitate," Nik yells back to Elijah.

"What do you think you're doing?" Caroline continues to reproach, but Nik ignores her. "Answer me!"

Instead of answering her, he brings the megaphone up to his mouth and without any hesitance he shouts, "I think you're going to want to let us in!"

"Who the hell is this jackass?" Jeremy asks as he peeks through one of the tiny window slits at the top of the overhead. "Is he crazy?"

"They have Caroline," Elena says warily. "What if she's hurt? Damon, we have to let them in."

Damon scoffs and shakes his head. Unbelievable. "She knocked you out, Elena. You knocked me out. You have no say in anything."

Elena's frown deepens and she turns her distaste towards Stefan, but he just tells her to shut up.

"She's our friend!" Elena yells, her voice breaking. "Just let her in! She's desperate!"

"We open the door to her and we open the door to them and whatever the hell they have," Damon hisses. "One of them could be bitten and then we're stuck in here with a monster. You want to turn, Elena? Do you want to die today?"

Her mouth straightens into a line and her jaw clenches. She brings her hand up quickly to smack him, but he stops her, grasping her wrist tightly.

"Don't ever do that again." His voice is dripping with venom and laced with anger. His ice blues, clear and reflecting Elena's frightened face, burn through her corneas and straight into her soul.

"Go into the back," he says, his eyes darting to Bonnie. "Both of you."

He drops her wrist and Elena tries to play it off like she snatched it back, but everyone knows that's not the case. Even Jeremy doesn't say anything because as it turns out, if it weren't for Damon, none of them would even be here. Damon is always right so don't even question his methods. It's kept them alive this long.

Once they're gone, Jeremy asks what the plan is because so far, there isn't one. They've got a raging lunatic shouting at them outside through a megaphone, they've got a neurotic blonde yelling at him, and there's a guy hid behind an RV aiming something at them. Seriously, this day has just gone bananas. Actually, everything has gone bananas since Caroline showed up. Of course, of course. It should've been expected. She does have a track record of gloom and doom.

"How about an exchange?" Stefan suggests. "And by exchange I mean we just hand over Elena and Bonnie and call it a day."

Damon half-smirks. "They want supplies, Steffy. Things we can't afford to give away. If we shoot them, then we'll have rotting bodies outside and who knows what that'll attract."

"Exchange me," Jeremy interrupts. "Me for Caroline. Or just me. I don't care. I'm sick of staying in this place—"

"Jeremy, be quiet," Damon tells him and reverts his attention back to Stefan. "Like I was saying—"

"Anyone would want more manpower," Jeremy continues. "Maybe it's a drawback and strain on supplies, but maybe if you gave me at least a box full then we could be on our way."

"Do you ever think before you speak?" Stefan asks, dumbfounded. "Nobody wants a whiny sixteen-year-old on their team. We don't even want you, but we have to deal with you."

Jeremy blinks slowly, swallowing down the horrible taste in his mouth as Stefan and Damon continue to ignore him. They don't think he's an asset? Maybe he's not. Maybe he is just there, taking up space. Expendable. But riddle him this, if it weren't for him taking out that straggler in Richmond with his bat, as it was just about to bite Damon who wasn't paying attention, how is he taking up space? How does that equal not wanting to be dealt with?

Well then.

With no regrets on his mind, Jeremy unlocks the overhead and slides it up, the metal clanking against the ceiling. Damon rushes over and tackles Jeremy to the ground, the both of them rolling out onto the pavement of the lot. Stefan watches from the safety of the building, in shock at the two of them throwing blows at one another and completely disregarding the strangers that have began to invade. He reaches around and withdraws his 9 mm from his waist, ready to shoot.

Caroline throws her head back in exasperation and lets out a torturous groan. Why, why, why?

She starts after Nik who's already jogging past Damon and Jeremy tussling on the ground. Blow after blow lands on Jeremy's face and Caroline doesn't know what caused this to happen, but she manages to land a kick in Damon's lower back and suddenly Jeremy has the upper hand as he rolls Damon onto his back and gives back what was given.

She smiles confidently.

"Hello. I don't believe we've met," Nik greets Stefan, all manipulative smiles. "I'm Nik."

Caroline rolls her eyes. He wasn't so smooth with her.

"Let's skip the formalities," Stefan says, still pointing the gun directly at his forehead. "What do you want?"

Nik grins and takes another step towards Stefan. "What would any man want in this situation? See, the lovely Caroline—," he glances back at her and she waves sheepishly in a don't-hate-me-please sort of way, "—informed us, my brother and I, that you had a safe house of the sorts." He looks up, does a slight walk around as if he owns the place.

Caroline is mystified. How do you even…? There's a gun pointed at you…I don't…I can't even…

"We're just looking to ride this catastrophe out in as much safety as your group is in," Nik continues. "Now you could let us in willingly, or this place can just…explode."

Stefan's eye twitches as he locks a gaze with Nik. "You'd die."

"I have no problem in sacrificing myself for the lives of my siblings. You on the other hand, Stefan I presume—"

"Say another word and I swear to God I'll slit her throat."

Caroline hadn't even noticed, too concentrated on this strange interaction between Nik and Stefan. So calm and cool. And then there's a knife at her throat and Damon's behind her and her first thought is that she brought this on herself. Damon already doesn't like her, so her coming back was basically a death wish.

Nik turns around and Stefan lowers his gun, astounded at this visual. Is Damon serious? What could this possibly solve? But then he sees it. How rigid this guys goes as he watches Caroline struggle in his brother's grasp. Her eyes never once leave Nik as a single tear slides down her cheek. Damon's are a wildfire, driven by madness and the coursing rage hallowing out his soul. No morals, uncaring; like Stefan himself at this point. He figures in a world such as this one they have been given, compassion has no place. It is replaced with Darwin ideologies, "survival of the fittest", and Caroline is not the fittest. She is merely a ploy in all of this; a little blonde distraction. But he can't ignore the brevity of silent exchanges between these two people he's only figured are strangers, yet he's wrong.

"Let her go," Nik manages to say evenly, but the tightness in his throat says otherwise. It's so close to her skin. All it'll take is a little pressure and she'll be gone.

Stefan comes up behind Nik and locks him in a chokehold, his forearm just on his windpipe as Nik struggles to keep his eyes open and on Caroline and fight Stefan off. And things are going wrong. Elijah isn't supposed to hesitate. He can see this happening, right? Blow this place up, take Rebekah, and leave. Leave, leave, leave.

"Please stop," is a shrill cry from Caroline as the world starts to fade to black.

Why didn't I tell you, love?

Murmurs and whispers and mumbles and mutters from a different room swim into Caroline's ears as she stirs from her dreamland. She was running in circles in a forest, screaming for someone whose name she can't remember. She just knew that she had to find them and quick before it was too late. But then it happened. She was bitten. Her feet were grabbed and ground swallowed her up, teeth tearing into the artery on her neck. And all while this was happening, she wasn't crying for herself. She wasn't screaming as the life started to slip away from her body. No. She was crying for that person she kept chasing and chasing; searching and screaming for. It was the thought of leaving them behind that killed her. It was the thought of not being able to say those three words that she'd wanted to say for as long as she could remember. I love you. And she really does.

Maybe it wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare. There's no room in this hell and there's no room in the one she fathoms up.

Her head lulls to the side and in the opposite corner of the room is Nik, unconscious with his head drooped low. Instantly she moves to get to him, but she can't. Her arms are bound behind her back, tied to a concrete beam. She struggles to break free to no avail, her shoulder still weak from the dislocation earlier in the day. Is it still that day? How long has she been out for? Why was she out? What'd they do to her?

"Elena," she calls weakly, her tongue feeling like sandpaper. "Elena…Bonnie…"

Anyone…please?

The distant chattering stops and Caroline lets out a quiet sob as she slides down onto the cement even further. They've left them in here to rot. They've locked her and Nik away to starve. To turn into savages just so they can shoot them in the head and call it compassion. These are supposed to be her friends. Why do this? Why do this to her? She only wanted to help.

When Nik comes to, disoriented and his head pounding, Caroline's head is resting heavily on his shoulder. She looks peaceful, calm. He gently shakes her, but she doesn't respond. She's deadweight and when he nudges her slightly she falls over to the side, the side of her face smacking against the cement flooring.

No…

"Caroline…sweetheart, wake up…Caroline…" He rolls her over onto her back and that's when he sees the long red gash running across her throat

No no no.

"Caroline."

Say something, love. Make a noise. Anything. Caroline.

But she doesn't. He shakes her, pulls her into his arms to shift some of his body heat towards her, but she doesn't wake. She's cold and already fleeting and he's warm and still constant. His heart beats for hers in its silent absence, willing it to restart. He pumps at her chest, beat dammit beat!, blows oxygen through her mouth only for it to come out through her throat. She wasn't meant to leave this way. No, not like this. Something more valiant or something less painful. She's supposed to go in her sleep, not gasping for air that her lungs fail to accept.

So Nik just holds her, strokes back her hair, curses that bastard who dared to even touch her. He curses himself for not being able to protect her. He curses Caroline herself for being so naïve and wanting to come back to this place. You stupid, stupid girl.

But then, suddenly, she's here so he drops her. Moves away from her. She's moving and her eyes are wild, white, and aware. Her blue lips open and close, her teeth chatter against each other, and her arms are disoriented as she tries them out seemingly for the first time. It's like watching a rebirth, a new life form entering the world with no knowledge except an insatiable hunger.

But Nik is a fool for thinking she's here. She's gone. This thing, this monster hissing at him and gnashing its tiny white teeth is not Caroline. Its skin, alabaster and just like cream, is thin and stretches with every movement.

She can't get to him quickly enough, her legs are wobbly and she's uncoordinated with every step, but she has to get to him. She can smell the blood underneath that skin, and just the flesh alone is driving her mad. If she can just sink her teeth into it, tear out as much as possible and savor the taste as it slides down her throat.

She needs it. Give it to her. Give me.

She lunges at Nik, but he holds her off even though her fingers dig into his arms, her nails piercing into his skin. Maybe it's all over just from this little split second, but he'll kill her before he lets her taste a drop of blood. She's raging, angry, and starved as he shoves her into a wall.

This isn't Caroline. This isn't her.

It's a monster and monsters do not feel. They do not care. She can't recognize that it's him, blinded by this ravenous yearning for raw flesh and nothing less. He tells himself that hitting her over and over again, bashing her head into the wall repeatedly—it isn't Caroline. She can't feel it. But with this face and this head of soft curls it's hard to believe. But he can't stop. The sound of her skull cracking again and again against the concrete wall, the image of her darkened blood staining the gray and brain matter splattering out onto his hand and him entirely.

And Caroline is dead again but he can't stop. Her body falls to the ground, yet he can't control himself as his foot kicks in its head again and again; consumed by this rage and hopelessness, this desperation that eats him from the inside out as the face slowly becomes nothing more but red and black. And now he's alone, a dying man as the cuts she's given bleed down his arms, her fleeting legacy on his skin and flowing through his bloodstream. How much time does he have before he's the very thing that he's killed time and time again?

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A/N: Aw shit double update!