A/N~Hey, to let everyone know, I rewrote the ending part of Chapter One, and kept Kynsleigh Luna in this story, but don't worry... Me and my friend have a plan to bring a certian baby into the story, but I ain't gonna spoiled nothing! Anyway, back to the story!
It was around midday that Indie came downstairs, heading to the kitchen as Jolie came back indoors and shook the snow off of her boots, the little white clumps flying out of the door before it closed. She took the boots off and placed them down near the small radiator, then removing her gloves and putting them atop the same unit.
"Jo!" Indie exclaimed happily, the 5 year old running towards her foster parent... but stopped when she saw the look on Jolie's face, her torn jeans, the snow melted into water against her body heat which had soaked into her clothes, and the fear in her eyes. "What's... wrong?"
"Indie, don't go outside! Just... cover all the windows, close the curtains-" Jolene responded, or tried to, cut off midway by a slamming on the closed door and the cracking of the hinges being knocked inside the wooden frame. "Scratch that, get a gun!" Indie stumbled back with her eyes wide with fright as she tried to recompose herself and run to the back room, where the weapons were kept.
Bursting into the small room, she grabbed the rifle she remembered was Jolene's best, the old Lee Enfield No. IV, its wooden frame recently replaced with a golden shine to it. She picked it up, remembering that it could load a maximum of 10 .303 bullets but only being able to find five in one of her mother's loading sliders, which she used while hunting in case the rifle ran out, for a quicker reload. She clipped in the slider and pushed the bullets down into the rifle, before throwing the slider to the floor and slotting the bolt back forwards, chambering the first bullet.
She ran back towards her foster mother, who was leant hard against the door trying to keep it shut... but then a much harder shove slammed her down and swung the door open, Indie screaming in fright and dropping the large firearm, which went off when it hit the floor, the bullet grazing her boot which made her scream even more.
As Indie scrambled back towards the living room, the intruder gave Jolene a hard kick to the face before with a quick move of his foot, he sent the rifle upwards and caught it, slotting the bolt to release the fired shell and chamber the next of the bullets. He aimed and fired towards the edge of the doorway, knowing that such a high caliber of bullet would be able to pass through the wood. It, however, missed and he slotted the bolt action again as he marched after Indie, firing again as he caught sight of her around the doorway to the storage room. The bolt went again, and to his knowledge the rifle could hold 10 shots, but there was no way to tell that there were now only two left.
Indie headed down to the cellar. She reached to her waist, she was becoming exhausted and needed to turn up the speed on her mechanical heart to get a higher amount of oxygen to her muscles. The basement was dark, cobwebs here and there, old crates and rotted old hay. She ran towards the other side of the room, trying to open the door at the end. She tried turning the doorknob, but found that over years of disuse, it had rusted into place. She turned... and then he was there, at the bottom of the steps, rifle in hand. He raised and fired, as Indie ducked down towards the crates, wood from the door at the end splintering apart with the bullet impact. That was when Indie used the time it took to slide the bolt action to run towards him and shove past him, scrambling up the stairs...
Being that close to him, she recognised him now. She knew who he was, and it only made it more terrifying. Her drug addicted, violent father.
She reached the front door...
One more shot rang out. This time, the .303 hit her leg, grazing the side of her knee. She screamed and fell, the blood starting to seep out and down her leggings. She pulled herself up quickly, the adrenaline fueling her as she looked towards the kitchen.
"Indie, get out of here!" Jolene shouted, Indie hesitating for a moment before opening the front door and starting to run, past the barn and along the dirt track, almost slipping over on the ice. The man stood in the doorway, walking after her with the rifle aimed. He pulled the trigger... and it clicked empty, the last bullet having been fired. Growling in frustration, he took out his own Glock firearm and fired towards Indie. The pistol, however, was much less accurate at long range and all shots missed Indie before it clicked empty, and Indie was on the horizon of the hill. He lowered it, before he turned and reloaded it as he went back inside.
Indie didn't look back. She just kept running, as best as she could as the pain in her knee began to set in. She jumped as she heard several loud bangs from back in the house, which led to a strong twinge of pain in her knee. She looked down as her hand went to cover the wound, the blood by now leaving that side of her leg below the wound soaking. She looked at the box, turning it up another click. She needed the extra oxygen to function through this, but any higher would be dangerous for her. Right now, if she were in peak health, blood pumping at this speed would be enough to level with an Olympic athlete in their home straight sprint.
Finally the light hit her eyes, and though she wasn't sure how much time had passed, she was amongst the buildings of the town. The yellow tinted street lamps did little to illuminate the far off path in the falling snow, but it allowed her to see far enough. She walked slowly forth, along the path between the buildings to her right and the long heaped snow on the side of the road left by the plough trucks.
She had to find help somewhere, and at this time of night the streets were deserted. She passed the turn off to the church, then the grocery store and movie theatre. She pressed on, determined to keep going... but she needed to rest. She found the entrance to an alleyway, leaning on a bent and broken metal bar which was pointing outwards for a moment... it was stained with something, maybe a thicker rust, she doubted it could be the sinister blood it looked like it was. Finally after a while, the small girl was able to stand properly again and continue on. She continued down the street, limping as the pain had near enough fully hit her. Finally she came to the entrance of an old caravan site... and saw one with its inside lights on. Finally, some salvation.
Then the pain hit her. She cried out and fell in the snow, whimpering as she held the wound. She had to carry on, it was only a mere few steps away... more blood was forced out as she locked her muscles up, and then she knew she had to turn the heart down or else bleed to death. She clung to the box with shaky hands, turning it down to a click below the normal setting... then came getting up. It was agony, but she managed to stand, enough to limp slowly towards the caravan and knock on the door...
When it opened, Blake was met with a panting, teary-eyed and freezing girl collapsed on the steps, breathing heavily with a box with a box in her hand, a wire disappearing up under her shirt.
"Oh my God.. " Blake said shockingly, while looking down at the fainted small girl. "Don't worry…" She whispered, before lifting up Indie. "You'll be safe with me." She finished, before closing the door, and leading her towards the master bedroom.
As Blake laid the small girl down on the bed, the dark haired teen with saw blood seeping through her black leggings, making a huge stain.
"Shit, someone wants you dead." Blake whispered, after rolling up the left side of Indie's leggings. "Hmm… I'm no doctor, but I'll do what I can." She explained, making a beeline towards the bathroom to wash her hands first, before grabbing a small tube of Neosporin, a few cotton swabs, rough bandages and a few band aids. Running back to the wounded small girl, Blake sat down on the left bedside next to Indie, before examining her kneecap.
The dark haired teen lifted up Indie's leg onto her lap, as she decide to wipe the bleeding graze, before using the Neosporin and hearing the small girl whimpering in pain.
"I'm sorry, kiddo…" Blake said, after moving the cotton swab away from the grazed kneecap. "I'll go easy." She stated, before doing it lighty, covering the infected area with ointment. Then Blake slowly lifted up Indie's leg, as she started wrapping the rough bandages on her knee cap, before place two band aids stick onto the bandages. "That's all I can do…" Blake said, before placing Indie's leg back onto the bed. "How do you feel?" She questioned the golden blonde haired girl… but Indie didn't responded and just kept quiet, as she stay asleep.
"She's so tired out… I'll let her sleep. For now, I should get rid of the trash around this place to make this more friendly.. And hope she wakes up." Blake thought to herself, after covering Indie with the black comforter and touched her forehead, still feeling the coldness against the palm of her hand.
A few hours passed by before Indie stirred and slowly opened her eyes to the light of the room. Her head slowly lifted, then followed by her arms pushing her to sit upright, looking around. She saw the bed, the walls with slightly faded colour, the old glass screen TV. A glance out of the window told her that the sun was just starting to rise as the sky turned a dark blue, snow still falling and anything beyond a certain distance faded behind a fog. She tried to move as normal, she'd forgotten the wound, but she was certainly reminded very quickly as it felt like a blade ran through her knee. She pulled the covers back and looked down at the bandage wrapped around her knee, then made an effort to move slower as she climbed off of the bed.
She was careful about putting weight upon the leg again, and slowly stepped through the doorway and out to the main kitchen and living room area, where she recognised the smell and sound of baked beans bubbling away in a saucepan, leaning against the wall for support as she stood still near the doorway.
"Okay, cutie pie, hold still for me…" Blake said, before slipping on a light blue onesie that had a watermelon allover print for Kynsleigh's small body. "There we go, Kynsleigh Luna. You're finally dressed." She stated, before placing warm pink socks on her small feet as she started kicking them. "You're very ticklish, aren't you, baby girl?" She questioned.
"Ah da!" Kynsleigh babbled as a response, before having her small hands reaching out towards Blake's face.
"Well, if you don't hold still, you'll be freezing cold. But good thing, we have the heat on in the trailer home to help us, sweetpea." Blake explained, before lifting up Kynsleigh into her arms as the baby girl clapped her small hands while looking at them, making her laugh happily.
Blake laughed quietly as she can now hear the baked beans bubbling in the saucepan, before walking towards the pink and white baby jumper in the middle of the hardwood floor. "Now, I must go check on dinner… I'll be back with a yummy bottle for you, Kynsleigh Luna." She said, while strapping the baby girl into the jumper, before placing a pacifier into her mouth to keep her occupied. When she stood back up on her feet and turn towards her left, Blake noticed Indie who remained leaning against the cabinet door, looking at the dark haired teen. "Hey, there… You're finally awake, kiddo." She greeted while looking at Indie.
"Yeah… hey. Thank you for… saving me." Indie responded, before she noticed that her hands had gotten shaky again and remembered turning down the heart setting, taking the box into her hand and turning the dial again, to a relaxed speed.
"Do you remember what happened?" Blake questioned, as she walked close to Indie before getting on her knees.
"Dad came for us… he took my mom's gun, I think… I think he killed her. He's the one that shot me… I last remember being out there in the snow, did you find me outside?" Indie answered, clipping the control box back to her small belt, alongside the battery.
"Yeah, I did…" Blake answered, while looking at the control box and battery, before looking back at Indie. "I found you outside of my childhood home…" She explained, before getting back at her feet. "This is the place where I was born in, and over there is where my birth mother gave birth me. Against the couch and on the floor." She pointed out, before heading toward the electric stove check on the slice up hot dogs franks. "You want some food? It's baked beans and cut up hot dogs, which I called 'beanie weenies' with peaches on the side." She offered, while stirring the baked beans.
"Yeah… sounds nice." Indie answered, looking down at the control box again, at the small display to the side and seeing that she had about three hours left. She could leave it for now, but unclipped the battery to remind herself of what the socket looked like, to keep an eye out for a lead with that end on it, maybe half of a laptop charger or the power cable of a DVD player. She wandered into the other room, where the baby's laid down and sat near her, watching the little one. She'd never had a baby sibling, for that matter she'd never had a baby cousin either or even a friend with a baby sibling, so she was clueless as to what to do with her… but Kynsleigh Luna made her smile with her little babbles and curiosity staring up at the five year old girl with her powder blue eyes.
"Here you go…" Blake said, handing the small girl a dinner plate with mostly peaches. "Until I can clean up this small house of mines, we have to eat on the floor for now." She explained, before sitting down next to Indie while holding a freshly prepared baby bottle in the other hand. "You like the baby?" She questioned, while shaking Kynsleigh's bottle.
"She's a funny little thing… and I'm used to eating on the floor. My foster dad… he didn't like us being at the table after being out in the farmyard, liked to keep that area of the house super clean." Indie replied, as she began to eat, starting with one of the peach slices.
"Well, it will be clean one day. I just can't stand to see this trailer home being a dump." Blake explained, before uncapping Kynsleigh's violet tinted baby bottle and started feeding the baby girl, after removing her green soothie pacifier from her small pink mouth. "What's with the battery and the small box on your belt? Are you sick or something?" She questioned while looking at Indie.
"My foster mom used to call it a… biomechanical heart. My old one stopped working a while ago, so the doctors gave me this one. It has speed control, up or down if I'm running or relaxing… though I need to recharge it sometimes, and I need to soon or it'll stop working." Indie explained while unclipping and showing the two small boxes, and then pulling up her top a bit so that Blake could see the two small wires that went up to her chest and then into her skin.
Blake stared at the wires for a few seconds as she felt worried about how this little girl survive with a mechanical heart. Maybe something bad to her when she was just born or maybe with her birth parents. But seeing how this girl survives, Blake can understand Indie's condition.
"I understand, kid. Does it need to be charged or something?" Blake questioned, before looking back at Kynsleigh who's halfway finish with her bottle and had her small hands on the neck of it.
"It's rechargeable… for a while, it needs to be replaced every six months, but the doctors do that. I've only had it changed once, since I've had it for eight months… I think the wire is pretty similar to a laptop charger, I didn't have time to pick it up before I ran." Indie answered, looking at the bottom of the battery where the socket was and showing it to Blake.
"Hmm… does a phone charger counts?" Blake questioned, before pointing towards the counter next to the black refrigerator where her iFruit phone charger was plugged into the wall. "You can use mines. Just take the phone off the charger, and you can have it, kiddo." She explained, before Indie left her plate on the floor, walking towards the counter.
"I have to get rid of that phone somewhere. I don't even need it anymore." Blake thought to herself while watching Indie.
"It fits… thank you." Indie responded as she took the charger and plugged it into the battery unit, checking the control box battery meter and seeing that it was charging.
"You're welcome." Blake said showing a smile, before removing the bottle from Kynsleigh's mouth. "So, since I've ask you a question. I think it's time that you've ask me one. You have anything on your mind to ask me about?" She questioned, before wiping off the baby girl's mouth with sensitive baby wipes.
"Well… it sure doesn't look like this is exactly your home. At least… not one I'd have thought someone with a small baby would be living in." Indie replied after a moment of thinking.
"This is my home for now… I still have enough money for food, but I need to go find a job and someone who can watch the little. I heard there's a babysitter down the road who lives in a trailer home like me, who can do it for $10." Blake explained, while lifting up Kynsleigh into her arms. "Beside I just paid the rent for this month. I sorta ran away… but I'm here to start over. What about you? Do you have someone to take care of you? Anyone you can think of?" She questioned, as both Blake and Indie can hear Kynsleigh making soft cooing noises.
"I was in foster care for a reason… no one else." Indie answered as she sat down nearby, looking at the snow falling out of the window.
"This girl has been through a lot already. No home. No family. No nothing. She sounds just like me… but younger and different. I can't just abandon her… Maybe I should let her into my life, and I'll be one to look after her along with these little one in my arms." Blake thought to herself, before the dark haired teen walked towards Indie and got on one knee, noticing how depressed the small five year girl felt after what she'd been through. "It will be a challenge for me. But it will be worth it."
"Is there a possibly that I can take care of you?" Blake questioned. "You know, like making sure you have nice warm food, clothes on your back and even a comfy bed." She explained, holding Kynsleigh, as the baby's chin's rested on her left shoulder.
"I'd… like that. There's just… my father, to… keep an eye out for. He's… dangerous." Indie answered, looking up with a smile.
"Hey, dangerous is my middle name, kid… Not really, but there's probably one thing in your mind that you've probably want to ask me. And it's my name and this baby girl's name, right?" Blake explained, cradling Kynsleigh in her arms as she decide to guess what Indie was thinking about. "Plus you have to tell me yours, I can't call you kid or kiddo all the time, if I need to get your attention in the future." She said.
"Well… Indie. There were just… other things on my mind is all." Indie answered, standing up again and stretching out her arms.
"Okay, Indie. It's a very cute name." Blake said, before getting back up on her feet. "You can calling me Mom or… Maven for now, if you're okay with that." She explained, as Kynsleigh started reaching out for Blake's shoulder length raven black hair.
"Yeah… one of those." Indie answered.
"Which I'm okay with…" Blake said, before looking back at Indie's plate on the floor. "You better eat your food, before it gets too cold, Indie." She stated, before looking back at the small girl.
"Oh yeah…" Indie replied before getting back down on the floor and she picked up her fork from the side of the plate again, eating more of her food.
Back in Los Santos, Michael went through hell by getting whacked in the by a shovel and got snatch by Wei Cheng's men, before being tortured and hanged over his ankles by a meat hook. The dark haired father was finally save by Franklin who tracked him down into a warehouse, and shooting his way in to save Michael. After escaping the Chinese, Franklin sped through traffic get Michael to Mount Zonah Medical Center for immediate medical attention since he noticed how pretty banged up the dark haired father is along with the large, bleeding gash on his forehead.
"Hey, man, what happened earlier?" Franklin questioned Michael, after when he the dark haired father returned from getting stitches onto his forehead, and bandages around his arms along with an IV.
"Like I told you before. I've followed Trevor and Blake. And then I got jumped by the Chinese." Michael explained, laying back into his hospital bed while looking at Franklin.
"No, Mike, what happen up in North Yankton. There's more to it. Who's this Brad guy? Why's he connected to you, Trevor and Blake? And where is she?" Franklin questioned more.
"I don't know where the hell is she." Michael answered, cutting Franklin off.
"Okay, if you must know. Blake… she'd ran off. You know I hid too many lies in order to live a better life, but with Trevor involved, he's like hell walking on earth for me and her." Michael explained. "Beside I had a young family. Amanda, the kids and I were not gonna survive out there. I made a deal a long time ago, but in the end of it all… I have to give up Blake… cause she's my youngest… But Amanda ain't her mother." He explained, before Franklin looked away from Michael. "Kid, you have to listen. Look, when you wake up one day, and your legs, they just give, and you can't run anymore."
"Shit, I hear you man." Franklin responded, understanding what happened. "So, what's gonna happen now?" He questioned.
"I don't know… I've gotta look for my daughter and bring her back home. Hell, I was on my own after when my selfish abusive prick of a dad kicked me out. But with Blake out there, being all cold, hungry… fuckin' confused about the world around her." Michael answered, before he looked over towards the nightstand on his right hand side and noticed a tube of Broadway's True Matte Lipstick called Lavenderism which belongs to the dark haired teen herself.
"My family ain't the same without her." Michael thought to himself, while staring down at the tube of matte lipstick in the palm of his left hand after when he grabbed it.