The group of four men, Caleb, Adam, and the two unnamed others, escorted Lauren to the cabin in the same diamond formation as before.
Adam and the others stayed outside as Caleb led her in. The cabin smelled old like the barn but not as dusty and much warmer.
Caleb knocked on a closed door before opening it, ushering Lauren in before him.
Stumbling into the room, Lauren got her footing and looked up to see a dimly lit room. A man sat hunched over, elbows on his knees in a chair at the far end of the room. Roderick stood in the corner, coat off, arms crossed over his chest, back leaning against the wall.
The man in the chair glanced up and looked over Lauren, noticing her scar. She could tell he was tall even sitting down. He had warm brown hair that fell into his eyes and wore a long sleeved shirt.
She looked to Roderick who seemed very calm, even uncaring. He noticed her cheek and his eyes showed his rage.
"Nathan," Roderick said carefully, "I'm surprised at your way of showing hospitality to guests…"
The man, presumably Nathan, looked to Caleb. "As am I…"
Caleb swallowed hard. "I'll be speaking with Adam…"
Roderick's hands clenched into fists. Now he knew who he'd be punishing himself. He doubted Nathan would mind if he killed Adam.
"I- I'm fine," Lauren stammered, not wanting to feel responsible for whatever happened to Adam.
Nathan's smirked. He looked to Roderick for a response.
"I'm sure she is…" Roderick said evenly, calming down, "She can handle a lot…"
Nathan looked at Lauren's scar, sure of who put it there, "I can see that."
Lauren felt uncomfortable having these men talk about her like she wasn't there.
Nathan looked to Roderick. "Caleb will go over plans with you. Plan on moving out tomorrow."
Roderick nodded, approaching Lauren and Caleb, his posture relaxed.
"Stay here," he said quietly to Lauren, "I'll be back shortly."
He didn't make eye contact with her, feeling guilty that he'd brought her here. He was responsible for her and he let her be taken by the militia and mistreated. He knew that she wasn't hurt but he was mad nonetheless.
He wasn't happy about having to leave her with militia members but he'd rather her be with Nathan than with anyone else.
Lauren nodded, not sure if she was annoyed with Roderick or not for dragging her into this. She did not want to be this far down the rabbit hole.
Roderick followed Caleb out the door and Caleb closed it behind them, leaving Lauren with Nathan.
Nathan still sat in the same chair, elbows on his knees, head hung down.
"Ma'am, I apologize for any wrongdoing by my men," he said quietly, "They aren't used to asking nicely for anything."
Lauren blushed. "It's not as bad as it looks."
Nathan looked up, smiling, his eyes sad. "I suppose it's not…"
Lauren stood uncomfortable in the middle of the room.
Nathan rose to his feet, tall just as Lauren had thought. "I'm sorry, please excuse my manners, can I get you something? Water?"
Lauren nodded. "Please."
Nathan smiled, grabbing a bottle of water off the table behind him and took it to her.
"I'm Nathan Mead," he said, handing her the bottle.
"Lauren Andrews," she returned, taking it from him.
Even with him this close to her, Lauren didn't feel nervous. Caleb intimidated her more than Nathan did. Nathan was tall and his muscles hinted at strength but his demeanor was soft. He was a man who didn't need force or threats to lead.
"Lau-ren," Nathan said, testing out her name, "Did you know my brother?"
Lauren raised her head up to look at him, his warm brown eyes probing.
She shook her head. "I didn't… but Rod-…. the Sheriff told me about him."
Nathan scoffed, smiling. "Lauren, we both know him as someone other than the Sheriff…"
Lauren swallowed. She wasn't sure she'd be able to get away with calling him the Sheriff for a while… she knew she'd eventually slip and call him Roderick.
Nathan reached into his back pocket, taking out his wallet and opening it. He took out a picture and handed it to Lauren.
"This is…was Charlie," he said sadly, showing her a picture of a man who looked like him in uniform, the United States flag behind him.
Charlie looked a lot like Nathan, but with harder features and empty eyes. He looked cold and empty whereas Nathan was warm and soft. Charlie's eyes looked like Roderick's.
Lauren swallowed. No wonder Roderick chose Charlie.
She handed Nathan back the picture. "I'm very sorry."
Nathan shrugged. "Charlie did whatever Charlie wanted to do. He was good at what he did…"
His sad eyes turned to something harder. "Did Roderick tell you what Charlie did for Joe Carroll?"
Lauren shook her head, lying. "No…"
Nathan's hands balled into fists but then he closed his eyes, breathing slowly.
When he opened his eyes, his unclenched his fists, relaxing, his eyes sliding back into warm brown.
"It doesn't matter," he said softly, "Fuck…"
Nathan went back to the chair, slumping down into it, head in his hands.
"Knowing Roderick… it makes sense that Charlie would get wrapped up in all that…" Nathan said carefully, "How he'd leave his family…"
He looked up at Lauren sadly. "Were you with them?"
Lauren shook her head. "No… I wasn't."
Nathan nodded. "I didn't think so… you still got life in your eyes. You're not like them."
Lauren blinked. "Neither are you."
Nathan smirked. "I'm sure not… How can you be around Roderick knowing what he is? How do you rationalize it?"
Lauren shrugged, anything she'd told herself before didn't make any sense now. She'd always been able to separate herself from whatever Roderick did… but now she was knee deep in it.
"We're all fucked up, ya know?" she said carefully, not even believing herself.
Nathan chuckled. "That's the damn truth… Charlie was fucked up… I guess you gotta be to get involved with that…"
Lauren looked at the ground, wishing all this could go away. She didn't want to be in Kentucky with Roderick. She didn't want to know about Joe Carroll or the following… She wished none of this happened.
Nathan looked at Lauren and her scar. "You shouldn't be in any of this… Charlie and I grew up in the militia and Roderick's about as cold as they come but you… you don't have any reason to be in any of this…"
Lauren had to agree. She didn't want to be here either.
Nathan looked at the floor. "Roderick was selfish for bringing you here. He should've kept you out of this. You don't deserve this."
Suddenly, the door behind her burst open and Nathan jumped to his feet.
Turning, Lauren saw Roderick holding Adam by the back of his neck, blood flowing from his nose and mouth. Caleb stumbled behind them.
Roderick threw Adam on the floor at her feet, blood splattering everywhere.
"Roderick," Nathan warned in a low voice.
Roderick did not respond, his eyes at Adam on the floor. Lauren shuddered as Adam crawled towards her, trying to get behind her.
Roderick took a step and kicked Adam in the ribs, Adam moaning in pain, still trying to crawl out of the way. Roderick had a knife in his hand.
"Oh my god," Lauren whispered, trying to lean down to help him.
"Roderick!" Nathan growled, "Caleb, get Lauren out of here."
Caleb stepped forward obediently. Roderick held out his arm to stop him.
"No," Roderick snarled, "Adam needs to apologize."
"Caleb, now," Nathan pressed.
Quickly, Caleb sidestepped Roderick and grabbed Lauren around the waist, taking her off the floor and spinning her out of Adam's way and around Roderick.
Caleb's breath was unsteady as he set her on her feet outside the door as he started to lead her away.
Lauren could barely hear them as Caleb hurried her down the hallway.
"Roderick, you can't do shit like this," Nathan said quietly.
"I'll do whatever is necessary. You should have trained your men better," Roderick said in a low, threatening voice.
"No, you misunderstand me. You can't do shit like this to that girl," Nathan said, "She doesn't belong here, Roderick."
"Don't you dare talk to me about her," Roderick warned.
Nathan sighed. "She's not like you, Roderick. Whatever you like about her, you're killing by bringing her around places like this. Didn't you see her face when you threw Adam at her?"
Caleb pushed her into a dark room, flipping on the switch, allowing her to see it was a kind of bedroom.
She turned around to see Caleb and he hung his head.
"I-I'm sorry if I hurt you," he grumbled, "I had to follow orders… I'll be outside."
Without looking at her, he stepped out he door and closed it behind him.
Lauren stood for a moment trying to make sense of what just happened.
"Shit," she whispered, feeling all energy drain from her body. She sat down, more of collapsed, onto the bed, putting her head into her hands, her long hair hiding her face.
She sure as hell didn't belong here. She couldn't get the image of Roderick throwing Adam at her feet out of her mind. The rage in his eyes she'd seen before. She'd avoided him when she saw it and he'd calmed down… but she knew what he was capable of.
She didn't have to touch her scar to feel it. She didn't want to be in his world. She didn't want to be here.
Lauren heard voices outside the door and then it opened gently.
She looked up to see Nathan carefully coming in.
"Hey," he said gently, "You okay?"
Whenever people asked if she was okay, Lauren could never hold it together. Instantly tears welled up in her eyes.
She tried to laugh through it, shrugging. "I don't even know…"
She put her head back in her hands, hair spilling around her.
Nathan approached her cautiously and dropped to his knees in front of her, waiting for her to look at him.
Sniffling, she brushed her hair out of her face and looked at his warm brown eyes.
"I'm so sorry, Lauren," he said gently, "You shouldn't have seen that."
Lauren didn't know what to say. She felt drained, frustrated, and overwhelmed.
"I sent Roderick to cool down," Nathan said, "I told him he's not allowed to come near you again until he's reasonable."
Lauren nodded. This Roderick scared her. When she was alone with him, he wasn't like this… not anywhere near like this… now that they were with others, he'd changed. She wondered if this was really who he was all along.
She didn't even know what to think. She was so confused and frustrated.
"We'll be leaving tomorrow to go to Havenport…" Nathan told her, "You can stay here until we get back… you shouldn't be involved anymore than you already have been…"
Lauren looked up. "You're going because of Charlie?"
Nathan shrugged, looking down. "Not just for Charlie. Joe Carroll's killed other people's brothers and sisters… if the militia can take him and his group down, we'll have to try… for everyone's sake."
Lauren sat up straight, determined to collect herself.
"Can I apologize to Adam?" she asked, looking at Nathan.
He frowned. "You don't need to."
Lauren shook her head, wiping her eyes. "I want to… he really didn't hit me that hard… not as hard as Roderick hit him at least…"
Nathan smiled. "Adam will be alright. I'm sure Roderick can do far worse."
He looked at Lauren's scar, wondering what she did to deserve such a thing, and what would cause Roderick to do that to her.
"He did that to you, didn't he?" Nathan asked carefully, trying to hide the disgust in his voice.
Lauren nodded. "I let him."
"Why?" Nathan gasped incredulously, his eyes wide.
Lauren looked at him knelt at her feet and knew he wouldn't understand. Hell… after tonight… she wasn't sure if she understood. If this had happened before, she wouldn't have let him scar her.
"He'd never let anyone live before," she explained quietly, "He said he was a monster but I knew that if he could stop after starting to… to… He'd have to realize he wasn't all bad…"
Nathan shook his head. "Men like Charlie and Roderick… they're not like everyone else… you can't change them or save them…"
Lauren sighed. That was becoming more obvious.
"I'll drive home tomorrow and be out of all this," Lauren said, not really wanting to talk to Roderick.
Nathan shook his head. "You shouldn't be back there until all this is taken care of. It's not safe. You'll stay here and I'll have Caleb stay with you until we come back. I'll talk to Roderick. I'm sure he'll agree it's the best for you."
Lauren nodded. "Thank you, Nathan."
Nathan smiled warmly, everything about Nathan was warm.
There was a knock at the door and Caleb poked his head in. "Roderick wants to come in…"
'Geez', Lauren thought, 'What now?'