Thanks for continuing to read my story here is chapter 3! I currently have around 12/13 chapters drafted out so hope to post 2 chapters a week.
(Trigger warning minor sexual assault)
Ellie
My head is spinning, my body feels as if larva is running through my veins. I can't concentrate, I try to move but nothing. My eyes won't open, my mouth won't make a sound but I can hear a familiar voice fluttering round in my head, it's soft and sweet. It comforts me every time it hums through my brain. I can't place it but I know I need to hear it, I feel as if it's leading me back, leading me out of this black hole I'm in. I don't know how long I've been here falling deeper and deeper into this darkness but I need to climb back out of it, I need to follow the voice to the surface. It's hard and I don't know if I have the strength to do it.
I force my eyes open and it's bright, I feel like I've been out for months. I try to find the strength to lift my arm and move my head towards the voice. I can hear it more clearly now, I hope this isn't a dream. Or maybe I'm dead.
I finally find my voice "Dina?"
"Oh my god, Ellie!" It's clearer now than it's ever been. The soothing voice I've been hearing, it was her.
I reach out to try and touch her to make sure she's really here. "Dina?" My voice is weak.
Her soft hand grabs mine and she pulls it in to touch her face. "Ellie, I'm here. Thank god you're awake" I can hear the relief in her voice.
My eyes finally adjusted and I find her, she's knelt next to me. Her big brown eyes looking down at me.
"Am I still in this fucking beach house?"
"Yeah" she laughed
I noticed the shiner on her face "Hey, what happened to you?"
"Oh that" she reaches awkwardly to cover the mark I've pointed out "Just some ass hole, you should see what I did to him"
"I bet" I laughed. I wasn't worried I've been in plenty of fights with her, I knew she could handle herself. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah don't worry about me" Dina smiled at me
"Dina, What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't let you come here on your own El. I came after you. I've been looking for you for so long. I made it just in time. You go, I go, remember?" She reached out, pushing a strand of hair from my face.
"Well, I feel like shit" I huffed
"Yeah.. you look like shit too"
"Thanks babe" I laughed
Dina moved closer and laid next to me, resting her head on my chest and carefully placing her hand on my good side. She felt warm. It was good to feel her close to me again, I really missed this.
"Hey, did you undress me?"
"Urm well yeah…"
"And I missed it. Fuck sake" I laughed
I could almost feel the eye roll Dina just gave me.
"I missed you, I'm so sorry" I admitted
"Don't be sorry. I'm just glad your okay El"
"It's going to be a long fucking trip back to Jackson, we will need to get moving in the next couple of days, hopefully we can find a horse or a car along the way"
"Well I've searched every inch of this shitty town and there wasn't much just.." She cut off mid sentence, tightening her grip on me.
"Just what?" I asked
"Nothing. There's just nothing" she persisted
It didn't sound like nothing, I know Dina and I know when she's keeping something from me. "Dina come on, tell me"
She sat up and huffed "Just the Rattlers, well what was left of them anyway. I ran into a small group of them… I was stealing some medical supplies" She looked down at my side, then back up at me "Let's just say they weren't exactly happy"
"Is that how.." I lifted my hand to touch her face again
"Yeah" She forced a smile "But like I said you should see the other guy"
"Hmmm" I wasn't convinced that was the end of the story but I let it go for now
"Anyway you need to get your strength back El and we need to get the hell out of here" She stood up and looked out of the window "and I want to know what the fuck happened to you and how you have lost 2 fingers!"
"Yeah…. Maybe that's a story for when I'm feeling better huh?" I shot her a smile that I don't think she really approved of.
"Fine"
Dina is here! She came after me. She saved my life. What did I ever do to deserve her.
I can't wait to get back on the road and get home to Jackson and see JJ and put all this behind us.
I've got a lot of my strength back and I think we will be leaving tomorrow morning.
Dina still won't talk to me about what happened with the Rattlers, every time I ask she gets a bit awkward about it…she keeps asking about Abby but I'm not ready to speak to her about it just yet. Maybe we both just need a little time.
I couldn't bring myself to tell her. To tell her that I fucking threatend that unconscious boy so she would fight me when she was half dead herself.
Who have I become?
It's been a long couple of days trying to recover. Dina forcing pills and food down my throat, re-dressing my wounds and making sure I've got enough strength to get home. She wanted to wait a little longer but I insisted that we leave the beach house at first light. I wanted to get home and put everything behind us once and for all.
It took us less time than we thought to get out of the town and back onto the road. I pushed forward as much as I could, probably too much because my head was starting to spin. We were following a river just off the main road, trying to keep out of sight just in case we ran into anyone along the way.
"Let's take a break here for five and catch our breath" I call over to Dina
"Yeah sure, how are you holding up?
"I'm okay" I put my hand on my head and steadied myself before following Dina closer to the river and sat down on a large rock taking a couple of deep breaths.
Dina looked at me a little concerned "are you sure you're okay?"
I tried to ignore the question and looked down into the small rockpool by my feet "Hey look, frogs" I pointed. "Do you know what a frog's favourite shoes are?"
She looked at me funny "no?"
"Open toaaaad sandals" I giggled.
"Har har, how I've missed your jokes" she smiled back at me.
After a short while of convincing Dina I was fine to go on we continued along the river, it was quiet, almost too quiet. I didn't like it, it put me on edge a little bit. We hadn't seen anyone or any infected for a while now. Maybe this was a good sign. Giving us a break once and for all after everything we had been through.
Just after the river was an open valley. I could see a small building across from us.
"Hey, Dina"
"Yeah?"
"Looks like an old FEDRA station over there, shall we check it out for supplies? There might even be a car or something we can take?"
"Yeah sure let's check it out"
The station was just a short walk, it looked overgrown. I don't think anyone had been here for a while. There were a couple of vehicles outside that might be worth looking at.
"There's a door here, lets get it open" I called over to Dina to help force the door open. "1…2…3…" The door thuds open "Thanks for the assist babe" I smile at her as she walked in.
"No problem" She smiled back at me.
"Keep an eye out, you never know who could be around" I look over at Dina, she's always careful. Not like me who runs head first into things without a plan most of the time. I Liked her being with me, I feel like she keeps me pretty level headed.
"Hey look there are some crates over there, maybe there is something useful in them?" Dina points to the other side of the room.
"I'll check it out, do you want to see if you can get anything running outside? I'm sick of walking" I huff
"Yeah sure, same" She turns to walk out the door when suddenly a tall skinny man with what looks to be a broken nose appears in front of her, grabbing her arm and pulling it behind her back. He drew a large hunting knife and held it to her neck.
"Stay still" The tall man commanded
"Hey you fuck! Let her go!" I pull my gun out and point it in their direction.
Another man walked past them into the room, this guy was huge with a large beard covering his face. He stopped next to Dina and reached his hand out touching her face "Hello again beautiful"
I take a step forward "Get away from her now!" I shout
The tall man tightens his grip on Dina forcing her to wince in pain.
"I will kill you" I threaten them both
"I'm sure you'll try, but your not going to" The bearded man limps forward
Before I can do anything else I feel a blow to the side of my face that catches me off guard sending me to the floor knocking my gun out of my hand.
"Ellie!" Dina shouts
I try to look around at who just hit me but before I can move I feel another blow to my ribs and then another one "Ah fuck" I hiss
"Ellie!" I can hear Dina struggling in the background before I get hit in the face with the but of a gun and everything goes black.
"Urrghh" I open my eyes feeling groggy. My head spinning.
"Ellie!" I hear Dina whispering "Ellie, you okay?"
"Yeah" My eyes focus and I can see Dina just in front of me tied to a chair "What the fuck, who are these guys?" I look around and there wasn't anyone there, just us. We were in a different room to before. I try to move but my hands are taped to the arms of the chair and my feet are bound together
"Remember I mentioned I ran into some guys and stole their shit?"
"Yeah" I replied
"Well these are those guys"
"Fuck, you did that to them?"
"Yeah.. Listen El we need to get out of here" Dina looked worried "That big guy, I really pissed him off and.."
The door swung open and three men entered. The two from before and a new guy, I couldn't see his face. He had a bandanna covering his nose and mouth and a cap on.
The big guy went straight for Dina kneeling next to her. He put his hand on her knees "Ready for some fun?" he laughed, running his hands up her thighs."You owe me some payment remember?"" Dina looked away trying not to make eye contact with him.
"Hey you big fuck!" I shouted at him, trying to get his attention. I didn't like where this was going.
He ignored me and continued to run his hands up Dina's legs "Hey, look at me you little bitch"
Dina kept looking away
"Hey!" I continued to shout
The tall skinny man came behind her and grabbed her head forcing her to look at the big man knelt in front of her "He said fucking look"
I could see her eyes filling up and my heart started to pound I needed to get the fuck out of this chair. I tried to pull my arms free fighting with the tape securing my wrists. "Get off of her! I'll fucking kill you!" I scream
Dina sent her boot into the big man's jaw and he tumbled backwards onto the ground.
"You fucking bitch" He got up and limped over to stand next to me "You will behave or your little girlfriend over here will loose more fingers" He took out his knife and held it to my hand.
"Fucking do it. I dare you" I spit at him
He grabbed me by my neck squeezing it so I was struggling to breath. He placed the knife to my cheek slowly applying pressure breaking my skin. "Or maybe I just give you a face lift. Huh?" He squeezed my neck tighter and I can feel my eyes starting to water as I can't breathe. He ran the blade of the knife down my cheek just enough for me to feel it but not enough to slice through my skin. I try to fight back but his grip becomes tighter and tighter and my eyes start to roll.
"No! Stop!" Dina shouts "Stop! I'll behave!" She pleads "Just let her go"
He lets go of me and I take a big breath "No" I look up and he's already next to her, his hand on her face with that creepy smile again. I can see tears streaming down Dina's face.
"A cryer, I like that" He chuckles
"No!" I start to shout and flail in the chair
The man who hasn't spoken a word yet raises his gun to my head
"Ellie, no!" Dina cries "I can't lose you"
"This is boring, let's have some fun" the big man interrupts. He takes his knife and cuts Dinas arms free and picks her up by the scruff of her jacket forcing her to walk forward. "Might be a while boys. I'll let you know when I'm done so you can have your turn. If she tries anything, shoot the girl" He laughs and forces Dina out of the door.
"No! You mother fucker, Don't you touch her! You're dead!" I'm screaming at the top of my lungs flailing in my chair. I can't leave Dina alone with him.
"Feisty one you aren't ya?" The tall man walks over to me playing with his knife in this fingers. "I like that… I'm Jones. Your girl got me good a few days ago" He gestured to his nose "I think it makes me look rugged though don't you think?" He moves closer until he's right in front of me. "How about me and you play?"
"Don't you fucking touch me" I say through gritted teeth.
"I'm the one in charge here not you" He turns to look other man "You can go we will be fine"
The other man turns and leaves the room, as he opens the door I can hear faint screams of pain in the background. Dina. I need to get to her. My eyes start to spin and I can see Jole again on the floor, his head caved in and he's screaming my name. My heart is pounding out of my chest and my blood starts to boil.
"You don't know who your fucking with" I threaten
Jones laughs putting his hand over my mangled hand. He took his knife and cut through the tape freeing my arm. "It would be any fun if you couldn't fight back a little now would it?"
I can feel my heart pounding even more and my breathing becoming faster, I feel the fire inside me, the rage coming through thinking about what that man could be doing to Dina right now. Jones leans into me applying pressure on my free arm so I can't move it. His face inches away from mine, he moves closer almost resting his cheek on my ear. My body is shaking, I move my head quickly towards him and bite him on his neck, my teeth sinking into his skin, I take a chunk of flesh clean out and spit it on the floor. He screams in pain putting his hands over the gaping wound.
"You bitch!"
With my free hand I reach for my switch blade and cut my self free. Jones is still screaming and not focused on me. I take the knife and jam it into his neck, slicing through it, blood pouring down the front of his shit. He tries to speak but all he does is choke on his own blood and fall lifeless to the ground.
I grabbed his pistol from his belt and burst through the door where two other men were sitting. Before they even realise what's happened I shoot them both in the head.
The screams are now louder in the background "Dina!"
I run towards the screaming, coming across another man posted at the entrance of a door and shoot him before he sees me coming. He falls back opening the door and the screams are now louder, they pierced my ears and send shivers down my spine as I hear the girl I love cry out in pain.
I see him on top of her, holding her down, trying to take his shirt off.
"Hold still" He grumbles
All I can see is red, I come up behind him and pull him backwards, off Dina throwing him to the floor. I dive on top of him and take my knife and start stabbing him in the chest over and over and over and over. Bloody flying everywhere his cries of help gargling through the blood pooling in his mouth.
"You fucking piece of shit!" I scream. My vision starts to blur through the water filling up in my eyes. He's dead but I just keep going and going just like I did with David when I was 14.
Then a voice from behind me brings me back "Ellie" Dina whispers
I whip my head round and see her trying to sit up. I run over and place my arm around her. "Are you okay? Did he?" I cut off as I couldn't say the words. I looked her up and down. Her shirt was ripped exposing some of her skin, she had hand marks already starting to bruise up her arms and on her waist.
"No… no he didn't"
"Thank god" I pulled her in and held her close to me not wanting to let her go. "Fucking pieces of shit"
She held onto me tightly gripping my t-shirt, her eyes closed pushing her head into my chest. I could hear her quiet sobs escaping her lips.
"Dina I'm sorry" I pulled her in tighter and lifted her shirt back over her shoulder "I'm so sorry I won't ever let anyone hurt you again"
"I'm okay, It was just… I thought… He was…" She whimpered
"I know, I know" I kissed her head and held her "how about we get the fuck out of here huh?"
"Yes please"
Thanks for reading chapter 3. Please leave a review if you liked it.