𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒 | liam stewart [1]

6. motel

"If the League was protecting us from the tracer who was literally trying to kill us, what makes them so bad?" Pandora asked Liam as they drove in the evening light. Chubs and Zu were getting sleep before Liam took a break and then parked somewhere for the night. "Well the enemie's enemy is my friend," Liam explained, following the pencil lines Chubs had drawn in the map for him. He shook his head with a smile at Ruby's confused face. "Rubs, can I call you Rubs?" Pandora asked looking back to the girl as she tore a twinkie in two and shoved one half in her mouth. "I'm going to call you Rubs, sometimes it's a great thing to keep your mouth shut," She shrugged. "Like you ever did when the Captain told you to be quiet," Ruby snapped, crossing her arms as she sat next to a sleeping Zu. "Oof, Rubs has some spice after all," Dora chuckled, biting into the other twinkie half. "All I'm saying is that the woman that saved us risked alot of get us out," Ruby shrugged. "Damn, your shoulders are looking sense, would you like me to rub them for you?" Dora grinned, waving her sticky twinkie hands at Ruby. "I see why the officers found you so irritating," Ruby muttered. 

"You don't want help from the League," Liam said suddenly, like it had been playing on his mind. Ruby turned to him. "She helped me get away from those guys and I ran away. What if I was wrong?" She asked. "Listen, my brother joined the League first. He's always right so I joined too. They just made so many promises, on how to use our powers. First it was on little things and then it was how to break an arm. I didn't sign up to be a soldier so I left," Liam explained. Ruby stared at him before lying down in the back and trying to sleep. 

"So, what's your sob story then?" Liam asked, Pandora looking to him. "Excuze-moi?" She asked, looking around for another twinkie. She hadn't eaten sugar in so long, just processed food the government supplied. "Everyone with an aversion to help has a sob story. You don't want to lean on anyone but yourself. So what is it?" He asked. "And what makes you think I'd share that with you?" Pandora smirked, appreciating the landscape in evening light. "Like you said, you'll die eventually. What have you got to lose?" He asked. Pandora thought for a moment. 

"My mother died from childbirth. Me, I was the kid. My dad became an alcoholic after that. Started hitting me when I was old enough to be afraid, maybe 5 or 6. I don't remember. He started emotionally abusing me too. Blamed me for my mother's death. Called me a murderer. Then my best friend Henry was the first to die from the disease. Rest of my class followed. The only people who actually liked me. Then I was taken from my home town and put in a camp where they beat me up for having a loud mouth. Guess you could say that's a summary of it," She shrugged, biting into another twinkie that she'd found. 

She looked to Liam who stared at her, his eyes soft. "Don't you dare say I'm sorry or I'll feel bad when I suffocate my father with his my bare hands," She told him, turning to focus on the road. She was sure he'd probably continued to speak to her but she shut her eyes and soon was drifting off into her first peaceful sleep since she was 4.

...

Pandora only woke up when Cubs dropped the keys to the motel room. Her eyes fluttered open, her mind taking a few seconds to process her situation. Liam was carrying her, the only three kids all waiting to get inside. "Shut up Chubs, don't wake her. She needs some sleep," Liam hissed, looking down and noticing her slightly open eyes. "Morning Princess," He smiled, letting her down gently. She yawned, knuckling her eyes as they all walked inside. Zu showered and dressed first, Liam helping her get ready for bed whilst Chubs also showered. Whilst Ruby showered, Chubs planned the mappings for their next day and Liam stroked Zu's hair until she fell asleep. "You alright?" Liam asked as he looked up to see Pandora staring ahead. She blinked from her recalling memories, smiling at him whilst Ruby turned the shower off.

Pandora had never been more thankful for a shower in her life. The showers in camp were cold and short, uniform and highly controlled just like everything else. This time she spent a while soaking up the heat and scrubbing the grime from her hair. When she stepped out the shower, she scrubbed a hole in the steamed up mirror so she could see herself before wrapping the towel around her. Her hair dripped in inky streaks from her head, matching her long oily eyelashes. She pulled out the tracker necklace she'd taken, playing with it in her hand before stuffing it away in a pocket in her jeans. She then pulled started to wipe down the water from her face, recalling the memories of how she gained her scars. 

She'd been very chatty, convinced people that the Captain was having an affair with another woman. She had no idea if it was true but she was making other Greens laugh and that's what mattered. The place was so dull and routine, she was desperate for a smile. Someone had snitched through and the next day she was being dragged away from lunch. "Hello good Sir," She'd saluted to the Captain. "Now, it's come to my attention that you've been spreading rumours about me," He paced back and forth, getting his answer from the devillish glint in her eye. Even if she hadn't he knew she would have claimed she had. "I want to teach you a lesson. Usually I'd send you down to be terminiated but I want you to be a living example of what I can do," He grinned. "What are you going to do? Beat me up, maybe give us a bark?" She smiled. Her eyes slid to the gleaming blade which the Captain had pulled from his pocket. "Hmm, I have a bettr idea." 

Nobody spoke to her for two weeks after Pandora had returned to work, afraid that if they were caught interacting with her they'd be given the same punishment. The Captain had sliced three long slits, one straight down her left eye, from the top of her eyebrow to the center of her cheek. The next was just below her eye on the opposite side and the last being across her nose. He'd relished in her stifled screams as he dug the knife deep. He wanted the scars to last.