Hell's Reign (Patrick Stump/Fall Out Boy Fanfiction)

Chapter 3 - The Van

            "I'm not going to hurt you," the nasally voice muttered in Tori's ear. She highly doubted that, but she was still going to do whatever he told her to do. "I'm going to let you go, just promise you won't attack us. I don't want to have to hurt you." Tori nodded quickly. What was she supposed to do anyways? They had taken her makeshift club. All four of them, even the ones in her bag. She could hear the other man shifting all of her food into his own bag as well.

The one holding her backed off just the slightest bit and dropped his arm. Tori hesitated a moment, and then turned around slowly to look at them. Her eyes landed first on the one on the ground with her bag. As she'd suspected, he was taking all of her things. He wore glasses and had long, unruly brown hair, but the sparse beard he was growing was ginger. He was in a t-shirt and jeans, but from his sleeves, Tori could see colorful tattoos peeking out. It was too dark in the store to properly make out what they were, but Tori wasn't horribly concerned about it either. Then, she turned to the other one. He was a skinny thing, closer to her age probably. He had a short mop of blonde curls on his head, but Tori could tell from the color of his eyebrows that it wasn't his natural color. He had bright blue eyes that watched her curiously, and just the shadow of a beard coming in on his chin. He was dressed similarly to the other, in a black t-shirt and a pair of jean shorts.

Tori looked back down at the first one, frowning as he zipped up his bag and slid hers back to her. "Sorry," he muttered. "There's four of us. We came from the city to get this."

She didn't want to seem weak in front of them while they robbed her, but at the same time, she'd been through so much in just one day. Tears started to prick at her eyes and the skinnier one frowned suddenly. "Oh no," he mumbled, "No, please...don't cry. Here...shit, Andy, did you have to take all of it? Give her something, man, come on." He bent down and opened his bag again, quickly taking out three cans of soup and holding them out to her. "Here," he stated, "I don't know how many people you have to feed, but take this. I'm so sorry."

Tori hesitated, then slowly reached out to take the cans. It was better than nothing. "It's just me," she said, unsure as to why she was even telling him. Surprisingly, he froze, looking at her like he pitied her. She ignored the both of them and bent back down, hoping they wouldn't kill her as she shoved the cans of soup back into her bag. As she stood back up, the skinny one reached out to her. On instinct, she reeled back, crashing painfully into the shelves.

"Woah, hey!" He gasped, stepping towards her cautiously, as if to help her as she rubbed her arm. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...I'm not going to hurt you. It's just...do you have a place to stay?"

The other guy, Andy she supposed his name must be, looked at the skinny one with a cautious frown. He seemed unsure about where this conversation was going, but when he looked back at Tori, his gaze softened. Tori shook her head. "My car ran out of gas. It's like...twenty miles back down the road. I walked up here."

The two of them looked at each other then, and the skinny one nodded with an air of understanding between them. "Listen, I know you probably don't trust us, but things are going to shit out there. We've got a van a few miles away that we can probably fit one more person in. We'll share the food. It's a place to sleep, if you want it." Tori stared at him for a long moment, then looked at Andy. She was scared to accept the offer, but at the same time, he was right. It was a roof to sleep under. She continued to stare at them anyways, until the skinny one extended his hand. "I'm Joe. If it helps."

Tori reached out slowly and shook his hand, looking at Andy for clarification. He nodded and gave her a wave. "Andy," he stated, confirming her thoughts.