Running in Circles

Veto

Had she ever done something like this? Of course not, but she knew that Leia had. That was why she was going to "use" her, for lack of better wording. The doctor decided she could trust the other enough to help her escape, and now was the perfect moment to do it. Ren guessed the group had been ambushed, but neither she nor Leia had seen the attackers. All they heard were gunshots and shouting before the whole caravan went up in a flurry. It wouldn't be long until they all calmed down and chose a place to take cover. There was a corn field to their right, and that, Dr. Winters told Leia, would be were they would run. She could tell that Leia didn't completely trust her, but, if she wanted to free herself from her circle of murder and theft, she didn't have a choice.

It seemed that the mere minutes that Leia took to untie the bonds were terribly stretched out into a thin thread of tense impatience as the other Rangers scurried about to avoid the bullets that the attackers shot haphazardly, but they were free. Ren grabbed Leia's wrist and dashed toward the cornfield; it was so close, but she cursed at herself for being so careless when she tripped and toppled forward. She grunted in pain when she looked down at the bleeding bullet hole in her calf, but, even still, Ren limped forward with Leia at her side. However, but few minutes later, Dr. Winters collapsed upon the dry dirt and tried to contain her cry of frustration and agony. The shouts of the Rangers had subsided now, and she knew it wouldn't be long until they realized the two had gone missing. Leia looked behind her from her crouched spot in front of Ren, her breathing quick with nervousness.

"Did you hear that?" She couldn't see anything, but she was certain that there was something within the dry, decaying stalks of corn.

"What is it?" Ren grunted; the pain was more than enough to anger her over small things such as Leia's unease.

"Shit," she muttered, trying to scoot herself back across the ground without agitating her wound further. A boy stood behind Leia; they were quite young. She thought it foolish to be afraid of a child, but, when that child was holding the person who saved your life at gunpoint, her fear was justified. "Don't-" she groaned as she propped herself up, "-move, Leia." She saw Leia move her lips to say something, but she couldn't hear what the other had whispered. Another woman appeared from the field, but she appeared unarmed. Her arms and shirt were crimson with fresh blood, and the woman's grave expression matched her younger companion's. The blonde woman stared down at Dr, Winters; her gaze locked with Ren's, cold and stern. "We're not with them," she choked out.

"Don't lie," Rose quietly said.

"I'm not. They captured us, and we escaped. That's it."

The boy met the woman's suspicious glance with an infuriated glare but didn't make a sound.

"Are you the people who fucking shot me?" Ren demanded.

"I'd watch it if I were you," Sidney finally snapped.

"And how old are you? Twelve?"

"They're right," Rose spoke up. "But, you're not of use to us. Let's leave them, Sidney."

Sidney lowered their firearm, but she could tell that it was reluctant. "Fine, but I'm not going back there."

"Go back to the house, then."

Leia slowly turned to face the two. "W-Wait! Can't you help us? Ren was sh-shot."

"Tough shit, lady," Sidney angrily muttered. "My brother was shot." Without a word more, the brave little boy stormed off.

Rose, however, stayed; she thought for a second, sighed, and gestured with her head to the path Sidney took. "Come on."

Neither of them wanted to speak about what happened, especially because, courtesy of Rose, they now had a wounded doctor on their hands whom Sidney had shot during her escape. Sidney wasn't too happy that Rose had decided to bring Ren and Leia to the house, not to mention that their brother had been killed as a result of his own plan. Then, there were Eliza and Mark, but they had time. They both had to take care of Ren's injury before they had to worry about Eliza's undoubtedly severe punishment. Rose didn't seem as worried as themselves, but they knew that was because she didn't know just how cruel Eliza could be.

Is it normal to be relieved that someone had died? That was the question that Sidney found they asked themselves often. No, they weren't asking for the corpses whose skin burned and split in the hellish fire that they had set aflame; they were asking for their brother. Don't get Sidney wrong; they didn't want Kegan to die. They were devastated and surrounded by strangers they had only known for barely a week. They didn't know what exactly to feel. Maybe it just hadn't registered yet.

When Sidney suggested that they leave the house before the rest of the Rangers realised that the others weren't coming back- that they were dead, Ren and Leia agreed right away, but Rose was more than hesitant. She had had no problem moving from place to place before, but this felt different to her. She felt like she would be signing some sort of metaphorical contract that she could only revoke at her death which it itself would inevitably bring about. Rose, at the end of her mental debate, managed to convince herself that she just couldn't leave Sidney; she can't leave a thirteen-year-old boy with two adult strangers with unknown, suspicious intentions, even is she was still something of a stranger to them. Maybe Rose was too blindly trusting for her own good, or- What was that?

Rose turned suddenly to find Sidney picking up something from the ground; the slightly charred object was only a few feet from the fire. Sidney, too, turned to face the other, and that was when she saw the object: a walkie-talkie. A voice sounded from the two-way radio, "Hello? Is anyone there?" It sounded like Sidney, but a bit deeper. "Hello?" The voice said again.

Rose nodded silently, giving Sidney permission to respond.

The boy put it up to their mouth but hesitated. "Hello..?"

"Who is this?" This voice trembled slightly; whoever it was was frightened.

"Uh, um-" Sidney took a nervous glance at Rose. "My name is Sidney."

Rose went up to the teen, took the radio out of their hand, and demanded, "Who are you? Where are you?"

"I need help," was the voice's simple response. They were whispering now.

"Who are you?" She repeated.

There was a minute of silence before the voice responded, "I'm-" Another pause. "My name is Regan."

"Are you with them?" Sidney asked.

By now, Ren and Leia had heard their conversation with seemingly no-one and wandered over, crowding around them.

"With who?"

"The Rangers."

"Who?"

Sidney sighed. "Never-mind. Where are you?"

"A- Some house."

They looked at the others; Ren looked uninterested, but Leia and Rose both appeared concerned. "Are you in a forest?"

"Yes."

"Good. We are, too."

Ren frowned at the fact that Sidney had just told a stranger where they were.

"You need to leave, then," the voice warned.

Leia appeared puzzled; Ren was a little pissed, and Rose was shocked at the response. She took the radio from Sidney and asked, "Why?"

The voice was more steady when it said its next words, "Look at the road."

They couldn't see it through the dense field, and it was quiet; it took a while to focus on it over the crackling of the fire, but it grew. The moaning, snarling, gurgling, and shuffling of the beasts that bore rotting flesh grew closer and closer as they tripped over each other's gnarled legs in their desperation to finally finish their journey and find the two things loud enough and bright enough to catch and keep their attention: gunshots and fire. Before they could do the obvious, which was run, the voice spoke, "You should really start running."