The Decay

Chapter Eleven

"You're such a pretty lady, beautiful girl. All that fright. You don't need to be afraid."

    She jolts awake without so much as gasping. Always silent, she had learned to be. In a sitting position now, she looks around at the people with her to make sure they're still asleep and all still there. Same routine she has every night though she usually only had to check on Lucas. This time, there are three different bodies sleeping under the makeshift cover of fallen branches and underbrush.

    Every night she is plagued with nightmares of different varieties. Sometimes about being torn apart. Sometimes about losing sight of the young deaf boy, Lucas, who she protects like a parent. Sometimes about her deceased mother who she had witnessed die in the hospital all those years ago. Then there were times like tonight where she dreamed of the man with the funny way of speaking who had tried to make her his.

"You're all mine, beautiful."

    She shudders and gets up, walking quietly out into the open woods. It's a cold night, still not warm enough so close to winter ending. She takes a breath and it curls out in front of her in a puff of white, fading into the open air.

    Nights like these were the worst. Where her mind replayed the memory of the redheaded man in his basement over and over again. The nights of starvation and fear chained to a cold concrete wall. The look on Lucas' face as he starved who was tied to the other wall and couldn't be reached. The memory of the man's body against hers, pressing her against the wall as the knife snaked down her bare thigh. With his hand over her mouth, she couldn't scream.

"You're such a pretty lady, beautiful girl."

    His lips on her neck, one arm pinning her wrists above her head as tears slid down her cheeks and warm blood spilled down her thigh. She could smell the alcohol on his breath and opened her eyes when she heard the knife hit the ground. She eyed it as his now free hand traveled up her shirt and down her shorts. His foot kicked the knife away and it skidded to the other side of the room. She had closed her eyes again, hope lost, as his breath got heavier and closer to her mouth.

    She walks for a while, not straying too far, and tries to clear her mind. The wind blows by her, kicking up leaves and creating a whistle in her ears. A chill vibrates her body as she takes in a lung full of cold air and exhales it to see it whipped out of the air behind her.

    She remembers the moment she heard something shuffle on the ground and her eyes flew open just as the man yelled in pain. Her arms were released as he staggered back, blood spilling from the knife wound in his side. Lucas had dropped the knife, wrists rubbed raw from the rope. She dove for it, shackles scraping against her chained ankles and pain shooting up her bloodied thigh. It was just in reach, she grabbed it as he came at her, eyes enraged and she stabbed him again. And again.... And again.

    She had only been fourteen at the time. Just a year before. She had slipped up and hadn't hidden them well enough when they made camp. The man had taken them while they were unsuspecting and locked them away for weeks. She was chained but Lucas was only tied by one wrist to the wall, thinking a seven year old boy would never try a thing.

    He couldn't escape at first. He wasn't strong enough and just kept getting weaker as the man began to starve them. But then came the knife. Kicked over by the drunken man who wasn't thinking clearly. Lucas had grabbed it and sawed the rope right off with all of the energy he had left. Stabbed the man, trying to save her.

    Usually the memory ends with her getting his keys and escaping with Lucas, but this time, another voice echos through her mind.

"You're beautiful."

    A small shudder goes through her but a slightly larger smile spreads across her lips. She knew Tanner hadn't meant bad when he had said it. He wasn't like the man who had taken her. She could see it in his eyes that he was lost. Like maybe he had lost someone close to him recently and his mind was still a mess. Lost, but not a monster.

    He was only complimenting her and hadn't even meant to say it out loud. It had sent a shock through her body when he first said it. She heard the man's voice echo his words back at her in her mind.

    But now, she felt a little lighter on the shoulders. It had been a very long time since someone had said anything nice to her and meant it. The threats and dirty promised intentions from other survivors she ran into on the road hardly counted. The gnashers that screamed and moaned as they tried to tear her flesh apart barely seemed friendly. The blade being dragged down her bare thigh as the man whispered that she was beautiful was anything but nice.

    But the boy with the light brown hair and troubled eyes hadn't meant to insult her. He didn't want to chain her in a basement and threaten to throw a young deaf boy who was her only companion to the gnashers. He didn't want to give her another scar down her thigh. He just spoke what he thought and meant what he said.

"Thank you." She says to the open woods and watches as the air steels her words away.

****If anyone knows that The Decay is a dangerous place, it's her. Is anyone bothered with the fact that her name has yet to be mentioned? It will be! Tell me what you think so far and until next time, keep reading!****