Scars Along the Way

Fixing Jack

With Jack unconscious and bleeding, the ride to her house felt terribly long. For most of the ride, she was fighting the grey haze that crept into the edges of her vision. Passing out would be the worst thing that could happen right now. She couldn't trust these men to look out for anybody but themselves. 

As they finally turned down the long road out to her house, she was hit with a burst of adrenaline. She sat up straight, looking out at the road ahead of them until they could see the large contemporary house in the distance. She realized she needed to think about what to do. She had snapped out of the sleepy state and was thinking clearly now. She had an idea.

"That's it right there."

"You live out here, in the middle of nowhere?" asked the driver.

"It's better out here," she said. "Now listen, guys. When we get there, I have a spare key hidden inside the bunny statue in my yard. You can go inside and in my basement, I have a ton of beer and a TV. You can relax while I take care of your boss. Randy and you," she turned to the other guy who had helped pull Jack out of the car, whose name she still didn't know. "You bring him upstairs to my guest room. Okay?" She looked around at everyone's faces. Randy and the other man nodded in agreement. The four she had promised beer to all looked at each other, smiling.

"Alright," said the driver. "Sounds good."

"Good." she said, relaxing a little. She looked down at Jack's face. She lifted the towel off his head, but quickly pressed it back to the wound as fresh blood still streamed from the gash. Once they got him inside, she could get a closer look at how deep it was and do her best to treat it.

They drove up the gravel driveway and parked. The four men, in a hurry to get their free beer,  got out of the SUV and practically ran, finding the spare key and filing into the house.

"Guys, I have to go in there right now. take him upstairs." Eva said, opening the door and running inside leaving the two to carry their boss out of the car.

She had just gotten inside when she watched the four goons enter the basement door that was under her stairs. She stood silently at the top of the basement stairs, watching the men pile into the room, not seeing her behind them. She grabbed the basement door and slammed it shut, locking the four locks she had installed on it. The men, realizing that there was no beer, began cursing and yelling.

She jumped back as someone tried the doorknob and then started banging on the door. She held the gun firmly in her hand as she listened to them kick and slam against it. She was glad it was thick, sturdy oak otherwise they would have easily broken it open already with the first kick.

She heard the other two goons enter the house, each holding opposite ends of their boss. She looked at them and pointed in the direction of the stairs. "It's the first room on the right."

As they took him up the stairs, she turned back to the basement door. The men were quiet now, which concerned her a little bit. She waited, listening, wondering what they were doing. She made the decision to leave them alone, hoping they wouldn't manage to break down the door. She ran up the stairs and down the hall to the doorway of the guest room.

Her eyes fell upon Jack who was now laid in the bed, so still and lifeless compared to his usual theatrical, animated self. She had a flashback to the horrible dream she had this morning. Her throat ached and tears welled up in her eyes, reliving the horrible feelings she had tried to push out of her mind today.

The goons turned to her, waiting for her to say something. She saw them look at her, and she tried to quickly wipe the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand but they could see clearly that she was crying. She spoke, her voice shaking. "I just locked the other guys in the basement... they're pretty angry because I lied about there being beer."