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The Hunter Within

Self Help

Sophie’s pained screams ripped through the too small room as the catheter tore through her skin, entirely her fault as she struggled against the six large hands that worked at holding and securing her to the dentist-like chair, another set working not-so-carefully to insert the needle in the nook of her elbow. The room around her was all too white, the lights too bright and the smell of bleach enough to burn the inside of her nose. Kicking outwards blindly, a soft crack filled the room as her booted foot connected with the bridge of a nose, the now-whimpering soldier stupid enough to be standing between her unsecured legs. He stumbled on impact, tools clattering on the tray they sat on as he grasped at it, pulling it closer for support.
It didn’t take long for the three men to overpower her, tightening the straps around her hips, wrists and ankles until they were fitted enough that she could feel her heartbeat pulsing under the pressure around her limbs. Knowing she had been defeated, she resided to scowling at the smug men as the doctor retried the catheter, this time moving to her other arm, the left bleeding from her struggle. The soldiers lingered for a moment before their radio crackled, their attention needed elsewhere, leaving Sophie to turn her distaste to the doctor before her. She kept her eyes on him, not looking away until he spun to the big, wooden desk, back to her as he wheeled his chair across the room. As soon as he turned, Sophie’s glance was on the scattered tools, laid out on the cart that the soldier had foolishly left too close to her hand.
Wiggling, she worked at brushing over the tools with her fingers, her teeth clenched and breath caught in her throat as she fought against the pain. Her forefinger brushed over the tweezers, just enough that she was able to pull them a little closer before scooping the stainless steel tool up into a clenched fist.
“It’s better if you don’t struggle,” the doctor smiled falsely as he turned back around, misunderstanding Sophie’s shallow breathing.
She regarded him with dangerous eyes as he taped the catheter down before grabbing at the scalpel, pulling the tray a little closer to her right side. Squirming against his hold, Sophie couldn’t help but cry out was the cool blade nicked the soft skin of her upper arm, slicing the axillary artery. Disbelief clouded her entire being as she watched her own blood spurt from the inside of her arm, threatening to paint the floor crimson red if it weren't for the strategically placed bucket. Rather than struggle, she closed her eyes, working at keeping her breaths deep and even, at keeping her heart rate low. It was easier said than done, considering the panic her system went into as blood continued to drain from her upper arm.
Minutes dragged by, feeling more like hours as Sophie became drowsier with every second that passed, barely noticing how the doctor was now working to stop the immense bleeding, working at stitching the wound closed once he had managed to control it. No sooner than the bleeding being completely stopped was it worked at being replaced, a bag of blood hung above her head working as a substitute for what she had lost. For what had been taken from her...
“I’ll kill you,” Sophie mumbled as fiercely as she could, her body still too weak and her mind still too clouded to actually do such a thing. Confusion settled in her bones, welling there until it governed her completely. “I’ll kill you and anyone else who tries to keep me here...”
The doctor just chuckled, not looking at her as he studied the blood he used to replace what he had taken, what was captured in a bucket beneath her. “We’ll see how strong you are if and when your system accepts the new blood. I really hope you are compatible; you’ve got some fight about you. Despite what your file says.”
“You think I’m weak?” This time, it was Sophie who laughed, a little more feebly, more menacingly, despite her drugged like demeanour.
“You scored low. A one out of three.”
“Your system is floored.”
“I will admit,” he mused, turning back to his desk, his back to her. “They should have slipped you through, anyway. You aren’t someone I would have kept around.”
“So, you kill the strong ones?” Sophie pressed, using the tweezers she still clenched in her hand to try and grab at the scalpel with little success. “Keep the weak ones here, dispose of them when they are strong enough to fight back. That’s boring. Cliché.”
“Not the strongest,” he glanced back over his shoulder, Sophie freezing under the weight of his eyes before reattempting at the blood coated scalpel with impaired coordination. “The strongest join us, we need them for protection, it’s just the average we test on. They are perfect. Strong enough, but not wasteful.”
“Test on?” Sophie gritted her teeth, managing to pinch at the scalpel with a little more strength, dragging it closer as a scream called out from the room behind them, muffled and seemingly never ending. She moved a little quicker, using her left hand to both awkwardly and clumsily saw at the binds around her wrist. The desperate cries rocked her entire being, mind running over faces, over possibilities, her heart pushing the new blood around her body much more quickly.
“You’ll see,” the doctor smirked, turning slowly enough to give her time to pause her sawing, to hide the scalpel out of his line of sight. “But you probably won't. I will, though.”
The screams began to die off, cries barely audible through the thin wall behind her as Sophie started back at the strap around her left wrist, squirming against the weakened threads as it loosened around her joint. She froze as the doctor glanced over his shoulder before studying his watch, something Sophie hadn’t seen someone do in a long time. “Got somewhere else to be?”
He stood at her seethed words, pausing to check on the blood bag before turning to the door. “As it turns out, we’ve actually had an influx of patients tonight, I usually only work the two groups, so you’ll have to excuse me for a second, I’ve got your friend in the next room. Ben, is it?”
“You’re excused,” Sophie all but growled, settling back into her seat as the man moved through the door, leaving her to her own devices.
No sooner than the door locking behind him did she get back to work, sawing at the fabric much less discretely, and much more hurriedly. As the first strap broke, she made a move for her right hand, eyes not leaving the door as she pulled at the material desperately with clumsy fingers. It took her longer than she liked to admit to free herself from the chair, sitting up only too quickly, the limited blood supply to her brain washing away. She rocked where she sat, studying the room with dizzy eyes as she reached for the tube connected to her left arm. Kinking it, cutting off the supply, she studied the crimson red for a moment before standing up onto shaking legs, reaching up to unhook the bag from where it hung.
Glancing back over her shoulder at the door, Sophie scanned the room for anything she could use to secure the bag, knocking over the tray of tools as she did. Her heart thumped quickly, too loudly as she paused, listening out into the hallway for any clue that she had been heard. It was only when she was sure that her fumble had gone undetected that she continued again, rummaging through the draws with a single hand, her other holding the bag high enough for it to continue giving blood. Blood that isn’t yours, she mused, tying the thin fabric of a sling around the hook before securing it around her upper chest as tightly as she could, the bag falling to rest just below her neck, in the centre of her back.
Rubbing at her eyes, trying to focus them, Sophie backtracked to the dentist-like chair, grabbing at the tweezers as the door handle twist before her. Throwing her drunken weight forward as soon as the doctor reappeared, she managed to catch the man off guard, burying the tweezers into his right eye as he turned to face the room, the door already having clicked shut behind him. Covering his mouth with her free hand, Sophie pushed him towards the back of the room, his muffled, pleading screams threatening to turn her in. Crimson worked at staining her hands as she forced the still-embedded tweezers further into the man’s already wounded eye, his screams becoming even less cohesive with each inch they deepened.
They continued on for no longer than it took Sophie to take in a deep breath, fading away into unconsciousness as she glanced back over her shoulder at the door anxiously before searching the still body, her hands raking over the pistol holstered from his shoulder, hidden behind the lab coat. She was checking the chamber when the door creaked at the hinges, a too-familiar moan filling the tiny space around her. Knowing it could only be bad, and no longer having any time to plan, she turned to face the newcomer, arm and pistol raised.
Her breath came in deep waves as she regarded the wide-eyed, uniformed stranger before her, the smell of blood rich in the air, exciting the moans that had come with the open door. Sophie’s eyebrows furrowed together as she took in the rotter stretched out on a rod between them, completely armless, jaws snapping in her direction hungrily. As the man reached for his radio, she thrust her aim forward a little more in silent warning, pulling him up before his fingers could touch at the button. Neither of them moved for a long moment, Sophie’s eyes darting nervously between the animated corpse and the equally as anxious man before her.
“Give it to me,” she ordered sharply, holding out her left hand as she gestured for the man to step forward, to close the door as he came. The rotter hissed hungrily as the man moved closer ever so slowly, holding it away as he grabbed at the radio by the antenna, his eyes flickering to the unconscious doctor in the corner as he placed it on the dentist-like chair in the middle of the room.
Sophie inched forward wearily, eyes not dropping to the radio as she lowered to clutch at it with her left hand. In her moment of vulnerability, the man pulled away, swinging the rotter around to place between them in one fluid movement before letting it go altogether. The decaying corpse stumbled forward, Sophie tripping over the scattered tools as she backtracked, air forced from her lungs as she took the impact of the much larger body. With her left forearm pressed against its rotting neck, she worked at getting a clear shot as the man made a break for the doorway, threatening to give away her freed position to whoever was on the other side, not pausing to think that shooting at him would do it anyway.
Gritting her teeth, Sophie worked at adjusting her right arm, avoiding the chopping jaws that were inches from her face as she worked at shoving the barrel of the pistol through the gooey remains of the rotters eyeball, forcing it around the bone as the escaping man was thrown back against the loosely hanging door. The moans above her silenced, the body slumping down on top of her own as she twisted as best she could, watching Vincent draw back a fist to unleash a right hook, knocking the man out instantly. Shoving the decaying body away from her, Sophie worked at lifting herself up before one of Vincent’s large hands looped under her armpit, pulling her to her feet much quicker.
“What the fuck’s going on?”
“I don’t know. The rest of my squad are dealing with the others.” Vincent huffed, moving aside so she could move around the dentist-like chair before them, searching the limp body by the door, taking his knife. “Robert killed the guard out the front, stole his keys. Cal got stabbed in the shoulder, but he is doing fine.”
“Where are the rest of the soldiers?”
“It’s late, so I suppose they’re in bed.” He mused as Sophie handed him the pistol, “We handled what was here but we’ve made a bit of a mess, bit of a noise. Someone might have heard.”
“You killed them all?” She huffed, suddenly remembering the screams from the next door over, rushing out of her own room to move further down the hall, heart thumping loudly in her chest.
“We think so. This is messed up, Soph.”
“You’re telling me,” she twisted her arm, showing him her new stitches before throwing the door open, her eyes raking over the all too familiar scene before her. Alice sat in an identical chair to the one she had just been secured to, a bucket of blood beneath her, the only difference residing in the messy bite that adorned the skin of her forearm. The young girl cried out, pleading with Sophie to help her as she crossed the otherwise empty room. “Vince, I need a big knife!”
“Hey! We need something sharp! Something big!” He called down the hallway as Sophie grabbed at her belt in an all too practiced motion, securing it tightly just below the tiny girl’s elbow. The bucket of blood and her pale complexion told her she had already lost enough of it, enough of it to make Sophie’s stomach heavy. “Yeah! She’s up here! …Ben is bringing something.”
The two men from her own squad rushed through the door moments later, a machete in hand, giving Sophie no time to question where they had found it. “Is that a bite!?”
“Guys,” a familiar voice cried, a head of bright red hair appearing around the doorframe. “I can’t find Chloe, Same or Amy.”
“Chloe’s dead,” Sophie spoke under strain as she drew all that remained of her strength, bringing the big blade down to partly separate Alice’s forearm from the rest of her body, Evan pulling the belt tighter as the young girl screamed out, Sophie taking a second and final swing.
“What the fuck is happening!?” Ben cried, wide-eyed and visually shaken as he worked at putting pressure on the severed limb. “Is that a blood bag hanging from your back!?”
“They’re testing people.” Sophie huffed back at him, working at covering the bleeding wound as Alice’s blood-curdling screams made way for unconsciousness. “They took some blood and replaced it. I don’t know any more than tha –”
“Brad and Cal are guarding the front door, got some guns from the soldiers we took out” a woman – much older than Sophie – cut her off as she entered the room, squeezing passed Allison to address Vincent. “We gotta split, though, it won’t be long until someone catches on. We can’t risk using the guns, not with them all living so close by.”
“Get Alice to the trucks,” Sophie turned to meet Ben’s eyes, the other man glancing over at Evan in return. “The same one that we were hiding in. Do you hear me? The same one. Lay low there, don’t move, and don’t make a sound.”
“We can’t risk them going out the front.”
“Her heart is weak and she is bleeding out,” Ben rebutted Allison with a protective tone, his own coming before her. The three groups divided. “We need to stabilise her.”
“We’ll bring the truck to you.” The woman promised, moving to raise a questioning eyebrow at Vincent, silently asking for his help.
“I’ll back you up,” Sophie stood alongside the blonde man, shooting Ben and Evan a fleeting glance before moving out towards the hallway, pausing to address Allison. “I need you to stay here, help them seal the wound, okay?”
Sophie didn’t wait to hear whether or not the redhead approved of her job, rushing forward to fall into step beside Vincent as he hurried after the other woman, pausing as she thought she heard a muffled cry for help. "Sophie?"
"Do you hear that?"
“What?”
That.” She hissed, forcefully enough that the tall man hesitated mid-step for a moment, reaching out to grab at her wrist. “Someone else is here.”
“We got everyone,” his accented tone was sure, glancing back over his shoulder at her, letting go of the grip around her wrist as she continued on behind him voluntarily as they approached the two unfamiliar men at the end of the corridor, behind the doors she had been dragged in through earlier. “Rob, we need to get out of here.”
“Working on it.” The older of the two men groaned impatiently as Sophie moved in amongst the strangers, the lights above them too bright as she peered out into the darkened foyer, sure that it hadn’t been that way earlier.
“There’s two in the front room,” the younger offered with a whisper, clutching at a stolen automatic weapon just as tightly as the older man held onto his, his shoulder stained with crimson. “Must have turned while we were dealing with the staff out the back.”
Relief threatened upon her fear as she realised them were rotters, settling into the floor a little more, she worked at listening out for the idle moans beyond the doors that had blocked Vincent from her when she had been dragged in over an hour ago now. “Why is there no security?”
“That was it.” The same voice answered her, the door creaking ever so softly as he moved towards the door.
Sophie dipped her head, eyes flickering to the young man before navigating around the unfamiliar bodies to the front of the small convoy to peer out into where the foyer was dully lit by the moon. “I’ve got a knife, I’ll deal with one of them.”
“I’ll get the other,” the older woman piped up once again, moving in beside Sophie as she stepped through the doors, tightening her grip on the blade as Vincent offered her a supportive nod.
Moving out into the dark room, glass crunched under her feet, sending her gaze to the broken lights, unable to understand how they got that way as the rotters stumbled towards them curiously. Always preferring to go to them, Sophie moved forward faster, grunting softly as she almost blindly thrust her stolen blade up through the soft under chin of the fresh rotter. The body was much bigger than her own, its dead weight toppling down over her as the other woman handled the second rotter, a round of silent bullets ripping through the flesh of both the living and the dead beside her as she lunged for it bravely.
A single pained cry was all that followed, Sophie’s breath quickened and heart thumping up in her throat as the pounding of lead against muscle subsided, the world once again growing to still as the woman noisily choked on her own blood. Behind her, she could hear hushed arguing, the corpse still laying on top of her as footsteps moved in from the outside doors. She held her breath, listening as they moved closer, one set moving to where the pained noises were dying off. Taking in a deep breath, Sophie readjusted the grip she had on the bloody knife in her hands, driving it outwards into the lower calf of the soldier that moved to lean down beside the corpse perched on top of her.
He cried out in pain, crumpling to the floor beside her, close enough that she was able to drive the blade up through his throat before he had a chance to correct himself. Silent bullets impacted with the dead flesh that she used to shield her body, skin ripping apart as the other soldier moved closer, Sophie reaching out to take the gun out of the limp hands beside her. Squeezing the trigger, the uniformed man clutched at his shoulder upon impact before a second, much better placed, bullet buried itself within his skull. Sophie could feel warm blood pooling beneath her as she trembled where she was, not daring to move, not even daring to breathe.
A soft squeal escaped her lips as the body on top of her was pulled away, a large hand wrapping around her wrist as she lunged for the darkened figure with the blade. “We gotta go, now, who knows who heard what.”
“No, just me. You go get Teddy.”
“But –”
Go!”
“Cal!” Vincent hissed through the darkness, moving towards the open space before him cautiously, Sophie turning to look over her shoulder as light footsteps approached. “You help Sophie with the truck.”
She hung back as the young man moved forward, glass crunching underfoot behind her, Vincent making a move across the seemingly still world before them, pistol held tightly in his hands and her breath in her lungs. Cal approached almost cautiously, eyes going to the silencer in her grip before pulling a cap off the fallen soldiers head to place it on her own, hiding her too recognisable hair from anyone who might catch sight of them, probably hoping to blend in as best as they could. It wasn’t until Vincent had disappeared completely that she let the other man lead her away from the building, out into the open, her eyes brushing over the darkened trailers that lined the other side of the compound. These people know, she realised as they slipped in behind the first truck, they all know.
Cal was stepping up into the drivers seat as Sophie thrust herself up into the back, stepping over Chloe's covered body to wrap her fingers around a comforting, familiar length of wood before letting herself drop back onto the ground below. She hesitated in her place, eyes raking over the canisters of gas that were stored beneath the tray before picking one up, the heavy weight enough to tell her that it was full.
“You go ahead,” she hissed at Cal as he raised a concerned eyebrow, tucking her staff under her armpit in order to haul both canisters up into her grip. The young man tried to fight her with a hushed tone, Sophie completely ignoring him as she moved back towards the darkened foyer, keeping to the shadows when she could.
The engine rumbled to life behind her, loudly enough that she knew they would have to act quickly, that there would be no time for mistakes. Dawn wouldn’t be far off them, and without the cover of night, they wouldn’t be as lucky as they had been so far. Glass crunched under her foot as she moved back through the foyer, eyes raking over the dead soldiers as she stepped over them, cringing as her still inserted catheter pulled. She got to work quickly, setting the fuel canisters aside to work at unscrewing the lid, taking in a deep breath before drawing a single line down the hallway.
Sophie?” A familiar voice hissed as she moved towards the back door, a jet-black head of curly hair watching her somewhat curiously. "What are you doing?"
“Just get everyone in the truck, “ she called back, listening to the soft rumble of an engine and hurried voices from outside the building as she moved back to collect the second canister, picking up the pace despite her weary muscles.
Simply unscrewing the lid, Sophie tipped the container over, stepping away from the spilling gas as it splashed across the top of her boots. Behind her, heavy footsteps moved in from the back door, pausing up the hall as they took in the way she flooded the halls angrily. “Soph, what are you doing?”
“They don’t get to keep doing this,” she spoke sternly, not bothering to look up at Vincent as she ducked into the first of six loosely hung doors. Pausing within the room, her eyes raked over the tiny space before rummaging through the back cupboards, her hands grabbing at the oxygen cylinder hidden there. Dragging it out into the corridor, Sophie found that Vincent was yelling up the hall in reply to something someone else had said. “Can you find me some matches?”
“Wait,” Vincent paused as he went to turn away, Sophie laying the canister of pure oxygen amongst the fuel. "Are you going to blow this place up?"
“Is that what it looks like?” She pried, moving into the next room to source its oxygen, leaving him to his own devices for a moment. Lugging the heavy cylinder back out into the hallway, he was still standing there, eyebrows raised. “Yes. I’m going to blow it up.”
He hesitated for a moment before sighing, moving into the room that she came out of as Sophie rushed for the one that she had been confined to earlier. She continued on as he searched draws, rushed rummaging heard throughout the entire building as she lined the brightly lit, fuel soaked corridor with the oxygen cylinders kept within each room, her eyes continuously darting back down to look out the foyer nervously. Through her anxious scans, Sophie paused as she reached the seventh room, the clock on the wall telling her that they didn’t have much more darkness to work with.
Dumping it in the hallway, she frowned as she worked to get into the final room, the door not opening even though the handle moved. Stepping back, she studied the lock for a second, Vincent moving towards her, matches in hand. “I can't get in.”
“Do you really need it?”
“Guess not,” she sighed, turning away from the door as something on the other side clattered loudly enough to gain both her and Vincent’s attention. Both of them remained still for a moment, soft voices coming through from under the door, her heart pounding heavily in her chest.
“Stand back,” He warned moments later, having turned to grab at her recently abandoned oxygen cylinder, he worked at finding a good grip on the slippery, fuel soaked surface before thrusting it above his head, the sound of metal clashing against metal following moments later.
She wasn’t sure whether or not he was talking to her or whatever was on the other side, but Sophie followed his advice, sinking closer to the other side of the hallway as the large man readjusted his grip, slamming the heavy cylinder down onto the handle once again. The metal pulled from the wooden frame, door hanging loosely, Sophie taking a silent step forward to push it open further, staff clenched in ready hands. On the other side, two men not much older than her observed them with wide eyes, one clutching tightly at a defensively raised chair.
“You get the oxygen,” Sophie gestured to Vincent, taking in the nervous men before her with a sense of curiousity, neither of them moving from where they had backed up against the wall. “How many rotters have you killed?”
“Us?” A young Asian man spoke, shifting his weight almost curiously as the other regarded her with big, brown eyes. Sophie pressed her lips together, nodding as her eyes flickered to Vincent as he scooped up the final cylinder. “I don’t know… Two. Maybe three.”
Her eyes moved to rake over the head of chocolate brown hair, his doe-like eyes full of uncertainty as they fluttered around the room anxiously. “None.”
“How many people?”
“Sophie, we gotta go!”
She ignored Vincent’s warning, stepping a little closer to the newcomers as she raised an eyebrow, hands snaking around to her side to work at the knot that secured the long empty bag of blood to her back. “How many?”
Both men froze under her questioning, the world falling still around them as Sophie gripped the sling in her left hand, using the other to pull at the catheter still buried within the nook of her elbow. The blacked haired man shifted once again, studying her with a sense of uncertainty, confusion written on his features. “None?”
Why?”
“Is that a real question?”
Sophie looked back over her shoulder, letting the tubing and bag drop to the ground as she moved out into the hallway, trusting that the other two would be following. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
As they moved down the corridor, she paused to soak the material of the sling in the fuel that pooled around her feet, treading lightly as she made her way to the back door. The world around them was still quiet as they stepped out onto the damp grass, her eyes raking over the figures before her as they argued under hushed voices.
“Everyone in?” She pried, laying out the sling so it touched at the end of the petrol stream that ran down the corridor, gesturing for Vincent to throw her the matches from where he stood before the passenger side door of the truck. As the others packed themselves away, her eyes touched on the older man as he hung back, an unfamiliar child perched in his arms. “We gotta go.”
The man adjusted his weight, rubbing at his tear stained face as Sophie looked up from where her match was dangerously close to the soaked through material. “I’m going to stay. Return this kid back to its mother when she gets back, rebuild this place into something better. Something worth my wife dying for.”
Sophie just dipped her head, eyes darting to where Vincent hung out of the passenger side door briefly, the one behind him opened, ready for her. There was nothing she could say, nothing she could do. “Okay... Well, I'd be standing back if I were you."
He did as suggested as Sophie turned to crack another match, stepping back as far as she could before dropping it onto the fuel soaked rag, moving to step up into the rear seat behind Vincent as the bright flames sizzled. Evan was moving forward before she had a chance to close her door, to check that the newcomers were in the back, to check that they had even followed her out. As the truck rumbled forward, her eyes brushed over where Teddy was peering over Vincent’s wide shoulders at her, drool hanging from his chin.
“Where did that other kid come from?” She huffed, Evan taking a hard turn around the lineup of vehicles, the truck propelling towards the secured gate that separated the restricted section from the rest of the base.
“Jordan’s in the back,” Vincent glanced over his shoulder as an explosion rocked the entire world around them, causing the vehicle to sway on its wheels as immense heat radiated from the building behind them. “I couldn’t leave her behind.”
Sophie nodded sharply, turning her attention to Ben, to the girl that lay between them. Her features were too pale, her skin hot to touch. “How is she doing?”
“Not good,” Ben spoke softly, shaking his head. Your determination will kill them all, corporal Williams words echoed through her mind as the gate flung open before them on impact and Sophie wondered if he knew all along. It bounced back on its hinges as they moved passed the mess hall, gunshots sounding out in the distance.
Evan let out a string of curses as bullets pelted against the side of the truck, Sophie glancing out the back window with little success, the glass covered by the canopy that worked poorly to hide the newcomers and Allison from the gunfire. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“They aren’t about to open the gate for us,” the dark haired man retorted, spinning the wheel to take a hard left away from the lookouts they had begun to approach, the bullets only hitting harder.
“We’ll make our own.”
“No,” Vincent turned in his seat, eyebrows furrowed together as he regarded her with a sense of disbelief, Teddy whimpering at the noise of lead impacting with metal. Evan took another hard turn, Sophie and Ben grabbing hold of Alice’s tiny frame as she threatened to slip from the seat. “There are innocent people here, if we break down the fence, they might die.”
“If we don’t leave, we will die,” Sophie argued back, eyes darting to Alice and the young girls bloody stump. “Alice is going to die if we don’t do something.”
“There are innocent people here, Sophie!”
With that, the truck navigated through the obstacles on the training course, Evan trying to keep them out of firing range as she and Vincent argued back and forth. “Yeah, and there are also very bad people here!”
Bullets ricocheted off the exterior of the truck as Evan glanced over at the man in the passenger seat with a shrug, maneuvering the vehicle towards the outer fence. Sophie found herself gripping at the arm support as the driver seemed to push the accelerator further towards the floor, moving too quickly at the too precisely aimed bullets. “Sorry, man, I’m on her side.”
“There are no sides!”
"Did you pay attention at all back there?" Evan questioned, shaking his head with a soft laugh as they pushed through the fence, the chain links twanging as they caught the truck at full speed, the poles ripping from the ground.
Bullets continued to pelt against the back and Sophie found herself reaching to lower the windows as it died off into the distance, nervous for how those in the back at faired. “You guys okay back there!?”
A few anxious seconds passed before a single, gesturing thumb appeared around the back of the canopy, Sophie’s eyes trailing back to the base they left behind. Even from where they were, she could see the exploded building burning away to nothing, she could hear the faint sound of commotion and feel the distance Evan worked at putting between them and the base.
“They all good?”
“Yeah,” she barely whispered at Ben’s equally as quiet question, leaning over to touch at Alice’s only wrist, her pulse much too weak and body too still. Your determination will kill them all, the words bouncing off the inside of her skull as she settled back into her seat, touching at the hand Teddy reached out for her with carefully.
“Where to now?” Evan mused, speeding along the empty, leaf littered road, going nowhere in particular. Sophie bit at her lip, her right hand grabbing to grip at her angled staff as Vincent turned in his seat to look at her, the both of them with different destinations in mind, the both of them fully aware of that.
“Away from here.”



Notes

Whaaaat!? Another chapter. I've decided to try and make a habit of uploading twice a week (my Monday (today) and probably Friday) until they are reunited. Please don't take that to mean that it is still ages away, it's coming, I promise. Possibly sooner rather than later.

Big thanks to rachelloyd, amberryvonnee, Thanya and Anxious_Geek for your comments in such the short time that I gave you all. Hugely appreciated, this chapter goes to you! Haha. Can't wait to hear what you think about Sophie's great escape. Happy reading x

Day one: After (S), Inmates (D)
Day two: Claimed (S), Still (D)
Day four: Alone (S)
Day five: Alone (S)
Day six: The Grove (D)
Day seven: Us (S)
Day eight: A (D), No Sanctuary (S), Strangers (D)
Day nine: Four Walls and a Roof (S), Slabtown Part one
(D)
Day ten: Slabtown Part two (D), Self Help (S)

Comments

Who's here on 2020 for a re-read? :D

Tee- Tee-
4/17/20

@QueenUchi

New readers make my heart sing, especially when they start this journey ten months after I ended it (abit abruptly but we won’t get into that because it’ll make me sad again).

Thank you you so much for leaving a comment. Nothing is more motivating for the unmotivated than a little bit of love. Whenever I get a comment from someone new all I find myself wanting to sit down and grill them with a million different questions.

If youre chasing updates about any eventual stories I write, please follow me on instagram @ sophyl_

Thanks a million again!! xx

aryaaa aryaaa
11/28/18

thank you @sanders151 for recomending me this fanfic

Your fanfic has been in the center of my life for the whole month November. Let me just tell you that im in love with everything about this story. Im even at loss of words about how amazing this journey has been.

There have been moments when i actually had to get up and calm down from all the feelings may they be joy sadness or just extreme suffering. Ive been cheering, i've been crying to the point of ugly sobbing, ive been screaming while reading this all.

I dont even know how to tell you how i feel about this fanfic there arent any words for it so ima just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH about it cause thats the closets that i can think off "insert all the feelings i cant express here"

I am just so thank full for all your time and effort and everything youve put into this story. Cause WOW youre an amazing writer and when you do make your original story please do know that I WOULD LOVE TO READ THAT TOO.

This journey has ended but it will forever be in my heart.

QueenUchi QueenUchi
11/27/18

@Sanders151

I was so surprised to see a new notification on this story after all these months. Thank you so much for taking the time
to comment, I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read since. Please feel free to leave me updated on your thoughts xx

aryaaa aryaaa
11/25/18

Hello,

It's been a looong time since i've read this story. Life got busy and i totally forgot to finish it.

SO i decided to reread everything and lemme tell you...I STILL LOVE IT AS MUCH AS THE FIRST TIME.
Im currently at chapter 62 (right after fort hill) and i can't wait for what is to come.


Sanders151 Sanders151
11/15/18