Surrounds (Bonds) (3 page)

She quickly tears open the bag a few seconds later, fingers digging into it, fishing out a few chips putting them into her mouth. A moan escapes her as she chews on the only slightly stale chips. She finishes her bag of goodness in half a minute, her stomach aches but her hunger is still strong. She licks her dirty fingers, savoring the taste, then looks up at the beast who torments her, hoping he has more. Then she notice a green backpack, it's strap wrapped firmly around his left hand. He continues staring at her.

She bites her lip, her wanting gaze on the backpack. Would he have more chips in there? "What's that?" Alasa questions pointing, surprising herself. He only tilts his head. He then holds it out to her.

She hesitates, but untangles her achy legs from the blanket and slowly crawls over, watching him. Once close enough, her left hand reaches out for it very slowly not wanting to do anything wrong. He only watches her, letting the bag go once her hand wraps around it's strap. It flops onto the ground, heavy, which she wasn't expecting. She tugs it backwards, a few feet away from him before fully turning her attention to the bag.

It was a camping sack, an expensive one at that. Her dad use to take her and her sister out camping sometimes, he always bought the expensive items. Her dad was all about flash and show, spending more money then needed on most things, including camping items. He could afford it. He had a bag like this one, but his was a dull yellow.

She unzips it carefully, throwing glances at 'him'. He only watches her. She tugs out a green jacket first, quickly shrugging it on. Next is a pair of women cargo pants, a couple bottles of water, a few cans beans, some of those camping food pouches, matches, flip flops, a machete, which without any thought, the young woman slides it to the beast before continuing to look inside the bag, her smile never falters and only grows at all the items. She's at the very last item in the bag when her smile finally weakens, it's a photo, a photo of a young family - a mom, a dad and identical little boys all grinning happily in front of a white background, dressed in matching spring time colors - pink, yellow, green.

She frowns, holding the black framed photo in her hands, it had been wrapped in a grey T-shirt. This bag belongs to someone one. Her gaze lifts, landing on her monster. Had he taken it from them? Had he hurt anyone for it? The very thought has her wanting to take the warm jacket off, but the icy breeze creeping across her skin argues against. There was nothing she could do about it, taking off the clothing would be very dumb.

She takes a haggard breath.

(L)

Chapter 6

Lacey

"I'll tell you..." Henderson looks at the floor, backing away from the window, taking her with him. He tries forcing her onto the couch to sit, but the girl refuses, staring at him blankly. He lets go of her arm and sits onto the couch himself. "Six months ago they came..." He trails voice cutting off suddenly. He tugs his left hand quickly through his sweaty hair, his shoulders lower as he takes a shuddering breath.

Lacey folds her arms over herself, staring at him, waiting on him to continue. "Who came?" Her question is layered with impatience and annoyance. "Who came, Henderson? Aliens?" She questions sarcastically, fed up with his reluctance to tell her anything.

"No..." He answers with a frightening amount of seriousness. He glances up at her. "I don't think of them as aliens. Some might..." His head shakes, "but I don't think so."

Lacey lowers herself beside the obviously distressed young man, staring at him. "What?" Her brown eyes bore into his face, trying to see if he was joking.

His hair falls into his face. The girl finds it odd, but has no idea why. "They call them
demons
, all of them appeared out of thin air, " His hands ball into fists, " It was subtle at first, tiny things, far away and nothing we would have to worry about. Thy have wild powers, insane, crazy powers... strength...odd in appearances..." He looks down at his balled fists, his hands were trembling. "You don't... There was a war at first, they see themselves as superior, as stronger, as better. And a war began, the Creatures were having none of it, animalistic, they function off of primitive behaviors, anger, strength, chaos, and insanity. The creatures... most of them can take a dozen bullets at a time, you can guess how this war went then, right? They have these animal like creatures who... never mind. There are wars going on all over right now, between humans and who Creatures but the government collapsed months ago..." He frowns as if she was unsure if he was making any sense. "I... The battle of for what's left of the eastern United States was lost and humans who live there have been enslaved and are in hiding. Your father and my own were leaders of a small band, you fell ill before we were all suppose to make our way to Mexico to join a standing Fort, you wouldn't have made the harsh journey. So, I stayed behind with you and hid you in the basement." His gaze flits down. "I should have told you a long time ago."

"I don't believe you." Lacey says bluntly. How could she? What he was saying was insane and level nine nutty. "Why are lying? What's really going on, Henderson?"

Henderson leans forward, his elbows propped on his legs, he blankly stares in front of him. "You don't have to believe me, you'll see it for yourself." Finally his mask of indifference completely shatters as a sigh leaves him. "I had no intention of ever letting you out of basement." He tells her honestly. "I had no intention of letting you see what the world had become. It was selfish of me and dumb.... What if something happened? You would have been trapped in that basement until you starved, but, I didn't care about that, I selfishly kept you locked up down there. I was suppose to take you to your father once you were healthy again, but I was afraid and you didn't even..." He cuts his rambling off sharply and shakes his head
.
"We have to leave, there was a family a few streets over from here, hiding out in their home. A mom, dad and a little boy. The father and I use to trade items... but last night I smelled smoke, and when I looked outside the whole area was covered in it. This morning I headed over and found half a dozen Creatures picking through what was left of the family's home." His left hand once again finds his hair. "I assume they were taken, which means we could be found out about. We have to leave, try getting to Mexico. We can try finding your father and mine..." He trails, seeming to lose himself in thought as he once again sighs.

He's stressed, she can see that, and if what he tells her isn't a lie, it's understandable. But...The young woman struggles with what Henderson is telling her. It was way too much. Too much, too soon.

"Why don't I remember any of this?" She questions weakly. Lacey looks at the boarded windows. All that could be going on outside? All that could be going on and she had no idea.

"I dunno..." He lightly shrugs, glancing at her. "You were violently sick... you caught a deadly bug only a few people actually are lucky enough to live through." She frowns at him and he looks at her sheepishly, realizing what it was he had actually said. " I... was given a brief course from my dad on how to take care of you and... you got better after a few weeks, but you forgot... everything."

She tries absorbing this, going over what he had said. She had always trusted Henderson before the whole thinking he had kidnapped her situation, she could do it again. Henderson wasn't a bad person, a little emotionally constricted, constipated really, and indifferent at the worse times, but he wasn't a liar and he had been looking out for her. She owed him in away, yes, most of his actions had been selfish and he was obviously on creep level fourteen. Not telling her anything, was shady, but he had was helping her. In his own way, right?

Still... He had blinded her by not telling her all this months ago. She couldn't find it in herself to forget that.

"What... now?" Lacey finally speaks again. "What now..."

Henderson looks startled, it being nearly ten minutes since he had finished speaking. He frowns at her, leaning backwards, studying her face, for what wasn't very clear. "We head for Mexico." She wonders when he became this annoyingly dramatic.

(L)

Chapter 7

Alasa

Sometimes Alasa makes up stories with the family from the framed photograph. Sometimes it would be happy stories about how the family grew and aged - mother and father would grow old, both sons would age as well, becoming successful men, possibly a doctor and a lawyer. A happy close family they were. Sometimes her stories would be very sad - father would run away from his family, from his responsibilities, leaving his wife and kids, mother would have to raise her kids by herself but the boys wouldn't grow up right, both would be bad, starting a life of crime.

But in both, that family was alright at the very end.

She's staring at the family when she feels him behind her, she briefly glances over her shoulder at him. His gaze is on the frame.

"That's mom, the father and sons... children," she tells him pointing at each member of the family. She has no idea why she's doing it, why she's bothering with it. It was likely the lack of interaction with anyone else, not wanting to forget how to speak and start growling like him. She waits for him to react, to growl in warning, when nothing happens, she continues. "I think he's a doctor... maybe a CEO of a company... the wife, well, she likes being had home with the twins, both five. That one, he looks like a Cody, he's a wild one, he likes sports and being a terror..." She then points at the other boy, "His name is Nathan. Nathan is shy, he likes books and snuggling with his mother. He's a good boy..." She tries not to flinch when 'he' noiselessly sits beside her, his body nearly over her as he looks at the framed photo. "I... They like camping as a family and zoos, both twins like animals." She finishes, her insides beginning to twist, not use to having the beast this close without having a particular action following. She's afraid.

The beast lowly growls, it's not threatening, but her body stiffens anyway. She frowns at the father's smiling face, a shaky breath escapes her as she feels him nudge into her. She looks up at him, his gaze on her photo. His look is almost... questioning. Another growl from him has her scooting away, dropping the frame onto the floor. He only looks at her with darkening eyes.

She quickly begins regretting her sudden move. Her gaze quickly leaves his, her head bowing. She quietly prays she hasn't upset him. When nothing happens, she looks up, finding him gone. He's no longer in the circular room. A sigh of relief escapes her. She crawls slowly to the blue blanket, neatly folded a few feet from her, she wraps it around her shoulders. She curls her numb toes and dryly swallows, her fingers twitching. She brings her legs against herself, pressing her face into them. Her body shook. She quietly curses herself.

(L)

Alasa is unsure why, but 'he' wakes her up suddenly, the heat of his too hot hands sinking through her new jacket, burning her flesh. Her body springs upwards and she backs away from him in surprise, her breath caught inside of her. He grabs her a second later with a low growl and yanks her up as if she was a small child.

She barely has any time to set her feet firmly on the ground before he is pulling her out, out towards the opening. Alasa stumbles, her feet tangling around one another as she tries keeping up with him. Once inside the tunnel the inky darkness of it is nearly shocking, her bare feet are cut by rocks, her body shivers. She could see nothing, but 'he' marched on, as if the crippling blackness was nothing to him.

Finally, after many twists and turns, she finds her footing and she finds herself walking instead of being harshly dragged. 'He' continues one, heat coming off of him like a faulty heater. She's afraid, she's unsure what he's doing. He had never allowed her out of the cave before. He had never done anything like this before. They continue forward, an obvious destination she was ignorant to in sight.

Then, light, a tiny speck of light appears before her and a breeze hits her in the face and her sweaty hair sweeps across her face. A dangerous level of hope begins to swell inside of her at the thought of...
Outside...outside...
How long had it been since her skin had felt the warm rays of sunlight? How long had it been since breathing in air not weighed down by musk and mold? Much too long, so long, she finds herself picking up pace towards her beacon of light. Excitement curls around her muscles and her hope blossoms into happiness in her stomach. It was dangerous, she was aware, but it had such a long time...

Then she is blinded by the light, tiny pricks of pain assaults throbbing eyes. She closes them. When they open and her vision clears, she finds herself outside. A rebellious smile falls onto her lips as she looks at the very first thing she can see, it's a partly cloudy sky, blue as Alasa remembers with fluffy white clouds doting it. It hurts, looking at it, but the young woman cannot bring herself to look away.

'His' growl has her attention snapping to the beast, he's watching her, his gaze narrowed, but not in anger but thought. He tugs her again, motioning to a small waterfall flowing along the cave's wall, disappearing through another slit at the bottom. It's only then that Alasa hears it and blinks in surprise. Then, she notices they are on a type of ledge, not truly out of the cave but at an opening in it. On her right is the tops of hundreds of trees, spreading out as far as she can see. If it wasn't a shock, it would have been beautiful.

All this time Alasa hadn't expected it, that they were this far out from anything, but if she thought about it, it wasn't truly that big of a surprise. His growl once again brings her attention away from the beautiful scenery to the beast now standing by the tiny waterfall. When had he let her go? She frowns.