Chapter 20: Elizabeth
My feet kick multicolored leaves across the autumn ground. Running like this without a destination is so exhilarating yet so frightening. It makes me feel alive.
However this situation is still so very different. I remember how it happened. I was running down the street of the community when I heard the gunshot, and almost freaked out when someone ran out in front of me. It was Jessica. "Did you hear that?" She looked down the road in panic. I couldn't see much, except there was a group of people at the gate. Some people were standing on the outside. Either my vision is shit, or Jessica has telescopic pupils because she instantly knew who they were. Judging by the expression that overtook her face, somebody horrible had shown up.
"Come with me." She grabbed my hand for the second time today, though this was a different kind of situation. "We need to hurry before they get down there!" Jessica exclaims while running towards the giant pantry warehouse building. I follow in pursuit. Once we reach the door, she flings it open. Luckily for us, the place is empty. Jessica reaches on the side of the wall and grabs two backpacks hanging up. She throws one at me. "Start filling this up with food and supplies."
I absentmindedly begin to grab things from the shelves, losing track of what we've taken and what we honestly need. I grab some matches, probably more than we will use. I take multiple cans of food off the shelves and shove them into the backpack. We run out of the door unscathed and with supplies.
Jessica and I scurry through the town towards a part of the wall that I hadn't noticed before. It was hidden behind multiple houses. This part of the wall almost looked unfinished. Either they were expanding this wall, or they were doing repairs on it. Reading my mind, Jessica speaks. "This part of the wall was damaged by the last time this group attacked us," she said, looking into my eyes. "Trust me when I tell you that these are not people you want to mess with. They will kill us, or at least bring us to the brink of death and tease us with the pain." I look back towards the gate. I can see that the group is beginning to disperse. People with guns begin running around the community, and I check for their source of entry.
A moving van crashed through the wall. An entire part of the wall was destroyed, and now we are in danger of everything outside of this wall I grew to love within these past 24 hours.
Jessica pulls my hand and leads me through a section of the wall that opens to the outside. I'm a little disturbed at the fact anyone could have gotten in here, but then I realize most people probably don't know about this place. It'd be even more rare for them to realize this one section of the wall is open.
As we step onto the grass outside of the wall, I begin to feel cold and alone again. "What about my father?" I ask her. "We can't just leave him, or my mother."
Jessica winces at the truth in my statement. "I'm leaving family back there too. I already made this plan to keep myself safe, and come back for them when the community solved the issue. They're going to be able to do this, but they don't let kids take up arms. So, you can either come with me and we can do this or I can leave you here."
As much as I hate this, I take off with Jessica into the woods, running away from my problems like I always have.
☠
We reach an area in the woods where there is a clearing but still leaf coverage from the trees. The sun is beginning to set and the darkness is beginning to overtake nature once again. Jessica sits down on a rock and slings her backpack off her shoulder. She unzips it and pulls out the matches. "We need to start a fire before it gets too dark," she tells me. I look around for some sticks and shrubs.
Taking the time to arrange these items into an actual fire is ridiculous. I've never started a fire in my life, but I never assumed it would be this complicated. After many trials, we finally get a good flame going and the fire continues to burn. Jessica throws me her backpack. "You can use this to rest your head on, I'll keep watch."
The idea of keeping watch makes me nervous. I rarely like putting my life into my own hands, and especially hate putting it in someone else's. However, I really think this girl likes me, which means she'll do anything to protect me. I lay the backpack against a rock and rest my head onto it. Within minutes, I'm in dream land.
The sound of rustling wakes me up. My eyes fly open and I sit up, looking out into the dark woods. The fire has gone out and I feel practically blind. The only light left is from the still very hot embers. Damn the moon for not doing it's job.
I reach behind me. "Jessica…" I begin to say half asleep, but stop when I can't feel her behind me. Turning around, I'm met with empty ground. Both backpacks are here, so she didn't abandon me. Something's not right here.
My shoulders are gripped by the most muscular hands I've ever felt in my life. I imagine myself being ripped apart by a grizzly bear at any moment. My body is flipped around and slammed to the ground. I'm met with alcoholic breath that I wish never existed.
"Hello, Lizzy. Miss me?" Steven holds me onto the ground. I can barely move when his voice registers in my brain.
"Let go of me!" I scream at him. I try to wiggle out of his grasp, but he has me pinned. I'm going to die here, alone in the woods. Who knows what he even did to Jessica.
"What, is your dad not here to save you now?", he says to me in a mocking and whiny tone. Steven laughs and his big belly shakes against my chest. I vomit, but force myself to swallow it back down.
"I remembered every detail about you, bitch. You shot me, and I was determined to get my revenge. I found you now. You're gonna get what was coming to you since the moment I saw you."
He reaches down and begins to pull my pants down. No, no, no. I start squirming. "Get off of me!" I scream out into the quiet woods.
Steven laughs again. "Nobody can hear you out here. You're defenseless." I can hear him working the zipper on his pants. "I've been wanting to do this since the moment I saw you." He lowers himself down and his breath moves onto my neck. I shudder at how cold it is, and how horrible it smells. I almost vomit again, but I'm stronger now.
Steven holds my hands down and laughs. "Get ready," he says to me. I stare over at the burning embers, wishing I could just roll over and kill myself to stop this inevitable doom.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone