A Lawless Land

The Bonds We Build And Break

She had already used her last ounce of strength and had to lean against a tree to catch her breath. There was a break from the rain, where she was finally able to observe her surroundings. Queen had long since outrun the group of assholes that had been trying to hunt her down since she led them away from the farm. She hoped everyone was okay.

Once she took in where exactly she was, she was surprise attacked from the side. Someone had sucker punched her in the head, causing her to hit the ground, and it blurred her vision. Before she could reorient herself, she was grabbed by her shirt and lifted off the ground, only to be slammed into a thick tree trunk. Pain shot through her head and body as she felt something warm trickle down the side of her temple.

She groaned with pain as her head lolled to one side, still trying to focus her vision on her attacker. The sound of fabric stretching and ripping was heard, then she was thrown onto the ground.

More footsteps sounded from the trees and had surrounded her, "how is it that this pathetic woman has managed to kill dozens of my men and outrun us?"

The voice was cold, and menacing, but his words only pissed her off, "pathetic? Someone needs to take a look in the mirror, it has taken you hours and you have lost dozens of men because of this 'pathetic' woman. You still think you're high and mighty? Your numbers don't mean anything, mine do."

He laughed cruelly, "numbers? You are alone out here, surrounded by several of my men, what numbers do you have?"

She smirked as her vision finally cleared and was able to look into the face of the man who insulted her, "numbers? I only need 3," they all gave puzzled expressions when she started to count, "1," she quickly drew a gun and had already shot four men before they realized what was happening, dropping the magazine once it had emptied, "2," they started charging at her, but she dodged their attacks and pulled out her knife, going after necks and chests, all falling to the muddy ground one after the other, "3." The leader had backed up until his back was pressed against a tree, she had a second gun pointed at his head.

"What? How?" He felt around himself, realizing he had no weapon on him.

She smiled and shrugged as she held up an ivory-handled pistol in her other hand. His pistol.

"Well, if you must know, I have trained long and hard, preparing for any situation, possible or impossible. Even when dumbasses like you think you've got me, I'm always at least one step ahead."

Another one of his men tried sneaking up on her, while her attention was on him, so he smirked triumphantly, but without looking away from him, she shot the guy right between the eyes, keeping his gun firmly trained on him, "see, one step ahead." She turned the pistol around in her hands, "nice antique, by the way. Did you steal it from a gun collector?"

He remained silent as she turned the pistol on him, then he snarled, "how would you even know that?"

"I happen to recognize this pistol. What happened to the person you took it from?"

He smirked one last time, "probably dead in a ditch somewhere. Were they someone important to you?"

"No," without hesitation, she shot him in the head.

>>>>>>><<<<

During the time since Queen had led those men away, Darren had done whatever he could to keep Joni alive and her kids safe, but he was starting to feel like it wasn't enough anymore, he wished Queen would return already, so he could know she was okay and so they could make a plan on what to do next.

Joni was surely dying, and he could see the realization of it in Cara's eyes as she tried and failed to get the medicine down her mother's throat. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she stood up, defeat etched in her face as she glanced over at her siblings huddled together, some sleeping, some crying quietly, with Duke close by, being the ever watchful guard dog.

"I don't know what to do anymore," she spoke softly as she glanced up at Darren's face expectantly, hoping he could give her some kind of reassurance that everything was going to be okay.

Darren didn't have the heart to tell her he felt the same helplessness. He was no doctor, he couldn't perform miracles, and he sure as hell couldn't risk moving them now. They were still hiding in the cellar of the farmhouse, he hadn't dared to venture up again since Queen had left.

He just pulled Cara into a firm hug, hoping he could at least give her some of his strength and encourage her to keep going. He let out a trembling sigh as he came to a decision.

"Stay down here and try to keep quiet, I'm going up to check if it's clear."

Cara looked up at him with startled eyes, "but what if there are still people out there. What do we do if you're caught?"

He placed his hands on her shoulders, "shh, I won't, you just have to trust me, Cara. I will get you all out of here safely, I promise. Duke, stay."

Duke seemed to give him a confused look, as he was only used to Queen giving him orders, but he stayed as he was told. Darren took a deep breath as he anxiously grasped his cross bow and crept up the cellar stairs.

He glanced back one more time at Cara, who had sat with her siblings for comfort, before continuing to creep up the stairs. His heart seemed to jump to his throat, fearing the worst, fearing death, but he gave himself a mental shake, he couldn't die, not when there was a sick mom and scared little kids at risk.

As carefully as he could, he nudged the door open, then peered out. He had discovered the hidden cellar door, a false wall with built on pantry shelves, stocked with expired food and old cleaning supplies, after Queen led most of the men away, but some had stayed behind and we're prowling the property. He was sure they had found the truck full supplies by then when he heard banging around outside.

The cellar had actually been a shelter, and a treasure trove of food supplies and emergency equipment, at least enough for a few days, that's why he figured the owners had a truck ready, in case they had needed to evacuate, which made him question why they had killed themselves if they had done so much preparation to survive. Something didn't feel right about it.

Peeking out of the pantry room cautiously, Darren strained his ears to pick up any kind of noise. When he heard nothing, he crept into the kitchen, then kept repeating the actions until he was standing in the living room area once more.

The front door looked like it had been kicked open, noticing the wood splintered on the door frame and by the door handle. He froze instantly at that, slowly turning and moving away from the door at the same time, he wondered if someone or more than were still there in the house.

"Keep it together, Darren, they could be long gone by now," he thought to himself.

He went rigid as a creaking floorboard echoed throughout the house, like someone had taken a step toward him. He whipped his head around, trying to find what direction the sound came from.

Another creak, sounding closer than before, had him ducking behind furniture, clutching his bow close to his chest. He held his breath as a couple more creaks even closer had reached his ears, he was afraid his lungs would explode.

Cara heard the creaking right after Duke had whimpered softly and had been staring up at the ceiling of the cellar. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest as she squeezed her siblings close to her, Joni tried to hold in more wheezing, but failing, and filled the cellar with the sound of her pain-filled coughing, gasping for air. The agonizing moments of silence that followed were almost enough to drive her mad. Then there was a scraping and shuffling of booted feet, but she didn't know if the sounds were coming from Darren or another unwanted guest.

Duke stood up straight, his fur bristled and his ears laid back as he let out a low growl, and she knew, something was wrong, but it was not at all what she expected.

Instead of a stranger invading their hiding place, it was her mother, standing up from where she had been lying down for the past few days, coughing her lungs out, suddenly silent and still as a statue.

"Mom?" Cara felt herself start to tremble, there was something so unnatural and unsettling about how she stood there, staring.

She glanced down at her siblings, who were equally disturbed by the way their mother was acting, and too afraid to react, kept silent, waiting to see what might happen next.

Darren's voice broke through the silence as he called them from the top of the stairs, "all clear up here, you can come up."

Cara pushed her siblings behind her, walking them backwards towards the stairs, Duke remained in front of them, wary eyes trained on Joni. She just continued to stand there, staring, but breathing rapidly and heavily, like she had just run a marathon.

With a whisper, Cara urged them up the staircase, "go, now, hurry."

Quickly, they scrambled upstairs as Cara stood protectively in the way like Duke, making sure they all made it up safely.

Suddenly, Joni lunged towards them, making Cara scream out in fear and stumble back onto the steps. Duke clamped down on Joni's arm and stopped her from reaching Cara.

Darren came running down to see what the scream was for, grabbing Cara and pulling her to his chest as Joni lunged again at her. He spun them away and upwards, shoving Cara away to save her.

"Grab the kids and get out!" He yelled, then whistled for Duke, "go with them!"

Duke pulled Joni to the ground, barking and growling before running after Cara. Darren tried to go up right after them, but Joni had jumped onto his back and held onto him. Saliva dripped from her mouth onto his shoulder as she tried to bite him and her nails dug into his chest, he hollered out in alarm and threw her off, sending her crashing through some shelves below them.

Cara screamed again, as she watched from the top of the stairs and reached her hand out to him, "Darren!"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him as he slammed the door on Joni. She had moved so fast up those stairs after he had sent her crashing down, and couldn't understand why. Was that growling he heard coming from her mouth? He found the heaviest thing he could find to push in front of it as Joni growled and shrieked and tried breaking through. Cara was in tears as she helped him block it.

"I knew something was wrong as soon as she stopped coughing and stood there, staring at us," Cara began to explain tearfully, "but I don't know what happened."

A few thoughts crossed his mind as they pushed a washer and dryer in front of the door, then piled up some kitchen chairs on top of it, but knew there wasn't time to talk about it yet. They had to get away first. "Get to the barn, now."

She nodded and ran out to gather her siblings before running there. Darren knew it wouldn't hold Joni long, it was just to buy time. The door and furniture shook as Joni kept thrashing against it, trying to break free.

He took a deep breath as he pulled a hunting knife out, and as soon as Joni pushed her head through, baring long crooked teeth , he drove that knife through her skull with a sob, "I'm so sorry... I promise I'll keep your kids safe."