 
Ruins

Copyright 2014 S.L. Simpson

Published by S.L. Simpson at Smashwords

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### Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

### Chapter One

The bellowing of their hoots is worse than then the loud screeches of hundreds of Maniacs. It's more foreboding, more of a promise to be torn apart, to be truly devoured by real beasts. These human monsters embody what true fear is.

They come back from traveling, loaded down with spoils that they claimed, food, water, and women.

Kim hugs a basket of wet clothing tight against her frame, as she watches them roll back into camp, pride leaking from them like a toxic gas. Their women,

they sat on the back of a truck, huddled and bruised, but not yet broken. Not yet. They have fire in their irises, they are fighters, they made it this long, in this world, so, obviously they were. They had fought monsters, likely human and none-human alike. They are without a doubt very strong.

But... they haven't met beasts like these before.

He had found all of them – Allen, an insane man with the need for power and control, he had scrounged up all the evil left in the world and set them loose, first on her family, now on what was left of the world. He had stepped on them all, crushed, and destroyed what the girl had honestly believed was the only good left.

It had been a long twelve months. First the world went to hell, her dad had named it a disease, one that tainted people's brains and drove them mad. Ultimately transforming them into primitive things that could no longer be called human. They no longer possessed human characteristics, love, compassion... gone. Vanished. Now all they possessed was hunger, hunger for human flesh and absolute chaos.

But they has survived. Some could have even called it thriving. Her dad was a smart man. A natural born leader who lead his group for a year before a whole new level of threat arrived and wiped out everything.

Allen, this man, this monster, had killed nearly everyone in her group, if they were of male gender and not as twisted as him, you were taken to the front of everyone and shot in the head.

Kim had watched it happen three times. Her father, Mason, her brother, and Rudy were all lined up in front of a crowd and shot, one by one. Their bodies burned in a barn fire that very night. The odor of their burning flesh still was singed into her mind.

Her world was bleak, what had happened nearly destroyed her. She was left alone to sink in a world infected by evil, but the young woman still had one hope. And her one last hope, a thin golden lining name is Billy Yance, her love. He had left. He had left their group, before they had been destroyed, on a quest to find his family, whom he had been separated from very early on in the apocalypse.

As the trucks pull up into the courtyard, puffs of smoke drifting up into the air. Her body shivered but not from the cold. She took a few steps back, vanishing into the crowd of onlookers, who were anxiously awaiting the groups return.

The hunting party is happy, talks of a feast fill the air. It makes Kim's stomach churn. She could remember arriving on that truck a year ago, how afraid she had been, but how determined she was not to show it. Now she had learned, pride has no place in this awful place.

She had been around a lot of drunk happy men, drunk angry men, and drunk sexually driven men, she had a lot of experience now with dealing with them. These men were always drunk and soon they would be again, making herself scarce was best.

She wasn't worried about herself, she understood how to behave, how things worked here. The girl wasn't worried about any of the other women, the ones who had been with this group of men for months like herself, all of them understood how to behave as well. No, it was the new women, the ones with the fire in their irises that by next week would be completely dull, if they made it that long.

There are fifteen of them now, but by day tomorrow there would likely be five to seven left. The men were always rough the first night, going too far at times – some of them simply enjoyed killing.

She gently shakes her head, backing away before fully turning, moving through a pair of metal doors back inside the warehouse that had become her new home. His community. It was guarded by tall fences, more and more adding on each day. Trenches were being built further out, trapping 'Maniacs' in them.

Allen was covering his tracks well.

Kim moves along a darkened hallway, entering into the back of a large commons area filled with benches and lunch tables. The odor of cooking meat assaults her nose, mixing in with the odor of sweat and filth. The young woman quickly moves through it and up a pair of rickety metal stairs, balancing the basket on her hip. She moves by many home-made bedrooms, separated by curtains as she moves down halls. Lights flicker on and off, the electricity spotty and unpredictable.

After nearly five minutes of quick walking she finds herself pushing through another metal door, she finds herself in a room, empty besides a large broken window stretching out before her and a thin rope hanging horizontally between the walls. She gently sets the basket onto the filthy floor, she grabs a shirt from it and moves towards the line, feeling around in the over-sized pockets of her sweater for laundry clips.

Her gaze goes to the broken window even though, she honesty tries not to, even from her location furthest away from it, the woman can make out the broken rubble behind a row of trees. Her jaw sets. That's were her group use to live and was safe, now nothing but a pile of rocks.

(O)

She wasn't truly asleep, but the feeling of someone entering her little nook of a bedroom has her springing upwards. Her hands ball into fists, as she moves backwards on her blankets. She would fight, he would get what he wanted, but the young woman would fight as she always did.

Her vision begins to clear, adjusting to the flickering light in the hall behind who the figure was. She instantly recognizes him, by body langue alone. So many emotions attack her, it's nearly painful – anger, fear, hatred, being a few, Allen.

He looks at her rather unimpressed, his murky blue eyes trained on her. He always comes to her. He calls her pretty.

"I need you to look at one of the girls." He tells her bluntly. "Lan lost it a little."

Kim blinks, but is not at all surprised. It was not the first time the man came to her for something like this. He had plenty of doctors, plenty of men who dabbled in medicine and other similar activities, but he came to her when it was about one of the women and people he couldn't give a fuck about – an unskilled prisoner.

"Now?" She asks, simply because it was all she could honestly think of.

"No... tomorrow..." It takes her a while to realize his sarcasm.

She crawls from her blankets and stands with stiff muscles. She follows him out.

"You weren't at the feast." He observes, his voice in lazy conversation mode as they walk.

She hates having conversations with the man, the man who took all from her, but not going along with his stupid game wasn't an option.

"I wasn't aware it was mandatory." She winces at her own words, so sharp it cut her lips.

"It wasn't," his long steps never falter. "You missed out on a fun time."

"I doubt it." Once again she goes and speaks her mind. She wonders what's wrong with her. She wonders if it's the lack of rest, if not was she truly tired of living? She's tired. She's... tired of the hell hole in which she lives.

He laughs, which makes her flinch. It's an odd sound.

"It was rather barbaric, but I let my men have their fun."

She wisely keeps her words to herself this time, and follows him down a flight of stairs, through commons and into a large area lined with beds, a make-shift hospital. He leads her down to a bed with a bloody girl curled up on it half-naked. Her pants gone.

Kim tries not to think a lot about her wounds, and instead focuses on cleaning the girl's wounds while and looking her over. Allen watches her. She can feel him standing nearby, watching her work on the girl, who at least twice woke briefly and attacked her.

About time the girl was finished, she had a busted lip which she licked at.

"I finished, Allen." She turns to look at him, unable to keep her disdain from her voice. "You're welcome to escort me back into my cel... room now. Unless you want me to come to yours again?" She feels ill even saying.

The corner of his lip flinches upwards. "It wasn't what was on my mind, honestly." He takes a step her way. "But..." His hand lightly trails over her face, brushing back strands of hair. Its takes everything inside of her not to flinch away, and not to hit his hand away from her face. "You hate me." A grin appears on his face. "It's written on every inch of your pretty person." He laughs. "It is understandable considering what I took from you." His eyes narrow at her face. "You can't hide what you're thinking, can you?"

Kim swallows dryly. "It must be one of my many flaws." She moves her face backwards to escape his hand. All she wants to do is get out, get away from him, but apparently tonight it wouldn't be very possible at all.

He laughs again, uncovered irises crinkling at its edges.

### Chapter 2

He has a real bed and a real bedroom draped in tacky, flowery wallpaper. His room is the only place in the whole warehouse that odor isn't rank and rancid. His bedding is nice, the nicest left in the whole world she thinks. That's all she focuses on after, not the man lying next to her and not how naked her body is, how naked his body is.

She blocks her mind from thinking of it too much.

Her stomach churns and she turns, pulling her gaze away from the bedroom and focuses on his face. The feeling of hatred bubbles in the gut like an illness and it feasters and spreads throughout her body. The man is a monster.

He looked peaceful lying beside her. It's a disgrace. It's a shame.

"I don't trust you enough to rest in your presence." He tells her without opening his eyes. "You're waiting on an opportunity to slit my throat."

Kim is unfazed and rolls from his bed, quickly tugging up her worn jeans and sliding into her shirt. Her boots are tugged on next. His hand on her back makes her jump and move around quickly. She glares at him without actually meaning too.

"You should go see him today." He tells her matter of-fact, as if it was in anyway her decision when to see him. His words cause her pulse to quicken and pain assaulted her person. "You've had your visit this month but..." The girl stayed quiet, the girl stayed perfectly still. Not giving anything away in case this was another one of his games, a mean trick. But there was no fooling anyone, the blonde wanted nothing more than to see him. "Do you want to?"

(O)

The hell of the warehouse, is named Hell for a reason. It's dark and it's putrid, screams fill the air always. It's the monster's prison, his house of horrors.

Kim has been down to it many times, but the feeling of dread never left her. Her hair still stood on end and her stomach still churned at its breath taking odor.

She follows the guard down its halls, a basket held against her body. Her gaze never moves to any of the cells, not wanting any more nightmares.

They come to a cell at the very end of the hall, near a flickering light on the wall. The guard unlocks the cell and she quickly slides in, barely noticing him locking it behind her. No, all her attention is on the man sitting in the back of the cell.

He looks up when she enters, but the blonde understands he cannot actually see anything, not with the bloody gauze wrapped around his head, over his eyes, not with the wound underneath the bandages. He would never see again.

The thought weakens her and she nearly drops the basket. Her one thin thread connecting her frailly to yesterday, like this. The one familiar face in a sea of horror, broken. His clothing hangs off of him torn and filthy, his hair longer now hangs like a curtain over his face. He's bone thin.

Tears spring up in her irises but the girl forces them down, she couldn't cry. She takes a few steps into the cell towards him, moving uncertainly.

"Kim..." His voice crackles and she comes to a stop a few feet from him. "It hasn't been a month." His tone is dry, emotionless. He's changed so much, even when the world was flushed down a filthy toilet he had remained himself, happy - as happy as one can be in a world filled with death - carefree, a jokester. But now the boy was gone, now replaced by a man who's very aura was tainted black. A cloud hung over his head and she could feel the hatred bubbling underneath his surface, electrifying the air around him. It was dangerous for him to be like this. So dangerous.

Kim wipes at her face as she moves to him, bending before him, forcing a smile onto her. "Hey Jerry..." His head moves, focusing on her location better. "I brought you some things." She tells him softly, beginning to go through the basket.

He's quiet. Once uncharacteristically so...

Kim pulls out a container and sets it aside. "I was thinking I could maybe change your bandage..." The woman pulls out a water bottle and unscrews the top, pressing it to his lips. He only drinks a little. "You should drink more." He barely twitches, his mouth remains shut.

The young woman slowly moves the bottle away from his lips. Both are quiet for a long time, as the blonde tries to regain herself, tries to speak without crying. "I brought you meat." The girl picks up a clear bag with pieces of meat inside. "They have cows in the back somehow..."

"Ya slept with him for all this." He bluntly states. "Stop doing that." Finally emotion wiggles its way into his voice, anger and hurt.

Kim smiles sadly. They both are aware it's not truly a choice, it's not one at all.

"I already did it now so... eat and drink, for it won't be for nothing."

His face noticeably hardens. She gently sighs.

They fall silent, but the blind man feels around and grasps the water bottle, nearly drinking it all in one gulp. He feels around for her plastic bag and fumbles with it until it opens, shoving the meat into his mouth.

Kim slides from in front of him to sit at his side, her head falling onto his shoulder.

"I stink like crap." He mumbles without missing a beat, without moving a muscle. He was all she had left.

Kim smiles a little. "Yeah..." She agrees. "You're getting out of here soon. You can move into my room when you get out. It's not that big but... I can squeeze you in." It was true. His imprisonment was almost over. It had been a year since he was captured and imprisoned because of his involvement in fighting them in the beginning. He was blinded like all of Allen's male victims and sentenced depending on how many lives they took in the battle. He got a year. "You can feel the warmth of the glowing sun again."

He quietly snorts. "You sound just like a cheesy greeting card. I think I found you a job if that ever becomes popular again..."

"Ha Ha... very funny." She quietly sighs.

"You're the only one left now, Kim." He tells her, voice barely over a whisper.

"You're here..." The woman lightly reminds.

"Yeah, because my blind ass is useful." His sarcasm is sharp. "I'm useless Kim but you... you can still do something. Runnin' would do no good so you have to kill him." It was true, Allen would hunt them down, no matter what.

Kim was very aware of that. This conversation wasn't anything new. "There's still Billy..." His shoulder suddenly move, as his body goes ridged. She openly stares at him, a taken back by his reaction. His face is a stony mask again. Billy had been his best friend, if she hadn't given up on him, his childhood friend wouldn't, well, she had once thought as such.

"Yeah," he grunts.

(O)

She's not entirely sure why she's been called into his room once again, and why she has been sitting on his bed for the last hour while he oddly paced back and forth. She only watches him impassively.

A walkie-talkie crackles on the nightstand and he moves towards it as a voice filters through it.

"About twenty of them, sir. Gunther and Adam seem to be the main offenders. They're been taking supplies little by little, over."

Allen picks his walkie-talkie, "and plans to murder me. It was true?"

A pause... "Yes, sir."

Allen growls like a mad animal. "I want them rounded up. I want all of them shot."

"Yes..."

The man slams the object back onto the nightstand, a fist after it. "I can't believe these idiots are trying to betray me." He hisses. "After all I've fucking done for them. I've given them a home and safety."

"You really expect those type of people to be loyal to you?" Kim mumbles under her breath.

"What?" He turns to her. She flinches. Had she honestly said it that loud? "Yes, I do expect that. I demand it."

Her lips press together. He frowns at her. "It's no winning. Why?"

She's shocked by his question and how serious he is. She wants to say something extremely unhelpful, and likely harmful to her own safety, but changes her mind. So instead, she lightly shrugs.

"Maybe you should go for something in-between."

"In-between?"

She frowns at him. "In-between... as in... make a caste. Like wealthy and un-wealthy, turn them against each other instead of against you. Pick out those you find most trust worthy and give them power, but not enough that it would be harmful to your position." She clamps her mouth shut, feeling as if she has spoken too much.

"How did ideas such as those come to you?" He asks, looking at her his face unreadable.

"A book..." She answers truthfully.

"Which book?"

"A book I found lying around." She fidgets uncomfortably on the bed. "I lost it a week ago though... someone may have taken it from my room."

He nods, seeming to think deeply. "You are telling me to create a community, a society... instead of a refugee camp." Is that what he was call it? A refugee camp. She mentally snorts.

Kim shrugs again. "I'm not telling you anything, Sir. I was only thinking about how people with special rights, exploit them and ones without them, want them. That's what the book said." She finishes with a frown.

Allen moves to the table near the window in his bedroom, picking up a notepad – he quickly jots something down. She watches him, frown deepening. What was going on?

"Then I should be the one to encourage families..." Philip says out loud and she's not very sure if he's talking to her. "Because..."

"It ties them down, and makes what they are fighting for more important. It gives them real meaning beyond only themselves; making them less likely to want to destroy the community home to their family." She finishes.

Philip looks back at her nodding. "I think I read it as well." A smile tugs his lips backwards, a smile that causes chills to race up her spine.

### Chapter Three

She eyes the leaflet on the table, bringing her spoon to her lips, her facial expression dull.

"What in the hell does this mean?" A woman whispers loudly to another across from her. "He wants us to go out and get work? A currency?"

The other woman shushes the loudly whispering woman. "Gardening, building, cooking, medical, electric, and making clothes. Nothing about cleaning, which is the only thing I've been doing here from the moment I was brought in. How am I supposed to make money?"

"I dunno but, Casey, did you see this part about being kicked out of the warehouse if you can't come up with taxes and rent?"

"Taxes and rent? What for? I rather sleep outside then in here anyway. It talks about homes being built between fences two and one for people without enough money to pay for rent... I mean, I rather have a new place then this hell-hole even if it's a little less protected." Says the obvious dumb one.

Kim sighs, feeling uncomfortable. This in a sense was her idea and he had listened. He had listened.

Getting to her feet, the young woman leaves her meal for someone else to finish and begins heading towards her room. Lost in her pondering, she walks into a man and nearly falls.

"Watch it," the man hisses.

Kim looks up from behind her hair, she quickly takes in the man tattoos peeking up from under a dirty t-shirt, a snake and skull. This man name is Jonas, she had heard about him, whispers in the halls, whimpers behind filthy curtains. He is not to be messed with.

"I'm really sorry." She quietly says and begins to move around him.

"Hold up," His words make her halt. Her stomach churns.

She turns a little to regard him.

"You can't go around bumping into people..." A sick grin spreads across his face.

"I... said I was sorry." She takes a step back. Out of arm's length of the man.

"Well... what if I say that isn't enough?" He asks.

"It has to be, because that is the only thing I can give." The girl quickly says. The commons grow uncharacteristically quiet as they all tune in to what's going on. She goes to turn away but the man grabs her painfully.

"I can think of a few other ideas of things you can give." The man says, eyes sweeping over her body hungrily.

She quickly pulls her arm away from the man and backs away. She turns quickly hoping to get away but he grabs her, and slaps her so hard she falls. He follows her down.

Kim world spins and her vision blurs. The man gets on top of her, nearly crushing her underneath him. He grabs her wrists. She can hear men hooting.

The young woman struggles. She wouldn't let him get that easy. She brought the hands holding her wrist to her mouth and bit as hard as she could until she tasted blood. As he yelled and pulling his hand away she uses her free hand and scratches him across the face until he bleeds. The man distracted, Kim manages to bring her leg up and hit him in his groin. He moans out in anger and pain and she's able to slip from underneath him and scramble to her feet. The woman starts running, slipping up on the floor before taking off again through the gathering crowd.

She has to find a place to hide.

Not even a second later she hears the man chasing after her, now fueled by rage he literally runs over people to get to her.

He grabs her by her shoulder, forcing her onto the ground painfully. One of her fingers pops and her head hits the floor hard, her vision explodes. His fist comes in contact with her face and her world blackens for a few seconds. When she comes to he's pulling at her shirt.

"Stupid bitch... you thought you were going to get away with that?" He growls. He fumbles with his belt. "I'm going to fuck you good."

She's not very sure if it's her losing consciousness but the hoots begin to fade, the only sound being of footsteps.

Her attacker also freezes which makes Kim move her head. Her world is tilted but the woman can make out black boots.

"Hello Jonas..." Allen greets the man on top of her with a cool smile.

"Sir..." He greets back, hold still tight on Kim.

"Having fun?" The leader asks conversationally.

"Nothing to worry about boss. I got it all handled here."

"I'm actually going to need you to get up." Allen says. Allen's smile is still in place. "We're going to have a little chat."

The man stays on Kim. "Now?" He asks.

Allen's smile fades. "Now."

Jonas gets from a top of her, but not without a painful shove. He gets on his feet.

The blonde sits up, her whole body shaking.

(O)

She fidgets on Allen's bed, her lip still bleeds from the blows the man had given her. Her left eye was also quickly swelling. She gently sighs.

She couldn't figure out why he had wanted her here. There had been an issue, but nothing he had gotten involved with before.

A second later he enters, wiping his hands on a rag and a bag under his left arm. He moves to her and bends before her, looking through the bag. He comes out with a sanitation napkin and a tube of cream.

"Let me take a look." He mumbles, tilting her face upwards towards the light. "It's not that bad."

"I've been hit by better and worse men." Kim says to cover how uncomfortable this was.

A smile tugs his lips upwards again.

She watches him closely as he begins working on her wounds, eyeing him. She was trying to figure out his angle... his game. There was one for sure, without a doubt at all. He catches her watching him and meets her gaze, grinning a half-smile at her.

"Does it hurt?"

It takes her awhile to answer because it was a weird question. "Obviously..."

Another smile tugs at his face.

"He won't hurt you anymore."

Her face moves from astonished into a blank mask. "I don't understand."

"What?" He adds cream to her lip. He won't meet her gaze for some odd reason.

She's confused. He brushes her sweaty hair away from her face and places a kiss against her forehead and it hits her.

He's... he's... obsessed with her. It makes her ill but...

It also gives her an idea. An idea for revenge, one that may take a bit of time.

(O)

"We're calling them Honey Cakes," Kim laughs as Jerry's nose crinkles.

"I haven't had anything that freaking sweat in a long time."

"We have a lot of sugar lately." She tells him as she leads him out of his cell. She grins like an idiot. The girl hopes he's as happy as she is. They move by cells, the occupants moan. They begin up the narrow stairs.

"I've heard a few things," he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, "from the guards about him making his own currency and shit. You're using up all your money to buy me all this stuff are you?" He means the clothing and shoes she had given him to wear out of Hell. She couldn't let him walk around in rags and barefoot.

"What if I was? Ain't like there is much else to spend money on." Kim reminds lightly.

"You have a job then?" He asks.

"I cook lunch and dinner for people who live in the warehouse."

"That's good..." He tells her and actually means it.

"I'll find you a job as well... maybe in laundry?" They exit outside and Kim looks at him excitedly. The view isn't great, over-looking the few rows of fencing up and what is the burning grounds for bodies. But the young man obviously doesn't have to worry about the view, she's more interested in how he feels about the heat from the afternoon sun.

His bandaged head slightly tilts upwards, she can see air leave his body as something lifts. A smile tilts his lips.

(O)

"It's not that big, like I said." She explains. Her little nook isn't big at all. She had sold her small table and made a space for another folding cot, leaving not much room in-between the cots. She leaves him standing at the area's cotton door and fumbles around. She closes the curtain behind him before moving to her own cot, wiggling a piece of it's frame loose, tugging out a few folded bills. "Currency..." She lightly presses the bills into his hands. "That's nineteen bills... exactly two of these buys a meal here." The girl explains. "Don't let anyone try to trick you into other wise."

"Thanks..." He mumbles.

Kim bites her lip at his lack of reaction. She grabs hold of his arm again and leads him to his cot, allowing him to sit on it. "Yours."

He carefully leans back on it. "Nice..." He actually cracks a smile. A weight lifts from her upon seeing it.

"Oh..." She once again bites her lip. In this place life was hard, he had lived in the Hell part but that hardly meant being up here was easier. Rapes happened daily, constantly, as well as burglaries and all crime actually. Less so inside the warehouse then out in one of the temp areas outside the first of the fences. "You should be careful. Always be aware of your surroundings."

"I will." He tells her dryly. She bites her lip as another awkward silence wiggles into the air. "Has there been any breeches?" He asked, asking about the threat outside the fences.

"Only two, but those were the first two gates, never one this far up." She tells him. "I guess it's not that bad living up here."

The young man doesn't comment on that.

(O)

It's hot as hell working in the warehouse's kitchen. Sweat glistens down Kim's face, her blonde hair sticking to her face. The girl wipes at her face with the back of her hand, fishing out a spoon from a humongous pot. The odor of whatever in the hell it was coupled with body odor from her fellow workers was seriously leg wobbling.

But now she's use to it, it only bothers her on really hellish days like today. A sigh leaves her. She begins to fill plastic bowls with the 'food'. When lunch rolls around she has to hand out the bowls as well.

"I'll finish that up." A graying red head whispers to her, fifteen minutes into her handing out the foul smelling meals. "Allen wants to see you." The woman pries the ladle from her hands. "Go on now, can't have him waiting."

She frowns, allowing the woman to elbow her way into her spot. Tugging off her apron, "thanks," she mumbles to the woman before moving from cooking area, slipping under a wooden flap. She briskly moves through the crowded dinning area.

As she begins up the creaking stairwell, her pace that of a snail. She was in no rush to see the man. But eventually she comes to his door, her hand, still covered in mystery meal, taps lightly upon it.

It's thrown open quickly by Allen, he quickly motions her inside. He has a book in his hands. She enters slowly, watching him as he quickly paces. She closes the wooden door behind him before crossing her arms over herself, continuing to watch him.

"There's been more attempts at escaping," he comments, gaze intently still on the book. "It's unacceptable."

The girl sighs. "I guess some think it's better outside the fences." She thinks it would be better outside the fences.

"What?" He looks completely outraged by the very notion. "Ungrateful idiots... I give them safety, a home..."

"I assume a few don't truly feel safe," the girl interrupts him softly, as not to shatter is ego. "There are a lot of rapes inside the warehouse and crime in general." She hugs herself, looking at the floor. "I don't feel safe at times walking to my nook."

"Has something happened?" He asked quickly, closing the book.

She frowns at him. "Of course..."

He waves his hand. "I mean since I had my conversation with Jonas." His blue eyes scan her face, for what, the girl is unsure.

"No," She finally answers after actually thinking about it, nothing had since then. She guessed it was his doing.

"Good," he nods.

(O)

"There's going to be a lot of vacancies in laundry because of tunnel construction." Kim says to Jerry as she yanks a dull green shirt over her head. It's an unflattering T-shirt, one likely belonging to some man a long time ago.

"I'm sure I can fold a shirt." He comments a smile tugging at his lips, it looked forced. Kim chews on her lip.

"When was the last time you went outside?"

He tugs the boots she had gotten him onto his feet. "Last week when I got out." He lightly shrugs. "Why?"

She quickly ties her hair into a loose tail. "How would you like a tour?"

The Latino raises an eye brow "a tour?"

"Yes," an horrible French accent taints her voice, "a tour of the fences. I shall describe all the wonders of the warehouse, from it's iconic burning body piles to it's wonderful scenery of maniacs pushing against the fences. You'll be fun, you'll see."

The young man's lips twitch. "When did your sense of humor become turn so morbid, Kim?"

Her own smile tugs at her lips. "I have no idea what you mean."

(O)

"I've heard some things..." Jerry's voice breaks the comfortable quiet which had fallen between them as they walked along the fences. They still walked behind fence five which meant their was no sight of maniac, but the air smelled like them. Inside the air was rancid and outside wasn't much better. She quietly sighs.

She looks towards Jerry, he's trailing behind her. Face hauntingly pale in a way she hadn't noticed inside, a year of no sun light would do that. His hair flops in his face briefly but he tucks it behind his left ear. He has dark scruff appearing on his jaw line, but not yet a full-blown beard.

She frowns. Had it truly been that long? When had boys transformed into men? Her mind briefly wonders to Billy... if Billy was... no, Billy is alive; the girl wonders what type of man he is.

"You hear stuff a lot." The young woman said.

He nods and stops. She also comes to a stop.

"I heard you and Allen are very close. He warns men not to touch you..."

Kim tenses, looking away from her friend. "Who do you hear all these things from?" She questions under her breath. She quietly sighs. "You're well aware of what they do to women when they first get here." Her voice tries to convey how it wasn't a big issue, a lie. "His sights fell on me." Her insides churn, his indifferent expression wasn't helping. "I... don't want to talk about this." She finally said. How could she explain this? How could she tell Jerry that every day she has to sleep with the man who took his sight from him, took nearly everything from them both. How could she tell him, she actually has civil conversations with the monster? How could she explain that it was part of a plan she barely understood?

Instead of pushing it, he only nods, a smile tugging at his lips. It's as fake as a dragon unicorn hybrid. All his smiles are fake actually, she tries to pretend not to notice.

They continue on their little tour and head back soon enough. "... seriously you ordered a pizza." Both young adults laugh at a common memory. "You were a real bone head." Kim says without thinking. She bites her lip as she holds the warehouse's door open for him.

"You can really feel when you walk into this place." The young man shivers stepping inside, not bothered obviously by her words.

"Smells like ass..." She agrees and he laughs briefly.

"Very..."

"How about lunch?" She asks, wrapping her arm around his, leading him through the crowded area.

"If it's anything like the mess from yesterday..." He makes a face, "then count me in. I can eat anything... seriously."

She couldn't blame him They both had seen hunger and picky days are long over. She would seriously eat anything as well.

"Well, as long as it isn't another human." He adds, because obviously it needs to be established.

Kim lightly grins.

"Kimberly," said young woman flinches as she glances to her left as Allen approaches. She glances towards Jerry. The man comes to a stop before them, his gaze lingering on Jerry.

"He looks well," the brown haired man looks unimpressed as his gaze quickly moves over Jerry, his gaze lingering on their arms. "How is he fairing."

"I'm fine," the blind man answers, his voice lacking hostility, but was still rather blunt. The young woman flinches mentally. She tightens her hold on him.

"I see," Allen comments. "I see you've found a apartment then... a job to follow?"

Jerry smiles friendly, but with tight lips. "I'm staying with Kim."

Allen's expression tells her, he's actually already aware of this. "There's recently plenty of room in the warehouse..." the man comments, his voice nearly getting lost in the afternoon swell of residents. "I'm sure that isn't necessary. I can even look into finding you a room."

"He's blind," Kim blurts pointlessly, of course he's blind. But the blonde couldn't let what it was she could see happening happen. "I feel comfortable with him living with me, that way he won't get taken advantage of."

"Well," the man shrugs, his shoulders hunched, he was angry. "There isn't a rule against it. I was merely suggesting... Will you come and see me later, Kim?"

It wasn't truly a request. "Yeah," she answers anyway. Allen nods before walking away without a word.

Jerry hums softly. "Well he's fun..."

Kim looks at him sharply, letting go of his arm. "You shouldn't talk like that to him." Worry clawed at her abdomen as she looks towards the area Allen had vanished into. "He'll toss you back into Hell. He could make an example out of you..."

Jerry stares down at her, his head tilted. "I have no idea what you mean."

Kim huffs. She grabs his arm again and begins leading him towards the long lunch line. "I don't want to lose anyone else." The young woman finally says as they come to stand at the back of the line. "I can't be here alone." Her voice wavered, her stomach churned. She couldn't lose anyone else.

"I'm not going to leave you alone." He nudges her with his shoulder. "I need you to be my eyes. If I go anyplace, you're going with me."

Though that's not exactly how she meant it, the woman lets it go. "Don't forget it either." She lightly says.

### Chapter Four

Jerry isn't the only blind prisoner of Allen's, most of them never make it long in the new harsh world, beaten by one of Allen's hoodlums is usually how their fate ends. If not that, they throw themselves to the Maniacs outside.

This new world is no place for a disabled person.

There's one who cleans Allen's bedroom, a boy really, blonde, about fifteen years old. He wears the mark of a prisoner, bandages around his eyes as he cleans. Kim has always wondered how the boy did it, now, sitting here on Allen's bed, waiting on the man, she watched him work. It was an astonishing thing, like watching a hippo give birth.

At first, the woman had honestly thought it was pity that Allen allowed a blind boy to clean his room. But that confused her because, Allen held not a speck of compassion in his whole body. So having any sort of pity on someone who had actively fought against him was unlikely.

But now, watching the boy clean, dust, mop, sweep as if he could see, the woman was amazed.

"You don't have to stare." The boy comments, running a cloth over Allen's desk. She blinks.

"Uh... I'm not..."

"Yeah..." The boy stops his dusting. "I can feel you burning a hole in my face."

Her face heated at being caught. "I... uh... I'm...."

"If you have a question ask it," the boy snaps, moving to the windows with a new rag from his belt.

"How can you clean?" She blurts. She curses herself mentally for being an idiotic.

"I'm blind... not useless..." She has nothing to say to that. He laughs a little. "What I mean is... I've been blind for nearly two years. I was in the first unfortunate group who Allen decided to crush under his boot. I was only fourteen then. I've come to be comfortable in my own darkness... I hear like a bat and I can smell what you had for breakfast. I'm not completely 'blind'. I can clean this room so well because I can mentally see it in my head. Allen doesn't move things around much." He finishes with the windows and move to a bucket lifting it. "I can even shoot a gun." She frowns. "I just wouldn't hit the target." He laughs. A smile tugs at her lips. "I'll see you around... I'm Austin by the way."

"Kim..." She finds herself saying.

"Well yeah..." He lingers in the bedroom's doorway. "You're an idiot if you have no idea who Allen's woman is." With that bit of unsettling news, he leaves.

Two minutes later Allen appears, shrugging off a heavy coat, tossing it on the floor. Kim makes a face. All of Austin's hard work...

He turns to her suddenly, so quickly she flinches backwards. "Make him move out of your apartment."

The woman blinks. "What?"

"I don't trust him living alone with you." His eyes darken as they sweep over her.

She gets to her feet, in case having to run came up. "He's my friend. I don't even think of him like that..."

"I see the way you look at him!" His face twists into an outraged scowl. "I want him out of your room by tonight."

"It's not like that." The girl yells. "And since when was I your 'girlfriend'." She air quotes the word. "I'm not making him lea - " She was cut off as Allen stalks towards her, punching her hard in the face, hitting her onto the ground. Blood fills her mouth.

Though she had honestly expected it to happen, that hardly stopped it from hurting like hell. His boot lands in her abdomen, once then twice. In an attempt to get away, she tries to crawl away.

"Don't you ever speak like that to me again." He grabs hold of her hair, yanking her head backwards. "You belong to me. No you're not my 'girlfriend' but you are my belonging." Tears spring up in her irises and she blinks them away, gritting her bloody teeth. Her breathing is rapid, pain assaults her abdomen as air feels her lungs. She goes still, this not being the first time at the mercy of an evil, angry man. The only way to get them to stop was to shut up and not move.

He lets go of her after a while, his hands tugging at his hair as he turns and kicks his desk in anger. "Fuck" he growls into the air.

Kim wipes at her mouth, wincing at the cut there. Her left eye was already beginning to swell. She glances at the man, pacing the length of the bedroom before very slowly lifting herself from the floor. Her abdomen stretches and pulls painfully. She out of breath by simply getting to her feet.

He looks at her after yelling a few more curses into the air and stalks to her. She flinches away a step, he apparently doesn't notice. "You shouldn't make me angry like that." He hisses. His hand lands on her sweaty face, touch light. His thumb wipes at the blood on her lip.

A breath leaves her, she bites her lip. "He..." Her gaze flickers to his. "I can't leave him alone... he's blind... I'm worried he'll... be hurt by someone." Her head bows. "He's my friend." She hates this man so much.

"I want him out by tomorrow. He can move into the closest apartment to yours and I'll put in a word... no one will touch him without my permission." Which is what the woman is worried about. "I want him out."

Finally, she nods. It wasn't as if she honestly had a choice.

(O)

"You'll have this all to yourself." Kim smiles up at her friend. "It's nice and big." She explains.

Jerry stands inside the nook, staring in her direction, a frown on his face. "He hurt you, didn't he?"

"No..." She lies, wiping her surprised stare from her face. The last thing she needed was him acting stupid because of her. "I thought you would like to insert your independence."

"You're lying..." His lips press together. "Don't lie to me because I'm blind."

A sigh leaves her. "How did you find out?"

"I can hear you wincing when you walk." His voice is low. Tension grows in the air. Her gaze falls to his fists which are trembling.

"I'm not hurt that bad, honestly, Jerry." She tugs the cloth curtain closed behind her. "It's nothing... seriously." Honestly, a year ago had been worse.

"Whatever you say, Kim." He lets it go to her surprise. He turns and feels his way to the cot.

"You still want me to read books to you at night?"

"If you're not too busy, Kim."

She frowns.

(O)

"I can make certain they bring back all the items we need. I've literally memorized all the maps around here. You won't have any more members getting lost."

"It's dangerous." Allen says leaning back in his chair.

"Have you forgotten..." She lightly smiles, in hopes of not insulting him, "I use to live outside these fences, surviving out there with the maniacs. My dad... he taught me everything, how to shoot, how to hunt, and how to stop a manic without a gun." Tension grows in her shoulders talking about her father with the man who had shot him in the head. She never honestly thought at the beginning of all this, that one hot afternoon, she would be in a place as safe as this fenced fortress and want to get out.

"I haven't forgotten." his eyes study her. "I'm sure you could handle yourself fine out there." He leans forward, his chin falling onto his hands. "I'm worried you wouldn't come back."

She frowns, crossing her arms. "I wouldn't leave this place. I'm not an idiot, I understand it's too safe to give up." She meets his eyes. "I wouldn't leave you." Truthfully she couldn't vanish on Jerry. She couldn't leave him in this prison. He tilts his head sideways and she's unsure if he bought it. If he hadn't, the woman decided not to push it too much. Last things she wanted was another bruised body.

"Fine," he actually says to her surprise. "You can go."

A real smile actually spreads across her face, not one of her fake manipulative ones. She forces herself to move around his desk and her arms around him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she lightly kisses him on the cheek, feeling ill. But this was survival. He wraps his arms around her and yanks her into his lap. He begins kissing her.

(O)

Darkness begins to settle across the horizon and Kim sighs. She turns her head away from the quickly darkening sky to the group of four behind her. "We'll stop down there." The young woman points to a farm house below them.

"What if it's not clear." Blake, a twenty-something year old guy who apparently has issues following a twenty year old woman's orders. He's new to the fence fortress as well as new to her group. He's been giving her issues the whole two-day mission.

"It is," she curtly says, "see that blue and yellow ribbon hanging off the mail-box?" He walks over, standing beside her, peering at the mail-box. "That's ours... It's mean it's been cleared. If it's not, we'll clear it." The girl brows lift then fall as she turns and heads down the hill, her group following.

"You obviously have no idea who she is. So, I'll fill you in." Kim hears Harold, a man in a group whisper. "Allen's woman, you shouldn't fuck with her. She might be young but that girl has lead us on eleven missions and has gotten us safely back from all of them."

Her attention leaves the conversation going on behind her and focuses on the farm house. A bone-chilling screech fills the air, on their left, they all turns as a manic, a man, with half a face chargers towards them.

With a single well-placed shot by Kim, the monsters crumbles to the ground. "Inside," the girl hisses, more would be coming because of her gun shot. They all rush quickly towards the home and barricade inside of it. They move upstairs and sit in complete quiet as the light bleeds from the horizon and outside the yard fills with screeching Maniacs.

(O)

By morning, there's only eight left lingering in the yard. So the team works on disposing of them, using silent weapons this time. Her shoulder actually cracks as she yanks the machete from the flesh-eaters head, blood, black and foul smelling squirts onto her shirt.

Looking around, she finds that all of the threats had been taken care of. "Lets get out of here, get to that fucking mall and get back."

Quickly they return to the trucks and load into them, three hours later finding themselves at the outlet mall. It had been scouting a week ago, the bulk load of Maniacs lead away. But at least fifty still linger in it's parking lot.

They park a few yards from it. "We all will clear what's outside, Allison, you and Brent take care of any that will show up while we are inside. We have thirty-minutes people, that's all. If you're not at the truck at thirty, you're getting left behind. Understand?" Her group nods in understanding.

Fifteen minutes is all it takes to clear out the clustered parking lot and fifteen minutes is all it takes to clear out what's in the back of the grocery store into the two trucks they travel in. They will come back for what's left on the tilted shelves.

Jumping off the back of the grocery store, the woman waves her hand in the air, signally that it was time to go. As she briskly jogs to their second loading truck, something glinting above them. She looks left, on top of the hill at least one-hundred yards away were two people, too far away to see their features. But they were being watched.

She freezes, frowning up at the watchers. The trucks roar up and Allison and Brent leap into the first truck.

"Kim!" Harold yells, "Yoo whoo girlie, time to go." Just then a screech echoed out to her left, two maniacs come charging. She yanks her gaze from the watchers and leaps into the truck, slamming it's door shut as Harold quickly backs up. She glares at the bald man, she had barely shut it. "Who told you to stare off into space anyways." He huffs sheepishly.

She glances in their rear mirror. "Did you see them too?" They're there.

"See who?" He glances back, he burps. "Look like we had an audience." He turns sharply. She groans mentally. They lose their sight of the watchers "Probably should report'em to Allen. Some of our scouts been reportin' a group watching em and shit. We might have a damn war on our hands."

She looks at him quickly. "What?"

"Why else are they watching us? Obviously kiddie, they want to take what's ours."

She bites her lip. Oh wonderful... another problem in her life. All she fucking needed. She was not going to sleep with anymore insane apocalyptic leaders. Allen's it and she wouldn't let all her hard work be for not; it wasn't easy making a lunatic trust you.

(O)

Jerry's been fitting in nicely the last few months. She lingers in the commons doorway, watching him interact with a few of the women around him, looking very much like his old self as he lays his flirting on thick. He has women swooning over him, and laughing like a bunch of dumb asses at everything he utters. She wonders what it is. She frowns. She could never understand some girl's attraction to Jerry back when they were teenagers. She couldn't understand women's attractions now, not when their was so much crap worth worrying. Could be that their was something intriguing about a blind man? Was that it? Was it because his aura is mysterious, because it was obvious he was hiding something, likely planning something.

She watches him lean his head back and laugh out loud, and she finally sees it. What has these lunatics gushing.

He's good-looking, even with the bandages around his eyes, she can see it clearly. Jerry, the man, is handsome. This adult version is actually sort of charming.

She lightly scoffs... how? Lightly shaking her head, she lifts her backpack up onto her shoulder and stalks towards him quickly.

"I see you've been keeping yourself busy." She comments coming to stand beside him. A few of the women frown at her. She ignores that.

"About time you got back," he comments with a large grin. "I thought I was going to have to go search for you."

"I was only gone two days." She tells him. A few of the girls leave, after staring her down with narrowed eyes.

"We'll talk later, right?" A blonde asks, sliding to him, her body nearly on top of him. She throws Kim a smug look. Kim openly rolls her irises and yawns.

"Of course, Tessa, dinner like always." He cocks a grin, "It's on me, Chica."

"See you then, Jerry." She gives his arm a hug before getting to her feet. Then she was gone, after one last look at the other blonde.

The young woman frowns after her. What in the hell was that? Huffing, she takes a seat beside her friend, still confused by the weirdness of those girls.

Whatever...

"You smell like crap." He comments seriously, his nose crinkles.

"Well, thank you," she glares at him. "Yes, I'm fine, thanks for asking. But yeah, I'm sorry maniacs don't give off the odor of roses."

"That's true..." He nods. "You threw up all over Isaac the first time you smelled one, and Mason threw up on Billy..." He trails, stopping himself completely from bringing up people long gone.

The woman presses her lips together. She then perks up, remembering what was in her backpack. "I brought you something." Usually everything found on scouting went into a place to be thoroughly sorted. But every now and again people would smuggle things in.

His head snaps to her, his dark brows raise above the bandages. "Really? What?"

The woman smiles, tugging off her backpack. She begins rummaging through it. "You'll see..."

"Is it food... I hope you found a stale bag of cookies someplace." Yes, she had found a stale bag of cookies.

"Yeah, like I would open a bag of something rare and sweet around here. I don't want to be stabbed over Keebler raisin chocolate chip." She laughs, "but I got you this." She holds out a pair of dark sunglasses, pressing them into his hand.

His other hand falls on top of hers before tugging the object out of her hands. She yanks her hand back, staring at it, as her flesh tingling at his touch. What in the hell? She looks at him, he obviously hadn't noticed anything, as he flips the glasses in his hands, fingers running across them.

She frowns back down at her hand, studying it. Was she bit by a Manic? Yeah, that's a little extreme.

Her attention returns to Jerry as he carefully puts the glasses on.

"I... was... thinking I could remove the bandages, the wound healed a long time ago." She finds away to regain her lost composer. "It'll help with keeping sunlight from hurting your sensitive eyes." She licks her lips, feeling off.

Once again Jerry hardly notices. "Cool... I'm going to look like a pop star, no... one of those vampires on that TV show. I'm going to be ballin' with the ladies..."

Kim looks unimpressed. "I think you're already popular with the ladies. Especially with Megan... Victoria... whatever in the hell the one that was dripping over you name is."

"You mean Tessa...?" He asks with a laugh. "None of those names even sound remotely like Tessa... You sound jealous, Kim." He laughs again.

Her face grows red. "Jealous... jealous of what? About what?" Her voice cracks. "I'm not." The girl yells, her voice loud.

He frowns, holding his hands up in defeat. "I was in no way serious, Kim." He carefully says. "Dang..."

She huffs. "Ass-hole," the woman stands and walks away. He laughs behind her.

(O)

"Tell me what you think?" Allen questions lightly, clipping the glittering necklace around her neck. It was a ball pendent, full of diamonds. It looks out of place on her filthy white tank.

"It's pretty," she confirms, turning to face him, "maybe too pretty. I don't want to get blood on it." Her hand picks it up, looking it over. "I shouldn't have it." It was pretty. Expensive likely, back when people worried about necklaces.

"It's yours, don't you dare take it off."

She nods. "Alright, I can do that," the girl confirms. Once again she has no choice.

He lightly kisses her on her forehead. He turns and heads towards his closest, tugging out a long black and grey coat. "I'll be back in a week. A group of us are going to scout who's been watching us."

That gets her attention. "Then they have a base?"

"A small one, about thirty people. They don't look like threats but we have no idea what type of weapons they have."

Her irises study his face. "Are you going to destroy them?" She asked her voice blank.

He lightly smirks, clipping his gun to his side. "I have no plans too." He once again walks to her, kissing her. "I may have a talk with them." She honestly doubts that he wouldn't turn them into debris. She hopes, like always when he outside the fences, that he would find a Maniacs teeth sunk into his neck.

But he's too damn lucky. Maybe it's her who is too unlucky...

(O)

Pregnancy is as rare as a homemade cakes now a days, but they do happen. Kim finds it impossible to comprehend, she hopes every time that man lays on top of her, it won't happen. She has no idea what it was she would do... no idea.

Her gaze lingers on a girl, sitting alone, barely fifteen a few tables down from them. She's pregnant, quite far along as well. The girl hadn't been pregnant when she had first gotten there. The young woman finds herself wondering how she would have felt, being that young and pregnant in a strange world. A shiver runs down her back.

"What's wrong?" Her attention falls to Jerry, who was looking in her direction. Her brow raises. How had he?

"Nothing... but, there's a pregnant teenager a few tables down." He glances around as if he could see.

"Is that unusual?" He asks.

"Yeah," she loudly scoffs.

He lightly shrugs. "I thought more women were 'with child'."

She nods. "Because of all the awful rapes?"

"No, because you're all so moody..." She openly stares at him. "For a while I was going to ask you... were you..."

"You're a real ass. Has anyone told you that?"

A sigh leaves her.

"Her name is Allison," Megan... Tally... whatever her name is says, from her seat beside the blind man. "She's actually part of fence three, I have no idea why she's up here." Though Kim hadn't asked for her input, it was nice information to have.

"I'm sure the girl has proper papers to be up here." The older blonde comments. She wasn't going to let Torra... whatever, have this girl get into trouble.

Lilly... whatever, shrugs. "I don't honestly care." Her hand finds Jerry's. "How about we go walking on the fence?" Not caring to hear anymore of the conversation the older blonde leaves.

### Chapter Five

She finds herself walking along fence five herself, lingering by the watch tower and gate, staring at nothing.

"Help! Will someone help us?"

Her attention snaps to the fence as a man runs towards the fence's big iron gate. He's sweating horribly, it was a two-hundred yard dash between fences.

"What's wrong," the guard in the watch-tower questions. "There's been no reports of breeches."

The man pants tiredly. "I'm from... fence three." He explains quickly. "Fence four wouldn't help and let me through to ask you guys. My wife is in labor and... she's having a lot of trouble. We need real medical supplies. You have to have a little to spare."

The guard loudly curses. "Damn idiots at fence four... We can't help you." The guard yells down. "I'm sorry, but we have no other supplies to share. We've given out the monthly quota."

"But my wife needs help." He weakly pleads. "She needs a real doctor."

"We can't help you." The guard once again says.

The man's gaze falls on Kim, who is watching silently. "What about you? Can you help us?"

She frowns. "I'm..."

"You have thirty seconds to leave before I shoot." The guard yells down. The man looks lost.

"Thirty... Twenty- nine..."

"Wait," A compassionate and dumb part of her interrupts. "I can get you medical supplies and help... I have a little experience in medicine." If reading books and working on beaten girls counted. She winces mentally. The man looks relieved.

"No you won't." The guard yells at her. "You can not."

"I have clearance," the woman throws the guard a look. "I can travel anyplace I want to."

The guard stares down at her before huffing. "Fine, but Allen will find out about this."

She let the anxiety of those words roll off her. "I'll be back." She tells the man at the fence before quickly taking off towards the warehouse. Quickly walking through the commons and into the infirmary, she gathers items blindly into a small sheet and lugs it out. No one actually says anything because of who she is. She's allowed out of the iron gats and follows the man down the beaten road.

Fence four, Maniacs odor is strong. By the time they had reached fence three, they could be heard screeching. A chill runs down her spine. The woman had only caught brief glimpses of fence three on her way on supply runs, but now, walking through its streets was like walking in another world. It's a mix of medium sized wooden homes and small shacks with garbage bags and large tarps for roofs.

People are noticeably thinner and black dust covers their skin. Well, I had suggested a caste, the young woman thinks.

The man leads her quickly into a small home with a tarp roof. An old woman stands over a young black haired woman on a bed, she was whimpering, her face a deep red.

"I brought help." He quickly says moving to his wife.

The old woman turns. "Your name is Kim." She actually looks surprised upon seeing her. Before the young woman could ask how she was aware of her name, the woman on the bed screamed with a contraction.

"I have no idea what you need," she quickly steps forward, unslinging the homemade bag from her shoulder. "I brought what I could find." She careful drops the bag and lays it on the floor.

She watches as the old woman look over it before taking a few items. "Now I need your help youngin'."

(O)

It was amazing, like watching the boy Austin clean a room. In a world full of ugly, watching a woman named Roslia give birth was seriously beautiful. She tries not to think about how this child wouldn't have an easy life, nor one in which her future is certain. But it was a child being born, as the howls of the Maniacs float in through the windows.

Now the child was safe in it's mother's arms, her father not far away. The tiny family sitting on one bed, looking exactly how things should be. But the beasts still screech into the night.

The old woman touches her lightly on the arm. "You did well, girl, you don't have to shake." Then she finally realizes that, indeed, her body was shaking. She couldn't even begin to tell you why. The old woman smiles, handing her, her homemade bag back. "You should return what left of these items."

"I'll walk you back." It is the man who speaks up, finally taking his gaze off his baby.

"No..." Kim quickly says. "I can find my way back."

"It's the least I can do," he frowns, "without you and your supplies... I dunno what could have happened."

Kim feels awkward. "It was what is right." The woman bit her lip. Now, if only Allen would believe that as well. "I can find my way back, it's a straight walk."

"Well, I'll walk you half-way." The old woman says, "I live in fence four."

She nods.

### Chapter Six

"Do you have any idea what today is, Kim?"

Her attention lifts to Jerry who's face is sullen in the harsh lantern light from his nightstand. She had been dropping off clothing for him, she had hoped he was still asleep. He lifts his head and props up on his cot with his arm.

Did she have any idea of what today was? How could she not?

"The third anniversary of our group's capture and of the executions." She answers without much emotion in her voice. It was hard keeping up with time in this place, but this day was engraved into her very bones, she could feel it. It was why she was up so early. The odor of burning flesh was heavier, she could smell it on her skin and in her hair.

Someone's snores echoes out through the hall.

"Should we go visit the execution sight?"

It's an odd request, one in which she couldn't actually deny him. She would rather avoid it at all costs.

"If you want..." The woman nods. She watches him slide from the bed and quickly tug his boots on. He grabs a coat from a small pile of clothes and shrugs it on.

"I'm ready."

Though she honestly doesn't have to anymore, the blonde takes hold of Jerry's arm and begins leading him out of the warehouse. As they step out into the chilly morning air, she hesitates, but the young man barely seems to notice and walks forward, yanking her out with him. Suddenly, he was leading her. It's early, barely anyone is up and outside.

Her heart grew heavy upon seeing the charred mound. She hears a gun shot, one, then another, and another, but their all inside her head. Ghosts hunting her. As she blankly stares at the area, she can see the blood on the grass, she can see her father, Mason, and Rudy on the ground. Allen stands nearby, screaming words of vengeance and power into a crowd of blood-thirsty monsters, never blinking an eye as his man placed a gun barrel to the backs of each of their heads and fired.

Suddenly her legs are weak as her stomach churns. A sob falls from her lips and her legs buckle underneath her.

"I'm so sorry, daddy." She whimpers, wrapping her arms around herself. "I..." Tears crusade quickly down her dirty cheeks. "I... have no idea what to do. I'm sorry for betraying you every time I allow that man to touch me... I'm sorry I'm helping his community to thrive. I'm sorry I haven't taken a blade and slit his neck." Her body shutters and she bends forward. "I'm too weak. I..." She glances upwards at the ever silent man beside her. He was looking at her, his expression unreadable. Is this why he had brought her here, to remind her she's a failure? To remind her of how she was betraying those she loved and had loved her? "I get it," her voice cracks. "I get that I failed. You didn't have to bring me here."

"That's not why I brought you here." He bends down next to her. His hand finds her shoulder. "You haven't failed at anything. You're living, surviving... actually doing what you have to do to live and finally right the wrong the man has caused." His hand finds her left cheek, lightly cupping it. "You're not weak, Kim." His seriousness is humbling. "You're incredibly strong and a good person, and don't forget it." With that his hand is removed, leaving her face cold and missing the warmth of his hand. His joints pop as he gets fully to his feet. "You talk in her sleep... did you have any idea? When I lived with you, all you did was whimper and sob, always saying. 'I'm sorry... I'm sorry' 'I'm sorry I was weak'." He explains. "I brought you here to show you that you shouldn't let what happened here break you, you should allow it to drive you."

She blinks up at him. Who was this? Surely not the young man who had been twirling girls around in the commons like an idiot last night.

The woman nods, though he cannot even see that. "Thank you..."

"Now," his arms stretch above his head, "I'm going to go be one of the first at breakfast, actually get the good food. You coming?"

She looks at the ground before looking back up at him. "Actually, I'll stay here for a while. You can save me a seat though."

"No promises," he lightly smirks, "Tessa might make an appearance before you."

"Whatever," she lightly smiles back. "I'll be in, in a little while."

He lightly shrugs before leaving.

(O)

She was happy to be one of the first ones to dinner on the following night, actual chicken was being handed out. Folks had actually been fighting for spots in line and for once the commons didn't have the horrible odor of BO and blood.

"Are you sure you want that chicken leg, huh?" Jerry asks for literally the hundredth time. He leans into her, sniffing at her plate. "Wait is that lima beans I smell... I got lousy pork and beans." His fork darts towards her plate. The girl grabs his wrist.

"No way, touch my beans and you're going to be wearing that fork."

He childishly pouts, taking his hand arm back. "You're a meanie."

"You can have my beans," Cinnamon... whatever, says huskily, pushing the thin plate towards Jerry, who hoots like a monkey and scraps her beans off her plate.

"Thank you, Tessa."

Kim scoffs softly. "I'll give you my beans, Jerry. I'll give you my kidney." She quietly mocks the girl under her breath.

Jerry snorts, obviously catching that.

The air actually changes all of a sudden. The whole commons becomes uncharacteristically quiet. The warehouse's door opens and in walks the group who had left with Allen. They look worse for wear, but very pleased with themselves. Last to enter is Allen. His eyes scan the commons before landing on her, he begins to stalk over.

Her body tenses. His shoulders are hunched.

"What's up with the air in here." The blind man even senses the tension.

He comes to a stop beside her and leans over her shoulder, his breath hot against her face. "Come and see me," he grits out, "now." He hisses before backing up and walking away.

Kim freezes, her stomach sinks. She has to move and follow him quickly, but her legs are unwilling to move.

"Was that Allen?" Jerry questions.

Instead of answering, she manages to get to her feet and follows after Allen. It had been a blissful week...

Once alone in the bedroom, she's not very surprised when she's harshly slapped, her body landing on the floor.

"What in the hell were you thinking?" He hisses at her, "Do you have any idea the fucking headache you gave me?" He bends down and grasps her by her hair, yanking her back onto her feet.

The woman understand instantly what he was talking about. "How could I say no? That man was asking for help." He hits her again and she lands on the ground again.

"I have my damn rules for a reason. I can't have you going around undermining me." The blonde tries to crawl away, but in a few steps he's on her again, kicking her in her abdomen. "You embarrassed me, you stupid bitch." His boot lands in her abdomen again.

Blood fills her mouth and she crawls away again, this time actually managing to get away. She quickly scrambles to her feet and limps across the bedroom from the man. Breathing becomes impossible for her.

Allen smirks at her, lightly cracking his fingers as he walks towards her. She quietly pants, backing up, her gaze quickly sweeping across the bedroom for a weapon. Her gaze lands on his hand gun on his desk. She moves towards it quickly, grabbing it and pointing it at the man. Her body shakes.

He comes to a stop, but his look darkens. "Go ahead, shoot me." He growls, his lips pull back into a sneer. He had never looked at her like that before. "I have fifteen men who would run this place like me. I told all of them if anything ever happened, and it was by your hands, to lock you up in hell, along with the blind bastard, for ninety days torture him, then execute him in the back, right in front of you. Then they will leave you to rot in hell for what's left of your life." He growls. "Do you want the only person you have left tortured? Do you want the only person you have left to die because of you?" Her heart clenches and she lowers the gun slowly. Tears begin to seep out of her irises. What he was saying was the truth. Killing him like this wouldn't help her nor her one and only friend.

She lets the weapon fall back onto his desk. He's on her again in seconds, his hands wrapping around her shirt, he nearly lifts her off her feet as he hisses into her face. "All clearance has been revoked for you. You can't even so much as leave this damn room unless I tell you, you can." He once again slaps her in the face, but holds onto her. Her world spins and stars dance in front of her vision. There's a ringing in her left ear.

All her hard work in gaining his trust, now gone. Flushed down that exact filthy toilet the civilized world went through.

He tosses her onto the ground, his boots following.

"Time for you to learn a lesson."

(O)

She hasn't moved since he left her bleeding, bruised, and in a ball on the floor. Breathing causes pain to her whole body, ever moving again seemed impossible. Her mind was in a fog, a pain filled fog. In and out of consciousness she went, her agony great.

Then the bedroom's door opens, letting in light from outside. The woman whimpers as Allen steps into the bedroom. She looks up at him as he begins tugging that belt off again. She whimpers again, crawling backwards.

"Don't worry," he tells her gruffly, letting the belt fall to the floor. "I'll wait until your body is healed before I beat you again." He walks to his bed, out of her line of view. "Get in the fucking bed, Kim." When she's slow to move he hits his fist onto his nightstand and growls. "Get in the fucking bed now, Kim."

She flinches. She begins to rise to her feet, every movement causing hot-white agony to race over her body. Black dots dance in front of her vision as she takes a step, lingering on the edge of her vision as she takes another. About the time her body makes it to the bed, she's out of breath, tears seep from underneath her lashes.

(O)

She's unsure how long it's been since he'd locked her in the bedroom. But all her rights have been revoked, she can't even wear any clothing unless Allen allows it. Her wounds heal and her bruises fade, always to get a set of new ones.

She actually grows use to it.

The walkie-talkie on his nightstand loudly crackles, bringing her out of her deep pondering.

"Sir, he's causing trouble again." A voice comes through.

Allen groans rolling over and grabbing the walkie-talkie. "Let the idiot up. I'm tired of him."

"Yes sir, over."

Allen moves from the bed and she watches him as he tugs his pants on, and buttons up a shirt. Fixing his hellish belt around his waist.

"Talk with him... get him to stop bothering my men and walking up here. I'm tired of him, and I will throw him back into hell." She finally understands who's he's talking about, and it's Jerry. "Don't go beyond my doorway." He turns and leaves out of the bedroom.

She quickly gets out of bed, looking around for any type of clothing. Her had been shredded and bloodied by Allen, they were long gone. Quickly deciding that looking through Allen's clothing would be a bad idea, she wraps the thin sheet around her as their was a tapping on the bedroom's door.

Swallowing and quickly combing her hair with her hand, she walks towards the bedroom's door and opens it.

"Hi... Jerry..." He's standing there, looking tired and ragged. He frowns upon hearing her voice. He has a black and white cane, gripped in his right hand. "Nice cane..." The girl tries to make her voice light. "Taila... give you that?"

"Are you alright?" He asks. Before the blonde could answer, his hands shot out, grasping her arms. She winces and back away as his hands find bruises. "I have to get you out of here." He utters in a rush. He looks troubled. "How bad is it?"

"It's not bad, I promise." The bruised woman lies. "I'm fine."

"I'm going to get you out of here." His voice was tight with panic. He obviously wasn't thinking clearly.

"We have no place to go." She lightly reminds him. "Besides, they will easily track us down..." It was impossible for both of them to get far with his blindness. "Remember what you told me a few days ago... I'm strong. I can handle this. I have to get him to trust me again." She wraps her arms around him, mostly because of the need for a touch that wasn't filled with pain. His body stiffens at first before his arms wrap around her as well. "I can do this. Don't you believe in me?" Her head rests on his chest. Being embraced hurt her bruised body.

His head rests on top of hers. "Of course I do but... you're being hurt."

"I'm fine."

He's quiet for a minute. "Are you wearing a sheet?" He asks in such a surprised way, his voice cracking, she laughs.

### Chapter Seven

"Put these on," She manages to catch the clothing thrown at her. "What in the hell do you do in here all day? Clean up!"

Allen's yells make her flinch. She bites her lip, keeping herself from screaming back at him. She was too busy nursing cracked ribs to clean a room he would rampage through again anyway. Instead of saying that, the woman slips into the cream colored skirt and buttons the yellow blouse up.

A skirt... in this place? A shiver runs down her spine.

"I'll start cleaning now," she tells him as he walks to his desk.

"Yeah," he grunts not looking at her.

A sigh leaves her as she begins picking up, and straightening things. She would never be able to clean it as well as Austin. She frowns.

(O)

"You seem stressed." She lightly says, watching the man frown over papers on his desk. She lingers back, wiping a dry rag over one of the leather seats in his room.

"Well, I don't have very many people I can trust. I have too many people I thought I could actually trust, aiming guns at me." His guarded irises meet hers. "I always have to watch my back."

"I was afraid." she tells him softly. "You were beating me... what was I suppose to do?"

His fist hits to desk, papers slip from it. "Not aim a gun at me."

"I was afraid..."

"Shut up," he growls. "Shut up before you meet my belt again."

She quiets, retreating to the other side of the bedroom. She hugs herself. She looks around, noticing there was nothing left to clean. She waits a few minutes before finally speaking.

"Can I read one of your books?" She asks in a small voice. He waves his hand in the air. She guesses that means yeah, and picks one of the books from the wooden shelf. She takes a seat on one of the chairs.

It takes nearly two weeks, but finally after hours and hours of submissive behavior and sitting in uncomfortable heavy silence, he allows her out of the bedroom.

"Your new job is to clean vacant cells in Hell," Allen comments, halting her from her finally leaving, "I want you to aware of your future if you betray me again."

"I won't," her voice cracks, words slipping from her lips in a rush. "I won't betray you ever again." She hopes her voice is sincere.

His lips press together. "If you're not a dumb bitch, you won't." He takes a side-step, away from the bedroom's door. "Leave."

Not having to be told again, she quickly slips out. A weight lifts from her shoulders as soon as she's out in the hall. She can breathe better. Now, first things first, changing out of the compromising skirt.

(O)

After returning to her nook and slipping into a pair of jeans, she walks to the commons. Desperate to see a friendly face. As she enters the commons, a few people actually turn and stare at her as if they were witnessing a ghost appear.

Her gaze finds Jerry instantly, he's wearing a white T-shirt, the cleanest white the woman had seen in a long time. He's sitting at a table, in the very back, his head bent, obviously having a private conversation with Austin - boy who cleans Allen's room. She frowns. She had no idea they had met before.

A little leery, Kim moves to them slowly, watching them as they whisper quietly. Jerry's finger would periodically drum against the table, it was odd. When she was only a few feet away, they both look up, right at her.

"Kim..." It's Jerry who greets her, a smile appearing across his face. "You're out..."

The blonde blankly stares, her response very slow. "How did you..." She trails.

"You have a weird walk." He lightly shrugs. "Sort of like a shuffle thing, you should really pick up your feet."

Well, that's impressive and sort of insulting. Her gaze flickers to Austin. "What were you two talking about."

It's Jerry who once again speaks, shrugging again. "Just blind people crap..." Kim frowns.

Austin gets to his feet and pats Jerry's shoulder not once, but twice. "I'll see you around," he turns to Kim. "You too, Kim." He leaves and she finally notices he had a dark brown cane in his hand. She looks at her friend, who she has a sinking suspicion is hiding something from her.

She's unsure what to say to that. He also gets to his feet, his black and white cane in his hand.

"I have to go..." He trails. Her heart completely sinks.

"What?"

He looks sheepish. "I promised someone I would help with their garden." She frowns... since when was Jerry a gardener? "Maybe we can meet up for dinner?"

"Yeah," she nods. He quickly leaves, vanishing into a cluster of people, leaving her feeling alone. Her arms wrap around herself and she bites her lip. Was he avoiding her? She gently shakes her head, no, that was ridiculous. Why would he avoid her when he had made a big fuss about coming to see her while locked in Allen's room? She bites her lip, still feeling off about the whole thing.

(O)

Sliding the cell's door open, Kim slides into it, her left arm going to cover her masked nose. A gag builds up inside her at the condition of the area. Blood, pee, more blood, puke, and shit, litter nearly every inch of the concrete floor. It was much worse then the last one.

Her bucket of water drops from her hands, water sloshes from it and lands on her pants, instantly that area of her becomes freezing cold. Dryly swallowing, she tugs her large, black plastic gloves further up her arms and reaches for her bucket, taking out a soapy rag which smelled nauseously like bleach.

She quickly rings it out and gets to work.

It takes nearly three hours to clean the cell thoroughly enough not to get her into trouble. As she exits the cell, she collapses on the wall outside of it, eyes stinging, throat burning. She yanks the filthy gloves off her hands and let them fall into the bucket. Tugging the medical mask from over her face, the young woman sucks in the foul smelling, yet cleaner air outside the cell.

Her stomach churns and her head aches. She leans her head back against the wet with dew brick wall behind her, blonde hair sticking to her face as if by glue. Her lids shut tight, her body shutters.

She opens her lids, gaze falling on the cell across from the wall, gaze lingering on the unmoving body inside it. The air suddenly thickens and she cannot breath. She closes her irises lids again, suddenly feeling as if she's floating.

She brings her legs to her, hugging them, her face is pressed into the filthy, foul smelling thing. A sob roars from her aching throat, a strangled sound only muted by her bloody pants.

Kim stays there, curled up on that filthy floor, sobbing into her filthy pants for so long she loses track of time. When she finally pulls herself together, she unsteadily gets to her feet. Her legs feel unattached, not there, and she falls when she tries to walk. Wincing after her bruised legs hit the harsh floor, she forcers her numb legs up again, she grabs the bloody bucket and quickly exits out of Hell.

As she walks back into the warehouse, having to move through the commons, people yell and stir their noses up at her. A few gag and retch. Yes she freaking stinks, but they didn't have to act like that.

With a growl under her breath, she ignores them, intent on finding a change of clothes back at her room.

She begins ascending the iron stairwell slowly, her muscles tight and aching.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen."

Her attention snaps upwards, landing on three girls at the top. All of them wear small clothing, skirts, and low cut blouses - prostitutes. Ever since the hunting parties stopped bringing in woman, it had become a growing occupation. Kim mentally sighs, great...

The one who had spoken, was a pretty red head with icy blue eyes, wearing only a leather skirt and black blouse. Her gaze flits over Kim, full of superiority.

Kim's lips press together... alright... the young woman takes a step sideways, hoping all they wanted was a clear path downstairs. But of course that wasn't it.

"How does it feel?" Red asks innocently, "to be thrown away by Allen? To have your force field lifted and be thrown back onto earth with the common folk?"

She frowns. She had been thrown away by Allen? Well that would surely explain the humiliating work and why she hadn't even seen the man in a week. Honestly, it would have been a relief, only if being connected with Allen didn't bring a source of protection.

Now the lunatic who she hated had finally thrown her away, right into the wolves den. Now every single man and woman, who wanted a piece of her had a chance now. She thinks of her first few months at the warehouse and all the hiding and running that was necessary just to stop herself from being beat to death, raped. How she use to sleep with piece of pointy metal under her mattress. A chill runs down her spine.

The blonde takes a calming breath and smiles at the other woman, she begins upstairs. "It's great, never been better." Quickly she elbows her way through them and heads down the hall.

Her room is ransacked, her small cot is pushed over. She finds that all her belongings are gone, all the things she had worked for gone. Her face grows red and suddenly she feels as if she's floating again, breathing actually requires extra work.

"Damnit!"

(O)

Jerry lives a few hallways over and she finds herself walking there, intent on not letting her bad day get to her. His curtain was open and she caught a glimpse of him on his cot, she goes to call out to him until she catches sight of Ta... Li... the girl who always follows him around... Tessa, yes, Tessa sitting beside on the cot.

The young woman freezes in the nook's doorway.

"Do you even trust her?" His stalker asks. Kim takes a step back, successfully hiding herself back behind a neighbor's curtain.

"She's my friend." Is Jerry's blunt answer.

"She use to be your friend..." Says the younger blonde. "Now, she's had a taste of power. She's Allen's girl, she gets the best things... I heard she gets paid double what everyone else gets paid."

Kim mentally scoffs.

"What are you trying to say?" Jerry questions, his tone obviously fed up with the conversation.

"If you have any plans, I'm not even saying that you do, but you shouldn't tell her." says Tessa, "Allen and her are having issues I heard, I'm sure that girl would give up anyone to get back in his good graces."

Instead of defending her as she thought he would, he never responds.

Kim frowns.

"I'm only giving you advice, babe. I'm telling you, she acts all sweet around you but is a real bitch to other people." Tessa says. "I mean, do you trust her?"

"No," he answers without even a moments hesitation. "I don't trust her."

Kim's insides twists like a pretzel, and pain, the worst the young woman had felt in three years hit her, hard. Her hand springs to her lips in shock.

How could he not trust her? She begins backing away. How could he not trust her? Bawl rose inside of her, she couldn't handle much more of this. How could her one and only reason to remain inside these fences not trust her?

Him not trusting her would surely explain his distance lately.

Tears burning at her irises, she quickly moves down the halls to the iron stairwell, quickly descending it and quickly through the commons, only stopping once hitting the night time air outside.

A breath leaves her, she can finally breathe again. Only each breath she takes is like a rumble, each one has hot tears racing down her dirty cheeks.

(O)

The lights flicker above her head as she quickly moves down halls of hell, the filthy water inside the bucket in her hands sloshes out and onto her person. She ignores that however, it was almost night time, being out in the warehouse at night was wishing for something bad. Being inside her nook with the closest neighbor only feet away and guards patrolling every other hour was best. Her manager kept giving her more work, more cells to clean. She was sure the bald bastard hated her.

The woman didn't even care about the fact that all day she hadn't eaten, she couldn't take a chance to stop in the commons. She ascends upstairs quickly, once outside the woman tosses the bucket of dirty water onto the grass and swirls around, intent on heading to the warehouse after dropping the bucket.

"Hey... Kimi..." She froze. In the limited light coming from a small outside light, the woman can make out Mr. Baker, her manager, leaning against wall of the warehouse. A small brown pipe in his mouth. "Come over here."

All the common sense in the world screams for her not to, but how can she tell her boss no? She needed a way to get back at Allen's side for revenge. The only way to get revenge was to be alive. Food and water are needed for survival. She needs bills to eat in the commons. So she needed her job.

She hesitates before taking slow steps towards the man. He looks down at her, blowing smoke into the air, removing his pipe. He's a big guy, obviously never starved a day in the apocalypse. He towers over her like a giant. His dull brown eyes sweeps over her body. "How would you like to make a little extra money?"

Covered in on blood and piss, this sick freak still wanted her.

"I'm actually really tired." She tells him, not coming to close to the man. "I think I'll just head on to bed."

"Why don't I accompany you?" The man takes a step forward and she takes one back from him.

"No" she bluntly says. "I can handle on my own." She goes to turn, but the man grabs her.

"I think you should," he yanks her back.

She tears her arm from his hold, and quickly kicks him in a sensitive area of his body that would surely bring him to the ground. As the large man falls, a strangled noise leaving him on the ground, she takes off towards the warehouse.

Not even pausing as she enters the commons she barrels herself towards the iron stairwell and up it, only stopping when she had reached her bedroom. She throws thin curtain shut behind her and leaps onto her bed, her fingers searching out the hunting blade from under it which she had smuggled in awhile ago.

She holds the blade in bloody, shaking hands and stares at her filthy white curtain, waiting. Thirty minutes limp by, and the hall lights flick off and hall lanterns are lit by guards instead, and snores flit through the curtain before the woman lowers the weapon and breathes again. He wasn't coming.

She lays back onto the cot, her gaze on the blackness above her head. Her blade never leaves her hand as she falls into sleep.

### Chapter Eight

She's in the front of the warehouse, the courtyard washing her own dirty clothing when they bring her in. A girl, about her age, with wild dark hair is lead in by a chain wrapped around her neck. She wore nothing but tiny slips of clothing despite the chill in the air. Her worn boots crunch and slip on the icy ground and she falls. The men leading her in through the gate laugh at her. But this girl only tensed her shoulders and stood as they yanked her up, her head raises and she meets the gazes around her with fire in her brown eyes, she glares at anyone who dares look at her.

Kim frowns, unsure what was going on. Then those brown eyes met hers before the filthy girl is tugged harshly towards Hell. Kim bites her lip, unsure why the girl had looked so familiar, she lets it go.

She leaves her still foul smelling clothes outside to dry, no one would steal them, their odor impossible to remove. It was lunch time and she hadn't eaten in days, she quickly moves inside the commons. As she gets into line, her gaze finds Jerry without actively seeking him out. He's sitting with Tessa again and Austin. Her insides churn and the agony from that evening finds it's place inside her again. She looks away, taking a deep breath.

When she finally gets her bowl of potato soup, she faces the commons crowd for a place to sit. Her gaze lingers to Jerry's table constantly, but cannot bring herself to move to it. But Tessa obviously catches her looking and nudges Jerry, saying something to him because he turns around, a frown on his face. He quickly stands.

Before being able to begin thinking about him walking towards her, Allen appears from the infirmary hall, his gaze locked on her. He quickly stalks towards her. Allen reaches her first.

"Come with me."

"Can I eat this first?"The woman asked bluntly, lack of sleep and hunger was getting to her. His gaze narrows at her.

"Bring it with you." He turns and walks away.

Without looking to see if Jerry was still making his way towards her, she follows Allen to his bedroom. She walks in first and he gently shuts it after her. Her body tenses. She hates how she begins to rack her brain for what could have gotten her into trouble. Why this lunatic was going to put a beating on her. She had kicked Mr. Banks in the balls... self-defense but... yeah.

"Have you learned your lesson?" She turns to face him, her bowl hugged against her body. She frowns at him.

"What?"

"Have you realized how much I am needed for your survival?" He takes a step nearer her. "You've been having a difficult time these last few weeks, haven't you?" He asked. "You had a lesson to learn. Working in Hell must have been hard on you and realizing that my influences keep you safe here."

As the woman slowly comprehends what he's saying, a disbelieved laugh leaves her as she blinks, her brows furrowed.

"Kim..." He takes a step in her direction, voice almost gentle.

This man is a lunatic.

A sob escapes her as a fat tears escapes her brown eyes, one then another. Sobbing, crying, sobbing... she thinks she must be a lunatic as well. Legs growing weak, her body sinks to the ground still half sobbing, half laughing.

What an ass hole...

He bends down in front of her, and she allows him to touch her face, his thumb wiping away tears.

He's evil...

"It's alright now, Kim." He croons.

She would kill him... She would slowly...

She leans into him as he lightly tugs her into a hug. She continues to cry, holding onto him with an iron clad hold, because the woman wasn't going to let him go until she made him suffer.

(O)

"I want you to try getting that girl to trust you." Allen tells her after she had regained herself.

Kim frowns, wiping at her face. "Why?"

"I want information on her group." He explains watching her.

"Why don't you just torture her?" Her words are blunt. "It wouldn't be your first time."

He quietly hums. "I don't believe normal methods would work on her." He walks to her, his arms wrapping over her shoulders. She easily schools her face into anything but how much disgust coursing through her. "I have nothing to hold over her, and she hardly values her own life."

"You expect me to... I don't understand. What am I suppose to do with someone like that?"

"I want you to show her how my community isn't as bad as it looks. That the few men in my group who did wrongs against her were ill-advised and misguided. You'll make her believe we want to help her group."

"Do you?"

"Some of them," she can hear his smirk. She feels ill.

"So, you think becoming her friend will be enough for her? Be enough to possibly put her family and friends in danger?"

"It'll have to be enough." He lightly kisses her neck after pulling her hair back. She is quiet. "Will you do it?"

"Of course," without even a hesitation she agrees to it. There wasn't a real choice in the matter anyhow.

"Good."

(O)

Food is always a good idea when you want to be trusted. Kim balances a plate of rice and beans as she forces the wooden door open, to one of the other actual rooms inside the warehouse.

The girl barely looks up from her attempt at getting the chain from around her neck, working her hands bloody in an attempt to work a rusted bolt loose.

"It's not going to work." Kim quietly says. The girl throws a glare at her.

"Nice of you to tell me." Her fingers continue to work at the bolt.

The blonde woman sighs. "You should probably eat a little? Build up your strength." The girl scoffs. "We're not going to poison you." She once again ignored. She walks as close as she think is smart and places the food onto the floor. "My name is Kim..."

Ignored once more.

The blonde crosses her arms. "If you want to get out of here, you have to be alive. To be alive you have to eat food and build strength."

The woman looks up sharply, "oh, is that what you call yourself doin'?" She asks heatedly. "Bein' alive? You surviving, girl? What that good-looking charmer sent you in her, hoping to befriend me, think I'm gonna give up my families location for he can rob'em blind and kill'em. Well tell that low down son of a bitch to kiss my ass."

Kim openly stares at the girl.

"Tell him, I ain't no lesbian and I'm not going to be charmed by his pretty piece of ass."

Insulted, but amused, Kim hides a smile behind her hand. "Allen did send me in." She admits. "But my advice is sincere... if you - "

"Spare me... Those fuckin' goons of his shot my team... murdered my friends." Sadness crept in with the girl's look of outrage. "Nothing you can say can make me not hold personally to that. If your swept up in his delusions and lies, that's your problem. I'm not going to let a cult leader hurt my family."

Kim frowns. Allen had left that important bit of information out.

"They've been punished." She lies fairly well, having a lot of experience. "We aren't all like that."

The girl laughs unhappily. She continues working on the bolt, ignoring her again, obviously being waved off.

This girl was obviously not one to be bull-shited.

"I..."

"I'm tired of hearing you speak." Kim nods, alright.

### Chapter Nine

It had been over a year since the last time the woman had been to her hiding space at the top of the warehouse. But as she enters the large filthy area with the large broken window overlooking her old home, the young woman hadn't expected him to be there.

It's Jerry. She freezes in the area's doorway.

"Kim..." He turns, falling out of his stance.

Instead of asking how he had any idea it was her, she takes a step back. "I'll leave..."

"No," he quickly says. He frowns. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

"What..." Her insides churn. "I haven't been..."

"It's mean to avoid a blind person. I can't find you." He lightly jokes, but his smile fades. "I was worried."

'No, I don't trust her.' His words replay inside her head, hurting as much as it had on that night. But the girl forces the feeling away, and places a smile on her face.

"I'm fine, honestly." She takes a few steps towards him. "I've been busy is all... What are you doing?" She asked in hopes he would actually tell her.

"Karate..." He lightly shrugs. "It's been a while and I'm stiff, but I still have it." The young man kicks into the air.

She bites her lip. "So, you practice in a room with a broken window?"

"Yeah?" He lightly shrugs again.

"I dunno..." She quietly sighs. "Do you need someone to spare with?"

His grin returns, bright and wide. "If you would please."

(O)

Bitter-sweet, that's how sparing with Jerry felt. Her heart was filled with happiness as well as sadness. It felt like how things use to be, but then again things would never be how they once were. Ever.

"Seriously Kim, is that all you have?" The young man bounced on his feet, hands raised, sweat had his dark hair slicked against his face.

The blonde quietly panted, wiping her hair from her face, glaring at the talkative young man. She had been going easy on him at first, until it was obvious that he wasn't in any way pulling any punches, landing a dozen kicks on her. She use to be a second-degree black belt, and Jerry a brown belt, how was he beating her right now? She's crazily out of shape, that's how. It was how they had all met, her, Jerry, and Billy, a Karate club at their High School.

"Obviously you've been up here instead of working." She accuses. "I think I'm fairing well for someone who hasn't even given a thought to Karate in three years."

"Yeah..." He lightly says, "if your opponent wasn't blind."

Such a butt-hole...

They finish up in thirty minutes, sitting side by side on the edge of the broken window, legs dangling over it's side. "It's over a clump of trees, I can just barely make it out." The blonde tells him softly.

Jerry has removed his sun glasses, his dull brown eyes narrowed in thought. He then runs his hand over his face. "That ass-hole..." his voice taints with hatred. "Bastard literally destroys, taints everything he touches." He growls.

Kim stares at him, watching the air darkening around him like it had in Hell. She hadn't witnessed him like this in awhile. His words stick out to her however.

"Do you trust me?" The girl blurts. "I mean... if..."

"I trust you more then anyone in the whole world." He interrupts her rambling. "You're my best friend, Kim."

His declaration quiets a storm brewing inside of her, in which she had no idea was brewing. "I thought you didn't anymore..."

He tugs a hand quickly through his hair. "How could I not trust you? You stayed here for me. You could of left a long time ago, but you stayed."

She bites her lip, a horrible habit, the woman realized. She looks down at the few people working out in the farms. "I heard you tell Tessa you didn't trust me."

At his silence, her gaze finds him again. His gaze is in front of him. Finally he lightly smiles, "You finally remember her name..."

A huff leaves her. "Obviously that's not my point."

"Yeah," he nods. "I don't trust Tessa... that's why I told her I didn't trust you. That girl talks too much, it was guaranteed nearly everyone in the warehouse would be told what I said in less then three hours. I was banking on it... I had no idea you would believe it."

"I..." She feels guilty now for believing it. Her head falls onto his shoulder, like it had when he was in Hell. "Do you think I'm right? Am I wrong?"

"Hmmm?"

"I want to kill him." Saying it out loud seems to write it in stone. Uttering those words swelled her insides and resolve truly settled over her. She would kill him. It was an idea before, now it was a fact. "I will kill him... slowly." Hatred bubbles inside her like acid ooze.

"No, you're not wrong." He tells her simply.

(O)

Once again she finds that the food she had left, was still laying on the ground untouched by the chained woman. She ignores the woman's sneer and sits down another plate of food, picking the uneaten one up.

"You shouldn't waste food like this." No response comes from the woman. "If you plan on escaping, you should have energy."

"I'm not going to eat anything you give me."

"I noticed. " Kim mumbles. "But if..."

"Your precious leader slaughtered my people, you cannot convince me other-wise. I'm not a dummy, he ordered it. If you choose to live in la-la land, believing your sugar daddy is a nice guy..."

"I don't think he's a nice guy." Kim says dully. "I think he's a powerful one. Your friends and family aren't the only ones who have been slaughtered by Allen."

The chained woman looks up at her, gaze narrowing. "Then, you're telling me he also slaughtered yours?" Kim nodded once. The woman scoffs. "And you sleep with him. You allow those blood stained hands to touch you. I'm sure your family would be very proud." Her statement actually stings. A lot.

But with a silent breath, Kim lets the words roll off her, but they leave behind a trail of stinging flesh."I'm not going to let him win." She finds herself saying. "I'm playing this smart. I'm not going to let him break me... you think your death will hurt him? Will stop him on is conquest? No, you're barely a pimple on his arm and he will find your family, without your help, he and his army. He will take from them, steal the woman, execute your fathers, sons, and brothers. He's simply playing a game with you right now, soon he'll grow tired of you and kill you. He's like that. He likes to play games. If your smart, you play along. You play along until your as strong as he is and beat him at his own game." Her voice trembles with buried rage. "Now," Her body shakes. "Please eat your food... both of our necks are on the line." The blonde quickly leaves.

(O)

The very next morning the bowl of food is empty. The brunette is silent as Kim slides into the cell. Kim decides not to say anything as well, and instead picks the empty bowl up, replacing it with another one.

"Becca..." The girl's voice cracks, "My name is Rebecca... but everyone calls me Becca." Kim looks at her, nodding slowly. "What is it I have to do?"

### Chapter Ten

Kim smiles in satisfaction as she easily ducks Jerry's kick, quickly darting low and sweeping his legs from underneath him. He falls with a grunt.

"Yes!" She high-fives herself. This was her first time ever getting her blind friend off his feet.

"Yeah, Kim," he huffs, "celebrate making a blind man fall."

Kim scoffs. "Please, this blind man has landed me on my ass a dozen times."

A smirk appears on his face. He's shirtless, because of the hotness of the afternoon, sweat glistens from every peck and bicep on his person. She tries not to focus on that because... it's weird. His smirk isn't helping at all, she might add. She clears her suddenly dry throat, eyes flickering to the cloudless horizon.

He holds his hand out. "Help me up at least, will you?"

Taking a breath, she turns to look at her friend still sitting on the ground, she grabs his hand. In one quick movement he was up on his feet, twisting her around, his arm around her neck.

"You shouldn't underestimate anyone because they seem beaten." He whispers into her right ear, breath hot against her face. Her body stiffens. "It's a nice lesson."

Her heart thumbs inside her. She ignores that and brings her left elbow back, successfully connecting with his abdomen. His arms loosen from around her and he falls back a little. Then she goes to kick him, but he quickly dodges left, too close to the broken window. She grasps at him as he continues to move back.

"Wait..." Her arms hook around his, but he actually spins around and both of them end up falling to the ground, she on top of him. "You idiot, you almost fell out the window." She breathlessly scolds.

"Well..." He once again smirks. "You should have warned me."

Glaring at him, suddenly Kim realizes she's still on top of him. "Uh..." She goes to move but he grips her arms. He begins to lean forward and she thinks he's going to kiss her, her body stills and her lids shut, until she feels his lips right against her left ear.

"Has he talked with you about who he thinks blew up his ammo shed?" He questions quietly, voice barely above a whisper. A breath escapes her when she finally realizes he was actually doing. Yeah, they shouldn't be overheard.

She gently shakes her head 'no', her head bumping against his. Her lips nearly brushes against his right ear. "Austin's doing a good with making him think it's Val though. He's almost close to believing one of his most trusted persons is betraying him."

He lets go of her arms and she gets from atop him. He lightly smiles, getting to his feet.

"You wanna go again?"

(O)

The warehouse is swelled with people, even though quite a few people have taken advantage of the warm weather and ventured outside.

"Becca..baby... chica..." Jerry obnoxiously greets the girl after Kim and he had sat at their usual table. Once again Kim was amazed by the blind young man's ability to recognize that a person without them speaking.

Said girl scoffs. "You're abnormally annoying."

"Oh Becca baby, don't make that horrible, awful sound. I'm sure it twists the beautiful face, I'm certain you have, into an ugly scowl. You should laugh... more..." He had flopped right beside the brown haired girl, arm thrown behind her. He gaze her a cocky grin.

The ex-prisoner shoots Kim an unhappy look. "Why is he always like this?" Kim sits on the other side of her.

"I dunno... something about being hit in the head..." Kim shrugs lightly, trying to stop whatever feeling was coming over her because of Jerry's flirting with her new friend. It made no sense. It worried her.

"Oh... that hurts..." He fakes a hurt expression. "Tell her not to be mean to me now, Kim." He whines. "Tell her I have a fragile ego and I can't handle any rejection from a pretty girl."

"I rather stay out of it." The blonde explains bluntly, unhappily. "Here comes Tessa, she can tell her for you." The young woman gets to her feet.

"Tessa..." Becca trails, voice filled with disgust. "Wait on me!"

Quickly, Kim walks away, angry... angry at herself for odd feelings for a childhood friend, which made no sense.

"Hey," Becca catches up with her on the iron stairwell. "You're fast..." The brown haired girl pants. "What's up with you? What was that?"

"Nothing..." The blonde quietly sighs. "I dunno..."

They fall into silence as they reach floor four. Over about five months her and Becca had become close, friends actually. They both had a common goal and worked with Jerry and Austin to achieve that goal. Allen's fall. They had a small secretive group who actively worked against him. Now, their plan was to turn Allen's closest allies against one another and him against them. Hopefully to cause them to implode from the inside.

"What exactly is your relationship with, Jerry?" Becca asks quietly, light irises studying her.

Kim frowns. "He's my friend. He... I've told you about that."

"Yeah, but were you two always only friends." Becca asks hesitantly.

"Yeah... why, Becca?" Kim asks with a huff, stopping.

"Because... you seem to have feelings for him." She explains.

Kim laughs. "Jerry Martinez?" She laughs again. "He's like... my brother. Besides... even if I did... We're all too busy fighting for our lives to have 'feelings' for someone." As far as Kim was concerned, 'feelings' didn't exist anymore, only revenge existed. Maybe five years ago, maybe when the world was normal and her biggest worry was a bad haircut, five years ago maybe their was room for 'feelings' for her best friend. But then again, five years ago, she only saw Jack Brewer, so, no, not even five years ago could it have worked between them. If things were how they once were, her relationship with Billy would've been it for her. She wouldn't have been close to Jerry in the way she is now. If the world was how it was. She wouldn't have met Becca nor Austin, and all the bad stuff that has happened wouldn't have happened, plus Jerry would still be able to see.

A sigh leaves her. It's silly thinking about what ifs and yesterdays.

Becca frowns. "Whatever you say."

(O)

"We use to move every few months..." Becca trails looking up at Allen, glancing towards Kim with wide nervous eyes. "Are you sure you're willing to help?"

Kim's impressed by her friend's acting skills. She crosses her a legs, gaze finding her book once again.

"Of course," Allen nods. "I'm willing to help anyone out in these trying times."

Becca licks her lips. "Kim says I can trust you so... I'll tell you, when I was with them, we were holed up in a High school... Red Oak... I think. I... think it was a high school and a Middle, it was big. We were there three months already when I left, they've likely moved on by now."

Allen rubs his chin. "How big was your group."

"Not as big as this one. I dunno... twenty people, we lost and gained people every few weeks. We traveled a lot, usually depending on seasons, our leader was some type of farmer. We would be in a place long enough to grow something and leave."

Allen unfolds a map and lays it across his desk. "Would he likely stop at a farm..."

"His dream... all he ever really talked about was finding a farm we could live in." She bit her lip. "Please, my mother and brother are in that group. I can help you look... I can show you places... orchids we would visit frequently."

"That's a good idea. I'll send Kim and a group out to look around." That has the blonde girl looking up quickly, eyes wide. Allen gets up and hands Becca a pad and pen. "You should write those locations down."

(O)

After months of being locked away behind all those fences, being out in the big open is... exciting as well as frightening. She feels like a bird who has finally been able to stretch it's wings after years of captivity.

Her senses actually seem to return to her slowly. She finds it impossible to look away from the moving scenery outside the car window. Things hadn't changed at all. But her mind keeps returning to Allen, and desperately wanting to figure out what his game is. Why had he allowed her on this mission?

"You don't look as happy as I thought you would being outside, little lady." Harold smiles at her, briefly looking away from the empty road before them.

"It is nice being outside those fences." She breathes out a pretty smile tugging her lips upwards, hoping to show Harold her head was in this mission.

The man whistles like a cowboy. "You're a pretty somethin', no wonder Allen got a hold of you and didn't let go. Won't let go..."

Kim sighs.

"It's a shame how he treats you though. He's not as great of a man as I thought he was." His words are quietly said, but is heard.

"So, can we trust this friend of yours?" He asks, shooting a glance at her.

Kim nods. "Yeah, I don't think she's lying. She honestly wants help for her family."

"Alright, if you trust her, so can I." He turns onto a narrower road. "I believe this should quickly take us to that farm." He glances in his rearview mirror. "I haven't even smelled a Maniac in miles," he comments.

She glances out the window at the farm land outside the window. He was right, not a screeching beast in sight. "This place is pretty rural, probably didn't have a lot of people even before the world went to shit."

He nods. "This could be a nice little hide-away. I could have my own farm, a safe little land for my wife and son."

Suddenly, she feels bad for lying to Harold. He had been nothing but nice to her and she was dragging him along on a phantom mission. She bites her lip. "You have children?"

Finally a large farm house appears on a hill, not to far from a large barn. "Yeah," He nods. "I... have a son, he's ten. Use to have a little girl too, my Bella... she was three." They begin up a bumpy road.

Kim feels hollow all of a sudden, suddenly seeing a different half to the men who worked under Allen. All of them couldn't have been bad people before all this. She thinks, some of them were made into bad people because of this world, and some of them were working on surviving.

Harold isn't a bad man. She truly believes that.

"Bella's a pretty name." Is all she can think of saying.

As they roll to a stop in front of the house the man smiles widely. "She looked a lot like you," he admits. "Crazy blonde hair, big, big brown eyes. She was a pretty thing too..." He cuts the car off, wipes at his face and gets out.

With a calming breath, Kim unhooks her machete from her waist and also gets out of the car. She walks around it to stand beside Harold, as he looks at the farm house.

"I don't think anyone is here." He tells her.

She nods in agreement. "Yeah, looks like no one has been here in a while. Is this the farm?"

Harold shrugs. "Your friend's directions were impossible to understand. Should we take a look inside anyway?"

Kim's unsure. There was something odd about this place. It was too quiet. Her gaze flits upwards towards the cloudy sky. Not a bird in sight. The farm land was also empty, which wasn't unusual if the land was abandoned but...

"I dunno... looks off..."

"Oh come on," he laughs. "You aren't afraid of a little old house when you live behind Allen's fences are you?" He nudges her. "You shouldn't be afraid of anything anymore. Let's take a look."

### Chapter Eleven

The air inside the home is dusty and both of them cough and sneeze at first. The floorboards winces under both their weights, and wind from outside causes the house to moan. But inside is as quiet as out. Harold goes right, heading towards a tiny, but updated kitchen on their left.

The blonde follows after him, her hands tightening around her gun. Something was wrong, and she never wanted out of a place this bad before.

"I think..." She trails, frowning out of the tiny window by a breakfast nook. She thought...

A loud bang was heard, startling her into turning around, her weapon raised. Nothing. Harold was at her side in seconds.

"What was that?"

"I dunno..." She whispers, frowning. "I thi \- "

Suddenly Harold fell, his whole body simply collapsing onto the floor. She hears the gun shot and glass breaking less then a second later, and feels his warm blood hit her a moment later. She frozen by shock and fear and it's not until another gun shot is fired, propelling her into ducking away from the window.

Harold loudly gurgles on the floor, he literally gushes blood from his shoulder.

"Harold..." She whimpers, instinct telling her she needs to stop his bleeding, so her fingers presses into his wounds. His eyes are wide and he's gasping for air, his lips move but his voice is impossible to hear over her own chaotic breathing and heart beat. "Hold on Harold... I'll get you out of here." The woman looks around. She hears no more gun shots, but that hardly puts her at ease. Looking around frantically, she hopes for something that could help her, help her from stopping the inevitable from happening. "Oh God..."

His left hand grabs her sleeve forcing her attention to return to him. He moves his lips again, this time the woman catches what he's trying to say.

Run...

He's telling her to leave him, to run. Tears well up inside her. She couldn't. How could she leave him here to die. Her head shakes.

Run... His bloody lips once again mouths.

She has to leave, voices from outside tell her, whoever had shot Harold was coming. With shaky legs, she gets to her feet and quickly turns, leaving Harold as she moves towards the home's front, only to back up again upon seeing four men, all of them wearing home-made masks moving towards the home.

Her gun still gripped in her hands, she flips it's safety off. She backtracks, moving towards the back of the home. Her gaze had found a backdoor when she heard, a hoot behind her.

"We got ourselves a big one boys."

She wastes no time, throwing the backdoor open and quickly moving across it's porch, and leaping off. Another hoot follows as they hear her. She quickly takes off towards the line of tall buckwheat before her. Another gun shot echoes out, this one imbedding itself into the ground before her. She tells her legs to move faster, quickly throwing herself into the buckwheat.

Her lungs burn as she comes across a creek, she trips on it's edge and forces herself back onto her feet, ignoring the agony that laces up her leg. She continues across the creek into the line of trees before her.

She can hear her pursuers still in pursuit, yelling like wild men.

The aching muscles in her legs are tight and her lungs scream in pain as she takes a breath against a tree, her shoulder keeping her standing against it. A thud, and an arrow imbedding into the trunk by her head, is what has her pushing herself from the tree.

Only a few steps away does sharp pain, hot and white, hit her in her side. The young woman tumbles, falling to the ground, her hands instantly going to her side. Looking, she finds an arrow sticking out of her side.

No. It couldn't end like this. Hoots and remembering Harold using his last few breaths to tell her run, she finds her footing, nearly falling, but catches herself. After all she's been through, she was not going to go out like this. Dark spots danced across her vision, but the woman threw herself into a run.

She continues on, even as blackness seeps into the edges of her vision. After a while it begins to feel as if she's not even running, she's feels as if she's floating. She couldn't feel her legs anymore. Then she felt as if she was falling. She was. Quickly tumbling off an incline, landing harshly on her stomach at the bottom.

She tries to move. Tries to crawl away. She hears footsteps, slow ones. She looks up, hoping to see the face of her very end. Only, she thinks she's losing her mind because what it was she was seeing couldn't be... It couldn't be... Her mind was going and her failing eyes were failing now.

"Billy?" Her voice croaked and broke off, disbelief at who she was seeing before her. Who she was seeing. His concern, she can clearly see it, has her possibly thinking she's not wrong. That he is really there. But before her mind would wrap around it anymore... Her vision began to darken and her world fell into darkness.

###

