"Another two days walk should bring us home."
Lexi's ears perked up at that statement, still pretending to be asleep as Damien and one of his men walked by the group of four remaining women. Three captives, including Tara, had already been killed off for disobeying or resisting too much. The group leader and his second in command both passed them by without stopping or commenting on them at all. A welcome change.
The wind had picked up that night, the leaves on the forest floor rustling as they were sent tumbling against others. It made Lexi a bit paranoid, unable to discern the leaves blowing in the wind with the sounds of a stray, shambling zombie. With the sound as it was, any undead could just waltz up, surprising the group. Still, she tried getting her mind off of her fear and listen to the conversation between the men walking by.
"I thought we'd be bringing more back, to be honest. Might have to plan another outing soon after. A few new fresh faces will do our camp some good." Damien continued with a chuckle.
The second man said something that Lexi couldn't hear, and the rest of the conversation was lost as the distance grew between them. They'd just finished putting the tents up for the night, and she guessed they were both off to find their beds. Lexi squirmed in place, unable to stop the rising panic that they were getting closer to where she'd originally escaped from.
She really didn't want to go back. Not ever.
By the time they found the third body, Law was intent on giving Damien all the justice he deserved. He'd met his fair share of despicable people before, but none as sadistic and brutal as the man they were now hunting. The sheer number of bodies he seemed to leave in his wake was astounding, even by this fucked up world's standards.
Each time they rounded a bend in the trees, still following the trail the group of men and captives had left, Law tensed, seeing another naked body hidden among the leaves and dirt. Each time, he had that moment of slight fear that this time, it'd be her. It'd be Lexi. In which case, this whole hunt would be almost pointless. Despite Law vaguely telling Shachi and Penguin that they'd deal with the other women when it came to it, Law honestly had no intention of helping them further than depositing them somewhere they could probably survive. He wasn't keen on forming another township or add more to their group other than a single particular women in that group. He'd had enough of large camps for the time being. Hopefully his friends would agree.
The second woman had been a brunette, and his skin had crawled, almost hesitant to approach the corpse. Law had been astounded by how strong the panic he was feeling that it would be her actually was, and even more appalled when he felt a wave of relief that it wasn't Lexi each time they found a body, this one included. A woman had still died. It was still a loss of life. Technically, Lexi's life was worth no more than any of these people's…
But Law couldn't help but hold her just a bit above them in his list of priorities.
The sun had already reached it's peak in the sky above them hours ago, and it was now almost back down to the horizon. Every once in awhile, the bright rays would blind Law in the spaces between the trees. All three men were tired of the constant walking, but knew that the faster they caught up with the group ahead of them, the less likely that something would happen to Lexi or another of those women. Specifically Lexi.
Law felt like an asshole each time he reiterated that particular thought to himself, but eventually shrugged it away. It was what it was.
Judging by the frequency by which they came across the remains of Damien's camps, they could tell they were catching up. Law was willing to bet having the captives was slowing the group's progress by a large degree. At this rate, he imagined they'd catch up with them soon. Good, because the doctor was just itching to get his hands around the bastard's neck and deliver what he deserved by way of punishment.
Both Shachi and Penguin had fallen unusually silent the past day or so. Normally they were bickering or conversing incessantly, constantly prompting Law to shut them up. There was no need for that, it seemed, as the weight of the situation had apparently quieted them down for the time being. Their expressions were set in determination, as well as slight fear that they'd be too late. Law could understand, turning back to the path before them with an inaudible sigh. He sincerely hoped they weren't.
They continued walking for at least half an hour, stuck in their own thoughts. Conversation seemed dull at this point, almost forced. And so the silence was better. Law kept an eye on the darkness of the sky, knowing they'd have to stop before too much longer. Thankfully the moon was full that night and offered a bit more light to go by than usual, but it was still difficult to see the trail left by the traveling group.
He was just about to call it a night before Shachi stopped suddenly, causing the others to do the same. He held up a hand and looked off to the side, head cocked as if listening intently to something.
"I hear talking." He said, turning expectantly to Law and Penguin. They both took a moment to pause, and after a few seconds, the sounds of men conversing did, in fact, reach their ears. The three friends shared a long glance as they realized they'd caught up to Damien's group.
"Load up." Law whispered, not wanting to risk being heard now that he was aware they were so close to their target. Reaching for the pack on his back, he unzipped it to reveal the weapons they'd ransacked from the armory in Woodsfield. Shachi and Penguin gathered beside him to inspect what they had.
"How are we going to go about this?" Penguin questioned, voicing what was on all three of their minds. Both men turned instinctively to Law, who looked away to think. Sometimes it was too much being the decision maker of the group. Everything rode on his ability to plan and strategize.
"I want to have eyes on the camp before making any decisions." He said, looking back up to Penguin when he nodded.
"I can get close and take a look. One person will be quicker and quieter than all three of us."
Biting his lip, Law thought about the offer, finally nodded slowly in agreement. It wasn't his first choice to have one of them go, but in his experience, Penguin was a bit lighter on his feet than either himself or Shachi. "You're right. Just be careful, and try to get the layout and numbers. I want to be as prepared as we can."
Penguin took off his backpack and placed it on the ground beside Law and Shachi, sending them a thumbs up before heading off closer to the encampment.
Shachi and Law waited impatiently in their spot between some of the trees a good distance away from the camp. The possibility that Penguin would be spotted made them both on edge, but as of yet they hadn't heard any shouts of alarm or gunshots. Those were good signs, admittedly, but each minute dragged on and on.
Shachi's knee bound up and down while he sat cross-legged. It was a nervous twitch, but Law didn't comment on it. His eyes instead were busy sweeping the section of forest where his friend had gone, hoping to see any sign of the man returning. That, or any zombie that happened to be nearby. If anything, the undead would go instead to the much noisier camp where Damien and his men were, but one never knew.
"He's been gone awhile…" Shachi muttered under his breath, head swiveling towards the sounds of the camp. It was true, and Law didn't like it either.
Law shook his head slowly. "We just have to trust him. If he were caught, we'd have heard it."
"Yeah…" Shachi answered reluctantly, crossing his arms and bundling in closer to himself for a bit more warmth.
The wind in the forest, for as gentle as it was, still blew across the ground and rustled leaves occasionally. The frequent noise set Law's teeth somewhat on edge, but after awhile of dealing with the incessant sound it began to dawn on him that it was an advantage. It may mask any ruckus they made on approach to the camp. After that realization, it wasn't nearly as irritating as before.
Perhaps it was that reason that Law didn't hear Penguin's approach until he was very nearly a few feet away from them. Both men jumped with a start when they heard him whisper towards them. "Hey!"
"God, Penguin, give us a little warning next time." Shachi hissed in frustration, shaking his head to rid himself of the shot of adrenaline that had coursed through him.
Penguin shrugged. "That was the warning. But anyways," he turned back towards Law as he crouched beside them, "there are still ten of Damien's men, including himself. One of them can't be more than a teenager though." He wondered to himself.
"And the women?"
The question made him look a bit more uncomfortable. "They're uh…roped together on one side of the camp. None of them are clothed, and they've had to walk through this forest like that this whole time, by the looks of it."
"Those fuckers…" Shachi snarled to himself, fist tightening on his leg at the mere thought of them. "And they call themselves real men?"
Law gave him a few moments glance then looked away from the redhead, turning towards Penguin for more information. "Did you see Lexi?"
"Yeah," he nodded in relief, "she's there in the middle of the remaining women. Looks a little thin and roughed up but otherwise ok."
"Hopefully…" Shachi muttered pessimistically. "Who knows what they've done to them that we haven't seen?"
The three men lapsed into a few moments of silence, each one hoping that nothing too bad had happened to their friend. Snapping them back into action, Law turned back to Penguin. "Anything else we should be aware of?"
He thought for several seconds before responding. "Everyone looks to be close to turning in. There were only a handful of guys left awake, and they seem to have started quieting down by the time I left." He paused, then continued. "I only saw two guards posted to keep watch. They're at separate points of the group."
"Hmm…any ideas?" Law asked, knowing Penguin would probably have the best idea of how to approach this after visually seeing the layout of the camp.
"Well, the guards keeping watch will be the first obstacle. Either we take care of them first or we run the risk of being found."
"That'll be difficult to do without alerting anyone else. Taking out someone silently is almost impossible when they struggle" Shachi added slowly.
Law agreed, but couldn't see how else they'd be able to get rid of the guards otherwise. "Did you get a read on how alert they are?"
Penguin bobbed his head back and forth in a 'so-so' motion. "Kind of. They didn't appear to be watching all that intently. Most of the time they were staring at the women, the sick bastards." The last part was muttered angrily under his breath.
"That plays to our advantage. Plus, with all this wind it'll be a bit easier to sneak up on them without being heard." Shachi said, feeling a bit more confident about this. It was still extremely dangerous, taking on a group of men so much larger than their own, but this was for Lexi. They weren't about to just let her be taken away to some perverted camp.
Law nodded resolutely. "Penguin, take us as close to the camp as you can to get a visual. We can coordinate from there and get ready."
It was chillier than the previous nights had been, and Lexi was left shivering with the remaining handful of women. They were sat at the edge of the camp, as usual, the ropes keeping them together were tight and rubbed painfully at the points where they were tied. Lexi knew that her wrists and neck would have rope burns by the time they got back to the camp, but there was nothing be done about that.
She shifted in place to try gaining a more comfortable position, but no matter how much wiggling she did, nothing would alleviate the numbness in her butt. Sitting in one place for so long did that to you.
She resigned herself to another uncomfortable night of sleeping for several minutes at a time and waking due to some outside noise. Her eyes drooped fro exhaustion but the ever-present fear and terror prevented her from actually resting. It was a vicious cycle that Lexi couldn't break. The body's natural fight or flight response kept her from getting the sleep she needed.
She sighed to herself, leaning the back of her head on the tree she was leaned up against. Her eyes wandered upwards at the dark canopy of trees above them. You couldn't see the stars overhead. She couldn't believe they were still in the forest, even after so many days of traveling. She supposed they were deep in some national forest or something similar, or maybe they weren't traveling as far as she thought each day. It was difficult to tell.
Her head pounded from dehydration, and she tried closing her eyes to rid herself of the dull throb. It wouldn't go away. All the time spent crying had really taken a toll on her body's water supply. Throat dry and scratchy, she tried swallowing a few times but it didn't help.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the gentle pull of the ropes of her hands. She cracked an eye open and saw the woman beside her shifting in place too, then settle again after a whimper.
Lexi normally would have tried saying something to comfort her. That's what she'd done when she'd first been locked up with the other women at Damien's camp. The brunette would be the one to comfort the rest while they were laying helplessly in the 'Doghouse' as Damien called it. She'd held them and whispered soft words to help them sleep a tiny bit better. It helped to bond the captive women at the time, and they'd been the ones to help give her the information she needed to escape.
Now, however, she knew her comforting words would fall on unwelcome ears. The few women left with her hadn't bothered looking at her for several days and Lexi knew that any attempt at conversation now wouldn't be received with anything more than a shrug.
So saying, Lexi closed her eyes again and ignored her.
After several minutes of listening to the leaves crunch and rustle as the wind blew them around the forest floor, Lexi's mind wandered to more depressing things. Like the guilt she felt for causing all of this mess. It had ultimately gotten the only three friends she had left in this world killed. The brunette regretted telling them that they meant a lot to her when she'd had the chance. They may be little more than strangers, when you logically looked at how much she knew about them and the cumulative amount of time she'd actually spent with them, but that didn't matter to her. She wished she'd thanked them just one more time for saving her life so many times.
And she really wished she'd realized that there was a special place in her heart for Law. Even if it wasn't entirely attraction, there was something about his companionship over the week or so at Woodsfield that had given her such peace of mind. Perhaps it was just knowing that he was still alive, even after all the months of surviving on her own, wondering how they were. Knowing that him and his friends were still alive…it gave her strength to keep on living too. Perhaps it was a simple as that fact.
A few fresh tears, somehow springing from her eyes despite having no water left in her body to spare for them, spilled over her cheeks. Those three were worth at least a few tears, she came to decide.
The quiet night was cut through with the loud and sudden ring of gunfire. She yelped along with the other women as a torrent of bullets began ripping through the night around them. The men of the camp jumped up from their bed rolls and shouted in fear and surprise. A few unlucky ones were struck silent, falling to the ground with a thump.
They cowered in their ropes against the trees, hands covering their heads as the pops and bangs of the guns around them continued. Men cried out with pain and fear, but Lexi refused to open her eyes for fear of seeing something else that would scar her.
The awful noise continued. There didn't appear to be much resistance from the men holding them captive, as Lexi didn't hear any new or returning gunfire over the deafening sounds. Before too long the stench of blood began to permeate the air even as the guns continued firing.
And then all of a sudden, the noise trickled down until there was an eerie silence that enveloped the air. The women around her whimpered and cried openly, sniffling through their terror. A few male voices cried out to each other in the dark in pain, along with the crunch of footsteps through the leaves somewhere in front of her.
Lexi finally did open her eyes then, blinking against the blackness to search for who had been firing upon the camp. She was lucky none of the shots had hit her, and then stilled at the thoughts that perhaps whoever had attacked them simply wanted the captive women for themselves. Or maybe they were on their way over to finish the jobs. One couldn't tell what the motivations were.
Lexi could see the few tents that had been pitched were riddled with holes, or lopsided from the poles having fallen in on themselves. Some were splattered with blood. Several dead bodies littered the ground in front of her. None of them moved, and she could only hear a few distance cries of pain somewhere further.
The crunching footsteps grew closer, until a figure appeared before them. The women whimpered in fear and shrunk in on themselves, but whoever they were held up a hand in reassurance.
"It's ok, we're here to free you guys. Just hang tight for a second!" The voice whispered, making their way into the camp. Behind him were two other figures, both carrying weapons as they made their way along the edges of the camp. Lexi's heart skipped a beat, having recognized Shachi's voice. She couldn't believe it. She genuinely couldn't believe it. Part of her was refusing to think this was reality, instead some cruel dream because how else would luck have ended up in her favor like this.
The seconds wore on and the women let out sighs of relief. The men continued perusing the camp. Perhaps they wanted to make sure they'd taken care of all the occupants. Who she believed to be Shachi returned after a few minutes of gathering things up from the various bedrolls and tents, carrying several blankets.
"Here, use these to cover yourselves up." He said, handing each woman their own cloth. The others eagerly snatched at them, and Lexi accepted hers too, almost having forgotten she was completely naked. He drew a knife and, after only a moment of panic through the line of women, he began cutting away the ropes that tied them together. Lexi felt immense relief at having the bindings come undone, and she rubbed at her sore skin while Shachi finished up the rest of the line.
He stood to return to the others but Lexi stopped him.
"Shachi?" She asked in a croak, and the man crouched down in front of her.
"Hey, Lexi. Are you ok?" Came his concerned question. She nodded with a slowly growing smile, and when she spoke her voice wobbled with relief.
"I am now."
"Shachi!" Another voice called, and the redhead turned to look towards his companion.
"One sec!" He looked back at Lexi and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "Thank god we found you guys in time. But I'll be right back. Sit tight."
Lexi nodded her understanding and let him go, wrapping the blanket a little better around herself.
Law's first order of business was to find appropriate clothing for the women. The group of men had packed an extra change of clothes each, and Law tried to find the best fitting ones out of what was available. Despite them smelling like a gym locker room and being several sizes too big, none of the women complained. In fact, they were extremely grateful to have something to more or less cover themselves with.
Lexi was outfitted in what she thought had been the teenage boy's clothing, and the thought made her skin crawl just a bit. She was one of the smaller sized of the females so it only made sense, but still…She shivered, but said nothing about it, happy to not be entirely nude for the world to see anymore. Anything was better than that.
Shachi took it upon himself to make sure the women were ok. He brought them over by some trees to sit and relax for a moment, away from the awful sight of the camp. Lexi, however, walked over to where Penguin was escorting one of the men. She tensed, realizing that one of them was still alive. He cursed and muttered under his breath in pain, but he wasn't dead.
Penguin saw her approach and smiled. It was easier to see in the dark now, her eyes having adjusted to the blackness, so it wasn't hard to recognize exactly who they'd captured alive.
"Damien…" She stopped in her tracks, staring at the man who'd tormented her for so long. He looked up at her with a snarl.
"You'll fucking die, bitch. You and the rest of these-Gah!" He flinched as Penguin brought the butt of his gun into the back of his head.
"Shut the fuck up." The hatted man growled without remorse, his features softening as he looked to her again. "Heya, Lexi. Good to see you in one piece."
"You too." She said quietly, her voice still not used to being hydrated again. Shachi had been sure to get them all food and water after setting them free. She cast a quick glance at the disgusting man at her feet, seeing his hands and feet tied together to prevent escape. It put her a bit at ease.
She turned her attention back to Penguin. "I was scared you guys had been…you know…back at the camp."
"We were able to hide under the beds in our trailer. We, uh…we were the only ones that made it out…" He admitted ashamedly.
Lexi nodded slowly in understanding, her eyes at his boots. "I see. I'm sorry, I know you probably were friends with most of them."
"A few, yeah…" He trailed off, pausing before looking back up to her. "But still, we were able to save you guys. That has to count for something."
"Either way, it's appreciated." Feeling emotional, she stepped forward and brought him into a tight hug.
"No problem." He said confidently, returning the embrace. All the while, his eyes stayed on Damien, making sure the man didn't try anything. The two separated and Lexi's attention was drawn by the sound of shuffling more towards the center of the camp. She looked over and saw Law rummaging through the various tents and bedrooms strewn about the ground.
"You should go talk to Law." Penguin suggested, gesturing towards the man in question. "I'm sure he'd want to make sure you're ok."
"Yeah, I'll do that." She said, nodding one last time before walking towards the leader. His back was turned to her as he sifted through a pack one of the men had carried. He must have heard her approach, because he straightened and spun to face her.
"Are you injured? We don't have much in terms of medical supplies, but I've become pretty good at field first air." He said, inspecting her over for any obvious wounds. She smiled and shook her head.
"Our feet are pretty bad but nothing too serious. It's mostly mental trauma with the others, I think." She said, looking towards the group of women huddled around Shachi further away. "We saw some pretty scarring things the past few days."
"I can imagine." Law replied softly, drawing her attention again. "We tracked you from Woodsfield. Damien tends to leave a trail of corpses wherever he goes."
"Yeah. That's pretty typical of him." She said, looking away.
There were several seconds of silence between the two. Lexi wasn't sure what to say next, or even where she was supposed to go from here. Everything had happened so fast, and for awhile she didn't even believe that she'd come out of this alive.
She huffed humorlessly, then shook her head. "It's getting a bit ridiculous, the amount of times you guys keep saving my life. I'm becoming a real damsel in distress. Sooner or later I'm sure you'll come to think I'm more trouble than I'm worth."
Law chuckled under his breath, cocking one hip and crossing his arms. He met her gaze evenly and shrugged with a smile. It was very genuine, and Lexi cherished the sight. "We're just protecting a friend. Any trouble is worth the effort."
A friend, he'd said.
Lexi's heart clenched in emotion and she couldn't stop the wide smile from lighting her face even if she'd wanted to. Hearing she was Law's friend was extremely satisfying. She'd spent so long wondering if she even mattered to the stoic man, and now that it was solidified, all that worrying was definitely worth it. A friend was a precious thing indeed, and she was proud of having earned that title.
"Thank you." She whispered, resisting the urge to hug him. She had a feeling if he let her wrap her arms around him, she'd never want to let go. It might be embarrassing.
He shrugged away the thanks shifted on his feet. The sound of Damien's cursing brought both of their attentions over to the vile man. Lexi's mood soured just a tad at having to look at him, and she finally turned back to Law. "So what's the plan now?"
"We get the women to a safer place. I'm sure there's a town close by where we could take them. It'll mean more walking, but I doubt they'd want to return to Woodsfield."
Lexi gestured over to Damien. "And what about him?"
Law pursed his lips, eyeing the man with calculating eyes. "Well, I hadn't anticipated him surviving that ambush, but maybe it's better this way."
Lexi eyed him incredulously. "Better?"
An amused smirk graced his lips and he returned his gaze to her. "We can now guarantee he has the worst death possible. Dying to a bullet would be much too merciful for him, I think."
So saying, he lead her over to the tree where the women were huddled, picking up several lengths of rope.
Penguin and Shachi double checked the ties on the back end of the tree, tugging on them experimentally to make sure they were tight. "Looks like he won't be able to get out of this any time soon." The redhead agreed, stepping away and surveying their handiwork.
"Fuck you! Fuck all of you!" Damien spat his wrath, unable to really move due to being tied tightly to the tree. He struggled and squirmed, but the ropes were tight, painfully so. Law had made sure of it. In fact, he'd dislocated the man's shoulders just to have his arms wrap at an unnatural angle around the trunk.
Law stood in front, nodded with satisfaction at the way Damien struggled to free himself. "All that noise from the ambush is sure to have gotten the attention of at least a few zombies. I'm sure they won't be too much longer in coming."
"Then we'd better get a move on." Lexi added, her feet covered with socks from one of the men's packs and an ill-fitting pair of shoes.
"I agree." Law replied, stooping to pick up his pack from the ground. With a grunt, he set it on his shoulder and turned to the others of the group. "Alright, let's get a move on before we have more problems to deal with. If I'm reading the map correctly, a day's walk should bring us to a town to the East."
The women and men nodded, and he lead them off in the direction they intended to go, leaving the screaming and snarling form of Damien tied to the tree, spouting hatred and venom at his enemies' backs.
Damien wasn't sure how long he'd twisted and tugged against the ropes to try freeing himself. The darkness of night made it difficult to tell time, and his throat was parched from the lack of water. He had to get out of his bonds, or things wouldn't end well.
The man was desperate. He'd tried knowing away at the rope that was looped around his neck and, ultimately, around the trunk, but the angle was awkward and he couldn't reach it enough to do any sort of damage. The anger slowly gave way to panic, and then fear. The wind was still blowing the leaves across the ground, and he snapped his head around at every sound that crossed his ears.
His gasped of air had slowly given way into whimpers that he couldn't help. And he hated it.
In fact, the leader of the group that had attacked them had been wrong. The noise of the scuffle hadn't drawn in any zombies. No, it was something much worse.
The bodies of the men who'd been killed hours previously from shots not in the head groaned and slowly began to stir. Damien stared with wide eyes as the camp that had lain still for hours suddenly woke back up. Four or fire of them swayed as they came to their feet. The decay was absent from the usual sight of zombies, but the inhuman moans were unmistakable.
They must have smelled him, because one by one they turned to look his way. People he once knew stared at him hungrily, shuffling their way over to him with a determination to fill their bellies. He gasped for air, the horror at having to watch his fate unfold causing him to hyperventilate.
The corpses of his former followers descended upon the screaming man's body, devouring him piece by piece. Death came slowly, to the point where he gladly welcomed it once it finally approached.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
