~ Luke ~

The pain slowly subsided as I made my way to the road. Probably from the ever growing adrenaline my body was producing.

I didn't know if that was good or bad, but there wasn't time to figure it out. My feet made contact with the dirt and I trudged along, holding the bat tightly around the handle. The sudden full-body pulses of pain every now and then made me flinch.

I cradled my left arm the best I could. Out of everything that hurt, my arm was surprisingly the worst so far. It tingled and felt numb at the same time, a weird sensation.

"A broken arm? Great, that's exactly what I need right now."

The moon lit the path I had fixated my eyes to. Even though I could see, that didn't stop it from being any less frightening. There was a rustling in the trees, making me tense up. The tensed muscles began to hurt in places they hadn't before.

"I'm pretty messed up right now, huh?"

The road curved ahead into the trees. The fresh tire tracks helped me along.

"Okay. You're going to save your sister. Good. Now what's your big plan when you get there?"

The night was silent except the scoffs of my steps and the thoughts racing in my head. I saw lights through the trees. It was a house. A nice little place as well, from what I could see anyway. It wasn't visible through the heavy woods around it. If it wasn't for the lights and the night's darkness, I wouldn't have known it was there.

"Taking the road up will be stupid. They will be expecting people to come that way."

I thought for a moment.

"The trees."

Before I could move, a car pulling onto the dirt road sounded behind me. As fast as my sore body would take me, I hurried off into the bushes and ducked behind a tree. The car's headlights flowed over the road I was previously standing on. My breath held in my lungs as the car drove by.

My heart raced as I exhaled slowly.

"That was too close." I stood up and picked a path through the trees carefully. I wiggled my foot ahead before stepping down so I could get a sense of the surroundings. Last thing I wanted was to step on a stick and make a loud crack.

Stop.

I had a gut feeling I shouldn't continue forward just yet. The light from one of the windows shone through the trees and there, on the ground in front of my feet, was a bear trap. I gulped and started to panic.

"Were those out here the whole time? What kind of lunatics do that?!"

I sidestepped away from the huge metal claw and peeked around a tree, scanning the ground ahead before anything else.

"The last thing I need is to step into one of those traps... And this light is gonna make it hard to get close... Don't over think. Just do it."

After some self-reassurance, I told myself there wasn't anymore traps. I took a deep breath and broke from cover, hurrying off through the grass and hid in the shadows of the house.

"See? That wasn't so bad."

A familiar voice came from inside, it was Lucy. I saw shadows dancing in the grass from the window right above. Lucy was definitely one of them, but I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I didn't care. I stood up and set the bat against the house. I hooked my fingers on the windowsill and slowly, and painfully, pulled myself up enough to look inside.

Lucy was sitting next to some guy. A girl came and stood next to them. All I saw was their backs. The man had his long, dark hair in a ponytail and the girl's red hair hung loosely off her shoulders. I struggled to pull up a bit further to see more as another man walked in the room.

They started talking, again I wasn't able to understand what they said. The new man turned and looked my way. I dropped down and suddenly felt waves of pain in my legs. The shadow in the grass grew larger. My heartbeat was loud in my ears. I looked around for somewhere to hide.

"There's nothing.. It's all open. No brush, no--"

I stopped my thought when I came across a small basement window. The man placed his hands against the glass, but he was having issues opening it.

"Please be unlocked," I pushed the little, rectangular window and it swung up. I rested the bat on the ground and got on my belly. The window latch from above clicked as I slid inside, going feet first.

I found footing after kicking around a bit then grabbed the bat and pulled it in with me. The basement window shut just as the man stuck his head out and looked down, then around before pulling himself back inside.

"They need to make windows easier to--"

And that's all I heard from the outside. The muffled voices from above still made no sense, but I could now tell the difference between them.

The basement was dark and cold. It smelled like any basement, musky and like cobwebs.

I steadied my breathing and held the bat against me. I scanned the darkness for anything that seemed sketchy.

"This had to happen at night, didn't it. I can't see a damned thing..."

The blood from my head now dried in some places on my face and made it itch. I shook the need to itch away as I felt the way along the wall.

Another wave of pulsating pain rippled through my body. First with my head, then the rest of my body. It traced my limbs to the tips of the toes and fingers.

There was a crack beneath a door up the flight of steps as light snuck under it. I held my breath as I gently placed a foot on the first step. It didn't make a sound. I exhaled and smiled to myself.

"That would've sucked if the clichéd stair squeak happened."

I carefully took one step at a time until I made it to the door. It wasn't shut all the way so I slowly inched it open a tiny bit to peek through. The man who went to the window was standing close by. I listened to their conversation before moving.

"So you mean to tell me you left the other to turn? Near our house? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of." The window man threw his hands up in frustration.

Another man's voice replied, it was deeper and I figured it was the ponytailed man's voice. "There was nothing we could've done. He was stuck and this girl needed medical attention. The dead were behind us. They're coming out of the city, heading this way. We can't stay long, we must leave in the morning."

The next voice caught me off guard. It was smooth, soft, and well, cute. It was the girl's voice.

"I saw it. He was bleeding from his head and barely conscious. There could've been time to get him, but we couldn't risk it."

"My brother is not dead! You're wrong... He's fine. Just take me back to him!" Lucy's voice rang out.

"I'm sorry, but we can't do that. It'd be putting you in danger." The deep man voice replied.

I noticed a mirror on the wall. The whole room they were in was mimicked on its surface. Being able to see what was happening was better than going off sounds. I watched the mirror, picking out whose voice belonged to who and most importantly, Lucy.

The window man paced back and forth. "So what do we do? We can't bring her with us! We don't know her. She clearly wants to go, I say we let her."

The deep voiced man sounded up again, "She's a child! We will take her with us."

Lucy's cries made their way through all the talking, "I'm not going anywhere with you guys. I want to see my brother!"

"She's just another liability! She'll slow us down." The window man stepped toward them. "She's fixed, I'll take her back to her truck."

Lucy screamed. "Let go of me! Ouch that hurts!" My hands tightened around the bat.

"Stop it Chris, leave her alone!" The girl's voice sounded harsh.

The ponytail man scooted away from his chair as he stood up. "Christopher, stop this now."

Chris pulled her toward the door. "She's leaving, now!" Chris' reflection pushed Lucy forward and she fell on the floor where I could see her. The ponytail man rushed over, but was pushed away by Chris. A loud thud signified he fell backwards.

I couldn't take this anymore. That was my cue. I pushed open the door, time seemed to slow down and all the pain was replaced by quick breaths, rapid heart beats and a lightweight feeling.

Chris turned with a shocked look on his face. I took two quick steps forward and swung the bat in a horizontal line, making contact with Chris's side. I pulled the bat back and swung again, this time hitting his leg making him drop to one knee.

I stopped and looked over at Lucy who was trying to stand up. I got angry again and grabbed the bat with both hands. One on the handle and the other in the middle. I thrusted it forward. It landed directly on Chris' chest, sending him back.

The room was quiet as I gasped at the air. Lucy looked up with tear filled eyes as she wiped her cheek with her hand. She instantly broke into a smile and rushed over and wrapped her arms around me. "You're alive! See? I knew you would be!"

"Are you okay Luce?" I said, eyeing the other people in the room.

"Yes, I'm fine. They helped me, honest. That one guy you just clobbered was gonna take me to come see you I think..."

The ponytail man stood up with the help of the girl. They both looked my way.

"Isn't that...?" the girl looked between me and the ponytailed man.

"Yes, that's him." The man said, dusting off the back of his pants.

My breathing was raspy and quick. Chris moaned while holding his chest, rolling back and forth on the floor. The girl knelt beside him.

"You," I pointed to Chris and made sure our eyes met before continuing,"If you ever lay a hand on my sister again, it'll be the last thing you do."

The girl looked up at me while Chris sat up. Her soft voice cracked as she spoke. "H-how did you get in?"

I nodded my head to the basement door. "There's a basement window open. I snuck in that way. After I followed you guys here of course."

She stood up and walked back to the ponytail man. "We didn't... I didn't think you'd survive, I'm sorry for leaving you there..."

The adrenaline started to drain away and the pain rushed back all at once. The room spun and my temples pulsed and throbbed.

I held my head with my free hand as the man with the ponytail rushed over to me and helped me into a chair.

"Mind if I take a look at that?" I didn't resist the offer. I hurt, and any sort of help would be appreciated.

Chris slowly got up, "You little shit." He stormed out of the house holding his chest.