PetrA

Chapter fifty: Daniel

Daniel squinted against the sunlight, the wind howled and made the old building groan and whine as he looked out over the water. Waves crashed onto the rocks only a few feet away from the building spraying water all over the place. On the fields around the house there wasn't a single thing moving aside from the grass and trees swaying madly in the strong winds and the occasional animal. He could see the beginning of autumn closing in on them, and then it wouldn't be long before the snow will cover the ground and freeze everything. He took a deep breath and looked down at his rations, there wasn't all too much, but it was enough to get him through a week or two without having to risk his neck going into a store all by himself. It was dreadful and boring all on his own, but at the same time he didn't have to worry about anyone else than himself, that made things much easier to deal with and he called the shots without anyone questioning him.

He poked the fire with a stick and watched the logs burn slowly. Around dusk, he heard something move just outside the door of the house. He quickly got to his feet, moved silently to the window, and peered outside. The sky was going from bright orange and pinks to a hazy dark blue colour with stars glittering on the sky like small fairies. Daniel moved the curtain aside one inch and looked around, he couldn't see anyone, but it was difficult to see much when he could only peer out from behind a curtain. He stood still by the window and listened carefully for more movements, when he was about to go back to the dying fire, he saw it. Something was moving up ahead running through the fields of grass towards the house. Daniel watched as if transfixed, and as it moved closer, he saw that it was a person. No not one, but three running in a line.

In the dying daylight, it was clear that they carried a bag each and had been running for a long time. As he stood there watching them, he noticed that one of them was limping. He made a move for the door, but the first person already burst through and ushered the rest in after him. They collapsed on the floor just inside the door as it closed behind them. None of them seemed to notice Daniel. The person who had been limping was a girl, she wore torn jeans, a tattered T-shirt with many foul stains on it, her hair was a complete mess and she was holding her foot whimpering slightly. She couldn't have been more than thirteen, "Here let me see." One of the two boys said crouching in front of her, he pulled back the leg on her pants and made a sound in the back of his throat. Her foot pointed the wrong way and were swollen. "Broken." The other boy muttered. "Justin check that they're not following us." The boy who'd stood back watching turned around and let out a scream when he saw Daniel. The other boy froze and the girl lifted her eyes. She let out a small shriek and scrambled backwards. The boy who'd looked at her ankle jumped to his feet, pulled a gun from the inside of his jacket, and pointed it at Daniel.

Daniel watched him calmly, "Put away the gun." He said. He edged around towards his fire keeping his eyes locked on the one holding the gun. "Who are you?" He asked a slight tremble in his voice. "Wrath, I'm Wrath." He eyed the gun closely and cast a look at the other boy whom had been called Justin; he was looking out of the curtain. "Put away the gun, unless you want to attract attention to whoever you're running from." Daniel said. The boy seemed to consider it for a moment and then lowered it, they watched each other for a long time and the girl let out another whimper as she tried to get up. Daniel turned to her and frowned. "I-I'm Travis." The boy said holding out a shaking hand for Daniel to shake. "That's Justin, and my sister Maryanne." He said mentioning to the girl and boy who peered out of the window nervously. "My foot, my foot. Travis..." Maryanne whimpered. Silent tears fell down her face as she tried to straighten it. Daniel walked over to his bag pulled out duct tape, he found two flat wooden planks he broke them in two with force and crouched in front of the girl. She tried to back away from him, but she couldn't move more because of the wall.

"N-no! D-don't e-e-eat me." She tried to kick him with her good foot, but Daniel caught it easily in his hand. He stared at her for a moment, "I'm not going to eat you." He put down the foot and pinned it with his own legs. He grabbed a belt from his bag beside him and stuffed it into her mouth. "Bite down on this, hard." He said then taking her injured foot. She let out a whimper as he studied it for a moment. "This is going to hurt." Without warning, he forced the foot back into place and she let out a long and muffled scream as she bit down on the belt. Daniel pressed the wooden planks on either side of her foot to keep it straight and then duct taped them so they wouldn't move. The girl had passed out cold, as he worked on securing the planks to her leg. Travis hurried over to her and cradled her stroking her filthy and tangled hair. Daniel went back to his fire and poked it again with his stick.

"Thankyou." Travis said. Daniel looked at him, he felt no sympathy for any of them,"Don't thank me, she'll be dead soon enough. She won't be able to run on thatfoot for a long time." The look he received was one of outmost fear and anger."She won't die." He looked down at the young dirty face. "You're not going toeat us, are you?" Justin asked peering nervously at Daniel. Daniel scowled andlooked at him for a long time, "I'm no cannibal." He said shortly. The two boysjoined him at the fire when they were sure there wasn't anyone else outside."So... you from around here?" Justin asked awkwardly. Daniel stared into thefire, "No." He said shortly. He didn't exactly want to talk to these people.