THE UNEXPECTED

26

When I eventually awake, my eyes peel open and I'm instantly reminded of yesterday's happenings and immediately I scramble up in a panic. My head throbs and pulses and I quickly cradle it between my fingers. Dried blood flakes at my touch and my hair is knotted in it, I feel so unclean and gross right now.

My eyes flicker over to Ellie, she's tucked up in the corner with her knees against her chest. She's visibly shaking as though any noise or sudden movement will scare her, I'm not surprised. I feel so, so incredibly guilty that she's here with me right now but there's not much I can do now apart from try and escape.

"Hey." My voice croaks and she jumps, making me frown.

"Hi, are you okay?" Ellie notices my obvious disarray and I just nod. I'm not okay, not in the slightest but I have to be strong her her. And for Joel, we need to return to him as soon as possible.

"Good morning..." David's voice drawls out, making us both flinch. I cower away from him but soon notice that James is also with him, this can't be good.

"Anything but." I manage to spit out, my eyes narrowing at him as he steps closer. David ignores my comment and goes to the lock on the metal cage, it jiggles as he messes around with it but eventually it pops open. The older man then nods to James who then steps closer to us too, Ellie and I back away but it's no use.

"No! No! Let go of me!" I cry out, kicking and screaming as James roughly pulls me forward. Glancing back at Ellie, I see David do the same to her, she's yelling and crying as he grips her arms. There's so escape and I'm afraid of what's to come.

"Tiny pieces, David said." James taunts as he effortlessly manhandled me, he pulls my weak frame atop of the bloody butchers table and soon enough Ellie is roughly placed next to me. There's barely enough space for the both of us but the men hold us down to ensure we don't try and escape.

Despite my initial panic, my plan from the day before suddenly sets into motion. This might just be the perfect opportunity. Glancing at Ellie, I see she's already looking at me and worry is obvious in her face. I then look down at our wrists before returning back to her eyes, I do it again hoping she'll get the gist.

From my peripheral, David lifts a butchers knife into the air. He inspects our bodies, his pointer finger then reaches down to trace my face. I squirm as his grimy finger pulls at my bottom lip, snapping it back into place,

"Shame, such pretty girls going to waste." He mocks us before lifting the knife higher, getting ready to swing. Now is my shot.

"Wait! Wait!" This alerts both of their attention and David falters, "She's infected! Roll up our sleeves, and so am I, she bit me. And soon you will be too."

Both James and David glance at one another, neither of them knowing what to believe,

"Alright, I'll bite." David sets the knife back down and goes to roll up Ellie sleeve first, his eyes widen before he rolls up mine too. Dried blood cakes my arm around my bite and he looks at it with parted lips. "This ain't real." He says,

"It looks pretty fuckin' real to me!" James panics, his grip on me looses a little which gives me the perfect opportunity to strike. The knife which was once near my head is now gripped between my fingers and I act quickly by swinging it into his neck. James' jugular is now ruptured by the knife as he chokes on his own blood, he falters and stumbles to the floor.

"You bitch!" James says, his final words as he crumples to his knees.

Ellie lunges forward and headbutts David who hissed and leans back, giving us the space to escape. I grip Ellie's hand and we dash.

Adrenaline is pumping through my veins as we run, we don't know where we're going but it's anywhere from here. Snow is pelting down on us making it incredibly difficult to see and the wind is blowing harshly in our direction.