Broken

Chapter 15

I woke up sweating and crying. I shook my head and wiped my face with my disgusting, dirty, bloody shirt. I gave up caring about that a long time ago. I grabbed my bat and slung it over my shoulder as I exited the cardboard house. Not many people were up yet. Lux was starting a fire, Charles was inspecting the backpack of supplies, Dexter was playing with some toy soldiers, and Mary Grace was folding laundry. Seth and Juan were on their normal shift.

I squatted next to Lux. "Hey."

He smiled up at me. "Hey, Beth."

"I have a lighter, if you want to use it."

"Nah, I'm good. Thanks, though. How did you sleep?"

I sighed. "Fine. You?"

"Liar."

"What?"

"I heard you whimpering last night."

I gave him an evil look. "What were you doing in Charles's house?!"

"I was carrying something in for Mary Grace and I heard you crying and tossing around."

"It was nothing."

"Beth-"

"I'm fine, okay?"

Lux looked into my eyes. "You can tell me, you know. You can tell me anything."

I softened a little. "Thanks, Lux. I'll remember that."

We didn't say anything for a long time. Our silence was interrupted by shouting. I Juan was cursing in Spanish and Seth was yelling for Hank and Charles. I jumped up and sprinted after Charles. Hank came stumbling out of his house, half clothed and not fully awake. Lux tried to catch up with me as I made my way through the store. When we reached the front of the store, Juan was on the ground, writhing in pain, while Seth held a man and a woman at gunpoint. I yanked my bat out.

"Are there more?" I asked Seth, who was breathing heavily. I noticed a large cut on his forehead, and his bottom lip was starting to swell.

"Not that I know of. We need someone to check the other exits anyway. They know the layout."

"What do you mean?"

Seth prodded the woman with his gun. "Go on, show her. I saw you with the pictures."

The woman snarled at him and threw a dozen pictures wrapped together with a rubber band at me. It hit my knee and fell to the ground. I picked them up and flipped through them. I looked back up at Seth and then passed the pictures to Charles and Hank.

"These are pictures of the store and us."

The man held up his hands in surrender while the woman had her arms wrapped around his waist. Hank ran his fingers through his hair.

"What are your names?"

The woman spat. The man just sighed and said,

"I'm William and this is Patty."

Patty bit him. William cried out in pain.

"Patty! Heel!"

Patty retreated into herself by folding up on the floor and resting her head on William's foot. William pulled a gun off his belt and a knife from his pocket and threw them on the ground.

"Here. We mean no harm."

Patty's hair was gathered around her face and I couldn't see her eyes. I backed away a step.

"Is she..."

William's eyes gave away his lie. "No."

"Show me her eyes."