Lying on the floor on the apartment hall, blood gushing from her nose, eyes streaming from the impact, Tora spits blood onto the tiled floor. Her vision blurs, adding to her panic.
She glances over her shoulder to see him holding onto her ankle. A cut to his forehead and wounded shoulder, he grabs the knife from the floor with her spike stuck into his side.
Kicking her leg out, his fingernails dig into her ankle and she hisses. Panting, he groans and his grip loosens. Tora swings an arm around, sending a blow to his head and knocking him off balance.
He staggers back and she frees her leg, trying to stand up as he wheezes. But before she can, she's pulled back down. She yelps, throwing her arms around herself to protect her face from any more knocks.
"Get off me!" She cries out, thrashing.
His hand a vice-like clamp around her left ankle, he pulls harshly. She attempts to jerk out of his clasp when he jams the knife into the sole of her right foot and she shrieks.
Pushing the knife further into her foot, he cackles and she sobs. She has to do something quickly or he'll do something worse.
Her head spins and a lump forms in her throat —either that or bile rising from her stomach.
But just as she yanks her foot away, she feels an excruciating pain up the back of her leg, as if it's being cut off.
Peering down at her ankle in horror, she whimpers at the sight of the laceration as blood pours out.
He slashed at her Achilles tendon.
Writhing in pain, she pushes it aside and lunges out with her right foot and kicks his jaw.
The force and placement of the kick throws him off balance and he staggers back and his body goes limp. Tripping over his feet and losing consciousness, his body topples to the floor. She hears the knife clatter to the floor back inside the apartment and she groans.
Clutching her throbbing ankle, she attempts to stand up but her foot slips out from under her and she crashes back down.
Thrashing her arms around, she grabs her purse and fumbles with the zip —her hands trembling. Panic rises through her stomach as he stirs from the floor.
Tora sobs, pulling herself up and grabbing onto the metal railing of the staircase with one arm. She drags her left ankle behind herself, grasping onto the bar as she stumbles down the steps.
Reaching the first floor down from his apartment, Tora rubs her eyes of tears in an attempt to gain back her vision. She rummages through the purse, wailing in pain as she crawls along the floor.
Gasping for breath, Tora clenches her teeth as she hears him grunting from two floors up. She grabs the magazine from her purse and inserts it back into the gun with a click.
If I miss this first shot and he comes closer, I'm done for.
Mustering up all the power she can, Tora limps down the last flight of stairs. She reaches the building entrance hall, where she slumps down against the wall and sobs. She tastes the salty tears on her lips, mixed with blood, and squeezes her bloody ankle through her hisses.
Her panting catches in her throat when she glances to the top of the flight of stairs.
Standing with the knife in his shaking hand, he stumbles and his eyes widen, shaking his head. "No...no...no..."
Holding up the gun tightly in her shaking hands, she aims it at his head. She clicks off the safety guard and pulls the trigger.
He howls in pain and Tora looks back at him squeezing a hand to his wounded shoulder, crashing down to the floor.
"Damnit!" She groans, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Yelping, she pulls her body back off the floor and stumbles over to the door. Yanking it open, her legs give out and she falls to the tarmac.
The dark streets are empty, lit only by a few street-lamps and Tora cries out. Glancing behind her shoulder as his body rises from the floor, she weeps and drags her leg as she limps down the road.
"Just die, damnit!" She exclaims, breathing heavily.
He gains on her, teetering as blood trickles down his shoulder from the gunshot. Dried blood covers his face and stains his shirt. His body trembles and he wheezes as his arms thrash.
Growling, he lunges forward, the knife in his hand as Tora outstretches her arm.
With a deep breath, her head clears and she squeezes the trigger.
Fire rips through his body, his feet buckle and he crashes down to the pavement —a clean shot to his forehead.
She shakes her head, gaining her footing again and staggering down the road. Her body is numb and her head is pounding.
Black spots consume her vision and her legs give way as she falls.
-
Gathered around the table in Ash's gang's hideout, Ash, Alex, Bones, Kong, Cain and Sing discuss their next moves over a few beers.
"Man, we've got to do something about those Soho guys," Cain groans. "They're relentless. My guys and I don't know what to do anymore."
Sing shakes his head. "Us too. It seems like a lost cause."
Ash shrugs. "They'll keep it up until we try to reason with them. They know us guys are better acquainted nowadays, that's probably got something to do with it."
Cain chuckles. "Maybe we should have a tea party together, become best friends."
"Nice idea." Ash raises an eyebrow, his lip turning up in a smirk. "But seriously—"
The ringing of Ash's phone interrupts him and he furrows his eyebrows, grabbing it from the table.
"What's she doing phoning me at 2 am?" He questions, placing it to his ear. "What do you want, Tora? Do you even know what time it is?"
From the other line, he hears her panting and her breathing shallow.
"My God, what are you doing?"
Tora whimpers, soft sobs escaping her lips. "A-Ash— I can't—
"What's going on?" He asks, his tone more serious, and he stands up from his chair. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
"Ash—"
"I swear to God, if this is some kind of sick joke you're playing to get back at me—"
She stumbles, weeping down the phone. "Ash— Please— I can't walk anymore..."
"Where are you?" He asks, running a hand through his hair and the others look to him confused. "It doesn't matter, I'll find you. I'm coming now."
Discarding his phone to the side, Ash runs out the room, charging up the steps and throwing open the door to the hideout. His eyes widen.
He looks down to see Tora collapsed on the pavement with her phone in her outstretched hand. Tears stream down her face and she pulls her limp body up, as Ash holds out an arm.
"Tora?! What happened?!"
"Ash—" Clenching her teeth, she howls in pain and her ankles buckle, falling into his arms.
Hooking his arms around her shoulders and under her knees, he lifts her up and brings her inside. With a kick of his foot, he closes the door and hurries down the stairs and into the living room.
"Ash, what—" Cain's eyes widen. "God, what happened?"
They stand up from their seats, concerned looks on their faces.
"I don't know," Ash furrows his eyebrows, turning his gaze to Tora in his arms. "She just fell into my arms."
Her body trembles, her head pounds and her muscles ache as she reaches a shaky, bloody hand to his shirt, grabbing tight.
Alex's eyes widen. "Her ankle, she needs to put pressure on it."
Ash nods his head to the bed. "I'll put her down. Someone get a rag and water, we'll need to clean the blood before we can disinfect."
Bones runs off to the kitchen and Ash places her limp body onto the mattress. She curls up and her teeth chatter, ankle throbbing.
Running a hand through his hair, Ash assesses the situation. With blood running down her nose to her lip, a large gash on her forearm and a bloody ankle, he places a hand on her shoulder and she whimpers. Her shoulders shake as soft sobs escape her lips.
"Tora," Ash leans closer. "What happened? I need to know what happened, please."
Opening her eyes to look at him, her lip quivers and she shakes her head. "I can't— I thought it— I—"
"You're okay, Tora. You'll be fine." Ash sighs. "We're going to clean your ankle, it looks bad."
Bones hands Ash the cloth and cup of water and he soaks the corner of the rag in the water. Dabbing the cloth onto the sole of her foot, Ash grimaces when Tora flinches and clutches at the bedsheets.
"Ash, please..." She whimpers.
He sighs. "Tora, we need to clean it to see the damage done, and quickly. We need to stop it bleeding."
"He— he cut really deep... I knew as soon as he did it..." She shakes her head.
Ash turns to the group. "Kong, grab some ice, Bones get some more rags and a roll of bandages and Alex, run the water in the bathtub —lukewarm, if not cold."
The three nod, hurrying off to complete their tasks assigned by their boss.
Ash grabs the hem of her dress and rips along the length. He wraps the piece of fabric around her ankle, before ripping another section and covering the sole of her foot. Tora whimpers and he sighs. "That should stop the bleeding, at least for a minute."
Cain crosses his arms. "She seems pretty shaken up. What happened?"
Hooking a hand under her shoulder, Ash lifts her torso from the mattress and she grips onto his shirt, wincing as he checks her forearm. "Tora, you're hurt badly, please tell us what happened."
Kong runs over with a tray of ice and Ash takes a cube, wrapping it in a cloth and gently placing it on the bridge of her cut nose.
Tora looks up at Ash with teary eyes. "He— he was in a corner... And then he started attacking me, like an animal or— or something. Then, he clawed at my neck, and at his own face... I cut him, but..." She shakes.
Pursing his lips, Ash removes the ice and dabs the cloth on her lip and wipes the mascara stains from her cheeks. "What happened after?"
She lifts her arm weakly. "He cut me, so I ran... But he grabbed my ankle and started jabbing the knife into my foot before he did that to my ankle."
Sing raises an eyebrow. "How did you get away?"
Tora clenches her teeth as Ash carefully dabs the dried blood on her forearm. "I limped away after I kicked his jaw and... I managed to shoot him once I got out of the building..."
"Why would he do that?" Cain crosses his arms. "The guy drank too much or took something and went crazy?"
Ash raises a finger to her. "What did you say he was like, Tora?"
Panting, her eyelids flicker. "Like— like an animal..."
Eyes widening, Ash shakes his head. "Really? Are you sure?"
Nodding to him, Tora's vision blurs and her eyes roll as her head falls back and her body goes limp. Ash quickly rests a hand behind her neck to hold her head up.
"Tora... Tora?" Ash grimaces. "Tora, wake up! Stay with us, you're just losing blood, you'll be fine!"
Alex runs back in. "Ash, I ran some water in the bath."
Lifting her from the mattress, Ash rushes out of the room with her in his arms and the others follow after.
"She can't go in the bath with her dress on." Cain tells him.
Ash motions to Alex. "Put the towel on the floor."
He nods, placing it down on the tiled floor and Ash carefully lays her limp body down on her side —careful of her head.
"Anyone have a knife?" He questions.
Sing pulls one out of his pocket, hastily handing it to him. Ash purses his lips, shrugging slightly before slashing the dress above the leg slit and ripping it open at the seam.
Quickly covering his eyes, Bones peaks through his fingers. "I don't think we should be watching this."
Ash scoffs. "It's not a peep show, boys."
The five back away from the door and Ash tears the rest of the bodice, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Sorry, Tora." He mutters through his teeth, clutching onto her body and lifting her into the cold bath.
Resting her back against the bath, Ash unwraps her foot and places it back down in the water. Pushing the hair out of her face, he averts his gaze from her bra-clad chest and a blush creeps on his cheeks.
"Oh jeez." He rubs his eyes. "What is happening to me?"
From outside the room, Cain smirks. "You doing okay, Ash?"
He peers his head around the door and narrows his eyes. "S-shut up!"
Returning to Tora, he adjusts her position in the bath and furrows his eyebrows. Raising her away from the tub, he glances at her back and the large scar across it.
Covering her lower back and reaching below her shoulder blades, the pale pink skin is wrinkled and tight with deep ridges. Ash traces a finger over her shoulder blade, feeling the surprisingly smooth skin of the scar.
Laying her back down, he lifts her left arm out of the water and removes her bandage. The same creased skin covers a portion of her forearm, except with dark, mottled patches and the addition of the large, raw gash.
"Hey, can someone grab some more rags and those bandages?" He calls out.
Lowering her arm back in the tub, he dries his hands on the towel beside himself.
Walking into the bathroom holding a tray of supplies, Sing places it on the floor next to Ash. "Here you go."
"Thanks, Sing," Ash says. "Some of these cuts are deeper than I thought."
"Need any help?" Sing offers.
Raising an eyebrow, Ash turns to him. "You're not in it just to see a half-naked girl, are you?"
Sing crosses his arms. "What do you take me for?"
Shrugging, Ash nods to Tora laying unconscious in the bath. "Well then, I'd appreciate the help."
Sing kneels beside him and hands over a rag. Dipping it into the pink water, Ash raises her forearm and dabs.
"Can you grab her ankle and wrap it with the cloth? It doesn't matter if it gets wet in the water, we just need to stop the bleeding. We don't want her losing any more blood." Ash tells him.
Nodding, he does as Ash asks and tightly wraps her ankle and foot. "So tell me, why are you helping her out?"
"She came to me, I couldn't leave her like that." Ash shrugs. "And besides, I have to return the favour after she saved my life the other week."
"That was her?" Sing questions.
Ash nods, wrapping a rag around her cut arm. "I would've been a goner if not for her."
He leans forward, running a finger along the fresh, pink claw marks on her neck and chest, shaking his head.
"Why would someone do this?" Sing questions.
Ash turns his head to look at him. "I've got a pretty good idea as to what caused this..."
-
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"what are you afraid of?
this is not unheard of" - Tonight Alive