Ashley sat at the kitchen table while Elsie quickly filled a cooler bag with food from the cupboards. Though she couldn't see him, she could hear Michael moving briskly around the house, preparing for their sudden departure. He tossed another bag by the door in the hall before she heard him jog up the stairs.
Ashley pushed her hair back off of her face and leant her elbows upon the table. Was this really happening? Despite now having a life full of constant uncertainty she had always been unconsciously certain of Sam and Michael being in the picture. Now that was gone, it would just be her and Michael. Alone.
She jumped out of her skin at a loud thud followed by a series of violent bangs that was immediately identifiable as someone falling down the stairs. Both she and Elsie shared a panicked glance as they leapt towards the door.
Michael lay crumpled at the bottom of the stairs, lying still on his back. Ashley leant down and placed a hand over his mouth, she felt breath just as his body gave a violent twitch. He was unconscious. She turned her eyes up to see Sam standing above them on the stairs, he looked down at Michael coldly.
"He was right," Sam murmured huskily, stepping down onto the last stair. "I did choose."
Elsie let out a shriek and darted towards the kitchen door. Ashley fell on her back as Sam pushed passed her to apprehend the old woman. Ashley watched the one-sided fight from the floor in utter shock.
"I'll die before I let you have her!" Elsie bellowed furiously, punching and kicking out. "Ashley the door! The door!" she screeched. Tricksy the dog began to bark ferociously, jumping up against the back door, her teeth gnashing at the glass in response to her owners scream.
Sam picked the old woman up by the waist despite her struggles and carried her over to the door leading to the basement. Ashley staggered to her feet and without a second thought made for the back door.
Sam twisted around and freed a hand to grab Ashley's t-shirt. "No!"
Struggling to subdue them both, Elsie wiggled out of Sam's hold enough to yank the back door open. True chaos erupted. The vicious Rottweiler bolted into the kitchen, snarling and snapping straight for Ashley. She was pushed to the side as Sam rose his fists to take on the dog in her place. It lunged for his arms and forced him back into the living room.
Elsie was thrown to the floor as well, she recovered quickly for an elder woman and got to her feet despite some heavy breathing suggesting she was having some difficulty. "Come child" she wheezed, "The basement, we'll lock it from the inside."
Ashley revolted at the idea and scrambled to her feet a second time. "No!" she exclaimed, she wasn't sticking around! Elsie looked furious as she leant against the kitchen table to regain her balance.
"Your stupidity will see you dead just like your mother you stupid child!" She cried out before a sharp squeal from the living room interrupted them. Sam ran back into the kitchen holding the dog, coiling and snarling, by the scruff of the neck. Elsie screamed and shouted at him as he grabbed her by the wrist at the same time and threw the both of them out the back door. With shaking hands he slammed the door and turned the key, locking them both outside.
He turned and leant his back against the door, holding up a bloodied arm and clamping his hand tightly against the main wound. "Give me that towel," he said breathlessly.
Ashley hastily located the hand towel and threw it at him. He wrapped it around his arm before nodding towards the living room. "Let's go."
Ashley didn't move. This was the most real chance she had to escape. Michael was out cold and Sam was out of breath and the weakest she'd seen him.
Sam's expression darken. "I'm not leaving without you!" he snapped. When she remained still he let out a long, fierce breath. "I'm trying to help you for fuck sake!"
Help her? She didn't know what he meant by it, how could he say that after everything he'd done! Sam moved around towards her, showing irritation when she rotated around the table to remain out of reach. He reached up into a cupboard and pulled down a bottle of whisky.
"You wanna still be here when he wakes up?" he added.
The very idea gave her a cold sweat. What else was there to do, she didn't want to be anywhere near Michael when he woke up. With shaky hands, she picked up the cooler Elsie had been filling with food and held it out for Sam to put the whisky in before she moved as fast as her feet enabled her.
Sam stooped down to retrieve the car keys from Michael's pocket before he stood above him for a moment, gazing down at his unconscious body. "Not so smug now, are you?" he murmured.
He looked up at Ashley and instructed her to pick up one of the duffel bags in the hallway. Everything was a clumsy rush after that. At any moment Michael could regain consciousness and the idea seemed to scare Sam just as much as her.
They scrambled into the car and broke away from Elsie's house as quickly as possible. Her heart didn't stop racing until they'd been travelling in the car for over thirty minutes. Every few minutes she checked the rearview mirror, expecting to see Michael fast approaching in a car of his own. Ashley could only imagine what Michael would be like when he realised what they had done.
Ashley leant her head against the cool glass of the window, paranoid Michael would somehow know where they were going, even though she didn't even know where they were going, for now, she didn't feel like asking. They hadn't spoken since the car journey began and she wasn't ready to communicate with Sam just yet. Now was the time to try and work out what her next move would be. The longer she waited, the more Sam recovered and the harder it would be to escape him. She already knew she couldn't outrun him.
He told her he was trying to help her, but his actions had been so incoherent, she couldn't decipher how true that statement was. This felt less like Sam helping her and more like a revenge plan. Even if he was trying to help, for whatever reason, he was too violent and unpredictable to be reliable. She couldn't use him. She had to lose him.
"So it's just you and me now" Ashley murmured, still focusing on the passing scenery.
"Don't sound so frightened by it."
She glanced round to see Sam grimacing playfully. Was that supposed to be a joke? He tried to crush her with furniture last night and had grabbed her so many times in the past 24 hours, his fingers had left sore marks all over her skin.
"I'll figure this out" he added quickly, "I know I haven't been great-"
Ashley turned around fully to stare at him. That was the understatement of the century. "Haven't been great?" she interrupted incredulously. "Are you fucking insane?"
He scowled at the road ahead after shooting her a glance or two. "Look I'm trying to help you here! Just get off your moral high horse for five fucking seconds and hear me out."
"What do you want from me! What do you expect!" she shouted, feeling over a year of emotion and fury build up inside her. "You've abused me, you've attacked everyone I know, I don't even know what to say anymore I am in pieces- you are the worst thing that has ever happened to me! Why the fuck would I hear you out?"
Sam let out a loud, harsh laugh. "The worst thing! I just saved you from the worst thing in the world!"
Ashley turned entirely on her side to face him, ripping at her seat belt to give her more room. "Like you're any better!" she yelled.
Sam nodded aggressively, slamming his hands on the steering wheel. "I know what I am! I've killed people and you know what, I fucking enjoyed it. I've never hurt you- not on purpose! Not, not for a while! I'm not asking you to understand, you will never understand! I'm- I'm trying to tell you something you stupid cow and I don't need you screaming at me every time you look at me because of what I've done!"
Ashley clenched her fists in front of her face furiously before throwing herself back into her seat. "You are unbelievable!"
"No you're unbelievable!" he snapped back defiantly. "Can't you see what I've been trying to do?"
Ashley turned her back to him to resume staring out the window, albeit this time with a glare. She didn't want to know. How could he be so ignorant! Every inch of her was flared in anger. Suddenly he was the good guy, was that what he was going to imply? Did he expect her to simply forget everything else!
He didn't say any more and they didn't look at one another again.
Michael opened his eyes drowsily and looked up for a few minutes in confusion, his head was spinning and pulsing painfully. Slowly he rolled on to his back, wincing as various parts of his body responded negatively to being moved. Getting unsteadily to his feet, he turned towards the back door as someone banged against the glass urgently.
Using objects around him he managed to reach the door and unlock it. Elsie burst in, in a fluster accompanied by a barking Tricksy. She immediately came to his aid, doing her best to help prop him up.
"Oh Michael, I did everything I could but she's just like your godforsaken mother! Oh Sam, I always knew he would do this-"
Michael looked at her, his eyes going in and out of focus. "Sam, I, I need to go" he murmured briefly. "I need to do...something."
Elsie nearly fell to the ground as one of Michael's legs gave way. "No, you need to rest. You can't go after them like this" she exclaimed, before helping him up the stairs to lay him down on a bed. Still confused from the fall he gave her little resistance and staggered up each step.
Ashley did her best to stay alerted but slipped once or twice into 10-minute snoozes, exhausted after spending most of the night standing on a landing whilst Sam smashed up the bedroom.
It wasn't until she heard a change in the terrain, that Ashley jolted awake after another minute or two of sleep. They were driving on gravel through a wooded area and it had suddenly turned dark under the leaf canopy.
"Where are we?" she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck which was sore after resting in an awkward position.
Sam turned the car around before turning off the engine. "It's a holiday park, we'll be okay here for a couple of days" he replied bluntly.
Ashley laughed bitterly. "Oh yeah? What you gonna do, walk up to the front desk looking like that and pay for a cabin on a magical credit card?"
Sam climbed out of the car and slammed the door shut with excessive force. She got out too, undeterred by his temper. "Sam?" she snapped when he offered no response.
"Just trust me! I know what I'm doing."
Standing amidst the trees, she looked all around in disbelief. Even if he did have money, he couldn't just book a holiday home on the spot, not to mention he was a wanted criminal and he certainly wasn't going to let Ashley anywhere near the general public.
He grumbled for her to grab the cooler out of the boot before he swung both duffel bags onto his back, with evident strain and discomfort. She stood awkwardly, her feet still bandaged and covered in large socks. There wasn't a holiday home in sight, did he expect her to walk through a forest with her feet in this condition?
It seemed the same thought had occurred to him. "Come here" he murmured, opening his arms to her. "I'll carry you."
Ashley frowned at him. "You can't, you can barely carry those bags."
He dropped the bags off of his shoulders and let them fall heavily to the floor. "If I carry them in my hands, will you be able to stay on my back?"
Ashley nodded. There was little point suggesting he make two trips, he wouldn't leave her alone and she was sure he had parked back here for a reason.
Awkwardly and with pain, judging from Sam's grunting, they trailing through the wood's stopping at the first holiday home that came into sight. It was a picturesque log cabin. Ashley stood next to the bags whilst he broke in through a window and waited for an alarm to pierce the silence but ended up disappointed. Even so, a cleaner or management would notice the broken window. Ashley handed a bag up to Sam through the window. They'd be caught by morning at this rate and this nightmare would finally be over. Ashley felt the beginnings of a real smile. Could the end really be in sight after everything she'd been through?
Sam climbed back out in order to boost Ashley up to the window, which turned out to be the bathroom window she discovered as she crawled into a sink on the other side. Once inside she shuffled around, imagining what it would feel like by tomorrow when people, actual people, turned up and saved her. Dare she even hope so vividly?
It was only when Sam had placed the bags in the kitchen that she noticed a plastic Christmas tree in the corner of the living room which couldn't have confused her more.
Sam opened the bottle of whisky he'd retrieved from the cooler and took a large gulp. He coughed a little but swallowed the fiery drink with surprising ease. The sight of him with alcohol in his hand made Ashley nervous but she hadn't stopped him from packing it. He turned to look at her standing aloft in the living room area.
"Relax. I used to come here with my family," he said huskily, gesturing to the tree. "It's a cheap Christmas park, doesn't open for another couple of months. Nobody will be around, no one hates this place like the people who work here."
Ashley felt her spirits plummet. That was the last thing she wanted to hear.
"Don't look so sad" he muttered, pulling one of Elsie's home made scones from the cooler. "This is my favourite place."
After eating all but one Scone, Sam ran himself a bath leaving Ashley to her own devices. She looked around for a phone or alarm she could trip but found nothing so turned her attention to her aching stomach. Rummaging through the cooler, she picked out some cheese and crisps to eat with her Scone. There were windows she could open and climb from but the likelihood of her getting back to the car before Sam noticed she was missing was non-existent. Besides, she couldn't drive confidently and was uncertain how far the main road was and how busy it would be at this time. She could wonder aimlessly into the woods and hope the woodland critters killed her?
The cabin had floor to roof window panels in the living room that opened up a full, intimate view of the woods. Ashley curled up on the hard sofa and gazed out. It was quiet and peaceful. She could imagine it being pretty in the winter time, with a blanket of snow on the ground. She noticed Sam had left the whisky out and tried to take a similar gulp to him but ended up choking on it. Whisky was not going to make her feel better.
Eventually, she turned her attention to an old CD player next to the TV (which had no connection). There were only Christmas CD's on offer but she put one on regardless. The soft, warm and cheerful music filled the cabin on low volume. It seemed wrong to play such songs out of season but the familiar classics soothed her nerves ever so slightly. They also made her eyes tear up, at the thought of never spending another Christmas with her family. Regardless of what had been done and said, she still loved them dearly.
"Ashley, come in here" came a metallic echo from the bathroom.
Ashley swallowed thickly, feeling a sickening uneasiness return to her. "No, you're in the bath" she responded dryly.
"Just come in here" Sam insisted.
Looking up in exasperation, she reluctantly moved over to the bathroom and peered around the door. She couldn't think of a legitimate reason for him to call her in and was therefore doubly on guard. Ashley hadn't come this far just to get raped in a bath.
She felt her cheeks and neck grow hot at the sight of his naked form. He was sat up, his legs awkwardly splayed, two thick and long to fit comfortably. His body was bloodied and bruised and had discoloured the bath water a light red. It wasn't the first time she'd seen him naked, but it didn't get any less shocking. His evident disregard for concealment embarrassed her. He looked so raw in the bathroom like a big, oozing blemish in a room of pearly white. Covered in battle wounds yet still retaining some form of irritating charm.
"What do you want?" she demanded.
Sam winced as he twisted around ever so slightly to touch a wound on his shoulder. How the dog had bitten him up there she didn't know.
"I need you to help me" he mumbled.
"Help you?" she echoed, aghast. "You mean wash you?"
He glared over at her with red eyes. "No, I need you to get me that bottle of whisky," he remarked before he gave her a crooked smile. "Then I need you to wash me."
Ashley snorted at his sheer audacity. "Fuck you, Sam."
She'd been waiting to say that to him since the moment they first met. Fuck you sincerely. If he thought she was going to sit there and tend to him just because he demanded it he had another thing coming. After everything, he expected her to help him?
"You are unbelievable, do you know that?" she exclaimed. "I should drown you in that bath, you horrid beast! After everything you've done you expect me to what? Pour you a whisky and wash your back?"
"Oh save it Saint Wilton!" he snapped back. "You couldn't drown me in this bucket."
She closed her eyes to try and control the sheer fury he provoked in her. "Don't call me that!" she gritted.
"Don't make me get out of this bath!" He snarled back. "Hate me all you want, just get me the whisky."
Furious, she would have stomped into the other room if it hadn't been for her poorly feet. She snatched the half empty bottle from the other room before storming back into the bathroom to thrust it under his nose.
Ashley shook her head slowly. "Hope you get alcohol poisoning" she muttered as he took it with a grin and had a long swig. She went to withdraw to have him wrap a wet hand around her wrist.
"Let go of me" she gritted, wringing her wrist left and then right to try and free herself. "Let go!"
Instead of letting go he dragged her down, pulling her until she fell into his watery lap. Her body hardened up, a chill funnelling up her spine at the sensation of their bodies touching. She hit out, her arms and legs swinging wildly to get free of him. She was panicking, this is exactly what she was afraid of and he was still so stupidly strong even after the world had dealt him such a beating.
"Shh, I just- just let me hold you" he exclaimed, struggling to enclose her arms within his to hold her to him. "Ashley, ASHLEY! I just want to hold you!"
She stopped twisting. His biceps were compacting her against his chest and squeezing the breath out of her. She was hot and ashamed to be in this position. Why did he keep doing this to her!
His chest lifted her up and down as he caught his breath and his hold loosened slightly. Slowly he leant his head down and breathed into her hair, resting his cheek on top of her head after a minute or two.
The exchange made her anxious. The water was warm, but the parts of her clothes that were wet clung to her uncomfortably. She couldn't bear the feel of his body beneath and all around hers. She felt trapped within him. He was the one naked and injured yet she felt more vulnerable than ever surrounded by all this bare skin and muscle.
"I can feel your heart" he whispered to her, before allowing a long pause in which Ashley tried to get a hold of herself. "I love the way your heart races when I touch you."
Her eyes widened at the confession, was that supposed to calm her? She began to twist and shunt again irritably, hating every word he was saying.
He clutched her closer in response. "And I love that feisty side of you."
"Just stop" Ashley snapped, his words making the situation even more unbearable.
"Why? Embarrassed?" he mused, his muscles moving beneath her every time he spoke. "That's another thing I love."
"Just let me go!" she yelled.
He held on for a second longer before releasing her. She struggled out of the bath and made sure she was out of reach before she turned on him a little breathlessly.
He was looking at her intently, a slither of a smile on his lips. "I'm not going to hurt you."
Ashley wrung out her wet t-shirt, pulling an expression of incredulity. "Yeah, right" she spluttered.
Sam glanced down at her feet. "I did my best," he murmured before taking a swig of whisky. He sloshed the bath water around. "You don't know what it's like to be with someone like Michael for as long as I have. I'm out of touch."
"Out of touch of what?" she snapped.
"Being with someone like you."
Ashley looked down at her t-shirt, wringing it intently. "What's that supposed to mean?" She grumbled.
"Someone I don't want to hurt" he murmured.
She looked up sharply at the sound of water splatter to see Sam had stepped out of the bath. Ashley automatically took a step back, her eyes struggling for somewhere to look. She chose his face and regretted it. He had a sly smile on his lips. Already a small bathroom, there wasn't anywhere for her to go.
"Like I said," he added, looking down at her with dark coloured eyes. "I don't want to hurt you."
"So don't," Ashley replied weakly, nervously, as he inched closer the steam rising off his body warming her.
He frowned gently, his eyes studying her in a way she'd never seen anyone else do; not even Karl.
"I'm trying not to" he whispered huskily.
Johnson sat in the front seat of the car, his heart racing in his chest as his partner drove full speed through the streets. Finding out Ashley's relation to Michael Wilton had been a stepping stone in the case and helped make a lot of sense of the current situation. It was hard to swallow but his colleague's theories had been more or less proven superior. Despite that, it had given them little aid in finding the three suspects and they remained elusive until this morning.
News of a small corner shop being broken into late last night had meant little until the CCTV feed was reviewed by local police. There had been little debate on who the culprit was. Johnson couldn't believe, after no signs, Hanz had turned up in an off-license stealing vodka. It was near on ludicrous! Not only that but a diagnostic search of the area flagged up the address of Wilton's ex-house maid.
It was almost too easy.
No one but Watts knew about his feelings on this case, but he was certain his colleagues were aware. His twin sister had dreamed of becoming a police officer since she was small, but her life was cut short by the scum they were hunting. He couldn't describe the pain he still felt, and knowing that the culprits were potentially within his reach filled him with an unholy fire. He hoped when he found them, they gave him reason to shoot.
They pulled up outside the house with sirens blazing, accompanied by a squad and two other cars. They all piled out, bulletproof vests on and guns at the ready.
Watts stood by the front door and bellowed "POLICE! Open up."
No immediate response warranted no further wait, the door was busted in and the officers forced their way in. Johnson made sure to get in the house quickly behind Watts. They were confronted by an elderly, dark-haired woman who fought and pleaded with the first two officers on scene trying to block the stairwell.
Johnson shunted past her and ran up the stairs, cautious but eager in his pursuit he raided each room. Reaching the last potential room he inhaled deeply before pushing open the door. It was partially blocked by a broken drawer. He scoped the room, ready for anything but lowered his gun in immense disappointment as he heard 'All clear' shouted all around him. They weren't here.
He clocked the bars on the window in front had been busted open and walked over to look out. It was a steep drop but not impossible. He looked at the surrounding area but couldn't see any sign of either three suspects. Gazing around the room he spotted a bloodied towel lying on the bed and scooped it up.
"Fuck!" he kicked at the already broken furniture.
Racing back down the stairs he strode to the living room to see Watt's standing with the old woman who was shaking like a leaf.
He passed the towel to him and watched as his partner turned to her. "Tell me everything. Now."
I hope this chapter meets your expectations- I wanted to write more but I'm out of time tonight and far too eager to upload! Tell me what you think, I love hearing your opinions! It's the best :D