When a beaten and lost, near-dead girl walks up upon the gates of Jackson unannounced, people are bound to be suspicious of why she's shown up. But, when she reveals that she knows something about an organization in Seattle planning to come to Jacks...
"Wishing I'd stayed, look at how my tears ricochet."
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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Please
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Robin held the knife against Willow's neck, piercing her skin. She whined silently as it drew blood, her eyes turned downwards as pain rippled through her nerves. Ellie laid on the ground, her breath uneven as she watched the person she had met long ago. Willow's eyebrows twitched as the knife pushed further into her neck. Nothing could compare to the pain she felt, her arm on the edge of being broken and spraint, along with her neck being sliced open by a tactical knife.
Ellie let out a shuddered breath, pain pushing through her lungs. Her eyesight was blurred, but through the blood dripping from the side of her face, she could see Willow's pained gaze. The older teenager's eyes turned into one of begging and anguish. The stab wound in her leg was making her drowsy, but she couldn't leave Willow to die. Not here, not now. It would haunt her for the rest of her life- even if Ellie herself lived.
"Please." The older teenager pleaded, her voice cracking. Robin's mind flickered, her stomach turning and flipping back and forth. She closed her eyes, gripping tighter onto the knife. She couldn't let herself slip- she was so close to what she had worked for. "Fuck-" Ellie winced in pain, her stomach wound pouring more and more blood onto her hardwood flooring. "You've lost people, I've lost people, she's lost people- please just let her go."
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Robin stood in the corner of the farmhouse, watching in horror as the scene of her parent's deaths unfolded in front of her. Her mother laid on the ground, an infected trapping her against the wooden floor and snapping at her neck. She gazed to her father, who was standing above her. Why wasn't he helping her? What had gotten into him? Robin's mind raced as the cries of her mother filled the room, a sound that she never wanted to hear ever again.
Her mother screamed; anguish clear in her features. "Please!" She yelled. "Please, Joshua!"
Before her father could even try to step in, the runner snapped its jaw against her neck, pulling out a large chunk of skin and flesh. Her body immediately fell limp, causing Robin to push a sob out of her mouth. Her stomach turned, she wanted to vomit, but she couldn't. She gazed back up at her father, who stood motionless against the wall. His body soon slumped down to the ground as the weight of what he had done sunk in.
Her father looked to her; eyes wide. Robin only then noticed the large, bleeding bite that had circulated on his collarbone. "Go!" He yelled.
Without question, she slipped away from the farmhouse, running as fast as she could through the thick grass. Her calves burned, but the screams of her mother wouldn't leave her head. 'Please', 'Please', 'Please'." The moment she called out her husband's name was the moment that Robin knew that her father had truly left her to die. They loved each other, didn't they? She tried to convince herself that it was because he was infected, but the constant cries of her mother in her head spoke otherwise.
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Robin was pulled by her cries and yells, her eyes blinking back to the knife that she held against Willow's neck. Ellie's begging had mirrored her mother's, causing her to drop the knife to the ground in shock. It clammered against the wooden floor harshly, but she still kept her iron grip on Willow's torso. Her arms shook, she hadn't had that flashback and those nightmares since she was a little girl. Ollie had helped her get rid of them.
She looked back to Ellie, who was completely unconscious on the ground. Robin let go of Willow, pretending not to hear the crack of her arm. Her gaze turned to the girls- the girls who had killed the only two people she had ever genuinely cared about. She ignored the pounding in her head from where Ellie had slammed her against the kitchen counter and the large break in her nose. Blood rushed down her nostrils and to her chin, but it didn't matter. She didn't kill them.
Her mind swarmed, she should have killed Willow when she could. "If you come after me, I won't let you go again." Robin spat, her vision blurring through dizziness. She trudged out of the bedroom, her mind swirling as she walked outside. The harsh, cold air of the night whipped against her cheeks, and she was suddenly thankful for the darkness. Nobody would walk by, and even if somebody did- the blood pouring down her face wouldn't be visible.
Pain flared up through her legs as she walked to the gates of Jackson, pulling herself onto her horse and taking a hold of the reins. Dina had told her about a small break in the fence that Ellie used to sneak out, so she turned around, spotting it. She slipped out, slowly losing consciousness as she walked through the forest that she had been carried through a few days prior. Her body ached, blood rushing down her skin as she slowly shut her eyes.
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Ellie's eyes opened, pain circling through her head. She barely remembered the events of what had happened hours before, and she was thankful to see that the sun hadn't poked through the mountains quite yet. She turned to her right, trying not to move as she looked over Willow's body. Without question, she clambered over, pretending that the searing and unbearable pain that tore through her body didn't exist.
"Will-" She gasped in pain as she looked over her body. "Willow, for fuck's sake- get up." Ellie begged, holding her hand over the younger girl's torso. She was breathing, but her arm was snapped in a position that wasn't natural, her neck was laced with a deep scar, and her body was mangled against the hardwood floor of the bedroom. "Please- I don't think I can go through this without you." As her eyes became glossier and glossier, Willow gasped, eyes open.
She immediately sobbed in pain, her lips agape slightly. "Ellie..."
"It's okay." The older girl promised, holding a hand onto Willow's cheek. "We're okay."
