Descent

Chapter 15

"Arghhh!"

The empty building echoed with the howls of a tormented Mai, slamming everything that came to view. Thomas and herself took up residence in what Rush described as a shopping mall. Apparently, hordes of people would come here to buy various items albeit fewer necessities and more materialistic. The place had been picked to its bones though Mai was lucky enough to be able to find clothing that both fit and suited her, replacing the gaudy outfit she had been forced to wear during her short time in Raven's service.

They had discussed returning to the settlement that Rush had taken her to after their first encounter but they didn't want to risk the Highwaymen tracking them there. A patrol had followed them for three miles before they finally lost them in the swamp, and now here they were hours later, hiding out in this creepy, over-sized structure with nothing to show for their efforts. They found a store with all sorts of furniture, beds, chairs, and tables of all different sizes to take their rest and collect themselves. Mai felt selfish in thinking how relieved she was to be sleeping in an actual bed for the night while her best friend was probably cooped up in a cage or worse back in the Hub.

They would rest here for the night before discussing their next course of action in the morning. Nothing could really be done until La Grosse Patate was up and running just as Dove said. They could have the perfect escape plan but no way of escaping the state itself, at least not in a way that would prevent Raven's forces from tracking them. The last thing Hope County needed was another invasion of Highwaymen, especially ones that had been doped up on Malik's blood. How they have not had an adverse reaction was beyond her understanding. Was it because the blood had been diluted? Was Joseph's claims that you needed a clean soul to reap the blessing just bullshit? Why was Ethan buried in a shallow grave while there were Highwaymen walking on the surface who had probably committed a hundred atrocities now jacked up on this stuff.

Thomas had left her to her thoughts as he went to go in search of food and supplies. With Thomas gone, she seized the time of solitude to take out her utter frustration by continuously slamming her fist into the wall. She did not know who to blame: herself for allowing this to happen in the first place or Joseph Seed for giving her mother the apple in the first. Even in death, his presence loomed over her like a storm cloud. His reach from the grave extending so far there was no way of telling where it ended. All she knew was that it was now her brother who was paying the price.

She kept replaying the image of Malik's disappointed gaze as they left him behind without so much as a word. He looked so innocent, so happy before noticing his sister. He had not been that joyous in a long time, even long before their father died. He was very empathetic so any shift in another person's mood was sure to disrupt his own. He cared so much and felt too much of everything. She wondered if he had felt their father's life draining away, explaining his ups and downs months before Jacob's actual passing.

The sight of him laughing and smiling with Raven made her want to vomit, especially when she imagined their mother back in Hope County wretched with grief not knowing where her children were. Had her mother not been through enough? Was the universe testing her resolve or was this it's the last attempt at finally breaking the Lamb down. Mai wondered if her mother would ever forgive for this disaster she had bestowed upon their family though she understood if perhaps that was beyond her mother's compassionate nature. Mai had become so entranced by her own thoughts she did not realize Thomas' hands grabbing for her, attempting to stop her mindless pummeling.

"Mai- Jesus fucking Christ-" he spoke like the air was being drawn out of his body.

Mai looked at him, still stuck in a semi-trance as he held her hands. Seeing him relieved her of her darker thoughts, instead, they were pushed aside with more intimate imaginations. She could only see the top of his head as he gazed at her hands. She wondered how it would feel if she were to run her fingers through it. She looked down, seeing that the bloodied skin had been whittled down to near the bone. Thomas had dropped everything he had been carrying to examine the damage she had done to herself. He pulled her over to one of the many available chairs in the store, sitting her down as he crouched before her, quickly navigating the medical supplies he had just raided to bandage up her hands.