DOOM SAGA I - I'll be home tomorrow

Day 231

Argent d'Nur

"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?", he asked in his gentle rumble.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Maybe next time.", she said gazing into the fireplace as she was curled up on the couch. He sighed softly.
"I'll be back in a few hours."
He bent over the back and ruffled her hair, making her giggle lightly.
"Stay safe and if you go out make sure they have an eye on you."
He was grabbing two nearly empty bags as she grumbled about his orders.
"I will...!", she mumbled harshly and buried herself deeper into the blankets.
Always stay safe. Never be alone. Stay in the light. Don't go into the basements. It was always the same rules for every minute of her life, and it angered her to hear them again. Still, she knew he was right, and the rules sadly existed for a reason.
The door closed and she exhaled. Immediately bored, but too tired to move she closed her eyes and at least tried to get some more rest. Her face was still stiff and her nose clogged, and due to new snow falling since the morning, she wasn't keen on going outside. Just a few hours. She thought about the town, the people and how poor everything looked. They must still be recovering from war, and for sure it might take years as she had learned in history class. If she thought about it more deeply now, inside the complex it wasn't as much more glamorous as she was remembering. A lot of damage was still visible, and the highly advanced technology she had read about in the books and seen in the pictures was barely around nowadays.
Uta. Yes, it made sense now. Many men must've died during the war and as far as she knew, a Sentinel warrior could not live with his family as their duty was too important, which would leave most women to take care of the families all by themselves. At least every man was obliged to share his wealth with his partner, or partners, even if he decided to not stay with them. But some decide to give up their rank and duty and become normal men, losing the titles and benefits they held for them.
She smiled for a moment. There were so many young women in town just waiting for a guy to come by. Finding a good man became a whole other level here. 
Her smile vanished. But so many had died. Fathers and brothers and sons. How many mothers had to fight for themselves in the last couple of years and still were seen as weak by the authorities? She puffed. It was always the same. She turned around and noticed that the fire had burned down near completely, and she jumped up. What time was it? When had she fallen asleep? She stretched and groaned, heaving off the couch and throwing the blanket around her shoulders. It was already dark as she stepped onto the balcony and the glistening stars were not much relief from the darkness. No moon was visible and only the windows and lanterns of the complex and the town in the distance brightened the night. A shiver ran down her spine but the cold soothed the dull, lessening pain in her face and her eyes that hurt from the constant flickering of the fires. She stood there, breathing slowly and feeling the frost caress her lungs, and she caught that one of her nostrils had opened after all. He was still gone, she thought.
She slipped on her boots and coat and cuddled into her woollen scarf before stepping outside.
Unsure she was immediately eyed by the two men keeping guard.
"Err... hi.", she stuttered and examined them.
"Sadex! Amal!  You're back, hi!", she smiled happily at the familiar faces.
"Hey there!" "Io, hi!", they said at once smiling back at her brightly.
"The twins just left a couple of minutes ago. So we are fresh on deck!"
"How are Aether and Valis?"
"They are happy and healthy. Though Valis is still fighting her sickness. I brought her more medicine along the order.", Amal stated.
"But we've heard about your battle with the town-girls...! How brave of you to stand between them and HIM.", Sadex laughed kindly and Amal chuckled as well.
"Well, I just want to take a walk and get some fresh air.", she said and both of them nodded.
"Would you like us to accompany you?", Amal asked but she shook her head.
"Okay, but stay on the paths and near the guards, please. I don't want to argue with him again."

The thin layer of snow was already trampled by all the men strolling around, though now it was near silent wherever she went. Now and then a pair of men were sitting around or walking her way but nobody seemed to be bothered by her. The guards gave a nod whenever she passed by one of them and besides the only dim lighting, nothing made her worry more than she always did. In fact, she felt ten times safer than walking in a park in the dark back home. She would have never dared to go by herself and probably not even dared to go with an adult company as it wouldn't matter when some gang overwhelmed them. It was on the news regularly, especially during colder seasons and people actually got shot now and then.
She blinked as she couldn't see the path in front of her anymore. Lost in her thoughts she had wandered somewhere she didn't recognize and turned around to look for a way back, as she heard voices shouting hushed. It wasn't nearby but she needed to know where it came from. She sneaked further along the desire path and through the trees that shaded the court from the light. She came to a little gate in the wall that lead into a rounded court that stretched along the other side at the lowest level of the complex. Behind the courts' wall must be the chasm and barely any torch was lighting the inside. As she looked up the building, she saw that there were only a handful of guards far up, way too far for them to see anything happening, and her heartbeat quickened. Why didn't they guard this part like the rest? Thoughts ran through her mind as she heard more noise from a shed at the outer wall, and shadows danced in the glow coming from its inside.
She crept closer, keeping to the deepest of shadows, from where she could see a group of men cowering around something in the open front. A bunch of crates and stacks of hay hid them and whatever they had, so she made a curve and pressed herself against the side of the boards. She found a hole and crawled inside as carefully as possible and hid between the last chest and the back wall. It took her a moment to understand what they were saying, as some of it was in their language, but what she understood made her heart skip a beat.
"You're doing well tonight. If you behave well, I promise we will finish quickly."
The suffocated coughs and retching along the men's dirty moans made her stomach churn hurtfully when a body hit the floor in front of her. She bit her tongue not to shriek as her wide eyes glared at the short-haired head. The man was harshly turned onto his stomach without any resistance and she thought she would faint or scream as she recognized Perrin. His blank eyes needed a moment to notice her, and right as they widened a hand grabbed his head and pushed him to the ground. Her whole body was shaking, her hands clasped over her mouth as she did not dare to breathe, convinced she would be heard. He was tugged an pulled by hands out of her sight and he groaned with gritting teeth. She pressed her eyes shut as tears filled them. Unable to move she tried not to listen, tried to ignore the hot sticky smell filling the cold air, so she huddled tightly in her spot praying for them to finally stop. She felt her mind blank in terror as a thought came to her. She turned her head again and looked directly into his. He did not make a noise as he kept glaring at her, yet he had a calm and gentleness in his eyes that could rip her sanity apart. Some of the men were now outside, as they had finished, circling the shed and taking a piss near the wall. A loud disgusting moan came from the man on him.
"Fuck, that was good, boy.", the man laughed satisfied. No, she thought, no, as he nodded as secretly as possible before suddenly turning and lunging at him.
"Fuck you, bastard!", he yelled and instantly earned a straight punch. The others rushed back and with that the path for her was clear. But she was still too scared to move.
"Fuck off! Get away from me!", Perring yelled as they ganged up on him strenuously fighting, and she knew this wasn't meant for them.
"That's it! No more fun for you, cumbag!", the man that she believed must be the leader barked.
With shaking limbs she crawled back out the hole and began running as fast as her wobbly knees allowed her as the noise got louder and louder.
She stopped standing in the middle of the court, only seconds away from them. In front of her stood the husk of a young man, glaring at her intensely. The blonde boy slowly shook his head, and even in the dark, she could see the bloodied wounds on his face and his reddened eyes.
Time slowed and as she closed her eyes, a chilled breath burning her lungs to the deepest point in her chest, the shiver stopped.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
High, and loud, her mouth opened and her jaw tight she screamed. She heard the echo, and another one, and wondered how long she could keep it going just before her head hit the stone floor. As her consciousness returned the weight of the man atop her was pinning her to the ground, his hands pulling on her, slapping her, and ripping the scarf off her head forcefully, just to put his hands tighter around her throat.
She fought her panic harder than she fought him, knowing she would need every last bit of oxygen in her blood to stay awake. The noise and the shadow above her drowned and she thought she was hallucinating as the weight was suddenly gone. She felt light, the air filling her chest like drugs, as a hard tug woke her. She ripped her eyes open, an arm holding her up and all around her shouting and men running. The both unknown to her sides spoke to her but she searched only for one. Between the frames of legs and backs of probably half a dozen men, she saw the naked feet of Perrin as they covered him in blankets, Lorz, holding him in his arm. The relief made the adrenaline fade quicker than expected as the world began to blur once more, but there was something else. A heat began burning inside her, like a hot iron being pushed into her heart as rage gave her back strength. She needed to get to him. To them. She needed to...
She pushed against the arms holding her to get up, stumbling against their will towards the crown at the shed. Aside from everybody, lit by the fires of torches, he stood staring down at his brother. He did not move or even blink. The tumult as she was dragging her numb body through the chaos was enough for him to turn his head, and what she saw was pure terror.
"Hah...bin...", was all she managed before she fell to her knees, now feeling the warm trickle that came down behind her ear and over her shoulder. Fuck.

"Catch him!", someone yelled as a shadow bolted from a hideout near the wall over the court. Everybody in reach immediately followed but he vanished in the darkness of the other side, only to come flying backwards out of it and nearly hitting the group that had taken pursuit. Confused they stopped and watched the hulk of a man step out of it. His eyes burned and glistened red from the fires and his steaming breath accompanied his monstrous rumble as he strode through the chaos right towards its centre. His wide chest heaved in heat as he examined Lorz still cradling his son in sheer despair. His teeth made an awful sound and his knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists before turning his head around to the one he had just stopped from escaping. He let the duffle bag down, and eyed the medics cluster around Io hectically, before doing what he needed to do.