Turned World (On Hiatus)

13 - Blood Lace

"Well, wha' do we got here?" The man's voice came. "You a straggler, huh?"

As soon as he spoke more heads popped up from over the pile. Those persons were dressed similarly to the first man, as they all had the left sleeve of their suits switched to red cloth.

"You by yourself, girl?" One of them asked.

"Of course she's alone, dimwit. Everyone else is dead."

The people jumped down from their high spots, landing in front of her, before spreading out, almost encircling her. She did a quick head count. There were twelve of them.

"What do you want?" Soph blurted out.

"We ain't want much." The first guy spoke. "We're jus' lookin' for scraps to survive out here."

"Who're you?"

"Join us, why don'tcha? It's more fun than wanderin' out here alone."

"N-no thanks...I'm not alone."

"Eh...you don't look like you out here wid no one tho."

"My team just went ahead of me."

"Oh? 'S that so? So you ain't gonna come wid us?" He scratches his head, as if disappointed. He then points at her. "Guess you commin' wid us by force then!"

Two of the more bulky ones stepped towards Soph intimidatingly. Feeling a wave of fear wash over her, Soph took a step back. She could feel herself beginning to sweat. Should she call out for help? She had no idea how far away the team was.

The men were a few feet from her now and she felt her body begin to tremble. The two were towering over her as she was just over 5ft while they seemed to be edging over 7ft tall.

"St-stay back!" Soph shouted.

"Why?" One of the two men snickered.

"I-I...I'll k-kill you!" Soph blurted out.

Though she herself had said it, the words still surprised her. It felt like it left a bad aftertaste in her mouth.

The two men looked at her, then at each other and burst into laughter.

"You? Kill us? With what?"

Soph gritted her teeth and reached for her right wrist. She saw something fly past her and then felt a stinging pain in her left palm. She let out a tiny scream and bit her lip as she looked down at her palm. The was a long slice across the length of her palm. Blood slowly oozed out of her palm as her hand twitched uncontrollably. She let out a sharp breath as she looked up, past the two lumbering men.

One of the others had a contraption in their hand that was pointing directly at her. Soph glanced behind her and noticed a thin, silverish steel-looking blade object a few feet away from her. The contraption in the guy's hand must've been what fired that thing at her and sliced her palm.

"It won't be good if you fight back y'know."

One of the large men stepped in front of Soph and raised his huge hand. Soph felt the air get knocked out of her violently as the man grabbed her by the shoulder with a crushing force to match his size.

The man leaned over and got his face close to hers. "What's it gonna be? You comin' wid us or nah?"

Though the mask covered most of hs face, just his cold steeling eyes were enough to make her feel a chill run up her spine. She quickly grabbed her right wrist just as the man began squeezing down on her shoulder. The man's strength was unnatural as Soph quickly lost all the feeling in her arm. She tensed up and gritted her teeth as she squeezed with her left hand.