Losing you ; Joel Miller

i. Grand escape

Warning: Topics of human trafficking, kidnapping, non-con sexual themes and graphic violence
[ 2009]
EDEN

It had been six years since the world ended, not that Eden had been counting. She blinked behind the cloth wrapped around her eyes. She was thirsty and exhausted, her hair stuck against her forehead and cheeks from sweat. " If you try anything I'll kill you." The man hissed, gripping her upper arm tightly.

Her tongue felt dry, attempting to steady her breathing as the man that held her captive swung the door open. " Hey fellas! Look what I've got!" He rasped out, she could hear the smirk in his voice. " Such a pretty little thing, almost want to keep her for myself."

" Shit Mike, haven't you been taught that sharing is caring?" Another voice quipped, heavy footsteps stalking towards her. Eden clenched her tied up fists, feeling the rope burn in her skin. " I'd love to play with your brand new toy." His voice was slimy, breath stinking as he leaned close to her face. " Now that will have to wait, I've got first dibs. When I'm done, you can have your way with her."

She was quickly shoved into a corner, the feeling of chains trapping her hands. " Be a good little girl and keep your mouth shut."

[ a few weeks? months? later ]

Pain shot through her gut, causing Eden to wince. She knew she was bleeding, the thick red liquid staining her skin. Her legs were numb though the rest of her body ached, in the corner of her eye she watched the man unbuckle his belt and give her a sick smirk. " These restraints are a bit of a pain right, doll? Maybe I'll be nice and let you use your hands this time." Eden's mind went into overdrive, immediately concocting ways to escape. She had gotten her hands on a glass shard after one of the men had smashed the sink mirror during a tantrum.

     The man reached for his keys, unlocking her restraints before laying his sweaty body down on the thin mattress. " Gimme what I want." He ordered with a grunt. Eden begins, distracting him from noticing her free hand reaching for the hidden weapon. It only took seconds for her to attack, slicing at his throat before lodging the sharp glass into his temple.

     The man only got to wheeze before he was dead.

     Eden started at the dead man. Was the handjob worth it, Terry? Moving away, her face was cold as her mind worked on her next move. She knew a group had left this morning for business as usual and they wouldn't be back for another day. Other than poor old Terry, there were two more men in the facility. She was quick on her feet, ripping a chunk of Terry's shirt off. Eden wrapped her bleeding palm and abdomen before putting on her jeans and the dusty white wife beater she had been wearing when she arrived.

     Searching pockets, Eden internally smirked at the gun and pocketknife she had found. Fucking jackpot. The gun was heavy in her hands and fully loaded. A silent danger that had been let loose, as she skilfully manoeuvred herself through the mostly empty facility. " Oh man, I gotta take a shit." One of the guards groaned, Eden listened to his footsteps as she hid in the dingy bathroom, digging the knife into his neck as she muffled his cry with her hand and silently laid him on the floor to not raise suspicions.

     Stalking towards the main area, Eden was met with the last guard standing, back turned away from her. Throwing herself to tackle him, she put all her strength in her arms to repeatedly stab the man below her before taking the gun and shooting him once in the head.

     Wiping the blood from her face, Eden stood up with shaky legs and steadied herself against the wall. The world spun around her as she focused on getting out of the building.

JOEL

     Joel huffed as he took a bite out of his dried jerky. Irritation bubbling in his gut that he had to keep an eye on the camp by himself. They only had a day left of walking until they got back to the QZ, but Tommy and Tess were adamant on setting camp and searching some houses in the area.

He had gotten into another argument with Tess, their on-off situation currently being very off. Joel knew he was in the wrong, he was a difficult person to handle, being hot or cold and unable to communicate for the life of him. His eyes moved to the broken watch on his wrist, he was angry. The ugly emotion had dug into his chest and stayed there ever since his daughter died in his arms. Before he could continue sulking, a twig snapped somewhere in the dark woods.

     Alert, Joel took his weapon and stood up, eyes darting around to see what was out there. A small groan broke the silence, he snapped his head towards the source of the sound. Joel had become accustomed to expecting any sort of situation, but the sight of a limping bloody girl still managed to shock him. She held onto her gun so tightly her hands shook, dark eyes shifting across the camp sight.

" Lower your weapon." Joel warned, voice low and face tense. She looked disoriented, lowering her gun slightly before loosing balance as she collapsed onto the ground.