Getting back to "Normal" | Rhekker

Chapter 60- May

Ava's eyes opened again the chill from her skin gone, replaced with fabric. Ava pushed the palm of her hand into her eye socket, rolling onto her back, several eyes peering down at her.

Ava jolted  in the dark, sharply inhaling the stale air in the room as the blanket slipped from her.
"Breath, just breath" someone commanded her as she started wheezing and coughing.
"Get her up" a voice said.
Ava felt her body lift from the ground, her chin tilting down to her chest. A hand came to Ava's chin tilting her head up, a light breeze hitting her face. Ava opened her eyes, watching the dark environment speed by them, the fresh air hitting her face through the six holes in the wall. Ava closed her eyes, letting the air sooth her taking serval deep breaths as she grounded herself, slowly being lowered to the ground again.
"You're alright" someone rubbed between her shoulders.

The ground, outside, was moving, they were moving.
Ava met the eyes of a women before her, stumbling back in a panic she hit a wall.
"I- I- we, where, I we-"
"Hey, hey it's okey"
"I know it's a lot to take in" the women guided her to the ground again.
"I was, I- the Bulls" Ava stammered.
"You're here now, you're okey"
Ava looked around the room, six other women against the walls with her.

"What's your name sweetheart?"
"My name?" Ava thought.
"What's your name"
"Andreas Myers" Ava decided. "Andreas"
"You're safe with us"
"How did I get here?" Ava asked after a beat.
"You were out for three hours, you came with men. We heard the voices" she clarifies
"So there's six of you, all in here" Ava asks.
"Yep" the women said sourly, "I'm May, this is Julieta, Chelsea, Rosanna, Harper and Michelle"
Ava listened to the sounds outside as they moved steadily through the night. .
"There were seven of us, Florence got sick" Harper whispered stiffly from the corner.
Ava exhaled deeply, "I'm sorry" she wiped her cheek, knowing what that must mean.
"Get some rest" May said, handing her a sealed bottle of water.
Ava opened it and stomached a few sips, dragging her knees to her chest she closed the bottle and sat it next to her. Ava closed her eyes, drifting into a hyper vigilant sleep, not allowing her mind to drift to anywhere else.

When Ava opened her eyes again her bottle rolled in front of her, forward and back, forward and back. She spotted streams of light running against the wall across from her.
"You feel better now?" May asked.
"Yeah" Ava rubbed her eye, turning to look to her.
"What time is it?" She croaked, reaching for her water bottle.
"I'd say around eight am"
Ava took a sip of water, relaxing her throat.
"Where are we?"
"A moving van" May rolled her eyes.
A moving van. No one would know they were there.
Ava felt bile rising in her throat and took another sip of water, the movement of the van seeming to slow.

A hard hit came to the door on the opposite side of the container, the bottle slipping from Ava's hand. She squirmed as the room filled with light, covering her eyes. The women that weren't already awake were now.
"You, the new one" the man gestured behind him. Ava stayed rooted in the spot, not moving. He jumped into the truck with them, heavy boots colliding on the metal. A hand clamped around her arm tightening as it pulled her up and out. Ava stumbled and shivered in the cold, notching her absence of Connors hoodie she looked around.
Where did I leave it, where did it go?

"Keep up!" He snarled, pulling her into an old saloon car. The door slammed behind her and he climbed in the drivers side. Ava's fingers twitched on her lap as the car pulled out of the gravel car park, she glanced behind her, watching the truck disappear further and further away. Ava cast her gaze forward again, shakily reaching for her seatbelt.
Street signs
Ava watched like a hawk as they sped down the road, looking for any indication of where they might be. They drove for a few miles before pulling off onto a side street into an industrial estate. He jumped out of the car and rounded it to the passenger side.
"Don't try run, you won't make it" he leaned it to tell her before pulling her out of the car. Ava stumbled, realising her shoelaces were undone.
The man knocked three times on the door before it opened, pulling himself and Ava in.
"Hey Tracey, sorry were late, she's not the most cooperative" the man handed a twenty dollar bill to the women.
"It's no trouble" she took the cash from him.

Ava looked around and realised she was in a hair-salon.
"Come on" he pushed her into one of the care with a basin.
"So what are we doing?" The women asked.
"Just make her less regonisable" he waved his hand, "I'm going out for a smoke" he left through the door they came in with a click.
"You have to help me, please. There's more of us, we need help" Ava turned frantically to face the women. She simply hummed, "sit back down" she pushed her back around, taking a look at her hair before pulling her over to a basin.

After a few hours Ava sat with her hair wrapped up in an aged white towel, looking at her hollowed face in the mirror and the pair of her captures caught up outside. Ava pursed her lips. Never let them see your weakness, always be one step ahead.

"What do you do if captured!" A man in army green called to the troops.
"Never let them see your weakness, always be one step ahead"
"Again"
"Never let them see your weakness, always be one step ahead!" Ava roared with the crowd.

"One step ahead" Ava mouthed you herself in the mirror, quietly glancing around the salon until her eyes landed on something glinting in front of her. Before Ava could think her hand were on the hairdresser scissors, the shears cold under her touch. She hand limited hiding places in only jeans and a T-shirt, but hurriedly hid it under the wire of her bra.
Footsteps approached behind her as they rent re-entered the salon.
"Right, lets get going" he man huffed.
The women stood her up before pulling the towel off her head. Ava only had a split second to glance over her shoulder at her new look before being darted out into the cold. As she found her feet and stumbled back to the car Ava glanced down to the other cars in the parking lot.

Illinois
Land Of Lincoln

Stuck out to her, the red letters against the Chicago skyline on the license plate warming her heart. Ava looked forward, not too far then. She got into the passenger seat, making sure to buckle her seat belt before they sped off, looking around the busy roads of an indication as to where they were. But that was all it was, road, after road, after road, until they pulled into a car park with a lorry. The man huffed and opened the metal doors with a clang, Ava pulled herself in and the doors shut behind her, the sharp jab into her rib from under her bra giving her confidence as she walked.
"Woooah, look at you. New look?" May gave her a toothy grin, holding Harper's head on her lap,
"Very funny" Ava slid down the wall, placing her hand over the growing ache on her front.
"Nothing that can't be fixed once were out of here" Ava said.
May winced and looked away, focusing on stroking Harper's hair under hand.

Ava pushed her bra up, reserving the blades from her chest. Ava watched them shine in the little light they had.
"Dam, sticky fingers much?" May studied the scissors in her hands. "I have to say you are a quick learner"
Ava chuckled and but them down before meeting May's eye.

"May?" Ava's voice came a croak.
"Mhm?"
"Where are they taking us?" Ava asked, tracing the sharp lines across her chest.
"Down south" she replied.
"Like Texas?"
"Mexico".

Ava's blood ran cold.