The Alpha Twins and their Runaway Witch

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All content warnings in effect. Violence, sexual assault, kidnapping, confinement, abuse, parental neglect, etc etc. Read at your own discretion. I have no plan yet, other than the female lead is full of darkness, childhood trauma and pain, and our alpha twins are all sunshine raised right and surrounded by love and resources. 

Let the games begin dear readers, if you dare to join me. 

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She ran with everything she had. Trying to hold the rag she had grabbed from the kitchen table on her way out the door pressed against her still bleeding ear. It hadn't hurt when she had torn the permanent ear cuff out of her ear. It was making up for lost time and burning with every beat of her heart now.

She needed to stop the bleeding. Hyena's weren't great at tracking, not unless there was blood for them to scent the trail. She had learned that much by now. Stumbling as her sneakers skidded on loose gravel. Making so much extra noise over her own laboured breathing, her lungs felt full of sharp glass shards, the muscles in her calves were screaming for her to stop running. She was out of breath and out of stamina. She had never been strong or athletic and a starvation quality diet had not done her any favours.

Paused her run just long enough to dab at her ripped ear with the cloth, trying to tell through all the blood that was already stained on the cloth if she was still actively bleeding or not. She was still bleeding. Had blood on her hands, and clothes. Blood everywhere and not all of it hers.

She had not tried to run away in a long time. The punishment that accompanied being caught while trying to run paired with the absolute sense of despair and defeat followed by a long stretch of bleak depression had knocked all the fight out of her. Insanity was doing something painful over and over again expecting a different result. She hadn't yet been driven insane.

She turned and looked back the way she had come. It was quiet, but that didn't mean anything. They would stalk her silently through the dark of the woods. Letting her think she had made it. Allow her enough time to start to consider that she could have outrun them this time. Before lunging out from the shadows to drag her back to their current den.

She squeezed her eyes closed tight. Forcing the tears back from where they were trying to escape from. Tears wouldn't do a damn thing to help her situation. She tried to think. They had only been here three days so far. They had a hood over her face while they drove from the old den to here. She turned in a circle, finding the compass lines by closing her eyes and letting the earth show her the way.

Opening her eyes. They had been driving from the north-west. She always tried to keep track of the roads as they drove. Just in case. She was standing facing north. There had been a bridge, not far before they had turned off whatever road they were on, onto a driveway or side road and the abandoned farm they had made their latest den in. The Cackle liked to to keep close the first few days they were in a new den. Give the scouts a chance to get familiar with the territory.

A bridge meant maybe water. Water could wash away the smell of blood, would hide where she had gone. Give her something tangible she could put between her and the cackle. She took off at full speed. More than full speed, she was running for her life and this was her last chance. After her last escape attempt Gisella had promised to hobble her permanently if she ever dared to try to run again.

She knew Gisella meant it. She had seen them cut off another girl's foot last year. Made the poor girl limp and hop around the kitchen making food for the entire den for a full week while her foot tried to heal. Until everyone got food poisoning one night. It would be impossible to tell if the disease had started in the meat the hyena's had provided, or if the flaw had been Kate's cooking skills.

Long ago, in the before time, she had briefly held a minimum wage job in a meat processing factory. Cutting up countless chickens every single day for hours on end. She had wanted to be a vegetarian after that job. She had learned that whole chickens with no defects were graded A, then there were different grades of chickens. If a chicken was missing a wing, or leg when it made it through processing, it couldn't be grade A. Even though there was nothing wrong with it, and it had been the processing that had failed.

After everyone had recovered from the food borne illness, it had been easiest to blame Kate, who found herself sold to a vampire nest. One who didn't mind if their dinner wouldn't be graded as top quality for such a silly defect as missing parts.

She didn't know how much longer she could run. She was too hungry. She laughed at the foolish naive girl she had once been, having the luxury to be vegetarian by choice. Now she would do anything to just not be hungry all the time. Her thin, under fed body could not keep going.

She held her breath, she could hear water. Finding a new burst of energy from somewhere deep inside her soul she ran towards the sound of rushing water. She was elated and terrified as she almost ran off the edge of a steep embankment. A steady rushing river at the bottom, feeding into a large, pristine lake, lined thick with pine and evergreen trees. It was perfect.

Recklessly letting herself slip and slide down the embankment, she ran for the shore of the lake. Swearing loudly as she plunged into the cold water. Moving as quickly as she could to get deep enough to float. Turning onto her back and easily floating in the cold water. Moving her hands under the surface in small figure eights. Lightly fluttering her feet without splashing. Trying to swim like she imagined a shark on the hunt might. Slow, controlled movements, all hidden under the water. Only allowing the smallest amount of her face to ever be above the surface of the water. North east. Her heart was feeling best about following that compass line, having no better idea on her own trusting her gut seemed as good a plan as any.

The low effort swimming gave her racing heart a chance to slow down. Her lungs to catch up. Her muscles all felt overworked and tired. Her clothes were weighing her down, making her slow and heavy. She only had the clothes on her back. She couldn't afford to leave anything behind. Otherwise she would have given more consideration to just kicking off her threadbare shoes and everything else weighing her down, threatening to pull her under the waters surface to the bottom of the lake.

The entire time she was swimming across the lake, she was certain she was going to hear a splash, or a boat or any noise that would signal to her without a doubt that she had been caught. The only sound she heard aside from the gentle lapping of the waves of the lake was the call of a single loon.

Eventually, her bottom bumped against the bottom of the lake as she reached the other side. A cry of relief as she let herself just rest against the silt and algae covered smooth rocks and pebbles. Exhausted, frozen down to her bones from the chilled water in the night air. Staring out across the expanse of water, sat mostly hidden still mostly under the water surrounded by a jungle of dead reeds and cattail stalks. Trying to will herself to get back up and keep moving.

The air felt icy when she tried to leave the water, her legs protested the effort after finally having a chance to rest. She kept counting to five, saying she would get up and keep moving when she reached five. Only to start the count down over again when she reached five, saying she would go on the next one. Until exhaustion overtook her and she drifted into an uneasy sleep while she kept lying to herself that she would rise out of the water the next time she counted five.