Hot Rush

Chapter 15

Slowly Rosa lifted herself from the floor,her body felt numb, her face empty and expressionless, she stepped forward like a zombie, towards where her gun lay on the floor, the pack still tightly grasped in her hands she bent down to pick up her gun. Walking over to the balcony Rosa peered down in to the forest. A single tear rolled down her expressionless face dropping to the forest floor, followed by another and another, a sob racked through her body, as awareness hit her, shaking violently she stumbled backwards, hysterical, her breathing almost non existent, gasping and sobbing she backed up in to the house, her eyes not leaving the balcony, her small body shook, she felt dizzy and sick, and suddenly she was doubled over retching. The shock causing sickness to overcome her. gasping she stood up again her legs shaky, wiping a hand over her mouth the acidic taste of vomit still lingering in her throat and the uncontrollable tears still falling, she hastily grabbed her pack and rushed to the door, her cries now frantic, almost shrieks, she had to get out now, she had to go before they came back, her fingers shaking too much to open the door, she wailed in frustration, kicking out her leg she slammed it open not wasting a second she sprinted out of the house, her tears rushing down her face, her pack grasped tightly to her chest, the sobs racking through her body, wiping her hand over her eyes to clear her vision, her gun tightly grasped in her hand, she sprinted as fast as she could away from the home. her footsteps loud drumming over the wood of the trees, subconsciously she noticed the forest was silent, it was a warning of danger, and she knew exactly what that danger was, breathing raggedly she put on a burst of speed, she was petrified completely and utterly petrified, this couldn't happen, things like this just didn't exist in real life, her head repeatedly snapping back to make sure she was alone, her heart beat was wild, threatening to burst out of her chest, she could feel the pain of the hard wood on her bare feet, the twigs and branches scratching and chaffing her soles but she paid no attention, there was no way in hell she would go back to that house not ever. Her ragged breathing causing a painfull twinge in her side as well as the already throbbing bruise where she had been kicked. The sound of a yell had her looking around panicking, She spotted Dawson and Jay, staring at her as if she had gone mad. They were stood outside a concealed tree home talking, her face showing her distress she ignored them and continued  running she needed to get home, she was going on that camping trip and now, she needed to get away. The sound of footsteps behind her had her heart beat doubling, letting out a shriek she changed directions, attempting to throw them off, looking back she saw all 6 men chasing after her, their faces confused and worried. Turning back she just missed running in to a fallen tree, she swung down a thick vine, using her hands to tightly grasp the strong twisted plants she slid down, her feet kicking of from the trees, it was almost like ab sailing, yet she was abnormally fast. As soon as her feet hit the bottom, she was off sprinting again, she knew a place where a large tree had fallen over so it was now diagonal, making the perfect pathway from the forest floor to the high tree tops. She hoped her quick thinking had allowed her to escape the men chasing her. She desperately needed to be alone, to process what just happened. The looks she was bound to receive would send her over the edge. The sound of leaves rustling behind her had her spinning round, stopping and catching her breath, she strained her eyes to see something in the thick vegetation. Rosa knew that it was impossible for any sort of wind to make it down all the way to the forest floor as there was too much in its path, so the rustle had been caused by something else. Her sides were aching and her breathing ragged she tried desperately to locate the source of the sound, but hearing over the pounding in her ears was impossible. A rustle behind her had her spinning again, she was going mad, what was it, was it them she thought her heart picking up, her hand grasping the gun shaking as she held up to the emptiness in front of her. It wouldn't be hard for a jungle cat to find her, they had incredible senses of smell and direction. She had read all about them always fascinated by their species. Right now she was so helpless against them it wasn't even funny. Placing a hand to her heart she feebly attempted to lessen the overly loud thudding her heart was making. 'Rosa?' She whirled to her left to see a very sweaty Jay, walking towards her, still a few meters back he approached slowly his hands raised to show he meant no harm, his face was soothing attempting to calm her down, he was approaching the way you would approach a dangerous or frightened animal, so as not to startle it taking deliberately slow movement she watched wide eyed as he spoke 'what is it? What happened back there?' his voice so soft she wanted to break down again, her world was upside down, frantic and looking for an escape she spotted a clear path behind her, spinning without answering she began to sprint towards it when, Emmerson's burly figure emerged from behind thick leaves, his body sweaty and his hands resting on the tops of his jeans. He too shared the same expression as Jay, turning away again she tried a different route only to see Marcos walking towards her, gulping and wiping the sweat of her forehead, she spun again to see that she was surrounded. All 6 of them were stood around her in a wide circle, their bodies sweaty, and a few of them breathing harshly as if they had run fast and hard, She noticed two or three had the buttons on their jeans open, the jeans loose and low slung, that must have been difficult to run in her mind thought casually attempting to find humor in such a morbid situation. Seeing Blasie was both heaven and hell, she felt utterly relieved and euphoric that he was here, her body needed him it was twisted and uncalled for but just thinking he was near had her feeling safer and relaxed wanting to throw her self at him and have him hold her till she could think again. but she knew that telling him about her unnatural discovery would instantly have him thinking she was some sort of nut job, she didn't need the confused and sympathetic looks, when she told them she had seen her two close friends turn in to leopards, those sorts of things were not normal, they were story lines, made to sound cool and intriguing but in real life it was beyond frighting, the sounds of Raoul's bones snapping reverberated through her mind letting out a whimper she clamped her hands over her ears, not knowing any other way to stop the sound, underneath her eye lids she saw the whole sequence play out again, as if it were happening in front of her, the colors sharp, she could see the way his limbs twisted in unnatural angles, the sound and sight of the skin tearing had her gagging, the sobs turning in to hysteria again as she desperately clawed at her head her hair, anything to stop the images,shaking violently and shrieking the only thing she wanted was to stop the dreadful replay. The gun she was holding now falling to the ground. her throat sore and rasping as she sobbed and choked, her cries drowning in her tears, her body flailing and flapping wildly. 'Rosa mon cheri, open your eyes, it's not real, what ever it is it's not real, look at me damn it your killing me, its not real!' Blaise's emotion filled voice, broke through the torture running through her head, willing her body to follow the voice, she saw the images fading, her body regaining itself, she desperately latched on to the voice, it was her savior, the sweet sound she cherished as she slowly flickered her eyes open, her sight blurry with tears, only now she felt the stings on her face, her hands she saw were gripped in her hair, untangling them she looked down in shock to see her nails caked in blood, her throat felt like it had been scraped out by sandpaper, the sun was beginning to set, down here on the floor of the rainforest, the shadows began early, the sun never quiet making it down to the bottom, she could still however make out the anxious faces of her 6 friends. All of them looked heartbroken, just stood there, their arms out as if deciding whether they were going to act or not, she saw that Dawson, Emmerson and Blaise were closer to her their expressions looking completely devastated, their bodies trembling, but she only had eyes for Blaise, his expression broke her heart, swallowing and wincing at the pain of it, she opened her mouth to speak, but not knowing what to say she shut it again, what could she say. There was no way she could explain what just happened. Rosa's eyes filled with tears but this time they were tears of misery her life was upside down and so complicated she didn't know if she could ever recover from it. She stared in to Blaise's pain filled eyes, he looked crushed and she felt her heart ache for him, he shouldn't have to see her like this. Wiping the back of her hand over her face to clear her vision, she grimaced as her hand came away streaked with sweat and blood. 'I need to go home' She spoke her voice nothing more then a whisper yet it still pained her, she knew the men had heard her when they immediately shifted their bodies, some of them nodding immediately while the others prepared to leave at her words. She bent to pick up her gun without a word feeling so many emotions she couldnt focus on one. She put it back in to the pack over her shoulder before she looked back to Blaise, his eyes were now hard and his expression momentarily made her mind blank, his face looked empty, his jaw set and his eyed hard. Frowning at the change in his demeanor, she turned to Emmerson and Dawson who's faces made her heart pang, they looked helpless, as if they felt guilty for not being able to help. With a lot of effort she managed to muster a small reassuring smile, but she failed when she saw both men's expression's change to one of heartbreak. Not able to remain looking at them when they looked so hurt, she began moving towards the tree she knew was somewhere nearby, she needed to get home and now, forcing her shaky legs to take steps, she breathed deeply, her eyes frantically searching the vegetation for any signs that the wild cats were close. She knew that after everything she had seen there was no way they would allow her to leave, she knew too much, she was a liability, a small part of her hoped that Rednai would be able to stop Raoul from doing anything drastic, he had shown a small semblance of humanity when he had stopped Raoul from attacking her, what ever happened she knew that at least Rednai didn’t want her dead. A tap on her shoulder had her spinning round, her weary body defensive and ready to attack. Jay stood behind her his face worried, but he quickly rearranged it in to an amused smirk, 'Down tiger,' he mocked yet she could see the real concern in his eyes. Relaxing her stance she just shrugged and continued walking she really didn't have the energy to pretend to act OK. Because she was clearly not. The earlier adrenaline rush had left her feeling drained, she just needed to rest, her body was almost dragging. Taking in a breath of air to clear her head, she turned in to Jay, only now realizing he had spoken. 'Err, what? Say that again Jay?' her voice flat and tired, she blinked her eyes as they attempted to close. 'I said, no offense but you look like shit babe, I mean your face..' He trailed off, his voice sounding upset as he reached a hesitant hand out to touch her face, a low growl sounded close by, Rosa shrieked and jumped in to the air, her arms knocking Jay's hand out of the way, spinning round she reached a hand up behind her head, ready to grab her Berretta from her pack over her shoulder, her eyes wild and frantic, she ran them over her surroundings, skimming over the shocked and confused faces of the men behind her at her wild actions. Relaxing slightly when she didn't see anything out of the ordinary she dropped her arm. Sending the men an apologetic smile she turned back to face Jay, to see that he was glaring at someone behind her, glancing back she saw it was Blasie, what now she thought huffing, she just needed to sleep, she couldn’t deal with all this right now. Taking a firm grip of his upper arm, she dragged him along with her to end the stupid staring contest. 'Stop' she ordered, as she kept her grasp on his arm, ensuring he didn't turn around again, 'He started it' she heard him whisper, scoffing that he sounded like a two year old she released him and they lapsed in to silence.

After a few minutes she heard him speak so tilting her head she faced him, 'There really cut up about this you know Rosa, look babe I don't know what happened back there, but I just want you to know that when we told you you were safe with us, it was the absolute truth, whatever it is your running from, you gotta know that you can count on us' His hand nervously went to the back of his neck, assessing him she saw that this was a really tough thing for him to say, he didn't seem like he had much experience being compassionate especially to a woman. 'Seeing you back there, man I ain't gonna lie it broke a bit of me, I don’t know what you’ve done babe, coz we've only known you for not even 24hours but I don’t think we could ever see you like that again, especially those two' He indicated with a slight jerk of his head, casually following his gaze she saw him motion towards Dawson and Emmerson, both of them looked emotionless and hard, yet she knew there were strong emotions bubbling beneath the surface. They were seriously affected by what happened thought Rosa feeling warmth run through her, she hadn't had anyone that cared about her like that. The twins were the closest thing to her, they were sweet and overprotective but there had always been an invisible unsaid barrier between them, it was never mentioned yet everyone knew she was an outsider. It just made everyone distant, but with these strange, mysterious men she felt like she fitted in, as part of their group, she had seen how they all understood each other, the easy banter and fierce loyalty she desperately wanted to be a part of, she needed some form of family, and even if it came with these men she would grasp it with both hands. Sending the men genuine smiles this time when they looked at her, she felt her face fall in to a grimace at the sting in her cheeks, damn she thought, she needed to get home as soon as possible and disinfect the wounds, she had learned from previous bad experiences that leaving even the smallest cuts unattended could cause them to get infected and infested with bacteria and small insects, and it was beyond painfull, her earlier scrapes and scratches had not been to bad, but with the open wounds she could feel on her face now, from where she had clawed at her own face she knew that it was dangerous leaving them open for much longer.