Till the End

Strangled and Confused

Peggy's P.O.V.

Today we found out that Jason is still alive, but not tangible. It was late at night and i left the scientists to work....or at least eat their special cheese (that Jarvis bought) in peace.

I decided to get any sort of anger or frustration out with a punching bag.
Jarvis came outside to check up on me.

"Are you alright Ms Carter?", Jarvis asked.

No. Not really, but I didn't want to burden him with my feelings.

"I'm fine, just getting some exercise",I said instead.

I think he knew I was lying, but he decided not to question me.

"Alright. Well, I'm turning in for the night. Goodnight, Ms. Carter", Jarvis said.

"Goodnight", I said as I started punching the bag again.

I almost broke the punching bag. Not because I'm some sort of hulk woman, but because of all my anger and grief. I admit that I am considered strong, both physically and mentally, for a woman. Mostly because I punch numerous punching bags.......and men.

I thought about Daniel and the fact that I've lost him. I imagined that the punching bag was me. I hit the punching bag harder. I was so angry with myself for letting Daniel slip out of my hands and into the hands of another woman. Tears stung my eyes as I punched harder and harder.

I must have been really concentrated on my anger, for when two cold hands grabbed my neck from behind, I was quite surprised. I don't like surprises.

The hands squeezed my neck hard, causing me to gasp for air. I quickly elbowed the person, a man, in the stomach,but he didn't budge too much. I kept throwing my elbows back at him until we fell backwards into Howard's pool together. He let go of my neck. I quickly swam to the side of the pool and got myself out as fast as possible. I felt light headed and it took a couple steps to realize where I was. I tried to pick something up, a crow bar maybe? The man snuck up behind me and kicked me to the ground. I laid on my stomach, unable to catch my breath. He wedged his foot under my stomach and kicked me again. I think I screamed at this point. All I could thing was "this is it. This is the day I die. This is the day I pay for my mistakes."

For some reason, those thoughts weren't alarming. If I was dead, then I wouldn't put other people in danger. They could go on living long, happy lives without me mucking everything up.

I still fought for my life even with those thoughts racing through my brain. I guess I was trained well. I started crawling towards a gun as the man kicked me over and over again.

I heard a shuffling of footsteps near me and I could not tell whom they belonged to. I heard the man grunt as he was kicked.

I was so relieved to see that Jarvis was attacking the man. I admired Jarvis's fighting skills. I didn't take him seriously earlier when he showed me some of his moves. I grabbed the gun and started shooting at the mystery man. He began running away. Just as he cleared the fence, I shot his hand, causing him to grunt in pain. He was gone. We were safe.

I don't know how Jarvis got to me but, I found myself in his surprisingly big, strong arms. He was holding me tight and frankly he was really the only thing keeping me upright. We stood there for a few moments as I tried to catch my breath. All I remember was going limp and Jarvis catching my fall. I started to see little black dots.

"I've got you, Miss Carter"

And then I blacked out.

***NEXT MORNING***

I woke up to the soft sound of a radio playing. I heard the song "Oh, but I do" playing. I really enjoyed that song for some reason.

A happy, awake Ana Jarvis walked into the room with tea.

"Good morning, Miss Carter! How did you sleep", Ana asked.

I tried to say something but nothing came out. I just croaked.

"Oh dear. Jarvis said you might not be able to speak for a couple hours. That bad man grabbed your neck quite strongly. Here is some tea, my darling"

I nodded in appreciation, taking the warm cup from her hands. It was soothing on my sore throat.

"We have already informed Daniel and Rose of your fight last night", Ana said. "But don't worry. You're safe here. Now get some rest, Miss Carter". Ana left me to rest.

Daniel already knew. Of course he did. I have no doubt in my mind that Jarvis told him right away...probably last night after I passed out.

My stomach dropped. Daniel didn't want to see me. I know he cares about me, but he didn't rush over to see me as I hoped he would. It physically pained me to know that Daniel didn't care about me enough to check up on me after I almost died. He was probably on some date with Violet. Maybe he already proposed?

These thoughts circled in my head as my eyelids began getting extremely heavy. I fell into a deep, dark sleep.

I woke back up. As far as I can tell, it's still the same day. Just later in the morning. I was still shaking from a nightmare I had.

It was dark and my vision was quite blurry. I was unable to make out any object or person. I heard awful, blood curdling screams. From Steve. Colleen. Daniel. Jason. The screams surrounded me. I didn't know which one to turn and run to. Each person seemed to be in a different location. I couldn't save them all. Suddenly from behind me, someone popped out and choked me once again. Instead of trying to escape from their grasp, I came to the discovery that I could not move. The screams continued as I stood frozen, awaiting my death.