raising you, pup (DisContinue)

chapter one

Her head was pounding to the rhythm of the car. Every twist and turn in the road had her body careening to a different side of the cage. The metal floor rubbed painfully against each cut on her body that they gave her. The darkness was getting to her now, along with the hum of the car. It was twisting her mind around.

She was scared.

Her fear amplified when the car that was attached to her cage began to speed up. They must be getting close to the border of Hope County. The driver was getting restless. She couldn’t blame them. Wanted out of this thing just like they did. Though she knew that whatever happened once she got out would be just as bad as when they were in the depths of the Henbane, on some abandoned lot Eden’s Gate overlooked.

Her cause for concern came in when she heard additional cars added to the mix. The shouts of men mingled in made her mind scramble for some explanation. They sounded angry, while the people driving for her side sounded more subdued then she ever heard them. They must be scared. Just like her.

When the car came to an abrupt stop she flew to the front of the cage, by the doors. She pushed her ear up to the doors to hear better. The voices came out jumbled, way too hard to discern. But one thing made clear was the approaching footsteps. Her instincts kicked in. The only thing keeping her alive at that point was her animalistic urge to survive. She scuttled on hands and knees to the back of the cage, she huddled up in the corner, back turned so she wouldn’t be blinded by the daylight awaiting her. She prayed to God for the stamina to be able to make a run for it when the door opened.

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Jacob’s hand tightened around the steering wheel, tendons on his neck pulled taut. His upper lip twitched into something resembling a snarl. John lounged next to him, feet propped up on the dash. He would’ve yelled at him, but knowing how pristine John was, there was no worry for dirt being left behind. His head was tipped back and for once he was wearing his glasses. “How did we get roped into this Jake?” Jacob wanted to smash his face in. John just wouldn’t shut up. Kept complaining like the younger brother he was.

“Joseph’s orders. Thought you didn’t like crossing him?” John pinched at his nose and sighed. “Jake, the day I come over for a visit and suddenly we got this shit.” Jacob couldn’t disagree there. It sucked. John needed someone to talk to, vent out all his issues. So they met periodically, broke out a few beers and sat back to watch what they built together. The fruit of their labor.

“Joseph doesn’t think it’s anything serious John, maybe contraband, why else would they want it out of Hope County? It’ll take five minutes once we reach the caravan, except that’s only if they don’t put up a fight.” John shifted his position, taking down his feet and leaning on his elbows, head between his knees.

Jacob ordered two parties to intercept the drivers they were chasing. One from behind and the other to cut them off in the front. They had the manpower to stop them if they didn’t hand themselves over, along with whatever was in their possession that piqued Joseph’s interest.

They reached the stopped vehicles in twenty minutes. Jacob’s men had already gotten to work in removing everyone from their cars and lining them up. They kneeled with their hands tied behind their back. Some sported new bruises that was definitely made from the butt of a gun slamming into their eye socket.

Jacob reached over to shake John’s knee. “C’mon, let’s get this over with.” No protest rose from his brother. He was all too eager to jump out of the car and stroll over to the cage. It was covered in a black tarp. John kicked it. “Probably not an animal. Don’t think this’ll be any use to you Jacob.” It was almost as if John still thought he could take back the last hour and go back to Jacob’s compound. In fact, if John’s hair wasn’t doused in so many products then Jacob would ruffle his head just to piss him off further.

“Step away from the merchandise John. Let the professionals handle it.” John turned and scoffed. But he followed Jacob’s order. Side by side they stood, bickering, teasing, most importantly talking about what they’d do when they were done with this shit.

One of The Chosen walked up with a crowbar in hand. The cage wasn’t reinforced that well and snapped open with little force.

Jacob had waved off his brother’s comment to stop him from talking, he kept his focus on the cage. He wanted to first get a look at whatever It was, start to formulate the amount to trouble these people would be in or what use the item would be to Eden's Gate.

But what he saw made him stride forward, motioning for his men to get back. The darkness of the cage made it difficult for him to see anything. The emptiness was suspicious, the lack of noise led him to believe that they wasted their time. Maybe a ruse. Something to capture everyone’s attention while some more serious event occurred, some planned attack.

Jacob crouched down to the opening and squinted. At first he didn’t see it. Her.

She was so damn tiny. Malnourished. Not an ounce of fat or muscle on her body. Not to mention how pale she was. Like she hasn’t seen the sun in years. The hair on her head was long, no doubt from lack of grooming on her guardian’s part. It was a strawberry blond color, further adding to her paleness, her whole aura screamed an innocence that Jacob hasn’t witness since his twisted childhood. But despite her small frame, plus the fact that her height wasn’t even half of John, made Jacob think she was 6 or 7.

But then she turned her head, hand coming up to shield herself from the light. He noticed her shift so his kneeling body could cover her from as much of the light as possible.

The face she had was lean, as was to be expected. Her eyes were sharp, keen. Seeing her now made him guess she was no older than 15. It made him sick to see the state she was in. If there’s one line Eden’s Gate doesn’t cross is messing with children. Joseph made it clear that children were pure. The path to success for their future. They shouldn’t be tampered with. Inducing trauma may lead to the loss of the childhood joy and wonder that only kids could produce. Jacob, John and Faith had no problem enforcing such a rule. They all had rough lives growing up, they knew the mental damage that could result in hurting the young.

Jacob moved away when he felt his brother come up behind him. “Take a look, just don’t get too close, don’t frighten her.” He ignored John’s confused look and walked over to the line-up of men.

“So this is what the growing resistance stands for? Do you really think that our loyal followers will betray The Father to come to you?” He let out a mocking laugh. “We promise their loved ones safety from the collapse and...of course, people like you. You are what they fear at night. Maybe you all have too much pride to admit that fact. Maybe..” he paused in the middle to stare them all down. To watch them shake and shudder under his gaze. “Maybe you would all benefit from a visit from my youngest brother.” On that line he looked over his shoulder.

John had gone a scary shade of white. “John!” His head snapped up. He didn’t need to be prompted again to walk away from the crate. Jacob stood with his arms crossed over his chest. “Thinking about sending this group to your people. New batch, that should give you something to do. Consider it a gift.”

John hummed an agreement, normally he was the one for getting hyped up over absolving sin, not now.This had brought him right back to his dad and the Duncans. Astoundingly he didn’t feel anger, just fear.

Jacob took note of this. “Go home John, call Joseph, I can handle this. Take one of the trucks, I’ll grab it another time.” Jacob watched him walk away, each step he gained back his confident gait. Though he avoided looking at the cage again.

Jacob leaned against his car, hands drumming out a tune that John was singing earlier. His men loaded up the captives in the cars they had, making their way to Holland Valley. He could feel his stress building, he wasn’t prepared for this bullshit. A situation that he didn’t have the expertise for. It’s been too long since he protected his brothers from their father’s rage. Now he had to do it all over. Dig up his empathy, which he thought had burned up after his time in the war.