TWDG//

TWELVE

The side of my head stings, as the man ordered me to stand up.
"Come on, everyone get out of the fucking truck!" He said. I saw Louis get off, with a gun wedged in his pocket. The man grabs the gun, empties the bullets in his bag, and throws the gun in the ground. My tears sting in my eyes as Violet walks off, glaring at the man as he takes her gun, empties the bullets and throws it next to Louis's gun.
"Any more?" He asks. Omar walks off with a jump, and the man searches him. "Give me that knife."
Omar gives him his knife, and the man swivels it in his hand. "Sweet."
He's about to shut the door, when he peers in.
"Fuck, there's another one!" He laughs, as Clem comes into view, on crutches. The man's eyes widen. "Woah, cripple."
Clementine scoffs.
"What was that, sweetheart?" The man asks, coming near Clementine. Clem shrugs.
"I didn't say anything, asshole." She said. The man steps back in surprise. "AJ, are you okay?" She looks at me.
"I'm fine." I say. The man laughs,
"This your kid?" He asks, and pushes his knife into my shoulder.
"Yeah." She said, rolling her eyes.
"Okay, Gavin, are you fucking alright?" The man asks.
The other wounded stood up, leaning against the truck for support.
"I'm fine, just got my guts blown up." He holds my jacket to his stomach. "Who the fuck did that?"
Silence.
"We have to go, follow us." The man says. "Gavin, are you really okay?"
"Well, I'm fine. The front shield protected my stomach, just a graze. " he said. He clicks his gun. "Move ahead."
We all slowly walk ahead, Clementine moving slower in her crutches. The sun has just risen, the sky Orange above the trees.
"Wow, what a nice view." I heard the other man say. At first I thought he was talking about the sky, when I turned to see he was looking at Clem from behind. She was out of breath to notice.
"That's gross." I said, stopping to cross my arms.
"AJ." Clem said. "Keep walking."
I glare at the man, who shrugged and laughed. "Listen to your Mama."
I swallow hard, and keep walking. Violet's fists were clenched in fury. We kept walking across the road, until we go down a dip.
We saw a large, two story cabin ahead. I gasp. Wow.
"That's big." Ruby says.
"Damn right it's fucking big." Gavin said. "Hey, Gunner, did Lawson take those other two fucks there?"
"Yeah. Now shut up, Gavin." The man said.
The trees were disguising the cabin as we walked downwards.
"Hey, sweetheart, let me carry you. You look fucking exhausted." The man behind me said.
"No thanks." Clementine said. "I can walk."
"Barely. Come on, it'll be easier."
"No thank you." Clementine said sternly.
I heard a gun click. I stopped, and turned around.
"Hey, keep walking kid." The man glared at me. I squinted. "Wanna fuckin' die?"
Clem thought fast. "Hey, you're totally right, I am exhausted."
The man smiled. "I was right."
He slung his arms underneath Clem's leg and head, Clem holding her crutches."Keep walking, Squirt." He said.
I felt sick as I turned around and kept walking. As we neared the cabin, a tall, dark man came out.
"Huh, there's more?" He laughed. "We got the other two inside. Bring them all in"
"Maybe you should search them" Gavin said. The man shrugged.
"Okay." He said. He walked over to Ruby, patted down the sides of her pants, before touching her cheek was a second. "Good looking kids."
Ruby frowns. He searches Omar, quicker than he searched Ruby, and searched Violet. She held her breath as the man felt the sides of her legs, before grabbing between her legs for a brief second. Violet gasped, and stepped back. The man laughed, and pushed Violet inside the house. The man smiled at me.
"Real good looking kids." He said, and searched my pants and pockets. He nudged me inside as well.
I see Violet, Ruby, Omar, Aasim, Louis and Willy were on the ground, in a room that I assumed was the lounge room, with couches and a coffee table. I saw Willy with a bruised face, and Aasim a blood nose.
'Willy!" I said, relieved. A sharp motion from behind me sends me to the floor, my head ringing, and I kneeled upright.
"Leave him alone!" Aasim protested. A man walked into sight.
"Don't think I will." He laughed. "Gunner! Bring the truck down here!"
Violet frowns. "You assholes!"
"Look, sweety ." The man said, kneeling down in front of Violet. "A girl like you--" the man pauses to look Violet up and down. "Can get meals for payment."
"What do they pay?" I ask. The man shrugged.
"Few hours of intercourse." He said. Ruby scowls.
"Intercourse?" I asked.
"You guys are sick!" Aasim yells. The man kicks him in the chest, causing Aasim to lurch forward with a splutter.
Clementine falls to her knees beside me.
"AJ! I'm so glad you're okay!" Clem gives a weak smile. I feel someone binding up my hands from behind. I smile back.
"Take hottie and squirt up to their room." Gunner, the man outside says. Clementine shakes her head, as we both get lifted up, and dragged upstairs.
"Where are you taking them!?" Violet asked, panicked. Clementine twists to see her. She gets kicked from behind.
"Keep walking, bitch." The dark man says. We walk past a hall of rooms, and towards the end, a door is already open. They open the door, and I find a double bed, with a window hanging above it. The man pushes us inside.
"Stay the fuck there." He says, and takes off our bindings. He laughs and shuts the door. We hear a click on the other side. Clementine runs to the windows, and tries to pry it open.
"Fuck" she murmurs. "It's locked."
I sigh, and sit down in the bed.
"My god, AJ, your head." Clem said, moving toward me. I touch the side of my head, and feel something warm and wet.
"Ouch." I frown. I realise that it had dropped onto my shoulder. Clementine opened a drawer near the door.
"Bandages," she said triumphantly, and pulls out some skin coloured sticky bandaids. She grabbed a tissue, and wipes up the blood. I sting when she cleans the cut. Without a word, she places a bandaid over my cut. "There, better."
"Why did they take us?" I ask.
"I don't know." Clem buries her head in her hands. "We have to get out of here."
I hug her. "I'm scared."
"And what do we do when we're scared?" Clem asks. I smile.
"Fuck off, fear." I said.
"No, the other thing." She said.
I take a few deep breaths in, and breathe out.
"Better." Clem smiled.
"What was that man talking about? Why was he saying those things about you?" I asked.
Clem sighed. "AJ, there are horrible people in the world. Sometimes they want to do more than killing or hurting."
"Like what?" I asked. Clem ruffles my hair.
"You're too young." She said.
"No I'm not."
A knock comes at the door.