One Survivor

9 'Edward The Liar'

"Mother fucker!" Ed yelled when he was smacked across the face once again.

He wriggled his jaw and tried to break out of the chair, "I won't ask you again. Where. Is. Your. Community" the man asked again, bringing his face inches from Ed's.

"I don't know. If I knew then I would've told you. That bitch took me and has been keeping me in the truck ever since. These guys took the truck to kill me" he motioned to Justin and three other guys as they sat still and listened with their mouths covered with duct tape.

They knew Ed was lying but so far it was working, "It's okay, nephew" the man stroked Ed's cheeks as Justin's eyes widened, "You're safe now" he smiled and patted Ed's cheek before leaving the room.

Ed scooted back and Justin leaned forward into his hands as he ripped off the duct tape, "Nephew?!" he yelled almost as soon as the duct tape was removed.

"Talk to me when you take out the knife from my sleeve and started cutting yourself loose" Ed told him as a small knife fell down his sleeve and Justin grabbed it using his teeth. He managed to untie himself, he used the knife to then untie Ed and the others.

They all looked around, Ed headed for the emergency exit, but it was locked, "Talk about safety hazards" he muttered.

"Look. The window. If we break the glass Ed is small enough to climb through and he can unlock the emergency exit" Justin pointed to the small window.

"Alright" Ed sighed as they quickly boosted him up and he smashed the window. He knew that the second he did he needed to be quick due to the amount of noise they had just made.

He grunted as he climbed out the window, cutting his chest and arms on left over glass, as he sprinted round the corner, checking it and seeing it was clear before running to the emergency exit and removed the wooden plank as the door swung open.

Justin and the others ran out, "We need to find a way out of this place" Justin told them as they crouched behind and old house.

"If we find a truck we can slip out, we can cover our faces with those stupid masks they wear, and they might let us out" Ed looked to the older men.

"Only idea we got. Let's do it" Justin made sure they all agreed before he went straight for one of the trucks, he climbed in and searched for the keys. He found them and signaled for the rest of them to follow.

Luckily, there were some of the masks in the backseat, so they all shoved them on before gently driving to the gate. They pulled up and one of the men walked to the driver's door and stared at Justin, "Let them through" he told the other guys as they opened the gate and let them out.

"Holy shit!" Ed yelled happily as they all started laughing and driving away rapidly. Ed knew that he needed to explain and tell everyone the truth, including Ava.

Ava grunted as she collapsed to the ground, her hands landing in the soil. Everyone stared at her with dirty looks, her body ached from not having any food, working double, and being beaten every night. It was her third day; she'd assume Edward and Justin would be back by now. Fear and worry clouded her hazel eyes as she held her stomach and stood up.

Her lip was still cut, a red mark was forming on her left cheek, she had cuts on her hands and knees form when she'd fall onto the concrete path. Worst part was no one would clean her wounds, she had to use the water she was given to clean it.

"Ava!" Malcom yelled as she looked up to him weakly, he stood on his front porch and held his hand out to her. She dropped her basket and walked over to him, dragging her feet all the way.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a croaky voice.

"Let me" he led her inside and sat her down, grabbing a box of medical supplies.

"No please. Save them for someone who deserves it" she told him.

He sighed and placed them on the table, sitting on the chair opposite her, "You did what you had to. She asked you to, didn't she?" he leaned forward as she nodded lightly.

"They may not understand now, if not ever but that doesn't mean I can just sit here and watch you go through physical pain let alone the mental pain" he picked up the supplies and sat opposite her and grabbed her hands, displaying the cuts and bruises.

"Why don't you defend yourself?" he asked her.

"Because if I do I'll be proving everything they're saying" she mumbled and flinched when he started cleaning the wounds.

"I'll speak to them, who are they?" Malcom looked up to her with a concerned look that made him seem like a guidance counselor form her high school.

"No, I... I deserve this. I took away her life. Maybe she could've survived there could've been a medicine to stop the infection or—" she was cut off by Malcom gripping her wrists and staring at her.

"You're broken" the words rolled off his tongue and shattered through her ears. She'd heard those two words before form so many other people. She isn't broken. No one is broken. And most certainly not her.

"I'm not—I'm not broken" she stuttered but defended herself, nonetheless.

"Ava, you lost your mother and had to kill her, now you had to take someone's life to save them. You're only sixteen. I'm older than anyone here and I can see a broken person just by looking in their eyes. And you, you're as broken as anyone out there" he looked at her sympathetically.

"I'm not fucking broken" she stood up and walked out of his hut without saying a word before returning to her work.

"Careful when she's working guys. Gotta make sure she doesn't sneak in a bite of our  food" one of the boys form the field told everyone and emphasized when he said 'our'.

She felt like someone had punched her in the gut again, she walked away from her work and ran to the back of the houses and up to the place she and Paige once were as she leaned against the tree and tried to breathe.

"Murderer..." she gasped as flashes of Paige's face ran across her eyes, she tried to stand but her legs felt weak and she fell to the ground.

"Broken..." she whispered and tucked her legs into her chest when she saw images of her father and mother.

She felt tears stream down her cheeks, her body ached, she looked down at the cuts and bruises on her hands and ran her thumb over the cut on her lip.

"I'm not fucking broken..." she muttered to herself.