Chapter 7: Rescued

First Part Written by MrsOogieBoogie

The air was cool and crisp, the silence of the woods being helpful in their favor and they were able to hear a fox's soft footsteps in the far distance. "While we're out looking, we might as well get food for tomorrow," the masked man spoke to the boy, looking to him and the boy nodded in agreement.

The masked man crouched down, trying to see further ahead beyond the tree and shrub line, listening intently and the masked boy stood still, watching him and waiting for him to point out a direction to head. A faint scream filled their ears and both looked the direction of the cry, the boy then looking back to the man quickly, "Did you hear that?" The boy wondered, looking back in the direction of the noise again.

"Yeah.." The man replied, looking to the boy and they shared a moment of eye contact, the man then sighing heavily and shaking his head, "You want to find out what that was, don't you..?" He asked, watching as the boy quickly nodded and the man sighed once more.

Yet another scream echoed throughout the forest and the man stood up hastily, "Let's go then," he added, beginning to run towards the noise and the boy quickly followed. Flying passed trees, the two were quick and agile, working through the forest with ease and not missing a single step. In sync, the boy followed the man, mimicking everything he did and keeping up with him and they grew closer to the cries, hearing one more echo through the trees and they knew they were close. The smell of a burning fire filled their noses and they soon reached a house camouflaged within the trees and brush, the two hearing again, a woman's voice screaming "Let me go!" distinctively and it seemed to echo louder than it should've since they now knew she was located within the house.

"They must have a chimney, that's why we could hear her so well.. She's inside this place," the masked boy pointed out, the man looking down to him and seeing the determination in his eyes behind his white mask.

"Alright.. Keep your mask on, and don't get hurt, got that?" He told the child sternly, the boy looking up to him and nodding.

The two made their way silently towards the house, the man going first and the boy trailing behind him as they approached the windows and looked in. The masked man looked to the boy and shook his head, indicating he didn't see anyone within the living room, the boy then looking in through the glass on the doors and looking to the man, shaking his head as well. The child watched as the man checked the windows, hoping one was unlocked and it was, motioning with his head to the boy to come by him and he carefully helped the boy inside first, the man then slipping in quietly after him.

Billy had done what he was told, untying Aubrey from the chair and dragging her over to a pair of shackles hanging from the wall as she kicked and screamed within his grasp. He had slammed her against the wall which caused her head to meet the hard rock wall, sending her into a state of daze and making it easier for Billy to lock her wrists in the restraints. Billy told Aubrey of terrible things they had done to another girl around Aubrey's age, her body still trembling in fear and disgusted from feeling Billy's hands dragging over her clothes to demonstrate to Aubrey the places they had cut, sliced, touched and defiled the other girl in the most horrid ways. Aubrey's tears fell harder than ever after he had done what he was told, Preston then sending Billy out to collect more wood for the fire in the basement and Aubrey was terrified, now alone with Preston as he sat in a chair and eyed her for a while.

Even within the confined basement, the smell was ten times worse closer to the fire and the dead man lying on the floor, Aubrey's eyes fixed on him as her body shook from sobbing. She couldn't stand looking at him, but the dead man that couldn't harm her was better than looking into the hazel eyes of a psychotic cannibal that held her against her will with a big appetite.

Preston's chair creaked under his weight being lifted from it and he crept closer to Aubrey, though her eyes still remained upon the dead man, unable to look at him. "You look good in my wife's old dress," Preston began and Aubrey's eyes widened, finally looking to him as tears continued to fall; her stomach turned again as she then looked down to her attire and the fabric then felt like a thousand tiny spiders that she wanted to get off her skin.

Preston made his way closer to Aubrey, lessening the gap between them and his body barely pressed up against her, causing her to squirm against the wall but there was nowhere for her to retreat to. His left hand began at her hip and slid around to her back as his right came up and touched her face, Aubrey jerking her head away and shaking her head back and forth to keep him from touching her. "Don't touch me, you freak!" Aubrey voiced loudly but he ignored her, gripping her chin delicately but with enough force to hold her head in place, dragging his thumb over her bottom lip and wiping some of the blood away from it.

Preston grew closer to Aubrey, the front of him pressing against her and his hands then slid up her arms and stopped at her restrained wrists, his face getting closer and his lips inches from hers. Aubrey watched as he scanned and observed her features, hearing him inhale deeply through his nose and she instinctively curled her lips and pulled them into her mouth, refusing to let their lips touch. Her eyes then widened, thinking of a way to get him away from her, even though shes was restrained..

With the rest of the strength Aubrey had left within her, she hoisted her knee up and it connected roughly into his groin, Preston letting out a heave of struggling breath and his hand instantly held his crouch, backing off a little from Aubrey to regain his composure.

"You.. Bitch!" Preston yelled and more fear instantly hit Aubrey like a brick wall.

Preston came at Aubrey and swung his arm across his chest then retracted it back hard, his elbow hitting Aubrey's jaw and the force of the hit knocked her out for a few seconds. Preston reached into his pocket and pulled out a few Lason Berries, which caused side effects such as nausea, fatigue, paralysis and drowsiness. He placed two to three berries into her mouth and Aubrey didn't even need to swallow them, the skin and the juice the berry had mixed with her saliva and was enough for the berry's attributes to take effect. 

Preston gazed at Aubrey for a while, watching as the berries began to take effect and he watched her eyelids dance from her drowsiness. A few footsteps above him upstairs didn't sound like Abby or even Billy, causing Preston to stand completely still and listen. A few moments later, he heard Abby struggling with someone, obviously scared and outmatched, soon hearing her scream his name for help, but Preston didn't budge. He shut his eyes and sighed when he heard Abby's last struggling scream, knowing she had been killed. Preston continued to listen, then hearing the footsteps searching the rest of the house for anyone else and they were soon at the top of the stairs, hearing the door being kicked in and he watched the stairs, waiting for the intruders to reveal themselves.

The masked man and boy soon raced cautiously down the stairs, making eye contact with Preston and he let out a single chuckle, "I wasn't aware it was Halloween," Preston teased slightly, noticing their masks.

"Could've fooled me.. You have quite the haunted house.. I especially love the smell of rotting flesh and the screams coming from this.. Dungeon," the masked man replied sarcastically.

Preston scoffed, yet he still bared a smirk, "You'll have to try the next house, there's no candy in this one," he retorted. 

The masked man looked to the boy, "Check on her while I deal with this one.." He said softly, the boy nodding and waiting for the man to react so he could slip passed the old man.

The masked man fought Preston and the boy managed to slip passed the two while they fought, going over to Aubrey and observing her face. Aubrey was drowsy, barely able to open her eyes at her own will and her vision was blurred. She saw double whenever she was able to keep her eyelids open and it only made her more groggy and dizzy, nausea beginning to settle in and all she wanted to do was die before she would be coherent enough to see Preston once more.
"Hey.. Hey, are you okay?" The masked boy asked and Aubrey managed to look where the voice was coming from, but she couldn't make out any hard details as she looked to the figure with a white face. Even though she had nothing closing off her ears, the voice she heard was foggy and slow and she couldn't make out every word. Aubrey's eyes shut for a few long moments and the faint sound of rustling and fighting was just passed the figure in front of her, wondering who was who and hoping that if Preston was involved, he wouldn't be the victor.

A loud -snap- filled the quiet room and a loud -thud- of Preston's head hit the ground, the masked man had snapped his neck when he had overpowered him and Preston was no match for him. "Good job," the boy said to the man, smirking behind his mask but the man ignored his compliment.

The masked man looked to the body on the ground, then looked to the boy, "Who's he?" He wondered.

"Dead.. Loooonnngg dead.. And it's not him, either.." The boy answered and the man nodded, walking over to the boy and he grabbed a chair, dragging it over to the Aubrey's left and standing on it, trying to figure out the locks that held her in place. "She's still alive, but I think they've been pretty harsh on her, she can barely keep her eyes open and I think she's struggling to stay awake," the boy pointed out.

The man leaned closer to Aubrey's face and breathed in, smelling something vaguely sweet on her lips, "He gave her something, a berry most likely.. Something poisonous," the man pointed out. "Check the man for a set of keys," he told the boy and the boy nodded, hurrying over to Preston and checking all of his pockets.

"Ah-ha!" The masked boy called out victoriously, eventually finding the keys to the shackles and giving them to the man to help get Aubrey free.

The boy hugged Aubrey, holding her body up with a struggle as the man unlocked the shackles. Aubrey's wrists were soon freed and the masked man quickly got down from the chair and took Aubrey from the boy, being able to support her weight much easier. 

"She's pretty," the boy said softly and the man looked to his with a scowl.

"She's hurt, and exhausted.. No denying probably traumatized as well.. Let's get her back to the safe house before the last person gets back here and sees what we've done," the man ordered and the boy looked to him, confused a little.

"There's someone else besides him and the blonde upstairs?"

"Yeah.. There were three different beds in that room upstairs, and I doubt this girl was filling the third.. Let's go," the man pointed out and the boy nodded, watching as the man hoisted the girl into his arms and they made their way upstairs and out of the house.

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Second Part Written by LateKnightSimmer

"Scarlett, hang on, we need to go this way. Aubrey is in Section F-5. It's north of here."

Neal and I start walking together northward, minding our surroundings for survival purposes. The gun I took off James' body is uncomfortable where it's sitting in the back of my pants. I reach for its handle to adjust it, and Neal notices.

"Do you want me to carry that instead?"

"Why, so you can be the one to save me? I've saved your ass twice now. It'll be fine, I fixed it."

"Scarlett, why are you so harsh all the time? It's like you're always annoyed at me. Did I do something to piss you off?"

Ugh. Neal. What do I tell him? That I think he's hot and I want to know him better, but feel like I shouldn't even touch the concept of love because of this shitty environment we're in? I don't know what my problem is, but I feel like if I tell him I like him, it'll be like I'm giving in to the fact that I am scared of things. I don't like people knowing I'm scared of things like losing the people I care about. I can't be vulnerable because in my eyes vulnerability means death. It's that split second of doubt that can end you.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just pissed off that I can't remember what happened before I woke up in the Sections. I could swear I was at home with Aubrey and then suddenly I wake up on some beach with a pounding headache and clothes I knew I wasn't wearing before I blacked out. I usually have a really good memory, so I feel in a way I failed Aubrey somehow because I let her and I get separated."

"It's not your fault that you blacked out, so you didn't fail Aubrey. You're obviously determined to find her no matter what, and that's admirable. I've run across plenty of people who let the Sections break them, and they eventually give up on finding their loved ones. I know you won't stop until you find her, even if it kills you. Let me help you. I think it'd be good if we worked together. It's also good to have company out here because the loneliness is miserable."

Neal comes closer to me and puts his arms around my waist, all while looking at the grass as he talks about the loneliness, and I feel bad for him. I wonder how many days he spent out here all alone before he got captured. We continue walking and I'm a little calmer towards him.

"Neal, how long were you by yourself?"

"Years. James was in the guard with me, but he believed so much in the Overlord's ways of doing things, so I didn't like him. One day we got sent to split up a family, and that's the day I went rogue. James tried to stop me, but I knocked him unconscious and led the family to a different place, taking his Tracker away so he couldn't try to split them up again. Then I just started wandering."

"How did you keep yourself from going crazy from it?"

"I kept reminding myself that I was doing this to try to help people. I'm young and strong, and I know there were some people who got placed who just don't know how to survive out in the wilderness. I tried to help people to a safehouse if there was one nearby and taught them how to find food. Then I'd go wandering again. It was only lonely because I knew all of those friendships I made were just temporary."

"Did any of the people try to kill you? You know, since the Sections are full of crazy people as well."

"Yeah I had my fair share of that as well. Some of them just saw my jacket and didn't trust me because I was wearing it."

"Kind of like I did."

"Well, yeah, but I wasn't going to say that."

I am starting to get tired, and I think that I'm just low on my food consumption. Neal and I decide to locate something to eat, but just as we're about to, Neal gets a concerned, then disappointed look on his face as he realizes something. He's looking at one of the leaves on a nearby tree we passed, and it has ugly black splotches on it. The fruit it's producing, however, looks plump and tasty.

"Dammit. I just realized that we are in Section C-4. This was the Section where the Overlord threw in a multitude of poisonous bombs to make it an instant death trap for those who eat anything that grows here. The poison is residual, so now everything that grows here will absorb it. Animals that eat the plants get poisoned as well, so we can't eat the animals we find here either."

"So no food until we get to the next Section?"

"Right. I have some water though, I always carry this canteen with me, and I filled it up before we left B-8."

"Wait, how are we not affected by the poison?"

"It's not airborne, it's just in the ground. When the trees get nutrients from the dirt, they absorb more poison. If the fruit from the trees are ingested in high quantities though, the poison can kill a person."

"All right, then I guess we'll just have to keep going until we get to the next Section. Come on, Neal."

"Or we could find a safehouse and rest for a bit. This Section stretches for six miles. That's a long way to walk, and I'd say we've been walking for about two so far."

"Okay, but I want to keep going for a little more, how about another half a mile?"

Neal smiles at me, and I know he'd follow me anyway even if I just ran off without him. I like that he's here, so this time I give him a heads up instead of just leaving him stranded. I figure that having him around can't hurt like I originally thought it would. I'm still a little weary of getting into the whole love side of things because I know how people get when they're in love, they get all engrossed in the other person and then they forget about everything around them. 

I start walking northward again, when suddenly a face with green eyes and black hair with blonde highlights pops into my mind. It is the face of my ex-boyfriend, Daniel, who I was dating shortly before the world was divided into Sections. I loved Daniel and we'd spend every waking moment we could together. I still remember the day he was taken away. 

The Overlord had just enforced the Section Broadcasts as being a requirement for the television networks to air at a certain time. Daniel had invited me over to his house again and we were going to watch the Section Broadcasts together, but we did end up just making out a lot.

The front door was thrown open and we heard a struggle and his mother screaming. Daniel told me to hide behind the couch while he peeked as to what was going on. He came back and said two official looking men were arresting his mom and dad. 

He led me out the back door, and we started to run towards the direction of my house. As we rounded the corner, one of the men came and blocked our path. Daniel and I turned around to go the other way, but the other man was there. We were surrounded.

"Which one is it?" one of the men asked.

"The boy. The girl's not part of this family. Let's grab him and go."

The men tried to take Daniel, and I tried to stop them, but was unsuccessful. The last thing I remember is losing consciousness as I saw the two men drag Daniel away and out of my life forever.

I'm shaken out of my thoughts by a tap on my shoulder. Neal looks at me with a concerned look in his eyes.

"Scarlett, you're crying."

"What?"

Neal pulls me close to him and hugs me. 

"Do you want to stop now? I spotted a safehouse nearby."

I nod and let Neal hold my hand as we walk to the safehouse. I guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was.

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Distance Between Scarlett and Aubrey: 995 miles