#But those two assholes would not call eachother Honey and Sweetie

[kitsune528]

-sees objectively really nice art for an obscure show I love

-Its for a ship I *really* dont ship and especially so wildly out of character

[queenjunoking]

Wolf Taming Pt 25 (2/2)

CW: Noncon - Shock Collar - Pain - Petplay - Drugs - Kidnapping  - Manipulation

It was 6:30.

The moment it hit 6:30 I received a call. I was expecting it to be from the same number. But it wasn't. A chill went down my spine.

It was Eos.

There was no red notification. I just let it ring. Eventually my phone went silent. Unfortunately it wasn't silent for long and it began to ring. It was Eos again.

I was in such a hurry I hadn't had time to think about who filed the report. Eos was here but… surely Sasha acting out on a phone call wasn't enough to get her taken away from me? Things misbehaved when they were new.

Did… Satori give me up? Did he report me? He always pushed me to get people to help me around the house. Did he not think I could take care of her on my own?

It was 6:35.

My phone rang for the third time. It wasn't going to stop. There was no point in waiting any longer. I answered the call.

"Sweetheart." Eos was laying the honey on thick the moment she knew I was on the line. I could tell when she was really upset with me, she’d treated me like a misbehaving child. "You need to let us in. I don't want this to get worse for you."

"Why are you here Eos?" I came across as more panicked than I wanted too.

"I was asked to come assist because we knew eachother and they thought that I might be able to talk to you. And honestly hun, you have a history of hurting people very badly when they try taking something from you. We both know how that retrieval team ended up after you were done with them. The Society wishes to do this without violence if possible."

"Where is she going to be taken?" I was starting to have trouble breathing.

I heard her sigh. "Sweetheart. I was informed of the vote late last night and called in favors to spare Sasha from auction. Instead of being put up for anyone to buy she will be living with me."

I felt my heart stop. "No. No no no. You can't have her. You're going to break her."

"No Sweetheart. I'm going to make her better. If you let us in I'll even let you come and see her. Wouldn't that be nice?"

"I'm not letting you in." My hands were starting to shake.

"Z." I felt irritation creeping into her voice. "You're being irrational." She smoothed out her voice again. She sounded like she was trying to placate a child. "Have you slept at all tonight sweety? I know you have trouble sleeping since that night. It can be hard to make good decisions while you're sleep deprived."

"I'm sleeping just fine!" I yelled into the phone. The stress was becoming too much. It was getting hard to catch my breath.

The phone went silent for a moment. I heard some mumbling, Eos must be talking to someone.

"Z. Sweetheart. Are you ok? You sound like you’re on the edge of a panic attack.” The sound of concern in her voice infuriated me.

“I’m fine!” I was having trouble keeping my voice down.

“Z. Darling.  I'm only going to be allowed to ask this one more time without you facing repercussions. If we need to we can get in without your help. But I'd rather you let us in. Will you let us inside? There’s no reason for you to get in trouble over this."

I went silent. Getting in trouble would make getting Sasha back almost impossible. I couldn't stay down here forever. Either they'd break in or we'd be trapped here until we starved. I felt tears stain my cheeks as I disarmed the security.

"Thank you sweetheart. We'll be down in a moment. It’s going to be ok." With that Eos ended the call.

I went to one of my apps and followed the instructions. It wasn’t often I felt like this but I needed something to focus on. A small ball appeared on the screen. Some text appears on it.

-Breathe in-

I breathed in until the ball fully inflated.

-Hold-

I held my breath.

-Breathe out-

I breathed out slowly until the ball was back to its original size.

I kept following the instructions until I started to feel it pass.

Then they walked into the room. Four masked men followed by Eos. The people that did this job wore masks to conceal their identity so they couldn’t be retaliated against. Eos stood by the door as the men approached the cage.

“Please open the cage door Miss Z.” Their voice was synthesized.

I hesitated for a moment, but it was pointless to resist at this point. I unlocked the cage door. One held the door open so no one could get locked inside. Two of them went inside and lifted Sasha. The fourth was watching me to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid.

“Please… don’t hurt her.” I wanted to reach out and touch her as they carried her past me, but the one standing next to me held me back.

“She will be fine Miss Z. She will be transported to Mistress Eos’s farm where she will be trained as she should have been.” He looked down at me. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew there was contempt in his eyes.

“Please take her to my farm. I’m going to stay here and talk with Z.” Eos approached us. The mask man nodded and went upstairs. I went to follow him and Eos placed a hand on my shoulder. I hated when people touched me.

“I want to see her.” I glared at her.

“It’s not going to make you feel any better.” She wasn’t hiding her condescension anymore. “You know Z, I couldn’t help but notice her collar was missing.”

I looked over in the corner of the room where I threw the remains. “There was an issue with it I tried to fix. Guess my hand slipped.” My eyes narrowed at her.

She sighed and rolled her eyes at me. “You really should be thanking me Z. She would have been put up for auction. Would you want Callidora going up for auction or would you rather belong to someone you knew?”

“Callidora?” I blinked in disbelief.

“Hm?” She was beginning to look disinterested.

“That’s not her name. Her name is Sasha.” She couldn’t just give her a new name. That was her name.

“Z. Sweety.” I hated this tone. “It's the name you gave her. I mean, do you really want me using the name you picked out when she’s in my stables?”

“Stables? Why would she be in the stables?” Sasha was a canine. I had her registered as one.

“I’m sorry Z, but she was wasting her potential here. I mean look at this place.” She gestured to the room. “Locked in some cage to be taken out occasionally when you see fit? Callidora deserves more. She’ll get a nice spot in my stables and she’ll get to walk around outside daily. Under my gentle guidance she’ll shed the bad habits you allowed her to occur. The pain she’ll go through is your fault. It's easier to remove your influence entirely. Her name is just another bad thing you have your fingerprints on.”

“You’re going to make Sasha a horse.” I blinked in disbelief.

“No honey. Sasha is a dog’s name. I’m going to make Callidora a horse.” She crossed her arms and started tapping her fingers impatiently.

“No! You can’t do that! She’s mine!” I was starting to lose my temper

“You know Z, you become so childish when you’re out of your element. What are you going to do? Stomp your foot until I give her back? Know your place.” Her eyes narrowed at me.

“I know my place! This is my house! You're in my Wolf’s Den! You and those assholes are the ones invading my place! You don’t have any right to be here!” The stress was too much for me to handle, I couldn’t stop the words from spewing out of my mouth. I was digging a hole for myself but I didn’t care.

“This is your place? I’m the one who found this house for you because you didn’t know how the process worked.” She jabbed me in the chest with her finger. “I’m the one who decorated it for you because you couldn’t be bothered to make anything look nice.” She jabbed me again. “When you were going through the process to get Penny I’m the one who showed you how to do it.” Jab. “Then when you got bored of her I showed you how to sell her.” Jab. “Now I’m cleaning up after your mess because you couldn’t train your dog right.” Jab.

“Sasha doesn’t need you to train her! We were doing just fine. You don’t care about anyone you train. They’re just things to you. All you do is run them ragged day after day. How is that any better!” I was training Sasha the right way. I cared about her and personalized her training.

“I may train my slaves harshly Z, but they’re all the better for it. My farm is known for the spectacular animals I create. But I’ve seen what you’ve done. You got quite the epithet for it. Z the Torturer.” I glared at her. “Oh, don’t you dare pull that annoying face at me. I’ve seen your work. I know what you did to all those assigned to you in the Auction Hall. Too broken to be good for anything really. None of them could be trained to obey anything, they barely reacted to anything. You could whip any of the people who had the misfortune of being assigned to you and they wouldn’t shed a single tear.”

“They only had to spend a small amount of time with me before they moved on and they were better for it. The people under your care have to deal with you for the rest of their lives. I can’t think of a worse fate.” She raised her hand in the air like she was going to slap me. A few seconds past before she took a deep breath and lowered her arm.

“Only have to deal with you for a small amount of time? I don’t think you know how trauma works dear. I think the only time I ever saw really react is when one of them was on stage and you walked into the room. They started screaming their head off when they recognized you. Though I’ll occasionally see the eyes of a statue in the Auction House go wide when you walk past. It’s a good thing they can’t make any noise. I really can’t believe you. The Auction House gave you anything you could have ever wanted to continue that work and it still wasn’t good enough for Z.” She bent down and got close to my ear and whispered  “Was losing Bridget too much for you? If you wanted to you could always go see her. I’m not sure she’d recognize you though.”

“Shut up.” It came out as a whisper. I was trying to keep my temper under control. I just wanted to be alone.

“Don’t get mad at me Z. I wasn’t the one that broke my own friend. I can’t imagine how terrible that must have been. Seeing my friend and getting a glimmer of hope before they put me in that… thing you made. I bet that feeling of betrayal stung until they just couldn’t feel anything anymore.”

“Shut up!“ I screamed at her. I kept trying to resist her bait but I couldn’t anymore. “I wasn’t going to let anyone else touch her! I care about the people I worked with!”

“Oh Z.” There was a genuine sound of pity in her voice. “You can’t possibly think you’re capable of that.”

“I do! I care about them a lot! And I don’t need your help!” I was fuming. I cared about everyone I worked with. I was doing what was best for them. They were better off with me than any of the other breakers.

“Have you ever been grateful about anything in your life Z? You’re only here right now because I helped you get here. You got to join the Society and I helped you fill out everything you needed. I didn’t even ask for anything from you. When you needed obvious direction I got you a job in the auction house as a breaker. I could have just left you to your work. It's the only job you showed any aptitude for. But you got bored and didn’t want to do it anymore. Poor little Z couldn’t be grateful for her lot in life. You got that disgusting little epithet and on that virtue alone you were allowed to own slaves. People of your rank don’t get to do that for a reason.” She wore the smugness in her voice like a trophy. 

“At least I earned my position! I got my epithet on my own merits. You got your position because you were born into it! You never had to earn anything in your entire life!”

I felt a pain in my cheek as my head whipped to the side. I blinked a few times to clear my vision. She... slapped me?

“You ungrateful little filly! I’ve earned my position.” She was seething.

“Filly?” I was still trying to clear my head.

“Yes Filly you stupid bitch.” She practically spat it at me. “If you had just let yourself get captured none of this would be happening. Neither of us would have met Sasha. You’d have been a show pony in my stable and Sasha would have gotten a normal life. Wouldn't that have been a nicer fate for her? Having a fulfilling life with friends and family? But you resisted and you cost her everything. You were the perfect target. No one gave a shit about you. You had one friend and she was broken by your hand. Had you just vanished like you were supposed to I bet she’d probably be safe at home right now as well. You do nothing but hurt anyone you have affection for.”

“You… were the one who sent the retrieval team?” I didn’t know what else to say. She had knocked the wind out of me.

She placed a finger under my chin and tipped my head back so I met her eyes. “You’re quite slow sometimes Z. But a lot of animals are pretty dumb. Just because you dress the part of master doesn’t mean you belong. Metaphorically of course, you never actually dressed the part. You barely take care of yourself half the time.”

She let go of my chin and slapped me across the face again, sending me to the floor. I didn’t know how to react. I just touched my cheek as I looked up to her. She examined her hand as she spoke. “She could have had such a lovely life and it could have cost nothing. Because that's what you are. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. Z. Worthless. A nothing name for a big nothing. Too stupid to even think up a new name for her paperwork she was filling out to join one of the most powerful organizations on the planet. So I wrote down one that suited you. I bet you wanted someone else to name you anyway. I would have named you Callisto.” 

She knelt down beside me and grabbed my chin again, pulling my head left and right like she was examining an animal. “Your only value is that you're still quite beautiful. Unfortunately you lost that cute quality I wanted in a filly when you snapped that night. I’d pay a lot of money to see first hand what made you snap like you did. You looked so cute before. So skittish and nervous. But then those stupid assholes failed such an easy mission. Now you look like this. Somewhere between a resting bitchface and someone who hasn’t slept in a week. You have no idea how much pleasure it’s brought me knowing that I’m the reason you get so little sleep. I’m the boogeyman in your closet and you didn’t even know.”

She lifted her hand up and I did something I’m not sure I had done since I joined the Society.

I flinched.

She gave me a smile and lowered her hand before standing back up. “You know, it's not too late to give up your membership in the society Z. Become what you were obviously meant to be. No one would blame you. I'm sure there would be a long line of people to buy someone as pretty as you. Be glad you have that Z because you have nothing else to offer anyone. Why bother pretending anymore? Wouldn’t it be nice to finally be the one to be up for auction? Getting to hear all the people who want you enough to put down money to buy you? Wouldn’t it be nice if anyone wanted you Z?”

She stared at me for a few moments. “I see you’re too dumb to realize I was waiting for an answer. Maybe you’re too dumb to be a filly. Tell you what Z. If you ever feel like giving up and stopping this stupid act all you have to do is come to me and ask. I’m not sure what I’ll do with you, but I’m sure I can find a purpose for you. Maybe you’ll even get to see Callidora again.”

“Her name is Sasha.” It was the only thing I could muster up.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Stand up Z.” I sat on the ground just staring at her. I was still trying to take in everything she had been saying. “I said stand up!”

I slowly got to my feet. Eos held her arms out wide and approached me. I tried to take a step back, but I was against the cage. She grabbed me and pulled me into an embrace. I felt my entire body tense up.

“Good luck rebuilding Z. You have no money, no friends and, most importantly, no Sasha. You didn't deserve to have any of those things anyway." She let go and took a few steps back away from me. “I want you to thank me Z. Be grateful that I took in your pet. Thank me for not letting her get put up for auction. For training her since you failed at such a simple task.”

I couldn’t feel any rage or hate. I didn’t even feel sad. I just felt numb and stared at her.

“Ah. Right. You’re too stupid to read between the lines. How about I just spell it out for you? You’re going to be a good girl from here on out. Because you won't be the one to suffer if you aren’t. I don't think you care if you suffer so there's no point in punishing you. But your former pet will be the one to suffer for anything you do wrong from here on out. Everything that happens to Sasha is all your fault because you were the dumb filly who didn’t know her place.”

She was right. I didn’t really care what she did to me. But I didn’t want her to hurt Sasha. She was going to look for every excuse she could to hurt her.

“Now dear. I believe you were going to thank me for something?” She started tapping her arm impatiently.

“Thank you Eos…” I mumbled, not meeting her eyes.

“Louder. Look at me when you’re speaking.” She didn’t try to hide how annoyed she sounded.

I looked into her eyes. I could see the contempt in them. “Thank you Eos.”

“Mistress Eos.” Ice crept into her voice.

“Thank you Mistress Eos.”

“Good girl Z. Keep being a good girl. I'm watching you." She flashed me a smug smile and walked out of the Wolf’s Den.

By now Sasha was on her way to her farm. Once the drugs wore off Eos would start her training. I put my back against the cage and slid down to the floor. I felt tears sting my cheeks. I felt lost.

What was I supposed to do now?

[papa-nikki-writes]

Rowvember day 16- Hurt

Definition

1. cause pain or injury to

2. Be detrimental to

3.physically injured

Summary- My mind’s rendition of what happened after Playa and Lin were shoved in the trunk of Lin’s car. Of course I write with my girl in mind, and I reckon this is when ‘The Boss’ was really born in SR1, how everything went down with Lin changed a lot in the Saints, changed Playa.

Words- 2,403

Shea was only half conscious when her memory kicked back in, she became dimly aware that she was somewhere dark, but they had just stopped after travelling what must have been a good distance, she could make out the sound of ship foghorns in the distance. The docks. When did they get to the docks?

      And why did she feel so feverish and weak? She remembered a bat to the face.  a needle sliding into her arm, a blurry blue lined limo, but her brain hurt when she tried to remember anything more. Everything hurt.

Crying, someone was crying. It stopped abruptly when light shone in...wherever they were. Two figures looking down at them, Lin trying to reason with...Donnie was it? That squirrelly little mechanic that always hung around Price. The other- Sharp. He had a gun.

        A gunshot rang out, and Lin didn't speak anymore, Donnie yelled at Sharp before he stormed off. What the fuck was going on? So many things...it almost seemed funny. She giggled, and Sharp's attention was drawn to her, his face surprised. Another gunshot.

Pain knifed white hot through her chest and Shea embraced darkness. It wasn't the first time she'd blacked out, and she had a feeling it wouldn't be the last either.

***

“...Hey. You even fucking alive?!” Lin’s voice woke her but she just wanted to go back to sleep, everything was an effort right now and dreamland was just out of reach. A sharp painful kick made her eyes snap open, and she growled and kicked back on instinct, and Lin hissed, “Ow! You coulda just said yes!” she said as Shea tried to move her arms to push herself up, but nothing happened.

     So she was still tied up. Shea began to bend her body back on herself to get at the knife in her boot when Shea became aware that something cold and wet began to circle her. Water.

“Lin?” she asked, and heard her voice waver. “Isn’t this the trunk of your car?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.” Shea hissed through her teeth, still thrashing to get her knife

“Hey! Found my lighter!” Lin wheezed, a rattle in her chest set alarm bells ringing in Shea's head and she moved double time. She could smell, taste and feel blood in the trunk, hers or Lin's she didn't know. Maybe it was a little or a lot of both.

Just a little further, Shea frowned as her fingers skimmed the top of her knife, just a little-aha! Triumphant, Shea began hacking at her bindings.

“I'm-I'm sorry.” Lin said after a long pause, she sounded so weak and far away.

“Tell me when we get out of here, yeah?”

“I shouldn't have called, I shouldn't have dragged you...” Lin trailed off, and Shea kicked her back into consciousness.

“Stay with me honey.” Shea warned, trying to stay calm as she worked on the ties, and Lin laughed.

“Did you hear that asshole Donnie? He said I was his girl.”

Got it!

       The cable tie gave way and Shea returned the knife to her boot, trying to keep her head above water she dragged Lin over to her.

“Lin?” she asked tapping her cheek, “Lin honey?” the silence seemed to stretch on forever, and the water level rose to dangerous levels. There was only one thing for it, she had to get Lin out of there, “Lin, deep breath sweetie.” Shea said before she held her breath and pulled her head underwater. The trunk roof would be locked and could only open from outside, so Shea focused all her energy into kicking the back seat through until there was a hole big enough to push Lin through to the main car before following after her.  

She's gonna fucking kill me when she sees the state of her car. Shea thought.

           She collected the pistol that Lin kept in the glove compartment before grabbing hold of Lin's waist and shooting a bullet through the glass of the passenger side door. The bullet carved a spiderweb in the glass before it gave way and a ton of water crashed down upon their heads. She tried to move, but cramp seized her leg and she hissed, taking in a breath and swallowing way to much water. It felt like it filed her lungs. Panic set in.

        Refusing to die here, Shea kicked upwards through the water towards the surface as fast as she could: she needed to take a new breath, so did Lin. The cramp still assaulted her legs and Lin's dead weight didn't help things.

Wait, dead weight?

       That scared her more then anything else, finding strength from some unknown reserve she moved through the water quicker, but the water chopped and churned all around her and she struggled to keep her mouth shut and keep Lin's slipping hand in hers. But fate was so cruel.

      A particularly fast current ripped Lin from her and Shea screamed, bubbles of sound floating around her. Air, she needed air. She needed to find Lin. Her blood pounded in her ears and her chest burned. She flailed her arms in the abyss, hoping to catch hold of Lin again but her brain's need for oxygen made her body make for the surface.

         Her head broke the inky blackness of the waves as the current shoved her to and fro. Waves crashed over her head and rain beat down on her skin, the droplets of ice adding to the dark chill of the water.

      She breathed in deep, then dived under again, swimming in the direction where Lin had been wrenched away from her, but with the waves crashing above she had no idea if she was even swimming in a straight line, let alone in the right direction. The need to breathe clawed at her and she made for the surface once more, heading towards land.

     She sobbed and collapsed onto the beach, her already pain seized body churning out cries that only heightened the stabbing, she knew Lin had died shortly after she'd last spoke to Shea.

Only Shea didn't want to believe it.

      She didn't know how long she stayed there, she had no fucking idea what time it was in the first place, she had no phone, they had taken it off of her before and she found herself utterly at a loss. Then Shea began to shake violently, falling victim to an almighty coughing fit that ultimately sent her scrambling for the water so she could be sick. It felt like her body was trying to rip itself apart. She fell forwards into the water, closing her eyes for just a few seconds.

***

Possibly for the second time that day, Shea was wrenched back from the brink of death. Her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright, coughing to eject water from her lungs as she tried to pinpoint just what had resurrected her.

Car engines, laughter. Rollerz.

      Shea's eyes fell on the car headlights, something predatory awakened and the need for revenge set her nerves alight, reigniting her life. Her mind made up, she headed for the source of the noise like a ghost that couldn't be granted rest. Not until the debt was paid in blood. The lights of the cars were speeding away from her, and she set off at a run. By the time she got there, one Roller remained. She snapped his neck, a far quicker death than what they had planned for her and Lin, and the thought made her blood boil as she got in the car and gave chase.

     The cars were racing eachother, the occupants whooping and hollering, so Shea joined the race knowing that Sharp was in one of them, she would just have to kill every single one of these fuckers until she found him. She pulled up alongside the driver’s side of one, and he rolled down his window, probably to talk to who he thought was his comrade. His face turned to one of horror when he saw Shea instead.

“'Ain’t you dead?” he asked, and Shea smirked and pounced, sinking the knife deep into his heart, the Roller next to the driver screamed and tried to stem the blood flow as Shea sped out in front. Watching the car lose control and plough into a wall, Shea didn't stop to check if they were dead or not.

       The other Rollerz now knew something was wrong and slammed on their Nitrous, Shea did the same, closing the gap in mere seconds as she flicked open the glove compartment, finding the pistol there. Pistol in the glove compartment was like an unspoken rule or something.

          She flipped the safety catch, leaned out of the window and took aim, shooting the tires out of one of the cars, causing that one to crash further up the road. One car broke from the convoy and retreated, wanting no part of Shea or her vengeance.

       Shea lined up her shot and fired through the back window, catching one of those sat in the back, another bullet and she hit the driver too, killing him instantly, the car shuddered to a halt. The remaining Rollerz in the car scrambled out and ran away from Shea as fast as they could while she caught up to the last car in the convoy. Sharp's. She leaned over to the window, coughed. Spat out whatever had collected in her throat,

        Sharp tried outmanoeuvring her but it was obvious that he wasn't used to driving a car of his own. Shea stayed on his arse until she realised he was coming up to a set of crossroads. Tiring of this cat and mouse game, she veered off from the path, turned a corner, turned another, then slammed down on the accelerator until she was flying down the road.

As she thought, thinking he was safe, Sharp had slowed down.

     Shea had a last glimpse of the look of total shock on Sharp's face as she closed the gap between them at frightening speeds, he had no time to turn or accelerate.

      Shea smashed into him, pushing his car forwards until he was sandwiched between the wall and her car. Her body was jerked forwards from the impact, then thrown backwards as the airbag inflated, she struck her head and didn't even know she was knocked clean out until she came to a few moments later, sat in a haze of acrid smelling smoke.

       She blinked back blood from her eyes and looked around, saw the twisted lump of metal that was a mix of the front of her car, and Sharp's. She couldn't see him but the amount of shit she'd withstood that night she decided not to take any chances. She kept an eye on the wreck, taking pistol to hand she kicked the drivers door open and stepped out of the car. A shooting pain in her leg told her she'd damaged that in the crash too, she winced, panting and dragged her leg over to Sharp's car.

        A number of people had begun to swarm around the crash site, trying to get into the car to get to Sharp. But she wasn't going to let him be helped. No way, not when her friend was dead because of him. Not after all he'd done.  The anger came back ten fold.

“Get the fuck away from him!” she growled, and the civilians turned round.

“He needs help!”

“Away from the car!” she fired the pistol into the air, “now!” she snarled and the people scarpered, letting Shea rip the driver's door open and point her gun at a motionless and bloody Sharp. There was no way he was getting out of the car anyway, his body pinned in the clutches of the gnarled metal of the vehicle. When Shea next spoke, she'd never heard herself in that deadly cold tone before, if she was someone else, it would have given her chills. “Stop playing dickhead, at least face your death with some dignity.”

Sharp stirred, and the cold blue ice of his eyes met her molten fury.

“You should...be dead.” he said, and she allowed him to process her survival, that he’d know it was her that was going to take him out.

      She pulled the trigger. The gun went off and Sharp's head exploded into billions of pieces, spraying the car, and Shea's trigger arm with his blood. Her arm shook, and she lowered the gun.

        The adrenaline was consumed from her blood and she suddenly felt colder, weaker. Her body felt like lead, but ached painfully as though she'd lived a thousand lives, a dull ache as a growing numbness swept over her and her legs gave out from under her. She crouched on all fours coughing, wheezing as a rattle began to clatter in her chest. Her vision blurred.

        A fine bloody mist mixed with a few clots stained the tarmac below her. She winced and clutched at her chest as she tried to breathe. Saw it come away bloody.

Shit I'm bleeding.

      From what? When the fuck did that happen? Shea asked herself as she looked down at the wound oozing her lifeblood from her body, something in her memory stirred, a flash of fire, a sharp white hot pain knifing through her chest.

“Shit. I've gotta get back to the row.” she wheezed, dragging herself back into the road, someone stopped to help as they saw the carnage but Shea pulled the gun on them, making them freeze in their tracks.

“Hey, whoa whoa whoa, I just wanna help, let me help.” he said, hands up in surrender.

“You can't help him now.”

“And you?”

      Shea paused as a wave of nausea threatened its rise up her throat, and the gun fell slightly before she came back to reality.

“I don't want your help.” she hissed, circling to the car slowly.

“Sure, whatever-just, just don't hurt me yeah?” he stammered, maybe it was the blood, maybe it was the look in her eyes; or maybe it was the way her eyelids fluttered, the way she wheezed with every rise and fall of her chest. The man threw her his keys, and she turned away from him, driving off with his car without so much as another word.