Bound to You

Eliza covered her ears with the pillow on the bed, trying to muffle the sounds of the fighting that was still taking place downstairs. It had been a little over an hour since Matt and Brian had arrived in the room, and they’d had their hands full. Already, one person had attempted to knock down the bedroom door, only to succeed and be killed in front of Eliza. Val had told her not to think too much about it; that he had been coming to kill her; that Matt and Brian had to kill him to protect her. She didn’t understand.

How could the Sean she had known be capable of something so sinister as this? How could the relationship she’d thought had been her only true love be such a lie? She had trusted Sean with everything she’d had; given him everything she had…And now it was all just a lie?

Suddenly, there was another knock on the door, and Brian groaned in a manner that seemed almost lazy to Eliza. In the brief amount of time she’d known him for, she already realized that he had a very confident personality, perhaps to the point of cocky.

“Another one? When are they going to learn?” He asked as he and Matt stepped back for the door to open, prepared to strike down whoever stood behind it immediately.

As the door opened, Matt and Brian followed the same routine they’d used before. Matt threw himself at the man, and Brian aimed with a knife for the artery in the man’s neck.

“Hey! Hold on just a minute, assholes!” A loud, boisterous voice belonging to the man Matt had tackled called out. “Get off of me, you big lump! Just who do you think you’re trying to attack here?”

“What do you want, Jimmy?” Brian’s voice asked, his voice alert. It was then that Eliza knew that despite the tall man’s aloof demeanor and way of speaking, something serious had happened. Hadn’t Brian said something about Jimmy having their back downstairs? If he was up here, then what had happened?

“There’s been a change of plans.” Jimmy’s voice said. “The City of Evil has officially been breached. Short Shit’s MIA, and Zacky’s wounded.”

“What’s the next move?” Matt asked, his voice angry. “What do you mean, Johnny’s MIA?”

“Missing in Action. When we killed the last one we searched for him. He’s not here, guys. Zacky thinks they snagged him in the middle of the fight.”

“Ah, shit.” Brian hissed. “This is bad. What do we do now?”

“We’ve got to move bases.” Jimmy told them. “And we have to move fast. Zack thinks Sean has more people coming soon to ambush us while we’re at our weakest.”

“He’s right.” Brian told Jimmy. Matt nodded over at Val, who sighed and looked at Eliza. “Go into the closet and change clothes. There should be some tank tops and jeans in one of the drawers.”

Eliza nodded, knowing there was no room for argument as she walked towards the closet.

A few minutes later, she emerged dressed in a tank top she’d found wrinkled in one of the bottom drawers and a pair of jeans that she’d found in the hamper, the only pair she’d been able to find. Also she’d managed to locate a pair of Converse.

When she walked into the bedroom, she found that Matt, Brian, and Val had gone. Instead, the only person in the room now was Jimmy, standing by the door with a serious look on his face.

“Are you ready?” He asked her, his voice harsh. She knew that it wasn’t directed at her, but rather the situation they’d found themselves into. She was assuming that Jimmy was another one of the five leaders of Bat Country, and that he was immensely pissed off.

“Yeah.” She said.

Jimmy’s only response was a small nod of his head as he opened the door, putting his hand protectively on the small of her back as he allowed her to step out before him. As they walked out of the room, he handed her a knife and she turned to give him a quizzical look. He sighed, and went into an explanation.

“The house has been scanned for enemies, but you can never be prepared enough. Are you prepared to defend yourself if you must?”

Eliza didn’t know what to say. She was usually so sure of herself, and confident. She knew what she wanted, and she usually knew how to get it. She was strong, she thought to herself. Or at least, she had been. She didn’t know what had happened in the course of the night, but she was finding that she no longer felt as secure in her abilities to protect herself as she used to.

“I don’t know.” She admitted, her voice soft. Jimmy sighed again, but nodded. He realized that keeping her safe was now solely in his hands; if she wasn’t sure if she could do it, if she didn’t have the confidence to save herself, then ultimately she wouldn’t be able to. It was up to him to keep her safe.

They walked down the long, dimly lit corridor, and Eliza felt nauseous as the further away from the room they got, the more marks of battle she saw lining the walls of the home. There were holes punched through, broken wood on the banister, and glass sprayed across the floor in a kaleidoscope of colors shimmering from the few lights in the room. It was only once they had reached the main floor when Eliza saw the full brunt of the fight: dead bodies; human bodies that had, not so long ago, been alive and moving just as she was now. It made Eliza sick to her stomach as she walked past several until she finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and vomited.

Jimmy stopped behind her, pulling her hair away from her face in an instant so that it wouldn’t get messy. When she turned to look at him, she saw sympathy in his clear blue eyes.

“It wasn’t a pretty fight, Eliza, but it was necessary.” He said quietly. “None of them are our own.”

Eliza only nodded mutely before she realized something.

“W-where did everyone else go?” She asked, hoping her voice didn’t sound quite as weak as she felt.

“Zacky is in the vehicle we’ll be taking. He’s hurt, but he’ll survive.” Jimmy said. “Johnny is missing, and Brian and Matt took Val. Splitting up is the safest thing we can do right now.”

Eliza nodded again and let Jimmy lead her out of the house towards the row of garages. She didn’t know where they were at, and was no longer interested. In the course of only a few hours, her life had changed.

When had everything become so violent? When had her life become so important to two different groups of people that they were willing to kill over her?

“Sit in the back with him.” Jimmy said quietly as he opened the door for her. She nodded again, just going through the motions as she got into the car. She was emotionally numbed, something Eliza had never felt before.

Once she sat on the black leather seats, she saw Zack’s bulky frame, half leaning against the other door and the other half on the floor, his body unmoving and bloodied. The shirt he’d been wearing when she’d seen him last was torn in so many different places it hardly resembled a shirt anymore

“I’m okay.” Zack’s voice said, strained but far from weak. “Give it a few hours and I’ll be good as new.”

“Where are we going?” Eliza asked, ignoring his comment.

“For now, we’re just going to drive until we can lose them.” Jimmy said. “After that, we’ve got some allies that have agreed to help us.”