Blanket of Fear

“Goddamn stupid fucking branches.” Eliza cursed angrily under her breath as she picked her way carefully through a thick bunch of bushes that had tangled her arm in them, scratching her and making rips in her shirt. She knew now that there was no turning back from her ‘investigation,’ as she was calling it. Even if she returned now, Zack would see the scratches and ripped shirt and know that she’d gone into the trees, which was something she knew he wouldn’t be exactly thrilled about.

She stopped suddenly when she saw something in the dirt beneath her feet. Growing up in Tennessee was now a blessing to her, she thought as she kneeled and studied the ground. There were two sets of footprints. One larger, and probably belonging to a male. The other smaller, hinting that it had been a female’s feet. She recalled that Matt had told her that both Johnny and Leigh were gone. Could these be their footprints?

She decided she was going to find out. Knowing that she didn’t have much time until the others would begin searching for her, she needed to move quickly.

“What are you doing out here?” A voice hissed at her, pulling her attention from the tracks to another group of bushes. She groaned, recognizing the voice, and turned to see Johnny and Leigh standing there. Leigh was extremely scared-looking, while Johnny looked downright pissed off.

“Looking for you. I want to fucking know what’s going on.” She replied in a voice just as quiet as his had been. “Why’d you take off?”

“They’re going to try to kill Leigh.” He spat at her angrily. “Zack fucking came up with the idea himself. Doesn’t think she can be trusted. Even though she told Matt about Sean’s kid and has cooperated with them the entire fucking time. I’m not letting them kill her.”

“So you’re willing to betray your country for her?” Zack’s voice asked from behind Eliza, causing her to jump in fear. She hadn’t realized that they had followed her. He touched her shoulder, and she shivered when she realized that it was an angry kind of touch. He wasn’t happy with her. But right now, did that really matter?

“Is he telling the truth?” Eliza asked quietly. She didn’t know much about Leigh. Hell, even she wasn’t sure that she could trust the other redhead. But she had cooperated, and she didn’t cause trouble for anyone. It wasn’t fair to her to be subjected to death.

“It’s none of your business, Eliza.” Zack said quietly. “And before you ask, yes, we followed you. Matt had an idea that you were going to try to figure it out on your own.”

“Answer my question, Zack.” She whispered, turning to glare at him. “Are you trying to kill Leigh?”

“Yes.” He answered her, his voice frigid as he glared down at her. “Sean tampered with her DNA, we don’t know what else he fucking did to her. Even if she’s unaware, he could have put transmitters or any number of other things in her system that she doesn’t know about. And then there’s the possibility that she’s been one of his spies from the beginning. None of us were there the night Johnny took her, and we don’t even know if he was fully aware because he’d just escaped. For all we know, her placement in Avenged Sevenfold could be one big trap.”

“That’s bullshit, and you know it!” Johnny yelled at him, putting Leigh behind him. “You’re just too goddamn scared that you’re going to lose your own woman to realize that there’s nothing wrong with Leigh! You just like fucking controlling everything and everyone!”

“That’s enough! From both of you!” Jimmy’s voice called through the trees angrily as he too approached the scene. “Johnny, get your ass back to the fucking house. Take Leigh with you. Tobin, go with them and make sure he doesn’t fucking run off again..”

Tobin, who had been with Jimmy, nodded and walked with Leigh and Johnny as they got out of the bushes and began heading back down the trail. When they were gone, Jimmy glared down at Zack angrily.

‘You shouldn’t have made that call without pulling the rest of us in on it, Vengeance.” He said, his voice stiff. “We run Bat Country as a group of five. You know the rules. No decision is made unless it’s unanimous or majority rule. You had neither.”

“She’s fucking dangerous, Jimmy.” Zack said angrily, glaring right back at his friend. “And if you recall, if it’s decided by one member of the five that there is an immediate threat, immediate action can be taken without consultation.”

“You’re just bullshitting yourself and you know it.” Jimmy snapped back. “I hardly ever agree with Short Shit, but he’s right about this. Whatever personal shit you have with him has got to fucking stop. We have a country to run, allies to protect, and a criminal to hunt down. We can’t afford shit like this happening.”

“What would you do if you thought that Leigh was a threat to Leana? Huh?” Zack snapped back. Jimmy grabbed Zack’s shirt and pushed him against a nearby tree, glowering down at him. Both of them seemed to have forgotten that Eliza was still standing there.

“If you ever say something about a threat and Leana in the same sentence again, you’ll fucking pay for it, Vengeance.” Jimmy spat at him. “I’m not going to allow your personal fucking vendetta to hurt any of us. Including Eliza.”

She looked up at her name, wondering what Jimmy meant before sighing when she realized that, like always, she wouldn’t be getting an explanation. Usually she was resigned to that fact, but lately all she wanted was a straight answer, something that seemed to be nonexistent with life in Avenged Sevenfold.

“Eliza, come on. We’re going back to the house.” Jimmy said, touching her shoulder lightly. She looked up at him and wondered why he was telling her that she needed to come with him, but when she looked back at Zack, she saw the reason plastered all over his face.

He was livid. And she could tell that a lot of his anger was directed at her right now. She didn’t know what she’d done to upset him, but it didn’t really matter. If he was really angry with her for siding with Leigh in this, maybe they shouldn’t be around each other for awhile. She couldn’t put her morals aside for her love.

She just hoped that Zack could put his anger aside for her, she thought as she let Jimmy lead her out of the trees and back towards the house.