World Ended

“Let go of her,” Ariah demanded. He could grab for his gun but he knew it was empty and even if it wasn’t the guy would probably freak out if he saw it. Ariah didn’t know what to do. He felt helpless not being able to help his sister. He hated feeling helpless.

“Stay back! Who are you? Where am I? What happened?” Braxton rattled the questions off quickly. His head was throbbing and he was kind of light headed. The girl in his arms was wiggling. He feared he would lose his grip on her and he couldn’t risk that happening. The guy in front of him obviously cared a great deal for her. He wasn’t going to attack Braxton with the girl in front of him. He held the knife closer to the girl’s neck. She let out a moan of pain and he instantly pulled it off her throat. He didn’t want to hurt anybody.

“I’m Avery,” said the girl in his arms. “That’s Ariah. We found you and brought you back here to our hideout. You’re safe here.”

Avery didn’t lie completely. They did find him, though he wasn’t unconscious but he didn’t need to know that. He would also be safe, if she could convince Ariah not to kill him after she was released. And she knew he would release her. She wasn’t sure why but there was something about him that screamed protector. She didn’t believe he would kill her, or anybody else for that matter.

“Get off of her! I swear I’m going to fucking kill you,” Ariah yelled at Braxton.

Avery sighed. Telling someone you were going to kill them was not going to make that person obey you. She could tell by the way Braxton was standing that he was getting more nervous. In drastic situations it was best to stay calm and it was kind of hard to do when your brother was only making the situation worst. Not to mention the knife was only an inch away from her throat.

“I won’t let him near you,” she told the man. “He is only saying that because he is afraid. I understand that you must have been freaked out waking up around complete strangers. I would have too. We won’t hurt you though. Just let me go okay?”

Her voice was soft and relaxing. Braxton didn’t know why but he felt that he could trust the thin girl he was holding. He slowly lowered his arms away from her and took a step back. The knife was still in his grasp but that didn’t stop Ariah. He launched himself at Braxton was quickly stopped by his sister. Braxton was surprised that a girl as small as she was could hold back a guy like Ariah. He had been a football player when they had attended school so he was well built. Avery didn’t seem to care about his size though.

“Zachariah stop it right now!” Avery only used his full name when she was angry with him. “He let me go. He isn’t going to hurt me.”

“He had a knife to your throat,” Ariah protested.

“Yes but he didn’t hurt me,” Avery lied. Her throat stung a little and where he had gripped her was soar but she was fine.

“What the hell is going on in here?” Kenneth asked as he stormed into the room. He didn’t say much usually. He was happy as long as there was a safe place to sleep, food to eat, and quite. He usually stayed cooped up in his room with his wife, Hailey. She was the optimist of the group. She believed that as long as everyone stuck together we would all be alright. Avery thought she was kind of out there but she kept her comments to herself.

“Can you and Ariah make sure Griffin is in the house. It’ll be dark soon.”

“No way am I leaving you alone with him,” Ariah shouted.

“I can take care of myself Ariah. Go, now!” She put her hands on her hips in the way their mother used to. It was scary how she could look just like her at times.

Ariah looked Braxton in the eyes. “You hurt my sister again and you’re dead.” With that he stormed out of the room with a confused Kenneth behind him.

“I’m sorry. My name is Braxton. I shouldn’t have done that,” he told her quietly.

Avery looked at the man who was staring at the floor. “Well Braxton as long as you don’t do it again I think you will be just fine here.”

Braxton looked up at the girl. For the first time since he woke up he was able to really look at her. She was a beauty, that was for sure. She had long auborn hair that she had tied into a ponytail. Her big round eyes were a sparkling silver. She was tiny, fragile. Braxton could stare at her forever and probably would have if she hadn’t cleared her throat.

His cheeks immediately flushed red, causing Avery to giggle. “Come on,” she said with a smile. Braxton was totally surprised that she had not only forgiven him for his roughness but was also touching him. Her hand gripped his fingers as she pulled him out of the room and toward the bathroom. “Shower and I’ll clean up your wounds when you get out and you can eat ok?” She didn’t wait for his answer before she walked away.

Braxton entered the bathroom. When he finally reached a shower he had expected his first thoughts to be on getting clean water. All he could think about was how pretty Avery was.