Welcome to the Family

Rebecca woke up alone. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before reopening her eyes. She got out of the bed and started walking towards the door. It was difficult since her foot was still in a cast. She used the wall to support a lot of her weight and edged herself towards the stairs. She caught flashes of red all along the walls and tried not to panic. Taking deep breaths she managed to get to the stairs. Instead of trying to walk down the stairs she sat down and used her arms the best she could to get down. She probably should have called for help from one of the five men willing to help her, but she wanted to do this on her own. She had to do this on her own.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs she took another deep breath before hoisting herself up into the wheelchair placed right by the bottom of the stairs. Breathing hard from the exertion on her body she closed her eyes again to get another gulp of air into her lungs. She used her somewhat good hand, the one she sliced open, to maneuver the chair through the hallways of Johnny's house. More red splotches were seen throughout the hallways and Rebecca tried to move faster. She caught site of a body on the floor, but the body wasn't moving. She started to freak out and pushed the chair to go faster. It wouldn't budge and she looked down to see a body staring up at her. It was the face of someone she didn't recognize and then there was another body lying next to it.

The first one was a female and the second of a man. She was confused, but scared. There was more red all along the walls. The splatter of the red was everywhere and she couldn't figure out where it came from. Since she couldn't go further in the wheelchair she climbed out trying to avoid the two bodies in the hallway. She used the wall to keep herself up.

"Mommy, mommy wake up," a little girl's voice echoed in the living room.

Rebecca managed to get to the opening of the living room and peered in. Bodies were strewn everywhere. Unmoving bodies, except for the single little girl kneeling next to a woman who resembled Rebecca's appearance; the scene made Rebecca want to vomit. Rebecca held in her gasp of disgust and stared at the little girl. She had on a backpack and there was a locket around her neck dangling into the young woman's face as the little girl leaned over and tried to shake the woman awake. Nothing happened at all. Rebecca felt a single tear streak down her face as she continued to watch.

Suddenly the little girl snapped her head up and stared in Rebecca's direction. Her eyes went wide and then she let out a blood curdling scream. Rebecca whipped around to see a dark figure advancing towards the little girl. The girl continued to scream. Rebecca stuck her foot out to try and stop the figure. He tripped and fell. The girl looked again, but this time she was on her feet.

"Run," Rebecca shouted.

The girl took off running. Her screams fading into nothing as she continued to run away. The figure scrambled to his feet and took off after the girl. Rebecca was in no shape to go after the figure, but she tried. Instead she ended up tripping and falling. She landed with a loud thump onto the ground. Unfortunately, she landed on something. She looked down and came face to face with the wide open eyes of one of the men who had so willingly helped her since she stowed away on their bus. She looked closer and recognized it to be Zacky.

His unseeing green eyes stared up at her. She scrambled back off of him and in another direction. Panic set in as she continued to move backward. She hit another body draped over the couch with his arm hanging over it and his head lolling to the side. The same unseeing hazel eyes of the big burly Matt met hers. She started to hyperventilate as she crawled away from his body. She continued to crawl away unable to take her eyes off of Matt's apparently dead body until she hit the hand of another. She looked in that direction only to be met with the bright blue eyes of Jimmy. She screamed unable to keep it in anymore.

******

Jimmy was jolted awake by a loud piercing scream. The body that was tucked in his embrace was thrashing and kicking. He tried to soothe her, but it wasn't working. He tried to wake her up, but that wasn't working either. Loud footsteps could be heard pounding up the stairs. The door slammed open with a loud bang and Jimmy looked towards it to see Matt, Johnny, Zacky, and Brian standing there.

"What happened?" Zacky asked.

"I don't know. She started screaming and thrashing," Jimmy said.

"It's the nightmare. That recurring nightmare she mentioned once while on the bus, remember," Johnny stated.

Jimmy should have smacked himself in the head. She had that nightmare a couple of times while at his house, but it never took him or Leana this long to calm her down afterwards. Something else was wrong with her. Unless her nightmare shifted and got worse, but Jimmy wouldn't know until she woke up. He continued to rub soothing circles up and down her back and tried to get close enough to her ear to soothe her. She wasn't having any of that.

"Hold her tightly. Just hold her tight. She responds to being held tightly," Brian piped up.

Everyone looked at him in confusion. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I couldn't sleep one night while on the bus. She was on the couch having a nightmare, so I pulled her off and just held tight. She fought, but after awhile she stopped," he explained.

No one said anything to him. Jimmy squeezed her as tightly as he could. She continued to thrash within his embrace, but it started to become less violent as he kept his hold against her. Her head stopped moving and he was able to whisper into her ear to soothe her a little more. Finally, she stopped kicking. Her incessant screaming turned into mere whimpering. Jimmy gently wiped away the few tears that managed to fall down her cheeks. He kissed the top of her head and rocked her back and forth. He loosened his death grip on her, but she clutched at his arms to not leave her. He settled back down on the bed and continued to whisper soothing words of comfort in her ear.

Soon her breathing was back to normal and she was asleep again. Without waking her up Jimmy shifted so he was leaning against the back of the bed. Rebecca had her arms wrapped tightly around his torso and her head was resting on his chest. He looked towards his friends and raised an eyebrow.

"She still has a long ways to go," Matt said.

"Yeah, and these nightmares aren't helping," Jimmy said, stroking her hair away from her face.

"How do you think we can help her with them?" Brian wondered.

Jimmy looked at him unsure of what to say. He wanted to help her get rid of them, but he also knew that these nightmares could possibly give her answers about her family that he wasn't able to give her. He shrugged his shoulders in answer to his friend's question. When they knew that Rebecca was alright they left Jimmy alone with her. They knew that she wouldn't want to be gawked at when she woke up. Jimmy rested his head on top of Rebecca's like an older brother would to a little sister or a father would to his daughter. He was more worried about her mental state with all these constant nightmares that she had than her physical well being.

She had a doctor's visit in the next couple of days to check on the progress of her healing limbs. Jimmy lifted his head when he felt her stir against him. Her arms loosened their death grip on him and she sat up looking dazed and confused. She rubbed her eyes with the hand that didn't have a cast attached to it and then stared blearily at Jimmy.

"Jimmy?" she questioned confused.

"I'm here Rebecca," he stated.

"I'm sorry," she said, before latching herself back to his torso.

He encircled his arms around her and kissed the top of his head. "For what?" he asked her.

"Scaring the shit out of you about me going to the hospital, I'm sure you freaked out the most. I don't know why I did it, but I wish I hadn't," she said.

"Rebecca, I don't understand the protective feelings I have for you, but you're right. I was scared. When I saw you lying here facing the wall, I felt like I had failed you in more ways than one. When I told you about your family, I wasn't trying to be a bastard. I was just trying to help ease the pain that you might feel if you had found out on your own," he told her.

"You're the only one, well you and your friends are the only people who seemed to really give a shit about me," she said.

"What do you mean?" Jimmy asked.

"Before I even got onto your bus, I have been on the streets. I got looks of pity from a lot of people. I got looks of disgust from others. Not many stopped to lend me a hand or give me food. The five of you showed me more courtesy then I deserve considering I stowed away. I half expected you to throw me out on my ass when you found me hiding on your bus," she said.

"Why would expect that?" he asked.

"It's happened before. I had been in an orphanage a couple of times not sure if my family was alive and searching for me. I was just looking for a place to stay that was warm for the night and some food to eat. Each one I went to threw me out stating that I caused too many problems for the other kids in there. Finally, I just got fed up with being treated like shit and decided to just travel the states the best I could. I had no real destination in mind though," she answered.

"My God, Rebecca, no wonder you don't trust people," Jimmy murmured.

"It's nothing against you or your friends. I'm just afraid to get too attached and then something happens and I'm back on the streets again. Not that I can't take care of myself or anything like that, but I don’t like the streets. Rats, spiders, other disgusting rodents and insects. Nasty, perverted men trying to get into my pants," she shuddered.

Jimmy held her tighter at hearing her say those things. He wasn't about to give her up to the streets again. She deserved a chance at a normal life even if her family was dead. She knew she had a brother, but he wasn't sure if she would want to look for him or not. If she did then he would stand behind her like a father would a daughter. He felt like she needed someone to guide her through the rest of her life and he hoped that he could be part of that.

"Can you take me downstairs now?" Rebecca asked.

"Sure. I bet everyone is waiting to see you," he smiled at her.

She sat up enough for Jimmy to get out of the bed. He bent at his knees and picked her up bridal style so that he could carry her down the stairs. As Rebecca waited to enter the living room she couldn't help but think about her nightmare. Tears immediately sprang to her eyes at the thought of how vividly gruesome her nightmare had been. She wondered who the little girl was and who the tall dark figure had been that made her scream like she did. She felt a cold shiver seep into the pits of her stomach and creep up to her heart and make it run cold.

Jimmy looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "You okay?" he asked. She shook her head no and clutched to him tighter. She couldn't fathom not having him in her life even though he hadn't been in it for very long. He treated her like another human being and not some piece of scum on the bottom of his shoe. She liked being treated like that.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'll tell you in a bit," she said, as he continued to walk towards the living room. He nodded his head and looked forward. When they both entered into the living room all heads shot up and stared at them. Rebecca turned her head away not liking the attention. She knew that they were worried about her though.

"Rebecca, what was your nightmare about?" Brian asked.

Rebecca turned her attention to him and stayed quiet for a minute. She wasn't sure if she should tell them or not. In the few short weeks that she knew these men she had grown way too attached for her liking. She took a deep breath and decided to just go for it.

"I woke up alone. I had managed to get myself down the stairs without any help despite my casts, but when I got downstairs and into the wheelchair, but I couldn't move very far. The hallway was littered with bodies, dead bodies from what I could tell. I didn't know what to do, so I managed to get up against the wall for support. I was searching for you, well anyone of you for help. When I got to the living room entrance there was a little girl kneeling next to a dead woman. She called her mommy," Rebecca stopped to swallow hard.

"It's okay, take your time," Jimmy reassured her. She nodded and took a deep breath again.

"The little girl looked around the age of five. She had a small backpack on. She turned her attention towards me and then she screamed bloody murder. I don't know if it was at me or if she was seeing something totally different. I had looked behind me and saw a tall dark figure heading straight towards her. I thought I could maybe trip him, but his ankle went right through mine. I looked back at the girl and screamed for her to run. She ran, but the figure chased after her.

"I tried to go after her to maybe help her, but I tripped over some more bodies. There was lots of red on the walls. I didn't know what it was, but there was a lot of red. When I had," Rebecca stopped to try and collect herself. This was the hard part of the damn nightmare she had. Jimmy rubbed slow circles on her back to try and help. She took deep breaths and swallowed rather hard. "When I had looked to see who I had tripped over I came face to face with open unseeing green eyes that looked exactly like Zacky's. I panicked and tried to move away, but ended up hitting a dead hand. When I looked at that one it showed me dead hazel eyes like Matt's so I started to hyperventilate not sure what happened. I moved away as fast as I could, but hit-but hit another dead body," she choked on a sob.

"If it's too hard to talk about, you don't need to discuss the rest," Matt said. coming to sit next to her.

She shook her head and took another deep breath. She willed herself to say the next part. "The body that I hit had piercing blue eyes, like yours Jimmy, but what really freaked me out was that the body looked exactly like you," Rebecca finished, placing her head in her hands. She broke down into more sobs and didn't fight the embrace that she was put into.

Jimmy sighed not sure what to say. He didn't think he was getting through to her, but for her to dream something as vivid as his dead body and screaming over it told him that he was getting through. He hoped that she knew that it was just a dream and that she shouldn't dwell on it. He held back a wince when his stomach gave a jolt. He felt like he wanted to be sick, but couldn't. It felt like something was holding him back from being sick and he didn't like it. He knew that he would probably have to see the doctors soon. He just wanted to sit here with Rebecca and make sure that she knew she was safe and nothing would come to harm her or his friends.

******

The boy breathed heavily as he ran through the woods. He had just barely managed to escape the death prison where he'd been stashed. He didn't know how long he'd been there or how long it would take for him to actually get caught. He didn't care. All he cared about was escaping. He wasn't very strong, but he knew that if he needed to he could outrun anything. As far as he could remember he used to run around and chase his dad and tackle him to the ground. He heard laughter and clapping at this particular memory. A lot of his memories were blurry and unclear, but he vowed to try and remember.

He continued to run. He stopped for a small breather against a wide oak tree. He didn't know where he was at the moment, but he hoped that he would find his way to a place he might recognize. He was scared, but he had to tamp down his fear. He listened closely hoping to catch the sound of pounding footsteps or the sound of breaking tree branches as someone stepped on them. Leaves littered the forest floor and the boy looked down at his already bleeding, dirty bare feet. His pant legs were torn and he had scratches adorning his lightly tanned skin.

His head shot up at the light snap of a rotten, broken tree branch. With one massive gulp of air he took off running again. He had to find the main road and hopefully find someone who would be willing to help him. His feet throbbed as he continued to put pressure on the already shredded bottoms. He wasn't in the best shape, but he had to try and make his escape. He still couldn't believe that he had managed to escape the hell hole he'd been in, but he was glad that he did.

He continued to run without a sense of direction in mind. He looked up quickly through the tops of the trees and located the North Star. If he remembered one thing his father taught him it was to always follow the North Star. He was headed in the right direction. He continued following that until he reached the edge of dark pavement. He was going to dash across the road because he had overheard the people who held him hostage say that the other side wasn't part of their land. He had to try. He looked both ways and then dashed across.

The blinding white lights of a speeding car came straight for him. He felt his body slam into
the front of the car. His head smashed against the windshield and then he rolled off as the car came to screeching halt. He heard the faint noises of the engine running.

"Sweet Jesus, boy, are you alright?" a male voice asked with concern etched in every word.

The boy groaned unable to answer. He tasted the coppery, metallic taste of blood in his mouth and moved his head to the side. He spat out some blood and tried to get up. His body was in immense pain, but he couldn't think about that pain. Not now. When he managed to get to his feet he took off running again towards the other side of the road. He'd find help through someone else. His vision was starting to swim to black, but he pushed further.

He had to get away and not be found. As he continued to run he came across a camp ground with a bunch of cabins surrounding the area. Lights swam brightly in the nearest one and he ran towards it. He hobbled up the stairs and pounded on the door hoping that whoever was inside would help him. The door opened and before he pitched forward he saw a tall burly man and a girl standing just behind him.