No Time To Bleed

The sun glared down on us as we walked into the tent. There was Kevin and Reagan on the couch with Willa and Richard in the background.

Kevin smiled at us snarkly. “Hey, what were you guys doing?”

Ugh, what a brat. I bet he blabbed everything to his parents.

Alex pulled his hands behind his back and exhaled. “We were just discussing our travel plans. We plan to be leaving soon.”

Willa was eating away from a can of vegetables. “You guys are leaving?”

Reagan seemed to be more interested in the television than us, but I bet he was listening.

Cece had her own hands crammed into her pockets. “Yeah, we appreciate all your help. We just need to get moving along.”

“Well, how’s about we help you guys fill up on some water? There’s a well not too far from here. It’s a miracle, but it managed to survive in this god damn sun.”

Cece and Alex nodded readily while Willa and Richard got up. Will grabbed her purse despite the fact there was nothing within miles that could be bought for money.

“Alright, Reagan, don’t do anything stupid. Kevin you come with us.”

Kevin’s jaw dropped. “Aw! Why?! I wanna watch TV!”

“Kevin, are you god damn stupid?! Come with us or I’ll give you something to cry about!”

Kevin’s eyebrows mashed together and he had the same pouty look I’d seen on Eli before, but Kevin sucked it up. Kevin locked his arms across his chest and walked out with Richard with grabbed the cooler. Cece followed, but Alex stayed behind a second longer. His hand went to my shoulder.

“What?”

His clear blue eyes looked to me. “Be careful.”

“Don’t worry. “ The dismissive tone was meant to annoy him, but I guess it comforted him because he left right then.

Now it was just me and Reagan.

“Hey Bunny.”

I swallowed at bit hesitantly in my throat.

His snaky eyes flickered to me. “Why you standing there all nervous? Come and sit down.” A smirk of a smile his lips as he patted the couch next to him, can of fizzed out soda in his other hand.

I walked over stiffly and sat. His arm arched around the head of the couch, just barely touching the back of my neck.

“Why are you doing this, Jasmine?” His voices sounded creepier.

The television channel wasn’t even working now.

“What?” I said.

“Do you even know anything about my family? What we’ve been through to get here? What that virus did to us?”

I stayed silent, pretending to be sympathetic. “No, I don’t.”

“We lived in a little shack off in this weird patch of woods that no one cared to notice. We were happy. My parents were happy with their deer and their knives and their guns” His voice drifted off into a fog. “But, then the virus came and now you guys are here trying to do something crazy.”

Reagan’s face finally turned to me, dark eyes molding into mine and breathe washing over my face. “Do you know what I’m saying?”

I wasn’t sure what kind of act this was, but it was scaring me alright. There was something not right about this boy, about this entire family.

“You’re a selfish girl, Jasmine. Pretending to care about your father and that boy, Alex, and Ryant and all this people, but yourself.”

He must have overheard all of my conversations, even the ones with Cece late that one night.

“But, you don’t care about them.” His words became softer and softer into my ear. “You should be caring about yourself.”

His rough and calloused hands reached for the nape of my neck, the edge of it near the collarbone. His touch felt wrong against my skin until his cheek rubbed against mine like porcelain against sandpaper.

“You deserve someone the same as you, Jasmine.” His lips finally meet my cheek and the musk of weeks of no hygiene hit me.

His body leaned towards me, closer and closer until he was pressing into me.

“You’re eyes are so beautiful, so brown.” His legs were over my waist now. “I know what you want.”

Something from within his pants pressed against my thigh and I resisted the wave of nausea within me. He kissed my lips, pressing his body further and further into mine. “I know what you want.”

I swallowed. “Then give me the keys. Give them to me.”

His breath washed over my face in warm, stinking chuckle. “You’re silly, Bunny. I don’t have the keys.”

His hips grinded into mine and I felt something hard press against me again.

“You’re the stupidest girl I’ve ever met.”

My hand stretched for the bat, but he moved. He whipped the thing from my range of motion and head butted me so hard that I could’ve sworn I felt my skull crack. All sorts of pounding were going off in my head.

His hands dug into my chin and forced me to face him. “I wanna see how you fight.”

His head slammed into me again. I choked back and tried to roll over. Hands dug into my hair and I let out a scream.

“Ah, the bitch wants to scream, huh? I’ll give you a reason scream!”

The bat went clambering down and slammed into my left ear drum. A hard ringing hit my entire word as sobs left me.

“Get up! I wanna see how you fight, Bunny!”

I felt the pressure of his foot leave my back and I stumbled to my feet. My head was pounding, my ears were ringing, and I was sure I’d taken enough shit today to last a lifetime. A wad of my own blood left my mouth as I spat.

His hands urged me on towards. “Come on, bunny. Let’s see how you fight.”

That’s when I lunged for him, my hands aiming to wrap around his throat.