Twisted Ties

A few days felt like weeks. But slowly the girl had started to heal. Did all humans heal so slowly? Or was it because she refused to take it easy? He had watched her as she continued to get better, pushing herself, rushing through physio and such with Tallah as though she had somewhere to be soon. It made no sense. Eliot had made it quite clear that she would have all the time she needed in order to heal, so why go through all the trouble? It made no sense to Dare. Anytime he asked the others they said they didn’t know what was going on, which told him Eliot hadn’t let anyone else in on it yet.

His only option, would be to suck it up and ask the human. Which hadn’t been going very well as of late. They didn’t get along. He hated her for what she was, and she seemed bound and determined not to to talk to him unless she absolutely had to. Or...maybe he had just gotten really good at tuning her out? It was hard to say. Regardless, communication wasn’t exactly happening.

His thoughts fell apart when there was a knock on the door. Opening the thing up he looked at Tallah, she hadn’t provided him any answers either. No matter how much he bugged. “Good morning.” She spoke so sweetly it nearly turned his stomach. Dare just scowled. “Not you, I know better than to say good morning to you.” The woman huffed.

Dare just shook his head. The human female was already on her feet, standing over by the window that had been replaced properly just last night. What on earth had she been looking at? Wait. She had said something before about being outside. Glancing at the floor he sighed. Tallah made a comment but he tuned her out, he was sick or her already, doting over the human like it was a child. There was more talking, most of which was done by Tallah, but a few moments later he did pick up on the human woman’s voice. “Oh no, it’s okay. I don’t mind. I wouldn’t like it much either if I had to be glued to someone twenty-four hours a day every day.” Glancing up he sent a snarl in their direction.

The smile that touched the human’s face almost looked forced. It didn’t reach her eyes. And yet Tallah didn’t even seem to notice, she had gone on about being glad the human was in a better mood. Dare wasn’t even sure what made him realize the smile wasn’t real, all he knew, was it was fake. His eyes narrowed on the two as they talked. The more he paid attention, the more he could pick up on. Despite the cheery sound to her tone, her words were monotonous. As though she didn’t care one way or another. She reminded him of… Slamming his thoughts out of his mind he shook his head.

Looking over at Tallah he spoke up in a bit of a rush. “You’re good here with the girl for a minute yeah?” Tallah looked over his way but he just shook his head and walked out the door. He didn’t really have time to explain, and he wasn’t about to say why he wanted to know if they would be good or not, it wasn’t any of their damn business anyway. And with the woman there, the human didn’t need him in the room...right?

Whether they were good or not didn’t matter. He needed a few minutes of fresh air before he snapped. Walking through the hall he kept mulling over options. When he made it outside he circled the building a good three times just to stretch his legs. But before long, he was heading back inside. It was frustrating. To think he had been trapped on guard duty long enough that he could only go out for such a short walk.

He stopped in another room along the way and grabbed a sandwich to snack on before making his way back to the room the human was in. He frowned as someone gave him a strange look. Rolling his eyes he was stepping back into the room just as the human seemed to be in the middle of talking. Quietly he leaned up against the wall once the door was closed. Unwrapping the sandwich to take a bite he listened carefully.

“...and all he said was that I should be prepared. If I could make it to the road he said was east of here through the forest, he told me I would be free and unharmed.” Holy hell, the human was talking about a trial. Did Eliot really intend to hunt her? It was common around here if there were survivors that might have seen too much, they put them on a trial, claiming if they made it to the road they would be free to live. The only problem was, in more than the twenty some odd years of memories he had, no one had ever made it out of the forest alive.

Tallah knew this as well, and so when she smiled and told the girl how lucky she was, Dare almost wanted to call her on it. Nearly choking on the bite of his meal he had just taken, had brought both sets of eyes towards him, he waved them off, and Tallah looked away. But he caught the human’s gaze narrowing slightly. When he finished eating he tossed the paper in the trash can just as Tallah was walking out the door. She didn’t say anything to him before slipping outside.

“Dare Right?” He glanced towards the human, who was standing at the window again. What on earth could she want now? “When that man talked to me a few days ago. He told me I would be okay if I made it to the road. You live here don’t you? ...Tell me...what do you think my odds are?” She didn’t even look back his way, just kept looking out the window. Was she serious? What did she think he was, a fountain of freaking information she could take from whenever she wanted?

He could have ignored her, probably should have, instead he found himself talking. “Brutally honest, I don’t think you stand any chance. I would put you at Zero Percent.” He watched as her expression faltered for a second, and then she turned towards him. After the way Tallah had lied to her face, maybe he felt bad, or maybe he was just trying to push her buttons. The girl was human, it’s not like she would live to see tomorrow anyway if another of his kind slipped in unannounced. Before she could open her mouth to say anything else, he pushed on and continued.

“He plans on hunting you down.” She didn’t seem surprised by the information. Had Eliot been right? Had the human seen more than she was letting on? Did she know what they were? “The road is East, he wouldn’t lie about that. But the odds of you making it even half way there are very slim.” She twisted at that moment to look back at the window. Or maybe out the window, not that it mattered too much. He watched as the silence dragged on, he could almost see it going over in her mind.

“Do you know much about it? This hunt?” He heard her ask and yet he couldn’t believe it. He was left without words for a long moment before his brain finally decided to tell him to speak up.

He shrugged his shoulders, mumbling something about a few options before it started. She went on to explain her exact plan to him, of how she would make her way out of the forest, her path anyway. He couldn’t believe it. Was she lying in order to throw them off her trail? Did she expect that he would go and tell Eliot what her plans were? Frowning as he considered it carefully he shook his head, asking her why she would bother laying it all out like that. When she looked at him again she had another of those smiles on, the kind that didn’t reach her eyes. “Strangely enough, I feel like I can trust you. Even if I can’t, even if you turn your back and tell on me, I just thought I could share.” He scoffed and shook his head.

Sounded to him more like she was talking to hear herself. Or perhaps she just wanted someone to know where she would be when she died. Or rather got herself killed. He might have suggested she sneak away a day early, but the odds of her getting out undetected were slim to none, and even then if she got out of the building, she had to get out of the forest. Easier said than done if one didn’t know the layout.