Hybrids: A New Species

Four years since the end, New Mexico (Past)

The scorching blazing sun heats up the dry desert of New Mexico. A teenager desperately runs through the streets of a small town, carrying a small bag of food. There are three men falling dangerously behind him. The teen quickly turns into an alleyway, leading him into an area with destroyed buildings and rubble. He pants heavily, out of breath and quickly checks his surroundings. He can’t find an exit. He moves his long black hair away from his face and wipes the sweat from his forehead. The three men chasing him approach closer, their voices getting louder. The teen draws a knife and prepares to face his attackers. Finally, the men approach, all them dirty looking with sun burnt skin.

“There he is!” One of them yells.

The taller man of the two steps up ahead, with a machete in his hand.

“You think you could steal from our group and get away with it?” He says, his voice dry.

“You know what we do to thieves around here?” He says, getting closer to the teenager.

The boy doesn’t say a word. He just holds the stolen bag closer to him and has his small knife up to defend himself.

The man with the machete takes steps closer to the teenager as he walks back. His back comes against the wall. He’s trapped.

“Should I cut your feet or hands off first?” the machete man says, grinning evilly.

The other two men follow closely behind, one with an axe and the other with a metal bat.

The young man swallows and finally speaks with a smug tone, “Maybe you should ask my sister.”

The men look confused, then suddenly, the man with the bat screams in pain. The other two men quickly turn to see their friend on the ground with a broken leg. By him is another teenager, with a metal pipe in her hand. She has short messy black hair that falls to her shoulders, and a calm tired expression. She swings her pipe ferociously, bashing in the man’s face and killing him. The other two have terror in their eyes, still trying to understand what just happened. Then the other man with the axe has a sudden shocked expression. Blood drips from his mouth and he drops to the floor. A knife in his back.

“What the fuck?” The machete man speaks, astonish to see his friends dead on the floor.

The young man retrieves his blade from the dead man’s back and stands next to his sister. She’s a few inches taller than him.

“Nice going brother.” she tells him.

The two look alike. The older sister has the pipe and the younger brother has the bag of food and knife.

“I like his machete.” The younger brother says.

“Do you want it?” His sister asks.

“Hmm. Maybe.”

The two talk to each other, but keep their attention on the man.

“You fucking brats are dead!” The machete man barks, charging with his machete up.

He swings his weapon but the sister parries his attack with the pipe. While his older sister counters the attack, the young man charges in with his knife and jabs it into the man’s stomach. The man is stricken with pain. He coughs blood out. The man knows death is coming for him. The little brother withdraws his knife and dark red blood begins to pour out of the man’s stomach. He drops to his knees, holding his hands over the wound, but there’s too much blood. The older sister brings the man’s chin up with the pipe.

“Who are you kids?” The man speaks, life slowly draining from him.

“It doesn’t matter.” The sister says.

Then she swings the pipe to the man’s head, cracking his skull and killing him.

“Izzy, you should have told him.” The younger brother says.

Isabella inspects her pipe. It’s bent up and cracked. She then looks to her younger brother.

“It really didn’t matter Damon. He was going to die.” she says.

“Whatever” he smugly replies.

“Give me the bag.” Isabella demands.

Damon hands his sister the bag of food. Isabella looks through it, only to find a small loaf of bread and a few apples.

She looks annoyed.

“Was this it?” She asks angrily.

“It’s what I was able to grab.”

Anger begins to fuel Isabella, but then she closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths.

“It’s fine.” she softly speaks.

Damon can tell when his sister is distressed.

Isabella keeps her thoughts to herself and begins inspecting the bodies of the men they killed.

“When should we attack their camp again?” Damon asks, watching his sister pat down the bodies for additional loot.

“I don’t know yet.” she answers.

“Let’s do it tomorrow!” Damon happily suggests.

Isabella grabs the machete laying on the ground.

“No. They’re going to up their security, it be risky to attempt another attack.” she says.

“What? You don’t trust me enough to grab it again?” Damon says.

“It’s not that.”

“Then let’s just do it! We’re way smarter than those idiots.” Damon explains.

“Brother that’s enough!” Isabella yells.

Damon remains quiet, scared of his sister’s sudden shout.

“You don’t listen. We had a set plan for today and you blew by going into the wrong alleyway.”

“I really don’t see the problem here. We got the food, didn’t we? We even got new weapons.” Damon explains, picking up the ax from one of the bodies.

Isabella begins to stab the heads of the bodies around them to prevent them from coming back.

“That’s not the point. You need to listen to me when I tell you something. You can’t just go out and do stuff and expect positive results.”

“Whatever.” Damon replies, rolling his eyes.

Isabella jabs the machete into the last head.

“We’re done here.” she tells her brother. “Let’s head back.”

“I thought I was getting the machete?” Damon says.

Isabella examines the weapon. It’s light and sturdy. She likes it.

“As punishment for not listening to me. I’m keeping it.”

“What?! No fair!” Damon whines.

“Oh well.” Isabella mocks. “Keep that ax. It suits you.”

Damon throws the ax to the ground.

“I don’t want it. It looks stupid.”

“Suit yourself. But I think you look cool with it.” she says, smiling at her brother.

Damon rarely ever sees his sister smile. It fills him with joy when she does. Damon smiles too and picks up the ax.

“You really think so?”

Isabella begins to walk away. “Of course. Now let’s go before I leave you behind.”

Damon runs to catch up with his sister.

The two siblings walk together, content they got new weapons and some food. However, this feeling is only temporary.

Night has approached and the hot warm air of New Mexico has now transition to a cold darkness. A week has passed since Isabella and Damon attacked a group for food. Now they take shelter in a small tattered brick house. Part of the roof is missing and broken rubble from the house lays scattered on the ground. Isabella sits in a corner, watching her brother from the other side of the room. Damon lays underneath a thin blanket, shivering from the cold.

Isabella can feel her stomach beginning to eat itself. It’s been a few days since their last bite of food. She looks up at the open roof. The stars in the night are bright. Something she wouldn’t normally see when she lived in the city. She closes her eyes and thinks about her past life.

Only thirteen years old back then, and her brother twelve, Isabella and Damon were just normal kids. Well at least her brother was. Damon enjoyed being with his friends, but not Isabella. She was antisocial. She didn’t like many things except for two, her mom and brother, they were the only people she cared about. Their father was a different story. His name was John, he was a drunk and abusive towards their mother. Isabella hated him. She dislikes school, people in general, and the world, but her father was something she despised more than anything.

When the virus spread and people began dying off, John was one of the first people to get sick. Isabella’s mother was worried about John’s health, as he began puking blood and having a high fever. Even though he abused her most of her life, their mother still cared very deeply for John. Isabella couldn’t understand this and it made her furious. When they saw what the sickness was doing to people, Isabella knew what she had to do. One night, while her mother and brother were asleep, Isabella sneaks into her father’s room. He laid there, barely moving and desperately holding on to his life. Isabella closes the door behind her, leaving only her and John alone in the dark. Isabella holds a large kitchen knife in her hand. She looks down at her father, dark bags under his eyes and no color to his skin.

“Isabella?” John’s voice mutters, cracked.

Isabella doesn’t say anything, she just leers over him with the knife.

Her father cracks a laugh, wheezing with the lack of oxygen.

“Came to end your old man’s life huh?” John says.

Isabella tightly grips the knife, “The sickness is turning people. Turning them into monsters.”

“So I heard.”

“I know mom won’t do it and I won’t let Damon do it. So it’s up to me to prevent you from turning into one of those things and hurting them.”

Her father wheezes another laugh. “You won’t do it. You’re weak.”

Isabella is shaking. She hates John, but she’s not sure if she will be able to do it. End her father’s life.

Isabella raises her knife higher, still shaking.

John coldly looks into his daughter’s eyes, “You’ll suffer in this life.”

Tears begin to fill Isabella’s eyes, “Shut up!!” she yells as she thrusts the blade into her father’s chest.

John gasps in pain, and he takes his last breath. Then, his body goes stiff. Dead.

Isabella backs away, the knife still in John’s chest. She falls back, still processing what she has just done. No thirteen-year-old should have to kill their own parent. Then a small voice comes behind her.

“Izzy?”

She slowly turns around to see her brother just witness his father’s death.

“Damon...” Isabella mutters.

Damon is in shocked. Not understanding why his sister killed their father.

“Damon. He was sick. He was going to hurt us.” Isabella desperately tries to explain.

Then their mother runs in after hearing Isabella yell. She looks at Isabella, sitting on the floor, then her husband, dead on the bed with a knife his chest.

She gasps, “God no. Isabella what did you?”

She runs to the bed, crying and desperately seeing if John is still alive.

“Izzy... Why?” Damon whimpers.

“I-I just wanted to protect you. He was going to hurt us.” Isabella explains, still shaking from fear.

“No. I hate-” Damon’s sentence is interrupt by their mother’s screaming.

Isabella quickly looks to her mother. Her eyes widen in fear. John is biting into their mother’s neck. He rips a chunk of her flesh off.

“Wh-what?” Isabella mutters, terrified now.

Their mother’s scream fills the room as she falls to the floor bleeding out. John, slowly gets out of bed, and takes notice at Isabella and Damon. A gurgling sound emits from John and he slowly walks over to them, blood covering his face.

Isabella panics. She quickly stands up and runs to the door. She stops and looks to her brother.

“Brother let’s go!” she yells at him.

But Damon just stands there like a statue. Paralyzed in fear.

“Dammit Damon let’s go!” Isabella yells once more, this time grabbing her brother’s hand and pulling him out.

They both run out the room. Isabella quickly closes the door. The last thing she sees is her mother dying on the floor, and this creature that was once her father, pacing quicker towards her. The door slams. She grabs her brother’s hand and runs out the house, never looking back.

Isabella’s eyes shoot open, she quickly scans her surroundings to see where she’s at. She sees her brother still asleep in the corner. Isabella takes a deep breath and relaxes herself. She got lost in her memories and fell asleep. It’s been four years since that last incident. Isabella sometimes wonders if her mother would still be alive if she didn’t kill her own father. Her stomach growls, interrupting her thoughts. There isn’t time to relive the past. Today is what matters most right now, and if Isabella wants to keep herself and her brother alive, she needs to find food.

Morning approaches and the scorching sun has already heated the dry land of New Mexico. Isabella is sound asleep in the abandon house she and her brother currently occupy. She wakes up. Isabella stands to stretch, yawning as she loosens her body.

“Brother wake up. We need to pack up and leave.” She says.

There’s no answer from her brother.

“Damon!” Isabella raises her voice. “Get up!”

Still no answer.

“Damon?” she says once more, concern in her voice.

Isabella scans the room, there’s no sign of her brother. She begins to panic. She looks around the abandon house, half of it is blocked off from the destroyed ruble, so there isn’t many place Damon could be hiding.

“Dammit.” Isabella mutters. “Damon where are you?!” she shouts.

She grabs her machete and runs outside. The bright sun blinds her as soon as she steps out.

“Damon!” Isabella calls out.

She looks around the area, no sign of her brother, just the abandoned neighborhood. Most of the house are all the same, colored concrete brick homes. Some destroyed to nothing but rubble and others looking untouched.

Where could he have gone?, Isabella thinks.

She doesn’t remember hearing her brother walking out. Who knows when he left. Isabella searches around the area, hoping her brother is just messing with her. Then suddenly the sounds of crunching glass are heard around the corner. Isabella perks up, her weapon ready to strike. She slowly creeps, hoping to catch the unexpected intruder. This intruder may have taken Damon and killed him, or it may possibly be the Fallen. Maybe Damon walked out to get fresh air and became the Fallen’s breakfast.

Isabella shakes her head, stop thinking like that!

The crushing of glass becomes louder and Isabella holds still, her machete up, ready to swing. The intruder comes around the corner and Isabella swings her weapon, going for a killing blow. However, she quickly stops herself, realizing the intruder is her brother. Damon quickly jumps back, avoiding damage from his sister. They both stare at each other, realizing Damon had just almost died.

“What the hell!” Damon yells. “You almost took my head off.”

Isabella reliefs a sigh, glad to see her brother is okay. Then her mood changes instantly and she becomes angry.

“Where the hell were you?!” she snaps at her brother. “I thought somebody took you!”

“I was out.” Damon responds.

“Out? Doing what?” Isabella presses on.

That’s when she notices the large brown sack Damon is holding.

“What’s in the bag?” she says, concern in her voice.

“Nothing. Just some stuff we needed.” Damon says, tightening his grip on the bag.

Isabella snatches it from her brother and opens it. Her expression goes weary. Inside the bag are two large loafs of bread, two water bottles and some fruit.

“Damon. Where did you get this food?”

“From those idiots we robbed last week. They left their supplies wide open.”

Isabella closes the bag and stares down her brother.

“You idiot! Do you realize it could of been a trap?!”

Damon is annoyed to see his sister react this way.

“What the big deal? They weren’t there, I took some stuff we needed and now we got breakfast. You could at least say thank you.” he says.

“We need to go now! They probably followed you.” Isabella explains, ecstatic.

Her brother rolls his eyes, “No one followed me. They were all asleep I bet.”

Suddenly the loud growl of an engine is heard from afar.

Isabella freezes in place.

“What was that?” Damon asks.

Isabella ignores her brother’s question and grabs him by the arm and pulls him.

“We gotta go now!” She yells.

“Wait my stuff!” Damon snaps.

“Too late! We need to leave it.”

Isabella doesn’t realize how right she was when they walked out onto the street and see a truck driving down the road.

“Fuck! Run!” she yells.

They run the opposite direction of the truck, until suddenly another truck comes around the corner.

Isabella stops in her tracks. She quickly scans the area. She decides to go through a house, cutting through the neighborhood. She begins running to the front door of a house until suddenly a pudgy man steps out in front of them. He carries a bat with nails sticking out of them.

He grins a nasty smile, showing his dirty yellow teeth. Isabella realizes there’s no escape. She has to fight her way out. The pudgy man swings his bat at the siblings but they quickly move out the way, Isabella uses her machete and pierces through the fat man’s stomach. He yells in pains. A few men come out the truck and immediately run to their dying comrade. Isabella opens up the man stomach more with the machete, causing his entrails to spill out.

“Run!” She orders her brother.

However, it’s too late. One of the men grabs Damon by the neck and pulls him away.

“Let him go!” Isabella yells, running after the man who took her brother.

But she’s suddenly stopped by another man who step in front of her with a wood cutters ax. He swings at her but she quickly parries the attack. Isabella is quicker than the other guy, giving her the advantage. Before the man could go for another swing, she swings her machete, slicing the man’s throat open. He chokes on his own blood. Isabella presses forward, watching her brother being dragged to one of the trucks.

“Izzy!!” Damon calls out for help.

Isabella’s blood begins to boil, hearing her brother’s helpless cry angers her. She only moves in a couple meters closer until she’s knock down to the ground by a blunt object. The blow hits her in the head, and her vision goes blurry. The last thing she sees is a man standing over her with a scruffy brown beard holding a metal bat.

“We finally got you brats.” the man speaks.

Isabella tries to stay conscious but then everything goes black.

“Let’s just kill them already.” a raspy voice echo.

“Boss wants them alive. Said she wanted them to suffer.” another voice responds.

Isabella is slowly awakened by the voices. Her vision is blurred, but she’s able to make out the room. It’s dark and it smells like sewage. The floor and walls are made of concrete. It seems she’s in some kind of basement. Isabella shakes her head and tries to regain full control of her vision. Things begin to become clear and she now has a better look. She’s definitely in some concrete prison. There’s a wooden door across to her with a small barred window. She sees the shadow of a man talking to another.

“Well what are we waiting for?” the raspy voice speaks again.

“Boss is having The Gutter come in.”

The Gutter? Isabella thinks to herself.

A sudden moan comes from her left. Isabella looks over to see her brother there chained up.

She finally perks up, “Damon!” she shouts.

Isabella tries to get up but she can’t move. She now realizes that she’s chained up as well.

She checks her surrounding, hoping to find her machete or anything that will help free her from her shackles. The door suddenly opens and two men walk in. One of them is a skinny man with Isabella’s machete, and the other is the man with the scruffy brown beard. He’s the one that knocked Isabella to the ground.

“You’re finally awake!” the bearded man speaks.

Isabella mugs him, not saying a word.

The man walks up to her and gets close to her face. She can smell the filth on him.

“You’re cute.” the man says, rubbing Isabella’s thigh. “Maybe we can have some fun huh?”

Isabella ferociously shakes her entire body, making the man step back.

“Oh ho! I like it when they fight back. We’ll play later sweetie.”

The bearded man laughs and walks over to Damon. He kicks his foot.

“Wake up kiddo!” he raises his voice.

Damon slowly wakes up, yawning loudly.

“Huh, what?” he says, still trying to wake up.

“Time for you to wake up. The gutter should be here soon.” the bearded man says, kicking Damon on the foot again.

“Hey asshole, stop it!” Damon shouts, fully awake now.

The bearded man backs up a bit. “You’re right, he does have mouth.”

Isabella hasn’t taken her eyes off the bearded man since he walked in. She’s trying to think of a way out but doesn’t have a clue how.

The man with the machete then grabs Isabella’s attention when he stands by her. He places the weapon close to her neck.

“I bet you want your machete back, huh?” he says with his raspy voice.

Isabella gives him a despised look as well.

“I should really just slit your throat right now.” he continues. “Or maybe...”

He kneels next to her, slides his hand down to Isabella’s thigh and to her groin. She flinches, but tries to show no fear, instead she gives the man such a spiteful look. The man cracks a smile and smells her hair.

“Hell, I’d be doing you a favor if I took you away and made you my little slut. But unfortunately for you, the boss wanted you to suffer for killing three of her men.”

He laughs creepily, only making Isabella angrier.

A third person enters the room. A man with a dirty truckers’ hat and a mustache.

“He’s here.” The man speaks.

“Perfect!” the bearded man says . Then he looks over to Isabella with a sinister expression.

“You’re about to have terrible time.”

Then the door begins to open again. Isabella’s heart sinks to her stomach.

This is it? Is this how I’m going to die? Helpless and not able to protect my brother? She thinks to herself.

The wooden door fully opens and a tall man walks in. He has dirty blonde hair, black glasses, a loosely open shirt showing his muscular body and a sinister grin.

The room suddenly felt cold.

“Are these them?” the tall man says.

“Yes gutter!” the bearded man answers.

“Don’t call me that. It’s just Jack.” he coldly tells the bearded man.

Jack walks over to Isabella.

“Wow, you’re just a kid. What’s your name?” Jack asks.

Isabella remains silent.

“Fuck off!” Damon shouts from the side.

Both Isabella and Jack look over to Damon at the same time. Jack has an expression of interest, while Isabella’s face read, “Shut up!”

“Oh? And you are?” Jack says.

“A guy who can kick your ass if you unchain me.” Damon jokes.

There’s silence in the concrete room for a few seconds. Then Jack suddenly laughs. His rich laugh fills the room. The other men awkwardly laugh with him.

“Oh kid you’re funny. But you’d die in seconds against me.” Jack says.

“Let’s test that!” Damon barks.

“I’ll get to you soon. But I’m talking to her first.” Jack states, pointing at Isabella.

Jack looks back at her.

“Sorry about that. So what’s your name?” he asks again.

“It doesn’t matter.” Isabella finally speaks.

“Hm? Why not?”

“We’re going to die anyway. So what does it matter?” she softly says.

“You have a point, but I think it’s rude not to introduce yourself. My name is Jack.” He introduces himself with a smile.

Isabella remains silent, a tired look in her eyes.

“Well then, might as well tell me where the rest of your group is.” Jack says.

Damon laughs. “There is no group!”

Jack turns to him. “Excuse me?”

“There isn’t anyone else. It just took me and my sister to kill those guys and rob you blind. You’re all idiots!” Damon brags.

“Damon stop it!” Isabella snaps at him.

“Sister huh?” Jack mutters.

He turns to the men behind him.

“Boys give me some space. I need some alone time with our prisoners.”

“Of course gutter, oops I mean Jack.” the bearded man says.

The three other men walk out the room. One of them mumbling about wanting alone time with Isabella.

They all leave. Now it’s only Jack and the siblings left behind.

No one talks for a bit. The only sounds come from water dripping somewhere inside.

“They say you can learn a lot from someone by just looking into their eyes.” Jack says.

He kneels down in front of Isabella. “What do your eyes say about you?”

Jack stares into her eyes for what felt like hours.

“Remarkable.” Jack says. “Most people I meet carry fear in their eyes. They’re cowards. But you.”

Jack removes his sunglasses, revealing his blue eyes to Isabella. He glares at her, making direct eye contact. It makes Isabella uncomfortable. Jack’s glare sends shivers down her spine. Who knew one look could strike such great emotion.

“Your eyes are like mine. Hollow. Empty. No compassion.” he says.

Jack stands and walk over to Damon.

“What is in your eyes?” he tells Damon.

Jack kneels in front of him.

“Get any closer and I’ll bite your nose off.” Damon growls.

Jack chuckles. “Do it and I slit your throat boy.”

Jack stares into his eyes for a bit, but not as long as he did for Isabella.

“No fear either. But you carry so much anger in you.” Jack states.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Damon says.

Jack stands and walks to the center of the room, chuckling at Damon.

“What... what do you want with us?” Isabella mutters.

Jack smiles. “I want you to join me.”

He puts his sunglasses back on.

“Join you?” Isabella questions.

“We leave here today and move on from this place. I leave this group and we move on as our own.” Jack explains.

“Why us?”

“You and your brother here are quite something. You show no fear. It actually amazes me that someone like you two have been able to survive for so long.” Jack says.

“What do you get out this?” Isabella asks.

Jack raises his eyebrow. “Hm?”

“We’re just kids. Why the hell would you want us?!” she begins to shout. “Do you need us for bait? Slaves? What the hell is your angle?!”

The room is silent for a while. Then Jack smiles, making Isabella uncomfortable.

“You remind me of myself. I see potential in you to become strong survivors. This world needs people like that. To live in this new world, we must be strong, and only those who are strong will survive.”

Isabella is confused. Why would this random man spare their lives to join him?

“I thought you were supposed to torture us or something?” Damon speaks out.

“I was. But what I saw in both your eyes changed my mind.” Jack explains.

“Ha! And we should just trust you?” Damon questions. “We’re supposed to believe that you’ll leave your group behind and you’ll take us wherever we’ll go.”

Jack laughs. “I’ve grown tired of this group and been wanting to leave. But, I’ll do you one better.”

Isabella and Damon look at each other confused by what he means.

Jack lifts his loose shirt to reveal a large knife with a brass knuckle guard and a Desert Eagle pistol. He draws both of them, the gun in his right hand and the knife in his left.

“Men! Come in here please.” Jack calls out.

Multiple footstep is heard echoing off the concrete walls.

The wood door swings open and the three men who were in the room earlier enter.

“Yes Jack?” Then bearded man says.

“How many people do we have here?”

“Umm, eight I believe. Why?”

“Including me? “Jack asks.

“Oh, with you it’s nine.” the man responds.

“Wonderful!” Jack cheers.

Then suddenly, before anyone could process what happen, Jack shoots the bearded man in the head, spraying blood on the two other men.

“Now there’s eight.” Jack says smiling.

Isabella and Damon watch in shock.

One of the men looks at his dead friend, terrified, and before he could even move, Jack jabs his blade into his neck. The man drops to the ground and he chokes on his thick blood, gurgling his last breath of life.

The last man has a quicker reaction and swings his machete at Jack. But he’s too fast and quickly dodges it. The man continues to swing his weapon, cursing Jack’s name.

Jack avoids another swing, then he uppercut the man in the jaw with the brass knuckle knife. The man drops to the ground, his jaw dislocated.

Within seconds, all three men are down on the ground, two of them dead. The one that’s still alive struggles to speak with his broken jaw. He’s in pain.

Jack kneels next to the man and stares into his eyes.

He smiles. “You have fear in your eyes. A coward.”

The man is spitting blood and saliva and mumbling something. No one can’t understand him, but he’s crying and terrified.

Jack raises his knife, and the man begins to scream out what seemed to be “no”. Jack thrusts his blade into the man’s eye, piercing his brain and killing him.

Isabella and Damon don’t say a word. They’re surprised by what they just watched. Jack killed his own men.

He stands and wipes blood from his face.

“Only five more left.” he says.

The screams of men and gunshots echo through the concrete halls. Joshua and Damon anxiously wait for Jack to return. They’re still chained up.

“Izzy.” Damon calls out.

Isabella remains silent, not paying attention to her brother.

“Izzy?” Damon calls out again.

Still nothing, Isabella just stares at the wooden door Jack went out of. She’s anxious, their lives depend on him.

“Isabella!” Damon calls out once more, shouting this time.

She perks up and finally acknowledges her brother. “Huh what?” she says

“Can we really trust this guy?” Damon asks.

“I don’t know. But we really don’t have a choice.” she answers. She still stares at the wooden door.

Suddenly someone comes rushing into the room. It’s some man with a trucker’s hat and blood on his face. Isabella and Damon don’t say a word, and just watch this random man who came in. He seems wounded. The man is panting and looks around the room. He sees there’s a knife on one of the bodies on the floor and takes it. He presses his back against the wall by the door and raises his knife. Looks like he’s preparing to attack whoever comes through the door.

Then there’s sounds of footsteps coming down the concrete hall. They’re soft at first, then they began getting louder the closer they got. The man with the knife is shaking, completely out of breath and scared.

Isabella and Damon continue to remain silent, they just watch. It seems the man hasn’t really notice them either.

The door slowly opens, creaking as it moves. A figure walks in and the man immediately strikes with his knife. He stabs the figure in the head, then it drops. The man smiles, happy he got the upper hand. But his victory is short notice when he realizes the figure he killed wasn’t the person he wanted it to be. Taking a second look, the figure he stabbed was a man that was already dead. He knows this because he witnesses him taking a bullet in the head.

“Nice, that would have killed me.” a voice from the door speaks.

Fear strikes the man’s heart. He turns to the entrance and before he could mutter a word, a blade pierces through his throat. The man drops to ground, choking on his own blood. He’s dead.

Jack enters, revealing himself.

“Only cowards run from a fight.” he says.

Isabella and Damon watch in awe. A smart move from Jack to use a dead body as a double.

“What kept you?” Damon speaks

Jack smiles, “I had to grab this.” he says holding up a key to their shackles.

“So, you’re really saving us?” Isabella mutters, still unsure of Jack’s intentions.

Jack walks over to her chains and sticks the key in the tiny keyhole. The shackles pop open and Isabella falls forward.

“I always keep my word.” Jack says.

Then he heads over to Damon and frees him as well. Isabella stretches her arms, they’re sore from being restrained.

“Are you still unsure of me?” Jack says.

Isabella stands and looks away from Jack.

“I don’t trust people.” she says.

Jack laughs, his powerful voice fills the concrete room.

“You’re smart to do so. But I promise, you’ll trust me.” he speaks.

Isabella walks over to her brother and helps him up.

“How you feeling” she asks.

“Hungry.” Damon utters. “Hey glasses!” Damon shouts to Jack.

“Hm?” Jack turns his attention to Damon.

“If you snag us some food, we be happy to go with you.” he says.

Isabella hits her brother in the head. “Really?!”

Jack then suddenly laughs. “You two will never go hungry with me.”

Damon smiles. “I like your answer. Welp! I’m bought, let’s go with him.”

Isabella shoots a cold gaze at Damon, “Please stop talking.”

She walks up to Jack. She only stood up to Jack’s chest. The difference in their height is larger than she expected.

“We’ll go with you.” Isabella mutters, looking up at Jack. “But I’m watching you.”

Jack shines his cold smile, “Excellent.”

The two stare each other down for a moment, then Isabella backs off.

She walks over to one of the bodies. The machete on one of the men lays on the ground, blood splattered on the blade. Isabella grabs and examines it. It’s still as light and sturdy as she remembers. It wasn’t her weapon to begin with, but she earned it when she killed its previous owner.

Isabella’s thoughts are interrupted when the wooden door opens. A tall giant of a man stands there, a strong build and a large wrinkled scar on the right side of his face. He holds a long metal weapon, which looks like a long custom-made hammer with metal pins sticking out. Isabella doesn’t think, she just goes charging in at the tall man with his machete. The large man doesn’t move, whether it’s because he doesn’t notice her or he isn’t afraid, the man just doesn’t move. Isabella’s attack is suddenly stopped by Jack. He parried the swing from the machete with his small knife. Jack just protected this man.

Isabella gives a blank stare.

“Relax. He’s with me.” Jack says, smiling. “But I like your reflexes girl. I see I made the right choice bringing you with me.”

Isabella backs off and lowers her weapon. Jack is a lot quicker than she could have imagined. She doesn’t doubt that he was able to swiftly kill the men in this compound.

“Young ones, this is Pierce. He’s been working with me for years now.” Jack says, introducing the large man.

Pierce nods his head to Isabella and Damon. He remains silent.

“He doesn’t talk much.” Jack adds.

Damon walks up to Pierce. Only standing up to his waist, Damon smirks,

“Damn you’re ugly.” He says.

Pierce strikes a cold gaze at the teen.

“Damon!” Isabella snaps at her brother. “Don’t be rude.”

“Whatever, I’m just joking around.” Damon responds, rolling his eyes.

“I apologize for my brother.” she tells Pierce.

The large man scoffs.

Jack laughs. “I can see we’ll be great together.”

Jack gestures something to Pierce that Isabella can’t understand. Then the large man walks out the room, his heavy footsteps almost makes the room shake.

“Where is he going?” Damon rudely asks.

“To prepare a truck for us. It’s time we get going. The leader of this group is power hungry bitch. She’ll be mad when she learns I just killed all her guys here.” Jack answers.

“Going where exactly?” Isabella questions.

“This is a new chapter in your life. No longer will you have to worry about food or anything else. With me, you’ll be taken care of!” Jack explains.

“As long as I get food, I’ll go wherever you go.” Damon happily states.

Isabella remains silent. She still can’t figure out Jack. Does this man have a plan, or is he just insane? Jack walks out the room and Damon follows him. Isabella begins to follow as well. Before she exits, she takes a look around the concrete room.

Whether she would have died here or be imprisoned and raped, this was almost the end for her. Jack may be some madman with no real goals, however, he saved her and her brother. Isabella will trust and go with Jack for now, just until her and her brother can survive on their own.

How long will it even last? she thinks to herself.

Then, she walks out the room, living to die another day.