NightTide: The Girl With Red Eyes

It was cold, I opened my eyes. I was tied up, the room just bright enough to see… It felt like I had a bandage on my head and one on my stomach, it hurt to move. There was a rough splint on my leg… I had a bad feeling these bandages were dirty… I couldn’t do much, I just laid on my side waiting for something to happen. I don’t know how long it was, but someone eventually came in.

It was a girl, she sounded; incredibly snarky. “Hey there you little bitch… What’s the matter? Does it hurt?” She was mocking me… “What, you not going to say anything?” She walked up and kicked me in the stomach, I coughed blood on the floor… “Tch, teach you think your better than me!” She walked out, was that all she came in to do?

My stomach really hurt, a few minutes after someone else came in. It was the guy who drove the tank… “Hey there you little shit… You killed two of my guys, impressive… Too bad it didn’t end all that well for you. I guess it doesn’t matter, you’re a rarity. You’ll go for a lot on the market…" He touched my face. "White hair, red eyes, and a NightTide at that… I wonder just how much you’re worth.” He was going to sell me? To what?! “I recognize you, there was this little bitch me and my boys tortured… She couldn’t have been any older then thirteen, I guess I know what happened to her then. It’s good to have you back.” He had a twisted grin on his face. Then he patted my face. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to discipline a little shit for damaging the merchandise.”

He walked out, even if I could get free I was in too much pain to be fighting anyone… How long would it be before Jessica and Elizabeth came to get me...? Later that same girl came, she had a black eye and a glass of water… She practically choked me with the water trying to force me to drink it…

The lighting in the room didn’t change, I think it was night out by now though. I could hear crickets… I tried standing up, it hurt but if I leaned on the wall I could… I leaned on the wall and made my way to the door, it wasn’t shut entirely… I pushed it open with my foot and was greeted by a fist.

I don’t know who it was but he was laughing. “Oh, god! You actually thought we left that open on accident! How stupid do you think we are?!” He picked me and threw up against the wall. Then he slammed the door shut and locked it.

These aren’t like soldiers, they’re enjoying my pain. The others just tried to get it over with… I wanted out, but I couldn’t do anything. I don’t know how long it was, I fell asleep. When I woke up the next morning I was hungry, but there wasn’t any food… Just water. They only gave me water… Eventually I lost the energy to move at all, anytime I tried I just felt exhausted…

The guy walked in… He was using a mocking tone. “Well look at you. Did you finally submit? Doesn’t matter, you’ve been a good girl… You haven’t caused any more trouble for two weeks now. I might have buyer, pretty soon you’ll be out of our hair.” He walked out…

The next day I heard explosions… there was fighting, I couldn’t see straight though… I tried staying awake, it was just too exhausting…

Eventually I heard voices, the one talking sounded like that guy. “Who the hell are these guys?!”

Someone, rather timid replied. “W-we don’t know! They destroyed the tank!”

I heard the sound of someone being punched. “Fuck! Grab the girl! If we can’t shoot our way out, then we’ll use a hostage!”

Someone opened the door. That guy grabbed me, he tried dragging me along, I couldn’t walk so he threw me over his shoulder. He was grumbling, and twitchy. It hurt being on his shoulder, not like I could protest though…

He walked around for a bit, then he pulled me off of his shoulder. His put his arm around my neck and held me up to his chest, then the other guy kicked a door open. He was immediately shot... He wasn’t choking me, but he was holding me tightly.

He put a gun to my head and then stepped outside. “I’ll blow her fucking head off if you don’t’ let me go!”

The sun was bright, I couldn’t see yet but I heard a voice. “Now why would you want to do that?” It sounded familiar…

He pulled the hammer back on his gun. “Let me go, or else!”

As my eyes adjusted I saw who it was… The Pathfinder. He seemed incredibly confident. “You are a criminal. Do you honestly think using an enemy soldier as a hostage will get you anywhere?”

The guy was frustrated, he was squeezing tighter… then he threw me to the ground, I heard several gun shots and his body hit the ground. I heard footsteps, then someone took the rope off my hands. I was picked up and moved… The Pathfinder was carrying me, I thought he wanted to kill me… This would be the perfect opportunity, wouldn’t it? I saw people walking around, were they combing the area? The Pathfinder eventually climbed into the back of a truck and sat down, he laid me across his legs…

He sounded, depressed. “It’s a shame, isn’t it? Raiders I mean.” I tried to talk but only scratching noise came out. “Please don’t stress yourself… You’ve impressed me, you are the first person to ever injure me in a fight… I respect you for that. Given the circumstances of our reunion I think your past crimes will be forgiven, I do not know what they did to you… They are raiders, lawless in nature, uncaring, they would happily destroy a young girl such as yourself… it looks like they’ve been trying…” Why was he complimenting me? He sighed. “I will bring you back with us, I will show you why what we fight for is best… We don’t fight for a world without NightTides, everyone has a right to live… We just don’t want any more being created, someone must die for a NightTide to be born… It, seems unjust… I may come of crude at times, but I only do so for the betterment of humanity.” I don’t want to go back! I want to stay with Jessica and Elizabeth! “Please rest, your body is frail. I would guess they’ve been starving you.” He put his hand over my face and closed my eyes… I tried fighting it but the darkness made me feel tired.

I woke up to the feeling of shaking. I could hear two people talking but I wasn’t able to open my eyes.

One of them sounded concerned. “Do you think she’s going to make it?”

What sounded like the Pathfinder replied. “She is a tough girl… I’m sure she’ll survive.”

The other voice replied. “It looks like they’ve been starving her, and they were using dirty bandages.”

The Pathfinder replied back. “I wouldn’t expect anything more from raiders… They are filth, how they live and treat others is merely a reflection of that.”

I felt them move me, I was laid on something flat… It was cold, maybe it was the floor of the truck.

They took the bandages off, it hurt. I made a wincing noise and they pulled them slower.

The other voice sounded concerned. “It looks infected…” He pulled something out and put on my stomach, it burned. I wanted to scream but didn’t have the energy.

The Pathfinder spoke up. “The things that are painful tend to be what is best for you.”

They put new bandages on my stomach and did the same thing with my head… Then they took off the splint on my leg and put somthing else on it. I wanted to see Elizabeth and Jessica, I didn’t want to be taken from them…