TW: this chapter contains themes of sexual assault. please continue with caution!

'FUCK!' Ellie yelled, banging her fist against the door ahead of her. Frantically, she rattled the handle again, before remembering the key she had plucked from his belt earlier, the one that unlocked the cage. She fumbled for it in her pocket, and raised it to the lock with a shaky hand, but nothing happened just as she had suspected. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied another door, one she hadn't been through before, and she left with the mumbled instruction for Lou to stay there.

Lou complied, watching her friend sprint for the room to the side, and jumped in fear when she heard a gunshot in the room they had just left, where David and James were. She guessed that all of his begging hadn't landed James in David's favour, especially not the part about David forcing him to participate.

Ellie returned with a burning log at the same time the door at the far end of the room slammed open and footsteps were heading in Lou's direction. She caught Ellie by her arm and shoved her forward, landing her on her knees behind the bar and out of sight as David walked closer and closer, peering around every gap for sight of the two girls.

He was a few steps away from the edge of the counter when Ellie rose to her feet in an instant and lobbed the burning stick at his head before waving at Lou to follow her. They headed towards the back of the restaurant and spread out, with Ellie behind a booth and Lou behind a table.

'There's no way out, you two.' David called out, his voice distant as Lou tightened her grip on the knife in her hands and held her breath. There was the sound of fire somewhere far away as well, as well as the room beginning to rise in temperature, and she found herself wondering just how far this crazy bastard was willing to go to prove a point or get some weird power trip. 'The doors are locked and only I had the key... James had a key too, but, now... I mean, I just... I really wished you two hadn't made me kill James. He's a good kid, just doing his job..'

'Ellie?' He sang rather cheerfully. He sounded awfully unbothered for a guy hunting down two little girls in a burning building for God knew what reason. If anything, it sounded like he was acting sad about James, putting on a charade of remorse. 'Louise? ...Ah, Lousie. You know, I kind of thought we were friends, you and I.'

Lou was amazed he had the audacity to think that, after he had dragged her all the way out into the middle of nowhere against her will and plopped her into some weird bungalow with strange paintings on the walls.

'I fed you.' David continued, his voice getting closer and closer. 'I gave you water, I took care of you. I did all of that 'cause you're a good soul, Louise. You're special!'

Footsteps got closer and closer, coming up behind her. They weren't rushed, he hadn't spotted her yet, and they stopped directly in front of the table she was hiding behind, his waist and downwards fully in view.

'Girls, I've got news for you.' David was holding his pistol with his right hand, the one pointed towards Lou. 'I've changed my mind. None of us are dying today. I've decided that you two do need a father. So, I'm gonna keep you, and I'm gonna teach you.'

Lou tightened her grip on the handle, staring straight ahead of her at David, totally unsuspecting and chill. She shifted forward and pushed onto her knees for a better angle.

She brought her arms back, hiking the thing over her shoulders, remembering all of the times Ralph had tried to teach her how to play baseball in the apartment when she was little.

They never got very far without a vase breaking or a picture frame shattering or the ball thumping against the wall too many times and causing Paul next door to bang down their door and scream at them. Every time she would get annoyed and sit down on the couch in frustration, he would follow after her and hug her and make sure she was alright. She always took those hugs for granted, but she really wished she could have one right now.

Lou shifted one final time and swung her arms forward, digging the cleaver into the back of David's leg.

He screamed and stumbled away from the table she was hiding underneath, reaching down to try and rip the blade out of himself. During his struggle, Lou was still standing to the side of him, ducking her head and tearing the ring of keys from his belt.

He swung his arm, his wrist coming across her cheek, and it hurt like a bitch, but it wasn't enough to distract her from the keys around his waist. He managed to catch her by the shoulder, digging his nails into the side of her neck, and threw her to the ground.

Her head thumped against the wood below her, causing that dull, throbbing pain inside of her skull to get so much worse in the span of a couple of seconds, spreading rapidly. She was still holding the keys though, and she tossed them far out of reach in hopes that Ellie would swoop them up and, if worse came to worst, would be able to save herself.

'Fuck.' David groaned, touching the back of his leg and bringing his hand up to his face, inspecting the bright red blood on his fingertips as his other hand absently held the cleaver. Suddenly, his arm jerked and he tossed it to the right, sliding under the stove with the handle just barely peeking out from under it. 'You fucking stabbed me, you little bastard!'

His foot connected with her stomach in what was more of a stomp than a kick. She thought for a second that she was going to throw up her own insides, brought her shaky hands to cradle her gut and then pushed herself onto her hurting stomach to regain her footing quicker.

He grabbed a handful of her messy hair and shoved downwards, knocking her face into the floor beneath for a second time, the pain multiplying and leaving her stunted. Warmth pooled at her hairline, and she was able to understand that it was blood when it trickled down her face and dripped off the tip of her nose onto the ground.

David said something above her, but she couldn't hear him. It felt like there was an ocean in her ears, everything around her completely inaudible apart from a faint ringing sound. Her eyes were fuzzy too, like earlier but worse, and she could just about perceive the brightness above her, the sight of the fire spreading to their side of the restaurant.

A hand fell onto her wrist again, pulling her onto her back with a frightening amount of force. Lou's fist met David's jaw. That wasn't a very bright idea, with her being on the verge of passing out and also having never been in a fight before. It didn't do much, only made him angrier and prompted him to hit her with a similar one.

It was far worse when he did it. It added to the list of hurting sections of her body, it made her foggy eyes water, and it made her screaming hurt way more because of the place of impact.

Despite all this, Lou wasn't giving up. She couldn't give up. Not until she saw her dad again, not until she apologized to Joel for being a snitch, not until she caused enough of a distraction for Ellie to get out of there. So, she kicked at him, and when he kneeled over her to prevent that, she shoved and scratched at him. She got him once, across the side of the neck, but he snatched her wrist and pinned it down next to her head as well as the other one.

'I thought you would've known by now,' He smiled down at her like the psychopath that he was, squeezing his grip on her forearms to emphasize his next sentence. 'The fighting is the part I like the most!'

'Get off me!' She cried weakly, her strength incomparable against his, a pitiful attempt at getting away from him. She dug her heels into the planks beneath her, struggled beneath him, yelled every curse word she could think of, she even closed her eyes and prayed to God, but none of it worked. David was still there when she opened them, laughing as if he was getting a kick out of it.

'I'm not gonna hurt you, sweetheart.' He cooed sickeningly, his eyes leaving hers to rake over her body like he was planning something. 'I'm gonna teach you.'

Then, it clicked.

'No!' She begged, and she knew it was pathetic, but she couldn't help the tears that had sprung themselves on her, scrunching up her face and turning her head away so she wouldn't have to look at him, so maybe he would change his mind, so maybe it would be over quicker. 'Don't! No, don't! Please, don't!'

'Don't be afraid, Louise.' David assured her, unpinning her left wrist to lean back on his heels and unzip her jeans. '"There's no fear in love."'

'Get off of her!' Ellie's blood-curdling scream was unleashed not even a second before the cleaver swung right across David's face. Lou had the unfortunate pleasure of front-row seats, David's face not two feet away from hers when it happened. She let out an involuntary sound of terror, shoving her left hand out behind her to steady herself with David's limp grip still hanging onto her right.

Ellie took care of that quickly, repositioning herself so she was kneeling above him, giving her a better opportunity to swing the knife back down. So, she swung it. And swung, swung it, swung again. With each hit, Ellie let out a yell, each one with every emotion in the world behind them as she brought the blade down again and again. Soon enough, his face was a bright red mush beneath her.

Even then, she didn't stop. It was clear that she wasn't going to. It was almost as if there was some greater force commanding her to do all this, something inside of her that had been waiting, something that had snapped.

'Ellie.' Lou murmured, using what was left of her strength to reach out and put a frail hand on her shoulder, gripping the fabric in a flawed attempt to hold her still. Ellie swung one last time, right down the middle of what used to be David's face, and stared at what was left of him for a moment.

She didn't have as long as she would've liked to reconsider things, to handle the weight of what she had done, to dig the machete out of his face and keep it as a souvenir for her (technical) first murder.

The room around them began to fill with smoke, reminding them of their circumstances and forcing them to get a move on, clinging to each other as they stumbled to their feet and pushed through the darkness together.

...

LOU WAS ALMOST BLINDED WHEN THEY STEPPED OUTSIDE, the sunny blue sky and the pale white snow were both massive contrasts from sparking red flames and a dimly lit diner.

She was grateful for it, though, she was glad she got out of there. She was grateful for the fresh air outside, grateful for the girl clinging to her side. This was the third time in a row that Lou had almost died, and for the first time, it was through no fault of her own. Amidst the ocean of things she was feeling right now, she couldn't help but be a bit more open-minded than the last couple of times.

Ellie staggered down the steps quicker than Lou was ready for it, leaving her a little behind and partially shattering their little hug of terrifiedness. Ellie was walking messily but determinedly, like she knew exactly where to go, exactly what was coming next despite the horror in her wide eyes and frowning mouth.

Contrary to her random spur of confidence, Ellie didn't know what was coming next. If she did, she would've warned Lou of what was gonna happen, and maybe she wouldn't have begun to scream and kick when two hands grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around.

'Lou, sweetheart, it's me! It's dad, it's me!' Ralph seemed frightened by her outburst, taking a step back but not holding that distance for long when she studied his relieved, exhausted face and launched herself into his arms, stumbling a little under the force of it.

He wasn't shy about crushing her bones during their hug either, kissing the top of her head over and over and pressing her tear-stained face against his jacket. Lou realized that, although her millisecond of open-mindedness, she had never stopped crying. Ralph had noticed that straight away, along with the blood trickling down her face and leaking from the corner of her mouth.

'Shh, you're okay. Shh, honey, I have you. I've got you, sweetie, I've got you.' He would care for her wounds later. Now, he just wanted to hold her, something he felt like he hadn't been able to do in years. 'You're alright, it's just me. Shh, shh- I know, I know.'

Raising his head from where he was resting it on top of hers, he found his attention drifting towards Ellie and Joel then, expecting them to be standing there awkwardly like they always were when he spent time with his kid, only to find that they were completely occupied with a hug of their own. He was barely able to see Ellie with the bear hug that Joel had trapped her in.

'You're okay, baby girl, I've got you.' He mumbled against her temple, listening to Ellie mumble unintelligibly into his shoulder, shivering with either the cold or the aftermath of whatever she had just experienced.

Joel looked over at the other father-daughter duo, meeting eyes with Ralph over the top of Ellie's head, and the two of them shared a look of sadness. Joel's eyes landed over Ralph's shoulder, to the building the two girls had escaped from, watching the blaze spread through the gaps in the windows and along the outside of the building.

Ralph caught it too and decided that, even though he was enjoying the relief of knowing his daughter was alive and well, they should get a move on. He held two tear-covered cheeks in his hands, planted a kiss between two furrowed eyebrows, and began to usher her along.

Quickly, Lou understood it, and began to walk in the direction of potential safety while remaining superglued to her dad's side. As she walked, Joel wrapped an arm around her as well.

...

NOTES!
eight more chapters of this book????
get OUT theres no way wtf

anyway hi guys
i start school again tomorrow and i MAY drop dead i cant be bothered u guys someone like abduct me pls and thank you x