Jessica

Chaos ensued as soon as the momentary silence was gone. I held my breath in disbelief as the gruff voice that I remembered so clearly voiced out my name outside the van. Two years had passed. I thought it was all over. I thought it was an event of the past, something I would never attempt to recall or relive under any circumstance. Yet the familiar voice was still echoing in my mind, shredding the insides of my brain with its hideous claws and stimulating the neurons to present me with flashbacks of memories I had tucked away somewhere deep in my heart. It was impossible. It was just impossible. How?

"Jessica! Jessica!" Erik wildly shook my shoulders to snap me out of my state. God, it was embarrassing to show my unsteady side, especially to this guy. I shook my head to put on my cerebral helmet and shot up to my feet, looking straight at Erik.

"He's come for me," I asserted. But my voice was mildly shaky. I quickly tore my gaze from him to hide the fear.

"Well, who the hell is he??" Erik whisper-shouted into my face, stepping closer and then peering out the window through the crack in the curtains. There was panic dancing in his eyes—or eye; the left one was half-hidden underneath the bandage. He was fidgeting with his blood-splattered sleeves .

"What is going on? Was that a gunshot?" Josiah hissed as he rushed from the kitchen area with Soeun in tow. Soeun was in a prominently bad state; he was visibly trembling and digging his teeth into his lower lip. He stayed unusually quiet behind Josiah and clung to his shoulder for support like he was involuntarily searching for protection. I couldn't help but feel wretched about this whole situation. I had put them in danger—all of them.

"Come out and face me, bitch! I know you're in there!" Another malicious commination. And then a following gunshot. We collectively winced, and Soeun crumbled down on the armchair. Josiah grasped his own dark blond hair and hushed his boyfriend with care. This time, I could tell that devil of a man had shot it in the air as a signal for me to obediently submit myself to him.

"Jessica, don't you tell me that's—"

"—Jerome King. Yeah...it is." I cut Josiah's words mid-sentence and finished it with the hateful name I had barely forgotten which sounded so foreign on my tongue. I thought I was free...but this? How was I supposed to deal with this situation?

"Who in the hecking Wasteworld is Jerome King?" Erik demanded, gesturing toward the trailer's door and then pacing back and forth. He was, again, nibbling on his fingernail.

"Long story short: he was obsessed with me, I stole his money and ran. I never figured he'd be after me...this far." I gulped, tensed, and unclenched my fists I didn't know I was clenching. I left out some of the important parts but that hardly mattered at this second. We had no time. I had no time. There was no other choice to be made.

So I turned and went for the doorknob before being stopped by both Erik and Josiah's hands. They securely grabbed my arms and when I met their eyes in surprise, they pursed their lips, shaking their heads in unison.

"He'd tormented you for months, and even after that, he's haunted you like a ghost. Don't go out there, Sica," Josiah entreated.

"Look, I don't know much about you or that guy," Erik began. "But that man sounds goddamn dangerous, even more than you. I-I can't believe I'm saying this but my gut instinct tells me not to let you go out there."

He licked his parched lips. Why? Why did this little midget trust me or fancy me enough to stop me from turning myself in? I couldn't fathom. In retrospect, I had only showed him how ruthless and untrustworthy I could be within the 24 hours I had spent with him. I had to admit, this blond was something else.

"Darling, I always got a plan." I managed a smirk, slipping my hand in my jacket and flashing just the hilt of my pistol in front of them. Actually, there's none, I confessed mentally. But I gotta at least try blasting that son of a bitch's head off his shoulders.

"No," Soeun spoke up from behind. "I'm going out with you." He stood up with wobbly knees, hanging onto Josiah's shirt. The burly man immediately helped him stand.

"Soe, that's not going to happen," Josiah crossly argued.

Soeun bravely wiped off his tears with his burgundy cardigan and hurried over to a mahogany cabinet concealed behind an ordinary drawer to elaborate on his valiant statement. "Guns. We have loads of them. We're suppliers, remember?" His face was determined.

I raised my eyebrow. "I didn't know you got more of 'em. I thought my revolver was the only thing you found."

"I didn't think the news of us having found firing weapons would do any good to us." Josiah hauled away the drawer and opened the covert cabinet, revealing numerous stacks of rusty arms stored inside. "We never polished them, but with enough ammo—" he pulled out one of the hefty boxes filled with bullets, "—they'll work fine. I've tested a few."

I glanced at Erik, whose jaw dropped. The sight of this many guns would astonish anyone, especially a boy who had grown up in a less savage part of the Wasteworld. I wordlessly took out a machine gun (it was fucking heavy, alright) and blew on it to fling the coat of dust away. As a very young girl, my mother had taught me all the ways to treat weaponry and how to skillfully make use of them. Those times were when the aftershocks of the War were still raging on in some parts of the world and before my mother had become a victim of that aftershock in a battle.

I recall swearing on my life that I will survive on top of this vast waste called Earth utilizing all that she had taught me, which proved to be useful to this day. I wasn't entirely certain if I had grown up to become the kind of person she had anticipated me to be, but nevertheless, I believed myself to be strong and clever as ever. Right now was one of those times to be strong and clever.

"So," Josiah grunted, loading his rifle, "I'm coming with you."

"Likewise." Soeun said. He sniffled and unsheathed his dagger which he had been hiding in his pocket. His hands, though, were shaking.

"No, you're not. You're staying." Josiah faced Soeun and half-pleaded.

"Shut up, bastard. I'm mustering up my courage to do my part here. You have no control over me," he said, despite being shorter and slimmer than his lover. He stood up rather proudly against him and exasperatedly enunciated in his face. Josiah stared at him for a few seconds before realizing that nothing could stop the boy from following along.

"Alright. But you stay behind me. You don't even know how to shoot," he sighed.

"That's why I'm bringing this, you idiot." Soeun stuck up his dagger in between their faces and spat. He was good at defending himself with blades. His history of having been a chef's apprentice turned out to become handy in a bizarre way.

"I won't wait all day long, Jessica, dear," that abominable voice resounded all around our surroundings again. It was really time.

"He has no interest in you guys. Save yourselves." I tried one last time even though I knew it was past that point.

"Just open up the door and greet your old friend with bullets," Soeun ordered.

"If you can't, I'm doing it."

Without a warning, Erik suddenly shot forward and opened the door. Erik, out of all people. Erik, who had zero knowledge on firearms. Erik, who had no business to do with this whatsoever. Erik, who had only known me for a day. I froze on the spot but dashed outside behind him and almost lost my footing as I tried to clutch his hoodie and stop him. But he was already out of my reach and facing my old enemy and...

"Oh, hello, Jess, how nice to see you again," an unexpected guest purred, the muzzle of her gun pointed at Erik's direction. "Your face is as slick as I remember."

This was when I completely lost my shit.

My head spun, the worst of my memories and the vilest of my nightmares flooding my consciousness as I looked into her very much changed appearance.

Gabriella Izabel—my ex whom I had presumed dead or gone off into the sunset with my old friend—had her once flowing ginger locks cropped to her ears and bleached to a shade of light grey with strands of pink intertwined here and there. Her emerald eyes had lost their innocent luster and black eye makeup reached all the way up to her ferocious orange eyebrows. Purple lipstick stained her jubilant lips.

Still, it was the Gabriella Izabel.

What the fuck was she doing beside Jerome King?

"...Brie," I feebly called, unable to focus on anything else but her.

"Don't you ever dare call me that, Jessica Garcia." Unbridled wrath surged from her pierced tongue. I was dumbfounded, unable to process the situation nor the reason behind Gabriella's aggressive acrimony.

"What a heartwarming reunion." Jerome King intruded our short exchange of words and took a step closer to the four of us standing ground uneasily on our spots. My grip on the gun, though, were slackened and I was still out of it.

"Jessica, wake the hell up," Erik warned under his breath. I blinked several times and tensed, finally aiming the end of my gun at Jerome King with trembling fingers. I had to be strong like my mother had inspired me to be. Under any circumstance.

"My dear Jessica," Jerome spoke on. "You owe me, don't you?" he grinned. Those sickly white teeth. He reminded me of a great white shark, the massive kind with countless razor-sharp teeth and pitch black eyes filled to the brim with seething hatred and murderous intent. His grudge had to be a considerable one if it had led him to find me after all these years in the middle of this godforsaken Californian desert. Or was it truly obsession that spurred him? I could not help but shiver.

"Why is Br—why is Gabriella with you?" I pressed, ignoring his remark.

"Interesting question." He lowered his rifle and looked up to the sky as if to ruminate on the query. "Why should she not be? When you had abandoned her as you had abandoned me."

My vision went blurry. I still could not register his implications. "The fuck's that supposed to mean?"

"Ah, never mind the details. All I want is you. Not your little...minions, or 'friends' as you might consider them. Hey," he suddenly pointed at Erik, who flinched. "Don't trust the bitch. You'd never know if she robbed you of your cash and disappeared into the night." He then guffawed like he had said anything funny. Gabriella rolled her eyes beside him, evidently tired of Jerome's way of peppering his prey before the feast.

"Watch your damn mouth," Josiah spoke up, straightening up while never letting the heinous duo out of his range of fire.

"Oh, you must be Josiah Nolett!" Jerome hollered in mock delight, spreading out his free arm to express it. "I've heard about you from rumors but never got to see you in person. They said you were one robustly built man. Not as satisfying as I thought, but you're tolerable." He rubbed his chin amused.

His eyes then landed on Soeun, who was trying his best to not cower under his piercing gaze. "And of course, the gentleman's damsel."

"Fuck you," Soeun curtly remarked, showing the finger.

"You lay a finger on him, you're a dead man," Josiah growled.

"Now, I don't need to lay my finger on him to put a hole through his pretty little head—"

"We're not here to chat, King." Erik boldly cut his words short. Jerome's attention instantly moved to the blond-haired man. Startled, I broke my steady gaze which had been connected to Jerome and Gabriella all along and seared Erik's right side of the face with it. What was he doing, taunting one of the most dangerous men I know? To make it worse, he was the only unarmed person.

"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet you seem to know me," Jerome spoke. "Why, would it be not courtesy to properly introduce yourself in return before I kill you?"

"I don't feel the need to, but what I want to say is, stay away from Jessica or you'll regret it."

What. The. Hell.

The glint in Jerome's eyes changed into something more intimidating than before. Erik had just triggered the psychopath's anger. It was bound to happen, but for whatever reason, I did not want that anger being cast Erik's way. Maybe it was guilt. Maybe it was the sense of responsibility. Or perhaps it was the bond we had somehow established overnight. I couldn't know at this moment, while my brain was already frazzled by the presence of Gabriella.

"Aw, found another disposable pet, Jess?" Gabriella said in a light tone although she slowly undid the safety on her gun pointed at Erik. I desperately made my move and stood in front of him. I could not let him die before my eyes when the task remained unfinished.

"Deal with me and me only. Leave them alone." I attempted to reason.

"Sadly, sweetheart, I feel the need to kill everyone involved. Well, out of spite. You pissed me off, bad, bad, girl." Jerome hummed as he got closer and closer. "But don't worry, I'll spare you. Remember two years ago? Wasn't it fun, those times?"

Awful memories cascaded into my brain. I shook the darkness away from my mind, gritting my teeth to fill it with rage instead. That bastard grinning lazily in front of me had forced me to sign a contract to practically be his slave. I had done it solely to save Gabriella's life at the expense of my own freedom. The night I had finally acquired that freedom I craved with his dirty money in hand, I was dismayed by the news of Gabriella's betrayal and had fled on my own. Now she was once again here to ruin my life, betraying my body and soul. I couldn't understand why.

I saw red.

"I say, fuck you and your creepy-ass obsession." I fired my machine gun at Jerome. It unfortunately missed his head and hit his shoulder instead. Jerome roared in pain and enmity, dodging the following bullets showering from Josiah and me. He disappeared behind the wrecked Cadillac, and Gabriella behind the trailer.

"Erik, get behind me and don't be a bother," I quickly commanded. He complied without a word. Good boy. He knew when to obey me despite our little agreement.

Jerome emerged from behind the trunk of the car and fired several times our direction. Luckily, all of us were quick enough to dive away from the powerful shots which left ugly holes on the side of the camping van. I could hear Josiah groaning at the sound. We were all lined up on the other side of the trailer, guns loaded and panting out jagged breaths. I threw my revolver over at Erik who caught it with both hands.

"It's loaded. Just...just point and shoot."

"I'll try my best," he replied.

Gabriella peered from the other side of the trailer and fired at us, consequently leaving Josiah with a long graze on his arm as he attempted to shield Soeun from the incoming shot. He didn't even let out a cry to my surprise. He simply held the rifle with his bleeding arm and fired multiple times at the girl until she vanished again, leaving short strands of grey and pink hair flying to the ground.

"I'll make you regret this, Jessica!" Gabriella yelled from the other side.

"What the hell have I done to you?" I yelled back. I was only seeing red, red, and red. I was the one betrayed by her. She had disappeared without a sight with my old 'friend' a.k.a her new lover on that very night we had promised to meet to flee. They had betrayed me, leaving me alone in this hellhole of a Wasteworld without one person to rely on. It was then that I had learned to trust no one and provide none to everyone except for Josiah and Soeun.

"You abandoned me at the mercy of Jerome with that money you fucking wanted so much," she continued. "But he offered vengeance. So I took that offer. Problem?"

Yes. Problem. Whatever she was saying, nothing seemed to click. It was completely different from what I knew. Something was off; there was a missing piece in this puzzle. There was, however, no time as of now to retrieve that piece.

I ran around the trailer and dove in front of the bonnet of the poor Cadillac. Jerome was still behind the trunk. I aimed at his head through the glass and was about to rain bullets on him when, suddenly, my vision turned literally red. Dark red. Acute pain shot up from my waist and had me collapsing on the dirt below my knees. My breathing stopped for a moment; the burn being too abhorrent for my body to handle. I could barely let out a sound, neither could my eardrums take in all the deafening noise reverbing around me. It was as if I was swimming in a pool of water except the water in it was acidic.

"...take him...wn...! Before...ts...away...!"

I could barely make out fragments of words as I felt hands grabbing at my arms and legs, half-dragging my body toward the trailer. A long trail of blood was left behind my listless body as I was hoisted up and carried into the trailer. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Erik firing madly at Jerome's fleeing back with no satisfying results. If I was not mistaken, he appeared to be taken by pure contempt. For me...? I wondered, sleepily.

Before the door was closed, I caught sight of Gabriella's eyes looking into mine as she retreated to their car. Was it concern I detected in her gaze? I wasn't sure. But I felt like I should confess before I completely blacked out.

"Brie...I'm sorry, Harriet...Harriet...told me..."

The door closed, and I lost consciousness.

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A digital drawing of Brie by me

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