Just a heads up, this chapter may contain some content that may be triggering. So, please read at your own risk.

Trying to erase what I had just seen on our way back to the store was easier said than done.

The image of the man reaching out to me, his eyes pleading for help, kept replaying like some horrible movie on repeat.

My mind was so occupied with coming to terms with
what had just happened that I didn't even realize when we arrived at the store front again.

Cory pulled out a key and quickly unlocked the door before standing back and ushering me inside. Once inside he quickly closed the door and bolted it bathing us in darkness.

We stood there in silence for a moment, neither of us moving.

Although I couldn't see him, I felt Cory move and then felt both of his hands on my shoulders. It took me a minute, but as my eyes slowly started to adjust to the darkness I could make out his features as he stood in front of me.

"What happened back there, that wasn't your fault." He began, his voice low and serious. "There was nothing we could've done for him."

I don't know how he knew that was what was bothering me, but it only made the lump in my throat seem to grow larger.

"You didn't see it. The way he looked at me." I whispered.

I felt his grip on my shoulders tighten slightly. By now my eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness and I could see Cory's face clearly. His eyes were boring into mine with enough intensity to take my breath away.

"That's not on you."

"I don't-"

"Allona." I felt his fingers slide up from my shoulders to the base of my neck and just under my jaw so I was forced to look nowhere else but at him.

"Listen to me. He was already strung out on drugs. It was only a matter of time before it happened. If you would've tried to help him it would've gotten you killed."

His eyes never left mine.

"That's why I don't know why you came back for me. You should've just kept going."

"I told you, I-"

"Yeah, you needed me for the medicine." A small smirk lifted the corners of his mouth. "Whatever you say."

Cory pulled away, his fingers lingering on my skin for just a second before he turned and started toward the stairs.

Wait, what?!

I quickly stumbled after him and hurried down the steps.

As I rounded the corner I found him already leaning over my dad, pulling the medicine out of his bag.

I knelt next to him and silently watched as he injected the medicine into my dad's blood stream.

Once he had pulled the needle from his skin and placed the cap back on he sat back on his knees and turned to look at me.

"Now, we wait."

***

The waiting game was the worst.

Every few minutes I was checking on him, hoping that this would be the time that I'd be greeted with his opened eyes.

Every time I was disappointed.

Hours had passed, everyone had eaten and the sun had set yet again and there was still no signs that the medicine was working.

Cory had assured me that if the medicine worked it wouldn't happen over night, no matter how bad I wanted it to.

Everyone had settled back into their sleeping bags for the night but I couldn't sleep. If he woke up I wanted to be awake when he did.

As everyone slept, I stood up to go use the bathroom.

I had just finished drying my hands when I opened the door to find Gabe standing there.

I hadn't been expecting him to be there and took a few startled steps back into the bathroom.

"Didn't mean to scare you." He gave me a smile, but the look in his eyes made me uneasy.

"Um, yeah it's fine. I just wasn't expecting you to be standing there." I said, rubbing my hands up and down my arms, the temperature in the room suddenly felt ten degrees cooler.

Gabe took a few steps forward into the bathroom making the alarm bells in my head go off.

"Really sorry to hear about your dad." He said as he positioned his body directly in front of the door. "I hope he pulls through."

I narrowed my eyes at him and took another step back.

"Yeah, me too. Actually, I should get back out there and check on him." I said gesturing towards the door, letting him know in no uncertain terms, that I wanted to leave.

"There's no need. I checked on him just now when I woke up. He's still out." He gave me another one of his leering smiles. "Everyone is."

My heart began racing in fear as I watched him turn and begin to close the door, intending to lock us both inside.

As he had his back turned to close the door, I rushed forward and tried reaching for the doorknob but Gabe was quicker and quickly grabbed my wrist and pulled it back and away from the door.

"What's the rush sweetheart?"

I opened my mouth intending to scream but he slammed his hand across my mouth so all that could be heard were my muffled attempts.

My eyes widened in fear as he roughly pushed me back against the wall. One hand was still covering my mouth while he used his other arm to keep me trapped against the wall.

"Now, let's keep things nice and easy sweetheart. I don't want to have to hurt you." He leaned forward and pressed his nose into my hair taking a deep breath and making a shiver of disgust run through me.

"If you play nice, I'll play nice." He pulled back to look me in the eyes.

Despite the icy cold fear that was coursing through my veins, I forced my body to relax, giving him the impression that I was willing to comply.

Feeling my body relax he gave me a nasty smirk.

"That's a good girl."

The arm that he had braced across my chest, he slowly lowered and I cringed as he took his hand and roughly palmed my breast.

I simply gritted my teeth letting him think he could have his way.

When he lowered his hand even farther and begin to to slide his hand inside my pants is when I reacted.

I jerked my knee upward, connecting exactly where I wanted and watched in satisfaction as he slumped forward with a groan and staggered backwards.

With both of his hands now occupied with cupping where my knee has just made contact that meant my mouth was now free.

I screamed at the top of my lungs as I rushed for the door.

Or at least I tried to.

I was barely able to reach the door and get the word 'help' out before I felt his fist in my hair, roughly yanking me back into his chest before he was covering my mouth again.

This time I made no attempt at playing nice. I thrashed wildly using my hands and nails to claw at any exposed skin.

"You little bitch. I'm going to make you pay for that." He whispered harshly in my ear before using his weight to forcefully push me to the ground.

My cheek was pressed harshly against the cold tile of the floor as he used his knee to press all of his weight against my back, keeping me pinned to the floor.

No matter how hard I tried to twist my body or swing my arms, I couldn't get him off me.

With the hand that he wasn't using to keep my
mouth covered I felt him begin to roughly yank my sweatpants and panties down making a sort of blind panic start to take over.

This couldn't be happening.

Because he had me pinned on my stomach while still trying to keep my mouth covered he couldn't get my sweatpants and panties down any farther than my knees but that was all he needed.

Tears started to fall as I heard the zipper on his jeans being lowered.

There was some shuffling and then I felt him pressed against me.

A sob tried to force its way out of my mouth but I couldn't even cry out because of his hand.

I felt like I was suffocating.

"I'm going to ruin you." He leaned forward and whispered in my ear as he began to position himself.

Just as I felt him began to push forward there was a knock on the door.

"Allona, are you in there?"

Arden!

I tried my hardest to get her to hear my muffled screams but Gabe spoke over me.

"It's just me in here. The food we had tonight must've been bad cause my stomach is killing me."

There was a slight pause and then, "Have you seen Allona?"

Gabe pressed down even harder on my mouth.

"Nope, haven't seen her."

There was silence after that.

When he was certain that she was gone he leaned forward again and whispered, "No one's going to save you. Tonight, it's just me and you sweet-"

A loud crash against the door interrupted him.

He barley had time to question what was happening when another crash against the door was heard and then another before it flew back, smashing against the wall to reveal Cory and Arden standing a few steps behind him.

As their eyes took in what was happening a murderous look crossed Cory's features and Arden's eyes widened in horror as she used both her hands to cover her mouth.

Gabe scrambled off of me and barely had time to offer some pitiful excuse before Cory had grabbed him by his shirt and smashed his fist against his face knocking him back on his ass.

As Cory continued to let punch after punch meet Gabe's face I had just enough strength to pull my pants up and Arden rushed in and quickly helped me to my feet and ushered me out of the bathroom.

Noticing that I was shivering Arden wrapped her arms around me, turning my head away from the scene inside the bathroom.

After a few minutes when it seemed like Cory had no intentions of letting up, Arden called out, "Cory you're going to kill him!"

Cory turned back to look at his sister, murder in his eyes. "I should rip his fucking head off!"

Arden glanced down at the bloody mess that was now Gabe, a look of disgust on her face. "You definitely should, but that's not who you are. Just get that piece of shit out of here."

Cory turned and looked back down at Gabe, trying to decide whether or not it was worth it to continue what he had started.

After a moment he let go of his collar and pushed him back on the ground before standing up.

"You get your shit and get the fuck out. If I see your face anywhere near here again there's no one on Earth that'll stop me from killing you."

I'm not sure what was scarier. His threat or the deadly calm way in which he said it.

Gabe looked up at Cory, or at least he tried to through his already swollen eyes and had the audacity to try and beg.

"Please man. You know what it's like out there. I can't make it on my own. I'll die out there."

Cory who had just started to walk away, stopped and looked over his shoulder at Gabe.

"Good."

***