CHAPTER FOURTY FOUR

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warning: s/a and murders

          THE SCREAMS THAT LEFT LUCIA'S MOUTH WEREN'T HUMAN AS SHE FOUGHT AGAINST THE TWO RAIDERS. One of them had hold of both her legs and the other had a firm grip around her arms as they pushed her down onto the blood soaked table. The woman had no idea what was happening and they had just barged in moment ago.

"Let me go!" she screeched, tears streaming down her face. "You motherfuckers! I will kill all of you!"

"Stop squirming, girl." one of them ordered as they held her down, the other taking a knife down from the wall. "It will only make this hurt so much more. Just relax, and enjoy."

It was a type of fear that she hadn't felt in a long time and it was so overwhelmingly bad that she felt herself go numb. They were going to kill her. They were going to use her and then kill her. They'd probably hack her into tiny pieces and make dinner out of her too. These people were evil. She had never encountered such evil in a long, long time.

"Please," she tried, trying to kick her legs but they wouldn't budge underneath his grip. "please, don't do this!"

The man leaned down and got close to her face, his rotting teeth inches away from her skin and he licked up a long stripe up her cheek. Lucia twisted her neck and tried to get as far away from him as she could. It was disgusting and more tears slid down her cheeks.

"Don't fucking touch me!" she screamed, another surge of adrenaline rushing through her veins when the man holding her legs reached up to pop the button of her jeans open. He grabbed the edge of her waistband and began to pull with a sly grin, but Lucia was stronger as she managed to bring her knee toward his nose, breaking it.

"Jesus Christ!" he cried out, letting go of his hold on her and holding onto his bleeding nose. 

Before the brunette could break free, the one holding her arms punched his elbow into her stomach and she got the breath knocked out of her lungs, eyes wide as she tried to gasp from air. He swung himself on top of her and straddled her, holding her arms by her side so she couldn't move an inch.

"You're making this so difficult." he muttered, bringing the blade of his knife toward her cheek and she tried to shy away from it. The man chuckled and pressed it against her skin a tad harder, almost drawing blood. "David told us to get you ready for tonight's dinner, he didn't find you worthy enough to do it himself. He's gone to that kid. She's a bit more his type, ya know?"

"You're going to die." she admitted, lifting her head and purposely pressing up against the knife until he drew blood. Perhaps it was the amount of adrenaline that filled her, along with the anger she felt at the mention of David doing something similar to Ellie, or pure recklessness. Lucia had no idea, but she did know they were going to die.

"Stop teasing her, Mitch." groaned the one still holding his knife. "Just get it fucking over with."

"Gladly," grinned Mitch, foul breath hitting her in the face as he slid the knife down her cheek to make one long cut. Lucia grimaced but kept her sounds to herself, not wanting to give them any more satisfaction. "pull off her pants, Malcolm."

The raider didn't even have time to raise his hands to grab the material of her jeans when a gunshot ran through the small room, momentarily deafening the woman and Mitch. Her ears were ringing and her mind got hazy, the concussion making her disoriented. The weight of his body disappeared and Lucia felt like she could finally breath again. 

The squelching of blade meeting skin over and over again made her suddenly nauseous and she rolled over, holding herself up against the table as she emptied her already empty stomach on the dirty tiles.

"Jesus Christ, baby." 

Lucia met his dark brown eyes and a sob wrecked through her body as she let herself fall into his awaiting arms. His grip was tight and she couldn't breath but she didn't care. Lucia wanted to melt into him and never let go. She had no idea how he was here or how he got here but she was so relieved to see him alive.

"Joel," she cried, but he shushed her and kept his tight hold on her. "you're alive. I can't believe you're alive. I was so scared ... I thought -"

"It's okay," he pulled away slightly, holding her face gently to avoid the cut on her cheek. The rage behind his eyes almost scared her away, but she knew it wasn't directed at her but at them. "I'm right here, sweetheart."

"They were...they were -"

"I got you." he wiped the tears from her face. "It's not going to happen."

Lucia kept her gaze on his face, taking in slow breaths to ease the panic that still coursed through her veins. His eyes were a comfort to her and she never wanted to look at something else as beautiful as him. Her heart skipped a beat and she gasped. "Ellie. We have to find Ellie. David has her. I don't know where."

Joel gave a single nod and helped her to her feet, wrapping a sweater around her shoulders that hung beside the door before they were off in search of the Williams girl.

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TEN RAIDERS NOW LAID LIFELESSLY SOMEWHERE IN THE SMALL TOWN, ALL BLEEDING OUT AS JOEL AND LUCIA FOUND THEM. There had been no sight of Ellie, and after going building to building, Lucia feared the worst of it all, which emitted a type of anger she had always kept hidden.

The woman was going to annihilate David when she found him and she wouldn't stop until he was in a million tiny pieces. Lucia walked in front of Joel and the smuggler kept his eyes trained on her carefully as he watched her stab another raider to death.

"Where the fuck is she?" she had demanded, but when he wouldn't answer the knife lodged into his throat.

"We'll find her." tried Joel, but he wasn't sure he believed it himself. Though his rage was equally as bad as hers, he had never seen Lucia act like this before and he was afraid she was going to run into a large group just to get information on the teen. "They're inside the town."

"Joel," she rubbed at her eyes. "I can't lose her."

"Luc," he tried. "we'll find her."

They entered another empty street, staying close to the buildings as they searched for Ellie. Lucia reached a souvenir shop and peered through the window, blinking in surprise at the sight of the two woman holding five children close to themselves. Lucia stepped away with a frown and kept going, ignoring them.

"Jesus," muttered Joel, and Lucia snapped her gaze toward him.

The brunette followed his line of sight and furrowed her brows, seeing the building burning in the distance. Smoke began to waft around the streets and the two of them hurried toward the restaurant.

Joel was about to open the door of the burning building when a small figure stumbled outside, covered in blood and coughing. Her breathing was ragged and she almost fell to the ground before the smuggler wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her up.

"No!" she cried, trying to fight him off. "Get off of me!"

Joel dropped to his knees and took her down with him as he turned her in his grip, trying to meet her frantic eyes. "It's me."

"Get ..." she cried, still struggling as she began to hit his chest with her balled up fists. "Get off..."

Lucia took in a shuddering breath of relief at the sight of Ellie and slowly got to her knees beside the two of them. The teen met Joel's worried gaze and she stopped struggling, eyes wide and face covered in blood. Her cries were bone shattering and the woman felt her own escape from beneath her lips.

"Hey, look." tried Joel. "It's me. It's me. It's okay."

"He ..." Ellie tried to speak, but no coherent words came from her mouth as she took in his face. "He tried ..."

The Williams girl threw her arms around Joel and hid her face in his neck, still shaking with fear and pain. The smuggler met Lucia's gaze from over her shoulder and he began to reassure both of them.

"It's okay." he muttered. "It's okay, baby girl. I got you. I got you both."

Carefully, Ellie slipped from his grip and met Lucia's eyes. The teen shook her head profusely before throwing herself at the woman like she had done Joel. Lucia closed her eyes as tight as she could as she held onto the girl whom had gone eerily silent.

"I'm so sorry," she breathed, brushing messy hair from her bloodied face. "We're going to get out of here, okay?"

Lucia helped Ellie to her feet as Joel took off his coat, carefully hanging it over the teen's shoulders. Ellie doesn't say another word as both Joel and Lucia wrap an arm around her and lead her away from the burning building and back into the forest.

The brunette glanced back momentarily to see the flames lick the building beside it, ready to burn the whole place to the ground. 

i didn't write out ellie's scene with david because he is so disgusting and he makes me feel sick five or six more chapters till this story is finished!