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☼ trigger warning: implied pedophilia. ☼

[ 🏹 ] ✾•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•✾ [ 🏹 ]

「 twenty-one. place me in my casket tonight
cause I'm already dying inside
pale skin so cold to the touch. 」

AT THE RISE OF THE MORNING SUN, Lizzie's eyes opened as she turned on her side, closing them after a moment. Only after the realisation that Ellie hadn't been beside her did she force herself to awaken.

She pushed herself up from the ground tiredly, turning her gaze to the other side of her, and placing a relieved hand over her eyes at the sight of Joel's sleeping body, Bellamy tucked up beside him.

Quietly, she rose from her spot on the dust-cloaked floor, wrapping her black coat tight around her as she stretched her arms. Her mind burned with the curious question of Ellie's whereabouts as she pulled her hair from under the warmth of her coat.

She spared Joel and Bellamy a soft glance before turning and making her way out of the basement through the stairs.

"Ellie?" She called out, walking through the abandoned house they resided in. When the air around her remained unresponsive, she frowned, "Ellie?"

Still, no soft remark blessed her ears, no hands jumped out to grasp her shoulders playfully with a laugh. Instead the atmosphere fell tainted with panic as she felt herself grow nervous.

"Ellie, this isn't funny." The blonde cried, clicking her tongue in irritation as she was unable to catch the brunette in her sight. "Ellie?"

She pushed open the front door, stepping out and looking at her surroundings in fear. "Ellie, where the fuck are you?!"

The frozen air hit her like a steel of a knife slicing against her fair skin as she drowned in the inescapable grasp of the winter terrain.

Her boots hid the ground hard, each step followed by the crunching of snow as she she walked around the exterior of the house. Her mouth displayed in a troubled grimace as her blue eyes pricked at everything in sight.

She couldn't explain the frustration that scorched her mind as her search for Ellie remained unsuccessful. "Ellie!"

"What?"

Lizzie yelped in surprise, jumping away from the voice. To her joy, Ellie stood behind her, unharmed and holding a bucket of snow in her hand as she looked at the girl.

Lizzie placed a hand over her chest, shaking her head lightly as she exhaled. "You little shit! You scared the living daylights outta me!" The blonde cried.

Ellie shrugged lightly, watching as the blonde was set free from her panic. "I got up early to feed Callus." She explained—Callus being the horse Tommy had provided them over a week ago.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Lizzie asked, walking beside the girl as they stood over twenty feet away from the house.

Ellie pursed her lips for a moment, looking down bashfully. "I know you love to sleep," she chuckled, "and besides .  . .you looked too peaceful to wake up."

Lizzie raised her eyebrows to the girl, grinning faintly as she looked at her. "Ellie Williams, you are just too sweet." She wrapped her arm over Ellie's shoulder playfully.

Ellie pushed her away, turning her head to the sun with a smile, wether her cheeks were rosy from the cold or the compliment, she didn't know.

However, the moment of serenity didn't linger, murdered by the sound of raven's chattering raucously as they exited the forest. The thought didn't mark inside of Lizzie's head for a moment, until the dawning fact that no birds had left the forest during the previous day had occurred.

The birds seemed almost frightened. As though they had been chased out of their habitats and forced to abandon the protective shelter of the trees— by something or someone.

Either way, Lizzie and Ellie shared a confound look before making their way towards the wooden fence that defended them against the shadows of the eerie woods.

They kept tightly against the wooden barrier, crouching as they did so to avoid being detected from whatever had alarmed the flock of birds. The two stopped after a moment, a deep pit of anxiety brewing between them as they watched the lower-half of male bodies travelling in a group walk into the neighbourhood.

Lizzie felt herself grow pale as she searched her brain for any answer of who it may be. There was no possible way for anybody to know she, Ellie, and Joel were currently living within the town, so why had a group showed up?

Finally, the sickening reminder of the previous day echoed in her head. David.

Without a second thought, the two girls manoeuvred their way back to the house, sneaking in through the garage and falling beside Joel.

Immediately, Lizzie clutched Joel's jacket, shaking him urgently as she gave a concerned glance through the glass window of the garage. "Joel, wake up! Wake the fuck up, Joel!"

She turned to Bellamy, watching as the dog sniffed the entrance of the basement, turning back to her with a territorial stance as he looked at the wide door. "Come here, boy," she beckoned the dog forward, stroking him gently whilst pleading, "you're gonna stay here with Joel, okay? Yeah, you are."

As she tended to the dog, she could hear as Ellie shook Joel back and forth. "Okay. . . okay, look at me. There are men coming, okay?" She placed a large knife in his hands, "-We're gonna lead them away from you, but if anybody makes it down here, you fucking kill them. You got it?"

Lizzie crawled back over to the man, snapping her fingers in front of him with a furious look on her face. "Joel, no matter what you do, do not fall asleep."

With one last concerned glance, Ellie interlaced Lizzie's hand with her own, dragging her out of the door and towards Callus, who rested not far from where they hid. As they left the basement, they winced as they used their strength to pull a hard, wooden vanity in front of it—trying to keep anybody from finding the basement door.

It hadn't taken long for them to reach Callus, to which they gently dragged him from the garage and climbed over him—Ellie in front and Lizzie behind.

Callus' feet hit the ground roughly as he carried the two girls on his back, both of them trembling in anticipation for whatever was to come.

The two girls shared a look as the horse stopped behind the group of oblivious men who hadn't registered the horse that stood near them.

"Hey, motherfuckers!" The volume of Ellie's voice captured the males' attention of they snapped their heads towards the two girls. As they turned, Lizzie already had her gun forward and pointing, shooting cautiously with the remaining bullets.

The men turned savage, pointing and firing their bullets reckless, though the sound of David's voice still seemed to overpower the endless rounds of ammunition as he yelled, "Alive!"

The wind blew against Lizzie's hair as Callus fought against the strength of atmosphere, sprinting as though his life depended on it.

The blonde turned, looking over her shoulder and watching as the men continued to chase after them, not unlike an ally of vicious cats cornering a timid mouse. "Keep comin', fuckers!"

Lizzie could almost taste the rich fruitfulness of satisfaction as it coated the tips of her tongue through a breathy sigh. All they would have to do was travel a small distance further, then they'd be out of David's clutches. She assumed he wouldn't stay around, meaning they'd be back to Joel in an hour or two maximum.

Her victory was interrupting by the sound of a bullet colliding with Callus' chestnut coat. The horse released a sickening cry of agony, wailing as it collapsed to the floor, accidentally throwing the two girls off.

It had all happened in less then a second, and Lizzie almost believed she was simply imagining the shooting pain she endured after her head thudded against the snowy floor.

She cried out as she rolled on the floor, barely hearing the muffled voice of James' as he yelled, "I got them!"

He ran over to them, a pleased look on his face as approached.

Lizzie lay on her back for a moment, her head ringing and her voice speaking before she could stop it. "Ellie?" Her voice sounded warped and contorted as she tilted her head to the side, her blurry eyes making sight of Ellie's half-conscious figure.

"Ellie—" she cried out as the agonising pounding bled through her head, leaving her with no way of communicating to the girl.

She flipped onto her stomach as she winced, crawling slowly over to Ellie. However, she shrieked as a boot collided with her abdomen, one of the men staring her down with a look of malice as he pointed his gun at her.

"Do it." One of the men said, his voice cold as he stared down at Ellie's weakened figure. Lizzie watched as he pointed the gun at the brunette, a foreign sense of anger and fear consuming her as she yelled in protest, "No! Don't you dare! I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill—"

A bullet pierced through the air, attracting the attention of the men and a barely conscious Lizzie. David stood a couple of feet away, shotgun pointed to the sky as he stared them down.

Lizzie grew nauseous as she watched him approach, standing before her and watching her with predatory eyes. The blonde couldn't help but wonder how the other men suddenly became submissive and silent, obviously intimidated by the ringleader.

David crouched as he looked at her, pursing his lips and tilting his head. He clicked his tongue, sighing through his nose. "You're brave, little one. I'll give you that."

"Fuck you." Lizzie choked out, her eyes growing weak as she fell into a dreary trance, recoiling immediately as David moved his hand towards her, brushing a strand of blonde hair from her eyes.

David watched as the girl before him lowered her head, breathing heavily as her body gave way. "That's right," he cooed, "you just shut your eyes." She barely registered the way he slung her arm over his shoulder, tucking his other one under her legs.

She jolted out of his touch, a breathy cry falling from her lips in desperation as she reached her hand out towards the brown-haired girl's. "Ellie..."

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LAYING ON A CONCRETE FLOOR WASN'T THE WAY ELLIE HOPED TO WAKE UP, but as her eyes flickered open and her body adjusted to the hard flooring, she realised hopes weren't made for people like her.

She groaned lightly as she pushed herself up, her heart clenching as she looked around the literal cage she was trapped inside of. However, nothing, not even the violent man who watched her curiously, compared to the fear of her mind acknowledging the fact that Lizzie was not there.

"I started worrying neither of you would wake up." David's voice resembled nails against an endless chalkboard as the sound met her ears. "Course, your little friend here hasn't woken up yet, either."

Ellie's eyes continued to blur in and out of focus as one question scorched her mind in a flame of desperation. "Where is she?"

David hummed, his eyes falling onto the cage beside the one she lay in. "Well, she wasn't as co-operative, let's just say." He stated, leering his eyes fall over the messy head of blonde hair that breathed lightly every couple of seconds.

"Let us out." Ellie demanded, still adjusting to the place she and Lizzie had been kidnapped and brought to.

"Well, that's certainly the goal."

Ellie glowered at the man, finally turning her gaze to the cage next to her. She watched in horror as Lizzie lay, a trickle of blood coating her head from the fall and her upper body being bare of her usual black coat, the same way she lacked her purple one. "Don't you fucking. . .touch her, you sick bastard." She sneered, taking a breath halfway between her statement as she winced in pain.

David released a dramatic sigh. "I'm afraid you don't make the rules here. And neither does your friend."

Ellie shook her head in disbelief, sparing him a dark look as she reached the barrier that separated the two cages. "Let me wake her up."

"Be my guest." David raised his eyebrows, gesturing for her to do so.

Ellie sniffled for a moment, placing her hand against the bar as she went to call out to the girl, stopping when she realised neither her or Lizzie had given their names to David.

Still wanting to keep the last strand of their privacy, Ellie called out with her favourite nickname. "Firefly?" She rattled the cage, watching as Lizzie's eyebrows creased slightly, encouraging her to shake it more whilst repeatedly calling out for her, "firefly?"

After a moment, Lizzie's head lolled to the side, her blue eyes appearing absent and lacking the usual hues of creativity and passion, instead appearing lifeless and worn out.

She trembled noticeably, a scowl on her face as she let her eyes focus on the cage that stored her inside. "why-" her voice faded for a moment as she fought the temptation to fall back into a slumber, "-am i in a cage?"

"Because I'm afraid of you." As Lizzie registered the voice, she battled with the urge to smash her head against the concrete floor, hoping this time she would wake up warm beside Ellie, Joel, and Bellamy.

David looked between the two battered girls with an impressed nod. "You're two very dangerous girls. You've certainly proven that." David applauded, "The others, they want me to kill you for all that's happened."

David leaned forward as he noticed that neither of the girls were truly paying attention to his words. "Did you hear me say the others wanna kill you?"

"yeah."

David's voice softened to a level that sent shivers along the back of Lizzie's neck. "But I stopped them."  Lizzie could've scoffed, challenging him by asking if he'd like a medal, and she would've had she sooner adjusted to the environment.

"Fuck you." Ellie sneered, resting her head against the metal that separated her from her counterpart.

Though he refused to show it, Lizzie could practically feel the annoyance seeping through his words. "Why don't we just start with your names?"

"Eat shit." Lizzie scoffed out, pushing herself to rest against the barrier, intertwining her pink finger with Ellie's as a source of comfort.

David grew displeased, standing from his seat and treaded closer to the blonde. "Hey, listen to me!" He growled, causing both of the girls to move back in an attempt to get away from the man. "You can't survive on your own. No one can. But I can help you. Let me protect you."

"We're not on our own." Lizzie defended, her blue eyes sparked with flames as snarled ferociously at the man.

"Right-" David scoffed, "-Your friend. And how is he? And don't give me that bullshit," he looked to Lizzie, "I know he's not your father. And he never will be. People like him. . . Don't understand people like us."

Lizzie scowled at him, turning away to cover up the hurt sensation the man's words had provided.

"But I can see how much you both care about him so I know it hurts. But even so. . . you gotta face reality. That part of your life, it's ending." David sighed, "and what what I'm offering you is a beginning. But if you can't find a way to trust me. . . then, yes, you are alone."

Lizzie clenched her jaw at the man. "We're not alone if we have each other."

David hummed, "I suppose you're right, but how long will that last, Elizabeth?"

Lizzie tensed, her body turning to stone as though she'd met the eyes of Medusa. Her skin prickled with fear as she slowly brought her gaze up to meet the man's. A swirling mixture of horror, uncertainty, and disgust built beneath her flesh as she snarled at him.

Ellie watched from the other cage, her gaze wide as she avoided the man's eyes, disgusted with the way his tone was served. Her gaze was drenched in anger and apprehension as she glared at him.

David kneeled before Lizzie's cage, a sickly sweet smile on his face as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a pendant. Her firefly pendant. He swung it back and forth for a moment as though it were a watch, catching it in his hand and flipping it so he could read the name. "Elizabeth Dean."

Lizzie watched in violation as the thought of his hands touching her in order to retrieve the necklace, which previously lay around her neck, poisoned her mind.

David simply sighed as he looked at her, turning to look at Ellie for a moment with the same perverted gaze. Wordlessly, he traced his hand over the carvings of her name, placing it back in his pocket.

Without another word, David exited the room, leaving them both in a state of shock.

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THE ROOM WAS EMBRACED WITH THE VIOLENT SOUND OF A FIST CONNECTING WITH A JAW, followed by the barking and growling of a crazed dog who's teeth bared, threatening to indulge into anything it needed to.

It was safe to say, Joel Miller was overflowing with infuriation as he endlessly slammed his tight fist into the man before him, Marco's, Jaw.

"Leave him alone." The second man in the room, Timothy, who sat tied against a desk in the corner, pleaded, watching in horror as the unstable man continued to puncture his companion.

Joel glowered at the man in frustration. "You next." He raised his knife high despite his weakened state. Marco let out a groan as his head rolled back, his skin stained with his own blood. "Please, I don't know any girls."

He screamed in agony as Joel stabbed the knife deep into his knee, extracting an excruciating amount of pain from the man. "Ah!" He cried, "Oh, fսck! Jesus!"

Timothy watched in detestation as Joel harshly grabbed Marco's hair, pulling the man forward. "He can't help you. You focus right here. Or I'll pop your fuckin' kneecap off."

After a fleeting moment, Marco confessed, "they're alive . . .but they're David's newest pets."

Joel's mind turned dark—flooded with disgust and murderous intent for whoever the fuck David was. He wouldn't allow any man who'd taken them away to live after he'd caught a glimpse of him.

"Where?" Joel's voice was poisoned with anger as he eyes grew sinister, his jaw clenched tightly in repulse.

When the man took a moment too long to answer, Joel twisted the knife deeper into the wound, causing for the man to cry out. "Ah, fuck! Fuck! Ah, the town!"

"What town?!" Joel demanded, his voice dripping with a threatening, deadly tone.

"Silver lake!" The man breathed out, his face bloodied and beaten as he stared in fear of the malicious man.

Joel released the man's head, pulling a map out of his pocket and attempting to look for the town before the man interrupted, "it's not a real town name." He confessed, "it's a resort."

"A resort?" Joel scoffed. His anger grew with every passing second, a foreign burst of protectiveness and determination festered in his mind, influencing his every move and thought. All he needed was to find the girls—his girls.

He seethed as he pulled out the knife, placing it between the man's teeth and ignoring his protests. "You're gonna point to where we are. . . and where your "resort" is. And it better be the exact same spot your buddy points to."

With a trembling grip on the knife, the man pushed his jaw forward, pointing to a space on the map. After Joel pulled the map away, the man sighed in relief. "That's where we are. I swear." The man cried, "Go ask him. He'll tell you. I'm not lying."

Before the man could speak again, he gagged on the metallic taste of his own blood as he was impaled with Joel's knife. Joel stared at Timothy, watching as he protested in horror, only for the man to push harder on the knife.

"Jesus!" Timothy screeched, backing away in fear as he noticed the dog that approached him, it's eyes savage as it snarled its blood-stained teeth in front of him. "Why the fuck did you do that?! He told you what you wanted! You mοthеrfuckеr. Fuck you. I ain't tellin' you shit." He protested as Joel approached him.

Joel dropped the knife, walking over to the red chair were a pipe rested. He picked up the pipe, fastening his grip around it as he licked his lips, approaching the man again.

"It's okay. I believe him." And the room sank into the sound of ferocious biting and the colliding of a pipe against a skull.

☼

[ 🏹 ] ✾•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•✾ [ 🏹 ]

the next chapter is going to be the chapter so just a warning. Idk when it will come out unfortunately maybe tomorrow or Thursday.

Also I've only just really realised how we're almost at the end of act one and let's be real we all know what happens in season 2 💀

Anyway I kinda have a plan for the next few chapters idk there's not many left I plan to do 24/25 chapters for act one but idk maybe more maybe less we'll just have to see :)

Anyway once again David fucking disgusts me never have i felt so uncomfortable writing about somebody in my fucking life.