The Kin

This brat keeps muttering in her sleep, and it's driving me insane.

Maverick this, Maverick that...literally! It's fucking pathetic! And worse, it's annoying! Sure, it's helpful to know a little more of who he is, but some of it I'd already learned.

For instance, she started screaming about "get me out of here!" Then she cried, "The Academy, nightmares, Maverick, save me, I'm sorry, blah blah blah." So I'm guessing she came from the Academy and Maverick saved her. Ha, I'd already learned that from those two at the Barber.

What happened to them? I hope they're doing alright.

Okay, I admit, I made a joke.

I a l r e a d y k n o w w h a t h a p p e n e d t o t h e m.

Strange, right?

I now sincerely hope that this Maverick guy will find me quick, but he still hasn't come. He'll find me, I made sure I'd leave hints as to how to get to my secondary hideout.

I catch myself smirking, and suddenly, the girl jerks as she coughs up some blood and dust.

"Fuck!" She squeezes her eyes tight. "Please just be some drug, please just be some drug, please just be some drug..." she continues to mutter.

I swing my blade, getting up from my seat. Before I answer her, she opens her eyes and yells, "Wait! That's not any better!" She looks up and her tense face, for some reason, relaxes. "Oh...just some old guy...that's not...worst case scenario I suppose. Thanks, God."

Fucking brat. I grunt and strike her hard across the face. I may be heartless, but I sure still have a brain. I can feel all of her pain. "GAH!" She screams. Blood drips down her face. "Fuck!"

She leans her head back. I can tell there's already a bruise forming. "Oh, and you got me in restraints, you perverted pedophile!"

"Shut the hell up!" I snapped. God, this kid is annoying. "You're a fucking idiot, kid. If you try to open your mouth one more time, I swear to that non-existent God of yours you'll be drenched in piss soon enough." I start to chuckle. Oh man, has it been that long since I've done something this exciting?

I continue to laugh, and she looks away. "Oh fucking shucks, kid. Did you really take what I said so goddamn seriously?"

"No?" She questioned.

"Well, I'm just messing with you, kid." I kick her in the gut like a sick puppy. "I was serious the first time."

I take my knife and slide it down that pretty little face of hers, making the blood lightly trickle down her cheek. She looks and sounds like Casey. I wonder if I'll ever see that little girl ever again, and not in a fucked-up annoying brat like this girl. "Oh, what are you gonna do, kick me some more, you asshole?!" She cries out. "God, you didn't even get to the correct warnings or threats, like Jesus, give me something to negotiate with."

I take off my hat, and I slick back my hair. She looks into my eyes and she figures it out. She almost screams, but she restrains herself. "Who...are you?" I recede my knife and throw it at the ground where her tiny blood droplets bounce off the floor.

"Someone who's gonna kill your beloved Maverick!" I explain, taking out my gun. "It's probably nothing you haven't heard before, believe me, I understand the feeling of tedious killing and threats." I look at her. "Anyway, I suppose you're not really gonna tell me much about Maverick, anyway. I am the only one who can kill him. I don't expect you to take my word for it, but I am."

"What? So you want me to tell you about him or something? That's it, right? And then you're gonna torture me until I say something completely scandalous?" She questions. "Why didn't you tell me that sooner, for fuck's sake!" She quickly says, "But don't think I'm gonna betray him just because of your saggy, soggy, ball sack." 

Is she this dim-witted? I decide to ask her. "Are you a dumb ass?" I wave around my gun. "This really hasn't happened to you before?"

She shrugs. "I've kinda only been captured like, four times, not to brag."

I smirk. "Ha! Then this town is the same stupid ass wipe that it's been before." I chuckle. "Not surprised, really. Seeing is most of the smart ones quit the life of crime or just died."

"Okay, good, end of conversation." She says. This little girl is tough, I'll give her that.

"You sure must think you're so fucking clever." I tell her. "I got a boot screaming your face, kiddo."

"Alright, alright, so what do you really want, oh ugly -fucking captor?" She spits. 

"If you can't figure it out, then it doesn't really matter. Just prepare for death or more headbutts and bruises. Besides, you're not really the important one. The Corpals would be fine if you only had half of your body."

She gulps and actually squirms away in fear. "Handing me into the Corpals? Are you the dumb ass! Y-you c-can't!"

"Why not?" I ask her.

"B-because! Uh...they'll kill you!" She lies. I heckle and smirk at her, throwing a knife cinching the very edge of her chin and cutting a small portion of the back of her neck as it lands next to her on the wall.

Her eyes suddenly sink and understand the situation. "What's with the look? You didn't seem afraid a couple of minutes ago."

"You! You're just going to end up killing me to get Maverick...but either way I'll end up back in the Corpal's hands." She cries.

Tears.

Where did these tears come from? Why would someone so strong and survive being kidnapped many times be so afraid of the Corpals?

The Corpals huh?

I nod. "That's right, kid. I don't understand how pathetic you can get. The Corpals? Really?" I sigh incredulously, "Fine, then, if you're worth seven-hundred thousand dollars, then I must be worth twelve billion."

"Fuck you! You don't understand, you couldn't!" She cries out. She sniffles and smirks, "I mean, 'course you couldn't handle being a normal human being."

"You're just asking for it now, then." I take her by her arm and lift her restraints and setting them down again.

"No!" She pulls at me, although I don't really budge. "Put your gross sweaty hands on something other than my arm!" She claws now. "My god, you are a...a....dammit! What's another word for an ugly, fucked-up fucker?"

Casey.

"You have a lovely daughter, you know, sir?"

"She's...not my daughter."

"She might as well be. Could you imagine living alone for the rest of your life?"

"Blood is thicker than water. Different bloods are thicker."

"Thick or not, you still need it. It may as well be the same."

Casey...

"Please! I can tell you anything you want about the Corpals!" The girl screams out. "Just don't fucking take me there!"

I grunt and throw her to the side; her small body slams against the wall and she grunts out in pain. "Really? Schedules? Times? Do you know any of that?" I ask her.

She nods. "I definitely do. Who the fuck do you think I am?"

"And who the fuck do you think I am? You think I'm buying that!?" I outline the sharp edge of my knife. "You know what I want." She shakes her head.

No? No? This kid really is a loyal dog. Just another bitch that has to follow and can't lead herself. What's making her hold back? It's every man for himself, so why does this kid actually waste her breath trying to save another kid instead of saving herself.

Well, no matter how she answers, her life's gonna end up back in a jail cell, or it may just end. I don't know, but apparently she knows all about the Corpals.

Don't tell me...does this kid actually think that she'll be safe with this Blade character? Does she really think that "Maverick" will defeat me?

Me? The Kin? The Kin of all sin and destruction, and him, just a boy with guts?

That makes me grin. I hold myself from laughing and bring the knife back to her neck, sliding it gently so it doesn't actually cut her. She winces but has nowhere to go. I see it now...I see the tiny bits of fear centering in her eyes.

"Just betray the kid, huh? It's tempting, isn't it? To want to save your own life than another. That guy can't protect you forever, and once I cut off this leg of yours, then what? He's just gonna throw you out even though you did everything you fucking could to save him. Where's your fiery fuck, now?"

Her breathing is panicked now. "Stop fucking breathing in my face your breath smells like lies."

"Words that you're buying because you know they're true." I grin. "Then what the fuck happens to you, huh?" I yell real loud. "You're just gonna stay the same pathetic way you are, not being able to do shit for yourself because that's just the way you are, isn't it? You're just a parasite, and a pathetic one at that."

At first, tears well up her eyes, but it's like they dried. She looks at me with the same ferocity as...

Casey.

"Seriously...fuck you, man. You're not getting inside my head." She sighs. "You don't know jackshit, jackass!"

"Then inform me before I actually cut up that face of yours...more than it already is." I grin.

"My face is amazing, and these scars are none of your goddamn business!" She cries out. "I'm hungry!"

"Then let's go take you to those Corpals of yours." I say to her.

"Okay, I'll tell you!" She cries out. "Just don't make me go back there."

See, everyone has a breaking point.

She sighed and started crying. "Maverick...he...he saved me from the Academy. I wasn't sure how he was able to save people and kill all of these thugs but he sure was able to because of how strong he was, I mean, it was just the way he was. He killed them by...well..." She starts smiling at me.

"Like this, assfuck!" She repeatedly bashes her own head in by hitting it on the wall. I try to grab at her to stop, but then she bites my hand hard. Blood gushes out of my thumb, and within two more hits, she's knocked out.

I check her pulse.

Still alive.

Clever kid.

She knew that Maverick was coming, didn't she? She knew that all she had to do was hold out for a little bit longer.

She must have that much faith in that brat, huh?

Still...this Navy Leg girl...she's pathetic. She's pathetic but she's also adapted very well. This kid is definitely going to die out there, but she's actually stronger than most. I don't really know how I feel about her.

Definitely a brat. Definitely a would-kill, but definitely different. Definitely someone, if things were different, I would maybe teach myself.

Like Casey.

*Carter, 21 years ago*

There she comes in again. Someone hurt my baby girl. It's not hard to tell because she's been sulking.

She wipes her nose and my sister comes in. "Go talk to her. She needs to talk to her uncle."

I sigh and lean back on the door frame. "What do you want me to do, Carla? She doesn't tell me anything anyway, why don't you go on and talk to her?"

"You think she tells me these things?" Carla cries out incredulously. "I get it, alright? I get you're still new to this whole life and this whole family thing, but you've gotta try. I think she may be still upset about who or what you were."

I scoff. "So we're at what, now?"

"Don't deny who you were, Carter! That won't help anyone and not especially Casey!" She pushes my chest. "Go out there and give her the talk."

"And what if she isn't crying about that? What if she doesn't want to talk to me?" I grunt.

"Then make her talk, it's the fifth time this month." She silently bellows. "There's no other thing she could possibly be upset at. Everyone wanted to be her friend before the incident, I've seen it myself, she's just still hung up on it."

I almost growl at her, but I decide against it. "Whatever. You just keep telling yourself that."

I walk up to Casey. Such a sweet, innocent child. How innocent can she be if she's related to me? What would happen if she grew up to be a killer. Would she still have the same look that she has now?

Doesn't matter. We've escaped from that life. I've stopped the urges, the tendencies. I've already stopped most of the nightmares so she can live a better life than I did.

Everyone in that town turned into a dumb ass anyway. It's the same in every town, but at least she'll grow up to be a happy dumb ass if she can just let this go.

"Casey, do you want to tell me what's wrong?" I ask her, sitting down next to her in front of our cottage.

She inches away from me. "People are making fun of me. They say you're a bad man. They say you've killed a lot of people."

I stay silent, but then add on, "Do you believe that?"

She shrugs. "I don't want to. Mom said it once before."

"So you're upset just because a couple of kids-"

"That's not the point, Mr. Carter!" She yells.

I hate it when kids yell at me, but I had to hold in my anger.

"You're not telling me things, and these kids..." She buried her face in her hands. "I want to go back to Reebus."

"You have a better life here, you know-"

"At least I had friends there!" She cries out.

My eyes widen and I get up. "Don't yell at me. Don't interrupt me, Casey. Don't even think about doing that. And lastly, don't ever say you want to go back there. It's a horrible place, be grateful I got us here. You don't need friends, Casey. You've got family. And even then, if you hate us so much, then you can leave. You'll survive."

Her tears quickly dissolve. "You mean like you did?" She asks me. "Because you're once a monster...and that makes me a monster."

I grunt. "I am a monster, but those days of actually acting like a monster are over. But if you really are a monster, you wouldn't even think twice about what people say to you, so you're not a monster. Just...be glad you're here now."

She brings her knees to her chest. "They didn't say anything to me." She pulls up the sleeves of her dress. "These kids...they said that you were a monster and asked me if I was a monster. When I said no, they asked me to rat you out, to bring you to the police. I denied you were a bad guy, and then they beat me up."

I press my lips together. "Then I guess it means I'll be back in business."

She looks away. "I hate them, but please don't kill them."

I look at her, surprised and amazed at what she just said. There's no way this kid was a monster. No way she's related to me. "Why didn't you rat me out if you knew...er...knew half of the story?"

She sighs. "Because you're my Uncle, and I really don't want to think you're a monster. Let me believe in you, Uncle Carter."

"B-"

"It's not a human-eat-human world. I would never rat you out."

I ignored the way she interrupted me that time.

*Carter, Present*

If only this kid here knew it was human-eat-human world. She probably does, but she probably still believes in Maverick. For selfish reasons, I don't know and I don't care. Whatever he has, I'll end up taking it.

I guess it's for the better that she'll always be by his side, at least for the convenience of selling them.

I look at this kid. Short-white haired, green eyed, pale skin, skinny...she could be dead by now but she isn't. Strange, I thought at first she had blonde hair and blue eyes. Like Casey.

Ha! Don't tell me that this kid is reminding me of Casey. Oh, lord, how pathetic of me. Who cares?

For a while, the kid's stomach grumbles, even though she's unconscious. There's no surprise she's starving. I try to doze off, but then the grumbling keeps me awake. It's a good thing, it's just annoying now.

I grunt and bring in two ration bars that I've stolen. I set it down right next to her. It should be more than enough, considering her height and weight. It's probably the most she's ever going to eat. I put restraints on her again and tie her up to a near pole cemented onto the ceiling and ground.

Still sleeping soundly, huh?

***

I didn't realize I've fallen asleep until what sounds like a horn blasts in my ear. I look around, my eyes suddenly clearing of the post-wake up daze.

All I see is the kid still tied up to the pole. Her ration bars are untouched and the right corner of her head looks entirely too bloody and bruised. "The hell was that noise?" I ask her, but she doesn't answer. I grunt, "You didn't eat."

"Well, it could be poisoned! If I don't eat I die, and if I do eat, I die."

"You might die. I didn't just leave it there so you could eat it, die, and waste it." I say to her.

"Then you fucking eat it!" She looks away.

I groan and take the two ration bars. I open up both of them slowly, showing her that there was no poison. On top of that, I break apart two small pieces of each bar and ate them myself. She looks at me in disgust, but then she takes the other two bars and eats them quickly herself.

"So I haven't died in ten seconds yet...that's probably a good sign, right?" She asks, but I don't answer her. She then sits back closer to the pole.

"Thank you."

Did I hear those words?

"Okay, never mind." She shakes her head.

"Why are you thanking me?" I ask her. "Are you stupid?"

She shrugs. "I mean, maybe."

"What the hell kind of answer is that, punk?"

"I don't know." She shrugs. "I guess-

"Shut the fuck up." I turn to her. "You better start answering my questions."

"Well, geez, sorry then, moody old man." She rolls her eyes. "I was gonna say something nice even though after this, Maverick's probably gonna kill you. Maybe I'll just do it before him."

A short pause of silence fills the room.

"What's your name?" She asks me.

I scoff. "I told you, I'm asking the questions."

"It won't matter." She tells me.

"Why do you say that?" I ask her.

"Because Maverick-"

"-will be here soon." I finish for her. "I know. I was giving you a way out, kiddo. If you answered my questions, maybe Maverick won't find a dead body."

"I was going to say the same to you." She tells me. "Except, of course, you wouldn't be answering any questions other than the obvious."

"Like what?" I ask her.

"Just answering me why." She tells me. "I guess it doesn't matter. How much does a sixty-year-old's life have to offer anyway?" 

I chuckle, "Heh, keep talking like that, then-"

"I'll be dead, I know." She says to me. "Like I said, not my first time being captured...being Mavericks...I don't even know...puts me in danger like this. It's worth it though, all of it."

"Hmmm."

"It's true! I doubt you'd understand." We look at each other for a second. "I mean, maybe you do, but you are the bad guy. Well, ha, I mean in the situation."  She continues. 

"You want to get this over with, then?" I ask her. "If we both agree with time, then let's stop the stalling and get on with bashing your skull open."

She doesn't fidget. She's calm like she's never been calm before. Her head is upright, like she knows exactly just what to do, like she's ready to die for Maverick. What is it? What is it about her that makes her give her up life so willingly? How can she just sacrifice her hard work to die for a guy?

"Oh darn, I liked stalling." She sighed.

I stand above her. She looks up at me. My foot is speeding, inching closer to her face ready to repeatedly stomp at her pretty little eyes. Nothing. No fear reeks from her. One foot to her face, now four, now eight. With each one, her face is more swollen than the next. 

Why is she still up? At full strength she should be dead...

I look at her one last time. One hesitation in my foot was all I needed to see the fear in her bloody eyes. We both know this last one is all I need to kill her. My foot doesn't even bother inching any closer to her. Her eyes suddenly peter out, and her consciousness is lost again.

There it was, the fear for death.

***

Time passes by. I sharpened my knife and everything, but Little Missy hadn't decided to wake up, and her savior hadn't even bothered to confront me, yet. 

What is it with that Little Missy?

She wakes up. Her eyes barely keeping up from the strain of her swollen...everything. Stains of blood are all over her face like she was just painted.

She clears her throat. Her entire body resembles that of a run over puppy. Yet, she still has some life in her. Her eyes don't plead for help, they scream at her to help herself.

She asks, "What's your name?"

"Why do you want to know?" I ask her.

"Just thought I'd give a name to Maverick. Maybe he'll decide not to totally destroy your old ass." She then says. 

"Heh...a name is all it takes then?" I ask her. "It's all it takes to be saved by your precious Maverick?"

"No. The name has to come from me, dumb ass." She groans in pain, her voice hoarse, "But, in your sense, sure." She lies down, dying. 

"Have you ever heard of that saying where they...er...someone says, 'Do unto others as you.'"

I chuckle. "That's not how that goes."

"Well, smart ass, how does it go, then?" She winces.

"I don't know." I tell her.

Another silence. I don't like silences with this kid.

"It's 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'" I say.

"You see, that sounds way too long." She says. "But it perfectly describes how I, a fourteen-year-old fu-" she chokes, "ck, am going to destroy your face." She chokes on her blood again. "Agh. Fucking...agh...I can't even think right or say anything creatively. Who do I have to blame? The smug-looking grandpa that damaged my brain cells...the nerve of an eccentric-hater."

Sorry.

"What's your name?" She asks one more time.

"Jackson Lyrader." I answer her with a grunt. But then her eyes close and she inches away. Did she see right through me.

"What's wrong, kid?" I ask her.

She shakes her head. "Nothing...why do you care?"

I scoff. "I don't. You made me answer my name even if I didn't want to, brat"

"Oh, right...um...it's the name of my Uncle." She says to me.

"Great then." I say of boredom.

"He was a good guy. He's been away for a while, that's all. Like, for a really long time." She says to me. "I mean, uh...yikes!"

The name of her uncle?

Jackson? The fucking gypsy? Is she a gypsy, too, then?

Oh, fuck yes. Who would've thought that I would run into that weak fucker's niece? And now she wants to befriend me? Hahahahaha! I don't think I could laugh harder than I am doing inside now. Why? Because it's so fucking rich, that's why!

I hope I make you proud, Jackson.

"I knew a Jackson once. Last time I heard, he gave me a gallon of milk and took off into the Outlands." I say to her.

Her eyes widen. "This Jackson guy that you knew...was he a Gypsy?"

I shrug. "Don't know him too well, really. Just talked to him a couple times when I passed their old territory. Wait, why the fuck am I talking to you. You know what the situation is, right?"

"Who cares what the situation is. If I wanna fucking talk to you, I will." She grunts out.

"Why do you want to talk to me? You really are an idiot, kid." I say to her to try and get her off my back. I mean, poor kid is so stupid, I have to give her some kind of handicap, right?

"Can you just let me go?" She cries out. "Seriously, I just want to go home, and I really think that it'd be best for the two of us. Maverick and I can give you money, if you want? I mean, what do you even need us for, anyway?"

I shake my head. "You have no idea, kid. It's nothing that serious. I just want to live in the Interior where I'll be safe."

"That...is our goal, too. So, just let me go. Let me go. Let me go?" She repeats.

"No."

"Well, had to try. Nice small talk with you, but then Maverick really is kicking your old ass." She says. "How old is your ass anyway? I bet it's a hundred."

"I'm fifty-years-old." I say to her.

"Ha! Did you hear that genuine laugh?" She asks me. "Yeah, you heard it...so what are we gonna do while we wait for Maverick?"

"Shut the hell up and just rest."

"What if I slit your throat while you're asleep."

"Other way around."

"Oh, right." She smiles. "Well, then goodnight, Old Ass. I mean, we kinda just slept, sorta, but it wasn't that long, oh well, gotta get that beauty sleep."

Annoying kid. "Goodnight, Casey."

She whistles. "Hey, that's not my name."

"What?"

"Casey's not my name." She says to me.

"Who cares, just let me rest."

"Let me out."

"Fine, then I won't rest." I lean against the wall.

"Do I look like a Casey to you?" She asks me.

"No, goddammit, will you shut the hell up?" I groan. "Casey's no one, alright, it just slipped out."

"My name is Harley." She says to me. "In case you were wondering."

I sigh internally, and then say softly, "I was."

"Well, then, now you know." She leans her head on the pole.

I look at her, not knowing if what I'm about to say is the truth or a cover-up. "Casey's my daughter."

"Oh." She looks at me.

"She's missing somewhere. I have to go find her." He says to me. "If I can get to the interior, then I'll have a better chance of finding her from all of the things available to me. But other than that, if all goes to shit, I'll just live on and forget about her."

"Oh..." She presses her lips together. "I understand. I really do."

"You don't. You're not the bad guy in the situation."

"But you really aren't, either." She quickly says. "It's the Corpals. If things were different, then no one would have to play the bad guy!" She sighs. "And besides, I still know what it's like. How do you think I ended up here, anyway? I believed in someone so much I ended up playing the bad guy."

"Thank you." She then smiles.

This kid is way too easy. This is way too easy for me.

Oh, I see now.

This kid wants to get to know me. Wants to...befriend me, sort of, or make an ally out of me, just because I haven't really tortured her. I don't need her, but I need her alive. The Blade won't know it's me if I don't have her with me.

This could be interesting.

This is the best case scenario.

Why is it way too easy to act like a human around this kid?

Around Casey?

Oh, of course. Now I remember.

*Carter 26 Years Ago*

She slaps me across the face. "You son of a bitch!" Mariana cries out to me. Her brother being arrested and the others taking her away like she's some sort of animal. "How could you do this to me?"

They all claw at her, trying to take her in, trying to make her succumb, trying to bring her back into the fray of this God-Forsaken place.

"I didn't do anything." I say to her.

"Shut the fuck up!" She cries, the scars and wounds deepening at each attempt to get to me. "Shut the fuck up and just die! We're all going to kill you one day!"

"I told you this would happen!" I yelled at the gorgeous woman. "I told you that you should've just turned me in, but you didn't."

"Why the hell are you doing this? He's the Kin! Why aren't you getting him! Someone kill him!" She pushes the face of the others.

It's true. I deceived her. I deceived her and made sure that she would end up bringing me to my family. And now, there she is, at the bottom of the old lift to where others would try to climb up over the wall and into the Interior.

But I warned her this would happen.

I told her that she should've just left me behind and killed me.

Because even though sex with that beaut was amazing, I'd rather live a happy life with people who understand me, and I understand them. Someone I truly love.

"They paid me, sweetheart!" I said to her, and then I walked off the roof. "Besides, they wouldn't believe you no matter how much you cry."

"No!" She screams. Several gunshots go off, and more screaming echoes in the air.

Good riddance. I'll miss that woman.

I run off into the alleys, doing my best to make it to the Overhead Tunnels before anyone else can find me. There, Carla should be there waiting for me.

If she were still alive, she would slow us down. Mariana would betray us sooner or later, and if she didn't, she'd end up falling in love with me, if she hadn't already. I don't even know if I love that woman, but I do know that she was a risk.

A risk too big.

And she wasn't worth that much.

I finally make it to the hideout, and there she is, Carla, curled up in a ball and sound asleep.

I push her slightly. At first she groans and I cover her mouth, but it wasn't enough. I yell at her, but also whisper, "Get the hell up, Woman! We need to go, we don't have time anymore!"

She rubs her eyes, and then she gets up, revealing that under her is a...

that thing under her is a child.

"The fuck is that doing here, Carla?"

"This thing is my daughter! And watch your language, Carter, she's six and she can understand you."

"You didn't even bother to tell me?"

"I didn't think you'd even care, seeing is you never asked me once how my life was, just that we needed to leave!" She cries out.

"You don't understand, Carla! This could jeopardize the entire escape!" I yell at her.

"Well then you can go all by yourself, then! Because I've had enough of this stupid bullshit of you dragging us along!" She yells.

"You need me!" I bellow, and she sits back down.

Her child suddenly looks up, and she almost cries. "Mommy?" She whispers. Her tiny person is picked up by Carla, and Carla walks away.

"Where the hell are you going?" I call out.

"Away from here! We're going home!"

"You'll die!" I exclaim.

"Then we'll just rat you out, right? That seems to get everyone saved these days!"

"Who is that?" Her child asks.

She shakes her head. "No one, sweetie."

"I'm your uncle, and I'm trying to save..." I couldn't finish my sentence.

"He's trying to save me, not you. And he's not a good guy." She scoffs.

"Carla!"

"Mommy! We can't just leave him! He's family, so he is a good guy!" The brat says.

"You don't know what you're talking about, Casey, if you listened to him..." She starts crying, but that only makes the brat cry even more.

I groan and walk towards the two of them. "Carla, shut your kid up!"

She forcibly shoves her shoulder away and cries, "Don't touch me. Don't tell me what to do with my kid!"

"If you two want to get out of here, then we have to be quiet, dammit!" I tell her.

She stops crying and looks at me. "You mean..."

I sigh. "Just shut up and move, okay? I can take are of the two of you."

She nods and takes my hand, carrying her child in the other. "Hun, don't make a sound, okay?"

"Her name is Casey, right?" I ask her.

Casey nods. "It is. Nice to meet you, Uncle! Where are we going?"

I scoff. "To a better life."

It really isn't that nice to meet you.

It's the greatest bitter-sweet thing I've ever felt in my life.

***

This kid...this annoying kid...why does she make me remember?

It makes me wonder, does this kid remember anything? There might be a chance that she was alive when I still here, but for a kid not to remember her past, something bad must've happened.

What's going on in her head right now?

And why do I care? I really don't.