Chapter 3 – Blondie.

Beck's POV

It's dark. It's dark and I'm scared. Mum's scared too; I can see the fear in her eyes even though she doesn't say it out loud. She's not scared for herself, though, she's scared for me. I'm scared for me, too. I've done something wrong, something he's not going to like, and it's only a matter of minutes before he comes storming in here to tell me just how unhappy he is with me.

Cowering, I press myself as far back against the wall as I can, my eyes glued to the door on the opposite side of the wooden shack. I will myself to disappear, to just dissolve into the wall where he'll never be able to find me, where I'll be able to stay safe forever. It doesn't work, it never does.

The door opens with a loud bang, slamming back into the wall, and the silhouette of my father's looming figure appears in the doorway.

"Kailen, please," my mum says, trying to calm him down before he's gotten too close to me, her voice as shaky as my hands seem to be. I can't get them to stay still as I look into the blazing eyes of my father.

He's mad; he's really mad.

"You," he snarls at me, his voice full of so much venom as he takes a step towards me.

I flinch, I can't help it.

"Father, I'm sorry," I say, my voice coming out as a whimper despite the strength I try and put into my words. A tear falls from my eye which, of course, only serves to make him angrier.

"Get here!" he all but roars, stalking towards me and causing me to try to press even further back into the wall.

"Kailen, no!" my mum screams at him as he reaches out to grab onto my hair, not caring if he rips any of it out as he drags me towards him. "Kailen, stop it!"

My scalp feels on fire as he refuses to let me go, but I bite down on my tongue to stop myself from making a sound. Showing my pain will just make him cause me more, I've learnt that by now.

"Kailen, please, he's just a boy!" she cries, trying her hardest to break his hold on me and pull him away. It doesn't work. He's much stronger than her and simply shakes her off as if she weighed no more than a feather.

"Father, please," I cry in one last attempt to prevent the inevitable from happening, no longer able to stop the pain from showing.

As usual, he doesn't listen, and I don't even get the chance to blink before a blinding pain is shooting thought the side of my face. His fist is rock solid and I brace myself as he brings it down a second time to smash into me.

My mum's screaming, I can hear her but I can't make out what she's saying through the ringing in my ears.

'It's okay, mum,' I want to tell her, trying to force my lips to form the words. 'It's all going to be okay.'

My voice is uncooperative, though, refusing to let a single syllable sound as my father shoves me to the floor and kicks me once in the stomach.

Winded and wounded, I look past my father's leg and at the open door on the other side of the shack. It's the only exit there is and my father is currently standing between us, kicking at my knees as I continue to lie on the floor struggling for breath.

I can't get out. There's no escape. I can't escape-

I wake with a start, sitting up and gasping as I take in my surroundings. It's light outside now, possibly coming up to midday, and I focus on the sound of the bird chirping in a nearby tree to try and stop the shaking in my hands.

Goddammit. I knew it was going to happen again.

I wince at the memory of Kailen's foot slamming into my ribs, unable to remember what it was I'd done to piss him off that particular time. I was only eight so it couldn't have been something that extreme. He'd always had a temper, though, my father. The only one he'd never lay a finger on was my mother, but he'd never really seemed to understand that every time he was hurting me he was killing her inside.

Things only got worse after she died; she wasn't there to help calm him down anymore and he never had an ounce of self-restraint. I had to get stronger before I could even attempt to fend him off. It hadn't been fun, to say the least. Then again, I don't know if I can really blame him. He was brought up to be that way, his father was probably just as bad as him, if not worse, and so it was all he'd ever known. Although I never actually met my grandfather, he'd died before I was born, so I can't be certain. Maybe if I hadn't had my mum to set me on the right track then I'd have turned out just like Kailen, as much as I hate the idea of it. Hell, maybe I'm more like him than I care to admit as it is.

I think back to the night of the battle between Lucy's Pack and my father's rogues, remembering the way his blood tasted in my mouth as I watched the light slowly fade from his eyes. I'd been unstoppable, savage even... no self-restraint. He sure as hell hadn't been expecting it... neither had I.

How am I any different?

Sighing, I rub my eyes with the heels of my hands, trying to get my mind off the past so I can start thinking about the future. I need to get going soon if I want to make it to the nearest shops before they close, I probably still have a few hours walk ahead of me.

Groaning, I grab my bag and pull it out from behind me, sorting through it until I find what I'm looking for. I quickly pull the T-shirt I'm wearing off and shove it into my bag before replacing it with the clean cargo green one. I only have one more clean shirt left to wear after this; I really need to find somewhere to wash my clothes.

I push myself up onto my feet and reach down to grab my backpack from on the floor. I'd better get a move on if I want to make it to those shops in time.

With one last glance around to make sure I haven't left anything behind, I set off.

***

I was right about the long walk ahead, as it takes about three hours for me to come across the next town over. I did take a few breaks in between, of course, and have now finished off the rest of my food as well.

I stand in front of a white sign, the letters clearly spelling out 'REDWATER PINE' in bold capital letters. I still seem to be in the middle of nowhere but I don't care, as long as Redwater Pine contains shops where I can fill up on supplies then we're going to get along just fine. A large stone sits on the other side of the road, parallel to the sign, showing a clear mark of where no-man's land ends and the town begins.

Shrugging, I begin to walk forward. The outskirts of town seems to just contain houses, some brighter than others and in all different sizes, and there are a few people dotted around in their front gardens as they no doubt make the most of the nice weather. A few of them spot me walking and seem to stop what they're doing to watch me walk past; I ignore them, used to people's curious glances by now as I continue my way into town.

If shops were going to be anywhere then the town centre seems like a good place to start.

It doesn't take long, maybe only a little more than ten minutes, for me to find the town square. I was right about the shops being here. There's a row of them along the right side of the square, with more no doubt lining the small roads that twist off in all directions.

Perfect; exactly what I'm looking for.

The square is busier than the outskirts of town, obviously, and people buzz about as I make my way towards the small corner shop on the end of the row, getting on with their everyday lives. Some of them still stare, though, and I continue to ignore them. Redwater Pine clearly doesn't have that many new visitors, or maybe it does... just not twenty-one year old guys in dirty ripped jeans with a single backpack and no car.

Yeah, well, who needs a car when you can turn into a wolf, right? Man, I'd love to see their faces if they knew that. They'd definitely have something to stare about then.

A small bell chimes above the shop door as I push it open, and I look around to see only four people inside, including the middle-aged guy standing behind the till. He's stood talking to one of the customers, a woman with a young girl clinging onto her hand, but he glances up at me as I enter his shop. He looks to be in his late forties, with greying hair and wrinkles around his eyes, and his eyes shine with the same curiosity as everyone else's as I turn away and start searching the shelves for the items I need.

Yep, there's no way I'm going to be able to steal from this place. Damn.

Sighing slightly, I drop my bag a little and reach in to get my money, pulling out a twenty pound note before dropping the rest back into the bag and slinging it back over my shoulder.

Okay, what am I after? Toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo... oh, right, and some food. I don't really want to be forgetting that one.

The toothpaste and toothbrush are easy enough to locate, and the shampoo is just a shelf up from them, so I quickly grab all three before heading over to the food section of the shop. By habit I head straight for the long-lasting food that will fit in my rucksack, which doesn't really consist of anything healthy: crisps, biscuits, and croutons... that kind of thing.

Lucy used to get so annoyed whenever she'd look at my food stash, telling me that I was going to end up killing myself. She refused to give up nagging and I eventually caved in and would occasionally get a little bit of fruit, just to make her happy.

Fuck it, I think, rolling my eyes at myself as I walk over to the fruit and veg section and pick up a small bag of apples. I'll eat them and if they go bad then I'll just leave them for the birds or something.

With my arms full, I make my way over to the counter. The woman and her daughter have left now so the man at the till has his full attention on me as I place the stuff down.

"Hey," he says as he reaches for the first item (the toothpaste) before scanning it and placing it into a blue plastic bag.

"Hey," I reply, quickly coming to the realisation that I'm going to have to make small talk.

"I've never seen you around here before," he announces, stating the obvious.

"Yeah," I agree. "I've only just arrived."

"You planning on staying long?" he asks, looking down at what he's doing as he scans the shampoo.

"Maybe a few days," I reply. "I'm just passing through, really."

"Oh, yeah? Where you headed?" he then asks, the curiosity clear in his voice. "Anywhere nice?"

"I don't know yet," I admit with a small shrug. "I haven't decided."

"Ah, well, good luck to you, I guess," he replies, scanning the last item and placing it in the bag. "That'll be twelve-fifty."

Twelve-fifty? Great. Stealing is always so much cheaper... obviously.

I silently hand over the twenty and wait for the change, well aware of the girl stood over by the magazines as she stares at me. Well, I say girl, she looks about seventeen, maybe eighteen at a push.

"Here you go," the guy says, handing over my change and shoving the receipt in the bag before giving that to me as well.

"Thanks," I reply with a polite smile, stuffing the money into my back pocket before making my way out of the shop.

The girl watches me the entire time but I barely glance at her, only really noticing that she has brown hair before I'm outside of the shop and scanning for somewhere to get clothes.

I haven't really paid much attention to girls other than Lucy in a while, even though I've had quite a few trying it on with me. Maybe that's not healthy, I don't know. A couple years back I was a complete player, not sticking with a girl longer than a few weeks before I'd eventually get bored and move on to the next. I guess it's gone from one extreme to the other with me, I could never stick with a girl and now I can't seem to move on from one. Sucks to be me, I guess.

I really don't want to fork out much more money today. Rule number one of lone wolf survival: never let yourself run low on cash. In some situations, it's the only thing that can save your life.

As it turns out, spending money on a pair of jeans might not be a problem as there appears to be nowhere in this town that sells clothes.

Redwater Pine, you and me might be falling out very soon, I think.

Hairdressers, Chemist, Bank, opticians... how is there not a single clothes shop in this place? Oh, wait, there one is... but it looks as though I'd have to spend every penny I have just to walk through the door. How is there a shop like that in this place? It doesn't look like it belongs here, at all.

Sighing, I hitch my bag further up my shoulder and test out one of the roads that split off from the main square.

Ah, here we go: charity shops. Charity shops usually sell clothes and are fairly easy to steal from (yes, I am aware that I'm going straight to hell) but they're all... closed.

Goddammit.

What shop closes at, I glance over at the church clock that towers higher than all the other buildings in the town, four in the afternoon?

I sigh again, quickly coming to the realisation that I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow for a new pair of jeans. In the mean time I guess I should look for somewhere to spend the night.

I'm not going to spend money on a hotel room, so I don't even bother looking, and instead I make my way further down the road. If I can find somewhere with good tree cover then I should be able to get away with sleeping there without being found, I'm only going to be staying for a few days after all.

It takes a little while until I reach back to the outskirts of town, not too far away from where I saw the town sign earlier, and I manage to find a small wooded area. There's no source of water nearby, though, which is kind of a bummer, but that just means I'm going to have to go looking for somewhere to wash and clean my clothes. If worst comes to the worst then I'll just have to spend a bit of money at a laundrette and use a shitload of deodorant, it's not ideal but I've done worse and the second I leave town I could look for a stream or something.

That's only if I can't find one around here, though.

Swinging my bag off my shoulder, I quickly find a tree that looks fairly simple for me to climb and make my way up, dragging the rucksack behind me as I look for a good branch to leave it on.

There's not much point in lugging that around with me all day if I'm coming back here later to sleep, anyway. All I'm doing is going to look for some water.

Once my bag is hanging off of the most awkward branch I can find, making it harder for anyone else who may see it to steal it, I hop back down the tree and set off again.

As annoying as this situation is, I can't help but say I've missed it. Over the years I was staying at the cave, I'd have to take off suddenly if there was even the smallest possibility that the rogues had caught my scent, which meant I spent many a night on the run like this. Not knowing where you're going to be spending your next night makes life an adventure. I'm not going to lie, though, the idea of having a proper home to come back to every once in a while does sound appealing. Even the cave never truly felt like home to me as, obviously, I'd never planned on staying for longer than I had to. Maybe one day...

I spend half an hour searching before I finally decide to give up for the day. I can have a quick look again tomorrow, but I'm getting a strong feeling that my deodorant is going to be my best friend for the next few days.

It's ridiculous. How can the place be called Redwater Pine and yet not have a single pond anywhere?

Sighing to myself, I find the nearest road and start walking down it. If there's one thing I've learnt from my little traipse around this town it's that every road seems to lead back to the square, which means it should be fairly easy for me to find my way back to my stuff. I go to the square and then I follow the path I took earlier: simple.

When I reach the square, however, something stops me before I've made my way down the road with the charity shops. There's a pub straight ahead, just past the row of shops I was looking at earlier, and I could really use a drink right now.

I don't really feel up for flirting myself a pint tonight, though, which means I'll have to pay. I still have the change from earlier sitting in my back pocket and it should definitely be enough for one drink.

It would be a waste of money, though. I need to be sensible here, I need to...

Fuck it, I think, making my way over to the pub. The sign sways slightly in the breeze and I glance up to see the place is called 'The Red Lion' as I push the door open.

There's a definite colour theme of red and gold inside, with the carpet, curtains, light and seat covers all sticking to the same two colours with the occasional splash of black. The tables, chairs and bar are all made of dark brown wood, and look (I'm glad to see) clean and well taken care of.

I shake my head slightly as I think back to some of the bar's I used to walk into when I was sent off to the rogue camps. They were revolting and I never stayed for long, instead going back to camp and leaving the others to it despite the fact that we were all too young to be served anyway.

I walk to the bar and slump down on one of the stools, my mind drifting to think about 'The Swing-in' pub that I used to spend most of my nights at. I always used to have such a laugh there, especially with the owner, Maggie. We used to make bets on which girls I could get free drinks off, which I'd more often than not win. I can be quite the charmer when I want to be and I ended up winning a fair bit of money. We'd only play the bets when Lucy wasn't with me, though, as Maggie always insisted on acting like a somewhat responsible adult when she was around. Well, as responsible as you can get when serving to someone underage, anyway.

Sighing, I allow my thoughts to drift to Lucy for a little while. To be fair, I think I've done pretty well today and haven't thought about her too much. I've been too busy.

I wonder how she is. Is she missing me?

Probably not, that stupid voice is back again.

Well, I'm missing her.

That's because you're a dumbass.

Hey, no arguments there.

I'm talking to myself again. Great.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts as a I notice a pint of beer being placed on the bar in front of me, and I quickly look up to see a girl standing behind the bar giving me a small smile. Her blonde hair falls down past her shoulders in loose curls and her light blue eyes brighten up slightly when she realises that she's managed to gain my attention.

I guess I must've zoned out a bit there.

"It's on the house," she says as I reach into my back pocket for the money, making me frown in confusion slightly.

Why?

"You look like you could use it," she answers my unspoken question with a shrug as I move my hand from my pocket to rest around the glass. "Just be thankful that my boss isn't around to see me giving out free booze." She gives me a quick wink before walking back down to the other end of the bar to serve another customer, and I don't even realise that my eyes are following her the entire way until I look back at the beer in front of me.

Huh.

I don't know whether I should be slightly offended by her act of charity or not, before remembering that she gave me a free drink and smirking slightly.

Who cares? Booze is booze, right?

A few minutes pass undisturbed as I start on my drink, my thoughts still clouded by a certain little redhead, before the blonde comes back. She must've finished serving the other customer, I wasn't really paying attention.

"So, who's the girl?" she asks, leaning forward on the bar with crossed arms, just slightly to the left of me, and turning her head to look at me.

"What?" I ask, frowning slightly at her abrupt question.

"Well, usually when a guy comes in here with a face like yours, it's because of a girl," she explains, and I lift my eyebrow at her slightly.

I mean, she's not exactly wrong, but still...

She seems to think about something for a second and frowns slightly, speaking up again.

"Unless you're Mike," she adds in a hushed voice, pointing her thumb at the blonde guy down the other end of the bar. "He totally bats for the other team, he just won't admit it to me."

The guy seems to notice us staring and turns to look at us with a slightly confused frown, causing the girl to laugh slightly and wiggle her fingers at him in a flirty wave. His only response is to roll his eyes at her, clearly well accustomed to her antics.

"So what did she do?" she then asks, and I can't help but raise both eyebrows at her this time.

I'm amazed at how this girl can pry so deep into someone's life and yet still come off as oddly charming. It's a difficult talent. I would know; I've spent years perfecting it.

I debate on my answer for a few seconds before deciding to humour her curiosity. She seems okay enough to talk to, I guess.

"Chose the other guy," I reply, trying to keep my voice as nonchalant as possible as I shrug slightly.

"Ah, unrequited love sucks," she says knowingly with a slight nod.

"You talking from personal experience?" I ask, deciding to give her a run for her money.

Two people can pry, Blondie.

She gives me a look that clearly says 'are you kidding?' and I start to get the feeling that this is the type of girl who doesn't fall in love easily.

"No, but my friend's had her fair share of it. I'm always the one left to pick up the pieces," she explains with a slight frown.

Huh.

"Lucy," I eventually say, breaking the silence that's fallen around us as I answer her first question. "Her name... it's Lucy."

"Well, no offense to Lucy or anything," she says with a slight shrug and a small smile, "but screw her, am I right?"

Then, with that, she walks off and, once again, my eyes follow her the entire way.

I frown, unsure of what to think about her words, and watch her as she starts chatting to the guy at the end of the bar. What was his name... Mike? Yeah, I think that was it.

After that, I quickly finish off my drink and decide to make my way back to my bag. It's time to call it a night.

(Hey guys!!! Chapter three is here and it's the longest one yet! :) I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you guys liked reading it! What do you make of the characters so far? What do you think is going to happen next? I think I've pretty much got the whole story planned out now but I might decide to change it along the way, who knows?

Sorry for any mistakes in the chapter, I have quickly proofread so any that are still in there are there because I'm a moron :') If you liked the chapter then don't forget to Vote/Comment/Add/Follow, thanks! I'm not sure when the next update will be because I'm out tomorrow night and I'm busy on Monday and Tuesday but I'll try and get it posted as soon as I can :) It'll most likely be around Wednesday/Thursday at the latest. 

Okay, so I'm not really sure what else to say right now except THANKS FOR READING and, until next time, byee!)