There were seven Hunters. They were all armed, but two of them didn't have their weapons ready. All of them were moving in separate directions, presumably to cover more ground. By then, they had realized that the fall hadn't killed Eli.

One Hunter veered a little further away from the others - his steps a little slower and a lot louder.

Aria walked slowly and silently, sticking to the shadows like a wraith.

He stopped to check his compass, muttering under his breath about the monstrous he would do to the filthy animal that shot at him. It was nothing creative and certainly nothing Aria hadn't heard directed at herself before, but she went hot with anger.

It would take Aria ten steps to make her way over to him. It would take him half of that to make his way to her. She didn't scream or shoot or imagine smashing his head into the nearest tree.

Instead, she called out, "Please don't scream." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but she knew she was heard when the air seemed to buzz around her.

The man's eyes darted wildly, hand moving for his weapon as Aria emerged.

"Be still."

The Hunter's hand froze where it was, eyes unblinking as he stared at her in what Aria knew to be fear. The only sound between them was his shallow breathing. She walked closer at her leisure and watched his face bead with sweat.

"I think I might have been nicer if you hadn't said you'd do those awful things," Aria said quietly. "You people make it so easy for me to be angry."

"Please," he choked out.

"How many Enhanced have begged you to let them go?"

He didn't answer, but his lip quivered.

"Answer me."

"I-I've lost count! Too many, I don't know."

"Did you show any of them mercy?"

"N-no."

Aria smiled.

The Hunter made a strange, frightened sound and the reek of urine hit the air.

Aria drew her blade. "Close your eyes."

It was an easy death. Quick and clean. Aria thought it was a more peaceful end than any Hunter deserved, but it was a smarter option than any alternative. She didn't dwell on it. Instead, she pulled the Hunter's gun and radio from his belt and she moved on in search of her next target, resolving to get it done with less talking. Talking to this one only added to her anger. She probably didn't need more of it.

Aria needed to handle three more Hunters. Eli was supposed to take care of the rest. They'd meet back near the river after. It seemed like nearly drowning sobered Eli up, but Aria couldn't help but worry anyway.

Aria found her next target exactly where she said he'd be on the radio. She shot him without preamble. The way Alex looked at her earlier that day made a lot of sense. Standing in a pool of blood, she laughed. It wasn't undeserved. People like her were the reason the world was turning a blind eye to what was happening to the Enhanced.

Aria closed the Hunter's eyes before taking his ammunition.

Two more left.

Aria abandoned the body to wait nearby.

Soon enough, another one showed up to check up on her more recent kill. She shot her before she had a chance to realize her companion was dead.

One more.

Aria moved through the woods, feeling more like a ghost than a person. The exhaustion of the day must have been catching up with her. Willing herself to keep going, she followed the sound of a Hunter's radio as rain began to pour. She tried to pretend it wasn't there - that the water soaking her clothes was all from the river and that the thunder in the distance was the crackle of the Hunter's radio.

It wasn't working.

Aria jumped at the latest crack, heart in her throat and struggling to remind herself where she was and what she was doing. She pushed forward anyway.

The radio lay abandoned in the mud, no corpse or living being within sight. The hairs on the back of Aria's neck stood up before something rustled behind her. Before she could catch on, her head was yanked back with her hair and slammed into a nearby trunk so hard she saw stars.

Thunder rang out like a battle cry and the gun fell from her hand.

Aria was too stunned to do much when her hair was released.

A man she was unable to see through the blood in her eyes cackled and let loose a flurry of punches. The first few hits sent her to her knees. The brute grabbed her by the hair once again and dragged her back to her feet to punch her in the face.

Aria drew the blade from her boot and he let go, barely dodging the blade.

The thunder roared like a beast, and Aria startled, crying out. Lightning flashed through the trees, illuminating the darkness for a brief moment.

A great hulk of a man stood before her. His gray hair fell in thin strands to his shoulders, his beard a wiry tangle that covered his chin in gray. The man towered over her with a familiar grin that sent her stumbling back.

He was going to take her. He was going to drag her back to the facility kicking and screaming and let the dogs tear her apart.

"No," she choked, panic filling her lungs like water.

He laughed again and lunged with the next crack of thunder.

✘

"Iqbal?"

Aria stared at the corpse beneath her - a mess of blood and flesh that didn't look even remotely human. The dogs. This might draw the dogs to her. She needed to run.

She was cold, so cold. But it was better to freeze out here, wasn't it? No fires. It would give away her position, Running. She needed to focus on running.

Warm hands grabbed her face, golden eyes boring into her.

Aria was a fly caught in amber.

"Where are you?"

Thoughts came slowly, trapped in molasses. Her jaw felt like it was screwed shut.

"Who am I?"

"Eli," she said without really having to think. "Eli."

"Yeah," she agreed. "You're with me, alright? You're fine."

Aria looked back down at the body and her stomach turned.

A hand covered her eyes. "Don't look at that."

Aria wanted to be sick. "Eli?"

An arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her off the body. It didn't make a difference. Aria could feel scraps of flesh between her and the grass. The hand over her eyes was only lifted when Eli had her pulled against herself. 

Aria couldn't recall the last time she'd cried, but she felt close to it at that moment. "Eli," Aria said again without any real reason. She didn't think she could say anything else. Words weren't forming and she didn't have it in her to try.

"I need to close your eyes for a minute."

Aria did as she was asked, tucking her face into Eli's neck for good measure. She wasn't pushed away. If anything, Eli's hold on her tightened as she stood with Aria in her arms. She shifted and a gunshot cracked through the air.

Aria flinched.

"I killed him," Eli said calmly. "I shot him. Who killed him?"

"Eli," Aria answered slowly. Eli killed him, but Aria's hands were slick with his blood. That didn't make sense. Aria gave her head a shake and squeezed her eyes shut tighter.

Eli turned. Walked away with Aria in her arms like she hadn't fallen off a cliff not too long ago.

Aria didn't know how much time had passed when they stopped moving, but only then did she open her eyes. Eli's clothes were ruined, she realized when Eli had her sit.

Aria didn't bother looking down at the state of her own. Something told her it was a bad idea.

"Hey."

Aria met Eli's eyes again, only then realizing her mind had drifted.

"Where are you?"

It was still raining, but the thunder didn't sound nearly as close as it had before. Aria was in the woods with Eli. There were no dogs. There was no facility.

"Can you tell me where you are?" Eli asked again, one hand reaching out toward her cheek.

Aria leaned into the warmth mindlessly, closing her eyes for a moment. It was so hard to talk and she was so tired. When she opened her eyes again, Eli was looking at her patiently. "With Eli."

Eli nodded. "There's something I need to do. Stay here, alright?"

Aria nodded, drawing her knees up to her chest.

"I won't be long. I'll come back quicker if the storm starts up again."

Aria nodded again and wrapped her arms around herself. Her eyelids were so heavy.

Eli straightened up, looking back at her as she left like she thought Aria might flee. How funny. Aria could hardly feel her legs.

Aria was left alone surrounded by woods and a heavy silence, interrupted only by the sound of her own unsteady breathing. She let her eyes fall shut, resting her forehead on her knee. What was left of that man's face flashed in her mind's eye and her eyes shot open, as she scrambled to vomit.

Leaves and twigs rustled behind her and a hand came down, clamping on her shoulder. Even in her state, she knew it was too large to be Eli's.

She would've fallen into a puddle of her own sick if he didn't wrench her up by the neck.

"What the hell did you do to Hawthorne!?"

Aria opened her mouth, trying to force herself to speak, but the words wouldn't come.

He squeezed.

Aria choked. Was he an idiot? How was she meant to answer? She wished she could speak so she could ask.

"What did you do to her?" he roared, squeezing tighter, shaking her as though she could answer. And then he paused, eyes going wide with recognition. "Iqbal?"

She chose that precise moment to black out.

✘

Aria came to slowly, pulled into consciousness by a throbbing head and an awful taste in her mouth. She tried spitting before realizing something was wrapped around her head, wedged between her teeth. Trying to pull it out made her aware that her aching arms were wrenched above her head, and that the tips of her toes were the only thing on the ground beneath her.

There was shouting - a demand for her to wake up.

Ah, the rude man from earlier.

Maybe he'll leave if I pretend I'm unconscious.

A punch to the gut knocked the idea, along with the wind, out of her.

She peeled her eyelids open, met with that same, angry glare.

The man in front of her looked to be a few years older. He was blond-haired, blue-eyed, and entirely unfamiliar. "Where's Hawthorne?"

Ah, he was also stupid. Questioning her while she was gagged was a profoundly unproductive way to go about his interrogation. She wished she was still unconscious. No matter how she strained to pull her wrists off the tree, they wouldn't budge. They seemed bound to it instead of just slung over.

"What the hell are you doing?" Eli's voice demanded from a distance.

Aria couldn't help the immediate relief.

The man turned to look at her. "Hawthorne!"

Eli was close enough to see now. "Are you hard of hearing now? I asked you a question. Get that girl down, Clark."

"I thought she had something to do with you disappearing," he said, and only then did Aria realize he was an Elite.

Eli scowled. "Disappearing?"

"Knox said you weren't checking in. He sent me to see what happened. It's been hours, Hawthorne."

"Intel was bad," she said dismissively. "It took time to handle. Now get her down."

"Don't you recognize her?"

"Should I?"

"It's the Siren," he said. "Do you know what this means?"

Eli arched an eyebrow. "That the Hunters had her?"

"Don't be stupid. She probably helped them kill Elites to save her own neck. It would explain why nobody could find her after she escaped. Don't you think they would've sold her as soon as they got her otherwise?"

Aria looked to Eli for help, but the woman wouldn't look at her.

"She's useful either way. Knox didn't have us crawling all over the place just to kill her."

The man snarled, "Fuck that. She's been with them this entire time when she could have helped turn the tides to our advantage."

"And?"

"I have questions for her. Don't you?"

Eli rolled her eyes before Clark turned away, but wouldn't look at Aria even when he had his back turned. A hard look passed over Eli's face as she watched him and an awful feeling crept through Aria's chest.

Clark turned to Aria, face somehow more twisted than it was before. "How many of us did you help kill?"

Aria shook her head, throwing a desperate look in Eli's direction only to be met with indifference. Her heart sank.

"Lying bitch."

The Elite grabbed her arm and clenched his teeth. Aria couldn't understand what he was doing until she felt the shock. The girl's muffled screams sounded like a broken bow across an untuned violin, screeching and ugly and painful. Electricity crackled, popping and hissing like a stew bubbling on the stove, boiling the marrow in her bones.

"How many!?"

Aria panted, shaking her head, unsure of what else to do. The next shock was worse.

If not for the rope holding her up, she would have collapsed where she stood. Her body was forced to remain upright as it twitched and spasmed with currents of voltage, mouth locked in a silent scream.

Aria was back in a cell - back torn to shreds and body broken from the batons, taking shocks to open wounds. She wanted to scream even though her throat was raw from when the dogs had ripped her apart. Another shock came and she couldn't do anything but take it and try to beg, tears and snot streaming down her face.

It stopped for a moment and her body went slack again. She hung there, gasping, trembling.

Please no more, no more, no more!

A man shouted before electricity crackled in the air once more.

She couldn't. She would break, she would break.

And although she knew it was coming again, the pain caught her off guard, her mind an endless, shrieking barrage of no more, no more, no more! as electricity surged through her body, leaving her to convulse like a puppet on a string, choking on her own spit and broken cries.

It happened again and again, momentary reprieves coming less often.

No more, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more!

Kill me, kill me, just kill me, kill me, KILL ME!

Something struck her hard across the face. There was no cell, no cattle prod, no laughing. There was an angry Elite and the stench of ozone.

The sight of Eli behind him was like a noose tightening around Aria's throat. If not for the gag in her mouth, she would have screamed. Tears kept dripping down Aria's face. Her body shuddered like she was possessed - she didn't know if it was from the cold or the electricity or the sobbing. She didn't care. She just hoped her heart stopped before the next shock came.

"What are you doing?" Aria heard Eli ask, annoyed.

"Questioning her."

"That's enough," Eli said, nose wrinkled. "Look at the state of her. She'll be useless if her brain's fried."

"I'm sure he'd find something for her to do," he spat, but he stepped back.

"Come, I need help with the last two bodies."

Aria just hung there, invisible and barely able to follow the conversation. She didn't know how long ago they'd gone when she managed to gather herself enough to feel the rope around her wrists and the branch she was strung up from. The knots were too tight for her to do anything about. Panic rising in her throat, she thrashed about uselessly, slicing herself against the twigs.

The blood running down Aria's arm made her stop for a moment. She managed to grab the twig and in a rush of what had to be adrenaline-induced strength, snapped it off the branch.

The twig's rough bark cut into Aria's flesh. Every jerk and pull at the rope seems to make it tighter and tighter, cutting off her circulation. Her wrists began to ache under the strain, but she worked the twig against the rope until she could break free.

Without that to hold her up, she hit the ground in a heap. Aria didn't know how she got to her feet or how she managed to stumble through the woods. But the strength to run only came when she heard Clark shouting that she was gone.

The sounds of footsteps, the sounds of their voices, were enough to fill her with enough rage to propel her forward. Aria would fight. She would scream and claw and bite, she would force her voice to work one way or another, but she would not be taken against her will so easily this time.

Later, Aria would try to remember how she managed to outrun them, but she would not be able to remember anything. She would not be able to remember how many times she fell or how many turns she took. She would not be able to recall how many times they nearly caught up or what the sky looked like.

All she would be able to remember was throwing herself off a cliff's edge.

Author's Note

And that is the end of Aria's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

(As well as my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad all-nighter).