TORN FLESH

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: STATIC RIDES

THEY all stood in silence watching the radio.

Margo didn't know if she should feel relieved or terrified.

Unsure of either, she pushed away from Rogue and attempted to cross the space between her and the radio, instead, she fell forward to the tile of the floor with a strained groan.

Violet was the one to grab the radio and settle herself beside Margo's head while Rogue rummaged through her bag for something that could help the girl.

"This is Violet Smith on the emergency broadcasting channel, is the caller that spoke earlier still on?"

Releasing the button, the small blonde clenched her teeth for several moments before the static slightly cleared and a voice came through, "the caller is still on."

Gently swatting at Margo's arm, she watched as the woman's eyes flicked to her their color slightly dull as she stared up at her, "what do I tell him?" she questioned gesturing to the radio.

Margo nodded her head before slowly reaching a hand up to softly jab a finger towards herself, "Margo Lee." she stated letting her eyes close for a moment and her hand lie atop her chest as she heavily breathed.

Violet waited for a moment before she brought the radio to her mouth and held the button, "this is Violet Smith, I have a Margo Lee and a..." she paused before casting a short look in Rogues direction, "Rogue Cardence." she whispered pulling a water bottle from her bag.

"Rogue Cardence with me." she stated, without much further thought, she let the button slip from her grasp and waited in silence for a response.

"Caller two, please repeat."

The girl let out a sigh before she brought the device to her mouth once more, "This is Violet Smith, I have a Margo Lee and a Rogue Cardence with me."

The first caller didn't respond for several moments, when he did, his voice slightly wavered, "dead or alive?"

Violet clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, whoever the idiot was, he was exactly that, an idiot.

"Alive, you dumb ass, why would I say I had a dead person with me?"

The caller chuckled from the other end, of course, she was with Margo. That much made sense as he listened to her talk.

"Caller two, please put Lee on for a moment." stifling an exaggerated sigh she grabbed Margo's hand and settled the device into her palm.

The woman let out a sigh and lowered the device to settle right in front of her face before she pushed the button down, "you know, I'd bet money that you need a haircut."

A dry chuckle followed the statement before the man began to speak, "I thought you were dead."

Silence followed for a few moments, Margo pushed down on the black button, "could say the same for you."

No response came and the woman found herself wondering if she was actually talking to Mitch, or if it was just a hallucination.

She couldn't be sure.

"Mitch, where are you?" she questioned attempting to sit up as she did, she failed.

"Southwest of where we used to live, South Kingston."

Margo turned her head slightly to look at Rogue, glancing to the radio she gave a slight shake of her head, "we're near Fall River."

She felt her heart sink, they were farther from each other than she'd expected.

"We're near Fall River." she spoke- relaying the message to Mitch- while Violet- still sitting at her head- gently played with her hair, there wasn't much else they could do, but the child was very aware of the impending danger that would be upon them if they didn't leave within the next five minutes.

Reaching over to tug at Rogues sleeve, she cast her a worried glance, "we have to go." she whispered, the woman gave a curt nod of acknowledgment, she knew.

But she also knew she couldn't just drag Margo away from her spot.

The main problem being that she was still stuck on the drugs and she was a bloody mess.

And that was putting it lightly.

Bruises had already begun to form on her beaten face, her nose was bleeding- as well as her mouth- and she looked like she'd just gone through a boxing match with Rocky himself.

Violet was finally fed up.

Standing up, she leaned down and grabbed at Margo's sweater, "get up, now."

The woman furrowed her brows- as best as she could under the current circumstances- "now."

When Margo showed no sign of wanting to move and simply stared back at her with the radio in hand, she lost it.

"GET UP NOW!"

Seconds later the room slipped into a silence that swallowed them all, taking a deep breath, Violet let Rogue step in front of her, "we gotta get going." she spoke as she grabbed Margo's arm and hauled her to her feet.

"It isn't safe here."

Taking the radio from her, Violet held down the button and let Rogue begin to carry the woman away, "this is Violet, when's the soonest you can get to the river?"

She released the button and let the crackling static of the radio drape over her like a heavy blanket, something to shield her from the real world.

"A day or two, we can meet you at the halfway mark."

And with that, he was gone.

Meanwhile, Margo was struggling to get enough oxygen, it seemed that she was going to need some time to recoup from her injuries, she would need somewhere safe to do it.

As much as Rogue hated to admit it, a car was their only option.

She'd have preferred a house of sorts, but they didn't have that luxury at the moment.

Waving Violet forward, she dragged Margo with her watching as the small girl held her gun out in front of her like a lifeline, she wondered where she'd learned to hold it so confidently.

Perhaps she'd learned it from Margo?

She had no clue and at the moment it seemed there was little time to ask such a frivolous question. Following behind Violet the woman continued to drag Margo along beside her, so much for her final exam.

Hours later, Margo would wake to see the roof inside of a car she didn't recognize.

Beside her, Violet, and at the wheel, Rogue with a map settled in front of her on the steering wheel.

Squinting her eyes to try and adjust to the light faster, she found herself pushing against the seat with her arm to sit up.

"Where are we?" she questioned rubbing the back of her head with her hand, Rogue cast her a short glance through the rearview mirror.

"Few hours from the river."

It struck the woman then, she didn't know what all had occurred.

She remembered a few things, but she wasn't sure how true they were.

"The radio... was that real?"

Violet nodded her head gesturing to the device in her hand, "last time he radioed was last night, we're supposed to meet him halfway to South Kingston, at the river."

Margo softly nodded back, she didn't know how else she was supposed to respond. She was shocked, to say the least.

"I'd suggest getting a few more hours of sleep, you took a few bad hits. The pain is only gonna get worse till we get a second to treat it."

Shit, she didn't have to be told twice to sleep.

And even though she knew she should be trying to radio Mitch, she knew that if she was exhausted she'd be of no use to either of the people accompanying her in the car.

Especially Violet.

She couldn't protect her if she was dead on her feet.

She'd get them both killed.

It wasn't a risk worth taking.

Letting her lids shut, Margo dreamed of nothing.

Instead, the nightmares began to cloud her thoughts.

They would haunt her for as long as she breathed.

The most prominent nightmare was of her brother, more so, him killing Mitch, moments later he'd get killed too, by her.

Except, he wouldn't die, he'd stare up at her through his lashes- a bullet wound through the middle of his eyes staring right back at her- before he'd grab her by the throat then and choke her out till all she saw was black.

And it seemed that was the one thing that always succeeded in making her bolt forward in bed with tears dotting her cheeks and sweat rolling down her temples.

More times than not, Mitch had always been there to comfort her- even though she'd decided not to tell him the specifics of the nightmares since she didn't want to be pitied or looked at differently.

Mitch knew all about that.

People had pitied him all his life, underestimated him, taken advantage of him, and then they'd gotten upset with him when he'd finally shown them what he was like.

What he was truly capable of.

Only because it scared them.

So when a different nightmare began to play out in her head, she didn't know any better than to go along with it, it wasn't like she could control it.

This one was new.

It was Mitch.

And it was her.

They stood in front of each other, Mitch staring at her with a smile upon his lips, she'd hardly seen it, and she knew she was one of the only people who ever would.

It was Stan that shot him.

She watched in pure horror and rage as the man gunned him down in cold blood- right in front of her.

Letting out a shriek, she moved to grab Stan, to try and stop him, but as expected, that didn't work out for her.

Instead, a bullet collided with her chest and she found herself tumbling to the floor beside Mitch.

Teary-eyed and terrified, she reached out to try and grab his hand, realizing she was too far, she let out a sob and tried to locate Stan.

But he was gone.

And then she woke up.

With a silent heave of air, she stared up at the ceiling.

Sometimes she really wished she was like everyone else.

She felt like a damn robot, a broken one at that.

Stuck seeing and doing the same things over and over again.

It made life boring and dull.

It made it scary.

She was sick of always seeing the scary things in life. The evil of it.

When were the happiness and excitement supposed to appear in their lives?

Margo didn't bother to look at either of the two passengers, or ask for the time. She just knew she wanted to sit in her current state of peace, the silence swallowing her whole until it seemed as if she didn't exist.

She enjoyed that.

The second time she drifted off, it was peaceful, the nightmares didn't come rolling in, she had a dream.

One that made her want to cry.

She laid in a golden field of sorts- the sky a beautiful baby blue- sitting up to discover her surroundings, she smiled when her eyes caught on the figure of her brother a few yards away.

He sat perched on a lower branch of a tree with a smile lighting his features, he made no move to come towards her, instead, he beckoned her to him.

Margo quickly stood from her spot in the field and began to make her way towards the beautiful tree, it seemed as if its leaves draped over her brother like an umbrella as if it were protecting him.

She smiled.

She knew he didn't need protecting.

Waving her on, he made space for her on the branch watching as she climbed up through the limbs and scooted over to him across the stretch of tree.

As she sat beside him, she found herself with many questions, but the only thing that seemed to escape her mouth was a small sentence.

A statement.

"I miss you."

TORN FLESH

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: STATIC RIDES