What Little Remains (The Fallout Trilogy Book 1) (16 page)

I don’t hesitate, shooting straight for the door. I
get a hand on the doorknob before one of Razor’s men hits me across the face.
The force sends me off balance, and I crash into the wall. Someone’s foot
connects with my stomach, and sharp pain shoots through all the way back to my
spine. I bring my knees up to my stomach, trying to protect it, but the motion
hurt even more.

“Enough,” Razor says.

I open my eyes, not realizing that I shut them.
Razor is standing off to the side, his hand on his nose. Blood is streaming
down from it, filling his mouth and turning his teeth red. It drips onto the
ground.

I watch as he gingerly presses his fingers against
it, but even I can tell it’s broken. He notices me watching and grins. He
places fingers on either side of it and then pushes it back into place. I can’t
stop watching, horrified. He grabs a rag off of the counter and wipes his face
off and his hands. Blood is still streaming down into his mouth, but he doesn’t
seem too bothered by it.

“Liam, lock her in her bedroom,” he orders the guy
who kicked me. “Play nice, but if she gives you trouble, just don’t hit that
pretty face.”

Liam grabs my arm and pulls me roughly to my feet.
I recognize him now as the one who was with Jackson and got away. His limp is
even more pronounced, and his stringy hair hasn’t seen water in weeks. He keeps
a hand tightly around me, pulling me into my bedroom. He shoves me through the
door, and I fall forward, unable to catch my balance. I roll over to face him,
but Razor is blocking the doorway.

“I’ll be back for you,” he
says,
giving me a cold smile, blood still staining his face. “I can already tell that
we’re going to have a lot of fun together.”

He slams the door shut, leaving me sitting on the
ground alone.

It took me several minutes to cut the ropes off
with the knife I hid under my mattress. At every noise on the other side of the
door, I hold my breath, waiting for someone to come and stop me. No one does.

I press myself against the door, waiting to make my
move. I take a deep breath; I only have a few seconds of surprise if anyone is
on the other side of this door.

I throw open the door. Razor is standing there with
Liam, and both are caught off guard. Razor is the closest. I charge at him,
holding my knife tightly in my right hand. I slam into him, knocking us both to
the ground. The knife slips, but it slices into his thigh.

He screams in agony, and I quickly roll to my feet
to face off with Liam, pulling the knife out with my movement. He charges at
me, no weapon in his hand. I throw my knife at him, aiming for his heart. He
turns at the last second; it misses his heart but embeds itself in his
shoulder. It doesn’t even faze him. He rams into me, knocking me into the wall.

Blackness clouds the corners of my eyes for a
couple of seconds. I throw a right fist into his stomach with as much force as
I can muster, but the impact sends shooting pain up my hand. Tears blind my
eyes as I realize that I tried to hit him with my hand where the knuckles were
broken. He returns the favor, hitting me in the abdomen twice and then in the
face once.

My head snaps back against the wall, and I slump
into him. Reaching up, I grip my hand around the knife embedded in his shoulder
and twist. He screams out, his grip loosening just long enough for me to get
out of it. I bring my leg up sharply between his legs, and he groans in pain as
I make contact. As he sinks to the floor, I raise my knee, letting his face
slam into it. He falls backwards, his hands holding his groin.

I grin, the motion splitting my lip. Blood is
dripping from my nose into my mouth. I spit out the blood and look back at
Razor. He’s passed out on the ground, blood oozing out of his thigh and still
leaking from his nose. I step over him to get to the door.

His arm reaches out, gripping my leg. He pulls my
leg out from under me, and I fall forward, twisting so that my arms keep me
from hitting the ground too hard. I roll over, but he’s already on top of me,
he grabs my arms, pushing them over my head. He leans down so that our faces
are inches apart, blood dripping down his face.

“I guess I underestimated you,” he says.

“People tend to do that a lot,” I say and then spit
out the blood that was pooling in my mouth at his face. He doesn’t even flinch.

“I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me no
choice,” he says letting go of my arms. He wraps his hands around my neck,
squeezing. “I take it personally when women stab me. It just isn’t polite.”

I struggle against him, trying to wiggle out of his
grip, but I can’t move or budge him. I’m gasping for air as blackness spreads
across my eyesight. My arms go limp next to me. I close my eyes, not wanting
the last image in my mind to be Razor’s face. I picture my parents and my
brother, wanting my last memories here to be of them.

An explosive sound rings in my ears, disrupting the
image of my family. Death shouldn’t be this loud.

The hands around my neck disappear. Once they are
gone, I open my eyes, gasping for breath; the sensation of air going back into
my lungs was painfully relieving.

 
“Charlie! Charlotte, are you okay?
Charlie, talk to me!” Ricky says, shaking my shoulders.

I open my eyes to see his bruised face swimming in
and out of focus, the concern in them penetrating the haze I’m in. “I’m okay,”
I whisper, my voice raspy. I sit up, looking next to me to see Razor dead,
blood rushing out of the hole in his head. I look around. “Where’s the other
one? Where is Liam?”

“What? Razor was the only one in here when I came
in,” Ricky says, and then he lets out a puff of air and wraps me in a tight
embrace. He smells like sweat and blood, or maybe that is
me
.
“God, I was so scared. I thought you were already dead. My heart stopped. I
have no idea how I could ever live without you.”

“No, Ricky; wait. Where is the other guy?” I ask,
pushing him away and trying to stand. A spasm of pain makes me plant my butt
back on the ground.

Ricky looks around. “There is a trail of blood
going out the door. He must have gotten out right before I came in. We’ll get
him, don’t worry,” Ricky adds when he sees my face.

“How are you still alive?” I say.

Using the wall, I manage to stand. My head takes a
moment to stop spinning. Once my head settles, I reach down and grab Razor’s
gun from beside his body. I check the clip, relieved to find that it still has
half of its bullets. I help Ricky to his feet, not letting him see how much it
hurts for me to walk, let alone me walking supporting both of our weights. He
has a hand draped across my shoulder and is resting the vast majority of his
weight on me.

“Daren and Jack managed to get away earlier. They
came back on a rescue mission. Without Razor out there, his guys were lost and
easy for all the men to take out. God, I was so worried. You were here by
yourself with him, and he was taking such a long time.”

“I’m fine.”

Ricky slowly takes Razor’s gun from me, his face
concerned. “Let’s wait here. Daren said he’d come when it’s all clear.”

I help him over to the table. He slides into the
chair, his eyes flickering. He slumps forward nearly hitting his head on the
table before I catch him.

“Ricky,” I say. “Ricky.”

He slumps to the side, nearly falling completely
out of the chair. I have a hard time keeping him upright, my arms weak from
exhaustion.

The door slams open, and I turn to see Daren
storming in. His shirt is torn, there’s blood running from a cut on his
forehead. He has a shotgun in his hand, and I see a look of relief break across
his face when he sees us.

“Help,” I say.

Daren takes him from me quickly, and my arms burn
in relief. “Go get John.”

“One of Razor’s men got away,” I say.

“Right now, Ricky is the priority,” Daren says.
Ricky’s skin has gone milky, and his breathing is shallow. “I need you to go.
Find Jack and John and tell them what happened, but discreetly. We don’t need
everyone knowing how bad off Ricky is. Not after this.”

I nod my head, regretting the action almost
instantaneously, as the pain from having it hit against the wall so many times
is catching up with me. I walk away from the table, knowing that Jack and John
are going to be where the chaos is. I walk quickly out the door, shutting it
firmly behind me. With my head down, I go straight to the fire, not wanting
anyone to see my face.

Jack is the first person who I come across.
 
I explain to him what happened to Ricky
and that Liam got away. The victorious smile that is on his face slips away as
I talk.
My voice sounds dead to my own ears as I struggle to
stay on my feet.
He looks me up and down, giving my shoulder a tight
squeeze before he leaves. He disappears into the darkness, wanting to assess
Ricky’s situation for himself. The men and women are all buzzing about what
just happened.

Some kids are crying and holding onto their mothers
for dear life, and other kids are acting out what they would have done to
defeat the bad guys. Some of the men are already discreetly getting rid of the
bodies, more than likely getting them ready for a mass fire. We can’t bury them
in the ground or else their remains will seep into the water system.

I shake my head. Ricky had them trained for any
situation. They know what to do without being told. We never expected our walls
to be breached, but Ricky still trained them for what to do just in case.

Next, I walk over to John, who is talking to Megan.
She doesn’t see me before she walks away.
 
I get the sense that she’s going to be helping John out all night.

“John, you need to come with me, I’ll explain on
the way,” I tell him.

“What’s going on?” he asks.

“Not here,” I say.

John takes a closer look at my face before nodding.
I lead the way. Once we are out of earshot, I explain what happened.

“Ricky’s been hurt,” I tell him; looking around to
make sure that no one heard me. “Bad. His nose is broken, he probably has some
type of brain injury, and he has lots of damage to his stomach. Almost all of
his fingers are broken in multiple places.”

“What about you? What the hell happened?” John
says, trying to push my hair out of my face, but I smack his hand away, looking
around self-consciously.

“I’m fine, you can look at me later, you need to
look at Ricky now,” I say. “Razor tortured him for killing his brother.”

“When did Ricky kill his brother?”

“When I had my vacation,” I say.

“How long has he been unconscious?” John asks,
shining a flashlight in Ricky’s eyes.

“Less than ten minutes,”
Daren replies, looking at me for confirmation.

I nod my head, not quite able to speak. I can’t
stop looking at him. The sight of the dried and fresh blood covering his skin
just doesn’t seem real.

“I need to reset his fingers before they start to
grow back together wrong,” John warns. “The pain might make him wake up, so
Daren, Jack, I’m going to need you all to hold him down. This isn’t going to be
easy.”

Nicole comes over to me and puts hands on either
side of my face. I don’t remember her coming in. I glance at Daren, surprised
that he let her stay. “You don’t need to be in here for this.”

“If he comes to and I’m not here, he’ll panic and
think the worst. I need to stay here with him,” I say, but even as I resolve to
stay, I don’t want to hear John resetting his fingers. It was torture to hear
Razor break them in the first place; this is going to be worse.

Nicole steadies me as I sway. “Come sit.”

She helps me sit on the ground against the wall.
She keeps an arm around me, letting me lay my head on her shoulder as John
starts to snap Ricky’s fingers back into place. I flinch with every snap,
wanting it to stop. I remember just hours before hearing Ricky’s screams as
Razor was breaking them. He managed to hide his pain for the first two fingers,
but on the third, he couldn’t hold it back anymore.

Ricky wakes up halfway through, screaming. He tries
to get away from John, but Daren and Jack hold him down.

“I know it’s hard, but you can’t move your fingers.
If you move them, I’ll have to set them again,” John warns. “I only have three
fingers left.”

“Where’s Charlie?” he asks, getting frantic.

“She’s here. I told you not to move your fingers,”
John says. “She’s banged up, but she’s resting. I’ll look at her when I finish
with you.”

“I’m fine,” I say, trying to ease Ricky’s worry.

“I’m going to finish resetting your fingers. I’m
going to do it fast. I still need to put splits on your fingers. So don’t move
them,” John says calmly.

Daren shifts to get a better grip on Ricky as John
sets the last three. Ricky doesn’t scream again, but his legs move with the
pain. John keeps working as quickly as he can. He finishes putting splints on
them after twenty minutes. His sweat is making his shirt stick to his back and
dark circles appear under his arms.

“Charlie?” Ricky barks again.

With Nicole’s help, I manage to get to my feet. She
helps me walk to the table, and I grab his wrist, even though I’m about to pass
out.

“I’m right here,” I reassure him.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“I’m okay,” I say, feeling someone coming up behind
me. Nicole’s hands come down on my shoulders and push me down into a chair. I
didn’t notice I was shaking until I felt her hands on my shoulders trying to
calm me.

John continues checking Ricky out and to make sure
he’s okay. I didn’t notice Daren had left until he came back in with John’s
medical bag. John gets a syringe out and gives Ricky the shot without asking.
In mid-protest Ricky falls asleep on the table.

“Charlie, can we use your bed?” John asks, glancing
up at me. “He is going to need the privacy.”

“Yeah,” I say, standing up and getting out of the
way so that they can move him.

Jack keeps looking at him like he can’t believe
what he’s seeing. Ricky always seemed untouchable, invincible. To see him like
this is unreal. I’ve seen him injured before; broken ribs, a broken nose, cuts,
and bruises. This is different. He looks like he is going to die.

“Alright, as careful as you can,” John instructs,
sucking in a deep breath before he slides his arms under Ricky. His arms hook
under Ricky’s underarms, and John positions himself so that Ricky’s head is
resting on his chest.

Nicole helps, grabbing Ricky’s legs as Jack and
Daren help with his torso. They try to keep him as level as possible. Once they
have Ricky situated, Nicole comes back out and sits at the table with me. I
realize that there is an extra body in here that doesn’t need to be. Razor is
facing towards me, his eyes completely dead. Blood has pooled around his head,
giving him a bloody halo.

“I’m
gonna
send scouts to see if they can find the one that got away,” Daren says as he
comes out of the room. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees Razor’s body
lying there. “Jack, come help me with something.”

Jack comes out and looks at Daren, then at Razor.
His eyes widen slightly.

“Is this him?” he asks.

They both look at me for confirmation.

“That is Razor,” I say. I can’t stop looking at his
eyes.

Daren nudges Jack, and together they drag the body
out of the house. Nicole gets up and shuts the door behind them.

“Do you have any old rags here? Maybe some water?”
Nicole asks me.

“There are water bottles in the cabinet and rags in
the one next to it,” I say, exhaustion finally getting to me.
 

I put my head down on the table; the feeling of
Razor’s hands around my neck still hasn’t gone away. Every breath scratches my
throat painfully. I remember the look on Razor’s face when he started choking
me. It’s a familiar look, one I’ve seen too many times on the face of someone I
love.

Loved.

I just don’t know anymore. With Ricky coming this
close to dying, I’m honestly not sure how I would handle losing him. It has
brought up all these feelings and questions I had been ignoring.
 

Every day, without asking, he has been so strong
for everyone in the camp. He’s only nineteen, but he took charge and just
started to act much older than his age. The one thing that never changed was
that he loved me. Even after being beaten and having his fingers dislocated, he
was still fighting for me.
For us.

The deep pit in my heart still aches with love for
him. I can’t help it. Maybe, in time, I’ll be able to forgive Ricky for lying
to me. If he stops scavenging for good, maybe we can make it work again.

Don’t forget how insecure he was with you. He never
trusted you and always accused you of cheating. He made you feel like you did
something wrong when you didn’t.

The memory of his fist going through the wall, just
inches away from my face, comes flooding back. I remember the times that I’ve
seen anger flash in his eyes one second and then they look completely calm the
next.

I just need time. He just needs time.

A hand touches my back and startles me. I didn’t realize
that I had started to fall asleep.

“Everything’s okay,” John says as I start to get up. “I just
want to check you out before I leave.”

“Besides being a little black and blue, I feel fine,” I say
as he pulls his flashlight out and checks my eyes.

“I think you have a concussion,” he says, sitting down on
the table in front of me. “Did you hit your head?”

“Yeah, I used it to break Razor’s nose. It also hit the wall
once or twice. I’ve got a cut on my neck and a couple on my arms,” I say,
showing him my arms. “I think I broke my hand again.”

John takes my left hand in his, testing the tenderness.
“Okay, I think it’s just a fracture, but because you really shouldn’t move your
hand for a couple weeks, I’m going to put a splint from your elbow down.”

I nod my head, and Nicole comes to stand behind me, placing
her hands on my shoulders.

“What happened to you all?” I ask, distracting myself from
what John is doing.

He’s pulling out two pieces of wood, thin enough not to be
heavy but thick enough that I won’t be able to bend my hand at all with it on.
He cleans and bandages the cuts on my arm first. In the dim light from the
lanterns, I see that they were a lot worse than I originally thought.

“Daren and I ended up getting separated,” she explains. “I
saw you get taken, but I couldn’t do anything. I met up with Jack, and we
decided to regroup. We were going to wait to attack until dawn, but we saw them
bring Ricky out, and it was clear that they were about to execute him. Jack sat
on the wall and took out as many as he could with Daren and me heading straight
to where they had the men and Ricky. Daren covered me while I freed the men and
gave them weapons. It didn’t take long after that.”

“How did you get the cut on your face?” John asks her, as
she
help
him hold the boards in place, sandwiching my
arm, the board extending slightly past my fingertips.

“A knife,” she says. “Someone recognized me.”

“Is Alec okay?” I ask.

“He’s fine. He didn’t leave my side until I came here to
check on you. I promised him that I’d be back tonight,” she says, squeezing my
shoulders. “John, you might want to check her stomach. I think she got hit
there a few times.”

“What?” John says
,
his hands
pausing as he looks at me.

“Someone didn’t respond too kindly when I stuck my knife in
their shoulder,” I say, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. “There are probably
other people with more serious injuries that you need to treat.”

“Megan is taking care of things out there for a moment. I
promised Ricky that you were going to be fine, and I plan on keeping that
promise,” John says, his hands going back to wrapping gauze tightly around my
arm. He’s halfway through his second roll of gauze.

I don’t argue. When John makes up his mind about something,
it’s impossible to change it.

John finishes by wrapping the end of the gauze with tape
three times. He wipes a hand across his face.

“Stand,” he says.

I manage to stand on my own as he lifts my shirt to take a
look at my stomach. He pulls out his flashlight and clicks it on to examine the
bruising. Nicole comes around to look. She sucks in her breath at the sight of
it, turning her face away.

“I’m fine,” I promise her, reaching out to touch her arm.
“It only hurts when I move,” I say with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

She shakes her head, a forced smile on her mouth. The door
opens quietly as we all look to see who it is. Daren walks in, seeming very
distracted. He finally looks over at us, taking in Nicole, John, and then me.

“Oh my God,” he says, coming over and looking at my exposed
stomach. “Did Razor do that to you?”

John lets my shirt fall down, but it doesn’t stop the guilt
from spreading across Daren’s face.

“I never should’ve let you come,” Daren says. “This is my
fault.”

“Daren, nothing that happened today was your fault.
Everything was Razor’s fault. He did this, not you.”

Daren shakes his head and sits down at the table. “We
weren’t able to find the guy who got away. We found a blood trail leaving, but
it was too dark for us to be able to pick up anything past the river. I pulled
everyone in for the night, but hopefully I’ll be able to pick it up again in
the morning. More than likely, he isn’t coming back tonight. Not with us on
high alert. Do you know if there were more of them out there?”

I shrug my shoulders. “Razor was very careful with his
words. If he had more men out there, I don’t know about it. He made it very
clear that he was in charge of the group, that’s all I can tell you.”

Daren rubs his hands over his face and then brings them down
together under his chin, palms touching each other like he is praying. “We’re
stretched thin already, but I’ll have them double up on patrols tomorrow.
Jack’s already out there organizing them. John, are you staying here tonight?”

John shakes his head, pulling out an ace bandage wrap that
is about half a foot wide. Dark stains on it tell me that it’s been used
before, and when John sees my face, he rolls his eyes.

“It’s sanitary,” he says. “It’s been boiled in water.”

“Honey, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go ahead and go,”
Nicole says, touching my shoulder. “I need some sleep, and you look like you
could use some as well.”

“Actually, Charlie won’t be sleeping tonight,” John says,
lifting my arms so he can wrap my stomach. “I don’t have the equipment that I
need to make sure that she doesn’t have a concussion. So she can’t sleep. I’ll
come back to stay with her.”

“No need,” Daren says, rubbing his head. “I promised Ricky
that I would stay here. I’ll stay up with Charlie.”

“Okay,” John says, finishing up wrapping my stomach.
“Charlie, you should rest, but please don’t go to sleep. I know it’s been a
long day, but you need to stay up. I’ll be by to check on you later.”