Chapter 24: Thousand-Yard Stare

A strip of black cloth, torn and heavily frayed on one end.

That's what the strange object dangling from Sophia's grasp appeared to be, at first glance anyway. Except, this cloth was dripping a liquid that mixed with the rain on the ground and made a muddy red puddle around Sophia's boots. And the way the end swayed in the wind looked like it had some solid weight to it. There was also a slick sheen to the material that was unlike any of the rough cotton or linen fabrics available post-apocalypse. No, it wasn't a strip of cloth.

It was a fleshy, bleeding chunk of human scalp. And she was holding it by the still-connected black ponytail.

"You can hear me, right?" Eli mumbled. Vivi and Julie gave him questioning looks, but he brushed off their concern by holding up his hand, urging them to keep silent.

"Yes. I can." Sophia raised her voice, nearly shouting to make herself heard from outside. 

There was a slight slur to her speech, like her jaw was stiff, or the movement of her mouth caused pain when she spoke.

"You unarmed?" He asked.

The long-eared woman raised her arms and spun around slowly, allowing him to visibly confirm her lack of any weapons. She even lifted her shirt to prove nothing was concealed underneath, and also allowing a glimpse at the fresh bruising on her ribs, and a stream of blood flowing from a gnarly-looking stab wound just above her left hip.

"Alright. Keep your hands up where I can see them, and slowly approach the door." Eli murmured as he gestured for Vivi to get ready to let Sophia enter. He also indicated Julie should keep her newly acquired revolver ready.

Sophia limped toward the door, almost dragging her left foot, unable to fully lift it off the ground, probably due to her injured hip.

"Okay, stop there." Eli said when she made it to the door. "Turn around, face away from the door, and put your hands behind your back with your wrists crossed."

He watched as she complied, then nodded for Julie to bring her in, grabbed the rifle, slapped the bolt back to get it combat-ready, and aimed it through the window to watch for any suspicious movement. Vivi pulled the door halfway open and Julie quickly stepped out, grabbed Sophia's wrists with one hand while putting the revolver to her head with the other, then walked her backward, into the room. The instant they were clear of the doorway, Vivi threw the door closed and locked it.

Eli continued watching for possible attackers through the rain-smeared window while Julie marched Sophia to the center of the room and frisked her, double-checking for any hidden weapons. The search came up empty.

"Sit." Julie ordered the caravan scout. She kept the revolver in a stiff, two-handed grip aimed at Sophia's chest, and gestured for her to sit on the bed.

Sophia nodded her understanding, then lowered herself onto the edge of the mattress. She winced and hissed the more she bent at the waist, and the blood from her hip was steadily seeping through the rain-soaked fabric of her shirt.

"Now, then..." Julie's tone was all business as she looked at the bloody scalp still clutched in Sophia's hand. "Here's how this works; I ask questions, you answer them. If I think your lying, or if you make any sudden moves, you'll end up like your boss. You understand?"

"Yeah." Sophia glanced at Meli, who was lying unconscious, face-down in a small puddle of her own blood and making faint choking sounds. "I understand."

"Good. For starters, what's the deal with that?" Julie eyed the gory scalp.

"It's Rin's, our driver's. I was aiming for her throat and she ducked, but not quite fast enough. I got her with the second swing, though."

There was a tremor to Sophia's voice; a slightly dry, shaky, raspy quality. Eli turned, repositioning himself so he could see her in the edge of his vision while still keeping watch outside, and recognized the look in her eyes. It was the same vacant, far-away stare that his grandfather's veteran buddies had whenever they talked about war. Those were the eyes of a person who experienced an extreme violence they weren't prepared for, and was left traumatized by it. Someone who didn't want to kill, but found themselves knee-deep in a shit storm and had to fight their way out.

"Rin's dead?" Julie asked.

"Yes." 

"And the others? Where are they?"

"In the next room. Val's dead, and Maria's tied up. My sister..." Sophia's lips tightened into a thin frown. "...she's hurt too bad to be a threat, but she's not restrained."

"Alright." Julie relaxed her aggressive stance a little to hold the pistol one-handed. "What happened?"

"Fuck....it was....I mean, they were....shit." Sophia took a deep, ragged breath to collect her thoughts. "Alright. When they got here, Lauren pulled me aside to talk to me alone, and told me I was about to see 'the other half of the business'. Um, I've actually only been with the caravan for a few weeks. Lauren got me the job; said they needed an extra person since Meli got hurt. It was supposed to be temporary, just a couple more trips, but she said that if I proved myself useful tonight, I might get to stay on the crew. Then she told me about the boys, and their plan for you three."

She took another deep breath and winced in pain, probably had a cracked rib.

"What was their plan?" Julie asked.

"Meli was going to convince you all to stay here tonight, get you all drunk with some of the wine we brought for trading, and I was supposed to kill you while you were asleep." She pointed at Julie. "Val and Maria were going to rape you," She pointed at Eli, " While Meli and my sister raped and killed you." She pointed at Vivi.

A thick, burning rage seemed to fill the room, and it came from everyone.

"Go on. What happened?" Julie prompted.

"I...that was...I just couldn't understand. The horrible, vile things she said..... she didn't sound like my sister. It was like she was someone else, something else. The sister I knew shouldn't be capable of such...evil." Her fists clenched so tight that they shook, and she bit her lip in anger. "But her face....the look in her eyes....I could tell. She was serious, she'd done it all before, and it was terrifying." 

Tears gathered in the corners of Sophia's green eyes, and a single drop broke free, trailing down her bruised cheek.

"Go on." Julie said, her tone less harsh than the last time she spoke.

Sophia cleared her throat and continued recounting her story. "We argued. I told her to just take the others and leave. I said I'd help you, take you all back to Mist Haven, and they shouldn't ever come back because I'd have to let the governor know what they were doing. Then she just snapped. She hit me, we were fighting, and she pulled out a knife. Then she....she fucking stabbed me! My own sister fucking stabbed me!" She put a hand on her bloody hip. "Then everything just, it all just happened so fast. I got the knife from her, she was choking me, and I stabbed her in the stomach. I heard Rin, Val, and Maria laughing about what they were going to do to you, about what they've done to other people. The anger, the pure rage I felt while listening to them.... I left Lauren there, bleeding on the ground behind the trailer, and ran into their room."

Eli motioned for Vivi to take his place at the window, and she obliged him, trading her pistol out for his rifle. He stood up from his crouching position and noticed how sore he actually was when he bent down to dig through their supply cases.

"I didn't even think, I just attacked them." Sophia sounded like she was talking to herself more than them at that point. She sounded transfixed by her own words, like she was just realizing exactly what she'd done. "Val was first. I tackled her to the floor, and stabbed her in the chest. Maria tried to pull me off Val, but I elbowed her in the face, and she went down. That's when Rin hit me with something, I didn't see what." She put a hand on the back of her head. "I dropped the knife. We fought, but she was stronger than me. She threw me around like a child, then tried to pull her gun, but I hit her with a chair before she could shoot, and knocked the gun from her hand. I grabbed the knife while I had the chance, then..." She held up Rin's scalp. "After that, my sister stumbled in and tried to attack me again, but she'd bled out too much and collapsed. I heard what you said about keeping Meli alive but tied-up, so I did the same with Maria; used their belts to strap her to the bed post." Sophia's vacant eyes stared down at her knees while she finished her tale.

Eli gently put a hand on Julie's wrist and pushed her hand down, lowering the revolver she was holding.

"I've got this." He said. "Will you take Vivi next door and handle things there?"

"You sure?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He gave her a small smile of affirmation.

"Alright." Julie sighed, squeezed his hand lovingly, then turned and walked to the door. She made sure to grab her machete before she and Vivi made a cautious exit, still wary of potential danger, human or otherwise.

Eli dropped the small case of emergency medical supplies onto the bed beside Sophie, then stood in front of her.

"What happens now?" She asked, her earlier bravado died when her adrenaline rush ended and  fatigue finally took hold.

"Now..." He knelt down and placed his hand on top of hers, the hand holding Rin's hair. "Now you can let go of this, and then we'll get that hip fixed up."

She let him take the scalp from her hand, which he tossed carelessly onto the floor beside Meli.

"Okay, good. You'll need to lay down, lower your pants, and lift your shirt." He instructed as he picked up an alcohol pad to clean his hands, trying to ignore the sting it cause his busted knuckles.

Sophia scooted back on the bed and pulled her pants down to her smooth thighs, away from the stab wound at the top of her pelvis. "I swear, I really didn't know about them. I had no idea what they were doing."

"I know you didn't." He put a hand on her slim shoulder and eased her down onto her back. "Lift your shirt up."

She groaned as the rough, wet fabric of her shirt scraped across the sliced flesh when she raised it up to her chest, baring her toned stomach muscles, and the bruises on her ribs.

"You know? How? I could have been lying, trying to save my own ass. If I were you, I wouldn't believe me." Her expression was heavily skeptical, like she thought he was laying out some sort of trap for her, but Eli was a little relieved that some life was returning to her eyes.

"Heh." Eli chuckled and tore open another antiseptic cloth. "It's simple. I know you weren't lying because I've learned to be observant. Well, mostly. I do miss the occasional wolf or two." He lifted his bandaged forearm. "Anyway, this'll hurt, but try to stay still, alright?"

"Uh, yeah, okay." She sucked in a sharp breath and held it, bracing herself for the promised pain. But no matter how ready she thought she was, distilled alcohol in an open stab wound still hurt like hell. "Shiiiiiit!" She hissed. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"Try to hold still." Eli gently reminded her. "Please."

"Fuck! Yeah, sorry, I'll try." Her response came out in gasping breaths. Eli swapped the bloodied wipe for a clean one, then resumed disinfecting and assessing the wound.

"Well, it looks like a clean stab; in-and-out, no torn flesh, didn't hit any major veins, and the damage was contained to the exterior oblique, uh, the muscle. You're lucky, you know? If it was a little bit higher, it could have hit your intestines or kidney, and I don't have the equipment or confidence to fix that." He took a deep breath through his nose, then release it through his mouth, relaxing the tension from his shoulders. "Alright, you've got two options now: slap a bandage on it and hope for the best, or let me suture it closed."

"Uh, shit, just do whatever you think's best." She groaned.

"Stitches it is, then." He picked up a curved needle and a pair of forceps from the med kit, then wrapped the needle in an alcohol pad. "Hey! Vivi!" He called through the wall. "All good over there?"

"All good!" Her muffled reply came from the next room.

"Can you bring me the driver's lighter, please? It's in her left coat pocket!" He yelled.

"On it!" Vivi yelled back.

"Let me guess, you know that because you're 'observant'?" Sophia grunted, an edge of sarcasm creeping into her demeanor.

"Nah, I just happened to see where she put it after Meli used it earlier." Eli grinned.

"Right, well, what did you observe about me that made you so sure I wasn't lying?" Her emerald eyes held a hint of suspicion.

"You're still hung up on that, huh?" He was glad to see that she seemed to have regained her senses, even if it was caused by pain and paranoia.

"I'm just curious." She said.

"I've noticed." He teased and smirked at her.

"Ugh, very funny." She moaned sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

"But for real, it was a series of little things that made me believe you." He lifted a single finger for each thing he listed. "You turned your back to me when we were alone together, when you first radioed the caravan. You told us details about Mist Haven and the Trade Coalition without getting your boss's approval to share that information. You helped us plan how to convince them of the JSU threat. You took part in the planning to capture a JSU scout tonight, though I guess that plan's on hold for now. And you left us alone while you brought your car over, opening yourself up to an ambush. All of these together indicate that you had no animosity toward us, acted in good faith, and had no prior knowledge of their slave dealings. Oh, and that you're an amateur who hadn't been a scout for very long. It all lines up with what you said, so I believe you."

As Eli was wrapping up his explanation, the door clicked open and Vivi stepped into the room, lighter in hand.

"Wow, I kinda regret asking. I didn't expect you'd point out my mistakes and call me an amateur like that....even if it's true." Sophia mumbled.

"Yeah, he really has a gift for knocking people down a few pegs with brutal honesty, and he probably didn't even tell you half of what he was thinking." Vivi chuckled. "And it's even more frustrating because you know he's right. Ugh, he's always right. Here's the lighter you wanted." She said as she passed the dead driver's alcohol lighter to Eli.

"Thanks." He took the lighter and flicked the striker a few times before the wick finally caught flame. "And I'm definitely not always right. Hell, I was wrong about Meli being with the JSU just a few minutes ago."

"Hmm, yeah, I guess you're right." She winked playfully at him.

"Hah!" Sophia laughed, then immediately groaned in pain and reached toward her hip, only to have Eli slap her hand away before she could touch the wound.

"Don't touch it, or I'll have to clean it again." He chided her. "What's so funny, anyway, hm?" He kept her talking to distract her from the pain as he unfolded the alcohol pad with the needle inside, then used the forceps to hold the needle over the lighter's flame to burn off the alcohol and sterilize the metal.

"She used your own know-it-all attitude against you, that's what. Heh, just proves that younger siblings are always the smartest. Right?" She asked Vivi, then smirked at him, smug in her sense of victory.

"Pff...pffft!...." Eli wheezed, struggling so hard to contain his laughter that his face turned bright red, whereas Vivi simply huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Umm...what? Did I miss something?" Sophia asked, thoroughly confused, which made Eli struggle even harder to suppress his laughter and not drop the open flame and suturing needle he was holding.

"I'm his older sister, dammit." Vivi grumbled.