Chapter 58 - Survival

Bullet abandoned me at the gates of Akbur Hills. The entrance was wide open, the soldiers peered down from their towers as if to say; hurry up and get in. I watched his van disappear and thought to myself, where will I go?

It was late and the moon was the only thing that lit the streets as I strolled inside gazing through the empty prison. Everyone must have been asleep, I had absolutely no clue where to go from here. I tried to remember when I had seen Evan the first time I met him here, perhaps it was close to the building he resides in. Where was Maria and my father, where was anyone? What the hell was I expected to do?
Still, I followed the never ending road to seemingly nowhere. I was desperate to run into a living soul, I began to grow hopeless and tired a while later. I slumped down against the pavement steps of one of the buildings.

I could not sleep here, surely Damon doesn't hate me enough to be okay with me sleeping outside inside of this prison?
But he does. He wants you dead, and shortly, you will be. And so will everyone because of what you did.
I felt slumber approaching and eventually gave in. I let my eyes close and fell asleep.
How did I end up here?

The sun had not fully come up yet when I woke up. It had halfway risen and the dark navy clouds were now teased by the slightest of light. I felt something or rather someone stirring me. I turned to discover someone I did not fully recognize until seconds later. It was the doll that once was mated to Damon's father.
Emily.

"What are you doing, why are you sleeping here?" she questioned. She wore a puzzled look on her face.

"I had nowhere else to go."

She stared at me for a moment with angry eyes. I wondered why she was so upset at me.

"Come on, get up."

"Where will we go?"

"Well, you can't sleep out here! The coyotes will get you!" she tried to get me to stand by grabbing at my arm," let's go! You can sleep on my couch."

Kim lived in the same building that I had made shelter at. We went up the old stairs and into her small apartment. I would have contested but I was desperate.

"You really don't have to do this," I said and watched while she tossed the rugs and empty boxes off of the couch to make room for me.

"I know," she turned to face," I want to."

"Why?"

"Because that's how you survive in Akbur Hills," she grabbed a pillow from the ground and threw it on the couch, and then did the same with a blanket," by helping each other out."

"Damon...he-"

"I don't want to hear it, not now," she strut across the room and flickered the lights off," now sleep. We'll talk tomorrow."

She shut the door to her bedroom and I was left alone. I slumped my sore body on the couch. After days of sleeping on the cell's cold hard ground I had to admit that this was a relief. Sleep came quicker than I could have expected.

I woke up to the smell of something cooking. I felt the headache that wasted no time and stirred awake. I watched the culprit of the smell, Emily was in the kitchen, which was really just a table with a small plug in stove stationed next to a miniature white fridge. She must have noticed that I was now awake.

"Are you hungry?" she asked as she spooned the contents inside of the frying pan. I felt my stomach rumbling.

"Yes."

"Good, food's ready anyways. I made you a plate."

I tried to ignore my sore bones that begged me to stay in bed. I walked to the two person table and sat down. In front of me was a cracked plate with a single boiled egg and a piece of toast. Emily
Was studying my face that betrayed me because I must have looked unsatisfied for her to say," what? Not fancy enough for you?"

"No, this is fine, t-thank you-"

"There's some fruit too," she slammed an apple atop the table with passive aggression," that good enough?"

"It's perfect, thanks."

She let out a sigh and took her seat in front of me. For a while, we ate in silence. I tried not to think of the breakfast Maria would make, in Damon's house.
It was once mine too. Or perhaps the complete opposite, it was always temporary, I was always meant to return back here.

"So...you gonna tell me why I found the alphas doll passed out on the steps of my building?" Emily chewed on her food with a spectacle look on her face.

"Damon kicked me out," I mumbled and chewed on my toast.

"Why? It's too early, are you barren?"

"No-"

"Are you bad in bed?"

"It wasn't that-"

"Then what the hell was it?"

"I tried to kill him."

She did not respond and so I looked at her through my eyelashes. She was wide eyed, her lips a thin grim line. She suddenly smiled as if amused," well, that'll do it."
"It was dumb-"

"Of course. You can't take a man like Damon down."

"I could have, but when the moment came, I couldn't go through with it."

"How'd you almost kill him?"

"Poison."

Her smile widened," you found the silver."

"The one you left in the box inside of the library, yes."

She looked away as if lost in a private memory," I promised myself I'd only use it if I really needed it. I could never go back for it before they dumped me here."

"Well, it went to waste."

She chewed on her apple and stared at me.
"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you try to kill him? Did he beat you?"

Surely I could not tell her that Damon was going to be killing off all of the human race. If she were to find out that I could have prevented such a fate but chose not to, she could despise me. She would let everyone in the village know, and they would probably want to kill me.
Unless Maria already told them.

"Yes. He beat me."

She nodded as if she understood," his dad beat me once. He was so guilty afterwards. I could never understand how someone so horrible could be so good deep down."
I thought of Damon and how accurately that described him.

"You fell for him, didn't you?"
I could not meet her eyes.

"I warned you when you came here. You'd suffer the same fate as me if you did. I'm surprised he didn't kill you."

"Yeah, me too."

"You can't stay here," she suddenly said as she stood up, grabbing both empty plates," I gotta go to work and I don't know you enough to trust you."

"Maybe you can help me find my father then? I could stay with him."

"Who's your father?"

"Mason."

"Oh yes, Mason. He works at the tools shack across the street. He should be opening it up any minute now."

"Where?"

She pointed outside of the small window," in front of the strip of trees, there's a few shops. Mason owns one of them."