Soul-Bound

Chapter 3 : Insanity

Mann and Ella entered the home silently. Mann had his knife drawn close to himself and Ella had a machete. It was an empty home, barely any furniture and even less decorations. It was like an evicted household right before the Bang.
"Clear." Mann said once he reached the bathroom. Inside was a bag but it smelled horrible and he didn't truly know if he wanted to discover the inside of it.
"Clear." Ella shouted from the bedroom. She had found a teddy bear with a tag that said 'Jenny'. It made Ella feel cold and disturbed. Also have her some bad memories of her childhood.
Mann stepped into the kitchen. There wasn't much inside other than half opened boxes of cereal and stale cookies. "It's a bust! There's nothing here."
"Check harder."
BAM!
Mann was struck down, unconscious. Ella ran into the kitchen but was also knocked out.
The Stranger tied both of them together and tossed them into the back of his truck.

-1 Day Later-

Mann and Ella were separated shortly after being kidnapped. Mann was placed in this green tent full of other slaves. Ella was put in a blue tent where females were used as breeding tools.
When Ella had fully recovered from her headache, she was watching every movement from the people coming in and out. She had spent the better half of 5 hours watching them do rounds coming in and going out. It was like a routine to watch over the girls and keep an eye on everyone. Everyday there had to be one person watching the girls at all times. They couldn't go a second without being watched, but that would change.
Two people have keys. One has a gun. The other must know where Mann is. She thought. The other girls around her were noticing what she was up to. Nobody seemed to want to help though. They kept their eyes to themselves and stayed put. Nobody was tied or cuffed inside of the tent, but that didn't make sense to Ella.
"Hey, where are we?" Ella asked the lady next to her.
The lady shook her head and kept quiet. The other girls didn't answer either.
Ella scoffed but the longer she had looked at them, the more she realized why they stayed quiet. Some of the girls had numbers on them, some form of identification or ownership number. Others had brands burned into their skin. The lady next to Ella had a giant letter cut into her back. It was a deep scar that could never heal.
One of the key holders entered the tent. Ella glanced at the table he kept going into and noticed there were needles, pens, and a metal file placed on top of the desk.
The man turned to Ella with a smirk, "So you're the new one. Very pretty. You'll be one of the new favorites once we open the club back up. I don't know if you've noticed but you're not free anymore. This is our county now. A place under real control, safe control. All we ask is to have a little fun every now and then. That's where you fine ladies come into play. To give all the hard working men a good release. Don't worry about your husband, softie. He'll be fine. Not that you'll see him again."
"We'll see about that." Ella retorted.
The man then quickly gave a scowl and backhanded Ella. "You see every one of these girls know not to be an ungrateful little shit. Next time I'll carve my fucking name in your chest. Watch yourself." He then left the tent and someone else walked in. Probably the second key holder.
Ella let out a soft growl and then bucked back and kicked the man in his groin. She stood from her chair and grabbed the man's head, slamming it against the desk. When she felt she had enough control she grabbed the needle and thrust it into his throat over and over. Blood spilt onto the floor as he let out a quiet groan and fell limp to the ground.
All of the girls had gasped in fear. They ducked underneath their respective beds and nearly cried themselves into a manic state.
Ella heard the first man coming back to the tens and hid by the opening of the tent and waited for them to walk by.
He had opened the flaps and then entered the tent and saw the body, "Wha—"
Ella grabbed his face and got behind him, "I hope I see you in Hell so I can kill you again." She then thrust the needle into his throat and slowly cut through it. He fell to his knees and gasped before falling over. He kept trying to breathe while he was on the ground but slowly fell silent.
Eleven. Ella thought as she stood above her two victims. She felt a bit sick in her stomach. There's wasn't another way. This was the only way. She thought about where she would need to go.
Ella peeked through the tent opening and found herself in the center of a town. There were four major tents surrounding a giant fountain. There was a club on the far side of the courtyard. The place was lit up with oil lanterns but had a lot of dark spots since it was midnight. She figured she could sneak among the shadows and find Mann.
Nobody was in the center courtyard. If she needed to move, it would be now. So with that in mind she quickly left the tent and went around to the backside where the lanterns didn't reach.
I gotta find out which tent is his. I don't have much time, who knows how long until someone finds the bodies. She thought. She headed over to a spot behind this growing bush. It had a good angle that saw two other tents, Green and White. She took her time to study the area and made a calculated guess. "White looks like a headquarters of some sort. Maybe Green? I came from blue and the last one would be that Vanilla colored tent. I haven't seen anyone go in or out of that one though."
After a good analysis and about another 10 minutes, she hadn't seen anyone enter or leave any tents. Green was the closest one to her so it might be a good idea. As she stepped to the back of the green tent a knife had cut through the back making an exit. A large burly man stepped out and they both locked eyes.
"Who the hell are you?" The burly man whispered.
"I'm looking for my husband." Ella kindly responded. "Has kind of an Afro, mustache and goatee?"
The burly man pointed back into the tent, "I think he might be in there but I'm leaving."
Ella nodded and saw him run off into distance. He felt like they would run into each other again, but it would be highly unlikely. Nevertheless she had slowly creeped into the tent and saw four men sitting down and cuffed to wooden stakes. She had looked at all of them but Mann wasn't there. Fuck.
Ella quickly turned from them and left the tent. She went around to the right hand side and found herself close to the vanilla tent where she could hear someone being gutted open. The idea in her head made her body shake and sweat. Her anxiety was rising and so was the chance of her going into a panic attack. She hadn't been without Mann for 2 years straight. Not a single day without him, and now not knowing where he could be was starting to drain her logical function.
After a couple of deep breaths she moved towards the opening of the vanilla tent and peeked inside.
CRASH!
Something had fallen over inside of the club which the person inside of the vanilla tent had heard. Ella panicked inside and rushed the person inside. She pushed them against the table and stuck the needle in their neck. Without much thought she took the meat cleaver from the table.
SPLISH! CHERLKD!
The meat cleaver was deep in the shoulder of what was now seen as a female. Ella realized it was a butcher just doing their job, but still didn't feel much remorse. The people here deserved far worse than death.
CRASH!
Another sound came from the club. Ella took the cleaver from the corpse and went to the entrance of the club. The windows were covered from the inside but she could see a dim light shining through the blinds. Her hand nervously shook as it gripped the handle and slowly turned it in. The door swung open and a dank smell of blood escaped the establishment. A song was being played on a radio and it was loud. Some strange electronic music made in the early 2000s it seemed.
Ella stepped into the club and found a pile of dead men and women surrounded by one man standing in the center. He twitched and groaned but stood relatively still with a hammer in his hand.
"Mann?" Ella whispered.
The man suddenly jerked out of his trance and dropped the hammer. "Huh?"
"Baby? It's me, Ella." She closed and locked the door behind her. "It's okay. I'm safe."
"What the fuck did I do?" Mann stumbled over and fell down. "What the fuck? What the fuck?"
Ella embraced him, "Hey hey. Shhhh. It's okay. I'm here now."
Mann put his arms around her and held her tight, "I just blacked out. I can't remember what happened."
Ella rubbed his back softly, "Babe, I understand. These people aren't good people. I took out some of them to escape and find you."
He quickly looked at her, "You did what? You shoulda waited, I would have found you."
Ella took another glance at the dead bodies and the blood all over the floor, "Yeah? I'm pretty sure you were busy."
"There was this big guy. Man named Sledge who was beating me. Thought I had information about some fuckin' group. I didn't know what he was talking about." He explained with everything slowly coming back to him. "He brought out that hammer and somehow I got him to break the chains. God dammit. I'm a monster."
Ella lightly slapped Mann, "Hey! Stop that. You're not a monster. This world no longer distinguishes the pure from the tainted you know that. You know that better than anyone."
Mann nodded, "They were going to take you away."
"No need to explain right now. We should find what we can and get going. We can't stay here." Ella gave Mann a deep kiss.
They stood up and found weapons on the ground. From there they needed to find their bags before they could leave. It was risky but ultimately worth the risk with how much they had.
Mann unlocked the door and they exited the club. The courtyard was silent compared to the inside of the club. They made their way quickly to the white tent and inside was a holy grail of weapons and supplies. Their bags were on the table and untouched it seemed. "Babe, grab our things. I'll take what guns I can."
Ella took their bags and she slung them over her shoulders. Mann had found an assault rifle, and then found a couple of handguns. There were more weapons but none of which they could carry on their own like this rocket launcher and a flame thrower. Though that was missing the gas tank.
Shortly after they collected a bit more food and water they had left the compound completely and disappeared into the forest nearby.

I've killed 34 people as of the events of tonight. My mind wanders often wondering what happened and how I was capable of such brutality. I look at my wife and question if I'm truly and honest man, or just a wolf in sheep's clothing. As much as I dislike taking another man's life, my body almost survives off of it like a parasite. My mind is consistently filled with the deaths of people named and unnamed. Im sorry. I just feel like I'm a fucking murderer. I'm glad Ella is safe. I'm really glad she was able to hold her own and escape from wherever she was but I try to take away the mental strain of killing another human as much as possible. I'm sorry I wasn't there in time to prevent that. I love you.