Soul-Bound

Chapter 4 : Housewarming

Ella and Mann found themselves at a crossroad. There were signs but scratched pretty bad so they couldn't tell where they ended up. In one direction they could see a strip mall, the other direction led into a much more urban city.
"I don't know about this one." Mann scratched his head. "The city might provide more, but risky. Too many places to be seen from."
Ella nodded in agreement, "Strip mall it is. We don't have to look vigorously, remember we have a lot as it is."
Mann scoffed lightly, "I know."
They had a short debate to weigh their options before choosing the strip mall. So they began their walk over. It was fairly dark outside so they strayed from staying on the road. They were silent and swift on their journey until they had reached the outside fence to the back of the strip mall.
Mann spotted a person walking inside one of the stores. Ella was carrying a bunch of guns on her so she wasn't very mobile to sneak inside.
"I'll head in and see what we're up against." Mann said. He climbed over the fence without making too much noise but he would guess that someone would have heard. His steps sounded crunchy against the ground and it made him feel nervous. He pressed himself against a dumpster and sat still for a moment.
Ella was watching from the fence. She was nervous, anxious and borderline ready to jump the fence too. She didn't care about the risk, she just didn't want him to get hurt or worse. Ella pulled out an assault rifle and played with the empty bolt to try and calm herself.
Mann peeked around the dumpster and saw, what he could assume to be, the person from before. They were muttering something with swears in between.
"I could kill that motherfucker. Thinks he can just steal from me and live. I can't wait to wipe the smirk from his inbred face. Piece of shit." The woman muttered to herself.
Mann slowly crept behind her moving slowly. Each footstep felt like a mile and each sound he made felt like an explosion in his ears. His breath was shaky but slowly steadied as he got closer and closer to the woman. He was inside of her bubble of space and it was unnerving.
She was beginning to turn round but was grabbed from behind by Mann. He wrapped his arm around her neck and slowly took her life. As soon as the woman stopped moving and her pulse had disappeared, Mann moved her to the side and signaled Ella to move through.
"Did you kill them?" Ella looked at the body.
Mann nodded, "I hope so. I think there are more inside." He slowly opened the door and found a bonfire on the inside. He couldn't see anyone but he felt someone was inside.
"Baby?" Another woman said as she walked into view of Mann. "You okay?"
Mann backed up from the door and took out a knife from Ella's bag. She pulled back on his shoulder and got in front.
The woman walked outside and saw Ella. Ella swung the butt of her gun into the woman's face. She hit the ground and crawled back to the fire. Ella struck the woman's legs with the gun over and over until one of them broke.
"Fuck what do you want?" The woman turned round. Her voice was pitched and shaky. She kept glancing back at Mann who in turn shrugged his shoulders. Her eyes watered and she bowed her head.
"Tell me what you know." Ella cocked gun, "Or I'll kill you."
Mann watched his wife do her work and decided not to step into the fray. He just sat back and locked the door behind them. He didn't really know how to control her when she was in this state of mind. Usually best to stay back or join in.
"There's a group of Outsiders just South West of here. They exiled my girlfriend and I and we've been trying to get back at them ever since. We have a stash of food and water in that room over there. Please don't hurt us." The woman begged. She grabbed her leg in pain and started bawling her eyes out. "Please don't kill me."
Ella lowered her gun and sat down by the fire, "That all?"
The woman cried and mumbled words that were incoherent. She already knew what happened to her partner and couldn't bear it.
Ella shushed her and apologized, "Genuinely I'm sorry. I really am. I don't like being violent, but you understand why it's almost necessary."
Mann just watched from afar. Watched Ella's movements to hopefully decide how to calm her down but realistically felt attracted.
"My husband over there did kill your partner. I know he didn't mean to, but she attacked him. I wouldn't ever want someone to take away my husband but truly I understand why they would. He's an animal like me when we're in situations of stress." Ella explained as she rubbed her gun.
Mann sighed. He slowly walked over and touched Ella's shoulder, "It's over. Let's help her out."
The woman let out a big sigh, "I understand. But still fuck you." She pulled a gun from her waistband and shot Mann. Ella quickly shot back and blew her head open.
Mann crawled back and propped himself up against a wall, "Son of a bitch shot me." He didn't really feel the bullet but he felt his body tense and blood drip out of the wound.
Ella dropped the bags and scrambled to find a medical kit. "Where the hell is our medical kit?"
Mann coughed and spat but couldn't think straight. His mind wandered back to the old days. He did watch her scramble around with tears in her eyes but the longer he watched the more he wondered what was happening. "What are you crying for?"
She sniffled, "Just stay awake. Keep talking to me."
"Do you remember...?" Mann spoke unintelligibly after that and slowly found himself falling asleep.
Ella froze for a moment, staring at him. Her mind also froze as her world just closed his eyes. "B-baby?" She looked back down at his wound. She managed to stop the bleeding but didn't know if it worked.
Ella fell back and sighed. There was a calm moment of silence that filled her veins. Like a relief of sorts but with the stench of anxiety and fear.
Mann twitched and sighed a lot in his sleep. Often he would let out a groan and shift around.