Terminus (Teaser Chapters)

Chapter ?: A Rose Becomes an Instrument of War (Chevelle)

I could hear clashing, the sound of knuckles colliding against flesh, and yelling every so often faintly from inside the ambulance. I need to hurry, Batista needs me. The cabinets in the ambulance were empty. No bandages, no rubbing alcohol, nothing. Although there was a surgeon's kit hanging in a bag in the back, but I figured that wouldn't be too useful. I went to take one last look for supplies when suddenly there was a bashing noise against the side of the ambulance, and I froze right where I stood. The sudden zapping sound of electricity coming from what sounded like a tazer wasn't good either. I stood there frozen, not wanting to make a sound. "Yo Franklin," a voice that sounded hazily familiar to me shouted outside the ambulance, "Make sure those doors stay shut. She's not coming out in one piece." I could literally feel the blood drain from my face. I felt like a cornered animal, and I sure as hell was about to fight for my life like one.

The side door of the ambulance opened and the zapping sound happened again but this time, there was a figure behind it. Turning around quickly, I tried ramming myself against the back doors of the ambulance. I shook the handles and tried with every ounce of energy in me to open them, but they wouldn't budge. I quickly took out my pistol and whipped back around to face this shell of a man. He stalked into the ambulance, leaving the side door open...wait. Confusion washed over me and I squinted vaguely at him, looking him over. Red hair like mine, green eyes, and he stood at about 6 feet tall... He looked practically identical to my brother. "Well well, wherever did you run off to you little bitch?" My eyes darted to his right shoulder where his tattoo spelled out our family name. My heart sank down to my toes. "..Curt?" I asked, watching him slowly move closer to me. Nothing. He shrugged it off and proceeded forward, the taser down at his side. I lowered my pistol slightly and regained a straighter stance. It really was Curt. My brother, my best friend, the person I told everything to... why did he have to do this? Where did he go after he abandoned Lucia and I? Why did things have to turn out the way they did? Why?

"What's happened to you?" I asked softly. "Are you okay? Why did you leave us like that Curt? Is this where you ran off to after you left us?" I ended in a snapping tone.

"It doesn't matter," Curt spoke in a low voice, "but what's about to happen to you..." he looked me up and down slowly, "let's just say you aren't getting out of here until I've had things my way."

My eyes widened and I took a step back, raising my pistol. "Get back!" I shouted and aimed directly at his chest. He was within a little less than an arms distance away when he stopped. He locked his eyes on mine and out of nowhere, he had advanced on me, knocking the pistol out of my hands. Before I could even think, I punched him in the jaw, which knocked him to the side by a little bit. He flicked his gaze up at mine, his eyes swirling with hatred, "Well, you're certainly stronger than your sister was. But that's not saying much 'cause your sister was a little pussy anyway," Curt bellowed. I stared at him for a few seconds, anger boiling within me."You shouldn't have said that you smug bastard," I muttered darkly and stepped forward, kicking him square in the diaphragm. He spluttered and flew back against the wall of the ambulance, dropping his taser in the process. His breathing changed drastically and he braced himself against the wall of the ambulance. "You-" he coughed a few times and stood up straighter, "You fucking bitch come here!" Curt exploded with rage and threw himself at me. I yelled and put my arms out to stop him but he had tackled me. "I'm going to fucking kill you I swear," he murmured against my ear. "Get the hell off of me!" I tried squirming beneath him, but nothing was happening. I pulled one of my knees up roughly which managed to get him off.

I turned onto my stomach, managed to get up quickly and began running for the slightly cracked open side door. Suddenly a sound from outside the ambulance caught my attention as well as Curt's and I turned my head toward the noise. A gunshot filled the air and someone was yelling and flailing violently outside on the dirt. I knew they just killed Batista. The moment I turned my head back to Curt, he slammed me against the wall, one of his hands crashing down onto my windpipe. I yelped and brought my hands up to my neck, trying to claw his hand off of me. He slowly leaned closer to my face, "Looks like my boys are taking care of him, now all I have to do is take care of you." With that, a switchblade click echoed off of the walls of what could soon be my red metal casket. But I wasn't about to be buried alive. In one final attempt, I violently tried getting away from Curt, but it was too late. He pressed my neck harder against the wall and I felt the cold piece of metal tear through muscle and tissue directly below my rib cage. I screamed and he released me, causing me to collapse onto the cold floor. My breathing became ragged and I placed my hands near the area where the blade was. Glancing down, blood flowed slowly down my side. I groaned and laid back onto the floor of the ambulance, feeling hot tears well up in my eyes.

The room slowly became distorted as my vision began to blur slightly, and I could feel the searing pain of the blade sitting in my abdomen. Curt stood over me with a sickening look on his face. A blast from a gun filled the air. I knew they just killed Batista. "My god... Puberty really did you wonders didn't it little girl?" The sound of his voice made me sick, and I knew I didn't have much energy left to fight back, but I had to do something. "The good news for me is that you're injured, helpless, and alone..," he stalked closer to me and I flinched back about a foot, but the blade shifted slightly inside my abdomen and I couldn't move any further, "bad news for you is... I'm going to take advantage of that. After all.. it's the end of the world and no law can fucking stop me." Curt began coming towards me and undoing his pants. That's when something deep within me snapped. I'd had enough.

The second Curt went to crawl on top of me I gripped the knife, tore it out of my abdomen, and with all the strength I could muster, I stabbed him in the stomach. He screamed and fell back onto the floor near the doors in the back. I put my left hand over my stab wound that was now throbbing and bleeding more intensely. You're so stupid Chevelle... I used the cold metal wall to help balance myself out as I stood up. Curt was scurrying back as much as he could, but he knew he couldn't escape. I slowly made my way over to him, God why had I pulled the knife out? I could feel myself becoming dizzy, but it didn't matter. "I don't wanna die, please don't kill me.. Please! What the fuck is going on with your eyes Chevelle?" Curt pleaded. I glared him down, feeling the anger spread like wildfire throughout my soul. "Don't kill you...." I muttered darkly, "Don't kill you?? WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU CURT??" I threw myself down next to him, twisted the knife out of his stomach and stabbed him again, this time in between some of his lower ribs. I kneeled over him, ignoring his loud cries of agony and looked him in the eyes. "You should have killed me when you had the chance." I spoke gravely and threw him against the back doors which swung open, causing him to fall into the dirt. Batista met him with the barrel of a shotgun, "Sorry to intrude on your little after-dinner date." he beamed sarcastically then shot him in the back of his kneecap. Again, Curt screamed and tried his hardest to escape, but with one blown out knee, he wasn't going to get far. I wasn't about to let him.

I took my hand off of my abdomen, blood soaked my palm and dripped down my side. I stormed out of the back of the ambulance and grabbed the shotgun Batista was holding. He didn't release it. "Chevelle.. What are you-" "Let go Batista," I demanded, looking him dead in the eye. I tried pulling it out of his hands, but his grip on the shotgun tightened and whatever patience I had left disappeared. "I SAID LET GO BATISTA," I raised my voice at him and tried pulling it out of his hands in one last weak attempt. "Chevelle you need to stop" Batista said sternly, yanking the shotgun away from me. I couldn't tell if the burning I felt was from my stab wound, or from the anger broiling within my soul. Keeping my eyes locked dangerously on Batista's, I took a step back. "Fine," I spoke lowly. With that, I raised my arm up and snapped my fingers, triggering my wolves to go after Curt viciously. Batista's face read both worry and shock, but I didn't care. I turned on my heel and walked over to where my wolves were beginning to eat Curt alive. "PLEASE," Curt screamed helplessly, "CHEVELLE I DON'T WANT TO DIE, PLEASE I'M YOUR BROTHER! DON'T LET THEM KIL-" One of my wolves bit down on his jugular and he flailed for a few moments then became motionless. I stood back for a few seconds then stormed forward with a rage I had never felt before. Hot tears began to well back up in my eyes again, but this time it was due to sheer hatred mixed with rage and sadness. I collapsed next to him among the chaos and began punching his face and chest. "YOU FUCKING LEFT US! YOU'RE A GODDAMN COWARD CURT!" I tore the knife out from his ribs and threw it down beside his head. "I HATE YOU! DO YOU FUCKING UNDERSTAND? YOU BETRAYED US! YOU AREN'T MY FUCKING BROTHER. YOU'RE A MONSTER. YOU'RE PATHETIC AND YOU DESERVE TO DIE 1000 TIMES. PAINFULLY. YOU LEFT US FOR DEAD, DISAPPEARED, YOU STABBED ME THEN ALMOST FUCKING RAPED ME. WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE YOU BASTARD," I inhaled through my angry sobs and punched him again, and again, beating his lifeless body so he understood what it felt like to suffer. "Chevelle stop! What are you doing??" Batista exclaimed somewhere behind me. I raised my fist again and punched him in one of his stab wounds. "I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU! I HOPE YOU DIED SUFFERING WITH THE GUILT OF WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" I screamed at his lifeless body, and began choking on the oxygen that wasn't going down my throat. I had exerted too much energy into that. And I began to feel dizzy. I was losing too much blood.

"CHEVELLE STOP IT!" Batista yelled and grabbed my shoulders, turning me away from my mistake of a brother. I looked up at him and began to sob. I put my hands back over my abdomen where I had been stabbed only minutes before and tried to apply pressure to it, but it was too late. The world began to swirl around me and the last thing I saw before everything went black was Batista's face and the dark slate of the sky behind him.