Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness Ch.12
Title: Afterworld: Into the Arms of Darkness
By: Pink Rabbit Productions
Chapter: 12
Date: 14 September, 2010
Disclaimer: Hmmm, characters, not mine, situation, mine, though with the proviso that certain scenarios owe a major debt of gratitude to George Romero. Sex? Likely. Genders involved? Likely all female (at least anything on camera). Also there are likely to be very bad things in this story. I'm not one for prodigious amounts of gore, but this is horror and there is likely to be ickiness and things that might disturb some folks. Seriously. If it's gonna bother you, move along.
Summary: When the dead rise, civilization falls.
Author's Notes: Awhile back, just for fun, I did a faux movie poster that set Otalia in a horror setting and used some elements from an idea I've had running around for ages (what can I say---it was the Halloween season). See the poster here: http://altfic.com/artgallery/otalia/glafterworld01b.htm . Sooo, at some point, it seemed like fun to take a gander at writing them in that universe. I've quite deliberately tried to break away from my usual style and make it a bit faster moving, with frequent chapter breaks, deliberate cliffhangers, shorter scenes and more directed pov. We'll see if I can keep to one pov per chapter (well, they are short chapters...lol).
Previous Chapters: | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 |
Author's Note: I probably won't be posting tomorrow and may not manage to reply to any comments for a bit. Sorry about that, but hopefully, my internet connection (currently very random and short-lived) will be getting some much needed repair during the downtime.
Afterworld:
Into the Arms of Darkness
Chapter 12
Natalia's heart thumped violently in her chest as the razor's edge played slowly against her throat. Her efforts to push away from the blade thrust her more firmly against the body at her back, buying no escape, only more contact and more pressure.
"Easy...easy," Olivia whispered in her ear, her voice oddly soothing, like a hunter trying to calm a wild animal.
Right before slitting its throat to let it bleed out.
That image in her head, Natalia tried fiercely to throw the other woman off, buckling and twisting wildly, but Olivia only ratcheted her grip tighter, using strength and body weight to pin her down and render her struggles useless.
"Stop it," she hissed in Natalia's ear. "You can't win that way, and it's starting to piss me off...trust me, that's a bad strategy."
Another moment of the desperate, but ineffective struggles and then Natalia sagged, her breath coming in ragged pants, body limp. In the back of her mind was the vague hope the other woman would believe she'd surrendered and drop her guard if only for a moment.
No such luck. Olivia maintained her tight grip. "Tsk, tsk...I'm harder to fool than that," she chastised, somehow finding a way to press closer, her body molded to every inch of her prisoner's back, denying any chance to slip free.
Frustrated, Natalia made another bid for freedom, pushing at the hands trapping her. She didn't even gain an inch of breathing room. Instead a hard jerk drove the air from her lungs.
"I don't wanna hurt you," Olivia told her, her tone perversely soft, though her body was a rock hard barrier to escape. "I don't care even about you." Strangely, despite the unspoken threat, her voice was low, soothing, almost inviting.
A lover's voice, the thought slipped unbidden through the Natalia's head, the association insane by any measure, except there was something frighteningly intimate and even sensual about that tone, the sense of threat all the more vivid for its tender delivery. Considering their earlier interaction, she was certain that was no accident. This woman used her sexuality like a weapon and it was sharper than the knife in her hand.
As if in response to that thought, the knife slid higher on her throat, applying enough pressure at the curve of her jaw to bring her head around until she could just barely see her captor out of the corner of her eye.
"The only thing I care about in this world is my kid," Olivia explained in that same, hypnotic, almost-but-not-quite-gentle voice. "And I will do whatever it takes to get her back."
The knife tightened against Natalia's throat, close to breaking skin, but not quite.
"Cut you..."
The blade dropped lower, playing over her upper chest and threatening to dip into the valley between her breasts, threat implicit in every slow pass.
"...rape you..."
And then full, silky lips teased her ear, the caress that followed overtly and intimidatingly sexual. Clearly, the other woman knew she'd found a weak spot and was aiming for it with cold brutality.
"...or seduce you..." Olivia used the blade to draw Natalia's head farther around, leaning over her shoulder until she could stare into dark, frightened eyes. "Whatever it takes," she promised, each word coming slow and carefully emphasized. "Whatever hurts the most."
A hard swallow. Natalia didn't doubt it.
"Or you can just tell me where my daughter is...and we can avoid all the trouble."
Another hard swallow rasped Natalia's dry throat, the pain of working stressed, taut muscles painful even without the threat of the knife. Jade green eyes held her prisoner, leaving to wonder if this was what a rabbit felt like in the path of an oncoming wolf.
"Just make this easy," Olivia encouraged in that same, coaxing, gently-cruel voice.
The problem was, it suddenly wasn't easy and Natalia found herself wondering if she'd been misjudged Emma's behavior. Maybe the quiet and seeming gentleness weren't a cover for remaining sweetness, but rather simply a sign of a child terrorized into submission. Were her caution and reserve the product of abuse rather than uncertainty?
Because the woman holding her prisoner appeared to be more monster than loving mother. And God knew, Natalia had seen the monsters some people turned into when society's rules went away.
And if that was the case, she couldn't turn the child back over to her, couldn't consign that tiny soul back to hell.
The knife pressed a little harder, the pain dragging Natalia free of her own tortured musings.
Turning her head to bury her nose in dark, silk hair, Olivia encouraged, "Just give me Emma...and end this. Don't make me hurt you..."
Caught in her own debate, Natalia barely heard the final word.
"...please."
"I can't," Natalia gasped without meaning to.
She knew instantly that she'd made a mistake as the knife pressed more firmly into the underside of her jaw, while the hand that had been tangled in her hair, let go. She would have pushed up on her hands, but Olivia bore down with her body, giving her no opportunity for escape.
And then that hand was moving, finding the outer curve of her neck and along the slope of her shoulder. Then gripping with punishing strength, forcing her face down into the floor, bracing on her upper back as Olivia leveraged herself up, looming over her.
The knife was gone from her throat, she abruptly realized, and moving-
"She's in the other room," Natalia gasped, needing it to stop before... "Please...I'll show you...just..." In spite of her best efforts, she heard tears in her voice and felt a burst of rage at her own weakness as she begged, "...don't..."
Almost instantly, the harsh pressure on her back eased, then the weight was gone from her body and she had a sense of the other woman backing off.
Scrubbing at the sudden surge of moisture blurring her vision, Natalia pushed to her knees. She wished it had been a ploy, a way to trick the other woman the way she'd been tricked in the bathroom, but pure panic had driven her submission. She risked a glance over her shoulder, another rush of rage sliding through her as she saw the other woman's expression: cool, emotionless, distant. She'd just been on the verge of rape and there was no sign it affected her in the least.
She couldn't hand a child over to someone like that.
Could. Not. Do. It.
Olivia didn't say anything, just stood there, watching silently.
Teeth gritted until her jaw muscles threatened to cramp, Natalia dug her nails into her palms as she fought the urge to scream. Had to play it smart, be as cold and vicious as her opponent. Consciously relaxing her shoulders ever so slightly, she managed to drag a breath into lungs that threatened to spasm into total paralysis. "She's in the other room," she managed at last. "But it's locked...so she couldn't...try to run and let them in...or see you...tied up..." That much was true. "It takes a key to open the doors." Also true.
"Toss it over here," Olivia instructed, her tone all business now. The woman was a cold-blooded killer. It was there in her eyes and Natalia suddenly felt foolish for believing her story about what had happened to Blake. Probably all lies.
Fine, she could tell a few lies of her own. "I...it's..." Natalia mimed hunting for the key in her jeans pockets, not having to act much at all to look panicked. She looked around herself as it hunting for a dropped item. "I-I must have-"
"Damnit," Olivia hissed, her voice raw with frustration. "I don't have time for this," she stormed, eyes black with threat.
Natalia cringed, carefully not looking directly at the other woman as she patted her pockets in seeming terror. "No...I just...while we were fighting...it's here. Just give me a moment," she begged, her tone as pathetic as she could make it. As she moved, she tracked the other woman out of the corner of her eye, purposely pushing her growing frustration and fury. Just had to get her confident enough she'd cowed her prisoner and angry enough to come close.
"No more goddamned games," Olivia bit out after another minute or two of the act. Two long strides brought her back to Natalia's side and she reached out, free hand finding the slope of a narrow shoulder.
And Natalia moved faster than she'd ever thought possible. Twisting, she slammed an elbow hard into Olivia's injured knee and grabbed for the hand that held the knife.
The woman toppled as her knee gave way and Natalia dragged on her arm with all her weight, . Unbalanced, Olivia tumbled over the kneeling woman. An obvious effort to roll into the fall was ungainly at best and she ended up in a sprawl, her imprisoned wrist bent at what had to be a painful angle.
For a brief moment, Natalia thought she'd won that simply, then abruptly Olivia exploded into motion, not seeming to notice the brutal twist of her wrist as she rolled to a knee, then tackled into Natalia.
After that, it was more playground scramble than organized fight, with bodies slamming into each other, and more damage done by flailing elbows than well-placed punches.
They but they were both desperate and both fighting for the same child.
And the same knife.
Natalia slammed Olivia's hand into the floor every chance she got, leaving bruises and split knuckles in her wake, but couldn't get her opponent to let go.
Another of the hard slams into the floor finally brought a pained gasp and Natalia thought she saw a spasm in clenched fingers. Suddenly Olivia twisted her hand and yanked her hand free just long enough to hurl the blade out of reach of both of them. Clearly she considered it better to remove it from the fight entirely than risk losing possession.
"Where's my daughter?" Olivia growled as she got a forearm braced across Natalia's throat, pinning her to the floor.
"Go to hell," Natalia shot back and slung a punch, connecting solidly with the other woman's cheek. A beat later, she shoved and kicked her attacker off her, sending her skidding several feet.
She realized her mistake a moment too late as Olivia rolled to a crouch.
Right next to where the shotgun had landed.
Natalia tried to dive after the weapon, but Olivia already had her hands on it and was pushing to her feet.
Suddenly, Natalia was scrambling backward, all eyes on the barrel of the weapon that swung her way, and then up to the granite-hard features of the woman aiming it.
"My daughter," Olivia snarled. She was breathing hard, every muscle in her body quivering from exertion, the weapon held unsteadily. She managed to make it to her feet, but only because she used the wall at her back as a brace. "Where is she?"
Not nearly as winded but with no way to take advantage of that fact, Natalia scuttled back another foot or two, hunting around herself for some kind of weapon or avenue of escape.
Nothing.
Tipping her head back up, she found herself trapped by eyes that reflected an acid-washed image of hell itself.
No more words. They were past them.
Teeth gritted, eyes wild, Olivia slowly raised the weapon to her shoulder, taking aim. She waited a beat, finger poised over the trigger, then started to bear down...
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TBC