A Small Sacrifice

Michelle woke up alone and cold, naked under the white sheets, lying on her back. It was hard for her to open her eyes but she could barely see in the darkness of the room either way. The only light came the lamp which held a small flame, turned down she could tell from the dial. She wanted a shower so badly she tried getting out of the bed but it was the hardest thing she'd ever attempted to do. Michelle grabbed onto the nightstand, pulling herself up and off the bed. She tried to stand but her legs felt weak and were giving up from under her body. From the night stand to the sink in the bathroom, she could see through the door, was at least 20 paces.

"Okay... I can do this," she said but the fact she was already running out of breath. She let go of the nightstand, walking like a child would taking it's first steps but she started feeling the pressure in her legs building and she could feel herself falling towards the sink. Michelle tried her best to catch it on time and unfortunately Mark must have left it wet because her grip slipped and she fell on her hip. She couldn't bring her body to get back up, exhaustion taking over. The last thing she thought before passing out was her realization that she was naked.

~~~~

The next time she woke up, arms were lifting her off the cold tiles and dropped her on the bed with a deep chuckle. It wasn't Mark.

"You are a persistent little girl, Princess Salt Rock. That's going to be rule number one for a while, no getting out of bed unless you are ready which obviously you are not...."

He could read her panic inside, remembering the way he'd grabbed Ricky and threatened her family. "Don't worry yourself. Can't hurt you now, even if I wanted to. Only Mark can do that anyway. I thought I was there for all of you but... I guess I was just meant to see you and tell Taker to go get his next try."

"Taker?"

Her voice was hoarse from lack of fluids and he grabbed a glass of water from a tray her had on the armchair and brought it to her, making her drink. "It's what they call him," he said, pointing out the window, "Undertaker. Don't you go calling him Mark out there if you ever in fact step out of this room. You're a hell of a lot weaker than the others and-"

He stopped, noticing he was saying too much and left her, patting a large dog on the head as he walked past it to the armchair. She hadn't noticed the dog before and while Glen expected to sense her shock she wasn't. In fact, he sensed the opposite from shock coming from her.

"You know these dogs? Brazilian Mastiffs. Rule number two, you aren't allowed out of this room if the dogs aren't with you." He pointed at a smaller one, a puppy, sitting at the foot of her bed trying to ease it's way up and Michelle, though weak, sat up trying to help the dog but Glen set a tray down on her lap and helped the dog himself. "This one can be all yours. Name it if you like."

"Rule number 3, don't you go eating anything unless Mark or I specifically give it to you. You ever head into the kitchen and grab something yourself you'll regret it later on. You can't sense when something's been tainted like we can."

He turned around from the lamp he'd turned up and found her passed out, the glass of water spilt onto the floor in her hand and a handful of bread in the other, the puppy licking at it. He laughed, taking the tray off her lap and the glass and bread away from her, pulling the sheet up over her breasts. She instantly rolled onto her stomach, taking deep breaths. He looked at her back and smiled, wondering if Mark had seen it yet though knowing his friend, he hadn't paid much attention.

~~~~

"You know, I think the big guy has a sense of humor because he gave you the wildest little beast to tame."

Mark was walking into the house cranky, throwing off his coat and hat, tying up his hair. "What are you talking about? What the girl do?"

"Found her freezing cold on the bathroom floor passed out. Must have tried to go clean up or something. Anyhow carried her back to bed to feed her but she had half a cup of water and about a bite of bread and passed the fuck out. She ain't well yet, not like the others. By now the others were bouncing around here asking all kinds of questions." He looked at Mark who was taking swigs out of a whiskey bottle and snickered at the look on his face. "What the in God's name is wrong with you?"

"Ain't no God here Glen."

"You know what the fuck I meant. So? You leave to do your job when you woke up a crabby fool and come back exactly the same way. I'm the one sitting here trying to get those wenches from trying to get into the house and had to watch all these heaps of flesh and bones cry and moan. Well?"

"Nothing. Just got a lot on my mind is all."

Glen gave out a loud roar though he caught himself half way through when he saw Mark's face grow annoyed, "It's okay to admit you were thinking 'bout the girl. Got a mighty fine body on her, not to mention that cute little face. Kinda makes you wanna-"

"You talk too much, you know that? Girl will probably be like all the others."

Glen raised an eyebrow, shooting him a look, "You know the truth? You want to think she ain't it but you have a feeling she is."

"She didn't question me!" Mark said aggravative and Glen smirked at the sudden confession. It wasn't the only thing that had been bothering him but it was the one he was better off telling Glen then the others. "Damn girl didn't even bother questioning me, just assumed I meant business and agreed. I could have been any random bastard off the street threatening her family and she would have given me what I wanted just so they were safe. The other one's needed time to 'think it over' and this one just steps forward and agrees."

"You know I was surprised you got back so soon, let alone with the girl already. Why you think she ain't feeling any better?"

"I have no clue. I had a feeling they didn't have anything to pay for and she... she's clean. Not a sin to her."

"So I was sent just to find her. Figured as much. You going to explain anything to her?"

Mark got up, wiping away the whiskey from his last drink, "She asks I'll tell her but I don't think she'll be asking for a while. I'm heading up."

"I assumed you would. Now that she's sleeping on her stomach, you may want to take a look at her back, you'll like the work."

~~~~

He pressed his hand flatly against his chest when he walked in the room, wondering if he'd be able to feel anything but nothing happened. She did have some nice work on her back, tattoos he hadn't seen earlier. Wings on her back, stars that went from her lower left hip to high on her right. He watched her stir a little pulling the blankets higher up and with a small sigh, went back into a deep sleep. It was harder now to read her thoughts, the sleep she was in deeper than when she'd first started to sleep the night before.

Mark sat down in the armchair, the big dog coming to rest her head on his lap. The puppy was dead asleep, curled up on Michelle's feet. He watched her for a while, sleeping peacefully. Under him he could feel her clothing balled up and he reached under him, yanking out her shorts and instantly found some items in her pockets. He lay the shorts down, letting his fingers run over the stitching before reaching into the first pocket, pulling out two cards. One was her government issued IDs. He noted that her hair was much shorter when it was issued, bright red at the tips. She had a pierced lip then and a mischievous smile, like she was close to making a face as they took the picture. The other was a picture of her niece, nephew, and cousin, all sitting in the backseat of a car, throwing up random meaningless hand signs (notably, her cousin was flipping off the camera) and making cheesy smiles. He found it a little amusing to note that in this one, her hair seemed a little longer and now purple dominated some of her curls. In the back pockets he found her cellphone and a red little square with a screen, a long cord and two little buds hanging off it. He recognized the cellphone as he'd seen that before but the other thing he'd seen one before but didn't know what the hell it was.

He could tell there was something else in the other pocket and reaching in he felt a small necklace and he pulled it out, feeling the small pendant against his fingers. Silver greek letters. When he'd been alive he knew of college girls being part of sororities but she didn't seem the type.

Holding all these in one hand he continued to watch her, the things that had been bothering him all day now at the forefront of his mind. She wasn't getting any better. Glen had been right that most girls had been up and running by now, planning an escape of a way to get rid of him. She'd wanted it. Although she'd fought him at first, and he was sure she'd fight him again, eventually she'd begun to want it. She'd begun to seek him in a way the others hadn't. She'd sacrificed herself not for a lover like the others but for her family.

He swore he'd felt her heart, and his own, beating for a split second.

Finally he grew frustrated and got up, opening the door and whistling lightly. The dogs instantly exited the room and Michelle began to stir.

"You know, I think I'm leaving the light on tonight," he called out to her, pulling off his shirt.

She began to try and turn, her eyes squinting in the light, "Please wait, I need-"

"You're getting a bath, don't fret about it. Give me a second to get the tub warm." He watched her close her eyes again, falling back onto the pillows. It was odd to him how beautiful she looked doing it, even if she hadn't done anything special. He walked into the bathroom, kicking off his clothing and turning on the water, pushing the plug into the drain. He let it run and walked back into the room, picking her body up and carried her into the tub, settling down with her body in his lap.

She hadn't realized he was naked when he picked her up but now, sitting in his lap, her body became alert. He was turning off the faucet and she tried to drag herself out of the tub but his grip on her was stronger than she could imagine to be.

"You know you ain't getting out of this tub so why bother pretending to try?"

"You said I was taking a bath," she argued, trying not to look him in the eyes.

"You are getting a bath aren't you? I didn't lie. I just so happen to need one too. Stop fidgeting because you are getting the floor wet."

She stopped, taking a deep breath of annoyance and he finally gave in and laughed. She turned to look at him with all the power in her body and discovered something she hadn't noticed before, "Your eyes aren't black."

Her words made him stop, rubbing his face gently, "When you ever get an idea like... oh, you were just seeing things in the dark. Or you were just acting like a scared little mouse. Either way they are green so don't go thinking they are black. I'll take offense to that."

"It's silly to get offended over eyes," she said, turning away from him again, softly pressing her finger to the warm pipe for the faucet.

"No, it isn't when you happen to think they are the last human thing about you," he answered, pulling her hand down into the water, rubbing it with a bar of soap. His hands felt softer under the water but even if they hadn't been, she would have been just as happy to feel him. She was sad to admit, she was intrigued by the sudden situation she'd put herself in, not that she had a choice. He had threatened the only family she loved and had left, she wasn't going to let anything bad happen to them.

"For the record," he said, holding onto chest with one arm and pushed her forward to wash her back, "I wasn't going to hurt them. I couldn't hurt them."

A sudden anger grew inside her and even through her weakness, she snapped, "You tricked me?"

He let out a small chuckle at the fight that was growing in her, "I didn't really. I could have hurt them had I wanted to. Had you said no I may have. But you said yes and so there was no way I could have. Stop getting all antsy." He let her back come back down to rest on him. "So I need you to tell me something."

"No."

"You're too weak to fight me if I dunk your head under the water and watch you drown. You won't die but it'll hurt."

She thought it over, "What?"

"Why didn't you second guess me? The other ones...."

She got frustrated, taking his hand off her shoulder, "Why do you two keep mentioning others? Am I here as a toy and once you get tired of me-"

"Stop interrupting, I'll put this bar of soap in your mouth," She was getting tired and cranky, he was keeping her awake. He would let her rest eventually but right now he needed an answer from her own voice, not from her mind. "Well, answer you little monster."

She let out a small breath, poking at a small bubble from the soap, "I don't care if you are joking or not, if I think you are going to hurt someone I love I'll do whatever possible to make sure you can't."

He didn't know what he felt in that moment, dug his face into her neck and took a deep breath. He could feel her under his finger tips react gently, her breathing increased just a little. That was the second sign, the words she had just said. But she was just so different from the wenches that slept outside, begging for re-admittance. They had all admitted this in a fight, screaming at the top of their lungs, crying for a lover they would never see again. They would scratch and claw at him telling him to die, he'd laugh that'd happened a long time ago. He take them into the bed Michelle slept in now and have his way with them. They'd pretend to like it, they'd coo their praises.

In the end they always ended up with the others, outside.

Michelle was doing everything exactly opposite. Not just that but she was making him feel different than the others had. He thought of how she'd looked on her porch. He'd been watching her for a long time, she just hadn't noticed. She'd been so calm. The others always making love to their men, she was thinking about her niece's tears.

He let himself leave his thoughts long enough to realize she was sleeping, her face pressed against his. The water had begun to get cold and she was shaking a little, her hands wrapping around his arms across her abdomen. When she had enough room now her head was leaning into the crook of his neck, her small breaths against his skin.

"Still too weak I see," he said aloud, making her stir.

"Hmm?"

He couldn't help himself, leaning her head back and pressed his lips to hers, just to see what kind of reaction she had. He read her mentally tell herself if she hadn't already been there she was going to hell and kissed him back. The internal struggle inside her making him laugh through her kiss.

"Stop sleeping long enough to sit up before you drown."

She was confused, giving him an odd look, "I'm dead."

"Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Later, sit kid."

She didn't bother protesting because she was hoping she could pass out in bed as soon as possible. He unplugged the bathtub now that she was sitting up and reached for a towel. Once the water was out of the tub, and he'd finished drying off his hair and the mop of brown curls in her head he wrapped the towel around her, twisting her body across his lap and lifted her up effortlessly.

"You get points for that," she said in a tired tone.

Her little joke was unexpected and carried her into the room, putting her on the bed, "Don't go moving. Last thing I want to do is find you on the floor like Glen did."

She opened her eyes and in the mirror in the bathroom she could see he was drying off, "I didn't plan on falling. How long am I going to feel shitty?"

"I have no idea."

"Why aren't you treating me like shit?"

"You sure you ain't feeling better? That mouth of yours sure is acting fine," Mark said disgruntled.

Michelle couldn't help herself, "You'll never know."

The comment got another laugh out of him, throwing his towel onto the floor, walking into the room. With the lamp turned on, she could see every tattoo, every muscle, every scar. The noise in her head made her too hard to read but it was all due to the cock he had standing in front of him, "Oh really?"

"Really."

"Maybe not today. I have some business to take care of." She almost asked what the business was but he'd already made it to the bed, his fingers instantly went for the folds between her legs. Her clit was hot under fingertips, shaking the instant his fingers made contact.

Good, he thought to himself, she wants it. He brought himself to lie next to her almost and bent down, taking a bare nipple, hard from the cold, into the heat of his mouth. Almost instantly she grunted, biting down on her own lip and pushed up to his touch. His free wrapped under her bottom, propping her up to his hand. He slid his index finger into what was now the flood between her legs and cupped her sex in his palm, bringing pressure to the swollen mound, growing with each moment passed.

He'd alternate time between each breast, taking moments to lay his ear in the middle of her chest, hoping to hear something, anything. The longer he didn't hear a thump inside her, the more determined it made him to get her heart beating. I couldn't have made it up, I felt it, he argued with himself pressing into her so deeply she let out a loud moan.

He didn't want to leave her chest, tasting her skin a pleasure, but he'd been interested since the night before to taste her sex. He almost protested when he left her flesh, her mind wild with anger for his pause.

"I told you last night I was going to do this," he told her in a rough voice, spreading her legs apart and got comfortable before latching his mouth onto her opening. He had never tasted anyone so sweet in his life. Sweet wasn't even the right word, heaven was. Had that been a word in his vocabulary, he would have used it out aloud. His hands were at her hips, titling her up to him. She was quivering, breathing so heavily she could take the all the air up in the room if possible. He could have spent forever there, tasting her flow so freely but he could tell she was beginning to form a small burst inside her, her clit vibrating against his tongue almost. He was about to leave her to get into his old position so her could see if he was right but almost as if she'd read his mind, she grabbed his hand with hers, up to towards her chest. She let go when she got his arm extended and his hand was on the area where her heart usually was. He pressed down, continuing his oral exercise.

He would have missed it had he been pounding into her because it wasn't as strong as the night before but sure enough, as she orgasmed against his mouth, he felt her heart beat for less than a minute.

She beated. That heart of hers beated. It almost scared him senseless, he didn't think it was even possible. He wanted to start pounding into her flesh, to get her heart pounding harder and faster, to see if his own could do it again, but when he looked up at her she was finding it hard to catch her breath and falling into a deep trance. He didn't want to wait but it hit him then and there what was keeping her from gaining back all her strength. She was so weak any time she began to grow stronger, their physical moments took it away again. She didn't have enough time to build up anything inside her and he was the reason. Of course it didn't help that she'd only taken enough food to prevent her from going insane but he decided he'd have to wait until she was fully functional to feel himself inside her again.

He was going to get up to clean off but her hands were looking desperately for his face and as soon as he'd gotten himself to her level her lips kissed him with the last ounce of power in her and passed out, tasting herself in the kiss. He watched her fall asleep and then got up, cleaning off and came back with the towel to clean her off. He stood in the bathroom a while, watching the water run but he couldn't clear his head.

What the fuck is she?

It was the question he'd spend the next week trying to decipher. He'd go do his job, come back home to lie and watch her sleep, not waking her up for anything. Every now and then her eyes would open and she'd kiss him and promptly pass out again. He didn't bother trying to do anything else, let her lips have their way with his until she grew tired again. He started living for those moments. Glen would tell him of how she'd awake to talk when he brought her food and he felt a tad bit of jealousy of knowing Glen got her to speak.

~~~~

When Glen walked into her room somewhere in the middle of the week she was dragging herself into the bed. He laughed, helping her back into it. "I'm starting to think you want me touching you."

"Wishful thinking gets you no where," she said with a small laugh, pointing to the bra on the armchair when he was done helping her settle. "Pass it here. I'd rather you see me in a bra. Not that I never had a roomful of people...," she stopped when she noticed Glen was raising an eyebrow at the comment," No! Not like that. When we got in the car accident they had to cut off all my clothes in the helicopter and...."

"I read that already, just you should probably explain that story with the car accident first."

"My bad," she said, ignoring the spoon and drinking the soup out of the bowl.

"My bad?"

"My bad. What?"

Kid we've been dead a pretty long time. Excuse me if I'm not used to your way of speaking yet."

Michelle looked up, an interested look in her eyes, "When exactly?"

"Huh... had to be the 50s. What time is it up there anyhow? I lost count down here," he said sitting down, pulling the puppy into his lap.

She sighed as she finished the soup, resting back into the pillows, "2011. It was 2008 when the wars started and I was about to turn 18 round then. Finishing high school."

"I didn't finish."

"Not surprised," she said with a smile, looking at him for a reaction.

"I'm happy to see you are feeling better, you stayed awake longer than yesterday. Longer than breakfast even."

Michelle exhaled quietly, "I'm tired of feeling so tired. Mark here?"

Glen shook his head, letting the puppy curl up next to Michelle and took the try from her lap, sensing her energy failing her, "No. Got an assignment, had to go. Don't look at me like that, it's our job. We do it. End of story."

"Why do I get to be this special exception. Is it because I'm pretty? Do I get old and ugly and he gets rid of me? Or do I just get boring and...."

"Look kiddo," he began, opening the door and looked back at her, "That's stuff either Mark explains eventually or you figure out on your own. Sorry. Don't go on about this being bullshit, because you could be in a worse position than the one you are in."

"Stop reading my mind," she said annoyed, tucking herself in.

"Give that puppy a name will you? Elka is getting annoyed her son doesn't have a name."

"Elka?"

"That's her name, go to sleep. Mark is going to go nuts if he can't...." She was already asleep when he looked at her again. He didn't bother finishing his thought that if Mark didn't have sex with the naked girl in his bed soon, he was going to go insane.

~~~~

Mark hadn't been touching her because, as he explained to Glen, when he took her life she had no sin to run off of. When he brought her down, she'd been far too weak and he'd ended up giving her some energy but he didn't know it would only be an energy rush from being with him. As soon as it was over she must have tapped again. He wasn't giving her enough time to refill and she needed more time than the others in the first place. The other's had also had an appetite and Michelle had barely been eating until a day or two before. Eating was what separated them from the droids outside.

"How the hell you figure that out?"

"It's a fuckin' theory, who knows if I'm right. You said she stays up longer and longer?"

"Yeah, she's started to grow interested in things and she's asking questions. When I mentioned you were gone to get more of them, she got pretty annoyed."

"Good," he answered, getting up to watch the droids. He didn't know it, but she was getting plenty strong enough.