A Lovely Ransom

[Inati]

She could feel their eyes on her, watching her, waiting for a chance to strike...or could that just be paranoia? Not that she didn't have a good reason to be paranoid considering who was after her and what it meant if she were caught by them. She shivered at the prospect of being snatched into their clutches once more, passing off her trembling as a result of the cold wind that blew over her. She snuggled deeper into her jacket coat, the hood over her head to hide her features. Despite the fact that she had changed much of her appearance- cut her long black curls short and wore dark brown eye contacts to hide the natural blue coloring of her irises- she still felt that she could be easily identified, especially when it came to her ebony skin and the markings that stained it, the tattoos that made her the 'property' of the people who were after her now.

Lenox was the name she was given for she had no memory of her real name when she woke up in that brightly lit room, surrounded by men in white lab coats and black suits. She had escaped from that room, from that entire building, and ran as far as her body would allow her to, which later ended with her finding refuge in a foreign country; they had put her through awful tests in that building, causing her pain and discomfort all in the name of science. Lenox was an anomally, a rare find that they just couldn't leave untested, especially not since she seemed able to take and adapt to the serums they injected into her and bore the high level of pain they caused her to test the serum. They had no idea what else she could handle, what secrets her body held to withstand all that they put her through without dying when every other test subject had perished and had been bent on finding out...before she broke out of her bright white prison and went into hiding. Now they were looking for her, the young woman's face was plastered all over the media, popping up in commercials with a prize awarded to anyone that could find her and turn her in. She had fled the country before it go too bad and tried to make a peaceful living in a new one, but still, she couldn't help but look over her shoulder every few seconds, still feeling like she was being watched...followed.

She had to stay on her guard, though she felt she looked more suspicious by looking around the way that she was. For now, she would just continue to act like a normal citizen in that foreign land until she could think of a way to completely escape from all fear and worry.

 

[Summer Rain]

Dean had practically burned the image of that woman's face into their brains. Eric wasn't exactly sure why he sought that woman so badly; the reward for her capture was pretty, but catching a fugitive wasn't exactly their style. Still, Eric was relatively new to the Black Bullets and knew better than to argue with their plans. He knew well that they could make a lot more money taking some celebrity for ransom, but Dean had claimed this was "a way to do business the legal way". Still when did they care about legal?

"She's around this city somewhere," Dean snorted after he puffed a long drag of his cigarette, "this is the biggest city near the last siting and if she's as smart as they claim she is, she wouldn't go to any hick town."
Eric took a drag of his own cigarette and watched for a moment as the smoke made a haze in front of them. Thirteen of the Black Bullet members had crowded into the living room of Dean and his girlfriend, Yasmine's, apartment. Eric had been staring as these faces for years now but with a mission on their mind, they always looked a little more sinister. Perhaps they knew that capturing this girl would bring them all in a hefty load of cash.

Dean stood from his chair, "we've got a few days to get her. Anything after that, someone else'll grab her." He smirked, revealing a gold tooth, "and once we have her... well, then we'll see what we're gonna do with her."

 

[Inati]

'This...is bad.'

Lenox, still getting used to the rather large city, had taken a wrong turn at some point in her walking and soon found herself walking along a nearly deserted street. There was barely a soul for her to converse with save for the people keeping warm in the shops and restaurants that stood in tall, proud lines against the cold. She felt better in a crowded place because she could hide better; no one was paying attention to anyone when there was a large crowd to lose yourself in. Like this, she was out in the open, vulnerable, and she had to use every fiber in her being to not start running some place safe because that could just bring even more attention to herself and she sure didn't want that.

"Gotta get home...Gotta get home...Gotta get home..." she chanted over and over again, squinting her burning eyes.

She stopped at the entrance to an alleyway and rubbed her itchy eyes. Her contacts were drying up...what fickle things. She never liked contacts anyway. Looking around and deeming it safe for the moment, she removed each lense from her eye, revealing the bright blue of her irises, and placed them in their protective cases. The itching stopped almost immediately and she sighed in relief, stupidly dropping her guard and leaving herself open to an attack.

 

[Summer Rain]

Luckily, it hadn't taken long for Yale, one of the Black Bullets, to track her down. Apparently she hadn't been hard to find; those azure blue eyes had given her way immediately. Yale had barely made eye contact with her, supposedly in an alleyway, to know that he had found her.

New Message from: Yale
I got her. Will use the cloth... shouldnt take long. Be ready for her.

Eric had to admit that she was a young pretty; the pictures that plastered the internet and much of the USA didn't do her justice. Her face was sweet and round, but her lips were beautifully puckered, even in sleep. Her body was quite noticeable as well, even under her long black clothing. Her generous breasts winked hello at them through the deep V of her top.
Yale placed her in one of the back bedrooms before joining a few of the men in the kitchen. He puffed at his cigarette and smoke filled the air.

"I imagine you aren't just gonna turn her in," Mason, one of the older members, chuckled lowly. It was well known that the Black Bullets didn't play by the rules; it would be foolish for them to just get the reward money when they knew that there was so much more for them.
Dean laughed softly, clearly finding the joke funny as well. "They want her real bad. Any fool would take that money and run, but I know how bad they really want her. She's apparently a fine piece for them. Now that we have her, I'll send a few photos, a letter, and hopefully those Americans will know what's good for them."

Eric wondered what exactly what was so special about this woman. Yes, she was beautiful but there were a lot of beautiful people out there. The American government really sought her retrieval though; perhaps she knew something that couldn't be divulged... that made more sense in Eric's mind.

 

[Inati]

Lenox awoke several hours later from her deep sleep, feeling groggy and disoriented. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light in the room, her fingers rubbing at them to better focus her attention. When everything became clear, she came to the startling realization that she was in a bedroom that was not in her own apartment. She sat up quickly and jumped up from the bed, regretting the action later when she lost her footing due to the dizziness and crashed into the dresser across the room. Someone had taken her; she remembered standing in front of that alleyway, having just taken out her contacts to relieve the itch her eyes were feeling, before someone grabbed her and put a soft cloth over her mouth that stank of some kind of chemical. That must have been what put her out and made it easier for her kidnapper to subdue her.

"No...nononono," she muttered quietly as she got to her legs again, stumbling around until she braced herself against the wall next to the window, "They got me...someone's got me. They're after the reward money...I have to get out of here."

She tried opening the window, but found it was practically nailed shut and it wouldn't budge under her strength. She cursed silently to herself and pressed her forehead to the pane, her breath fogging up the glass.

 

[Summer Rain]

Because Eric was the biggest of them all, he was always given the duty of guard dog. He absolutely hated it, but at least the woman was good looking. If he was lucky maybe she'd be the slightest bit interesting... not that he was interested in anything, anyways. Friendship was hard to come by and he knew he'd only get his ass kicked if he started trying to befriend the girl. She would be gone soon, anyways; Eric would just have to look after her for a few days and then she'd be sent back to the US.

When he entered the room, Eric was surprised that the woman was not in the bed anymore. The formaldehyde was meant to knock her out for a good several hours. She was standing by the window though, clearly searching for a way to get out.
Eric cleared his thought and she spun around her, looking like a child caught in the cookie jar.

"Uhh," he grumbled, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. If you get back onto the bed and stay there, we shouldn't have any trouble between us."

 

[Inati]

"Stay back," she told him, her voice trembling just a little as she put her hand out, as if that could keep him from causing her any harm on its own, "Stay away from me."

She cursed herself again for being so stupid as to let her guard down when she did. Maybe then she wouldn't be in this situation. Her curly locks, cut just below her ear, fell into her face and her blue eyes glared heatedly at him as she assessed the man in front of her: tall, built, rather gruff looking...yet handsome. Despite the grimace on his face, she could still see that there was potential for him to be a very handsome man...if he would just smile. She shifted from foot to foot, trying to come up with some sort of plan to maybe...knock him out and make a run for it? Yeah, that was stupid. So, after looking around the room, she darted over to the dresser, quickly moved it in front of her so that it made a pocket in the corner next to the window and slid down into that pocket, disappearing from his sight.

"Don't come any closer! Leave me alone!" she yelled, pulling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

 

[Summer Rain]

Well, that wasn't exactly the response that Eric had been looking for. Granted, he hadn't been that nice with her - he supposed that years with the Black Bullets had made him fairly immune to the feelings of others. Of course there was still a good bone in his body, he just wasn't exactly sure where it was.
For a moment he just stood there, crossing his arms across his broad chest and watching the little nook she had made for herself. If Dean or Yale had walked in, they probably would have laughed and dragged her back, kicking and screaming (probably), to the bed. Eric had different tactics though, and he sat down on the chair in the corner of the room. If she wanted to cramp herself up in that little safe than that was her perogitive. As long as she wasn't screaming bloody murder or banging on the bangs, he would be perfectly content.

From across the room where he sat, Eric told her, "my name is Eric, by the way. And I know it might not seem like it, but you got pretty damn lucky that I'm the one looking after you. The rest of the guys wouldn't even let you out of their sight... for one reason or another."

He sighed and tipped his head back, pinching the bridge of his nose. It had been ages since he had been with a good woman and one look at this woman and he was hard as a board. How great was that? He didn't even know what it was about her - the breasts were a nice touch and she was beautiful, but he had barely laid eyes on her. Maybe it was just the come proximity.

 

[Inati]

"Lucky?! HA! As if there's anything 'lucky' about my situation!" she retorted briskly, her head popping up from behind the dresser with her brow furrowed in a frown, "You guys KIDNAPPED me! What's so lucky about that?!"

With a huff, she dove back into her hole and stayed curled up there as she grumbled about rude men and roughians and greedy moneybags. She played with her hair as she sat cramped up in that little space, basically waiting for the man in the room, Eric, to get impatient and forecfully yank her from her hiding place. When several minutes went by and nothing happened, she chanced to peek over the edge to see him just sitting in that chair across the room, looking bored and...uncomfortable? Uncomfortable about what? Lenox decided that she wasn't going to ask right then and decided, despite the fact that he was holding her HOSTAGE, that since he was being nice then she could be nice in return.

"...Don't laugh," she suddenly said in a nicer tone of voice, looking over at him with narrowed eyes, "but...my name is Lenox. I would say it's nice to meet you...but it's kind of not."

Her leg was beginning to tighten, the tell-tale sign that a cramp was stirring and preparing to shoot her nerves with pain, so she quickly stood up and hopped over the surface of the dresser. Lenox stumbled when her leg gave out and she fell gracelessly on the bed, trying to massage the cramp out of her leg while missing how the 'v' of her shirt lowered just a little more over her breasts, revealing the soft, round mounds of her impressive cleavage.

 

[Summer Rain]

Eric looked away hastily; the last thing he needed was to be standing at attention. This woman - Lenox, apparently - seemed uncomfortable already and Eric didn't want to make the situation any worse for her. Luckily he was wearing a pair of tighter briefs, keeping the length of him pressed tighter against his pelvis.

When it seemed that she had finally massaged the cramp away in her leg, Eric stood from the chair and grabbed the blanket laying on the armrest. If he was going to get through these next few days, he needed her to cover her up. God forbid her sweet little nipples winked at him; the mere thought of it made all sorts of need and desire stir inside of him.
As soon as he got the hell out of her, he'd be sure to find some pretty-enough girl and fuck her cute little brains out. That always worked well for him.

When she was finally seated back on the bed, the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, Eric looked down at her. He imagined that his bulky six-foot-three figure was daunting standing over her, and that was the intention. If he put her in her place, he could only hope she wouldn't try to make a break for it. If Dean heard that she was making a fight, who knew what kind of things they'd do to subdue her.

"Lenox?" he asked, chuckling a bit to himself, "never heard that one before. I prefer Lena... sounds a little more... innocent. Suits you a little more." Though with cleavage as nice as that, he doubted she was anything but innocent. Women like that knew how to use their bodies to their advantage.

 

[Inati]

She shrugged her shoulders as she wrapped the blanket around herself, tucking her hands underneath her knees, "I wouldn't have chosen that name either. The scientist gave me that name; as soon as I woke up, he looked at me and said 'Your name is Lenox'...he didn't leave any room for argument, so I just accepted it. It's not like I remember my real name anyway...if I ever had one."

Lenox rocked from side to side a little bit, lost in her own thoughts. That was always something she had done while she was at the facility, inside the White Room. She would lose herself in her own thoughts a lot, daydream about a better place out there for her, a place where no one stabbed her needles or injected her with viruses to see how she handled them. A place where she knew her own name and didn't have to answer to some creepy scientist...or where people didn't kidnap her for money. She looked up at Eric through her curly locks, her blue eyes studying him and still wondering why he looked uncomfortable the way that he did. Did she smell? There's no way, she always made sure she was clean and smelled pretty. Did the color of her eyes freak him out? That wouldn't surprise her. A lot of the other scientists aside from the one that oversaw her progress always seemed to talk trash about her eyes; called her a freak a lot of the time.

Eric was imposingly huge, very tall compared to the men in the facility and nicely built. He was even more handsome up close, though that grimace still marred what could be perfect features. She had never seen a man so handsome...she had never seen any kind of men outside of the facility. That White Room was all she knew from the time to woke up from whatever sleep she was to running away from it. She couldn't recall a past life prior to that room and she had never been allowed outside of it. She never had any kind of human contact other than the needles being inserted into her skin or the men holding her down if she threw a tantrum. Other than that, she had no idea what it was like to just touch another person or hug them or let them hug her. Looking at Eric and his strong arms...she wanted to touch them.

Without thinking, she reached her small hand out towards him, shuffling up on her knees to get closer. Her fingers just brushed over his arm and she pulled back a little bit before placing her whole hand to his skin. She smiled widely, forgetting for a moment that she was a kidnap victim and he her captor, and laughed while retracting her hand to sit back on her legs.

"You're so warm!" she said in amazement, her eyes locked on his arm.

 

[Summer Rain]

Eric looked at Lenox in bewilderment, searching her eyes for any sort of mental illness or even just a crazy look. Maybe she was bipolar or schizophrenic; or just downright crazy. When he looked down into those azure blue eyes though all he saw was pure wonder and excitement. She exclaimed that he was warm and he just stared down at her, a little taken aback by her actions. All sense of arousal left him and he moved away from her, confused and alarmed.

"Yeah, well, that's good," he shrugged slightly.
Who the hell was this girl and what did she want from him? Lenox acted like she hadn't ever touched another human being before and that really made no sense. Clearly she had lived in the outside world before becoming property of the government - she even had a real name on the award flyers, Shannon Harper. So why was she acting so foolishly?

To Eric there was a lot more intriguing about Lenox than her eyes. Yes, they were a beautiful shade of icy blue, unlike anything he'd seen before paired with her ebony skin. But she was acting so strangely Eric forgot all about what she looked like.

He crossed his arms and stood against the window, "it's probably best we don't make contact, Lenox. In a few days you'll be back in the US and I'd rather not be all over you."

 

[Inati]

All the light left her bright blue eyes then and it looked as if the energy was just sucked right out of her. In a few days...she would be back in the U.S. In a few days, she would be back in their clutches. In a few days...what little taste of freedom she had would be snatched away from her and she would be made into a test subject once more. Test Subject 'Lenox', the success, the one subject who didn't die. Turning her back on Eric, she curled her legs into her chest and wrapped her arms around them, staring at the corner where the two walls meant. As much as she wanted to try and think of an escape plan, she wasn't that smart and Eric was too big and she knew there were others at the house so they would probably stop her too. So instead, she thought about what he said to her.

'I'd rather not be all over you.'

She furrowed her brow in thought, repeating it again and again in her mind to try and figure out what he meant. Why would he be all over her? Did he plan on getting so mad at her that he physically harmed her? No, that didn't sound right...didn't sound logical. Lenox thought harder about it, searching her memory bank for a meaning to the ambiguous phrase.

Then, she remembered a young scientist that wasn't allowed to touch her. She remembered how he had been excited one time, about a date he was going to have that night.

"Man, I'm telling you! This chick is all around fine! Big tits, tight ass, bangin' body. I'm gonna be all over her, no doubt! She looks like she could be freaky too. I'm going to have the wildest sex tonight," he had boasted to his colleague with a big grin as she watched him closely, storing his words in her mind to never be forgotten.

Lenox blinked at the memory, lifting her eyes a little to stare at the wall; "That means..." she suddenly started, pausing, "That means...sex, right?"

He turned to face Eric, staring him down with her too blue eyes, "You said, 'I'd rather not be all over you'. That means you want to have sex, but then you don't want to have sex. Is that why you look so uncomfortable? Because you're aroused?"

 

[Summer Rain]

Eric froze momentarily. That wasn't what he had meant, but somehow Lenox had managed to hit the nail on the head anyways. When he had said he didn't want to be all other her, he had really meant skin cells or pieces of his hair, even his fingertips on her. Whenever they held someone hidden, it was crucial that the Black Bullets did not touch them. This situation was a little different, but Eric knew that dangers well.

Still, he couldn't help but shift uncomfortably when she asked if he was aroused. That certainly wasn't a lie, but he didn't want Lenox to know how he was feeling. In a few hours he'd get one of the other guys to watch over her and he'd go find himself a woman at a wild club. He had decided early on that it wasn't Lenox herself that aroused him, just the thought of large breasts and a warm body to shove himself into.

Eric crossed his arms around his chest and looked at her. His gaze must have nearly seared into her, but she moved uncomfortably on the bed. Eric sighed and approached her. He didn't touch her, just looked down at her with the slightest amount of regret. "I don't know what happened in the US to you, Lenox, but I'm not going to touch you. You don't have to worry. That's not what I meant and whether I am aroused or not is unimportant. I'm a man, you're a woman. Kill me for wanting a little piece? But I promise nothing'll happen. I may seem like the bane of your existence, but I'm not that cruel."

 

[Inati]

Lenox stared deep into his eyes, searching for any sign of fallacy, but the longer she looked, the more she saw that his words were sincere. He was indeed aroused, but he didn't necessarily want her. In a strange way, that was both very comforting and yet disappointing. She wouldn't let him know that, though, and instead just offered him a small, grateful smile, and nodded her head.

"Okay...thank you," she said, sitting back on her knees, "And...I don't think you're cruel. What you're doing is cruel and yeah, I kind of do consider you to be the name of my existence right now since you're trying to send me back to the man that basically tortures me every day...but I don't think you're cruel."

With that, she turned back towards the wall, wrapping herself up protectively in the blanket. She caught a glimpse of the outside world through the window and saw that it was night time, the moon already high in the sky. She then remembered that she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. As if on cue, her stomach began to rumble loudly and she looked down at it.

"I'm hungry!" she declared, looking back at Eric expectantly and smiling sweetly to persuade him to get her food.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

In a testing facility in the U.S., pass all the rooms that experiments were being conducted, a man could be seen sitting in a rather large office, a lit cigarette in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. His long, unkempt black and gray hair lay in scraggly tresses past his shoulders and the lines of age and hardship were clear on his pale face. His black beady eyes stared down at the open folder before him, a picture of a woman with black curly locks, ebony skin, and bright blue eyes staring back at him. This was Subject Numer 004792113 or 'Lenox' as he so affectionately called her upon the moment she opened those pretty eyes after being asleep for so long. She was his greatest achievement, his greatest find; a woman with a blood type so rare and a body function so tolerant to disease and plagues, if he could just figure out the extent of her tolerance an use her blood to cure worldwide illnesses...he would be a hero.

He lost her, though. She has escaped from his hold and has been missing for the good part of a month. If he didn't find her soon, all funding for his program and his research would disappear and all his work would be left in vain.

"Dr. Palemo! Dr. Palemo!"

The man looked up as one of his assistants came rushing into his office, his eyes wide with surprise as he held a piece of paper in his trembling hands.

"I think she's finally been found," the younger man whispered, handing the scientist the paper.

The man took it and read its contents, his brow furrowing and the sides of his mouth turning down in a deep frown at the typed words. After a moment, he looked at the assistant.

"Let's see if we can get in touch with these...Black Bullets."

 

[Summer Rain]

The Black Bullets knew that they had to be careful with Lenox. Someone was always watching her, making sure that she didn't escape the small room in the apartment. They knew that if the Mexican Mafia found out they were holding her, they'd be all over it. The reward money was surely a nice sum - not that that was all they were asking for, though. After decades of making a prominence in Argentina, the Black Bullets knew that they could always get more than what was offered.

Eric was the one to usually care for Lenox. They didn't talk much, but sometimes Eric could feel the woman's gaze sweeping over him. He often did the same, admiring the way that her black clothing hit her curves all in the right places. The other Bullets were a little rougher with her, but Dean had forbid them from getting too close. They knew that any sort of DNA of theirs would give away their true identities. To the rest of the world they were just men, not the Black Bullets - there was no way they could risk being discovered.

"They're trying to bring us down," Dean grumbled, leaning against the door frame to the bedroom. Eric was standing by the window, staring out into the world below. Older men rode bikes onto the sidewalk and a couple motorists honked their way through the busy streets.
"How much?" Paul asked as he took a swig of his beer.
Lenox - who Eric had the habit of calling Lena when they were alone - was seated on the bed still. Her eyes were hollow but considering they fed and cared for her, she didn't look too thin.
"Half," Dean grumbled, "who do they think they are? I've got one of their prized possessions here. You think that 2 million would be small change to them. Well, they're definitely going to have to try harder than that."

Stealing a glance at Lenox, Eric surveyed her carefully. She looked nearly emotionless, leading Eric to wonder what exactly had gone down in that test facility. There were human rights in place there, so he imagined that it couldn't be that bad. Then again, it seemed as though Lenox's memory before the ordeal had been erased... so did that still apply to her? Eric shuddered at the mere thought. Even if she was a unique specimen to them, Lenox was still human.

 

[Inati]

Feeling eyes on her, Lenox looked towards the window out of the corner of her eye to see Eric looking at her. They held eye contact for a moment before she looked back down at the sheets of the bed. The other men were talking all around her, swearing and laughing loudly and plotting. They seemed a little on edge, tense, but she could see why. Money always put people on edge. She didn't look at the others, the ones named Dean and Paul and Yale. They weren't as nice as Eric; where he didn't touch her, they would constantly throw things at her or tug at her blanket that she kept wrapped around her shoulders. They made of her when she didn't talk to them and sometimes swipe at her head when she refused to make eye contact. The only one she did talk to was Eric, as little communication as they had. They didn't say much, just little things here and there, but he had gotten into the habit of calling her Lena instead of Lenox. She liked the new name and would smile to herself when she heard it.

When she heard that the facility was trying to pay her captor's half of what they were asking for, it didn't really surprise her. Dr. Palemo, the head scientist in charge of all her testing, wanted to always put money into hi research and more than likely wouldn't want to give it to some band of thugs. She wondered if he would cave just to get her back. She was hoping that she wasn't that important to him to pay such a large sum of money, then again, the scientist was very smart and was probably trying to buy time to think of another way to catch her, to pinpoint her location and swoop in.

The sounds of the motorbikes zooming by the apartment caught her attention and she perked up. The sun was bright and warm outside, she could tell from the heat in the room. It had been days since she'd walked the streets of the city and she was missing it. She looked up towards Dean, the obvious leader.

"...Can I go outside?" she asked him quietly, shifting under his gaze, "I promise I won't run...where am I going to run to? I have brown contact lenses. I'll wear those so no one knows who I am."

She stared into the man's eyes, hoping he would be at least kind enough to let her get some fresh air. There were no real emotions in her eyes for him to read, but all she really wanted to do was go outside and be in the sun for a little while.

 

[Summer Rain]

Dean practically laughed in Lenox's face. Though he didn't have a heart of stone, Dean was easily the cruelest of them all. At the older age of thirty-nine, he had seen enough pain and death to be immune to it. When he was thirty his wife and new baby had been killed by a band of thugs called the Kings. Eric had always suspected that was the real driving force behind the Black Bullets. He had felt so much pain and suffering in his life that he wanted to make sure that everyone else felt the same way, as well. Just about all of the Bullets had experienced some sort of pain, whether it be physical or emotional. It usually made them cold and immune to the plights of others. But then again, they killed people regularly. What kind of person could be compassionate and do that?

"Ha ha," he fakely spat, "funny girl. You think I'm gonna fall for that? You're damn stupid of you think I'd let you do that."
Paul laughed as well, snorting and taking a long puff of his cigarette. Eric just looked on, seeing the yearning in Lena's eyes. He had to admit; he sympathized with her. She wasn't just a normal person... it seemed as though she had never really experienced the real world. The ones before her... at least they had experienced the world, the smell of the sea and the whispering wind in the trees. Eric scrunched his nose, uncomfortable with his feelings.

Soon the rest of the Bullets left the room. Lena had feel back into the bed, looking pained and afraid. Eric could hear the men negotiating the next letter - they even considered increasing the ransom, hoping it would kick the scientist in the balls and force him to pay before it got to high.

Eric shifted back and forth on the floor, staring out the window, "sorry about Dean. But he calls the shots, and anything he says goes. If anyone sees you we'd all be shot, including you."

 

[Inati]

"...I doubt it," she replied hollowly, staring down at her hands, her black tresses falling into her face and shielding her eyes from him, "I'm worth too much money apparently to just kill me on the spot...though I don't think it would be a bad thing."

She lifted her head and slowly looked at him, revealing how empty she felt inside at the moment. She didn't ask for much, didn't make it difficult for them to care for her. She listened and obeyed and didn't put up a fight. It didn't take much to make Lenox happy, considering all that she had been through, but it also didn't take much to sadden her either. She shrugged her shoulders at Eric and turned away from him.

"It didn't hurt to try and ask," she replied in regards to Dean, "I guess I should have expected that from him. None of them are like you...though I'm not sure what kind of person you are yet."

The squeal of a laughing child and she looked up sharply at the sound, her eyes darting to the window. More children were laughing, sounding like they were all in a group, so she jumped up from the bed and went to the window, standing next to Eric. She looked out and saw a collection of six children gathered in the street, playing some kind of game involving their feet and a ball. They kicked it back and forth, giggling and laughing together...free. Without realizing it, she smiled widely and placed her hand on the window pane, wanting nothing more to be down there with them, to feel the sun on her skin and to learn that game they were playing. They moved on out of her sight and her happiness had vanished as quickly as it had come; the smile dropped from her lips and her eyes dulled again.

"...They're gone," she mumbled aloud in the quiet of the room, not really speaking to Eric or to herself; she just wanted to say it.

Looking around at the four walls that caged her in, she felt as if she had left one prison just to be tossed into another. She wondered if she was even human anymore from the way everyone was treating her. She was locked up like one of those animals at the facility, fed like one too, and not allowed to leave or to see what else lay beyond those walls. Crawling back onto the bed, her back to the man by the window, she stared down at the comforter for a long time before her vision started to blur...and water streaked down her cheek. She began crying, trying to fight it back so it didn't give anyone the satisfaction to see her break down, but she couldn't stop it. She covered her face and let the tears flow freely and silently.

 

[Summer Rain]

Eric wished that he could have let her go out there and enjoy the day like everyone else. Argentina was a beautiful country, very down-to-earth with many friendly faces and happy people. Even in the slums were their apartment was, the place was nice to explore. Of course, Eric couldn't allow that though. He knew better than to defy Dean and in his opinion, what would ensue if he found out was not worth a few minutes in the sun.

He frowned when Lenox laid down on the bed and started to cry. She sounded like she was trying to muffle the sound of her cries but her body defied her; her shoulders were shaking, causing the bed to creak.

Without even really thinking, Eric closed the room and sat on the edge of the mattress. It went down underneath his weight, pulling the young woman closer to him. Her back rested against his knee as he sat down, and he frowned as she tried to bury her face into her pillow. Slowly, he reached out to touch her back. He made sure to keep the fabric of her black shirt between their skin, but he hoped that the gesture would bring her at least a little bit of comfort. He imagined that it had been a very long time since she had last had someone touch her like that.

Eric frowned, "I'm sorry, Lena... I... I wish that I could take you out there. It's dangerous though, and Dean would be very angry if that happened." Slowly, he leaned in and kissed her hair, "if you'd like, I can get you some wildflowers or something to put in here. Even if it seems like it, we don't want you to be completely miserable."