Surviving, Not Living/Issue 22

This is Issue 22 of Surviving, Not Living, entitled Forced Marriage. This is the fourth issue in Volume 4.

Issue 22 - Forced Marriage
“Oh Ellie... We’re gonna have fun tonight.” Dallas devilishly smirked, holding the girl by her waist. Shocked and not knowing what to do, the group watched through the cracks in the door.

“Get off me!” Ellie screeched as she tried to break free of his hold.

“Oh, come on.” He groaned. “We are married.”

“You forced me into marriage!” She shouted, slapping Dallas on cheek, making sure her fingernails dug in.

“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that.” Dallas grabbed Ellie by her hair and slammed her head against the desk. “Wait here, not that you have any choice.”

Dallas strolled to the door, acting like nothing inhumane had just happened. He open the door and shut it quickly, giving Ellie no time to make her escape. The sound of a door locking could be heard.

Ellie quickly ran to the window on the far side of the room and tried to open it. She had no luck - it was locked. She quickly scanned the room for another way out, there was nothing. Ellie realised that Dallas had left his gun in the room. She walked slowly towards the gun, despite the sound of Dallas’ rapidly approaching footsteps. Raising the gun to her head, she took one deep breath and...

“Stop!” Bobby shouted, jumping out from the closet. In shock, Ellie dropped the gun from her hand. Jackie quickly grabbed one of the chairs and ran over to the door, sticking it underneath the door handle to make sure Dallas couldn’t get in.

“Come with us, we can help you.” Doug pleaded, offering his hand to Ellie.

“There are three boys in your group and four girls.” She stated the obvious. “We’re not strong enough to escape.”

“We can try.” Amelia told her. Dallas unlocked the door from the outside. He pushed on the door.

"Ellie, dear. Let me in!" He called. No-one replied. Then, he began to kick the door open. The chair began to scoot away from the door, inch-by-inch. Charlotte ran over and sat on the chair.

"Dallas is going to hurt you now. He'll think you've helped us. You have to come with us." Doug told Ellie.

Dallas managed to squeezed his hand through the small gap between the door and the doorframe. Charlotte slammed the chair back and the door crashed into his wrist. Vicky grabbed the gun from the floor and shot a hole through Dallas' hand. He screamed as he pulled it back. Charlotte shut the door fully.

"Oh, I love you." Bobby smiled. He grabbed Vicky and kissed her.

"I love you, too." She smiled back.

"We don't have fucking time for this." Amelia shouted at the pair. She picked up one of the other chairs and threw it at the window. It smashed through and fell down onto the pavement below. Dallas' office was at the front of the house, right in the middle of the building.

"We can't, I have to get my husband!" Ellie explained.

"Your husband is trying to kill us!" Jackie shouted.

"My real husband." She said.

"Zach?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes! You know him?" Ellie asked.

"I knew it." Charlotte smirked, happy with herself.

"Sorry, missy." Doug told her. He grabbed Ellie and jumped out onto the sloped rooftop. The two were the first to climb out the window. He put her down and the two jumped from the rooftop together.

Amelia and Bobby were the next pair to climb out. "Brother and sister, back together. Just the way it should be." Bobby smiled as they jumped. The rest of the group jumped in pairs.

Dallas and his men burst into the room as the last pair, Charlotte and Jackie, jumped down.

"Get them!" He screamed. The men ran out of the room as Dallas walked over to his alcohol stand. He poured himself some whiskey and gulped it down. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, Dallas joined his men.

As the group ran along the front lawn, Dallas' bandits stopped what they were doing and chased after them. Vicky shot a few down with Ellie's gun. Bobby ran at the back of the group, turning around and shooting a bandit, every few seconds.

Vicky stopped in the middle of the path and looked around. She knew that they weren't going to make it. The bandits had blocked all of the exits. For every one of them, there were three bandits.

Although, the other didn't stop fighting. Amelia elbowed one of the bandits in the cheek and sent two of his teeth flying from his mouth. Doug headbutted a young man and he fell to the floor. Ellie kept close to Jack.

The commotion was brought to a halt by Dallas. He fired two bullets into the air from his pistol. Everyone slowly turned to look at him.

"Get him!" Dallas ordered as he jumped forwards and grabbed Doug, wrapping his arms around the man's chest. Doug tried to push him away but all of his attempts to escape were useless. Dallas dragged Doug to his office. Menacingly, two other bandits walked beside them.

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A single chair sat in front of Dallas' desk. Cold winds blew into the room through the smashed window. Doug was tied to the chair with a stronger material than before. It was unidentifiable. The bandits left after tying him up, leaving Doug alone with Dallas.

Dallas walked in front of Doug. He stopped for a moment before slamming his fist into Doug's jaw. Dallas then spat on Doug. The spit dribbled down the side of Doug's nose and down to his chin.

"What have you got to say for yourself?" Dallas asked.

"I don't have anything to say to narcissistic, heartless people like you." Doug snapped.

Sighing in frustration, Dallas kicked Doug's shin. Then, he went to the other side of the desk and sat in the big, leather chair.

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Ellie landed face-first on the cold, hard floor of a cellar. She groaned and rolled onto her back. The door to the cellar slammed shut. A pair of dirty, leather boots approached her. Ellie looked up to see the elderly man.

"Are you okay?" He asked, offering her a hand. She could sense the worry in his voice.

"Yeah, I think so." Ellie accepted the man's hand and was pulled to her feet. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. I'm Jack, by the way." He told her.

"Ellie." She gave him a small smile. Ellie looked around at the other survivors. Bobby cuddled a weeping Amelia, whispering calm words in her ear. Jack walked over sat with Charlotte. They were both worried about their younger relatives. Vicky and Jackie sat together, but they did not speak.

"Who's that girl?" Amelia croaked as her sobs began to fade.

"That's Ellie. She's married to Dallas. Well, I say married but she was - erm - forced into it. I think her real husband is here... Somewhere." Bobby explained.

"Oh..." Amelia replied. The pair watched as Ellie sat down in the corner, by herself.

Over and hour passed before the cellar door reopened and the group were thrust back into action. A lone bandit walked down the stairs and grabbed Ellie.

"Help me!" Ellie screamed at the others. No-one moved.

"Get your hands off my wife." A gruff, manly voice could be heard from the top of the stairs. A bullet flew through the bandit's head and he fell to the floor. Ellie pushed his body out of the way.

At the top of the stairs, Ellie's husband stood, with Danny and Ava.

"Ava!" Charlotte screamed, jumping up. Ava began to run down the stairs, as fast as her little legs would let her go. Charlotte cried as they embraced. "I love you, Ava."

"I love you too, Auntie Char." She replied. Danny ran down the stairs and hugged his father.

"Come on!" Bobby shouted. "Let's go!"

"Zach!" Ellie shrieked, pushing her lips against his, before following the others up the stairs.

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"You're strong - you are. Most of your group would've died out there, if it wasn't for you." Dallas admitted. "We could use someone like you."

"Are you asking me to join your group?" Doug asked, still tied up.

"Mhmm." The older man grunted.

Doug chuckled. "That's your problem, Dal. You trust people too easy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dallas said as he stood up from his chair.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire bounced around the room. A shouting Bobby could be heard. Doug recognised Jackie's scream.

"Fuck." Dallas spat. He withdrew his knife from it's place on his belt. Doug gulped.

"You can kill me. I'm not scared." He admitted. "My group can survive without me..."

Dallas gritted his teeth as he walked towards Doug. With one swift movement, Dallas shoved the small knife into Doug's stomach. Blood splashed out of his mouth as his eyes rolled back.

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Five minutes later, Doug woke up, coughing blood. Amelia and Jackie stood either side of him. Bobby stood with his back to him, gun-in-hand.

"He's awake!" Amelia shrieked. Doug managed to pull his head up and look down to his stomach. The knife had been removed and the entirety of his t-shirt was stained red with blood.

"Don't look." Jackie told him. She tried to comfort Doug by rubbing his arm. Unconsciousness overwhelmed him before he could reply.

"We have gotta go!" Danny called from the corridor. He took down a few bandits, using a spade from the shed that he and Ava had slept in.

"I don't know what to do! Sarah was always the nurse in the group." Amelia ran a finger through her hair as she spoke. A tear fell down Jackie's cheek.

"Can we carry him?" Bobby asked.

"I guess so. But he's losing a lot of blood." She told him.

"That's good enough for me!" He shouted. "Danny, get in here."

Charlotte and Vicky fought off the oncoming group of bandits as Bobby and Danny lifted Doug. Instead of jumping out the window, the group fled down the other end of the corridor. Vicky smashed the end of the spade into a bandit's forehead and he fell to the floor. She grabbed his shotgun and ran after the others.

After what seemed like hours of evading bandits and running through corridors, the group had reached the south wing. Jack kicked one of the doors at the back open. Less than a few feet away, the forest began. It was blocked off by a small fence.

Private Jones stood on the floor above them. He watched as they ran down the small garden. Jones grabbed a sniper from the side and perched it on the window. He fired a shot that missed Amelia by mere centimetres. She turned around and screamed.

Jackie fired the shotgun at the fence and the wood flew out. Doug regained consciousness and coughed blood all over Danny's shirt.

"Great." He sighed, treading over the demolished fence.

"Hang in there." Jackie rubbed Doug's hair as they half-ran away. "You're gonna be okay."