Every Coward Seems Courageous in a Crowd

With a grunt, Ripley kicks at the door leading out into their snowy prison. Again, and again, she throws herself at the wooden frame, glaring at it when it says solid. She wills for it to fall under her stare, and returns to pacing the length of the cabin when it doesn’t.

“Ripley, it’s locked,” Leon says as he fixes a blanket over Yuliy’s shoulders, the boy finally exhausted from crying. “Kicking it isn’t goin’ open it.”

A single glance is spared at Leon before she kicks the door once more for good measure. Leon’s right, and Ripley presses her forehead against the wood, trying to catch her breath. The events of the day replay over and over, the sound of Blue’s shriek as the bullet plunged into his skull and Jake’s heart breaking haunts her mind, no matter how hard she squeezes her eyes closed.

Jake’s many things. A pillar of strength and safety wrapped in a leather vest. Ripley’s seen him take a bullet like it was simple a fly bite. She’s seen him fight a half a dozen men single-handedly to come out with only a few bruises. Sometimes she forgets that there’s things Jake can’t do. So, to see him hunched over his horse, a man so broken and defeated as his heart bleeds out for everyone to see, Ripley’s reminded that he’s just as human as everyone else.

It causes a flutter of panic in her lungs that’s hard to control.

It’s only soothed when something soft is placed on her shoulders. She turns and sees Leon behind her, a soft concerned smile on his face as he places a blanket on her.

“Come sit down.” He takes her by the elbow and guides her to the others.

It’s no more than thirty minutes since they were all thrown into the cabin, when the door to it opens again. The creaking of old hinges and the howling wind rouses Valerie from where she slept with her head on Leon’s lap, and Leon wakes Yuliy with a gentle shake of his knee from where he rested his head on Leon’s shoulder.

Ripley sits close by, her knees tucked to her chest and her bound arms encircled around them. She hadn’t slept, despite Leon’s promise to watch over them all, and despite the way her head feels heavy and dips when her eyelids close without permission. Yesterday’s dawn feels a million days ago.

Now she’s alert, watching the masked figures as they fill the room. As each one enters, her lips curl into a snarl and her fists clench in front of her. Each of them had a story of why they followed Leanna, but Ripley doesn’t care. As soon as they were free of this mess, she was going to put a bullet in each and every one of them.

It’s then she realises that they’re carrying bowls and the smell of stew wafts in the air. She knows she’s probably hungry, the last thing in her stomach over a day old. But it doesn’t rumble at the smell, nor does she feel the stab of hunger. The thought of eating leaves her nauseous.

It seems the same with the others, who take the food with hesitant hands, only to pick at it with their spoons.

“You should eat.” The masked figure from earlier, the one who whispered in her ear, says as they crouch down to her level, a bowl of stew in hand. “It’s hot,” they caution.

And it happens in seconds, a blur of action that has Ripley pinned to the cabin wall by a larger masked figure, Leon holding that figure’s arm back as they try to apply pressure on Ripley’s throat. The other mask is dripping in stew.

“Let her go.” Leon almost growls, his arm strained as he fights against the assailant. Ripley claws at the man’s gloved hand, a pained wheeze escaping her as he closes his fist around her throat. Blood runs thick over her chin, her nose pulsing in pain as she fights to breathe.

And then the masked figure lets go, taking a step back from the confrontation. Ripley falls to her knees, gasping and coughing as her fingers prod at her bruised throat. Leon
is at her side, rubbing his hands between her shoulder blades.

And looking up, Ripley is greeted by two icy blue eyes and a grin that sends a shiver down her spine. Leanna.

All of her fight trembles inside her. It's like ice cracking beneath her feet, a readiness to swim against the pull of the river, but when she falls it sucks her in, dragging her deeper into the freezing cold.

She backs up until she hits Leon's chest, his hands come to her shoulders. A comfort that is lost in the face of someone like Leanna. With no where else to go, like a cornered animal, Ripley lashes out with the only way she knows how.

"Jake'll kill you." She winces at how her voice wobbles.

Icy blue eyes survey the damage as their captor prowls toward them. Eventually, those eyes snap to Ripley and she studies the girl for a moment, an amused smile flickering at the corners of her mouth.

"He should have killed me when he had the chance." Leanna's voice slithers like a serpents hiss as she comes to a stand in front of the youngster. "This newfound conscience of his doesn't suit him. But your faith in him is touching, really. I wonder.. do you have any idea who he really is? Or are you just another googly eyed girl falling for a handsome face?"

Ripley reacts immediately, going to strike and winding up with her wrist caught in Leanna's vice grip. The blonde bares her teeth like a wolf, dragging her closer while the men behind her level guns on the others.

"Given enough time, Jake Torres leads everyone to their deaths. Or at the very least, the worst versions of themselves." Her snarl becomes a smile and her eyes drop to the dagger she holds at Ripley's belly. "I'll be doing you a favor killing him. But being as you didn't get the message back there in that barn, I'll give you another chance at choice. I gut you like a pig, right here and right now and then send one of my men to relieve a child of their fingers. Or you can behave. Eat the food I provide you, keep your strength up, do the job you're here to do and eventually go home. Free to curse the day you ever met Jake Torres. Just like the rest of us."

She pokes the tip of the blade a little harder against the vest that covered Ripleys stomach. "Your decision, pet."

There's a tiny flicker of hope that Jake'll come crashing through the doors and save them. The men will fall to a hail of bullets and muscle, and Leanna's reign of power crumbles before it even begins.

He doesn't come.

It takes every part of her to contain her fear, her anger, her desire to kill Leanna. She quells the urge to fight.

“Maybe deep down he’s still a monster, but I also believe that there’s good in him too,” she says in a breath of a whisper. A shrill flare of panic runs over her skin as Leanna adjusts her grip on the dagger that begins to slip through the material of her vest. “B-but I won’t fight you.”

“Good.” Leanna sheaths her blade and stands, bringing Ripley to her feet. “But-.” She smiles at her and Ripley tries to take a step back. “You did defy me.” She taps her chin. “What to do with you?”

Ripley glances back at Leon, but he’s locked in place with a gun aimed at his head.

“Perhaps we should isolate her from the others. I want to talk to her,” the masked figure covered in stew says.

Leanna considers the proposition with a tilted head. “Take her to the school and keep her there.”

“Wait!” Hands grab Ripley at her waist and throw her over a shoulder. “Wait! Leon!” She no longer suppresses her fear, kicking, screaming, and struggling with everything she has. “Stop!” She gets one last look at the group, watching with concerned expressions as they’re held back before the door to the cabin closes.

The harsh wind of the snowy mountains steals her voice away as she’s carried across the courtyard of cabins. She can barely see what’s in front of her. But she tries, looking for any possible way to escape this hell they found themselves in. She looks for Jake and the others, wondering if she’ll find Jake still mourning over Blue, or if they too had been moved.

The mask carrying her kicks the door open to a cabin before she’s dropped onto the floor. She lands with a thud and a cry, and scrambles away from him, instinct taking over. Get out.

She doesn’t get far. A hand tangles in her hair and she’s dragged towards a table sat at the back of the room. Her hands fly up, clawing at his hands as she screams and kicks out at her attacker. Unceremoniously, he throws her forward, colliding with the table. She doesn’t get a second to even register the pain as he grabs her wrists and pulls the rope free before tying them behind her back and to the table.

“She’s all yours,” the masked figure says as he exits, and a lone shadow of a person stands in the doorway of the cabin.

“What the fuck do you want?” Ripley seethes, her bite lost in the tremble of her voice. The masked figure from earlier walks in, hesitant and slow. “You stay the fuck back, ya hear?” she retreats as far back as the table allows. The figure doesn’t listen until they’re knelt in front of Ripley.

The only sound between them is Ripley’s harsh panting and the pounding inside her chest.

“I won’t hurt you,” they say. Ripley can’t help the bitter laugh that escapes her. The figure sighs before they raise a hand to their mask and pull it free.

“No…” Ripley finds herself looking into a set of familiar blue eyes.

“Hi,” Faith says.

A heart can only shatter so many times and Ripley wonders if this is the last. Her stomach turns and threatens to make her throw up.

“You…” She can’t find the words in the millions she wants to say.

“I’m sorry,” Faith whispers, echoing from earlier.

“Please…” There’s a thickness to her voice that escapes her as her mistake kneels infront of her. “That night, did you follow me home? Is this my fault?” Ripley grasps at the emotions welling inside, the swollen feeling in her throat that distorts her words. All she can think is, ‘not again’.

Faith glances over her shoulder toward the door, her own pulse quickened with the fear of being found out. She hears the crack in Ripley's voice and the desperation and pain of her question, it's like a dagger. She didn't know the girls history, she barely knew her at all. She just knew the night they had spent together had been it's own kind of wonderful and the very last thing she wanted was to see her come to any harm.

Sure that they were alone at least for now, Faith returns her attention to Ripley, shaking her head quickly in an attempt to soothe her fears. She lifts a finger to her lips in a 'shh' gesture and then speaks quietly.

"No.. no. I didn't follow you. I had no idea.." she breathes and places a hand carefully on Ripley's knee.

"How do I know you ain't lyin'?" Ripley snaps, understandably.

The look Faith returns her is pained. "Cause I'm riskin' my own neck here. They find out I know you she'll kill me too."

Ripley blinks, clearly processing and struggling with all of this information. "Why?" She manages after a moment.

Faith just swallows, glancing again over her shoulder toward the door. Still locked. No shadows outside. She takes a deep breath. "I don't know. I got caught up in this in Blackwater months ago, they broke Leanna out of the jail the day before she was due to hang. I was just.. caught in the crossfire. She used me as a shield to make her escape. Just.. never let me go. Made sure my face ended up on wanted posters too, sayin' I was a part of it.. I can't ever go back."

Ripley stares at her like she can't quite believe what she's hearing. Faith laughs nervously, a whisper of a thing. "She gets what she wants, always. She has a way of manipulatin' things and people. She darn near built an army on it, breakin' men out of jail and offerin' them death or sanctuary. Killin' leaders of gang's and offerin' the same. All of it.. just to get revenge on your friend."

She offers an anxious smile, then unbuttons the first few buttons of her blouse beneath the heavy coat she wore. Ripley's brows raise and Faith simply snorts, then pulls aside the clothing to show her an ugly, barely healed scar on her chest. It looked like a cattle brand, horseshoe shaped and the size of the bottom of a can of beans.

"That night we met, I was just supposed to be fetchin' some supplies from town. We were camped near Valentine lookin' for ya'll. Clearly I didn't make it back in time, she did this as punishment.."

Ripley eyes the scar, her expression unreadable.

"Whoever your friend is, he sure as hell pissed her off."

“Yeah, Jake tends to attract the worst type of company,” Ripley grumbles, “except me.” She corrects.

“Of course.” A hint of a smile grows on Faith.

Resting her head back against the table, Ripley takes in the girl kneeling in front of her. She never thought she’d see her again, especially not tied up in the snowy depths of Ambarino. Isabella said to have hope, to think that they would cross paths again. It’s laughable to think this is what the older woman meant.

But it also meant they had an ally on the other side. She didn’t expect Faith to free them all and defy Leanna. That scar was evidence enough, and she grimaces at the thought of it and promises never to complain about chores again.

“I know you can’t spring us out of here, but do you have any clue where the kids are being kept?” Ripley asks, looking over Faith’s shoulder to make sure no one was listening in. Faith copies her.

“She won’t tell us. Only a select few know.” Faith squeezes Ripley’s knee. “I didn’t know about her taking kids.”

Ripley nods, it’s a small comfort to know that the girl she spent the night with wasn’t some monster. That in the end, Faith was innocent in all this. More innocent than herself too. Faith was no outlaw, no bandit on the run, just a girl who got tangled in a web of other people’s rage.

“Sorry I threw stew over you,” Ripley says in the lull of bad news, taking in Faith’s damp clothes. Faith laughs, though it’s barely one at that. A strange sound that gets caught in her throat.

“Sorry…for everything,” she says as she stands. “I should get going before I get in trouble.” She bites her lip as she looks down at Ripley, like she has more to say, but she turns and heads towards the exit instead, leaving Ripley alone in the cabin.

“Faith.” Ripley calls out to her as quiet as she can. She turns. “If we make it out of this alive, my offer from that night still stands.”

Faith watches her as if looking for something.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”