Striking at Night - Two Bodies on the Ground

Later that night, Bobby had returned home in a drunken stupor. Barging into the tent, he pushed Ruth to the ground and sloppily pressed his lips against hers.

Struggling, Ruth looked panicked as she looked at Elly in the corner. Slapping Bobby on the back, she managed to get a breath in and yelled, "Bobby, BOBBY! Elly is here, stop."

Scowling, Bobby got up and cursed, "Fucking whore, not my fault you didn't drink the contraceptive soup."

Her face paling, Ruth slapped Bobby with more force, "Elly is your child Bobby. YOUR child. Just because we didn't plan for it, doesn't change that."

Bobby sneered, "What good is she? Little bitch just eats and hides behind you all day, can't even get her to learn some proper sewing so she can start working. See if I don't sell her one of these days."

Snapping, Ruth clawed at Bobby with her nails, panic in her eyes, "You promised, you promised that as long as I found you another kid to sell, you'd leave Elly alone."

Bobby sneered, loosely turning his eyes in Ava's direction, "Little bitch didn't even give me enough silver to play for a single night. Even if I sell her it'll only last another day or two. You still expect me to keep Elly too? I'm telling you Ruth, once we get to the town, we sell her and make a living. In a couple years, when you want more kids, we can just pop' em out."

Hearing this, Ruth slapped Bobby, stopping him in his tracks.

But with the stubbornness and numbness of a drunk man, Bobby barely flinched from Ruth's slap, instead stepping forward and pinning her with his hands, scowling. "Fucking whore, you grew a pair of balls today did you? See if I won't sell you too."

In the sidelines, Ava watched all of this with cold eyes. This family was far worse then she had expected. The father was a wastrel who had managed to spend a week's worth of silver in a single night, while the mother was an unbelievable fool who trusted the drunken wastrel.

Of course, Ava was content to watch them fight and waste away energy.

But unfortunately, after Ruth was unable to beat Bobby, she turned her frustration onto Ava, "Stop looking at me you little whore. Do you feel proud looking at me? Do you feel happy seeing me suffer? I was kind to you you little bitch, and you couldn't even bring in enough money to let me keep Elly." Raising her hand, she angled to slap Ava.

Watching Ruth strike down at her, Ava, of course was unwilling to taken a hit for free. Standing up, she dodged under Ruth's wide swing, and elbowed Ruth in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. Crumpling down to the ground, Ruth couldn't help but gasp, as Ava kicked her twice more in the ribs for good measure.

Seeing the commotion, Bobby who had practically fallen asleep on the other side of the tent wearily opened his eyes before glancing over and seeing the situation, seemingly understanding something, he sneered and stood up, "Trying to run away, eh, you little minx? Leeme tell you, even if you get out tonight, I'll go and find you again tomorrow, you can't escape."

Lumbering over and grabbing out with an arm, seeking to grab Ava just like he had earlier in the day, Bobby walked with the unparalleled confidence of a stupid man, and a drunk man, seeming sure that Ava would run straight into his arm like she had earlier in the day.

Of course, Ava would do no such thing. Easily avoiding Bobby's slow drunken gestures, she moved up close to Bobby before kneeing hard into his balls. Letting out a sneer, she whispered, "Here, I'll help you deal with the problem of having kids." Watching Bobby scream and fall to the ground, just like Ruth had, Ava moved forward and struck out with the small metal knife she had taken from the Rat's corpse and carved a long scar across Bobby's chest before pushing the sharp metal edge of the knife against Bobby's throat.

Finally waking up from his drunken stupor by the cold feeling of a blade on his throat and the piercing pain ringing from his chest and genitalia, Bobby slowly focused his eyes on the face of Ava in front of him.

To the side, Ruth was still rolling around on the floor crying out in pain, while Elly had long since run away to God knows where, but Ava wasn't worried.

Over the past few nights, she had confirmed this was a fairly regular occurrence between the couple, of course, typically the fight would be much shorter, as Bobby didn't have the money to drink as much as he did today. After a few repeated nights, most of the nearby folks had moved their tents further away when setting up for the night, and had learned to ignore the couple's quarreling.

Anyways, no matter the situation, she doubted anyone would believe the family if they claimed that a young girl had assaulted them, and even if they did, it didn't matter. She only needed to get into the city, and none of these people would stick their necks out to 'help' this trio out of a predicament at the risk of offending the city guard.

Staring at Ava, Bobby couldn't help but quiver as clarity entered his eyes, "I, I… What do you want?"

Ava nodded in satisfaction, it seemed like as stupid as Bobby was, he was at least smart enough, or at least embarrassed enough that he didn't yell out at this juncture. Letting out a devilishly sweet smile, Ava replied, "To be your family of course." Before stabbing into Bobby's chest with a small needle she had prepared earlier and then taking a few steps back.

Taking a few steps back, Ava turned to Ruth who was still on the ground and kicked her. With a frozen expression she commanded, "Bring Elly back here right now."

Blinking, Ruth crawled up off of the ground and nodded, running out of the tent with her cloths still in partial shreds from Bobby's reckless hands, and the following scuffle.

Turning back to Bobby, Ava stared and waited for Ruth to return with Elly.

Of course, there was a chance she would take the opportunity to flee, but Ava doubted it. If Ruth had such a boldness, she would have done so long ago. And even if she did, it wasn't a huge problem.

Before long, Ruth returned with Elly in toe, who was now completely hiding behind Ruth, not even daring to peek her head out anymore.

Seeing the three of them gathered, Ava once again let out a sweet smile, "So, let's make a deal. You've accepted the payment so you can't say no."