Waiting for Prey

Ruth continued, "I'll try to make sure he doesn't sell you off once we're in town. If you know where your parents live, I'll also try to send you to them, but you have to promise not to resist. If you run away…" Ruth's expression distorted slightly, "It won't end well, if you just stay quiet, I'll make sure you can keep your life at least."

On the other end of the tent, Ava couldn't help but sneer on the inside, but in the end only kept a fearful and vigilant expression on her face before scooting back a few steps and huddling into a ball in the corner.

Seeing this, Ruth let out a sigh before shaking her head and patting Elly and leading her outside of the tent to get some work done. Her husband had gone to Denny's place and would probably be out till the middle of the night drinking. In the meantime she could only get some chores done and hope that he'd be in a good mood when he got back. As for whether or not Ava ran or not, she didn't care. As far as she was concerned, she had done what she could already.

Inside the tent, after confirming that Ruth and Elly had left, Ava relaxed slightly and pulled out another pouch from inside her clothing. The pouch that Bobby had taken earlier was a decoy. She had taken everything of importance and value and hidden it away long ago. She knew better then most that it was a sin to flaunt one's wealth. Of course, in order allow the decoy to serve it's purpose, she had kept left quite a few silver and copper pieces in it, and it should be more then enough for this family of three to spend for awhile.

Pulling out a small vial of a darkish purple paste, Ava started applying it on her back. Although the fall from earlier couldn't be considered anything major, if she wasn't careful it was possible it would bruise heavily by the evening, which could be a problem. In the end, no matter how much more skilled or ruthless she might be then this family of three, there were three of them, and both Ruth and Bobby were significantly larger then her and could win off of their weight alone if they were determined enough.

Feeling the cooling sensation on the back where the medicine was applied, Ava couldn't help but let out a small smile. The Rat.. It had to be said he was indeed quite prepared, as he had kept a fairly decent stock of medicine in his hideout. Of course, now these medicines all belonged to Ava. Or at the very least, the ones that had uses that Ava found useful, and were easy enough to bring along.

Putting away the medicine, and hiding away the pouch, all Ava could do now was wait.

Sitting in the tent and looking at Ruth and Elly move around outside, Ava had a cold look in her face. Although it was clear that Ruth had her own story to tell, Ava had no sympathy for her. No matter what, the fact of matter was that she was helping her scumbag husband to capture children and rob. Although she couldn't expect Ruth to turn around and fight her husband physically, she still had options before resorting to something like this.

As for Bobby, a cold glint flashed through Ava's eyes. She would see how she was feeling after he expended his use.

As for Elly, Ava could say that she felt slightly sympathetic, but at the same time she noticed the hints of joy and schadenfreude that had showed up in the young girl's eyes as she took pleasure from her predicament. Perhaps it was simply because as long as Ava was around, Elly would face less hardship, but no matter the reason, it directly decreased Ava's sympathy for the family of three's plight. In the end a rotten tree can only sprout sour apples.

Of course, even if the two were sympathetic, it wouldn't particularly change anything. Ava had come here with an intention, and she didn't plan on risking her own safety for that of others.

Of course, as much as she disdained the trio that had 'abducted' her, Ava had to say she was thankful they showed up. She realized upon thinking that she would have trouble getting into the town no matter how much money she had, and whether or not she had an identity card.

The problem lie in the fact that she just looked too young. Unlike the village, the town was strictly regulated, if a young child of her age showed up, it was likely they would turn her away, even if she showed that she had money, they would directly snatch it from her, seeing that she had no backing, or send her to a local office to be identified. If no one picked her up, it was likely they would drive her out of the city, if not directly kill her if they investigated further into her 'identity' and found that they had no clue who she was.

Perhaps this was a dreary take, but Ava believed it to be true. Thus, to get into the city she had to have a 'family' accompanying her. Over the course of the past few days in the cavern, Ava had identified a few different groups of of people who had similar characteristics as her that she could potentially use as cover, then after eliminating a few people who had no incentive, or she thought would have the spine to sell her out, she focused onto two families.

The first, of course, was Bobby, Ruth, and Ella, and the other was a couple with three kids.

Then, over the next few days, she deliberately revealed that she had a lot of silver on her, opening the pouch that she kept in the open widely revealing the contents, and spending using silvers instead of coppers. Then after getting rid a few 'pests' that didn't suit her conditions, she remained near the camp.

After that, all she had to do was wait for the prey to bite the bait.