<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Baby bunny, chest rising and falling in quick succession, black tinted eyes like glossy marbles. Baby bunny, plush clean fur dampened by tears and the sweat of the snakes that wrapped around her. Baby bunny, caught in a pit of pythons, venom sinking in, pretty little face turned blue, asphyxiating in the grip of hot, moving bodies. Words became white noise in her head, churning, surging growls lining her skull. Oh baby bunny- destined to be just a paw dangling in someone's rearview mirror, some morbid relic to a bullshit idea of luck.<br/>
<br/>
Oh, unlucky Reno.<br/>
<br/>
Her heart dropped, a pit in her middle, when Volk disappeared with Collin.<br/>
<br/>
She wasn't sure which hurt worse- big brother, a knight in her youth, the boy who she had clung to whenever she was scared, kid fingers around his thumb- or Burning Bear brute. Collin, wild thing. She felt as though he had to owe her <i>something </i>after all the nights of raw flesh and his belt around her wrists, all the afternoons she spent bent over in the front seat of the Blazer as he drove twisted roads into the hills, her pursed lips around him, his left hand gripping her hair, his right hand on the wheel. Collin <i>had </i>to owe her- at least a little- for all the gashes on her thighs, the rose blemishes dancing around her neck.<br/>
<br/>
Oh, blind girl- nobody owes you anything.<br/>
<br/>
This became abundantly clear when Reno's feet lifted off the ground again, her meager weight at the will of the snakes. She knew the looks in their eyes too well, she had seen it in Collin- instinctual, some deeply rooted primal hunger coursing through them. They salivated, sick beasts, senses heightened and starving for stimulation. Their savage leader had turned his back, and without word it was permission, and it may not ever arise again- they pounced and they did it with extended claws and a carnal lust, one that acts without hesitation. Gluttonous creatures, they intended to gorge- let each one fight for his fill, until they were brimming or they demolished their prey to meat and bones, whichever came first. <br/>
<br/>
Kicks and screams came from Reno, fueled by her own instinctual drive. Desperation pumped adrenaline through her. She thrashed and writhed and <i>cried</i>, but there was no semblance of the darling damsel in distress, anymore. Animalistic wails, scraping at her throat and leaving it flayed, echoing off the forest's edge and reverberating encouragement in the ears of the beasts encircling her. The louder her whines got the more they wanted to shut her up, plug up her mouth and replace the shrieks with guttural choking. They longed for the noises of pain that they so greedily misconstrued with noises of pleasure. <br/>
<br/>
And they got it. Heat stuck to the hood of the Blazer, radiating from the engine, seared into Reno's back, piercing through her clothing and eating away at her spine. A sharp inhale quieted her momentarily, her face contorting in response to the singe, her lips trembling and teeth gritting. Squeals followed as hands pushed her shoulder blades into the steel. Limpness took her and she lay, paralyzed by the sting, vulnerable and splayed. The headlights beamed around her legs as they too collected the inflamed vapor that remained between the metal bars of the grill. The boys glowed in it, the harsh glare- but she shut her eyes tight, a child's strategy, as if the monsters would disappear if only she couldn't see them.<br/>
<br/>
But these were simpler monsters, unlike Collin who insisted with a frightening fury that she <i>watch</i>- they couldn't care less if she witnessed herself be ripped up and devoured alive. They were only interested in relieving the pressure, stiff against their denim. Even in the degeneracy of the moment, they were somehow kinder this way- their self-fulfillment required little more than a bit of flesh. Collin was more complicated than that. He wasn't pulsating until his girl-memento was lamenting at the scars in her mind <i>and </i>the scars on her limbs. Collin had a ritual before he slit her throat. These boys were content with a one-step sacrifice.<br/>
<br/>
Poor little Reno was their lamb, chosen one, placated on this truck-altar, on display and even aglow in the reflection of the lights. Picturesque, almost, the way they bowed before this shrine, making quick, filthy work of the temple. Reno was sure she couldn't stretch any further, the way they split her legs, so eager to gnaw at what was between. The way she whimpered was pitiful. <br/>
<br/>
<i>Does she really think someone's going to save her? </i>The thought was shared between the beasts as they feasted on her, stripping her of the last few shreds of protection. It was unceremonial to them, just a mere obstacle, a barrier between them and their prize. What they did to deserve it, none of them were sure- but they sure as hell weren't going to question it, not when they were this close.<br/>
<br/>
Giving up crossed Reno's mind. It had the moment Volk strolled out of view. The heartbeat swelling in her was rapid and exhausting, and her wearied body was burnt and reinforced against the hood by the beasts' palms. It ached, the abandonment she was so familiar with. But her anger wasn't directed at Volk this time- the guilt compiled on herself, stupid thing, don't rely on those who have a habit of disappearing. Stupid thing, don't get involved with the Burning Bear brute. Somehow it was her fault, everything she had done had led up to this. Had she never tangled herself with Collin, allowed him to convince her that she was valuable, even if her value amounted to just being an easy fuck, she wouldn't be propped up like feed for the dogs. She cried, softer now, wondering if in some backwards way, she asked for this.<br/>
<br/>
The solid <i>whump </i>of the hood whacking into Carl's chin was enough to break everyone's train of thought.<br/>
<br/>
Confusion muddled among them, each beast looking at the other to find some place to settle the blame. Carl released Reno for a moment, tending to his wound and to his flush of anger towards his comrades. Their bickering and bewildered glances paused everything for one strange, quiet minute. It offered Reno just enough time to hear passed the throbbing in her head. For a second, she dared to open her eyes.<br/>
<br/>
Her vision, though obscured by her tears, could just barely make out what unraveled before her. A shadowy, lithe figure- the sound of marrow splintering- the grunts of beasts not just interrupted but hurt- and the squeaking of the car's shocks underneath it all. One blow after another, ultimately leaving Reno completely free of foreign grasps keeping her down. Part of her yelled at her to run, but most of her froze, uncertainty and whole lot of pain pinning her still to the blazing surface.<br/>
<br/>
Warmth came at her, but not from the truck. Familiar warmth, the lingering smell of cleaning supplies and leather. Volk.<br/>
<br/>
This time she leaned into it. Fingers gripping him, her face buried in his chest, tears and screams and pain shared in the space between them. Everything stopped, for just a blink. Heartbeats roaring beside one another, his breaths against her hair, her nose nestled to his collar. She held him as if he were going to leave again- and, inevitably, he did.<br/>
<br/>
"<i>Volk, please- please don't leave me here-</i>" weepy voiced girl, clinging to her savior, the one she had been waiting for for years. Guilt struck her, she kicked herself for thinking he would've just walked off into the woods, leaving her to the wolves.<br/>
<br/>
She knew it had to be this way, but she whimpered all the same when his hands parted from her frail, porcelain doll body and the booze-stench of the Blazer was replaced with the scent of gasoline in the old pickup. <br/>
<br/>
The figures appeared, backlit by rays of headlights. It was a sordid dance, quick and easy, the finale with Volk crumpled on the ground. <br/>
<br/>
Emotions streaming down her face in a terrible mess, Reno began her swan song, again. Screaming, wailing Collin's name, over and over and <i>over </i>and he couldn't hear, there was a pleasure in his face that she had never been able to give him, this was his bliss. Steel-toed work boots grinding into brother's ribs with no sign of stopping and <i>fuck </i>the miserable feeling of uselessness crept over Reno in a wave, her voice was giving out as she bellowed into the void, Collin and his beast hacking away into the flesh unlike anything they had ever done to a girl.<br/>
<br/>
Reno scrambled, frantically searching through the truck for something, anything- but Reno was a mouse among tomcats and everything <i>fucking hurt</i>, even if she had a weapon she would easily be overcome by the two hulking Burning Bear beasts. Perhaps that would be the poetic way to do it, offer herself in exchange, but it just wouldn't- <br/>
<br/>
She didn't bother with reconsiderations or thought at all, really. Her hand found the stick shift. <i>Neutral. </i><br/>
<br/>
Her planning was poor and while the truck was on an incline, it didn't quite have the effect she was hoping for. The truck groaned as the emergency brake was released and it rolled forward, tread of the tires finding the dirt. While there was enough of a dip for some gravity to pull it, the momentum was unimpressive. Steel beast, loose now, pressed onward, mirrors sideswiping Chris but otherwise providing no other aid. <br/>
<br/>
Until it did. The noise was unmistakable- metal on metal, glass splintering and horns resounding. Oh beautiful Blazer, fragile front end crunched by the truck's cattle guard. <br/>
<br/>
Collin's red-stained passion was too much for him to put everything aside for the Blazer, but it was enough to get him to turn around.<br/>
<br/>
"What the <i>fuck</i>?" He spoke through heaving, tired breaths, big old brute had never been good at endurance. Chris, recovering from his shoulder to the mirror, looked on in the same confusion he had expressed when Volk climbed up the rear end of the Blazer. The alarms carried well in the air, somehow better than Reno's intermittent screams. <br/>
<br/>
"<i>Turn that shit off!</i>" Collin bellowed at Chris, trying to catch his breath. He remained above Volk, but there was a mourning interrupting his rage- beloved car, red paint smeared onto the rusted gray of the pickup, one headlight killed by the impact, halving their vision as darkness loomed above them. <br/>
<br/>
Reno climbed into the passenger seat, head pressed against the window, focus trained on Volk. <br/>
<br/>
<i>Get up, get up, get up- just do something- please-</i></span>