Mature Content Warning: This segment contains graphic depictions of horrible actions toward a minor. It involves Scott explaining his past, and it does so without pulling punches. Language and imagery are of a highly adult and disturbing nature. Be advised that this segment is NOT for everyone and does not include any erotica.

Author's Notes: Originally, I had planned a different scene for this segment. This conversation had been meant to happen with the entire group of girls, but the more I thought of the situation, and the relationship between Scott and Sonja, the more I realized that it was time. It is NOT a happy segment. It is anger inducing, vulgar in its nature, and shows a lot of the issues within the MC that he has hidden. Many things are explained, but even more questions will rise up.

I would say please enjoy...but I don't think this can be seen as enjoyable, only necessary for the story. Also, I felt that I needed to get this post out before midnight my time. I was not in a good place when I wrote this, so it might be clunky but, I wanted to share it with you.

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Chapter 22.2: Please Stop Protecting Me

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While Ashton fended off the drunken advances of a highly excited Shara, Scott led Sonja to his bedroom. That single action held room for many implications, but most of those implied scenarios would be incorrect.

Scott drew Sonja into his bedroom then shut the door. He locked it and then, for extra security he pulled his dresser over to block it.

“What is this...?” asked Sonja, a confused smile on her face.

“Even when we were kids, Shara was good at picking locks. I doubt she’s as drunk as she seems, but even sober she might try to get in.” said Scott.

“What makes you think she’s faking it?” Sonja started to sit down then nearly fell onto the bed. Whuff! The mattress protested her harsh descent in the only way that it could, the soft outcry of trapped air and angry springs.

“Shara’s never as anything as she seems. I fell for her antics a lot as a child.” he said softly, before he moved to join her on the bed.

“Such as...?” asked Sonja as a way to continue the discussion.

Scott sighed. “Off-hand... Hmm.” He thought about it for a moment then slightly narrowed his eyes and nodded. “She sometimes fell down for almost no reason, and then begged me to kiss her wound to make it better. For the longest time she had me convinced that I had healing powers.”

Sonja chuckled softly, and a gentle smile arose on her lips. However, her eyes still held a certain quality to them that bespoke a sense of distance, nervousness.

They sat on his bed for a few minutes after that. Neither of them spoke, though there was much to say.

In the end, Scott had brought her there and it was Scott who had to speak. “Sonja. What do you want from me?”

“What do I want?” she asked him. Sonja looked at her master carefully in an attempt to gauge his meaning.

Scott looked her in the eye and said, “Yes. I don’t care about the master and slave thing. I want to know what you want from me.”

Sonja winced then looked away. “Honestly?”

“Yes.” he said.

There was a short pause, a silent moment of thought and reflection, before she answered. “I am not certain.”

Scott nodded. That made sense. He was not certain about what he wanted, either. There was only one certain thing in his life at the moment. It was time to discuss that in detail with Sonja. “I haven’t told you much about me, have I?”

“I know a bit about you.” she answered in a slightly defensive manner.

He nodded once again then took a slow, deep, breath. “I’ve told you very little about how I grew up.”

“You mentioned some things, mostly about Shara. You also had a sister...” said Sonja.

Scott closed his eyes then took another deep breath. It was so hard to talk about, but he needed to do it. “Yeah, I told you that she died some time ago.”

“I remember... though you never want to tell me more.” she said.

Scott’s eyebrows pressed together and his expression became one of regret, of shame. “I killed her.”

Sonja’s eyes widened. He had killed his sister? “Scott...?”

He started to shake a little, slowly at first, and then faster. His body started to rock slightly and his hands rose to his ears. He shook his head from side to side trying not to remember, even though he knew that he had to so.

Sonja stared at him, a new and strange side to her master had been revealed to her. “Scott... Please tell me. There is more to say?”

His jaw quivered slightly for a moment and his eyes moved behind his eyelids as though her were dreaming. “I... She tried to tell me in so many ways...”

Scott’s eyes opened partially and a hint of wetness began to form along the edges. He took in a shuddering breath then released it before breathing in again so that he could speak. “She never stopped smiling. The whole time, she always tried to smile.”

“That’s why I smile, too.” Scott tried his best to smile then, but the effect was disturbing to a great degree. “I, I have to smile for her.”

She looked over to Sonja and opened his eyes further. His red-rimmed eyes spoke volumes about a long held pain that he barely knew how to explain. “I don’t know when it started, when he started doing it, but she tried to tell me.”

Sonja instinctively reached over and tried to take his hand but Scott snatched it away. His whole body flinched and he rubbed his hand as though it had been burned by her gentle touch. “Sorry ...I, I’ve never really told this to anyone.”

“It’s OK.” said Sonja. She slowly reached toward him again and he pulled away a little, like an animal that had been unsettled by the scent of something unfamiliar.

“No... It’s not. My sister is dead because of me.” said Scott.

Sonja held out her hand but did not make a move to touch him. Nothing happened at first, but slowly Scott relaxed. He allowed her hand to rest on his shoulder.

Once he had regained his composure he started to speak again. “She told me with her eyes, with her strange cuts, her bruises. She smiled the whole time but I know it wasn’t because she was happy.”

Sonja reached up and stroked his hair. He flinched a little, but did not pull away. “Why did she smile?”

“She did it for me. She smiled because she didn’t want me to know. I cried like a little bitch every time that piece of shit beat me, but she never did. All she did was smile for me.” said Scott.

Sonja stopped rubbing his head for a moment. She took a breath then lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him.

Scott did not struggle. He didn’t do anything. He just sat there. It was what he always did, wasn’t it? He just sat there and let things happen.

“By the time I knew what was happening, got my own head out of my ass and stopped feeling sorry for myself, she was dead. His fucking pants were down around his ankles and his damned... his...”

Scott’s red-rimmed eyes began to shift, to distort. His pupils flickered, dilated, and then suddenly narrowed into serpentine slits.

His expression became a hateful mask and his human form began to waver. “She couldn’t even cry out... He’d stuffed one of his damned socks in her mouth then ran tape around her head so she couldn’t remove it.”

Sonja was at a loss for what to say. What could she say about such a horrific thing? Men did that to her people sometimes if they were captured, but what do you say when someone who claims to be your parent does something so vile?

“How... could he do something like that?” asked Sonja. It really, she was not sure what to say about that at all.

“I have no idea what makes a man do things like that. I think he might have been high on something, probably meth. He cooked it along with that shit-head brother of his...I still don’t know what mom saw in the guy.” he said.

“Your mother... Why did she do nothing?” asked Sonja.

“I still don’t know. She won’t tell me and I can’t remember. Sometimes I think I remember, but then I lose it again. So much from that day is just gone. All I remember is my little sister.... that asshole... and...” said Scott. His voice trailed off as the few memories that he had of that day resurfaced.

“And?” asked Sonja.

“I don’t really know what happened next. Most of it... I don’t... I just don’t know. But I do remember one thing.” he said.

“Yes?” asked Sonja softly.

Scott swallowed hard then stopped. He stopped moving altogether, stopped wavering, even seemed to stop breathing.

He became eerily calm, still. What he said next was spoken in such a calm tone of voice that Sonja Scarcely believed what she heard.

“Have you ever heard the sound a bat makes when it cracks a man’s ribs?” asked Scott.

“A bat?” she asked.

“Think of it as a simple wooden club.” he said in a flat tone.

“Then I... Actually have.” she said.

“I see.” said Scott.

He was silent for a brief space of time. There was no sound in the room save for the subtle sound of two people breathing.

The silence was broken when he said, “I wanted to kill him so badly.”

Sonja hugged him gently and did not speak. This was not really a conversation.

“He was done. His arms, his legs, his ribs, I had beaten that bastard bloody.” said Scott.

Sonja tried her best to comfort him by embracing him tighter, but it helped very little. Scott remained tense, eerie.

“I could not kill him, though.” he said.

She stroked his hair gently while she waited for him to continue. It seemed as though it were the only thing that she could do for him at the moment.

Scott released a sad little laugh, but it never reached his eyes. His gaze was distant, and he obviously saw only the past.

“I swear I heard her speaking to me, still do sometimes. She was dead and her mouth was taped shut with a sock in it, but I heard her clear as day.”

“What did she say?” asked Sonja.

Scott’s body bucked a little as another, harsh, laugh escaped his lips. He turned to look into Sonja’s eyes. “You should smile. Today’s a happy day.”

Sonja’s eyes widened. That was a pretty strange thing to hear.

Scott looked away again. “It was what she always said when bad things happened. No matter how bad things got, she would always smile and say that.”

He took a breath then spoke again. “I don’t know if I really heard her, or if I had gone crazy. Either way, I knew what it meant.”

“What did it mean, Scott?” asked Sonja while she ran her fingers through his hair.

“I... I wanted to kill him, wanted to see his skull cracked open, but I dropped the bat.” Scott sighed softly. “If I killed him at that moment, I would be no better than he was. The piece of shit was helpless, unable to do anything about it. It would have been so easy.” Scott acquired a strange, almost whimsical expression for a moment.

The moment passed and he took a breath. “But killing him was not what she wanted. All my sister wanted was for me to smile and live my life.”

Scott laughed loudly then shook his head. “Hell, Wednesday I went to visit her grave and the piece of shit was there.”

Sonja stopped stroking his hair and awaited what he would say next. He had seen that monster again?

“It would have been so easy to kill the drunken idiot. If anyone deserved to be slaughtered like a squealing hog, he deserved it. But... If I kill him like that, I’m really no better than he is, at least in that regard. That was what my sweet little sister tried to tell Me.” said Scott.

Scott took a breath and continued, “Because of her feelings on the subject and my desire to be nothing like that piece of shit, he still takes breath. He was given one chance to tell the truth, one chance to admit what he had done. If he fails to live up to that final chance, his ass is mine no matter what my sister says.”

He thought about things for a moment then nodded. “Besides that... If I kill him, he’ll just come back if he has a token. Even if he doesn’t, without his confession no one will ever know the truth. Killing him would end any chance that my sister’s murderer would ever come to real justice.”

“That’s.... noble.” said Sonja. She was not sure what to say about that. If she had been in a similar situation she did not think she would be able to show such restraint.

“There’s nothing noble about Me.” said Scott with complete sincerity.

“That’s not true!” said Sonja emphatically.

“You should know that I’m the sort of person who doesn’t give a shit about anything, not anymore.” he said.

“Is that really true?” she asked him gently.

“Honestly? I could probably use one hand to count the number of things I care about. Hell, I spent years in a juvenile prison. Nothing in this world has meant a damn to me for a long time.” he said.

“Has that changed?” asked Sonja.

Scott turned to look at her. He took her hand in his then nodded. Some of the weirdness in his eyes faded and he began to take on a more normal appearance. “Yes. I can think of two, perhaps three things worth a fuck in this world.”

Sonja’s cheeks began to burn a little. His gaze had become quite intense as he had said that and despite the fact that he had not stated it specifically, she knew that one of the things he cared about was her.

Scott’s intense gaze left her face. He looked down and sighed. “Man, I’m beat.”

“You should rest.” said Sonja softly.

He looked at her again. “Will you... Sleep with me?”

“Scott...” said Sonja. His tone of voice was that of a small child looking for comfort, not that of a man looking for a good time. She was not sure how to answer his request.

He looked away. “I asked something stupid. Sorry.”

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry.” she said with conviction.

“You’ve done nothing wrong.”

She shook her head. “No, the way that I spoke to you earlier...”

“Sonja, you’re a wonderful person. Every day is made a little better, just by having you around.”

Sonja closed her eyes then tightened her embrace once more. “I feel the same.”

“That’s why... We’re going to take you home as soon as we get supplies.” he said with finality.

“What? Scott!” she asked in surprise.

Scott turned his head then gazed at her intently once more. His pupils narrowed to serpentine slits and his irises began to glow with a vibrant red light. “You’re going home!”

“Why...? I thought...” she asked.

“You’re going home. You’re going to see your little sister. You’ll get to be with the ones you love.” he said.

“Scott... We don’t have to rush that.” she told him.

“Sonja, you deserve to have your life back.” he said.

She shook her head and snuggled close to him. This was too sudden. It was all, just too sudden.