It looks and smells like she's been pissing inside the box. Likely for days. Both the box and her body were both absolutely filthy.
I immediately turn away. Almost throwing up. I've never seen anything so absolutely awful. I look back at Fletcher who looks almost as angry as he does shocked.
I look back at the girl. Trying to gather everything I got to get this done, "H-Hello?" I say crouching down, "My name is Quinn. I'm here to get you out of here, okay? To somewhere safe?" I say quietly. Gently.
Her eyes slowly shift to me. They were so pretty. Ice blue. Like a clear blue sky with flecks of silver and maybe a teal green. But, they were completely shattered and almost eerie by how vacant and empty they were.
My stomach lurches.
"Quinn! We don't have time for this!" Fletcher hisses. "We need to move! It sounds like they're wrapping it up. Move it!"
"Fuck!" I curse to myself, throwing Fletcher a glare who gives me a 'What? I'm just letting you know.' shrug. I look back to the girl, "I'm gonna help you walk okay? We need to go. Like, now. Come on." I say gently, half crawling into the cage to reach her hand and guide her out, "Come on. It's okay." I tell her again as she crawls out. Moving mechanically as I grab her arm & guide her out.
I take her arm and wrap it over my shoulders helping her walk back toward the window, "Almost there. You're doing great." I tell her despite how absolutely not great she's doing. She barely manages a single step for every three I take. I'm practically dragging the poor girl.
"Quinn." A voice says from behind us. A cold chill runs down my spine. All of the hair standing up down my spine. It was a familiar voice. An uncomfortably familiar voice. One I'd heard the sound of many times before. A very disappointed, very angry voice.
"Quinn!" Fletcher yells from the window, starting to climb in. I lift my hand, stopping him, then quickly take the last 3 or 4 steps and pass the trembling, whimpering girl to Fletcher, "Get her to Cecil. Get her the fuck out of here." I demand him.
"Quinn, isn't that-" He starts as he helps the girl through the window.
"My dad?" I ask, cutting him off "Yeah." I say, turning around to face him.
He still stands by the door of the room. Just standing there. Glaring at me. He looks average in every way. Short, dark brown hair, slightly graying around his ears & slightly into to his neatly trimmed beard. He does have a fairly large scar on his left eyebrow, just harshly missing his eye & finishing on his left cheek. He's slightly bulky, but not huge. About five foot ten & wears a loose gray shirt & dark brown cargo shorts.
Average.
But currently very pissed off.
"Father." I greet him, "I hadn't realized you-"
"What the FUCK do you think you're doing?" He demands, interrupting me, "You can not be serious. Betraying your own kind? Your own FAMILY? You're a disgrace! A waste of time and effort. Training! Thousands of dollars to make you the best of the best and you throw ALL OF IT AWAY!?" He yells, spittle flying from his lips.
I swallow hard. I didn't need a mirror to tell me that I'm pale as a ghost. I'd seen my father angry. I thought I'd seen him as angry as he could possibly get. I was clearly wrong. This was above every other level of angry I'd ever seen on him, "Father, I-"
"Shut your fucking mouth!" He snaps at me and I clamp my mouth shut. "This bullshit with the hell hounds was YOU, wasn't it?" He demands.
I hesitate.
"'WASN'T IT!?" He roars, making me flinch.
This time, I nod.
He shakes his head, disapproval over every inch of his entire being.
"Father, you don't understand. We need the girl to close the border and stop the creatures from passing over. People are dying-" I start.
"You think I haven't noticed that, you dumb bitch?" He demands.
I flinch, my stomach dropping, his words surprising me as much as they hurt me. I mean, he's never said anything like that, even when angry. "What?" I gasp, my eyes burning.
"Your mother's in critical condition; hell hound bite. Five minutes ago." He says, accusatory, jerking a thumb back toward the gate.
My stomach somehow drops even lower.
"And it's all your fault." He says, pulling out his sword.
My breath catches as his intentions finally click & I suddenly feel sick to my stomach.
"Dad," I say, putting my hands up defensively, "Dad, hold on." I say.
He slowly advances on me and I back up with every step he takes forward, "First, you side with a disgusting blood sucker, then you ATTACK DMHS headquarters. You nearly kill Isaiah!" He accuses.
"Whoa, hold on that wasnt-" I start.
"Then I hear you're teaming up with vampires AND werewolves. And I thought it couldn't even get worse! After your little stunt with the bloodsucker! I thought you must have lost your GOD DAMN MIND!" He shouts.
My back hits the wall of windows, but my father keeps advancing, "But now, NOW, you attack headquarters AGAIN! To what? TO WHAT? Save some THING? A resource we need here? Do you even know how many good hunters you just killed? How many you just injured? Do you even care?"
"Yes, dad! Of course I do! But did you even see the way they kept her? Dad, that was worse than how I would treat an animal! She was forced to piss all over her-"
"I don't care! It was just a witch! We could always just buy another one!" He shouts, my stomach dropping and curdling, "But, what you did was unforgivable." He says, raising his blade to my throat.
"Dad!" I yelp, reaching up to grab his wrist and the blade, "Dad!"
"You're no daughter of mine." He hisses into my ear, leaning harder into it.
"DAD! DADDY!" I yell, trying to push him away, I could feel the knife as it rubs against my neck, starting to slice into the top layers of my skin. "Daddy!" I whimper, tears welling up in my eyes.
"No. More." He says, the blade starting to draw blood.
"Fletcher!" I scream.
My father's eyes widen with pure hate as he throws his weight into the blade. Just as he does, a hand comes over my left shoulder and grabs his face, reaching right past my own and shoves him back. Hard. My father goes stumbling back about six feet. Next I'm grabbed and pulled through the widow and into strong arms. I look up and see Fletcher. I immediately turn my head into him, "What the fuck!?" I yell into his chest with a heaving sob.