[b]Heather - Hank's group[/b]

It had been a long time since anyone had spoken easily to each other.
During her fever Heather had had quite a few nightmares about her tramatic experience. Each time she had fought and fought and screamed against a never-ending chain of brutal men. When the fever had finally broken and she had regained conciousness Imogen had told her that she had screamed for both for Imogen and Hank, but mostly for Hank.

Things hadn't just changed between them. Heather herself had changed. She was quiet and stared off into space quite a bit. If any of the male members of their group came up to her she flinched. And forget about letting anyone touch her. She only really spoke to Imogen and Hank and sometimes Floyd. She felt the others were silently judging her, thinking that she was broken or damaged in some way.
Perhaps she was...

Once they stopped for a rest and to eat some food Heather took Hank's hand. "I need to talk to you," she said, pulling him off to the side away from the others but still within sight of them in case anything happened.

She turned and faced him. "Hank? Hank, please talk to me. I know I've been a bitch. I've treated you badly and I'm sorry. If what... what happened has taught me anything it's that we... well, we need each other Hank. I can't keep on like this, with us so distant. Even if you don't want what we had before, I want to at least be friends."
Stepping closer, she hugged him tightly. "What happened to me wasn't your fault. I never blamed you. Please come back. Be the Hank I love. The one I never stopped loving."
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[b]Katie - Baton Rouge - Berk, Tyler, Liam, Jacob[/b]

Katie flinched and more tears came when she felt a sting on her arm. The man had cut her. Her daddy was there, she could hear him but she couldn't call out to him because of the gag. All she could do was sit there whimper. The little girl was shaking like a leaf. She was cold and the ropes were so tight they hurt her. It made her even more terrified when she heard her daddy say he didn't know what to do.

He didn't know what to do? No... he always knew what to do... he always came for her, always saved her. He had to know what to do. He just had to!

The man from before, Jacob, started saying that he was going to kill her daddy. She screamed through the gag and shook her head back and forth. She had to do something! She couldn't lose him! Not her daddy!
The child started to thrash violently. She jerked her legs and slung her arms around and tried to roll out of the dirty man's arms. She continued to scream through the gag, a long muffled high-pitched scream until finally it stopped suddenly. Her head slumped to the side and her body went limp. To anyone it would look like she had fainted.
Maybe if she pretended she was asleep maybe the dirty man would be surprised and drop her. Then her daddy would be able to go after him without worrying that Katie would be hurt.
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[b]Jessalyn and Ben - Road to Baton Rouge - Abram, Turisa, Samantha, Leah[/b]

Jess cradled Ben as he whimpered. He really didn't like all of this commotion and he [i]really[/i] didn't like the rain. But now that they were under cover and his mommy was drying him off he had stopped making noise and was just frowning.

"Yes my little man I know you are grouchy when wet," she said, kissing his forehead. "But thank you for not crying any more."
He bunched up his little fists by his face, looking like a boxer about to enter the ring. But his face smoothed out as things calmed down. He even yawned a little. Good. After she fed him he would go to sleep for a while.

Jess turned back to smile at the three new faces. "It is nice to meet all of you," she said and looked at the girl who had been driving. "Are you alright?" she asked, the mother in her coming out and being concerned. "Ben and I are fine. Don't worry. But are you okay? Are you hurt?"