The Silence That Surrounds: Screams of the Damned

Narrator’s POV:

Sophia heard a soft hum by her ear, a hand gently rubbing the silk that was cocooned around her body – which was definitely a new sensation to the stiff dress she had fallen asleep in.

Groaning, her eyes opened and turned to the source of the sound, smiling a little to see it was only Louis, his face leaning close to where her ear was.

“What are you doing?” She asked, her voice thick with sleep.

“Waking you up. Harry ordered me to, he’s getting everyone else up as well.” Louis responded, his hand leaving her shoulder and helping her to sit up.

Sophia noticed that she had been changed into her peach sleeping gown, though she couldn’t even recall waking up when she had been redressed.

“I was careful, you slept right through it. That dress was pressing against your chest and making you gasp for air. I wanted you to survive the night, only reason, lass. Trust me, your goods are not something that gets my rocks off, only one girl did that and she’s long gone.” Louis sighed, checking to make sure Sophia was balanced and sitting up by herself.

She was.

He nodded in satisfaction, standing up and going to his closet and taking a pair of gray sweats and a white, male style tank top.

“Here petal, put these on.” Louis requested, handing them out to her.

Sophia took them, noticing Louis had on a black tank top and white sweats.

“How long have you been up?” Sophia asked, noticing his voice lacked her sleep filled one.

“Half an hour, maybe forty minutes. Harry had me write some stuff out since his arse was too lazy to and then he went to wake up the others. Liam is in the shower and Niall is out cooking breakfast. I’m not sure what Zayn is doing, but then again – I don’t really give a toad’s ass.” Louis shrugged, turning around to offer the girl some privacy.

Sophia took it, sliding her nightgown off and putting on the tank top, followed by the sweat pants. With only working with one hand, she was a little slow.

“I’m ready, sir.” Sophia replied meekly, once she had finished getting decent.

“Don’t you dare start with that sir crap, not with me. My name is Louis and I like to go by that. Harry is the only sir around here and between you and me? He’s acting like an ogre – but even they have better manners.” Louis chastised her actions, turning around to give her a dark look.

“He said that I was to address you a –“ Sophia tried arguing, but Louis shot it down almost instantly.

“Yeah and I’m ordering you not to. My room, my rules, Flower. Get it or get out.” He pointed towards the door, seeing her eyes falter a bit.

“Alright, but Harry is going to have my ass roasting on a spit.” She said, giving up on the argument as she knew Louis was the King of sass and she didn’t have the wit or the strength to go into battle with him on such a stupid disagreement.

“Then don’t address us by name, address us by just asking us questions and looking at us, but don’t give Harry the satisfaction, he doesn’t deserve it right now with how he is behaving,” Louis let his thoughts fly, standing up and helping Sophia to stand. “Now, let’s go see what Niall has cooking for breakfast and then talk him into making something else – that’s my favorite game, why do you think we have been having pancakes and eggs almost every other day? Yours truly has talent, stick with me and you won’t go wrong.” He smirked, opening his door and letting her lead the way.

Sophia made her way down the hall, noticing Liam coming out of the bathroom fully dressed.

“What has gotten into that lad? Lost his mind he has,” Liam muttered, finger combing his short brown hair and glancing right at Louis. “What’s going on around here, Louis?”

Louis shrugged.

“I dunno, he’s lost his mind, as you’ve said. I’m not Harry, mate. If you want to know what’s going on in Curly’s head, ask the bloke yourself. Hell, analyze him with bi polar disorder with Roy’s rage if you come to the conclusion. Once you know, warn the rest of us, yeah?”

Liam didn’t say anything and Louis noticed Zayn’s door open, Harry inside trying to wake up the other male.

“Good luck with that, Curly. He’s not going to get out of that bed unless you flip his mattress.” Louis observed, not giving Harry time to respond before guiding Sophia away quickly so they were in the kitchen, leading her to sit in her regular chair.

Turning to the stove he saw Niall leaning against it, eyes closed – with a dishrag in the skillet – the skillet turned on.

“Dude, what the hell? Niall? Niall, wake up.” Louis hissed, going forward and grabbing the rag from the skillet before it could catch fire. After all, the wall behind the skillet was already scorched from a few unfortunate events while Harry had been away…and he had yet to explain why the clock beside the stove was currently missing. Though Harry hadn’t seemed to notice and Louis figures if he hasn’t, no use giving him bad news.

Niall jerked awake groggily, groaning at being disturbed, but continued to the fridge for the eggs and bacon.

“We are having pancakes and eggs, Harry’s orders. So chop, chop.” Louis patted his shoulder, hearing him mutter about it being too damn early for this sort of bullocks.

“Harry didn’t – “Sophia began, but Louis shushed her, smiling at Niall who furrowed his eyes.

“Get cooking, Irish; daylight is wasting.” Louis ordered.

“What daylight? The fooking chicken hasn’t even crowed.” Niall grunted.

“Roosters crow, chickens cluck and Harry wants us all up. Today is a big day for Sophia. She starts her training, so fix something special for her, mate.” Louis winked, making Sophia frown.

“I don’t want anything, Louis. I’m not hungry.” Sophia insisted, making his eyebrow snap up.

“Lass? You aren’t eating and you’re losing weight. I think you’re hungry and you know if Harry finds out what’s going on, he’ll tie you down and force feed you. You don’t want that do you?” Louis reasoned, making Sophia fold her arms across her chest and look away.

“I’m not hungry, I’ll eat when I’m hungry.” Sophia murmured, slouching back into the hard seat.

“You’re never hungry. What’s happening, luv?” Louis questioned, sitting down in Harry’s seat.

Sophia shrugged and refused to make eye contact.

“I’m just not hungry, is it so hard to believe? Just let me do my thing and you do your thing and then that way, we will all get along perfectly ace.” Sophia told him, risking a quick glance to see concern etched in his face, making her feel a little bit guilty.

“I don’t want to have to tell Harry that you’re refusing to eat. Please just make the effort, huh? We have a long day of training and you will need your strength, lass. Trust me, Harry isn’t sparing any punches.” Louis warned, seeing Harry come out from down the hall, perturbed to say the least.

“I flipped him off his mattress and he just lays there on the floor.” Harry grunted, his mood worse for wear.

Without saying anything he walked over to the table and slammed a piece of paper down in front of Sophia, turning to give Louis a hollowed expression.

Louis took that as his que to sigh, stand dramatically and plop down in the seat next to Harry that was his own.

Harry looked at him with an arched eyebrow, but said nothing as he got to the matter at hand.

“I put together a list of our rules; both for hostages and group regulations. Repeat them for me if you will, Ms. Stone.” Harry requested coolly, eyes hardening when Louis cleared his throat and raised his hand.

“Actually, I put that together you credit stealer. Your ass couldn’t be arsed.” Louis let Sophia know, earning him a small laugh from the girl, their disagreement over breakfast forgotten.

Harry turned to Sophia with a hard glared, eyeing Louis.

“Actually, never mind that. First, we go over the cabin rules. Niall? Come join us, please. Liam?! Drag Zayn out here and join us will you?”

He didn’t hear a reply; instead, he looked at Niall, who was again leaning on the counter with his arms holding his head and dozing.

Harry cocked his head, eyeing the Irish bloke and standing from his chair again, grasping a glass and going to the sink, turning on the faucet and filling the cup.

He shut the water off when the glass was filled and dumped it over Niall’s head without regret.

Niall jerked awake with a start at the cold water and let out an exclamation, the water gagging him slightly.

Louis cocked his head in amusement of Harry’s actions, though he thought their leader was acting like a grade-A asshat, seeing as he’s never treated any of them as strict – or as crude. Not even Niall and they all knew how hard it was for him to wake up in the morning.

“When I call you, I expect you to come, Horan. Either that, instead of requesting your presence by name, I will simply whistle for you like as if you were a dog – clear?” Harry narrowed his eyes and slammed the glass down on the counter, turning around to sit down by Sophia.

Sophia was looking down to the paper with a frown. These rules were – pretty straight to the point.

Harry noticed Sophia’s intense look and smiled.

“While we’re waiting for the other two, read them aloud for me, will you Nightshade?” Harry requested, his tone easygoing, which was a step up from his no nonsense voice.

“Alright.” Sophia nodded, opening her mouth to start, Harry interrupting her before she could.

“Alright, what?” Harry hummed, making Louis shake his head.

“You’re the world’s biggest asshole, mate. Seriously? Are you going to degrade her like that? She’s supposed to be equal and you’re putting her down the totem pole; hell, she ranks lower than Niall and he’s the bloody cook.” Louis ranted, gesturing to Niall that had just come to the table to sit down, a look of tired defeat crossing his face.

“Yes, sir, alright, sir. I’ll read the rules.” Sophia interrupted, not wanting Louis getting it for opening his mouth, though Harry’s focus was now aimed at him and that wasn’t good.

“He does other things and I am not degrading Ms. Stone. I am training her so step off, Tomlinson and let me do what I have to do.” Harry glared, making Louis narrow his eyes.

“Louis, it’s alright. I can read.” Sophia stepped in, earning a look from Harry.

“I believe I requested that you address Louis and the rest of us formally. Why are you purposely disregarding my rules, Ms. Stone?” Harry turned back to Sophia.

Sophia opened her mouth to reply, but louis beat her to it.

“Because she’s more afraid of me than she is of you, mate. I yelled at her for degrading me down to a ‘sir’ if I wanted to be addressed as ‘sir’ I’d take your job you bloody wanker.” Louis ranted, making Harry’s eyes widen because damn all if Louis had ever spoken to him before like that.

Louis noticed and smirked.

“Doesn’t feel nice being talked down to like that, does it, curly? Don’t do it to her.” Louis pointed, making Sophia blush, because this was not going to end well for her either way.

“May I read the rules, sir?” Sophia ignored Louis, who was giving her a hard look of disapproval, making Harry glance at Louis with a smug look.

“You see, Lou? All it takes is a little bit of discipline training and they’ll do whatever you ask them to. Go on, luv. Let me hear them.” Harry hummed happily, Louis folding his arms across his chest.

RULES:

Follow orders; even if you might not agree.
Respect one another, respect other levels from different subdivisions. (I.E: Damien Styles)
Don’t Bring attention to yourself. Keep a low profile; (as in: No car chases, shoot em ups, or bomb detonations if the situation doesn’t call for it. This is not Grand theft auto.)
Do not fuck with cops. No kidnapping, no killing. Leave them alone.
Secrecy is golden. Do not give our names out, do not tell anyone which division you are with.
If there is a problem. You talk to the other lads or come to me.
The no rape policy still stands.
Do not forgive mistakes easily.
The leader of the gang wants results, not excuses.
Uphold the rules, reputation and regulations of your subdivision.
Some mistakes will get you killed. (Like taking the wrong hostage or robbing them and stealing their car.)
The more violent you are, the higher up in reputation you can obtain.
We take care of our own. If something is wrong that needs dealt with, we handle it swiftly and effectively.

Hostages Rules:

No relationships with the hostages; friendly or otherwise. Bonds are formed and it makes it harder when they have to be executed.
Last names only – using my discretion. Meaning if I call them by their first names, the rest of the group can as well.
Captors oversee the care of the captives. Keep them healthy unless they are waiters (I.E: People sent here just to die.)
No physical harm will come to the hostages unless the leader needs it to.
Do not break the rules. Breaking of rules will result in harsh punishments and/or termination.

Sophia’s voice was raw by the end of it, breaking off into a crack, glancing up at Harry, worry evident in her cold, lifeless eyes.

Harry was sneering by the time she finished, standing up to go to the stove and beginning to crack the eggs into the skillet that was practically on fire from Niall forgetting to turn it off.

“Still regret not leaving, Nightshade?” Harry asked gruffly, stabbing the yellow of the yolk with a fork and violently whipping it around so it was scrambled in with the egg white.

“Yes.” Sophia answered truthfully, a small tear making its way down her cheek.

Harry nodded.

“I thought you would. Too bad, you made your decision – better start getting settled with the idea that you’re possibly going to be in this gang until you die. Be it a month from now or twenty years from then. It was your decision and that is something you will have to live with.” Harry told her bluntly, picking up the milk and pouring some into the egg to fluff it up.

“I did it for you! I did it for them! I wanted to stay because I believed I was strong enough to help. I stayed because it was the right thing to do! Because I stupidly thought by staying that you would find another way out for me that didn’t involve risking your life or your own gang! YOU RISKED YOUR OWN MEMBERS FOR A STUPID GIRL! You risked it all for nothing – for a nothing. “Sophia trailed off, feeling her emotions soar to a level that was almost speechless.

The room was silent again, save for Harry’s constant egg stirring. One thing was for sure, Niall was awake now.

“Perhaps you’re right, Ms. Stone. Perhaps I risked it all for nothing, maybe, but that is really beside the point now, isn’t it? Bully for me, I’m a terrible leader because I tried to give someone a chance. Alright, grievance time is over. For both of us, time to move on. Sadly, I’m out of ideas and I’m not risking anything else to try to set a bird that wants her cage so bad, free. You get me, nightshade? I’m not your fucking prince. I’M YOUR FUCKING LEADER!” Harry finished with a yell and threw the hot skillet the egg was currently on into the wall with a loud smack.

“Niall? Clean it up and hurry up with breakfast. We have a long fucking d – “Harry paused when he saw Liam slowly dragging Zayn out down the hall…by his feet.

“What are you doing, Liam?” Harry demanded, hearing Liam grunt and drop Zayn’s feet, Zayn’s body faced downward onto his stomach.

“You told me to drag him out here if he didn’t come on his own, sir.” Liam said, trying to catch his breath.

“Oh for the love of Jesus Christ. I am surrounded by idiots.” Harry slammed his hand into his face, feeling a familiar migraine coming on.

Louis was out of his seat and helping Liam pick Zayn up from the ground and into his normal seat.

Zayn just sat there, eyes blinking in a daze.

Truth be told, none of them had ever seen the dark haired boy look so lost before. Not even when he was kept prisoner in a dog cage those many years ago. Back then he looked defiant and determined. Now? He looked to not even want to try.

“Zayn?” Louis tried, rubbing his shoulder, earning a glare from Harry.

This didn’t go unnoticed by Louis who glowered back.

“What do you want me to do, Harry? Slap him in the back of the head, beat on him and scream for him to get the fuck over it? The bloke’s hurting, have a fucking heart, Rudolf Hoss.” Louis snapped.

“I’m not a Nazi leader and you need to get a hold of yourself, Tomlinson. We need to get to work and I can’t have your fucking emotions running all over the place because this is going to be a very rough day for us, so kindly take a seat and get yourself in check.” Harry requested calmly, holding on to what little patience he had left.

“Nazi? Could have fooled me. You need to check yourself, Harry. I don’t know where all this is coming from – “Louis started, only for Harry to slam his hand on the table.

“FROM MY ARSE, ALRIGHT?! MY DIRECTIONS AS OF RIGHT NOW ARE COMING FROM MY ARSE SINCE NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR IT FROM MY MOUTH!” Harry hit back heatedly, making Louis pop up an eye brow.

“And you tell me I have issues, mate. You’re being ridiculous.” Louis addressed Harry’s outburst with equal calm.

“Sit down, Louis. If I hear one more word from you at this table, I will gladly lock you in your room for the day.” Harry threatened, gritting his teeth.

“More sleep! Later!” Louis waved, going to head back into his room.

“SIT DOWN!” Harry boomed standing up, looming at his full height and towering over Louis’s figure.

Louis rolled his eyes and walked around the table, plopping down in his own seat next to Harry with a bored look, hearing Niall swear when he accidently touched the still heated skillet.

“Careful Irish or you’ll have skin as bright as Harry’s face here.” Louis egged on, smiling at Harry’s slowly heating face.

“Louis!” Harry warned, turning so he was standing over the Doncaster boy.

“Yes, master? How may I serve you?” Louis quipped, folding his arms across his chest.

Sophia had eyes as wide as a doe.

“Y-you…” Harry was flustered; he was beyond flustered if one was being completely honest. So he decided to get control back into the situation and if he couldn’t get through to his second in command one way, he would have to result in getting through to him in another.

“Alright, play time is over. For what it’s worth, lass? Sorry it has to be you I make an example of.” Harry said, balling his fist back and punching Sophia so hard in the cheek that she did a violent flip right off her chair; not only that, he was sure she was going to have a bruised cheek at the end of the day.

Sophia let out a straggled cry; a sobbing one. That punch actually hurt, Harry didn’t hold back and she herself was surprised that he hadn’t broken or dislocated her jaw from the force.

Louis glared at their leader, still as stoic as ever.

“Feeling better, Harry? You just punched an innocent girl.” Louis taunted on, frowning deeper when Sophia just stayed on the ground in anguish.

He rose up to help her from the girl, but Harry was quicker and kicked Louis’s legs from him so he was back in his chair again.

“No. You caused this, you let her suffer. There is no making it up to her, no helping her. She needs to get control and she needs to get it without our coddling. I did what had to be done because you were undermining me. If you do that, I will in turn act accordingly. So do yourself a favor, Lou and behave, yeah?” Harry narrowed pointedly, glancing at Sophia.

“Yeah, asshat. I get it.” Louis snapped, fitting his arms over his chest again.

“Louis,” Liam murmured shaking his head, eyeing Harry as he bent down and grasped Sophia’s hair, pulling her brutally back in the chair he so brutally knocked her from. “Harry, this isn’t a good way to handle the situation. Come on, lad, use your brain.”

Harry gritted his teeth, jerking Sophia’s head back violently, releasing her completely.

“Alright, Liam. I’ll leave the little princess alone, but pop quiz for you mate.” Harry challenged, sitting down to calm down.

Liam gestured out, eyeing Zayn in concern, his sights had set on Sophia and he predicted this was not going to end well in the next half minute.

“Who is not in charge, not significant in even the slightest of decisions to matter and just gave me a suggestion?” Harry asked, his tone surprisingly back to calm.

“Me, but what good is the lass if she is dead, Harry? You don’t know how hard a hit she can take before losing conscious or if you are too blunt, what happens if you throw one too many and she hemorrhages out? You cannot keep giving her blow after blow. A female’s body is not as strongly built as a male’s and will break down faster. So if you want to put the girl out of her misery, by all means, do it with a bloody gun. Otherwise, my medical opinion still stands on the matter, sir.” Liam spat the last word out with venom.

Harry cocked his head, a grin slowly appearing on his face.

“I see the doctor has finally grown some balls. Well done, Liam. Fine, I’ll go easy with her – child’s gloves and all that bullocks. Comfort her when her female emotions get too much, teach her it’s okay to be weak when fighting – because that ensures her survival.” Harry responded in brute sarcasm.

“Harry? Anybody ever tell you that you aren’t funny? I am king of wit around here, man. You’re king of arseholes. Let’s try not to forget our places, huh?” Louis mocked.

Harry surprisingly chuckled, his dark green eyes lightening just a tad.

“Yeah, mate. Let’s not forget our place.” Harry agreed, the back of his hand swinging back and slapping across Sophia’s face, throwing her head to the side.

Harry caught the corner of her lip, making it bleed.

Sophia was in so much pain that she couldn’t even find the strength to cry out. She sat there and silently took it. It was a deserving punishment for her stupidity for not going with Andros and Lily.

Louis’s fist tightened, but he was smart enough not to reply anything more on the matter. Harry won and he respectively stepped down so Sophia would stop being hurt for his arrogance.

“I see we are learning; good. I shouldn’t have any further problems around here then with insubordinate behavior, agree?” Harry nodded, the silence around the table at a tense standstill, no one moving – except for Niall, who was running his ass double-time around the kitchen making breakfast.

Liam looked into Zayn’s eyes, their murky browns were slowly becoming very vibrant – which meant that Zayn was getting pissed and his source of agitation was the black haired-red head.

“Harry? All that aside, you might not have to worry about her fighting today or any other day, Zayn’s about to smoke her where she sits.” Liam warned, just as Zayn stood up.

Quick as a flash, before anyone could stop him, his knife was out and slung back.

Sophia panicked, flipping to the floor just as it made contact with the back of her chair – right in the middle of where her heart would have been.

“I see her reflexes work well.” Harry observed, Liam grabbing hold of the dark haired bloke and attempting to restrain him.

Louis leaped from his chair, across the table and helped Liam bring Zayn back down to sit, his hands forced behind him, both men gaining control before carnage could be spilled from the already abused girl.

“MURDERER!” Zayn shouted, attempting to get back up to try his luck again.

Louis was quick to reach back behind Zayn and take his other knife, leaving him thankfully armless for the most part.

Harry cocked his head.

“A murderer or a savior, Zayn?” He antagonized.

“Murderer.” Zayn gritted his teeth, muscles tensing against the men behind him, teeth gritted, head down and teeth bared. He looked absolutely deranged with the molten lava brown eyes and the livid glow of his complexion that heated with his anger.

“Mur-der-er.” Spaced out slow so he could be understood and indeed Harry did understand because he simply nodded and snapped his fingers.

“Lou, Liam? Take Zayn back to his room and give him a sedative. Not one to make him pass out, but one that will calm his ass down to a tolerable level, hm?” Harry gestured down the hallway, using his other hand to reach behind him and take out a few zip ties, throwing them across the table. “Put him in these until he can act civil. I don’t want anyone hurt.”

“Maybe we all need a dose of calm shots around here.” Louis muttered, wrestling Zayn from the chair and grabbing the zip ties, helping Liam force the dark haired bloke back to his room.

Harry reached forward and dug the knife from the back of the chair, looking at it in examination before taking the handle and throwing it forward, causing Sophia to duck again, the blade imbedding into the wall.

“You seem to be good with aim now, I want to determine exactly how good,” Harry told her, watching her look at the blade that stuck out from the wall.

“What would you have me do, sir?” Sophia stared, standing from the floor.

“Take it from the wall, meet me over here and throw it into the exact hole I made.” Harry requested her, smiling at the way her feeble hand shook when she took the knife from the wall and looked at the blade, realizing it almost struck her in the heart.

She shook her head and walked back to Harry, eyeing the hole and raised the knife above with her good arm, flipping the handle forward in controlled motion – something Andros had taught her.

The blade landed in the hole.

She smiled proudly, frowning when Harry went over to the wall and plucked the knife out, coming to stand back behind Sophia.

“Good, but now let’s see how you do blinded.” Harry challenged, his hand over hers, forcing the knife into her palm and his other hand over her eyes.

“I can’t do it blinded.” Sophia insisted, making Harry press a little harder on her eyes.

“Maybe not, but allow me to make that conclusion myself, nightshade.” Harry told her, watching her knife go up, the notion a little off center.

She threw the knife the same time she heard footstep, the handle already out of her hand to try and grab it back.

“Momma’s smurf cookies! Fuck my great grandmother’s chicken! FUCK A DUCK!” Louis exclaimed, dropping to the floor as a soft thwack hit the wall simultaneously.

“Good thing you got good reflexes, Louis.” Harry smirked, making Louis glare up at him.

“Eat chicken chunks and cluck, arsehat.” Louis growled, standing from the ground as Harry took his hand from Sophia’s eyes.

“As you can see, you missed…and almost put the dagger through Louis’s family jewels. How do you think on a scale from one to ten you did?” Harry asked Sophia, a little disappointed that she was good on aim, but not on blind target practice.

“A negative twenty, sir,” Sophia responded, eyeing Louis. “Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry; just be observant where you stand and where your potential threat is. At some point, you’re not going to have a clear view and you will have to know what you’re trying to stab.” Harry explained, putting the knife back in her hand and covering her eyes.

Louis ran back behind Harry so he wasn’t in immediate danger anymore.

“Focus on where you were aiming, remember what you are trying to stab.” Harry encouraged, watching her good arm rise back and fly forward, the same time as Liam’s step foots came through.

Louis flinched, seeing Liam fall backwards to avoid the knife, the blade landing into the hole she made earlier – which also almost took out Liam’s family crests.

“Fuck me, mate! What the – “Liam breathed, Louis coming to stand above him with a frown, helping the doctor to his feet and turning towards Harry.

“Liam and Louis are going bye-bye now. If she’s in a car, has a gun or anything that’s pointy – we don’t want near her until she can use said toys properly.” Louis said outright, going towards the back where his safe room was located at.

“Get back here, Louis.” Harry beckoned, making Louis halt his path to the back and go towards the front door.

Harry took the knife from the wall and flung it an inch above Louis’s head, the blade sticking into the wood of the door.

“Cheese and goldfish! ALRIGHT! I’m going to London. If you insist I help teach her I’m renting a full metal knights costume for the month on your credit card because unlike you, I value my extremities and little Louis and want to have kids one day and I’m sure Liam is with me on the matter too!” Louis argued, grabbing the knife and plucking it from the wall harshly, placing it safely back in his pocket.

Liam sat down in his seat and chose to instead observe the three-way disagreement between Louis, Sophia and their leader.

“Don’t be dramatic, Louis. The blade was at least half a centimeter from hitting you. You ducked, those are fast reflexes and good to have. Harry reasoned, looking at Sophia.

Sophia looked almost ashamed, but at least Harry wasn’t degrading her at the moment.

Niall was putting the eggs onto the plates while eyeing the group with a shake of his tired head.

“Well, it’s a bloody good thing I do, huh?!” Louis exclaimed, slamming his hand against the wall before simply choosing to close his eyes.

“Louis? Take Ms. Stone outside, please. We are about to show her how to shoot. I can see her knifing has improved and we’ll get back to that, but I need her to learn how to shoot as that is the weapon we carry and what her main one will be for survival,” Harry ignored Louis’s panic, turning to the kitchen and speaking to Niall. “Niall? Put our food on a hotplate and keep it warm. We’ll be back in a few hours.”

Sophia noticed that Louis looked about ready to cry.

“I think I’d rather her try to drive. Hell, I’ll teach her! Harry, this is not going to end well. I can dodge many things, but a bullet is not one of them.” Louis tried to talk sense into Harry, but he only pushed Sophia forward and gestured for her to go.

Sophia hesitated, but walked outside, her hand brushing against Louis comfortingly.

“Fuck my great Aunt Cecilia. Fuck my life. Fuck my ca – “His voice fading as he went out and shut the door behind him, fucking random things as he walked further away.

Liam just shook his head and watched Harry go down the hall, most likely to check on Zayn.

“What’s for breakfast?” Liam asked Niall, seeing Niall was dumping Sophia and Louis’s plate into another portion, bringing two plates to the table and handing one to Liam.

Liam eyed Niall and he in turn could only shrug.

“Well, I look at it this way; she almost took Louis out – more than a few times. You a few times – nearly decapitated us all with a knife in the backyard, do you really think Louis is third time lucky?” Niall reasoned, beginning to eat the extra food.

Liam snorted and began to eat as well.

“Good point. I’ll keep my medical kit close with me today.” Liam agreed.

“Brill idea, mate. You do that and I’ll sit here and enjoy the spoils of my work.” Niall concurred.

Liam squinted and noticed Niall’s hair was wet, raising his eye brow.

“Speaking of lad, why are you drowned?” Liam wondered, his hand going to Niall and picking at a hair sticking out of its place, the tip damp with water.

Niall swallowed some of his food and looked tiredly at Liam.

“Well, I learned that trying to fall asleep in the kitchen is like falling asleep at a childcare center. Some of the mean kids won’t be nice and Harry’s top of the class bully right now, mate.” Niall explained simply, hearing footsteps come from down the hall and back into the kitchen.

They both eyed Harry, a nerf ball gun in his left hand and a real one in his right.

He turned toward them, looking down with them to eye the ball shooter.

“I can hear Louis out there slamming his head or fist into a tree and fucking things. I figure for his peace of mind that we can practice with something non-lethal first and work our way up from there.” Harry explained.

“Good idea.” Liam nodded, watching Harry follow after Louis and Sophia to the paths.

When the door closed after their leader, both members’ eyed one another.

“So, window or porch?” Niall asked, standing up and taking his plate to the window to look out, Liam standing to follow a second later.

“Window, safer that way.” Liam concluded, making Niall pull the blinds back.

“Agr – wow, good thing that was the nerf gun, holy shit.”

Liam leaned in closer to Niall to get a look – Louis was on the ground, holding his nuts and looked to be swearing…possibly crying.

“Holy crap is right, Harry decided to use his brains for once or Lou’s boner muscle might never be the same.” Liam cringed.

Niall snorted.

“Between you and me, mate? With Sophia around, I don’t think little Lou is ever going to be the same. He’s going to be sterile within a year.” Niall laughed, continuing to watch the spectacle.

“I bet you twenty pounds he lasts at least two years.” Liam challenged, also not willing to look away at the train wreck.

“You’re on.” Niall shook the doctor’s hand and cringed when Louis got shot in the head with one of the balls.

“Ouch.” Liam flinched, almost feeling sorry for the second in command…almost also being the key word.

“For sure.” Niall agreed, picking his fork up to continue to eat.

Notes