Dog Blood

flat on her back in the middle of the van, chained to the front seats with her mouth gagged and her wrists, legs, and ankles bound together with plastic-covered clothesline, is Ellis. She’s awake and alert, her beautiful brown eyes darting from Lizzie to me and back again. She looks straight at me, but I’m not sure if she remembers. Dressed only in a dirty gray undershirt and panties, her tiny body is covered in cuts, scratches, and bruises. Lizzie leans over her, and she immediately reacts, arching away from her, then trying to lunge forward and attack. The longer I look at her, the less familiar she becomes. She sobs and whines through the gag like a frightened animal.
    Lizzie, Ellis, and me all together again. I never dared dream this would really happen. Suddenly the noise of the battles outside and the helicopters and explosions don’t seem to matter. Everything that I have left is in the back of this van. I swing my backpack off my shoulders and open it up. I pull out Ellis’s doll, and Lizzie takes it from me and holds it close, tears running down her face.
    “You went back?” She whispers.
    “Looking for you,” I tell her.
    Lizzie moves Ellis’s wild, unkempt hair away from her eyes and tries to show her the doll. She recoils from her mother’s touch, desperately trying to pull away. Lizzie seems unfazed. I guess she must be used to this now. Ellis’s eyes show no recognition, no understanding.
    “It would have been easier on everyone if she’d just stayed with you,” she admits, “but how was I to know after what you did?”
    “I know.”
    “I didn’t even realize she was like you until a couple of days after you’d gone. I didn’t expect it, didn’t even think it could happen. One minute she was sitting there with her brothers, the next… I was out of the room for less than five minutes. I came back in and saw her with Edward…”
    She starts sobbing, tears dripping down onto Ellis, who wriggles and squirms as if they’re corrosive acid drops.
    “Why did this have to happen, Danny?” she asks. She knows I can’t give her the answers she wants.
    “It wasn’t because of anything you did or didn’t do. None of us could control it or predict it…”
    She smiles and wipes her eyes. “Remember how hard we used to think we had it? How frustrated we used to get with the kids…?”
    “How could I forget?”
    “You hated your job, I couldn’t stand being with the children, Dad was sick of bailing us out all the time…”
    “I know. I remember.”
    “I’d do anything to have it all back how it was.”
    She’s right. In spite of everything, sitting here with her and with Ellis lying between us, part of me knows she’s right.
    “I wish I could be back there,” she continues, reaching down and resting her hand on Ellis’s shoulder. Ellis flinches and tries to roll away, but Lizzie ignores her violent reaction. “You, me, Ellis, and the boys in the kitchen of our shitty little apartment, fighting over the TV or who’d eaten whose candy or something stupid like that…”
    “Me, too,” I say quietly, surprising myself with my admission. Another explosion reverberates around the garage, followed by the sound of dust and debris raining down on the roof of the van. This van is like a cocoon, temporarily isolating us from the chaos of the rest of the world, but I can hear the intensity of the fighting outside continuing to increase.
    “We can’t stay here,” I tell her. “It’s not safe.”
    “I know.”
    “I have to go. I have to take her with me and get her away.”
    Lizzie nods and wipes her eyes again. She looks down at Ellis and smiles, then crouches down next to her and picks up the knife she was carrying. Ellis tries to lunge at her, the chains still holding her back. For a split second I think Lizzie’s going to attack her, but I watch her face and I know that she won’t. She can’t. She removes the clothesline that has been wrapped around Ellis’s legs, then slides the long blade between her bare ankles and draws it up, cutting through the plastic ties that hold her tight. Ellis immediately reacts, kicking out at Lizzie with incredible, unrestrained fury and anger.
    “What are you doing? Get out of here, Liz. Just go-”
    “Hold her, Danny.”
    I lift Ellis up, her legs still thrashing, and wrap my arms around her chest as Lizzie removes the padlock and chains that have kept her anchored to the floor of the van. Her ferocity and strength are remarkable,