A glimmer of hope

                                    

                                          
I love you.
Those were the final words she witnessed his lips silently form, his usually stoic disposition faltering and morphing into one of defeat.
Every second after became a messy blur. Her own lips may have responded to his final admission but she couldn't be sure. She wasn't sure of anything at this stage as her pounding heart sank further and further, her bounded arms doing everything they could to shield Lily from the view that was inevitably about to entail. Hugging the small child's front as tightly against her as possible, that little girl being the only barrier protecting her mothers heart from slipping out of her chest completely. 
All she could do was watch in horror as one viscous strike to the back of the head had him collapsed face down with a pained grunt. Left to observe the murder of her husband helplessly as acidic tears once again burned her eyes and scorched her tender cheeks. What could she do? There was a loaded barrel still pressed into the side of her temple and their small child in her arms. 
Lily is your number one priority, always. His words from Boise coming to mind. She had to keep Lily safe, no matter the cost... Trying to fight back now would only result in the loss of her own life... would result in Lily having no parents... These fuckers were not going to have the satisfaction of raising their daughter as a part of their little militia group, over her dead body... and so she was left incapacitated. Left screaming for mercy from the sidelines. 
"Get up!" She screeched as further blows began to rain down, one after another.
Lily managed to squirm her head around in her grasp, just enough for the young child to catch a glimpse of the scene unfolding ahead of her. A shrill scream followed by a series of frightened wails as she clasped ahold of Ava's shirt as tightly as her little fists would allow.
"No, no, no, baby. Don't look- You can't-" Ava sobbed as she attempted to cocoon her body around the small girl, doing everything in her limited power to prevent her daughter from witnessing the savage killing of her father. Her own burning red eyes darting back up to her husband along with wet ghostly white cheeks, a manic chant escaping over and over for him to get up, "Get up!...Joel, get the fuck up! Baby, ple-ea-se get up. You can't- I beg- Please- Please stop!"
She felt invisible, as if she was looking in from the outside. Each plea from her lips going ignored. Abby continued to viscously strike over and over again. His crimson covering the hard wedge of the club, dripping onto the floor and wet matted within his hair. The muscles that once flinched with each strike fell still, his body left lifeless on the asphalt surface splattered with his own warm blood.
She could feel the bile rising in her scratched throat. Her mind dizzy and turning to delirium, a hard fight to stay coherent for her little girl. Her little girl that clung onto her, traumatised and scared. Her little girl that she had to protect and keep safe.
Numbness. That's what her body fell victim to. Her arms continuing to squeeze her small daughter into her chest but her vacant eyes gazed tortured and empty at Joel's lifeless form, silent tears still soaking her cheeks and dripping steadily onto the dark hair of Lily's head. The cavity where her warm heart once belonged now a dark chilled void.
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"I mean it. I'm done with his shit." Ellie spoke flatly as she traipsed along behind Tess. The hardened woman a couple of steps ahead as they moved their way through the old concrete jungle. 
Her sighing as she continued to trudge forward, Ellie's constant droning beginning to sound like a broken record to her ears. "You keep saying..."
They knew they were close or at least that the other three had passed through. Tommy's horse being left behind in a paddock just outside the old QZ walls was as good an indicator as any. The two woman deeming it a good idea to discard their own animals in the same patch of contained ground as they entered the depths of the once vibrant city.