Bloody Sunset

by Gwendolyn Harper

  Caitlin ducked her head, careful not to play it too eager.

  “I wouldn’t want to burden you.”

  “It’s not a burden,” Seth countered gently. “Especially not for you.”

  Loop and knot…

  “He just…” She swallowed. “It’s like nothing I say matters.” Lifting her gaze to his, she added, “You know, I told him that the fence at the school was a hazard. I tried to convince him to tell the elected officials, and you know what he said? That I was being too sensitive. That I should let the people in charge handle it because I didn’t know what I was talking about.”

  Seth shook his head in disgust. “And look what happened.”

  “Exactly,” she said, reaching to grab his forearm.

  She spotted his instant delight at the touch and knew it was the right call.

  “Look what happened,” she repeated, leaning closer. “First there was a swarm of Geeks and then the fire…” She sniffed, looking away. “I knew something bad would happen and no one listened.”

  “Sometimes we have to make people listen,” Seth said. “It isn’t enough to tell them what we know, we have to show them.”

  “Well someone clearly showed the officials,” she said. “I don’t care what Booker or the others say, the fire wasn’t an accident.”

  Seth stared at her, breath frozen in his lungs for a moment.

  “You think?”

  Caitlin nodded. “Absolutely. There’s no way it was just a lit cigarette left in a trash can. But Booker expects me to just go along with that story.”

  Seth shifted his weight, and she noticed how fidgety he became. But it wasn’t a need to run.

  More like a need to share.

  Loop and knot… Loop and knot…

  “Can I tell you something awful?” Caitlin whispered, tugging on Seth’s wrist.

  His eyes widened and he nodded.

  “I kind of think the person who set the fires is a hero,” she murmured, holding his gaze. “They were just trying to get everyone to pay attention. To see the weak spots in our defenses. They were just doing what no one else was willing to do. That’s what a hero does, right?”

  Turning his arm in her hold, he slipped his hand into hers, gripping her fingers like a vice.

  “Can I tell you a secret of my own?” He asked, voice trembling.

  Loop, knot, set the trap…

  “Of course,” Caitlin urged.

  Seth licked his lips, a grin toying at the corner of his mouth.

  “I… I set the fires,” he said, releasing his breath in a rush. “I knew we’d never be safe there. Everyone kept overlooking the obvious—the fence, the lack of security, how untrained everyone was. It was just a matter of time.”

  Caitlin clutched his hand in hers.

  “So, you showed them,” she murmured.

  Seth smiled. “Yeah. I did.”

  Got him.

  As Caitlin stared, she struggled to keep up her adoring façade as grief and anger twisted in her gut, making bile rise to the back of her throat.

  “I knew you’d understand,” Seth continued. “I knew the moment we got to talk back at the first tent city we set up. I knew you were special.”

  Just as he tilted forward, reaching for her, a sharp, high whistle sounded from above them.

  Booker.

  Taking her chance, Caitlin grabbed Seth by the shoulders and kneed him in the groin with all her might.

  Yelling out in pain, Seth folded over and dropped to the ground.

  Backing away, Caitlin twisted to scan the roof of the trailer.

  “Y’alright?” Booker called, scrambling to climb down.

  From the left of them, Nathaniel ran over, rushing Seth and checking him for weapons.

  “I’m fine,” Caitlin gasped.

  As soon as his boots touched earth, she bolted for Booker, nearly leaping into his arms.

  “You got it,” she breathed, kissing him firmly. “You knew what I was doing.”

  Booker grinned down at her, broad palm resting on the side of her neck.

  “’Course I did,” he said. “Y’never call me Jack when you’re truly pissed at me.”

  Relief made her giddy and Caitlin pressed her lips to his, eternally grateful the man could read her like a well-loved book.

  “Addin’ the ‘jackass’ at the end helped too,” he told her. “Might as well be your version of ‘darlin’.”

  A raspy laugh escaped her, and Booker pressed a kiss to her forehead.

  “Like I said, songbird,” he whispered. “Y’tell me in your own way.”

  Grunting as he was pulled to his feet, Seth glowered at them.

  “Tell the others we need to have a meeting,” Nathaniel said. “I’m going to make sure Seth here is comfortable for his sentencing.”

  As he dragged him off, Seth glared at Caitlin.

  “You’ve made a mistake,” he whispered to her. “A huge mistake.”

  “Save it for someone who shares your delusion,” she retorted.

  Taking her by the hand, Booker rubbed away the lingering sensations of Seth holding onto her.

  It had been a small price to pay for the win they desperately needed.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “What the hell are we going to do with him?”

  Luna scowled down at Seth where he sat in the middle of the outdoor gathering area, surrounded by the people he’d betrayed.

  “He committed murder,” Caitlin said. “What do you think we should do with him?”

  “Technically it would be manslaughter,” Scott countered with a hesitant glance in her direction. “His actions caused the deaths of over a dozen people, but he didn’t kill them himself.”

  Nicole frowned at her husband. “And what about Donna? She was turned before the fire.”

  “Did he confess to killing Donna?” Luna asked.

  Nathaniel shook his head. “Only to setting the fires. And now he’s not talking at all.”

  Seth shifted on the rusty metal bench they’d forced him to sit on while they discussed his fate, but didn’t respond. He hadn’t spoken since they’d dragged him back to the other’s announcing his guilt.

  With a curt grunt, Booker strode forward, going to stand in front of Seth.

  “Wanna give us the run down?” He asked, staring down at him.

  When Seth only glanced up and smirked, Booker’s expression darkened. Squatting down, he pegged Seth with a glare sharp enough to cut glass.

  “Y’wanna know what I think?” He started, tone even but no less lethal. “I think y’didn’t have the balls to kill Donna. Settin’ those fires in the middle of the night, while e’r’ybody slept, that was as yellabellied as I’ve ever seen. Kinda man that’s gotta sneak around to do that ain’t gonna have the guts to take a person’s life while lookin’ ‘em in the eyes.”

  For a moment, Caitlin thought Booker’s provoking would work. The fire in Seth’s stare begged to be set loose, but he kept his mouth shut.

  Booker knew better than to ease up though. A man would always crack under the right circumstances.

  “Bet ya did a lot of sneakin’ around, huh?” Booker narrowed his gaze on him. “Y’like watching people, Seth? Like peerin’ around corners and through windows, lookin’ at people while they ain’t payin’ attention?” Shifting his weight forward, Booker leaned his elbows into the tops of his knees. “Y’like watching people in bed together?” he asked with a threatening whisper. “Pretendin’ it’s you being touched, you with your hands all over a woman, makin’ her feel good, when y’know you’d never get to have her.”

  Seth’s resolve broke.

  “You don’t deserve her,” he snapped, grabbing Booker by the front of the shirt and shaking him. “You’re just some dumb hick! She’s too good for—”

  In two long strides, Caitlin was behind Seth.

  Yanking her revolver free from the back of her jeans, she pressed the muzzle to the back of his skull and pulled back the hammer with a menacing click.
>
  “Get your hands off my husband,” she ordered.

  Seth froze.

  “Now.”

  Releasing his hold, Seth lifted his hands in surrender.

  Booker simply smirked and brushed the wrinkles from his shirt.

  “I got the rope,” Max announced, running towards them.

  Booker stood up. “Just in time.”

  Caitlin didn’t lower her weapon until Seth’s wrists were securely tied.

  He was lucky she didn’t have the inclination to commit murder herself that day, or his brains would have been blown across the wintry ground.

  Coming to stand at her side, Booker asked quietly, “Y’alright?”

  “Yeah,” she said, unsure how true it was yet. “Told you someone was watching us that night.”

  “Mhm. Put two ‘n’ two together pretty quick.”

  Seth went back to sitting in silence after that. He wouldn’t admit to any other crimes, but that didn’t sway people from believing he was capable of the rest.

  After another discussion regarding exactly how to handle him, Luna and the other elected officials decided to call for a vote.

  The options were simultaneously simple and wrought with repercussions.

  Exile. Imprisonment.

  Or death.

  Sister Agnes refused to cast her vote, saying she wasn’t comfortable trying to outrun the Lord’s will.

  Caitlin didn’t realize she’d voted until her hand raised and she glanced around at the others who thought as she did.

  The majority ruled.

  Seth would be put to death for his actions the next morning.

  * * * * * * *

  Caitlin couldn’t sleep.

  She stared up at the peeling laminate of the trailer ceiling, listening to Desi’s shallow breaths as she slumbered between her and Booker.

  Something nagged at her—a frayed end she couldn’t let go untied.

  Seth had saved her.

  One could have argued his admission of wanting to prove the group’s failings was exactly why he set the fire, but where did that leave the Geek swarm? Donna being turned and left in a closet to either rot or be sprung free, just like she and Nicole had done?

  The motives didn’t add up and if they were going to put the man to death, she felt the least they could do was give him a chance to explain himself.

  It was risky, but she knew he’d talk to her. His outburst at Booker had proven he still had some feelings towards her.

  What those feelings were exactly she wasn’t sure.

  As quietly as she could, Caitlin extricated herself from the blankets and crawled out of bed.

  “Songbird?” Booker mumbled, groggily turning to search for her in the dark.

  “Shh, it’s okay,” she whispered, pulling on her shoes. “Just need to relieve myself.”

  Grunting some word of acceptance, Booker rolled back over, hand gently smoothing over Desi’s hair, assuring him she was still safe and sound.

  Slipping out of the trailer, Caitlin yanked her coat on, folding her arms across her middle to brace herself against the cold.

  In the light of the full moon, she could see tiny swaying figures in the distance, roaming across the Oklahoma plain.

  Geeks. Only three or four and most likely deterred by the smell of their dispatched brethren they’d lined up along the front of the trailer park.

  Still, it was a haunting reminder of the world they inhabited now.

  No government, no laws, no civilization.

  The balance of transgressions and punishments was much more severe.

  To endanger the living made you no better than the dead that walked the earth.

  Caitlin wondered where that put her, as the path she firmly strode upon was littered with good intentions.

  Reaching the door to Nathaniel’s trailer, she knocked softly.

  When the door swung open, she blinked.

  “Sister Agnes,” Caitlin blurted out. “I wasn’t expecting… I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”

  “No, it’s alright,” Sister Agnes said with a smile. “Nathaniel and the others are bunking with Luna for the night. No one felt comfortable sleeping with a prisoner in their home.”

  “And you’re here because…?”

  Sister Agnes tilted her head. “Well, I suppose I was the most trusted not to murder him myself once we were alone together.”

  “Makes sense.”

  Folding up the piece of cloth she was stitching, Sister Agnes stared at her for a moment. “Did you come for Nathaniel, or for someone else?”

  Caitlin took a deep breath. “I need to talk to him. Seth.”

  Sister Agnes stepped aside, letting her in.

  A single hurricane lamp was lit on the small dining area table, but the glow illuminated the whole trailer.

  “Seth, you have a visitor,” Sister Agnes announced.

  With his forehead on his hands, Seth was slumped over a card table set up on the other side of the room. Slowly, he lifted himself, eyeing Caitlin curiously.

  He still didn’t say anything.

  “I’ll give you a little privacy,” Sister Agnes said, collecting her sewing. “I’ll just be in the bedroom.”

  The look she gave Caitlin was a silent ‘just in case.’

  Taking a seat on the edge of the motheaten recliner left by people who were probably long gone, she stared at Seth for a long time, waiting for the words to find her.

  “Why?” It was so quiet, she barely heard herself.

  “Why what?”

  She scowled. “Don’t play dumb.”

  “I already told you why,” Seth said, shifting his bound wrists on the table. “Though it was all for naught.”

  “You told me why you set the fire,” she said, leaning forward. “But you didn’t tell me why you did the rest.”

  “The rest…” He squinted at her in the dim light. “Seems ill advised to incriminate myself further.”

  “You’re going to be shot tomorrow,” she said plainly. “Do you really have anything to lose?”

  Seth grinned. “Glad to see you still won’t mince words.”

  Caitlin continued to wait, staring him down until Seth finally relented.

  “I started collecting rotters the week we moved to the school,” he said. “The shack was right there, and no one bothered to secure it. Lazy and ineffectual,” he muttered.

  Digging her thumbnail into her palm, she forced her expression to seem neutral. The last thing she wanted was for him to clam up on her.

  “The gap in the fence was practically begging to be utilized,” he continued. “It was a perfect funnel. I just had to wait.” He smirked. “No one asked questions about where I went—hell, no one even noticed I was gone for hours at a time. I never joined a work detail, everyone just assumed I had because I was eager to help elsewhere. So I didn’t have to report to anyone and no one thought I was missing.”

  Caitlin chewed the inside of her bottom lip, listening to her hunches be proven.

  “Honestly, the hardest part was trapping the bait. Animals are much smarter than we give them credit for,” he said. “But once I had enough rotters to make my point, I left little appetizers in a trail right to the main course and let them go.”

  “You were with us in the courtyard,” she said. “You…”

  She couldn’t bring herself to say it aloud.

  “Edward saw me at the start of the swarm,” he answered. “It would have seemed suspicious if I suddenly just disappeared.”

  Caitlin noticed how he glanced away as he explained himself, and she knew there was more to it.

  “Were you hoping someone died?” She asked.

  Seth shrugged. “Didn’t matter to me. Would have made my point faster if we’d lost a few people. Too bad your beau decided to play hero.”

  Play hero. It was an interesting distinction from someone who considered himself an actual hero.

  “Why Donna?” She asked, knowing it would catch him a little off guard.<
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  Seth tilted his head. “She was a witness,” he said. “She saw me coming out of their bunk and I knew once the knife and boots were found, she’d tell someone she saw me around. Anybody with several braincells to rub together would ask if anyone else had been inside. So… I told her you asked for her help.”

  Caitlin’s stomach dropped.

  “She really liked you,” he added. “Respected you. Anything you needed, and Donna was right there. It made getting her off school grounds easy.”

  She was certain she’d draw blood if she didn’t pull her nail away from her skin.

  “Once she was bit by the rotter I’d found stuck in the briars, I wrapped a gag around her mouth so no one would hear her and brought her into the locker rooms from the field entrance.” He shifted forward on his elbows. “You know, I actually thought you saw me that day. You were in the gym as I came out and you were staring at me through the window.”

  An icy finger dragged over Caitlin’s spine.

  The day she’d almost gone to check the locker rooms after she saw him leave.

  “But why not just kill her?” Caitlin asked. “If you were so concerned about your secret getting out, why not just kill her and dump her body?”

  Seth grinned. “I needed a Plan C.”

  Frowning, Caitlin waited for him to explain.

  “Plan A was the swarm. Plan B was the fire. And if that hadn’t worked, I would have let undead Donna loose in the halls at night to munch on as many people as she could before the screams woke everyone.”

  She swallowed, trying not to show how sick she felt.

  “And before you ask,” Seth added. “I picked Bob to frame because he was annoying. Simple as that. Annoying and cheery and he sang way too loud in the goddamn showers.”

  “Too bad you didn’t notice Bob is lefthanded,” she replied sharply.

  Seth chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll admit that was a sloppy mistake. You caught it though, which was kind of thrilling.”

  “Thrilling?” She repeated, blinking at him.

  “Not every day you meet someone smart enough to give a good chase,” he said. “I like a challenge, Caitlin. And you delivered.”

  “So this is how you wanted to spend your days while the world crumbled. By playing psychopathic games and getting people killed.”

  “We’re all living on borrowed time,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, this was going to happen eventually.”