Shadow of Nevermore

by Lilly Black

  She locked Rundo in an icy stare.

  "You showed the world what a worthless piece of shit you truly are! You're garbage, Rundo. You've always known it, and even though you had the opportunity to be a part of building something there like they've built here, you decided to just keep on being the sorry motherfucker you are.

  "But I digress. I was telling you what I was going to do to you. You see, there's no point in ass-raping you with a broom handle because you already know what that feels like. You sorry fucks weren't the biggest and baddest that prison had to offer. You're just a couple of scrawny, little pissants compared to men who turned zombie in their cells. You know the men I'm talking about. The men who bent you weak, little fuckers over and used your assholes for pussies!"

  Rundo struggled in his bonds, shouting behind his gag, and she pulled it down around his neck so he could talk.

  "Fuck you, Frisco, you stupid whore! You don't know what you're talking about!" he spat, but the tears in his eyes betrayed him.

  "I don't know what I'm talking about?" she demanded. "I don't know? I was the one who took you to the infirmary when you were bleeding out your rectum, motherfucker. Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. What I don't get is how you could turn around and do that same thing to all those innocent women. You see, if I do to you tonight what you did to me night after night at the prison, that's justice, but I sure as fuck would never do that to anyone who didn't deserve it like you did. You all could've been kings. You could've had women volunteer to be with you for the first time in your pathetic lives because unlike most of the people out there, you had a good set up at the prison. Women aren't looking for perfection anymore. We're just looking for protection, a little something to eat. We're not even picky. Hell, I'm a lesbian, and I'd fuck a dude for security these days.

  "But you went down the wrong path, Rundo, and where you fucked up - where you really fucked up - is taking the wrong woman down that path with you because now that I have the upper hand, you're going to pay for what you've done with your favorite currency."

  A woman on a mission, she moved his former gag to cover his eyes because she didn't want him to see what was coming, yet she desperately wanted to hear his screams. She undid his pants, yanking them and his underwear down to his knees, and as Aiden hid and recorded everything, he made sure to get Olivia in the shot, standing idly by and not intervening as Frisco grabbed the man's genitals. Then instead of slicing it off like he had expected, she began stroking it, and while no one watching believed her efforts would be rewarded given the punishment his crotch had taken tonight, gradually, he began to grow hard.

  "You see, this is how you're going to understand what you did to us," she said, and with his fully erect penis in her hand, she raised her freshly-sharpened knife and sliced it off. Blood gushed out, covering her as Rundo let out a scream unlike anything any of them had ever heard before. It echoed through the hills, and Brock, whose only punishment thus far was having to witness what was happening to Rundo, began to beg behind his gag.

  "You got something to say?" Frisco asked as she slipped his gag downward. Her hands were covered in Rundo's blood, and as it filled Brock's nostrils, he began to wretch. Then he vomited, causing Frisco to have to jump back.

  "Goddamn it!" Frisco shouted. "So much for the Viagra."

  "Viagra?" he asked.

  "You didn't really think anyone was giving you a pain pill, did you? You're fucking monsters. This entire community voted to have you and what you had created at that prison destroyed," she said, and as he watched, Aiden realized he had been used to get the Viagra in Rundo and Brock. And he blamed Olivia.

  "If you think you're going to get me hard after I just watched you cut off someone's dick, you're out of your fucking mind, bitch," he snarled at her.

  "Then I'll cut it off while it sags," she said as she pulled down his pants, grabbing his penis and balls in her fist and pulling them away from his body before slicing through them. The knife was sharp, but it was still a difficult cut to make, requiring a sawing motion as Brock cried out in horror, Rundo writhing in agony beside him until his blindfold began to slip. With one eye exposed, Rundo could see that his and Brock's screams had drawn unwelcome guests from the surrounding forest, and knowing that he had nothing else left to look forward to in this world, a smile spread across his face. When Olivia saw it, she followed his gaze and found that zombies were now approaching them from three directions.

  "Get back to the inner ring," she told Frisco. "We'll take care of them."

  "I can fight," Frisco argued.

  "I know, but it's not worth the risk. I want these men to die knowing you're safe. Now, hurry!"

  Frisco took off up the hill as quickly as she could, her run hampered by the limp she would always have after her failed escape attempt from the prison.

  Once she was gone, Alek, Olivia, and the guards made a circle around the two prisoners, all facing outward, and Aiden, realizing that there was no way he was going to be able to avoid both them and the dead, came out of his hiding place and joined them.

  "What the fuck, Aiden?" Olivia demanded.

  "We'll talk about it later. Let's just kill these zombies," he said, and as the dead continued to close in on them, Rundo started to laugh.

  "Shut the fuck up!" Alek spat, hitting him with the butt of his rifle.

  "Sorry if I think it's fucking funny," Rundo said. "It's poetic justice. I'm gonna die, but at least I get to see you go down first."

  He laughed again, sounding completely insane, but before Alek or anyone else could respond, the first corpses were upon them. Not wanting to fire their weapons and potentially draw more, the group attacked with large knives and spears they carried with them outside the gates, Aiden using a modified version of the hockey stick he had when they met him on I-77 months ago, and when they quickly put the first wave down, Rundo was disappointed. But there were more coming.

  "Over here!" Rundo shouted. "Come and get it, you dead fucks!" Though still blindfolded, Brock realized what he was doing and joined in, sounding the zombie dinner bell as loud as they could.

  At first, the people of the Deadfall ignored them, knowing they would be able to take out those they saw approaching, but as more began to appear along the tree line, they realized they had no idea how many were wandering the forest and would be attracted by the noise.

  "Somebody shut them the fuck up!" Olivia commanded as she stood behind them, seconds away from her next fight.

  "Yes, my queen," John said as he turned with his knife, but Aiden stopped him.

  "I have a solution," he said, and while John and Alek covered the corpses in front of him, Aiden took off his coat and shirt, slitting the t-shirt down the middle and stuffing half in Rundo's mouth, the other half in Brock's. When he turned back around, reaching for his coat, he saw a zombie coming at him and had to grab his hockey stick instead, joining the fight shirtless, and he caught Liana's eye as she came running down the hill with several others. Frisco had sent the cavalry. Soon, all of the dead were put down except for a pair of stragglers that were still making their way across the field, and when John raised his gun, Aiden stopped him.

  "No," he said. "Let them finish the job here."

  Olivia looked at him suspiciously.

  "I haven't changed my mind about your rules, Olivia," he said. "But these men just called a herd of corpses toward our home, so I need to do this. You guys can head on up. I'll let those two zombies have their dinner, then I'll put them all four down and call the cleanup crew."

  Olivia glared at him for a long moment. She didn't believe for a second that he had simply switched his opinion from one pole to the other, but she also realized that in their present state, Rundo and Brock would be easy to track down if he turned them loose. Finally, she sighed and pretended to give in.

  "Don't disappoint me," she said, and after John gave the woods a quick sweep with his night vision binoculars to ensure that no more were coming, the others started up the hi
ll toward the road to the Deadfall, Liana lingering behind.

  "You, too, mon cœur," he said. "This is something I must do on my own."

  "Well, at least put your coat back on. Don't make yourself so easy to bite."

  "I will," he promised, and Liana left.

  At the line of trees between the field and the road, Olivia and Alek slowed down to let the others pass, grabbing John before he could get too far ahead, and once everyone else was gone, she watched Aiden through John's binoculars as the corpses approached him and the two prisoners. She watched him use his modified hockey stick to take down both zombies, then she watched him adjust the bonds on the prisoners' hands. They could only see the backs of Rundo and Brock against the poles, and through the binoculars, Olivia watched Aiden's lips move for a long moment as he stood between the men. When he stopped talking, he stepped in front of Rundo for a moment, then Brock before heading up the hill himself.

  Olivia, Alek, and John moved to hide behind a thicket of thorn bushes, and as Aiden walked past, he didn't notice them. Still keeping an eye on the prisoners, they stood motionless until they could no longer hear his footfalls.

  "What the hell did he do?" John asked Olivia as Alek took the binoculars from her.

  "I couldn't tell. Maybe he cut their throats or injected them with something."

  "I don't think so," Alek said, then he handed the binoculars back to Olivia. "Look. They're clutching the nails behind the poles to hold themselves up. I think he untied them."

  "Of course, he did," she said, exasperated, and as she passed the binoculars to John, he shook his head, raising his gun instead. A few seconds later, Rundo started twisting his hands out of the loosened ropes, and John looked to Olivia for approval. She nodded, and he let his bullet fly, sailing right through Rundo's head as he stepped down off the pole. Rundo hit the ground, and as John took aim at Brock, the man craned his neck around so he could see in their direction.

  "Me, too," Brock called out, the shirt no longer in his mouth, his blindfold removed. "Please! Whoever you are! Kill me, too."

  John pulled the trigger, and Brock slumped forward.

  Day 58

  Austin and Serena

  "Can you ever forgive me?" Austin asked Serena as they walked through the gates of the Deadfall.

  "There's nothing to forgive, Oz," she assured him, pulling him off to the side, into the shadows. "If not for you, I wouldn't have survived. I only spent a few days on Death Row after you left, and I was sick when they found me. I kept throwing up, so they didn't want to touch me, and then your people came and rescued us. But if you hadn't claimed me in the first place, I would've been on Death Row for weeks, and that would've killed me."

  "I never wanted you to go there at all. I never wanted anyone to go there."

  "You think I don't know that? Every woman in that place knew that about you."

  "I would have saved you all if I could."

  "You did," she said, looking at him surprised that he didn't realize he was her hero. The other women might credit Jax, but Serena knew that Jax wouldn't have been there without Austin. "You've been my hero since the day we met, and I'm really sorry I had to deceive you. I was just so afraid to tell you the truth..."

  "What are you talking about?" he asked.

  "Oz...I'm not who you think I am. I'm not seventeen," she said, her eyes cast downward. "I'm only twelve."

  "Oh, God, Serena! I almost had sex with you!" he hissed, freaked out that he even kissed her.

  "I know, and I'm sorry. I only did it because I needed your help."

  "I would have helped you anyway. The whole reason I claimed you in the first place was because I thought you were just a kid, and I wanted to keep you safe."

  "But there's more to it. I needed you to have sex with me."

  "Serena, you're twelve. That's kind of gross," he said with gritted teeth and a teasing grin.

  "Yeah, well, you're kinda gross, too," she teased back, then her smile faded as she confessed the reason she was pretending to be older. "I needed you to have sex with me because I was already pregnant, Oz. I was pregnant and scared, and I thought if I could make you think you were the one who got me that way, I could get you to find some abortion pills for me."

  "I still can," he said.

  "I don't need them anymore," she said, not bothering to explain that Dani had already given them to her. She was finally in the process of miscarrying. Austin didn't ask any questions. If she wanted to share more, she would.

  "Well, I would have gotten them for you back then, too," he told her.

  "It's not because I'm a bad person, you know. I'm not one of those people who just use abortion because I wasn't responsible. I'm not a slut. It's not like that."

  "It never crossed my mind to think you were any of those things. Why would you say that?"

  "Because I know abortion is wrong and all, but mine was different, and I won't have sex now until I'm older. I mean, I didn't really have sex before, but..." she trailed off.

  "Did someone force you, Serena?" he asked, and as she searched for the words to tell him what happened to her, her eyes filled with tears. Austin put his arms around her and held her for a long time before she was ready to talk, then she led him farther away from the path before sitting down against the wall.

  "It happened because my big sister killed herself. A few years ago, after my mother died, our dad said my sister was the new woman of the house. He acted like it was an honor, but she changed after that. She was always sad or angry, and I didn't know why until after she was gone. I found her in her closet - a zombie dangling from a rope. Then our dad cut her down and killed her again, and while her body was laying on the ground by the hole he was digging, I saw something moving in her belly. She was pregnant, and when my Dad saw it, he stabbed at it until it stopped. After he buried her, he came inside and told me I was the woman of the house now. That night, I found out why my sister killed herself, then I missed my next period. I snuck off and stole a pregnancy test from the store, peed on it right there in the middle of the Food Fare, and when I saw that it was positive, I just kept moving, never went back home. I guess my brother's the woman of the house now."

  "How old is he?" Austin asked, assuming it was a little brother they needed to rescue.

  "Seventeen. He should have protected me and my sister."

  "He might have been scared," Austin said. "There was more I could have done to help at the prison, but I was too scared."

  "But you did what you could. He did the opposite. When our dad went out looking for food, my brother named himself the man of the house, if you know what I mean."

  "Oh, Serena, I am so sorry."

  "It's fine. It's over now," she said, trying to be strong. "And I have you. You're more of a brother to me than he ever was."

  "I'll always look out for you. I promise."

  "It's good to have someone to talk to," she admitted.

  "It wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to Dani, too. She's one of the leaders here, and she's a psychologist."

  "I don't know. Maybe," she said. "Thanks, Oz."

  "No problem," he said, and she hugged him. "One thing, though. It's not a good idea to call me Oz around anyone else. That name has a negative meaning around here."

  "But I can still call you that in private, right?" she asked, and he nodded. "Good. Because that's the name of the guy who saved my life."

  "Come on, little sister. I'll walk you home," he said, smiling because he had been so afraid that she hated him for leaving her at the hotel. She took his hand, and as they walked back toward the main path, they saw Olivia, Alek, and John come running in from the front gate. And the queen was furious about something.

  Day 58

  Aiden

  "What the fuck was that?" Olivia demanded when she, Alek, and John caught up with Liana and Aiden outside of their cabin.

  "We should go inside," Liana said, and though the others agreed, it did nothing to quell the fire in Olivia's eyes.

 
"Explain yourself," she said to Aiden the second the door was closed.

  "They were dead already," he said. "They wouldn't have gotten far."

  "Then why bother?"

  "Because what you did was wrong!" he shouted at her, and when he got in her face, Alek saw red.

  "Back off," he growled.

  "It's fine," Olivia said. "It's not like he's got the balls to do anything."

  "Now, wait just a minute," Liana shouted, stepping between them and glaring at Olivia.

  "Did you know he was going to do that?" Olivia asked her.

  "I'm assuming he let the prisoners go," she said based on what she'd heard so far, but she had not been aware of his plan. She had honestly thought he'd finally got his head screwed on straight when it came to safety of the Deadfall. When Olivia explained what happened, Liana was just as angry as the others, though she wouldn't let that show in front of them, bound by loyalty to the man she loved even if she thought he was in the wrong.

  "Why, Aiden?" Olivia asked again. "Why did you do it?"

  "Because what you were doing was fucked up! I thought I was okay with it, but after I had time to think about it, I realized you were wrong. You didn't have to kill them, and you damn sure didn't have to torture them like that."

  "Like what?" Liana asked. She didn't know anything that happened before she came running down the hill to help dispatch the dead.

  "She gave them Viagra then let Frisco cut their dicks off!" he shouted.

  "I swear I didn't give them Viagra or anything else, but who gives a fuck if someone did?" Olivia asked. "These men were brutal rapists. What happened to them was only a small taste of the horrors they visited upon the women in that prison, and you're upset about it because....because why, Aiden? Because the thought of it made your pee pee hurt? Imagine how all those women on Death Row felt every fucking night of their lives! You had no right, and you're lucky I don't trust you. If I hadn't kept John behind to shoot Rundo and Brock, you'd be in a cell right now."