'Are you thinking what I am?' Finn asked in a whisper.
'This is the best chance we're going to get, but we only have a few days left before Kyle enacts whatever vile plan he has,' I responded fearfully.
'I think we should keep watching him, hopefully he'll think to use the fight the same way we do.'
He had a point, if we weren't already on to him then Kyle would surely use the battle to kill his intended target.
'I think you should go to the house and try to encourage the others to fight, meanwhile I'll keep an eye on Kyle,' I said feeling scared. Finn nodded as he began to walk away, I found my spot that I sat in when I was listening to Kyle. He usually came out about this time, I'd spent many nights wondering what exactly was wrong with him. I didn't know much about mental issues, I knew about Frankie's disorder and what that meant but other than that I had almost no knowledge of those type of things.
The more I spent listening to him though, the more I began to put the pieces together. He seemed to have two sides to him, one side that wanted to be good, that loved Rowena more than anything. His other side was the one we'd dealt with when we first left the hospital, it was that side of him who'd gotten Dom and the others killed. I knew each side fought to keep control, I also knew that if the good side didn't do what the other asked then all hell would break loose.
As the sun began to set, I felt myself growing colder, I shivered but didn't move. Finn had his job, I had mine. It felt like I'd been sat out here for hours by the time Kyle came out, I braced myself for the horror I would hear. Each time Finn and I had overheard him, it became harder to keep this a secret. So many times we'd wanted to tell the others, but we couldn't, it was too dangerous.
While Kyle's good side had managed to keep the other at bay, I knew that part of the reason was because he was doing what he was told. If the evil side found out that we knew, I couldn't even imagine what he'd do.
'This is the perfect opportunity,' I heard that dark, twisted voice say.
'What do you want me to?' The other side asked fearfully.
'They'll go to battle, I know they will and that's when you strike,' he laughed.
'I can't, I can't do it. She's good, I can't kill her,' he wailed.
'If you don't do it, I'll kill Rowena and then I'll take her away. I'll take her far away, her family won't find her,' he threatened.
'You know they'll find her, no matter where you take her. They always find each other.' I felt a pang of sadness towards the good part of Kyle, he was trying so hard to fight the darkness, to keep whoever the other one was after safe. I couldn't help him, I didn't even know how to try and there was no way to even attempt it without the evil one stopping me.
'You think I haven't thought about that, we've been with these people for seven months. I've watched them, learned their strengths and weaknesses, I know how to make us disappear. Either you help me kill her, or so help me god by the time I'm done with her she'll beg for death.'
'No, I won't let you. I know the truth, you think you can hide it from me, of all people. I see the way you look at her, in that dark lusting way. If by some miracle you get her away, you won't hurt her, you'll love her,' the good one spat.
'You know better than to test me, I'll torture her just to prove you wrong,' he cackled. Fuck, this was so messed up. I just wish I knew who he was talking about, but for some reason neither of them would say her name. For a second I thought, could it be me? No, that was just- ew no way it could be me. There were too many women in our group for me to guess, it could be any one of us.
'You only want to kill her, because you can't have her. You tried getting people killed, you almost succeeded in taking away the others. If they'd all died, you could have had her and then you'd be satisfied.'
'It doesn't matter why I want her dead, the point is either she dies or Rowena does.'
'Please, please I beg you. Don't make me do this, don't force me to become that monster,' he begged.
I heard that laugh again, that bone chilling, sadistic laugh that sent shivers down my spine.
'So, what's is going to be? You have five minutes to decide, otherwise I'm taking over. I can feel you weaken, your humanity is your downfall.' I sat, feeling frozen and confused. I wanted so badly for his good side to win, for Finn and I to not have to go through with our plan. I didn't want to be a murderer, nor did I want Finn to lose himself because of this. More than that, I actually liked the good side of Kyle. I almost laughed to myself, even if the good part of him won now, someday no matter how far away, the darkness in him would take over and then we'd all be doomed.
'Alright you bastard, you win. Just tell me what I have to do,' he said with sadness in his voice.
'Ha ha, I knew you'd weaken. When the battle begins, and everyone is preoccupied, you'll watch her. Wait for an opening, and then you kill her. It's simple,' he laughed mockingly.
'If I do this, you'll leave Rowena alone?' He asked fearfully.
'I swear to you, once she's dead I'll leave you be,' he promised.
I knew better than to believe it, not that I would actually let him kill anyone of us.
I sat waiting in the cold as he walked away, I could hear the faint crying as he did. I wouldn't let my empathy for the good part of him get in the way of ending his life.
Truth be told it was better this way, I couldn't stand the thought of anyone else having to be with him. Which from the sounds of it, was the only way to keep the evilness happy.
Finn came back a short while later, he looked frustrated and angry.
'I'm assuming that getting them to agree to battle isn't as simple as we thought it would be.'
'You're right, they can't agree. Even when I told them you wanted to fight too, it still didn't tip the scales in our favour. What did our resident psycho have to say?' He asked angrily.
'We were right in thinking he'd use the battle as an excuse, I think he'll wait until then. We have nothing to worry about right now,' I told him.
'What's wrong, you sound upset.'
'Truth be told, I feel bad for the good part of him. He tried so hard to hold on, to not give in to the darkness,' I replied sadly.
Finn often had more empathy than most, but not this time. His face was contorted in rage, there was no understanding, no feelings of sadness or guilt as he spoke.
'Are you changing your mind?' He asked in an accusatory tone.
'No, of course not. I just can't help but feel bad, you didn't hear them tonight. How hard he tried, how much he wants that part of him to go away,' I tried to reason.
'If he really felt that bad, he'd do us all a favour himself,' he spat.
'Hey, don't get pissy with me, I'm on your side remember. I'm just saying I feel bad, I won't go back on what we decided, but I sure shit ain't gonna be heartless about it,' I told him fiercely.
'Fine, you make sure you keep an eye on him.' With that he turned and walked away, I could only pray that Finn wouldn't become a monster in order to kill one.
I sighed as I walked back to my tent, I felt mentally and emotionally tired. Finn was always so calm, so collected, I knew he was worried about Rowena. He wanted to hurry up and get Kyle away from her, so did but I wanted to be smart about it. As I took off my boots and got into my sleeping bag, I heard a knock at my tent.
'Come in,' I answered tiredly.
It was Frankie, she looked worried.
'Is everything alright?' I asked.
'I was going to ask you the same thing, we missed you at the meeting and when Finn got back just now he seemed angry and that's not like him,' she replied.
With how pissed off Finn had been, it was no wonder someone had noticed. I was just glad it wasn't Jade or worse Kyle. I had to tell her something, there was no way I could brush this off.
'I think he's having a harder time in accepting Kyle and Rowena are together than we thought,' I told her.
'Do you think I should talk to him?'
'No, he just needs time to cool down. I think he was
hoping that they wouldn't have lasted this long, and I know he's not the only one,' I lied.
I hated lying to Frankie of all people, but I couldn't tell anyone about this, not yet.
'Are you okay though, you look pretty worn out?' She asked kindly.
Great, now I feel even worse for lying.
'I'll be fine, I just need a good nights sleep.'
'Alright, if your sure. I'll see you in the morning,' she smiled.
'See you tomorrow.' She closed the tent back up as she left, I wanted this to be over. I hated lying and keeping secrets from the others, but even after its over you can't tell them, I thought miserably. Rowena especially would be devastated if she found out that we'd killed the guy she loved, even if we told her why. I felt myself falling deeper into sadness, I could never tell anyone. It would destroy them, to know Finn and I had become murderers. Neither of us could handle losing the others, no, this was a secret we would take to our graves. It would forever separate us from those we loved, I just hoped that we could live with it.
Chapter 34
Jensen
The farm had become our sanctuary, we had been there for six months. It had been four months since we'd lost anyone. When we had arrived at the farm there had been ten of us plus thirty people from the farm, now there was ten of us and ten people from the farm. It had been some time ago when we'd gone on the suicide mission to Birmingham to find fuel for the generator and more cars if we could. We had picked dry every place nearby, so most of the farm group went in the cars to the big city. Frankie, Angelo and I had gone with them but only Frankie and I had come back.
It was a huge loss for us it and took so long to grieve for the people we'd lost, and yet those that remained never lost hope that things would get better. We still didn't want to leave the farm, even after all we'd been through we still felt safe here. Frankie and I brought back a lot of fuel, though we lost most of the cars on the run we still had one left. Rob had talked about going on another big run to find some more cars, suffice to say that after what happened last time we were all dubious about his plan.
Compared to how many of us there used to be, there were so few of us left and we didn't want to risk our lives more than we needed to. Out of the twenty of us that were left four of them were children, two of the farm children were now orphans but fortunately Brooke had adopted them. Suffice to say that the little ones had been extremely upset when they'd been told the news, though in many ways they were still lucky. They had Brooke to care for them, many people wouldn't have wanted the responsibility of caring for other people's children in a world like this, but never did it cross anyone's mind to kick them out.
Today we were sat round the large wooden dining table talking about what to do next, Rob wanted us to go and scavenge while Jade thought we should stay put.
'What happens when they come for us, and try to kill us or worse? We must have the means to escape and defend ourselves,' he shouted angrily.
'Rob, you need to calm down. No one is coming for us, the cannibal's wouldn't wage a war with a group much larger than their own,' Jade said calmly. In the last few weeks Rob had become obsessed with securing the farm, even though no one could get through the fence but he still wasn't convinced. He wanted us to gather cars and stock fuel, he thought that we needed to prepare for an attack.
Since Christmas, we had found dead bodies of people scattered around, the strange thing was that these people were almost nothing but bones. All the meat on them had been eaten, it had been a long time since we had seen cannibal's. Telling Rob about them had been a mistake since then he had been on a mad mission to protect us, we had seen them hiding in the forest not far from the farm, it looked like there were six to ten people at most.
Rob wanted us to eradicate them where as we wanted to leave them be, if they weren't causing us trouble then we didn't need to to start a war. We'd argued about what to do ever since we'd told Rob about them. Today was no different.
'How can I calm down? There are cannibal's on our doorstep and you want to sit idly by and wait for them to come for us!' Rob screeched heatedly.
The others talked among themselves ignoring Rob's words, we were divided on this issue. Even Frankie disagreed with our group, she sided with Rob where as Jade and I thought we shouldn't go looking for trouble. It felt very strange being on opposite sides with Frankie.
'Rob is right, we need to do something before they come for us. It's only a matter of time,' Frankie stood up and banged on the table as she spoke fiercely.
'Frankie, surely you must see how foolish this plan is?' Jade hated being at odds with Frankie.
'Jade, I respect your leadership but what happens if they attack us and we're not prepared?' Frankie's voice was so strong and commanding that you couldn't not take notice.
Before Jade could get a word out Kyle stood up to air his views, he had been surprisingly quiet on the subject.
'Frankie and Rob are right,' he looked at Jade sympathetically before continuing. 'I'm sorry Jade but we have to do something, there's a lot less of us that there used to be and we must protect our people and our home before its too late,' Kyle sounded tired and I wondered whether he and Rowena had been arguing, they too were on opposite sides of this issue.
We argued it out for many hours, still not reaching a verdict. How on earth were we going to survive if we couldn't even agree on something as important as this? As I listened to them argue I sat silently thinking things over, on the one hand Rob was right if we let them attack us we would surely perish. On the other hand they hadn't attacked us as of yet and maybe they were afraid to, they didn't know how many of us there were. I looked around at my family thinking that I didn't want anyone to die, how could I protect everyone?
Frankie was so stubborn, I knew that she wouldn't change her mind. Same as Rob and Kyle, I knew they wouldn't cave in either. Someone needed to do something to settle the argument, Jade was determined not to go war so I knew she wouldn't change her mind.
I felt like I was stuck in the middle, I had Jade on one side and Frankie on the other. I sighed as I sat back to listen to them fight, my head was starting to hurt.
By the time the room went quiet it was pitch black outside, I got up to walk to the kitchen to give Lottie a hand with the cooking.
'Can I help with anything?' I asked tiredly.
'I'm almost done, you could take the plates out to everyone if you want to help,' she replied joyfully. I took two of the plates out to the dining room, tonight's dinner was fried eggs, chips and tomatoes. One of the many things about the farm that I loved was proper food, we had potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, peas, sweetcorn and wheat growing on the farm. Not to mention the animals, we had two cows, a pen full of chickens and a horse, although the horse was more of a pet and of course Rex the dog. We had it pretty sweet here and I didn't want to lose it, I put the plates on the table and returned to the kitchen to get some more.
By the time I had put all the plates on the table, everyone had gone quiet. One thing that made them all stop fighting was Lottie's food, it was the nicest food around and we all appreciated her slaving away.
Lottie sat down last of all and I revelled in the fact that her food calmed even the rowdiest of us, I smiled at her graciously as I tucked into her food. When we finished the food I got up to gather all the plates and wash the pots, I felt like I should do something to help Lottie out even though she said she didn't mind cleaning up. I could hear people yelling again, man I wish they would just give it a rest I thought feeling annoyed.
'Right come on now you lot, give it a bloody rest!' Shouted Shea, one of the women we had met when we came here. Shea was in her fifties but she had the mouth and attitude of a twenty year old, she was five seven in height with shoulder length sandy coloured hair and big blue eyes. She was a slender woman but could out-eat most of us, she was loud and fierce and not one to mess with.
The room fell silent upon hearing her shout, all eyes turned to her. She had a way of making everyone list
en to her, she had been neutral on the whole point of the argument but had stepped in to calm everyone down when things got too heated.
'Well what do you think we should do?' Called Rob from the other side of the dining room.
'If you want my honest opinion, I think we should fight. Teach them bastards a lesson before we all get eaten,' Shea replied calmly.
So it was decided, we would be going to war. Now we just needed to devise a full proof plan, I dreaded having to kill people even if they were evil.
I did not sleep well that night, my sleeping hours were plagued with a nightmare so fierce and terrible that I woke in the middle of the night covered in sweat. I kept seeing my family die, in the most horrible of ways. All of them, dead, laying bloody on the ground. The images passed through my dreams, each as awful as the last. I never had time to react before the next scene unfolded. I saw Jade on the floor covered in blood, with stab wounds on her chest. Delilah hung from a tree by her neck, her face was blue, her eyes glazed over.
Marcel bloody and battered with his head caved in, Finn with his hair all matted from the blood laying half eaten on the floor. Little Violet with her eyes frozen open in terror as a bullet pierced her heart. Brooke all mangled and twisted as the dead feasted on her flesh.
Rowena lay faced down in the water, her long reddish brown hair flowing around her, and Frankie well that was the most awful one. There was nothing of the woman I loved left, her hair was so short, her skin marred by scars I didn't recognize. Her beautiful pale body, riddled with bullet holes. Yet it was the look on her face that shocked me, it was beyond loss or fear, it was as though she'd been broken beyond repair.
When I woke up I actually checked to make sure Frankie was still next to me, sure enough she was. I knew it couldn't have been a premonition, I didn't have those. It was simply a nightmare reflecting my inner most fears.
Dead World Rising (Book 3): The Cure Page 34
