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When Was? (Book 2): Who Are You Acquainted With?

Page 26

by Krueger, Allison


  “God dammit! I would love to sit here and Doctor Phil the shit outta this family drama, daddy’s not dead, daughter’s with the bad boy shit, but let’s cut straight to it. Petey is trying to use the Divine as a weapon. All he wants is to kill Rachel, and then back stab the king, taking everything your people have, and come at the Acquainted.”

  “So what now?”

  “I don’t know, John, what did you think would happen?”

  Fedrick you’re a fucking dumbass. “Come back with me. Explain this to the King and maybe they’ll fight against the Tribuals. At the very least they’ll be undecided and stay out of it, not helping the Tribuals and not fighting the Acquainted.”

  “Shit, John,” Morgan said, glancing back at Rachel. “I was planning on taking the misses to New Argentina for a bite to eat, but I guess we can do that. What do you think, Rachel? You up for visiting the king?” he asked with a laugh.

  Rachel rubbed her eyes and nodded. “Fuck it... Yeah.”

  “Perfect! But, John,” he said, laying his pistol on the table. “Even if this isn’t a trap set up by your king, how do I know you aren’t gonna pull something?”

  “I fucked Rachel over a lot. Maybe not intentional but I did, far too many times... If I thought she’d be in danger don’t you think I’d be puttin’ up a fight to keep her here?”

  Morgan nodded and stood up. “Good point,” he said, taking the radio off his belt. “Gord, get the big truck ready, code G.”

  John got up. “Code G?”

  “Gas, we only use vehicles when we have to,” he said, leaving the room.

  John stood at the table as Rachel stood in the doorway. “It’s great seeing you again.”

  “You have a son.”

  He raised his brows and got quite for a minute. “...What?”

  “When Morgan made us... you know. I had your kid.”

  John nodded with a blank look in his eye. “Who’s his dad?”

  “A dead guy named John.”

  He walked around the table and left the room. “Good.”

  “Excuse me?” she asked, grabbing his arm. “What do you mean ‘good’?”

  “It’s better he doesn’t know who I am. Better he thinks I’m dead.”

  “So it’s better I’m left to raise him on my own? It’s better that he has UNCLE MORGAN?”

  John sighed and put his hand on her shoulder. “Stay with us, in the Divine... You and the boy... Stay with me, Janey, Je-”

  “Were you doing this shit with Amanda and Ellie too? Always leaving them, pretending like they don’t exist and doing your own thing? Not giving a shit how they feel or how bad they’re hurting? I bet them dying was pretty convention for you!”

  John closed his eye for a moment and exhaled. “That’s fucked up.”

  Chapter 30:

  I’ll Make Sure You’re Dead!

  A couple days later, the Acquainted, in a group of seven box trucks, arrived at the Divine.

  Sitting on Rachel’s lap, her son CJ stared at John who was sitting between her and Morgan. “Mommy, how did the guy lose his eye?”

  Rachel glanced at John who was staring at CJ. “Fighting a guy named Rhys. He stabbed him like one of the guys in your comics.”

  Morgan nudged John with his elbow. “This big museum thing, this the place?”

  “Yeah, stop here, I’ll go tell the King you’re here.”

  A few moments later, the Divine courtyard.

  “King Fedrick,” John hollered, running up to the King.

  “Yes, Savior?”

  “I’ve returned with the leader of the Acquainted, as you wished. Is everybody at the school?”

  “In doors.”

  “Where?”

  “The museum!”

  John’s eyes widened as he glared at the king. “Are they at least armed?”

  “They are. Ready for a battle should this go wrong.”

  “With guns?”

  “Do not doubt me.”

  John stared at him for a moment before getting mad. “Are you kiddin’ me? Didn’t you listen to a damn thing I told you!”

  “Savior! Keep in mind whom your speaking to before you get yourself exiled!”

  He clenched his fist. “You can kiss my ass with that exile bullshit. Are you honestly telling me after everything I told you about them, our people aren’t even ready for a fight?”

  “I said, don’t, doubt me. Jonathan.”

  John’s lip twitched as he looked back at the Acquainted exiting the trucks. He grabbed Fedrick by the neck of his shirt. “If-”

  Fedrick shoved him back and grabbed the hilt of his sword. “You dare lay hand on the King?”

  John punched him across the face.

  Entering the museum, followed by a group of over fifty men, all armed to the teeth, Morgan laughed. “Who in the fuck wants to fuck with the Acquainted? Who in the fuck wants to fuck with Morgan Fucking Williams?”

  The main room was gigantic, with two twisting staircases to each side. The room was all white, it had a golden chandelier, red carpet, and statues of knights, some rusted.

  Coming down from one of the staircases, Queen Magdalene, followed by a couple knights, greeted Morgan. “Ah, yes. You must be Morgan Williams of the Acquainted gang. We’ve heard much about you.”

  Walking up to Morgan, Magdalene stuck her white gloved hand in his face. “Kiss it.”

  He grinned. “And hello to you too!”

  “Kiss it,” she yelled, slapping Morgan across the face.

  “Oh, no, no, no, no, no... This is so not gonna end well for you people.”

  Back outside, John rushed over to Jester who was standing by the now empty trucks. “Chuck, I need you to get to the school! Keep an eye on Jenna, Janey, and your sister. If you see anything strange you run and you keep movin’ until one of us find you!”

  Jester tilted his head and grabbed John’s shoulder.

  “Morgan, the King doesn’t have our people armed, so if shit goes down, I want my family safe, that’s you too, Morgan isn’t doin’ this to me, not again, now get out!”

  Jester nodded and ran off.

  “Be safe!”

  Back inside, Morgan and his men had all of the Divine on their knees in a large circle, similar to the ones he’d made in Argentina.

  “You’re the queen around here, huh?” Morgan asked, holding his bat on his shoulder and staring down at Magdalene. “You wear enough jewels and makeup to pass off for her slutty sister anyway.”

  “You dare disrespect me?” she asked as she kneeled in front of him.

  “Are you fucking joking?” he asked, rubbing his red cheek. “Who disrespected who, jackass?”

  “You must leave now, or suffer a fate worse than death!” She spit at his feet.

  Morgan laughed. “Oh, Maggie... I’m the fate worse than death.”

  He swung his bat, knocking out most of her front teeth and slashing her face open.

  The citizens of the Divine screamed and cried as Morgan caved her skull in.

  Tossing the bloody bat at Davey, he put his thumbs in his belt. He looked around the circle and laughed. “Well fuck, that was almost too easy. Maybe next time your men should carry more than pointy metal.”

  He smiled as he stared at Magdalene's bloody mess of a head. “Execute the rest of them and start loading the trucks, I’m done here. And if you find John, keep him alive for me, he’ll be a gift for the misses.”

  As the Acquainted executed the Divine citizens, John ran in with King Fedrick.

  Looking around the room, John’s stomach sank. “Again,” he mumbled.

  King Fedrick grabbed his chest. “Magdalene?”

  Morgan stood in the middle of the circle of bodies. He began unbuckling his belt. “Sorry about that, buddy. Your wife was a real bitch!”

  King Fedrick cried harder, staring at his wife’s mangled skull. “DAMN YOU, SAVIOR! DAMN YOU TO HELL!”

  “ME?”

  Morgan laughed and looked at John. “It must fucking suck to
be you! You step back into your old life to find your daughter shacked up with the bad boy, your kid’s being raised by said bad boy, and the same mother fucking bad boy, just de-fucking-stroyed your new life!”

  John glanced at his armored stump and looked to the king. “I can’t believe you. After everything I warned you about...” He took a deep breath. “You deserved this, Fedrick. YOU DESERVED THIS!”

  Morgan laughed as John scanned the circle. “So, Johnny. How many of your friends did I kill this time? Fuck, there was no fun and games this time around, was there?”

  “I WAS TRYING TO AVOID THIS,” he shouted, staring him dead in the eyes. “The Divine has bombs, grenades, a bazooka... If I let the king get used as a puppet by the Tribuals, we woulda wiped you off the face of the earth.

  “But the only thing that made me side with the King’s idea, was the thought of you and your people surviving the attack. I didn’t want to start another war.”

  Morgan laughed, watching as the King dropped to his knees at Magdalene’s body. “What can I say? Welcome back, I guess!”

  John nodded at the King. “Finish it, Morgan. You killed everyone else.”

  “My pleasure!”

  Morgan wrapped his belt around King Fedrick’s throat and pulled.

  The King pried at the belt and threw himself around, trying to break free.

  “Fucker’s like a fish, look at him move,” Morgan said, booting him in the back. “SIT STILL!”

  John looked around the room full of Acquainted, thinking hard about pulling out his pistol and killing Morgan, right then and there. Thankful however his family was safe and sound, far away.

  Dropping the body, Morgan walked up to John and clapped. “It’s been seven years since you died. You had this nice little group, you had friends, maybe a family... And now you’re back to square fucking one- back in Argentina, so to speak.

  “How does that feel? To fuck up so bad, that you get everyone you care about, murdered? It must really fucking suck.”

  John rubbed his face and bit his tongue.

  “Do you wanna say something?” he asked, getting in his face. “Savior?”

  “My plan was to get better, come back, and kill you. After I found out about Argentina and after I spent enough time here, I guess I sorta forgot about it. Thinkin’ it was best to stay put. But now, with no reason to stay put, I am, going to kill you, Morgan Williams.”

  “Surrounded by all my men? I think not! No what’s gonna happen, is I’m taking you back to the base. We’re gonna whip you back in shape, and if you earn it, you can go back to looking over Argentina with your buddy Norman! How does that sound? Fun, doesn’t it? But if you fuck up- even once... You’re the one who’s dead.”

  “What are you waitin’ for, why not kill me right now? I mean, if you’re so sure you’ll win.”

  “I’m trying to save you for my wife, but by all means, if that’s what you really want!”

  “Do it.”

  Morgan rolled his eyes and let out a laugh. “Fuck... JOHN, SO HELP ME GOD, IF THIS IS WHAT YOU REALLY WANT, THIS TIME I’LL MAKE SURE YOU’RE DEAD!”

  A few days later, after the Acquainted picked the Divine clean, they headed back to the Ohio Base.

  In the jail area, John sat on a bench in his old cell, staring at Rachel who was staring back at him from the other side of the bars. “What now? You gonna kill me?”

  Rachel rubbed her arm. “I’m sorry for what I said about Mandy and Ellie.”

  John was unable to get his mind off what happened at the Divine. Walking in to see all of his people, dead. “What does code G mean?”

  “...Clean house.”

  “So you knew what was gonna happen?”

  “Well I didn’t know.”

  “BULLSHIT! You knew what was gonna happen, and you couldn’t even give me a heads up? You’d rather see people die instead? What happened to the girl who slit his throat? What happened to the girl who shot and killed a man for making her touch his chest? Where’s my little girl?”

  “YOURS IS DEAD IN THE GROUND SOMEWHERE!”

  John laughed as he watched the tears run down Rachel’s face. “Are you proud of yourself? Are you proud of Morgan? The Acquainted?” John shook his head. “What happened to you?”

  “You died! Again! That’s what happened,” she cried. “I thought it was real this time!”

  “...Things happened, I knew about Argentina, everybody... I knew you, Billie, and Norm weren’t killed when they were... I wanted to believe you were alive.”

  “You left for seven years! You left me to raise your kid and you made Norman lie to me about where you were!”

  “Rachel-”

  “You're not my father! You’re just some, stupid, sad, pathetic old asshole!”

  John nodded. “Fair enough... But you, you’re weak. I don’t know why, I know you’re better than this, but... you chose this life, no one forced it on you, and that doesn’t make sense to me. But if you let me, I’m still willin’ to help you. To be your father.”

  As Morgan entered the jail, Rachel burst into tears and ran out.

  “Good god, you are fucking brutal!” Morgan laughed. “You know under any normal circumstances I wouldn’t give a fuck- but she’s the mother to your kid, man. Show some fucking respect- pretend even, fuck, I don’t care, just don’t be an asshole.”

  John spit and walked up to the bars, staring Morgan in the eyes. “I want you to show me how bad you are. Show me you still mean business, that you really are Morgan Fucking Williams.”

  Morgan smiled and raised his brows. “Yeah?”

  “I DARE you, to murder my son. The way I murdered yours.”

  “You put him down-”

  “For fun! I still remember his twisted face. Looked like someone let the poor kid get attacked by the demons.”

  “Infected, and-… Do you really want this? Because I’ll kill the fuck out of your kid. I’ll let some boys run a train on him, then I’ll run my bat on him.”

  John smirked. “You gonna risk losin’ Rachel over it?”

  “Rings don’t mean shit. Our relationship is business. I’d be more than willing to risk it. After all, I killed Hershel, didn’t I? And he was my right-hand man!”

  “You gonna do it, or not? Or are you gonna pussy out ‘cause you’re too afraid of what Rachel might think? Scared some little girl’ll get mad at you...”

  Morgan laughed and shook his head. “You can’t do mind games anywhere near as good as I can. Fuck it’s sad watching you try... But we’ll see, Johnny. I don’t kill kids, but there’s a first time for everything. Who, fucking, knows.”

  A few hours later, after Morgan took some men out to run a job, Rachel went down to the cells to talk to John again. “Hey?” she asked, lightly shaking his cell door. “Are you up?”

  John turned his back to her as he laid on the bench. “No.”

  “...I’m sorry for what I said... Honestly. You’re still an asshole, but I didn’t mean the other stuff. It’s just-… Seven years... The first time was what? Nine? Ten months? There wasn’t a day that went by that I wasn’t thinking about you, Kess, Billie... Trin.” She gulped. “I did what I had to do because I didn’t have you.”

  He turned around and looked at her. “It’s not like I volunteered to go with the Divine. To become their general, the Savior... It was my only chance at survivin’ and comin’ back for round two.

  “When I found out everyone was dead and I didn’t see your body in the video, I just wanted to have hope... I didn’t wanna know if you were dead or not. I still planned on comin’ back, but it was the fear of not knowin’ that’d make me put it off."

  “I tried to kill him. When we first got here, my plan was to kill him in his sleep. Either we’d escape, or at least I would... The plan just sort of faded away when New Argentina came around.”

  John sighed and stared at her. Sitting up, he put his head in his hand. “Can you leave the door unlocked?”

  “Why? So you can run away?”
>
  “Just to Argentina. If this is your life now, this is your life. But I wanna go home. I lost Argentina, I lost the Divine... I lost too much of you... Probably lost the old house... I just wanna go home.”

  She stared at him for a minute and bit her lip. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  He nodded and laid back down. “I love you, babygirl.”

  Chapter 31:

  A New Beginning

  Two weeks later, the Ohio Base jail.

  “Mornin’, sunshine,” Morgan said as he walked to John’s cell with a group of men.

  John sat up on the bench and rubbed his eye. “Morgan.”

  “You really don’t like me, do you?” he asked with a smirk.

  “What would make you think that?”

  “Since the day I brought you here, all I’ve heard from Rachel was ‘just give him to Argentina,’ ‘let’s let him go home,’ ‘give it back’... So fuck it.”

  John raised his brows. “What are you saying?”

  Reaching in the pocket of his jacket, Morgan pulled out John’s black eyepatch and tossed it in the cell. “If you try anything, and Rachel was told this too, I will murder you with my bare fucking hands, hang your body on the fence, and mount your head over my bed.”

  Walking over, he picked up his eyepatch and nodded. “You’re letting me go back?”

  “Only because I’m sick of listening to her beg for you. And to put the cherry on top, I’ll even put you back in charge. We’ll try this one more time, because I am a nice, fucking, guy.”

  “...Rachel did this?”

  He smirked. “Do you honestly think this was my first plan?”

  He shook his head.

  “Fuck no it was not. So because of her, you’ll be leaving now.” He looked to Davey. “Unlock it.”

  “Is Jester there? The guy with the clown mask?”

  “I haven’t been there in a while, but my guess is no. Remember, we killed the fuck out of your people,” he said with a laugh. “Every last one of them.”

  As Davey unlocked the cell, Myers grabbed John by the back of the shirt and pulled him into the hall.

 

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