I lean my head back and close my eyes. The cut above my eye has long stopped bleeding, but it’s throbbing in my temples and giving me a migraine. I picture Mikey, on the road with Adam and Joan. He’ll be sad, heartbroken, and full of anger at me. But at least he’ll be alive, I tell myself. If he had come in with me, he’d be dead. Or perhaps we all would be and the Forgotten would be taking him to do their dirty deed.
I hope he knows that I don’t regret a damn thing. And that at least for once in his life, he knows that someone sacrificed everything because they knew he was worth it. And I would do it all again if I had to. I smile sadly because I know I did the right thing.
At least for him.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The lock on the door rattles and the door swings open. Michael, Mattie, and I jump to our feet, though for what reason I don’t know. Steve and Mike look around at us all. I’m not sure what they’re looking for, but whatever it is they find it in Mattie, and they walk toward him as another guard stands in the doorway with his gun raised and aimed at Jessica.
The two members grab Mattie and walk him out of the room, and Mattie looks over his shoulder at us as they take him away. And then the Forgotten member closes and locks the door behind him, and we’re alone and in silence once again.
Jessica has started sobbing once more, and my head is still pounding from earlier.
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” I ask Michael as we stand next to one another by the door, listening intently for any sound.
“No,” he replies simply and boldly.
“You don’t know that,” I say in return and walk away from him. But of course there’s not really anywhere to go to, so in ten seconds I’m back by the doorway and feeling even more restless. “This is bullshit,” I mutter.
Michael doesn’t bother to reply, because, well, there’s nothing to say. It is bullshit. All of it.
“I’m getting pains,” Jessica sobs from behind us.
I don’t even give her the respect of an eye roll. Instead I leave Michael to look after her. He heads over and gets down on his knees, and I hear them whispering together. I wonder, briefly, about telling him what’s going to happen to her. About the dead thing growing inside her stomach and how it will soon eat its way out of her, whether outwards or downwards, and that either way it’s sure to play a delightful role in our nightmares for the next few years.
I turn and look over at them. She’s clutching her stomach with one hand, and strangely, he’s smiling as he holds her other hand. He looks up and catches me looking.
“Probably just Braxton hicks,” he says with a small shrug. “False labor, nothing to worry about. I learned all about this from my mom.”
I want to laugh. And then I want to choke on my laugh, and then vomit on the floor and then laugh and then choke some more. And then I want to describe the horror of what I found when I saw Hilary. But instead I turn away from them both, because it’s all too real and all too painful. And I need to get out of this damn room before it happens.
And then I realize why I can’t tell her what’s happening, and I want to cry.
She has hope. And I don’t.
I’m jealous of her, even though I know what’s going to happen to her. She has no clue of the horrors she is about to endure. In fact, because I haven’t said anything to her, she probably thinks that it’s all going to be okay and that at the end of this, if the Forgotten don’t kill her, she’s going to get a little baby to cuddle and to have and to hold. And she’s not. She’s going to have a monster, and then she’s going to die, and Michael and I will be left to kill the beast that she births.
I turn back around, the words on the tip of my tongue, but before I can say anything the door opens again and Steve is there.
“Perfect,” he says with a big shit-eating grin. “Just who I was hoping for.” His right hand reaches out and grabs for me. His grip is too tight and I immediately try to pull away from him, but of course he’s stronger. “Don’t fucking fight it, just get your ass out here.”
I kick out and pull to get away from him, and then Michael is by my side and he shoves me out of the way, sending me stumbling into the wall, and then he punches Steve in the face. His nose explodes in a burst of blood, like someone just threw a blood-filled water bomb at his face, and he curses loudly.
“You’re going to regret that,” he says, though his words are muffled as he covers his nose with his sleeve to try and stem the blood flow.
“You really don’t know me well enough if you think that.” Michael raises his chin and takes a step forward, his hard glare burning into Steve’s.
Steve grins, the expression maniacal on his bloody face. He pulls the gun from his waist and aims it at Michael’s head. “Well then let’s get acquainted.”
“No!” I scream, pushing between them both. “No, don’t, please, I’ll come with you,” I say, because God, I can’t be left with just Jessica, I just can’t. If Michael gets shot, I’ll have no one left. And I can’t look after her. I’d rather put her out of her damn misery sooner rather than later. “Please, please, just ignore him, he’s just an asshole,” I implore Steve. “In fact, I think he might have a couple of mental issues. Maybe his mom dropped him on his head or something when he was a baby. I’m pretty certain he has a false eye and a gimpy leg too.”
Despite himself and his bloody nose, Steve snorts out a laugh when Michael taps me on the shoulder and cusses at me. I turn to Michael.
“It’s okay,” I say to him, my head tipped up as I grab for his face and pull his gaze down to meet mine. “I’ll go with him, it’s okay, please. You look after Jessica.”
He stares at me and I try and put across everything that I want to say to him in those few precious seconds. It’s not enough, it’s too long, it’s all of the above. “You have to look after her—she’s going to need it,” I say.
His gaze flits to Jessica and his eyes narrow, and I get the feeling he knows exactly what it means for me to say that. But of course he doesn’t reply.
I turn back to Steve, making sure that the muzzle of his gun is pressed right up against my chest. “Please, he’s sorry, I’ll come with you. You don’t need to kill him.”
Steve looks pissed, but he puts his gun away and grips my shoulder before dragging me out of the room. He looks back in at Michael. “We’ll be having some fun later.” And then he slams the door shut and drags me away.
I don’t say anything as he leads me away. Instead my thoughts are a whirl as I think about what I’m going to do and say when I stand before Ashley again. She said I had to tell her where Mikey was the next time I saw her, but I’m not going to do that. However, the guilt of knowing that I’m sacrificing everyone for Mikey is huge.
It isn’t their responsibility, yet I’m making it theirs. And I should feel shame for that, but I don’t. I can’t allow myself to think like that.
Steve is pulling me so hard that I’m tripping over my own feet, and if it weren’t for the fact that he’s holding onto the back of my jacket, I would have fallen onto my face and busted up my own nose.
“Will you quit pulling me!” I yell at him, but he ignores me and continues to pull me along regardless until we’re back out in the main foyer—as I now fondly think of it, gunslingers’ alley. There are blood smears still across the floor, but the bodies have been removed and I’m grateful for that fact.
In the center, right below the glass globe roof of the mall, Ashley is waiting. A desk and some chairs have been pulled into the middle as what I assume is now her command center. Ashley is standing up and leaning against the desk behind her. She’s talking to Mike—the guy in the Redskins hoody, but they both stop as Steve pulls me along like a goat to slaughter. Her gaze is unflinching as he throws me to the ground in front of her and my knees crash painfully to the cold marble.
I cry out and turn to say something to Steve, but I come face to face with the muzzle of his gun and I decide to bite my tongue for the moment. I’ll cuss him out lat
er.
“So,” Ashley begins, drawing my attention back to her. She’s a beautiful young woman with dark hair, olive skin, and a full mouth. Even as a woman I can see what Fallon saw in her. But her eyes are cruel and cold, the downturn of her mouth giving away that she’s seen too much in her short time. “I’m hoping that you’ve come to your senses.”
“Hmmm, well, I thought about it,” I tap my chin thoughtfully, “and honestly, as good an offer as it is, I decided that the best course of action would be for you to go fuck yourself.” I smirk when her eyes widen and she huffs out her annoyance at me. “I mean, obviously Fallon can’t fuck you anymore, you know, because I killed his evil ass, so you’ll have to do it yourself. But I’m sure that’s no big deal for a woman like you.”
Ashley stands up straight and walks toward me, but my big mouth is open now and the words are spewing forth like an atomic bomb of diarrhea.
“I’m not trying to be rude—you seem like a capable woman. If anything, it’s a compliment, a commendation to your leadership, if you will. So yeah, go fuck yourself!” I nod and smile, not having chance to dodge out of the way of Ashley’s fist as she punches me square in the face, making my head whip to the left so hard I worry about tendons snapping. “God-fucking-dammit!” I cry out and I grab my jaw, tasting blood in my mouth. I slowly move my head back to face her again, definitely missing the second punch that gets me in the cheek and probably cracks my cheekbone.
There’s no time to call out in pain, or even curl into a ball as Ashley grips my head and then knees me in the face, and I’m choking on my own blood as I slide backwards across the floor. I stare up through the glass ceiling into the blue sky beyond, watching the tiny shadow of a bird fly past. Ashley’s booted foot kicks me in the side and I groan and curl up into a ball, squeezing my eyes closed and waiting for the rain of bullets to pepper my skin and put me out of my misery. Why she’d want to beat the crap out of me makes no sense. Sure I gave her shit, but that’s my thing. I can’t control how I work.
The sound of footsteps coming toward me has every muscle in my body flinching in expectance, but the bullets don’t come and neither do any more kicks or punches. I slowly lift my face away from its hiding place and look upwards. Ashley is leering over me, a small smirk on her face as she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“Now see, that was the wrong answer,” she says.
I take my time sitting up, my tongue stroking around my teeth to make sure that they’re all in the right places before spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the floor in front of us. Ashley watches me with indifference.
“Tell me something,” I say and she quirks an eyebrow at me.
“Sure,” she replies.
I spit more blood onto the floor again as I try to get my bearings, because everything is aching right now. I clear my throat before I speak and she waits patiently.
I look her in the eye before finally speaking. “Was it the ‘fuck yourself’ remark that pushed you over the edge?”
She punches me in the face again and I cry out, shake my head, and then look at her again.
“Or was it the ‘I killed your big bad boyfriend’ comment?”
She goes to punch me again but I dodge. “Ha! Missed,” I cheer and give her the middle finger with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. I spit out the blood that’s pooled in my mouth and grin up at her, knowing that I look fucking maniacal because I damn well feel it. Plus, my face is all busted up.
Ashley stands back up, her gaze going over my head to Steve. She cracks her knuckles, wiping away my blood from them. “I don’t think she gets it yet,” she says before turning and walking away from me. She heads back to her desk and sits down. “Bring her back to me when you think she gets it.”
Steve reaches for me, grabbing a handful of hair as he pulls me to my feet, and I scream out in pain. Ashley looks up at me as Steve begins to pull me away by my hair, and I’m forced to hold in my scream of agony because I refuse to let her have any more satisfaction in my pain.
Steve pulls me past some of the other Forgotten members, thankfully none that I remember, yet being with these people brings back all sorts of terrifying memories—memories that I’ve tried really hard to forget—and I wonder how long it will take before I break. Because no matter how hard and strong I think I am, I know that I can’t go through what I went through the last time they had me.
As we draw closer to my little makeshift prison, crying can be heard, and that perks up both me and little Stevie boy. He drags me harder, which is completely unnecessary since I’m trying to get back there to see what’s going on as quickly as he is.
“What’s going on in there?” Steve asks the two Forgotten members standing outside the door.
They both look anxious and scared. But then again, they both look barely old enough to drink, never mind standing guard over innocent prisoners.
“Open the damn door!” Steve bellows.
One of the guards grabs the keys at his waist and searches for the key while the other’s gaze goes from my beaten-up face to Steve’s fistful of hair at the top of my head.
“Yeah, I know, he’s a real asshole,” I say, making the guy blush and look away.
“Shut up,” Steve snaps at me, giving my hair a quick tug.
The Forgotten member swings the door open and we all look inside. None of us move. Instead, all of us are watching in horror as Jessica’s swollen stomach moves and she screams as she writhes around on the floor.
Michael looks up, sweat glistening on his brow. “Well don’t just stand there, someone help us, she’s gone into labor!”
My cockiness withers and dies on my lips, because I know that there is no helping her. Not anymore.
There was a time for helping, but for her, now it’s a time for dying.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“What’s all the noise?” Ashley yells as she storms toward us all. She pushes me and the others out of the way and stares into the room. “Jesus, what is it with men and pregnancy?” She turns and glares at me. “You too?” She scoffs and barges into the room. “Someone get me some towels and water.”
Michael is holding Jessica’s hand as she lies on her back, and his pale, sweat-riddled face turns to Ashley as she drops to her knees in front of Jessica. I watch in morbid horror as Ashley starts to speak to Jessica quietly and calmly, and I see a different side to her than I saw only moments ago. She reaches for Jessica’s boots and slips them off her feet before helping Jessica to slide off her pants. The entire time Jessica’s belly is rippling with movement, until I can’t take it any longer.
I look up at Steve. “She really needs to back away from her.”
Steve ignores me, so I try again—louder and less polite this time. But I don’t think I’m being totally rude.
“Hey, asshole, you need to tell that bitch to move away from the other bitch, because what’s happening is not what she thinks is happening. At all!”
He definitely hears me this time but is choosing to ignore me, but Ashley is moments away from shoving her hand up inside Jessica’s cooch, so it’s really kind of important that he listens to me.
“Hey! Psycho Sally.” I whistle loudly, making Ashley turn to glare at me.
“Can someone shut her the hell up?” she yells.
I smile sardonically and carry on with my usual wit and charm. “There’s a zombie baby about to bite your damn fingers off if you do that! At least it’ll attempt to, but you know, it’s a baby so no teeth. Either way it’s fucking gross, right?”
Ashley quickly withdraws her hand from under Jessica’s T-shirt and turns to stare at Jessica in morbid horror. Whether she believes me or not is irrelevant. The idea alone is horrific enough. I should know, I’ve been there and bought a franchise in the T-shirts.
“You need to keep your mouth shut!” Steve pulls on my hair again, making me call out in pain, but I’ve had enough of all this ridiculous hair-pulling. What are we, five? So with every bit of strength I have, I
slam my foot down on top of his and make him yelp in pain and let go of my hair. Thank the Lord for my beautiful boots once again.
I choose that moment to run forward into the room, stopping halfway across as Ashley pulls out her gun and aims it at me. I skid to a halt, my gaze moving between Michael and Jessica, who have both paled dramatically.
“Talk,” Ashley grinds out. “Right now.”
Steve, who has come after me, stops his momentum. I guess there’s no need to tear another chunk of my glossy locks out when I’m about to lose my brains.
“So, looks like I’m the one holding all the cards for a change, huh?” I snark, looking from face to face, but no one seems impressed by me so I decide to cut the shit and get straight to the point. I look at Jessica when I speak. “The woman we found—Hilary—she was dead, and so was the baby.”
Ashley looks between me and Jessica, her frown deepening. Jessica swallows nervously, though I can tell from the creases of pain on her face that even though she’s listening intently to me, she’s still concentrating on the baby trying to get out of her.
“What did she die from?” Jessica asks through clenched teeth. “Infection? Labor?”
I shake my head and snort out a dark laugh. “Wouldn’t that have been music to your ears?”
Tears escape her eyes and trail down her face. “Then what?”
Odium IV: The Dead Saga Page 27
