Breaking the silence, another set of footsteps echoed out from the hallway.
“Who is it?” Elliot asked in distress.
“It’s only me.” Tina stepped into the room. “Well, us.” She was backed up by Petra and Alek. “Elliot, we don’t care about who voted for what; we want Annabelle back. Let’s go ahead with the plan.”
Elliot nodded boldly, as he prepared to let his mother in on the plan.
Nikola and Andre were looking out across the river, discussing the “Face” which Nikola had allegedly seen; now, Andre was beginning to believe her.
Then, a figure approaching from over one of the bridges caught the corner of Nikola’s eye; it was Klara.
Instantly, they both ran over to the end of the bridge to greet her.
Klara was crossing over slowly, dragging her feet.
Andre waited at the end of the bridge, while Nikola ran straight up to her.
“Klara! Klara!” Nikola grabbed her lightly, looking over her dirty face, and half-dead expression. She hugged her intently.
“Estoy bien. [I’m fine.]” Klara mumbled, choosing to speak in her native language rather than English.
As they broke away from their embrace, Nikola realised what was missing. “¿Dónde está Mattias? [Where is Mattias?]”
Klara looked up at her slowly with droopy eyes and said nothing.
“¿Klara? ¿Qué pasa? [What is it?]” Nikola persisted, twisting her head slightly, in suspense of the impending news.
Nikola desperately banged on Erica’s house door, with a worn-out Klara at her side.
Eventually, Erica answered. The moment she saw Klara, something ‘dropped’ inside of her.
“She has news.” Nikola informed her on Klara’s behalf.
Erica sat Klara down at the kitchen table but had dismissed Nikola.
“Let’s start from the beginning; Mattias left you because he had ‘other ideas’?” Erica had to go through Klara’s story one more time; something felt off. “What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t go into detail about it. That’s all he said: Other ideas.” Klara explained again.
Erica stood with her arms crossed, “What exactly did he say?”
“He said: ‘I’m not going back Klara. I have other ideas.’ Those words exactly.”
But still, Erica just couldn’t buy into the story. “He brought me vegetables yesterday morning. He seemed very happy with his life here. I can’t understand what he would throw it all away for. Any guesses, Klara?”
She shook her head.
“You two weren’t even that close… Why did you ask him for your ‘errand’? In fact, while we’re at, how exactly did you lose all the medicine again?” Erica leant over the table now.
“I couldn’t carry it!” Klara rushed to defend herself. “Without Mattias, it was too much to carry.”
“Why him? Why Mattias?” Erica was asking this question to herself. “You barely even knew him, why would you pick--” And then, it suddenly hit her:
“You’ve got a sell-out amongst y’all.”
“Your sell-out’s not really a traitor. In fact, the person in question has actually done all of this in order to keep you people alive!”
Remembering J.V.’s warnings, Erica’s eyes slowly widened, as the corners of her mouth dropped into a distressed frown. She had figured it out; Klara was the ‘sell-out’…
Chapter 11: Other Ways
Naomi was still in Richard’s tight grip.
“Listen, you don’t have to hurt us.” Naomi tried to reason with him.
Richard laughed. “You mean like how all the people we showed kindness to didn’t ‘have to hurt’ us?”
“I get it, you’ve met bad people; We have too!” Naomi continued reasoning with him. “But we aren’t like that! Together, as a larger group, we can thrive! Just let us show you!”
Richard grunted. “No. The moment I give in to you, you’ll just turn around and kill me. It’s what always happens, my dear.”
“It happened to my husband.” Valorie spoke up, still holding gripping Worm tightly. “People are the worst creatures of them all.”
“I’m sorry about what happened to him,” Naomi sympathised. “But if you keep on judging people based off that tragic event, you’ll end up dead yourselves!” She warned them out of experience.
After savagely beating Harry and leaving him to bleed out, Kieran watched the commotion in the store from outside. He watched as Richard rummaged through his backpack whilst still holding Naomi.
Angrily, Kieran gripped his knife, and held it at eye-level, with the blade pointing behind him; he was aiming it as a projectile.
“You’ve got a lot of food here.” Richard remarked about Kieran’s belongings. “We could really do with some of it.”
“Then take it! Fine, take as much as you need!” Naomi was desperate to keep herself alive to make up for the past.
“Well I’m glad we have your blessing.” Richard jeered, and threw Naomi face-forward to the ground. “If you get up, I’ll just have your friend over there killed.” He nodded towards Worm, and then pulled several cans out of Kieran’s backpack.
But releasing Naomi was a foolish move on his part. Because now, Kieran had a clean shot.
“Agh!” Richard cried out painfully, feeling a sharp object pierce his lower back.
Startled, Valorie lowered her guard, giving Worm the chance to break free of her grip and pick up the rifle. “Don’t even think about it!” He warned her as she leant forward to try and swipe him.
Grunting and admitting defeat, Valorie raised her hands.
“I fucking knew it!” Kieran burst into the store with clenched fists, marching over to Richard with the intention of finishing him off.
“No, don’t!” Naomi stepped in his way and held her hands out, keeping him back.
Richard tried to clench the wound on his back, but he winced every time that he strained his arm.
“Get out of the way.” Kieran resolutely stared down at her.
Naomi shook her head, “There’s another way.”
“Yeah.” He seemingly agreed. “The other way is we torture them. I’m being nice by killing them.”
“Nice?!” Naomi was repulsed. “Listen to yourself! If you kill them, how are you any better?”
“Easy. I’m better because I save any other poor survivors from falling into their trap. Who knows how many they have killed?”
“Oh right, so you’re telling me you’ve made it this far without killing anybody?” Naomi rebutted.
Kieran’s face turned sour.
“Exactly.” Naomi concluded. “Let me handle this.”
“What about this one?” Worm called over to them, still holding Valorie at gunpoint.
“That depends on her.” Naomi answered. “Is she willing to comply?”
Valorie didn’t respond.
“Then kill her.”
“No!” She was very suddenly keen to speak. “No… You don’t have to do that. I’ll comply, ok?”
“See?” Naomi turned to Kieran. “The other way is life.”
“Where’s Harry?” Valorie followed up as she got onto her knees.
Naomi looked to Kieran for an answer.
“Dying.” He said unremorsefully.
“Then go and get him!” Naomi demanded.
“Why?”
She raised fierce eyebrows at him, and repeated her demand; “Go and get him, Kieran…”
A while later, the situation was far calmer.
Naomi was treating Richard’s injury, using bandages from his own supplies.
“Be still.” She advised him as she began to wrap the bandage around his waist.
“We weren’t---Going to k-kill you,” Richard groaned through the pain.
“I know. You just wanted to rob us. It’s fine.” Naomi said understandingly.
Kieran sat a distance away with his arms crossed, furious at the peaceful turnout.
Harry came over
to him, after holding a wet cloth over his fresh bruises and marks. “I’m sorry,” he told Kieran.
“I’m not,” Kieran replied begrudgingly. “You and your friends betrayed our trust and tried to kill us. All I did was try to get even with you.”
“I get it, I do.” Harry said patronisingly. “It’s hard out here these days. Maybe you just aren’t used to doing what you must.” He nodded towards Naomi, “But thank goodness your friend over there is.”
Worm and Valorie were getting to know each other, albeit cautiously.
“How are you so strong anyway? I had to wait for you to loosen your grip before I even stood a chance.” Worm enquired.
“I used to teach martial arts – Before, you know.” She revealed.
“What kind? Karate? Kick boxing?”
“Judo.” She said snottily, not wanting to think about the past.
“I was an IT supervisor.” Worm continued the conversation without being asked. “A small team, of course. I only had five or six employees on my team at a time.”
“Wow.” Valorie asserted unenthusiastically.
“Look,” Worm snapped, “You were about to kill me just a few minutes ago. The least you can do is have a conversation with me.”
“We weren’t going to kill you,” she disputed. “Your friend would’ve been beaten up, sure, but it sounds like he needs to be brought down a peg or two anyway.” She referred to Kieran.
Worm nodded and reluctantly agreed with her, “Yeah.”
Night fell outside, and the newly formed group of six had decided to stay the night at the outlet.
Distrusting of Richard’s group still, Kieran had decided to sleep in the store at the other end; an old pet shop.
Once the others were all asleep, Worm stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. Despite having reversed his loneliness, a part of him was still suffering from guilt.
“You couldn’t protect us.”
The ominous voice startled Worm, as he turned around.
“You got everybody killed.”
It was Polaris. He stood there, watching Worm with vengeful eyes.
“You are the reason we all died.”
“I’m sorry.” Worm grumbled, looking away in shame.
“You are not sorry.”
“I am. I really am. I know I was an arse back then. Goodness knows I want to make it right.”
“You can’t. You can never make it right.”
Worm shivered, “I can. I will. I promise you, I will.”
“You can’t make good on your promises though, can you?”
“Don’t.” Worm pleaded. “Just don’t.”
“You promised us, all of us. We all died, because of you.”
“No, it’s not like that. That isn’t how it was!” Worm fought with his own imagination.
“Darrius. Mark. Rico. Lorenzo.”
“Stop it.” Worm continued to grumble, as he put his hands over his ears; but he couldn’t block out the past.
“Calico. Sally. Bram.”
“I said stop!” Worm yelled at the demons of his past.
And just like that, the ghosts were gone. Everything was silent for a moment.
“What’s happening?” Naomi jumped outside, hearing the commotion with Worm.
“Oh…” He stuttered, “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” She iterated, disbelievingly.
Worm sighed and looked back down to the ground once again.
“What is it?” She knew there was something he needed to confess. “Worm?”
He shook his head in dishonour, and then looked back up at her. “I found Polaris.”
Naomi’s entire world stopped. “What?”
A lump formed in Worm’s throat. “I found him.”
“What—What do you mean?”
“I kept my promise to you.” Worm’s guilt began to take control of him. “I found him.” He repeated, unable to get past this fact.
Naomi was out of words and prompts.
“I couldn’t release him.” His guilty conscience spoke through him.
Still, Naomi had nothing to say.
“I found him, but I didn’t have it in me to put him out of his misery…”
Now, Naomi slowly began to walk towards him.
“He could have starved to death, bled to death, or some other kind of painful way to go, and it’ll have been my fault.”
She continued to walk towards him at a slow pace.
“Even worse, he could still be alive, Naomi. He could still be out there, living as a parasite, and not a human being.” Worm swallowed hard after making the consequences of his hesitation clear.
The two were face-to-face and eye-to-eye for a tense moment.
Then, Naomi wrapped her arms around Worm and hugged him.
Cautiously, Worm hugged her back, but still had a look of confusion on his face.
“Thank you for trying.” She tearfully whispered to him.
Rather than trying to guilt-trip himself even more, Worm decided to accept her forgiveness; “It’s ok…”
Chapter 12: Leverage
Petulantly, Erica dragged Klara across the hill of houses by her scalp.
“Get off of me!” Klara gritted, grimacing at Erica’s tight grip on her.
When they arrived at Gwen’s house, the door was already wide open. Erica invited herself in.
“Let me go, puta!” Klara cussed at her.
Upon entering Gwen’s living room, Erica threw Klara to the floor. “It’s her!” She revealed. “Oh, hello everyone.” She remarked upon noticing that Tina, Petra, Alek and Andre were also in the room with Gwen and Elliot.
“What about her?” Gwen asked, still caressing Elliot’s hand on the sofa.
“Who is it?” Elliot asked.
“To answer your question,” Erica pointed to Gwen, “She’s the one who’s been giving J.V. the lowdown on this place, and to answer your question,” she pointed to Elliot, forgetting he couldn’t exactly see her finger, “It’s Klara.”
Petra and Alek parted to either side, giving Gwen a clear view of Klara, who was still on the floor.
A look of sheer anger began to break out on Gwen’s face. “Bitch!” She erupted and jumped to her feet, pulling her personal pistol out.
“Mum, no!” Feeling Gwen’s anger through his hand, Elliot jumped up and tried to wrestle the handgun away from her. Alek rushed over to help him.
“She’s the reason my daughter is in DANGER!!!” Gwen screamed at the top of her lungs, “Let me kill her! Let me KILL her!”
“It’s not worth it, mum. Mum! Gwen! Stop it!” Elliot tried everything to disarm her.
“See what you’ve done?” Erica berated Klara. “We take you in, on your hands and knees, and you repay us by causing all of this?”
“I did it to save us!” Klara yelled back. “J.V.’s snipers would have massacred you all if it wasn’t for me!”
Now, Gwen ceased fighting back, and sat back down again.
“Do you know where the snipers are?” Tina asked, with Elliot’s plan at the front of her mind.
Klara didn’t answer.
This silence, however, only served to anger Erica. She bent down and grabbed Klara’s jaw. “Do you know where they are?” She tried Tina’s question again, only with a more forceful and less curious tone this time around.
Klara nodded; or at least attempted to but was restricted by Erica’s hand on her jaw.
“Where are they then?” Erica and Tina both asked unanimously.
“How many are there?” Alek questioned.
“How long have they been there for?” Gwen insisted.
Klara shrugged, unsure of which question to answer first.
“Can you bring one of them down here for us to capture?” Elliot asked his question after all the others had barked their ones.
Erica was about to speak out against Elliot, but Klara got there first.
“No. You don’t understand. If they even suspect us of acting against them,
they have permission to light this place up.” Klara begged against Elliot’s idea.
“And if we do nothing, then my little girl gets hurt in ways none of us want to imagine.” Gwen reminded everybody.
“I’m sorry about that, I really am.” Klara meant this apology, “But I know J.V. and his gang wouldn’t kill a pretty young girl like your daughter.”
“No, they’ll only make her wish she was dead, right? How is that ANY BETTER?” Gwen resorted to screaming again, as she held up her pistol a second time.
“Enough!” Alek grabbed the gun from her before she could shoot it.
“Give it back! Give it back, right now!” Gwen pounded her fists on Alek’s chest.
Andre stepped in, and held Gwen in his arms, as she continued to lash out at Alek. Eventually, her screams turned into tears, as she broke down in Andre’s arms.
Klara watched these proceedings with a sorrowful expression on her face.
“I don’t care about consequences.” Elliot resumed his debate with her. “I care about my sister. The question was can you get one the snipers down here, not will you.”
“Elliot, we voted on this.” Erica reminded him.
“Shut up. You’re the one who let Annabelle go in the first place. I’m talking to Klara.” Elliot rejected her. “For the third and final time: Can you get one of the snipers down here? Yes or no?”
Klara took a deep breath and nodded. “If you’re certain you can make whatever you’re thinking work, then I’ll help you. Think of it as an act of redemption.”
“Oh, you are far from redeemed.” Gwen scolded her through her tears.
“Ok, Gwen. It’s ok.” Andre whispered to her, still holding her in his arms.
“I’m not letting you do this,” Erica informed Elliot. “You didn’t win the vote. I’m not going to let you risk all of our lives because of your disobedience.”
“You didn’t win the vote either.” Elliot pointed out. “We were split three-to-three, and now that Klara is back, she’s just said she’s willing to help; the tie is broken, Erica. It’s a four-to-three split now. We’re doing this. End of discussion.”
Human Nature (Book 3): Human Nature III Page 8
