When Was? (Book 2): Who Are You Acquainted With?
Page 7
He looked down at John. “The fucking your family stuff, it might not have looked it, but that was only mind games. Truth be told, I love this kid, she has some huge fucking balls, balls so god damn big they beat out yours! I didn’t wanna hurt her, I don’t enjoy hurting any kid. But now, well, she’s gonna get fucked a little.”
He turned to her, looking at her with a grin. “Rachel, sweetie? Do you wanna hold out your hand for me?”
Taking a deep breath, she shivered as she held out her hand, staring at the shiny silver cigar cutter.
He took her hand in his and stared into her eyes. “Now if you behave, I’ll let you keep the whole thing. Okay?”
She glared at him, clenching her teeth behind her smile.
Morgan looked back to John and smirked. “Blood was not meant to be spilled today. This is all on you, Daddyo.”
He looked back to Rachel to see she already had her left ring finger in the cigar cutter. “Fuck, look at you being all ‘Big Balls McHuge-Dick'!”
Rachel stared him dead in the eyes. “Just cut it, pussy.”
Morgan laughed as he cut off half of her finger.
Briefly letting a scream escape her, she wrapped her hand tight around her gushing finger as Kesler broke down.
Grabbing the finger, Morgan looked at John. “I’ll let you pick which hole.”
Still shaking, he spoke through his teeth, “Mouth.”
“See? Now was that so hard? If you just chose the black-haired girl for Pat, none of this would’ve happened!”
Walking over, he crouched down and slid the bloody end of Rachel’s finger between his lips. “How’s that taste? As good as your old buddy Carver’s cigars?”
Slowly, like a parent teaching their child how to ride a bike, Morgan let go of the finger, smiling as he watched John hold it in his mouth.
Morgan pulled it out and got in his face. “I bet she’s had this finger all over that cute little pussy of-”
He spit blood in Morgan’s face, getting some in his mouth.
Staring at him for a moment, Morgan began to laugh. “I guess I was just asking for that, wasn’t I?”
John continued to glare, giving him the stink eye.
“Fuck, I try to turn your assault into a joke, and you can’t even laugh? Well fuck you then,” he said, slapping him across the face and getting up.
“How’d it taste?” Rachel asked through her teeth, staring at Morgan as she kept her hand wrapped around her finger.
“Pretty good,” he said, getting down in her face. “Who knows, maybe next time I’ll just sink my teeth into you and take a nice meaty chunk out.”
“Go ahead.”
He leaned in closer, leaning his head on hers. “Don’t tempt me, kid, because I’ll sink my fucking teeth straight into your tiny ass throat like the god damn lion I am.”
As John got up, he stared at Morgan. He was a mess, covered in blood and dirt.
Morgan looked to him and sighed. “You could’ve just stayed home today... But you didn’t. Are you gonna make this fuck up again?”
The two stared dead into each other's eyes for what felt like an hour until John nodded.
“You are, are you? Well, when the day comes that you do try to pull this shit again, just remember. This was only a tiny little cock tease compared to the full show. And when I do put on a full show and do I start delivering shots, just you fucking wait, because Morgan Fucking Williams, is, the end of the mother fucking world.
“And when you pull another stunt like this again, especially picking a deadly as fuck fight with me, the giant rocky dick of the earth is gonna slide up inside your asshole and won’t stop until it comes out of your mouth.”
Chapter 7:
Precious Memories
Before Morgan, and after Carver
John and Janey laid in the middle of the overgrown road, all around them were corpses of the infected.
John was dressed in dark blue jeans, his brown jacket, and a white t-shit, now colored red. His hair was slicked back with sweat, and his beard clung to his neck.
Janey wore a pair of dark grey sweat pants and a white tank top, covered in blood.
They looked at each other and laughed.
“Damn,” John said, wiping his nose with his sleeve, holding his hatchet.
“I like killing with you,” Janey told him.
“From pullin’ off pranks to pullin’ off heads,” John said as he got up and gave her a hand.
“Wanna find more of them?”
“As enjoyable as it is, I don’t go out of my way to find ‘em. Actually I think it’s pretty stupid makin’ a game of it,” he said with a laugh.
The two walked back to the truck, and Janey hit his arm. “So you gonna do it?”
He shrugged. “Never know.”
“You should, man.” She slid off her blood soaked top and tossed it.
Taking off his jacket, he hung it on the back of the truck. “We’ll see,” he said, taking off his shirt.
Janey opened the back and grabbed two shirts. “What’s stoppin’ you?” she asked, handing one to John and putting hers on
He shrugged and exhaled. “You just, you never know. What’s gonna happen next.” He put on his shirt and put his jacket on. “Carver’s gone, sure, but this, peace, it won’t last. It can’t.”
“Well you should do it while you can.”
He nodded and they leaned against the truck, staring at the pile of bodies down the road.
“No point in waitin’.”
He looked at her and smiled. “It’s good havin’ you back.”
“It only took the end of the world,” she said with a laugh.
Later, after returning to Argentina
John walked behind the office building with his hands in his pockets. He saw Logan, standing in front of Trinity’s grave. “How you holdin’ up?”
“I still can’t believe she’s gone.”
“...I know what you mean. I still can’t believe my first born’s gone.”
Turning around, Logan held out his bottle.
“No, thank you.”
Logan looked back to the small white cross and John put his arm around him. “One day, I don’t know when, but we’ll find the man who did this.”
Tears rolled down Logan’s face as he took a drink.
“It’ll be slow, and it’ll be painful, and he’ll wish he never stepped foot in Argentina.”
“Thank you, John.”
“Stay strong. I’m right here with you, brother.”
Logan hugged him and sniffled. “You’re a good friend.”
“I will be once we find him. Him, those people...” He shook his head. “They’ll wish they never fucked with us.”
After leaving Logan, John walked up the road and saw Tom and Fiona, sitting in the yard in front of the school with their daughter Callie.
John smiled, watching Callie throw a ball to her mother. “Havin’ fun?”
“Yeah!” Callie said as her mother rolled the ball back.
“How ya doin’, John?” Fiona asked.
“Good. You guys?”
“We’re good.”
“Great,” Tom told him.
“Good to hear.”
Fiona smiled. “So Jane was talkin’ to us-”
“I don’t know,” he said with a chuckle as he walked away.
“She’s gonna say yes,” Fiona told him.
Heading home, John saw Norman at the table, having a drink.
“Enjoyin’ it?”
“Better than livin’ out in the woods, not knowin’ where your next meal’s gonna come from.”
“I can imagine.”
“That church you’re workin’ on, it’s a real good thing you’re doin’.”
“Hey, I needed somethin’ to do, and Jamie wantin’ to do this it gives me an excuse to build, I always did enjoy that,” he said with a laugh. “Even if the almighty and I never see eye to eye.”
He tipped the bottle up and nodded. “She really appre
ciates it. Nervous is all, after the last stranger she became friends with turned out to be a god damn psycho.”
“I get it, you tell her she’ll be teachin’ in no time.”
Heading to Rachel’s room, he shut the door. “Hey, kiddo.”
She put down a big black book and looked up. “Oh, hey, you’re back.”
“I’m back.”
“What were you doing?”
“Janey and I went for a drive, ended up takin’ out a small herd of critters...” He nodded at her. “You still got it?”
She lowered her brows for a moment and raised them. “Oh! Yeah!”
John smiled, watching as she hurried over to her dresser and began digging through it.
Later
Leaving the house with a basket, John saw Kesler walking up the road. “Hey!”
“Hey!”
“Jamal’s?”
“The man makes a good drink,” she said with a laugh.
“Jamalties.” He laughed. “I think you’re the only one here who drinks that shit.”
“Have fun with Janey?”
“I did. How’s Wally doin’?”
“What makes you think I’d know?”
“Because he never leaves the bar,” he joked.
She laughed. “Just as drunk as ever.”
“Thought as much.”
“So where were you headed?”
He shrugged and looked at the sky. “Just out for a walk.”
“And then what?” she asked with a laugh, looking at the basket in his hand. “What do ya got there?”
He shook his head. “Like the day we met, so many questions.”
She laughed. “Well you don’t have to answer them.”
He put his arm around her. “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”
She held his arm as the two walked down the road.
“Here’s one story I’ve never told you.”
“This should be good,” she said with a laugh.
“After that fight with Rhys, when I went back to Max and Judy’s, I got a guy to fix my eye.”
“Yeah.”
“Well while he was doin’ it, I guess he remembered how much I liked the Saw movies and he thought it’d be funny to hide my keys behind my eye-”
She laughed. “Shut up.”
He kissed her head as they approached the hospital. “Ain’t it a good one?”
“It would be if it was real. What are we doing at the hospital?”
“I need to grab somethin’ real quick.”
Heading inside, they began walking down the clean white halls.
“Remember the first time we were in here? You interviewin’ me like a news reporter?”
“It’s called talking, I don’t think I was that bad.”
“Nah, it was bad.”
She laughed. “So bad you stuck around, huh?”
“’Cause I thought if I ran you’d chase me!”
The two laughed as they stopped in front of the cyan colored door of room W4.
“Open it,” he said, stepping back.
Opening the door, Kesler saw a group of her friends. Rachel, Janey, Logan, Tom’s family, and Jamal.
She lowered a brow and raised the other. “What’s in the basket, are we havin’ a picknick in the hospital?” she joked.
Turning around, she froze and stared at John who was down on one knee, holding a ring.
“Kesler Monroe, would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
She twisted the ring that was on her finger. “I thought we were-”
He shook his head. “That one’s just a ring... So what do ya say?”
She nodded and started to cry. “Yes!”
Getting up, he slid the ring on and kissed her. “I love you more than anything in the world.”
“I love you too,” she cried, wrapping her arms around him.
Present time.
John woke up and smiled, staring at Kesler who was fast asleep. “...More than anything.”
Climbing out of bed, he slid on a pair of black jeans, a blue khaki shirt, and his brown jacket.
He walked around the bed and kissed Kesler on the head.
She slowly opened her eyes and smiled. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
Leaving the house, he met up with Janey and went behind the office building, standing in front of Tom and Logan’s graves.
“Have a good sleep?” Janey asked, handing him her bottle of coffee.
He smiled as he stared at the graves. “Better than most,” he said before taking a drink.
“So no point in runnin’... What do we do?”
“Shit, I don’t know,” he said, handing her the bottle. “A part of me just wants to kill him the next time I see him, but I don’t know what’ll happen if I do.”
“It makes sense. But I guess that just means we need to kill all of them.”
He laughed. “Easier said than done.”
• • •
It was dark, and the groans of the infected filled the silence. He stood on his knees in the clearing, looking around.
After a moment, the sounds of the dead stopped, and he heard whistling.
“Fucking fuck,” he mumbled
Walking out from the trees, she was dressed in his leather jacket, and wielded his spiked baseball bat.
“When I come back I’m gonna kill Daddy!”
Rachel laughed. “Really?” She walked in front of him. “Because from where I’m standing, you’ll never be coming back. Not even as a walking corpse.”
He shook his head and laughed.
She crouched down and held the bat up to her face. “Do you smell that?” she asked, taking a big whiff. “It smells like your guts.”
He rolled his eyes.
Standing up straight, she swung the bat on her shoulder and stared at him. “Who are you Acquainted with?”
“Go fu-”
She swung the bat into the side of Morgan’s face, creating deep gashes.
“FUCK,” he screamed, still standing on his knees.
She slammed it down into the top of his head as he got up on a knee.
Blood rained down Morgan’s face as he stood up.
She took another swing, and Morgan grabbed it, sending the nails shooting through his hand.
Rachel let go and began backing away.
He ripped the bat from his hand and gripped it tight. “I hope you have your shittin’ pants on? ‘Cause you’re about to be up to your nipples in shit soup!”
Backing up, she found herself leaning against the New Colombia wall.
He grinned and licked the blood from his lips. “It’s either him or me, and the way I see it, it might as well be him!”
Morgan swung the bat at her face, and Rachel opened her eyes before it could connect.
She and Billie laid in bed, completely naked. The sheets were a mess, and a pillow sat on the floor.
Billie laid against her with her leg over her and arm on top of her.
She stared at the ceiling as she rubbed the back of Billie’s head, playing with her hair. I’m gonna kill him.
Chapter 8:
On Thin Ice, Breaking
The next day
Spotting a dingy white car pull up to the gate, John and Janey ran down to see who it was.
“Good morning, John,” Morgan hollered as he got out.
“Janey, open it up,” John said as Morgan walked to the gate.
“How are you today, stumpy?”
“Good... How are you?”
“I am fan-fucking-tastic! Thank you for asking. So, are you ready to go?” he asked as the gate opened.
He raised a brow. “Go where?”
“The base! I told you you’d have to come down sometime, and now you have to come down!”
John glanced at Janey as she walked beside him. “Alright... Sure.”
Morgan laughed. “Shore?”
“Yes! Just let me go tell my family where I’m goin’ so they don’t worry.”
“What?”
“I ran into her and these three guys fuckin’ like a bunch of sex rabbits! I figured, well, she’s right here!” He laughed and pointed to a second car parked to the side of the wall.
The car was full of smoke and had a tube going from the exhaust pipe to the window.
“Damn you,” John yelled, running to the car.
“Many people have!”
Throwing the door open, John felt around for her as the smoke cleared.
“I hope I didn’t scare you too much.” Morgan smiled. “The guys who came along I made start running back just so I could do that.”
Janey glared at him. “You’re a piece of shit scaring him like that. You know what your man did to his son.”
“Damn, you know what, you got a point, Blondie... You’re right...” Morgan looked at John as he made his way over. “That wasn’t fucking cool, John. I’m sorry about that one.”
John put his hand on his revolver and stared him dead in the eyes.
“Are you fucking serious right now? I want you to remember this moment,” Morgan said, slapping John across the face. “This right here is you signing your own death warrant, and when the day comes that I have you on your knees with my fucking Desert Eagle pressed against your fucking skull- I want you to remember, THIS RIGHT HERE! This is what caused it... Me apologizing to you like a man, and your disgusting ass trying this bullshit dominance act.” Morgan pushed John to the ground and glanced at Janey. “Now let’s get mom and Rachel and get this show on the road!”
John jumped up and held his stump. “Morgan, wait!”
“What? Do you have to shit again, you need to run home before I get there and see whatever it was you hid from me last time? I don’t fucking think so."
Back at John’s home, the girls were in the bedroom while Kesler sat on the couch going through photo albums.
“This is Janey’s but she left it here, it’s really good.” Walking over to the cassette player on her dresser, Rachel put in a tape by Tears for Fears and the song Everybody Wants to Rule the World filled the room.
“Pop music?” Billie smiled, sitting on the bed waiting for Rachel. “This is really what you wanna do it to?”