Morgan grinned and licked his teeth. “Get on your knees.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“GET ON YOUR KNEES!” Morgan screamed as all his men aimed their weapons at Lanceous.
"Alright,” he said, putting his hands up and getting down. “But please, don’t hurt the girl.”
Morgan pulled out his pistol and pressed it against the back of Rachel’s head.
“NO!” Lanceous shouted, beginning to get up before an Acquainted fired a warning shot at his feet.
“How about you Crimsy? You have any thoughts on this kid with a gun to her head?”
“I only care about running Cascadia. Kill the girl, I don’t care.”
“Damn!” Morgan laughed and looked down at Lanceous. “Now that was some cold shit!”
Crimson took her AK-47 off her back. “You can leave now, Williams.”
Morgan raised his brows and shook his head. “Well if you weren’t dead then, you sure as fuck are now! Here’s how this is gonna go.”
Shoving Lanceous over, Morgan walked up to Crimson and punched her across the face. “The last time I was here, you fucking dared to shoot at me! Because of you, many times my people left here empty handed, and on some of those occasions, they came back with less men!” Morgan slammed his boot down on Crimson’s stomach.
“Stop it,” Lanceous screamed as the Acquainted held him at gunpoint.
“I don’t care if you were a Harborwoman- whatever the fuck that is! I don’t care if you were a Malignite, and I sure as fuck don’t care about whatever you think you are now! The point is,” he said, getting down and putting his hands around her throat. “We lost a whole hell of a lot, over very fucking little! And you’re to blame for most of it!” Morgan looked back at Rachel. “Someone free her and give her my bat!”
Lanceous’ eyes widened. “Rachel?”
“Rachel!” Morgan smiled. “My own little side project. Fucking shit, you and her being old family friends just adds to the fun we’re about to have!”
Rachel took the baseball bat from one of the men and walked beside Morgan. It was heavy and as black as tar. Nails poked from the end, some clean, others rusted. “Yes?”
“I want you to pick who dies. Crims-”
Lanceous jumped up. “No! Please. Rachel, you don't have to do this.”
Morgan put his hand on Lanceous’ chest and laughed. “God damn, cool it, Armless. What? You like her?”
Lanceous swiped Morgan’s hand away. “You’ve done enough. I think she gets it.”
“Holy fuck, you do like her, don’t you!” Morgan laughed and patted Rachel on the back. “Go to town, kid.” Morgan got down in her face. “Show Crimson why the fuck she doesn’t fuck with us. Show her why these people don’t fuck with you! Show her who the fuck you’re Acquainted with.”
Lanceous shook his head as Rachel walked over to Crimson, still laying on the ground. “Please, Rachel. I don’t know what happened to you, but something happed- the girl I knew never would have joined a group like this. You don’t have to kill anyone. Just- walk inside, and stay in Cascadia. These people will take care of you, they’ll protect you from people like this. Everything will be okay!”
Crimson looked at Lanceous and closed her eyes. “I’m not afraid of death, Williams. Do what you must.”
Lanceous’ lip shook. “Rachel, please? Who was there for you when John left? Who helped you through your depression? Rachel, I can take you to back to-”
“KYLE,” Crimson barked. “I’ve accepted it.”
Morgan walked over to Crimson and slammed his boot into her face, busting her nose in.
Lanceous jumped at Morgan and got tackled by some of his men.
“Alright, Rachel,” Morgan said, spitting on Crimson. “Do your worst. Show her why fucking with the Acquainted, and most importantly, Rachel Fucking Williams, is a baaad fucking idea!” He grabbed her by the shoulders and got close to her ear. “This woman’s to blame for mommy being raped, and Carl being murdered. She fucked you raw and she fucked you hard! Now it’s your turn.”
Rachel tightened her grip on the bat as her breathing grew faster.
“That woman fucked you good.” His grip on her shoulders grew tighter and he spoke softly. “Fuck her face with your twelve-inch nail dick. Introduce her to my dirty girl, give her the bat.”
Crimson opened her eyes. “Children are all the same- they don’t understand a thing,” she said as blood ran down her face. “The people you’re fighting for, they’re the ones who did those things.”
“You called!” Pulling away from Morgan, she swung the bat. She busted in some of Crimson’s teeth and gashed open her face. “YOU KILLED CARL,” she screamed, swinging the bat down on Crimson’s head, caving her forehead in. “YOU RAPED KESLER!” Rachel stomped the heel of her boot on Crimson’s throat. “YOU AND EVEYBODY ELSE IN THIS MONSTER PIT ARE GONNA DIE! EVERY LAST FUCKING ONE OF YOU!”
Morgan smiled, watching as Rachel turned Crimson’s skull to mush, with tears running down her face. “Hey, kid, maybe cool it for a second.”
Rachel bawled as she got down and slammed her fists into the bloody chucky pile that was Crimson’s head.
“Alright, come on,” Morgan said, pulling her up.
“I’m not crying,” she said, wiping her eyes.
“You were.” He took his bat and held it on his shoulder. “But I get it- you're mad, you had all that anger and now you’ve finally got it out! Jesus- I wonder what you’ll do when it’s time to kill me.”
Rachel took some deep breaths and turned around. “I wouldn’t kill you.”
“Well I am fucking glad,” he laughed. “Now on a brighter note, that shit, that shit got me hard like a fucking rock! That was fucking awesome, you did fan-fuc-… Fantastic work. Now I know you’re really happy about killing this bitch,” he said, giving her a wink. “But when people see you cry, you’re immediately not a threat, and sure as fuck aren’t taken seriously. This is business, take it serious.”
He smacked her ass and strolled into Cascadia. “Time to clean house!”
Chapter 24:
Tribu-Tards
A couple hours had passed after looting Cascadia, and the Acquainted were on their way home.
“You wanna talk about that shit back there?” Morgan asked, glancing at Rachel as he drove the truck.
“I was just so angry, and then thinking about what happened to Kesler and Carl... I just snapped. It won’t happen again.”
“Thinking about the past can make a man snap in an instant. Remember the beat down I put on John over a picture? Nobody wants to think about it... About their loved ones, their pets... Hell, these days a man misses work, traffic... It’s best not to think, you just keep moving forward. Like what I’m doing with you. We’re moving forward. You could focus on the past... The...” Morgan turned up the headlights and slowed down the truck.
“Are those monsters fucking?”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “The infected are-”
“They’re fucking fucking...”
Stopping, Morgan jumped out and rushed to the back. “That’s not right,” he said, opening the back. “Everybody get the fuck out!”
“What’s going on?” a man asked.
“This,” Morgan said, walking around and approaching the infected.
“Excuse me? Walking venereal diseases? What in the fuck is going on?” He shook his head, watching the monsters have sex. “HEY! If you can fuck- you can talk! Now what in the fuck is going on?”
Rachel walked up behind Morgan. “Is this for real?”
Staring at them for a moment, he squinted his eyes and leaned ahead. “Nope,” he said, beginning to back away. “It’s not.”
As the Acquainted began heading back to the truck, a group emerged from the trees, led by Dutch. “Hello there, Morgan!”
Morgan laughed. “Peter fucking Solomon?”
“Morgan Fucking Williams.”
Morgan grinned. “You followed us, you creepy little bastard!�
��
Dutch laughed. “I had reason to believe that Rachel was with your group. It looks like I was right,” he said as Rachel backed up behind Morgan.
Morgan shrugged and pointed at the infected. “It’s a bit distracting, Petey.”
“Yes, you’re right.” Dutch looked back and waved his hand. “You can stop now!”
A man pulled off his mask and pushed the infected to the ground. “We found 'em out in the woods, pretty sick, ain’t it?”
Morgan laughed. “He was fucking a real monster in its real monster ass?”
Rachel let out a little chuckle. “Remind you of anyone you know?”
Dutch walked up to Morgan and held out his hand. “I can’t say it’s been good seeing you, but considering the last we spoke I was chained in a closet, I’d say this visit takes the cake.”
Morgan slapped his hand. “Get to it. You tell me what you want, I say no, you bitch, I shoot, we leave. Let’s get it over with.”
Dutch laughed. “The old Morgan Williams charm!” He nodded. “I want Rachel.”
Morgan shrugged. “And I wanna know why your men enjoy cutting up their faces to look like the dead!”
“For the same reason Maligna chooses to go around topless and wear so much eye makeup. For the same reason you show up to people's doorsteps with an army and a smile... Now,” he said, opening his jacket and revealing his pistol. “I want the kid.”
“Are you honestly fucking threatening me? Your men may have guns, but unlike mine, your people have zero fucking ideas how to use them! I could have this whole fucking crowd of dead heads killed before one of yours even learn how to pull a trigger. You, are Peter Solomon, leader of the Tribuals, an escaped slave of the Acquainted’s... Be thankful I don’t kill you where you stand.”
“I feared telling you this because I believed you would kill her, but you leave me no choice... That girl murdered my children! My son, my daughter, my wife... As a matter of fact, she took my wife to our children’s bodies before murdering her.”
Morgan glanced at Rachel and looked back at Dutch. “We all have our reasons, and knowing your people, I’m sure she had a lot.”
“Come now, Morgan, is there ever a reason to murder two innocent children?”
Morgan sighed and looked back at Rachel. “Why’d you do it?”
“Easy. For the same reason you killed Billie’s dad. Why you killed everybody back home... For the same reason you did what you did to John. I did it to send a message. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to, I even told Dutch, if I could, I would take back what I did to his kids. But in the end of the day, I did what had to be done.”
Morgan bit his lip and let out a laugh. “Well fuck, Petey, it’d be pretty hypocritical of me to punish her for that... No, I like that fucking answer, and I don’t think I’ll be handing her over. Not yet anyway, not right now.” Morgan pulled Rachel in front of him and stood her across from Dutch. “As we speak, this kid is a pretty tough-ass member of our group, and somebody I’m proud to call Acquainted! So, here’s how this is gonna go.” Shoving Rachel aside, Morgan laughed as he got in Dutch’s face. “Me and my boys are gonna get back in the truck and drive home, we’re gonna pretend like you didn’t just follow us here like a bunch of creepy bastards and hold us at gun point. And fuck- just to be nice, you’ll be at the top of my list if it ever comes time to get rid of the kid! But for now, she’s been Acquainted with Morgan Fucking Williams, and Morgan Fucking Williams fights for his men,” he said, putting his hand on his pistol and glancing back at his group. “She’s one of us. You don’t fuck with my men, ‘cause when you do, we’ll fuck you twice as hard, twice as bad, and for twice as long.”
Dutch shook his head and threw his arms up. “Well then, Morgan, what can I say?” He laughed. “You have me out manned and out gunned.”
Morgan’s smile dropped and he stared Dutch dead in the eyes. “What are we doing here, Petey?”
“Clearly if you’re not willing to cooperate, picking a fight with you would surely be a mistake.”
“Damn straight!” Morgan laughed. “And Peter, let me make this crystal fucking clear for you. I have killed men for a whole lot less- you stalking us and holding us at gun point, that’s a mistake no man would wanna make- right now, for letting you leave, you should be kissing my ass and lickin’ the hole clean- the only reason you’re not, is because god knows where those Tribu-tard lips have been.
“GO! Because the next time we cross paths, I will rip you apart with my bare fucking hands.”
Dutch nodded. “One day, when we regain our strength and have you out manned. That will be the day we come back, and that will be the day that-”
“God damn you’re cute.” He grinned and slapped Dutch across the face, knocking him to the ground. “IS THIS CRYSTAL FUCKING CLEAR TO YOU?”
Dutch clenched his teeth and glared at the Acquainted. “Yes, Morgan.”
“Did I embarrass you in front of your men? I genuinely wanna know. Did I? And don’t fucking lie to me, because if you do, this shit’s gonna get a whole hell of a lot worse.”
After the Tribuals cleared off the road, the Acquainted got back in the truck and headed home.
Rachel looked up at Morgan who was focusing on the road. “Did you mean what you said back there?”
“What about?”
“Am I an Acquainted?”
Morgan smirked. “Fuck, kid. As far as I’m concerned you were an Acquainted after you slit my fucking throat and took my fucking offer. And after killing Hester... Very few people manage to make me hard, and so far, you and Davey never seem to fail.”
“And you’d fight for me?”
“Don’t worry about the Tribu-tards, you’re one of us. I know when I come to town and bust heads open, I don’t seem like the most caring guy, but I’d die for my people. If I didn’t care, why would I fight to keep them fed and protected? I take from others, but it’s to keep mine alive, and when it comes to enemies, nobody’s a match for the Acquainted- No-fucking-one.”
Rachel stared at Morgan for a moment before looking out the window. She cracked a little smile. “Cool.”
“I like how you handled that back there by the way,” he said, turning up the heat. “You do what has to be done- not what you want to do- what you have to do! That’s what being a leader is, you did the right thing with his family. I kind of wish you said something about that sooner so we could have been prepared for shit like that, but it’s fine. If we had to fight, we would’ve won... But you never get used to that feeling of losing people... That’s something that never changes.”
Chapter 25:
Weaknesses
The next day, the group arrived back at the Ohio Base. Retreating to the rooftop to celebrate a job well done, Morgan and Rachel relaxed in lawn chairs, having a drink.
“...So he takes me to this like, meeting room thing- and when we’re there he asks ‘You are still a virgin?’” Rachel laughed as she tipped her bottle up. “The way he talked was so fucking stupid. So anyway, he starts taking off his clothes, and guess what I did.”
“Well you didn’t get killed. My guess,” he said, taking a drink. “You were raped.”
“I had this pistol that John gave me, Liam’s old one, I kept it holstered in the back of my pants,” she said with a laugh, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb. “So anyway, I pull it out and BLAM! I shot the guy!”
“Jesus!” Morgan smiled. Finishing his whisky, he tossed the bottle off the roof. “How old were you?”
“God, it’s so hard to think right now... Maybe eleven?”
“Fuuuck.”
“Okay, your turn.”
“What?”
“Your first kill! Tell me about it!”
“...The past is in the past, Rachel. You know that.”
“Just once- please? After all the stuff you’ve done to us you can tell me one story.”
Morgan lowered his bottle and stared off into space. “Monster or man?”
“Man!”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “You killed people before this?”
“I can promise you it’s not whatever you or anybody inside would think... His name was Billy, funny right?”
Rachel nodded and stared at Morgan.
“I kept trying to tell myself it wasn’t my fault- I couldn’t have done anything! I COULDN’T CURE CANCER! YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW THAT? THAT’S THE ONLY COCK SUCKING FUCKER THAT WINS EVERY MOTHER FUCKING TIME!”
Rachel sat up straight and stared, worried as Morgan’s anger grew.
Morgan took a deep breath and cracked open a can. “I lost two people because of that shit.” Taking a drink, he crushed the can and chucked it off the roof. “This little special needs kid, Billy. Used to call me Big Bill.” He laughed. “Fuck I liked that kid... Then Amb-…"
Rachel gulped, staring at Morgan who was shaking in anger. “Were you a doctor?”
A minute of silence had passed before Morgan cocked his head up and glared at Rachel. “THIS NEVER LEAVES THIS ROOF! This is a moment of weakness! You ask me about my god damn past again and I’ll stick you on the fence my god damn self!”
“Hey, don’t worry about it... You can’t cure cancer though. That stuff’s not on you-”
“GO! Get back inside, go see your own Billie- and when you step back through those doors, this little moment here, never fucking happened!”
“It’s okay- I won’t say anything.”
“FUCK!” He jumped out of his seat and swung the chair off the roof. “GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE, NOW!”
Rachel headed back inside as Morgan walked over and fell back in her chair. “Jesus Christ,” he mumbled, putting his hand over his face and grabbing a bottle.
• • •
August 2005, Saint Monica’s Childrens Hospital, Ohio.
Walking down the cream-colored hallway in his long white coat, Morgan entered room 83-C. The room where one his patients, a special needs boy with Leukemia was staying, waiting for his breakfast.
When Was? (Book 2): Who Are You Acquainted With? Page 21