“It’s me,” I whisper as she lowers the chair. “He’s coming. Go!”
She nods and runs off toward the back door while I barricade the door I just came through with a few chairs. Right then, the door is smashed open, and the president peeks through the small opening.
“Marsha? Open the door, sweetie … no one will get hurt if you do,” he says with a sweet voice that makes my skin crawl. “Let me in!” He jerks the door handle a few more times. Then he stops to cough and heave. “You bitch! You poisoned me!”
He slams the door again, and it opens a little bit farther, despite the chairs I stacked against it. It won’t contain him forever.
“She’s not here,” I growl back as I inch closer to let him see it’s me. “Leave.”
“Noah?” he grumbles, narrowing his eyes at me. “I should’ve known you were on her side. You plotted against me from day one. You did this, didn’t you? You set them up to destroy this community!”
A wicked smile spreads on my lips, but it disappears the moment he starts hacking at the door.
“I’ll kill you both!” he roars, chopping away like a madman.
That’s my cue.
I’m not waiting around until he’s hacked his way through the door. It won’t be long now. The rage in his eyes the moment he looked at me was all I needed to know he won’t stop until we’re both ten feet under the ground.
I turn and head straight for the other door that Marsha just ran through. I have to go find Natalie and make sure she’s safe.
But right as I open the back door, President Lawrence bursts through the other one, violently shoving aside the chairs as though they’re made of mere paper.
“NOAH!” he yells, and our eyes briefly connect.
Then I slam the door shut behind me and run like hell.
I have no idea where to go, where to find Natalie or her mother, but I can’t stop running across the grass either. The president is right on my tail swinging a butcher’s knife in his hand as if he’s lost his marbles. No one stops him. The people outside are too busy fighting amongst themselves and with the guards to even notice the fact that the president himself is running right through the crowds.
I keep going, no matter the cost, even though every bone in my body hurts because I must save my wife and child.
Where would she go? Her friend’s house?
With the sun going down it’s hard to look around, but adrenaline keeps me going. I immediately run toward Holly’s home, the only remaining member of her initiation group, but the house looks ransacked, so I quickly bolt off.
The hut where she and her mother met then?
No, there’s no time, it’s too far and the president’s right behind me.
“I’ll kill you!” Blood and foam seep from his mouth.
Why won’t this fucker just die? How much poison does he need to just drop dead?
“You ruined my family and me, and now I’ll ruin yours!” he roars.
No, I can’t let him get close. He can’t touch her or my child, I won’t allow it.
Natalie has to be at the hut that belonged to the initiates. It’s the only place left to look.
Without thinking, I bolt straight for the initiate’s hut. I look around at the surrounding huts, but there are no weapons in sight, nothing I can use to defend myself for my family. I pray there’s something in that initiates hut I can use to my advantage and defend us. If I have to, I’ll block his path with my own body. I’d sacrifice my life if it means Natalie and my child will live.
Just a few more steps, I’m almost there, but he’s catching up. I have to be quick.
I burst into the door and swiftly spin on my heels, closing it shut behind me right before he enters too.
He bangs the doors, viciously screaming and coughing. “Die!”
I turn around to see if I can find anything I can use as a weapon, but there’s nothing more than a pair of scissors lying on the table next to me. It’s not enough.
That’s when I spot them with all the children huddled up in the corner.
A man and a woman stand near the kitchen, one clutching a knife in his hand while staring me down …
And Natalie, hugging the children in the back.
My eyes widen. “Natalie!”
She looks up, and tears fill her eyes when she spots me. “Noah! You’re alive!”
“Noah? The patriarch?” the other guy growls, and he points his knife at me. “Stop.”
The president continues banging the door, attracting everyone’s attention.
“Don’t trust me? Fine, but that monster out there will kill us all, so if you want to live, barricade that door,” I bark. “Now!”
He frowns but moves to the door anyway and grabs the lonely chair standing next to the table.
Then the president screeches. “I am President Lawrence, and I demand you let me in!”
The guy’s eyes widen. “Is that—”
“Don’t,” I interject, holding up a hand. “Don’t you think about it.”
Too late.
He’s already pushed the handle down.
“NO!” Natalie screams, and the children start to cry.
The president slams open the door and grabs the guy by the throat. “Don’t get in my way!”
He rams the butcher’s knife straight into the guy’s abdomen.
Holly squeals in terror, and her eyes roll into the back of her head, then she faints and drops to the floor.
The president throws the guy’s body aside as though it means nothing, his eyes homing in on Natalie, who’s clutching her child close to her chest.
“No,” I growl, blocking his path as he tries to get closer, still clutching the butcher’s knife.
He doesn’t hesitate as he thrusts it at me. I dodge and attempt to steal the knife from his hand, but he cuts my arm instead. I hiss and inch back, clutching my arm in pain.
President Lawrence coughs up blood, visibly losing stamina as he quakes on his legs, but he still comes at me with the knife.
Suddenly, Marsha runs into the hut with an ax in her hands, screaming her head off. “Why won’t you just die?!”
She swings the ax and throws it down as hard as she can … right into the top of the president’s head.
Everyone squeals in shock, and then his body drops down to the floor like a plump sack of shit emptying out onto the floor.
For a few seconds, we stand there as though we’re frozen in time. I stare at Marsha, whose chest rises and falls with each breath she takes. She wipes the sweat and blood spatters off her forehead. “It’s over.”
Her hands unravel, and the ax clatters onto the floor.
And for the first time in a long time, tears well up in my eyes. “We won.”
“No,” Marsha says, straightening her back. “The women did.”
Chapter 28
Natalie
After quickly hugging my mother, we help Holly’s husband by rinsing his wound with alcohol and suturing him up with a needle and thread. It isn’t much, but it’ll have to do. No important organs were hit in the attack, so he should survive. As we bandage him up, Holly approaches and holds his hand. I’m glad she’s happy he survived, and that we didn’t have to deal with another loss.
The kids slowly get up too, watching the adults hug each other. Only Noah stands there in the middle of the room as though he’s stunned we all made it out alive. He defended us all from my father, but ultimately, it was my mother who killed him. She saved us, and I can’t thank her enough.
So I hug her again and say, “Thank you. I know it must’ve been hard.”
She shakes her head. “Actually, it wasn’t. I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time, but I could never find the right weapon.”
I snigger. “Poison wasn’t enough, huh?”
“The fucker just wouldn’t die,” she says with a grimace, making me laugh.
“Well, he’s dead now.” Noah leans back, and says, “We should celebrate.”
Marsha
nods. “We should. The entire community banded together to fight against their oppressors. You did that, Natalie.” She squeezes my arm. “I’m so proud of you.”
A tear forms in my eye, but I quickly push it away. “I’m proud of us all. I couldn’t have done this without you or any of the other women.” I look at Holly who’s helped her husband get up, and she nods at me too in recognition.
“One simple act of defiance is all it takes to start a revolution,” my mother says, and she fishes something from her pocket. It’s my old scarf, and she hands it to me. “Everything we did, all of it led to this moment.”
I take the scarf and clutch it tightly before wrapping it around my neck. For the first time, I can say I’m proud to belong to this community … this community of women who prevail.
And I gaze at Noah who looks at me with delight in his eyes, and it moves me. I hand my baby to my mother who sweetly coos at the child while I walk up to my husband and grab his hand. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
He looks down at his feet. “I didn’t do much.”
“Yes, you did. You brought me outside the community when I was just a little girl, only to bring me back years later … It was all to achieve this. To overthrow the patriarchs.”
His face darkens. “I’m a patriarch too, Natalie.”
He swallows as tension rises, and when I glance over my shoulder at all the women and children staring us down, I know what he means; no one wants a patriarch anymore.
“My time has come,” he says.
“No,” I say, squeezing his hand. “This was your idea. I’m not doing this without you.”
“You already did,” he says. “You and your mother conspired against the patriarchs … and you won. I’m the only one left standing. If we go outside now … the people remaining will butcher me.”
“I won’t allow it,” I say, frowning. “They will understand. They must.”
A hand on my shoulder makes me turn around. My mother smiles. “They will … if you explain it to them.”
I nod. “All right.”
Noah’s nostrils flare as he sucks in a breath. “I’m ready.”
We grab each other’s hand and step over my father’s body, opening the door. The last inch of the sun is still visible on the horizon, casting a shadow over all the huts in the vicinity … and the hundreds of male bodies lying scattered across the grass.
Women stand over them with hatchets and knives and poison bottles in their hands, and I swallow hard. They stop what they’re doing and look at us emerging from the hut.
Everyone stares at us, and I can’t help but wonder if they’re waiting for me to say something. But what?
Suddenly, there’s a weird noise behind me, but I don’t have time to look. Because within seconds, my mother has dragged my father’s body to the door and throws him outside onto the grass.
“It’s done. This community is ours now,” she growls out at the crowd.
One second. Two seconds. Three.
All the women and leftover men burst out into cheers.
I’m flabbergasted, completely stunned, and my jaw even drops at their excitement.
Were there so many people who wanted this system to end? So many people who were on the verge of breaking, so many women who desperately sought an exit but never got one … and now that the opportunity presented itself, they took it gleefully. All the women fought their suppressors until there was no one left to try to subdue them. Most of the elders, gone. Everyone with weapons, gone. All the guards … dead. And the patriarchal bodies lie stacked up inside the temple, thanks to the cunning deviance of the matriarchs and their poison vials.
It’s as if it was always supposed to be.
And I can’t help but raise my hand and incite the cheering crowd even more. “We did it, we won!”
“But what about him?” someone suddenly yells, pointing at Noah.
The entire crowd is silenced by that one question.
I knew it would be asked. It had to be coming; it was only a matter of time before they noticed.
“He’s a patriarch,” another one growls, clutching his pitchfork close to his heart. “None of them deserved the temple or the lavish lifestyle.”
I lift a finger. “You’re right. And they deserved all the punishment they got,” I say. “BUT …” Everyone’s looking at me with suspicion now. “This patriarch was the one who came up with this entire plan.”
“What?” one of the women groans. “That’s not possible. She gave me the vial.” She points at my mother.
I’m losing ground, and I don’t know what to say because I know she’s right.
“My daughter was the one who started this revolution,” my mother interjects. “Without her help, none of this would’ve happened.”
“What does he have to do with this?” They point at Noah, who steps back in fear.
I block him with my arm to defend him. “He brought me back to this community. It was his idea to begin with to start this revolution. Without him, I wouldn’t even be here.”
Some of them cock their heads, others mull it over, while some are still clutching their weapons tightly as though they mean to attack him.
“He helped my mother with the poison, he helped us hide a patriarch’s body, and he showed me the evils of this community so that I would fight against it. So I would fight for all of you,” I exclaim. “And he did it knowing he would lose his position as one of the most powerful men of this community. And he did it willingly,” I say. “That makes him one of the good guys.”
More sighs emanate from the crowd, but also more lower their weapons.
“How do we know who gets to survive and who doesn’t?” one asks. “Why start a revolution if you’re not going to kill them all?”
“We need men just as much as we need women to survive,” I explain. “But from now on, the women will rule.”
More smiles appear, and most of the women drop their weapons on the floor. “Power to the women!” one of them chants.
Soon, more join in until all of the women have banded together in unity, and the leftover men cower in fear.
“The time for men to rule is over. They will have a place in our society, but it will no longer be one of servitude and punishment,” I say out loud. “Who’s with me?”
All the women raise their hands and cheer. “For the women!”
“Power to the women!” I yell, and they continue cheering while approaching us.
For a mere second there, I’m terrified of what might happen. I’ve never been faced with such a crowd, but at the same time, I know things can’t ever get worse than they already were.
Noah and I squeeze hands, and he throws me a thankful look.
And I know right there and then that we will be okay.
I lean in and press a kiss to his cheeks. “Thank you.”
“For what?” he asks.
“Everything,” I say, and I grab his face and plant my lips on his.
He smiles and wraps his arms around me, kissing me even harder, and the whole crowd erupts into cheers again.
“Get a room,” my mother jokes, and my lips tear away.
“Or a Hut,” I jest, and she laughs.
Noah lets go of me, and I step closer to my mother, who’s looking at the crowd in amazement. “I can’t believe we did all this,” she says.
I nod. “It’s almost unbelievable,” I reply. “Like, that hemlock … I can’t believe you found it right here in the community. It’s almost as if it was meant to be. Like this was meant to happen, and you were meant to help the others poison their husbands.”
“I know,” she replies.
I turn my head toward her. “How did you know what to do with it anyway?”
She shrugs. “I read a botany book.”
That must’ve been the book Patrick found.
“It was just lying on the table in Lawrence’s room, so I took it.”
I frown. “You just … found it lying around?”
> She turns her head to me too and narrows her eyes. “Yeah. Maybe he was reading it too.”
My brow rises. “Interesting.”
Maybe the president had intended to poison his own wife too so he wouldn’t have to deal with her any longer and wouldn’t be blamed for her death. Luckily, she beat him to it.
Noah’s suddenly right behind me, and I almost jolt up and down. I forgot he was there. “Were you listening to our conversation this whole time?”
He shrugs, but there’s a particular deviant smile on his face that I can’t quite place. “Can’t help it. It’s in my nature to want to know everything.”
I roll my eyes but still smile anyway because his curiosity reminds me of myself. I guess we were always alike, just in a different way.
“I’m just glad that fucker is dead,” my mother suddenly says.
“Agreed,” I say, chuckling.
Her cheeky smile burns brighter than the evening sun. “Now … Let’s go clean up this community and start again, but this time, we’ll do it our way.”
* * *
Noah
Months ago
Before the fire
With the satchel in my hand, I dig up a few holes in random spots along the edge of the forest and empty the satchel above. The seeds sprinkle down on top of the soil, and I cover them with sand. The rain will take care of the water.
With a devious grin on my face, I tuck the satchel back into my pocket and go back to the temple, whistling a tune I learned from that greenhouse guy back when I was visiting with my father for one of our trips.
I go upstairs and go to my room, where I grasp a box hidden underneath my bed. I open it up and take out the book I got from a library in that same town we visited, and I walk back to the president’s room. He’s downstairs, eating lunch, which I’m skipping today, for obvious reasons.
I have a book someone needs to read.
By studying all the patriarchs and matriarchs schedules, I know that Marsha will come to his room in about five minutes … because the president always wants her to be naked in his bed by noon to receive her weekly fuck … And that this moment is by far the time she hates him the most.
Beyond His Control Page 20