by Blake, Misti
I carefully took a corner of my shirt and started picking the black berries with it. Touching them with bare skin could cause irritation so I didn’t want to do that. I needed it to look like she had passed away naturally without irritations from the plant giving me away. A smile lit up my face. I would soon have all that I needed to be happy.
I took the berries inside to the kitchen and dumped them onto the countertops. I had to act fast before Morgan finished with what she was doing. Some would make it into my bag while others were going to be used now. I clambered through the cabinets for a bowl and silverware to use. I needed to mash it all together to get her to ingest it easily.
During my clambering, I didn’t realize that I had been spied upon. Brantley was standing in the doorway leading to the living room with his ever-watchful eye fixated on the bowl in my hand. As I mashed away furiously at the majority of the berries, perfecting their consistency, he was devising a plan to rat me out and show me for the person I really was. So when I turned around, I found him with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. I stopped in my tracks, completely off guard, and tried to come up with a logical reason for what I was doing. I was grasping at nothing. My brain just didn’t want to function.
“That’s Belladonna berries, Reagan. Who are you feeding them to?” he asked as he pushed himself off the door jam and casually walked to within a few feet of me. I shook my head, denying the words he spoke.
“This isn’t for anyone. I was just going to put them in my bag in case we needed it later,” I answered. I needed to come up with something to do. But what? I couldn’t let him stop me now. His apparent affection for the brat would ruin everything in my future.
“No, I know better than that. You’re giving it to Samantha to kill her. Admit it.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. I wouldn’t be getting out of this one easily. “Fine. You’re right. She’s dangerous and needs to be helped in passing now rather than later.”
He nodded absently as his pointer finger drifted to his chin in his thinking process. “I’ll not tell Morgan on one condition.” The smile that spread across his face screamed of evil. I hated being blackmailed!
The tapping of his finger upon his face was the most annoying thing I think I’d ever seen. I hated to ask, but curiosity had struck again. “And what would that be?”
He slapped his hand hard onto my shoulder, driving my torso forward slightly and jarring my bones. “So glad you see things my way. My condition is that you let me take the girl out of this house. I’ll handle her once she passes.” His hand lifted its weight up and he pointed a finger at me. I thought about biting it for a split second, but I didn’t want to ruin our newly-found allegiance. “And no one puts a knife through her head but me.”
I cocked my head to the side slightly, almost subconsciously, confused about what he wanted. Why would he want that task? What was he up to? It was a good deal, though, so I nodded. Time was running out for me anyway.
“Fine. Come on.” I pushed past him with the bowl held closely to me in case he changed his mind on the ordeal. I couldn’t give him the opportunity to double-cross me.
We climbed the stairs silently to avoid giving ourselves away. Every other step creaked, making me cringe in fear that my love would hear. I stopped just outside the bedroom door where Samantha lay and opened it a hair’s width. Peeking in, I looked for any sign that Morgan was inside. To my relief, she still hadn’t come back from the bathroom. I hurried in, closing the door behind me. The click of the latch hitting home made me jump for joy inside. This part was always the most enticing of murder!
Samantha was in no better condition than when I had left earlier. If anything, it looked like she was far worse. Her eyes didn’t open at the sound of the door or when my shadow passed over her face in the dimming sunlight from the window. Her breathing, still sporadic, hinted a death that lingered not too far away. It was a pity to waste good poison on a child so close to the afterlife, but Morgan wouldn’t leave this place if I didn’t nudge her sister just a tad to the other side.
“Hey, Sam. It’s Reagan. I have something that will help ease the pain. You just have to swallow it,” I cooed, trying not to frighten her. The last thing I needed was for her to alert her sister. I gently sat down on the edge of the bed with both feet dangling off the side. Using my knee on the bed as leverage, I propped her head up with my free hand. The back of her head was clammy with sweat and her hair was matted horribly. My lip pulled back in disgust, seemingly of its own accord. She moaned weakly; she didn’t have the strength to do much else.
“I know it hurts. This will make it better.” Tilting her head back, I forced her mouth open with the bowl and began to carefully pour its contents down her throat. I didn’t need to spill a single drop to ensure that Morgan would never find out about what I was doing. Even the smallest drop might alert her to foul play. “That a girl, Sam,” I whispered as she downed every last drop of the poison. For a moment, I felt proud that the girl trusted me enough to drink the crap.
No sooner had I gotten up and moved toward the door did the side effects kick in. Not having anything on her stomach and already being vulnerable due to the virus, it didn’t take much for the Belladonna to work its magic. Samantha started sweating profusely so I stopped to watch my handy work play out. Within seconds, she started to convulse. She clutched at her chest every so often during her convulsions. I smiled, beaming with pride. I had never used poison before and it was working like a charm. She would soon stop convulsing and pass away once her heart ceased to beat. There wasn’t much more that I needed to do here.
A rapping sound met my ears, causing me to jump nearly out of my skin. I was so consumed with the work of the Belladonna that I had forgotten I was on a time limit and that Brantley was waiting outside in the hallway. He must be trying to signal that Morgan was on her way back from the bathroom with that water for her sister. I needed to get out of here undetected by her. I could hide in one of the rooms across the hallway so I could catch her when she broke down. She would see me as a hero in her time of need. It helped me in my plans for later to get her to pledge her love to me. I smiled again as I thought briefly about how we could end our lives in happiness together, free from all pain and suffering.
I took one more look back at the bed to find Samantha laying still in apparent slumber. I knew better… My poison had done its job and she was gone from this world. I had succeeded in what I had set out to do and it was time to deal with the consequences and watch Morgan lose it one more time, just like she had done back at the hotel. I was glad that part was temporary and that she would bounce back from her pain in a few days. Having us there with her would make the healing pass by quicker, but by how much I wasn’t sure.
I left the room in a hurry before Morgan showed up to find me here. As I closed the door behind me, I could hear the bathroom door start to squeak open. Brantley waved me into the room across the hall, a frantic look upon his face. I dashed in and closed the door just in time for her to come walking back to her sister. I leaned up against the cold wood, listening to her footsteps on the carpet. All the sounds were muddled, but the knock on the door came through loud and clear.
My heart raced as I waited for her to make the discovery. I was ecstatic that I would get to be the reason for her pain. It wasn’t supposed to be like that in a relationship, but I didn’t care. I needed complete control and this would give it to me. As the door shut behind Morgan, I snuck back out into the hallway and pressed my ear to the outside of Samantha’s door. Inside, a muffled sound of something hitting the floor carried softly to my ears. Crying soon followed it. Oh, what a sweat sound that was! I closed my eyes for a second, reveling in the moment. I could do so much to her without her knowing. It made my dark side happy. I inhaled and exhaled quickly before I barged into the room. It was my time to shine.
Chapter 17
I used the guest bathroom instead of the master to fill the bowl. I couldn’t bring myself to see the wri
tings on the wall again, or the dead body. It would send me further into a depression then the loss of my family. That tiny thread of life and hope that I now clung to couldn’t take a deeper depression. I wouldn’t have anything left to live for. I dipped my hand under the faucet and wiped away the grime from the mirror. I took a good, long look at the woman looking back at me. Her face had changed dramatically in four years. A few gray hairs had sprouted at the hairline from the constant worrying I did. Looking at her made me think that I would be going on thirty-five, not twenty-three. Angered, I took my dagger from my side and smashed my reflection, causing some glass to crumble to the sink and floor. The shattering of the glass and the plinking of the shards against porcelain and tile were like nails against a chalk board. I found it to be even more infuriating then looking at my reflection in it. I picked up the bowl from the sink, pulled the shards out of it, and went back to my sister’s room. I needed to collect myself.
I knocked before entering the room out of respect for her privacy; it was something that we hadn’t had the luxury of in years. Shutting it behind me, I turned to look at her and dropped the bowl of water. The splatter of the water and clunk of the bowl hitting the hardwood floor echoed off of the walls in the tiny room. Samantha was as white as the sheet she lay upon and I couldn’t see her chest rising up and down with her breathing. My nightmares had come to full fruition… I rushed over to her and felt her clammy neck for a pulse; nothing was there at all. My knees went weak and I collapsed to the floor with a loud thump. I cried out like a baby. The loss was too great for me.
The bedroom door opened, but I paid it no mind. I welcomed death with open arms and hoped it would be a slow, agonizing one. This was entirely my fault. Completely my fault… I deserved whatever Fate had in store for me. Arms circled around me and gentle hands guided my head to rest against a shoulder of leather. Reagan had come to check on us, only to find a scene none of us have seen since the captain killed himself years ago. She didn’t say a word, but just sat there holding me. Even though I didn’t want to be around anyone right now, I allowed her to be there. Human contact was soothing despite my desire to be left alone with my consequences.
I wallowed in self-pity and self-hatred without noticing that my sister’s body was being wrapped up in the blankets and carried out by Brantley. It never crossed my mind what he would do with her as I welcomed the darkness that started to envelope my brain. I didn’t have any real hold on reality at that time. It was a common occurrence for people who suffered traumatic experiences for their brains to shut down, putting them into a temporary coma. I greeted it like a lost sibling and prayed I wouldn’t ever wake up from it.
Chapter 18
I could only wish for Morgan to have peace with her sister’s passing. Looking at her face after I had heaved her up onto the bed told me otherwise. She was still so very attractive in her sleep with her painful expression and her lips turned slightly down. I could only imagine what was going through her mind currently as it tried to come to terms with the last twenty-four hours. As hard as she was taking it, I would never be able to tell her that I had ended her sister’s suffering with the Belladonna poison I had mixed up. With the amount of blood Samantha had lost, the poison didn’t need long to take affect. Her body couldn’t fight it off while the last little bit of her blood was attempting to fight off the zombie virus. Maybe someday she’d forgive me for my atrocities against her family. Maybe someday, she’d understand that we didn’t need anyone beside the two of us to survive. We could be unstoppable without the extra baggage that was her family.
I wasn’t sure how long I had sat there watching her for sanity’s sake, but as the sun started to sink below the horizon, I recalled that Brantley had taken the girl off without putting his blade through her head first. On top of that, he hadn’t shown his face since then. What was that idiot up to? Surely he hadn’t done something I would make him regret with that girl? I needed to hunt him down. That bastard was always up to no good when it came to children.
I placed my hand lightly on Morgan’s forehead, kissed her cheek, and left to search for the pervert. Sitting around worrying about her condition wasn’t doing any good so I needed to find a distraction. I didn’t know much of his story and he didn’t let anyone in, but rumors that went around our neighborhood years ago claimed he was a child molester. I could believe it with the way he eyeballed the child zombies we encountered. He always seemed to be depressed for a day or two afterward. That kind of creepiness warranted some truth to those rumors. Not that I cared. After all, I’ve killed men before. But even people like me had codes and children were off limits. They were innocents to be left alone.
A search of the entire house was to no avail. The garage was still locked and chained up. I only had one more place to look: the barn. The door stood slightly ajar with no more room than for me to peek into it. I couldn’t really tell what was in there, but it reeked of decaying flesh. My first thought was zombies had gotten in there somehow. If they were stuck in there, it would explain why we didn’t see any upon arrival. I calmly unsheathed my daggers and slowly opened up the barn door, planting myself in case of an onslaught. This wasn’t my first rodeo and a challenge was always accepted.
Nothing assaulted me other than a few mice that ran by. I felt relieved to know that at least some type of animal still existed in this messed up world beside humans. In the same moment, I felt a strong urge to kill them. No matter how much I wanted to or even tried to hide that part of me, it always came out. I’m a murderer deep down in my core and I always will take the opportunity to do so. Had they been more of a challenge for me I would’ve disposed of them.
I crept inch by inch into the barn, pushing my senses to heighten themselves and be on alert. I did my best to tiptoe with my heavy boots on, but the crunch-crunch of the bed of straw strewn out across the dirt floor made it almost impossible to be silent. They would hear me without a doubt. The element of surprise was on their side.
The stalls were covered with straw like the rest of the barn and it was apparent that animals had once lived here. There were still impressions in the straw from whatever was kept here and feces, so old it was white, clumped up the straw in spots. Food buckets sat half full and water buckets had a nice layer of mosquitoes on them. Whatever happened here, it had been a long time since it had been occupied.
The loft was full of moldy smelling hay covered in rat feces. The difference, though, was obvious to me. Something had been dragged up through here. It had left impressions through the hay, pulling up a bunch of it only to leave it lying to the side of the trail in piles. What that something was, I couldn’t have been sure. An animal, a zombie, a dead girl, or perhaps it was a human snack for a newly turned zombie ten year old?
A smile snuck across my face at the thought of Brantley meeting his doom. He was the last one standing in my way and I needed him gone. My goal was close: having Morgan all to myself to live a life together and some day see the end to this madness. The things I would do to her when we were finally alone… A bark of a laugh came out of my slightly parted lips as I thought about it all. We would find someone somewhere to get us both pregnant, kill them, and raise the children as a couple. A perfect life in a no longer populated world and I wanted it. I would do anything to have it.
I could hear pleasurable moaning coming from the back of the loft furthest from the ladder. I felt disgusted at the thought of Brantley hiding up here whacking off. But what had he brought up here? Had he even brought it up here? Surely he wasn’t that stupid? Goosebumps popped up across my skin and my stomach turned flips at the idea that he may be having sex with a dead girl or even a zombie. She should’ve turned by now. I wanted so badly to turn around and walk off, but curiosity got the best of me. I had to see what was going on. I snuck around the hay bales and came across the most disgusting sight ever.
That fucker was screwing a zombie Samantha! He had actually done the despicable! That poor girl couldn’t even fight back with her hands bou
nd above her head to the beam of the low ceiling and her mouth had been gagged by a handkerchief. Just when I thought he couldn’t get any worse, he had to turn out to be a necropheliac. Just because he hadn’t had any in years with majority of the children dead doesn’t mean he should do this. A murderer wouldn’t normally go that far. It pushed the folds of what was acceptable.
I stood there, rooted to the spot by my utter disgust with this human being. I should’ve killed him when I had the chance two years ago when a food hunt we went on went south. His stupidity had been a constant thorn in my side. He was really enjoying himself over there and that made me despise him more. His face showed no aversion to what he was doing, just pure pleasure. The nasty bastard had a dirty mind! I couldn’t figure out if it was pleasurable for him because it was a child or because she was dead; I really didn’t want to know the answer to that.
She kept wiggling like she was trying to get out from underneath him. He ignored her movements and moaned out even louder each time. His grip on her ass would visibly tighten and he’d thrust a little harder. Enough was enough already! It was time for him to be responsible for his own actions. It was time for him to disappear. I had to do it so Morgan would agree to keep running away from here with me, but how? Perhaps I should wait a day to kill him? I could think more clearly then.
I contemplated it for a few seconds before tiptoeing away. I headed back down the creaky ladder and left the barn as quietly as I could. I would try to wake Morgan up and see if I could persuade her to leave today. He would probably be here the rest of the day so now was the perfect time. If that didn’t work, I could bring her out to the barn to see the way her sister ended up.