Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV

by Borthwick, Finlay

  “…That’s disgusting.” Marianne judged him with a repugnant look on her face.

  “Yes, and now you’re the only person other than myself and Adela who knows the secret.” Emile professed.

  “You mean… You haven’t told Alek?” Marianne appeared to be even more disgusted as she realised this.

  “No, and if you’re gonna try and tell him, I’ll just say that you knew the whole time but let him carry on blindly.” Emile blackmailed her.

  Marianne didn’t quite understand what Emile’s game was, but was scared regardless, “Why are you telling me this?”

  Emile swallowed hard, “I know you don’t begrudge Tia for shooting him, but I do… I want her out of here.”

  Marianne laughed at him, “You want what?”

  “I’m serious, Marianne.” Emile was stern, “Tia’s a threat. I don’t trust her not to shoot Alek again, nor shoot anybody else for that matter.”

  “She was in a plane crash, Emile!” Marianne lowly raged at him, not wanting Alek to overhear their conversation. “It’s a traumatic experience that caused her to remember an equally traumatic day! She’s not gonna do it again!”

  “We don’t know that.” Emile was looking to the ground in shame as he said this, feeling guilty about wanting to banish a child from their only kin, but also knowing that he had to do anything to protect Alek. “We don’t have to find that out either if she goes—I don’t care how you do it, I just want her gone.”

  “…Does Adela know how much you hate her sister?”

  Emile shook his head, “Adela hates my guts and I hate her sister’s guts in turn. These things swing in bouts.”

  “No,” Marianne denied Emile’s request, “I’m not going to send a child out there! Anything could happen to her!”

  “She’ll only get what she deserves,” Emile expressed his belief in karma, “If she deserves forgiveness, she’ll be fine. If she deserves punishment, then who are we to stand in the way?”

  “She loves you like an uncle, Emile!” Marianne pointed out to him. “Who are you to stand in the way of judgement? You’re a person that she fucking adores! That’s who!”

  Feeling something snap inside of him, Emile grabbed Marianne by her collar and stared her fiercely in the eyes, “You are going to get rid of that little brat! If you don’t, you’ll be the one who conveniently disappears,” he threatened her, “And if you try to tell Alek about Adela’s baby, that’ll get you disappeared as well. If you walk away from my house affirming that you will not do this task, then I will go back in there and tell Alek that you knew I cheated on him all along. Do I make myself clear?”

  Fearful for her life, Marianne desperately nodded. A small tear had even formed in her eye; Emile used to be a great friend of hers with whom she had worked very closely with, but now, he was nothing more than a vengeful and vindictive monster.

  “Good.” Emile released her from his grip. “Now, run along and get rid off of her!” He commanded, also in a low tone, for he himself was afraid of Alek finding out.

  With jelly legs, Marianne ran off as fast as she could.

  After the presence of a hostage had been called in to her by Nikola, Gwen was storming towards the semi-detached house where Donna was being kept, with Elliot and Annabelle both at her side, much like the angel and the devil on her shoulder.

  “She’s down there.” Rubin nodded towards the basement stairs as he allowed Gwen and her kin to pass.

  Although Elliot had tried to make his way down the stairs with the aid of nothing more than his cane, Rubin had to assist him with the final few steps.

  “Well, well, well…” Gwen shook her head in disgust as she circled the tied-up Donna. “Looks like the rumours are true; The Bandits are back.”

  Annabelle remained by the bottom of the stairs, glaring at Donna with nothing but anger and bereavement – for her long-time deceased father – in her eyes.

  Although his visual senses may no longer have worked, Elliot was excellent at picking up on the emotions around him. As such, he slipped his hand into Annabelle’s and squeezed it tightly, desperate to keep her there in the moment with him, and not six years prior to when she had multiple other bandits.

  Donna said nothing, and instead returned Gwen’s look of disgust back at her.

  Gwen only circled the tied-up bandit once before she crouched down in front of her, “Do you know who I am?”

  Donna had a strong poker face.

  Gwen encroached closely on her personal space, “The name’s Gwen. I’m the woman who killed your martyr.” She declared proudly, putting a conniving smile on Annabelle’s face as well.

  Elliot, on the other hand, was listening to this situation with a troubled expression. Whilst he understood why Gwen felt the need to gloat, he also felt as though she wasn’t being cautious enough with regards to her enemy.

  Donna didn’t react in the slightest.

  “Your little deity, Kyle? I pushed him down a manhole. I listened as he broke every single bone in his back as he plummeted to the floor beneath.” Gwen was, perhaps, taking her boasting too far, “I smiled as he died. I smiled so very, very passionately.”

  Then, much to Gwen and Annabelle’s surprise, Donna’s face eased up into delight, as she grimaced at her new enemy, “Thank you… Now Nolan can initiate the final battle in the knowledge that our devil will perish during the shootout.”

  “What do you mean?” Elliot called out, “How is he gonna know?”

  All of a sudden, Gwen realised what exactly Donna was getting at. “Oh shit!” She cursed with rather wide eyes as she ripped the bandit’s shirt open; there was a mic wired up through Donna’s body.

  “Nolan’s heard everything!” She declared with a maniacal smile. “You’re all gonna die!” Now she was laughing psychotically as well. “You specifically,” she addressed Gwen directly now, “Kyle’s gonna torture you and your husband in Hell forever!!” This comment made it clear that The Bandits were very much aware of how evil they were.

  As Annabelle reached for her pistol, Elliot was still holding her hand firmly.

  “Annie, don’t do it.” He mumbled to her.

  “Why not?!” Annabelle screamed back at him. “Can’t you hear what she’s saying?”

  “Yes, yes I can.” Elliot replied calmly, leading his sister to become confused. “And so can he!” He shouted towards Donna in the hopes that Nolan was still listening in, “He can still hear us, right?”

  “We’re always listening.” Donna grimaced.

  “Right, well in that case,” Elliot ignored how cryptic the bandit was being and stepped forward towards her, “I want him to know that the people here have been through and lost so much more than he could possibly ever imagine.”

  Donna rolled her eyes as she realised that ‘the blind guy in the room’ – as she thought of him as – Was about to launch into a monologue.

  “We’re not gonna lose anything or anyone else,” Elliot proclaimed, “So you’d best prepare yourselves for the fight of your life—You are the ones that will end up face down and dead on the ground.”

  Gwen was smirking now, proud that she had adopted such a brave, thoughtful, and willing man as her stepson.

  “Catch you later, Nolan.” Elliot left his unseen enemy with those words before grabbing the wired mic and ripping it forcefully off of Donna. He threw it to the ground and then stamped on it with force, destroying it; he had incredible aim despite his lack of vision.

  “Get Cora,” Elliot ordered Annabelle, “Tell her to unlock the armoury and gear everybody up immediately.”

  Just like her mother, Annabelle too was smirking, proud to see that her stepbrother was taking charge of the situation just as it had turned dire.

  Chapter 18: Turf War

  With news of the upcoming battle having quickly spread, as well as the fact that Cora had opened up the armoury, the residents were now arming themselves.

  Opting to travel lightly but also deadly, Kieran had equipped himself with a G
lock 17 and inserted an oversized 9mm magazine into it that stuck rather noticeably out of the butt of the pistol. With this firearm equipped on his left, he kept his personal knife equipped on his right.

  “Oh God, be careful with that!” Sandra steadied Kieran as he strapped a bandolier of three grenades across his chest.

  “Relax, Sandra. I’ve handled deadlier.” Kieran passed her concerns off.

  “I know you have; I remember.” Sandra told him with an endearing smile.

  At the other end of the armoury, Rubin had armed himself with the M1 Carbine that he had taken from Nolan, for he quite liked the feel of this firearm.

  “The hell kind of a gun is this?” Nikola asked Rubin as she lifted up a pump action shotgun with a long metal tube on the end of it.

  “Oh!” Rubin slung his carbine over his shoulder as he answered Nikola’s question, “That’s a suppressed shotgun.”

  “A suppressor… On a shotgun?” Nikola had never seen such a weapon before, and actually found it rather baffling, “I thought the point of a shotgun was to scatter the pellets?”

  Rubin drew breath to answer her question before halting himself, “Actually,” he realised that he did not know the answer himself, “I’m not sure. Maybe Kieran will know.”

  Elsewhere in the armoury, and with rather dark and intrusive thoughts in control of her mind, Marianne was rummaging through a crate of handguns.

  Without consciously deciding, she picked up a Smith & Wesson revolver that was silver-plated with a wooden handle.

  Marianne looked down at the gun in her hands as she caressed it with her thumb; for with this weapon, she was intending on doing something rather unthinkable…

  Elliot was brushing his hand along a rack of rifles. He would briefly feel up and down each weapon in order to figure out what it was.

  “Crap.” He remarked about the first one.

  “Crap.” He remarked about the second one.

  “Looks cool… But crap.” He remarked about the third one.

  “Crap.” He remarked about the fourth one.

  “Bingo!” He finally proclaimed as he pulled the fifth rifle out of its’ slot and loaded a magazine into it; it was a Colt M16.

  “What the hell are you doing down here?” Annabelle approached her brother from behind.

  “I’m gearing up.” Elliot bluntly answered.

  Annabelle rolled her eyes, “I mean why are you doing that? All due respect Elliot, but you’re gonna be a lot more useful with words than rifles equipped.”

  Elliot tittered at this remark, “My senses are ace, Annie. I can literally pick up on people’s emotions.” Although he was in fact good at reading atmospheres around him, this was more of a psychological ability than an empirical one.

  “Nope, give me the rifle.” Annabelle tried to take the Colt from him.

  “I can do this, Annie! I want to fight!” Elliot proclaimed with determination.

  “How the hell are you gonna aim?” Annabelle brusquely asked him the question for how it was, without beating around the bush.

  “Trust me, I’ll know when to shoot.” Elliot stood his ground.

  “You know—Alright, fine.” She sighed, “Just make sure you keep a safe distance from everyone else.”

  At one of the tables in the restaurant, Michelle and Rob were having a nice conversation, blissfully unaware of all the commotion that was escalating within the safe zone.

  “Seriously?” Michelle was flabbergasted at Rob’s confession that he did not drink tea.

  “It’s just so bland and disgusting. It tastes like warm milk.” Rob defended his opinion.

  “Is that because you forgot to put the teabag in?” She quipped.

  “Oh ha-ha, very funny.” Rob joked back with her.

  Their innocent conversation was interrupted as Rajan came running from out of nowhere and slammed his hands down on the table.

  “Raj? What is it?” Michelle desperately questioned him in a sudden panic.

  “Listen to me very carefully,” he addressed his allies hazily, out of breath from how fast he had run, “We need to hide right now; The Bandits are coming.”

  But neither Michelle nor Rob rose from their seats. Instead, they looked over at each other with stern expressions.

  “What?” Rajan prompted as he looked to and from the pair of them.

  “Well, you see Rajan,” Rob began as he scratched the back of his head, “These people took us in. Sure, we might’ve got off on the wrong foot, but they’ve given us a safe place to say. We’ve got food, drink, roofs over our heads, a recreational park to stroll through – We owe them.” He lectured Rajan.

  Realising what Rob was trying to say, Rajan insistently shook his head, “Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it.”

  “We’re going to stand with them and fight.” Michelle had just said it.

  “Are you out of your minds?” Rajan scolded them both. “This isn’t our fight! We need to let the residents and The Bandits do what they’ve gotta do.”

  Now, Rob did indeed stand up from his seat, “And if we don’t help them, The Bandits will win. If they win, not only do we lose our new home, but we will be letting innocent people die.”

  “If The Bandits win,” Rajan countered, “That’s just how things are meant to be. Either they let us stay or kick us out of their territory. We have no right to assist either side in this battle!”

  “Rajan,” Michelle addressed him softly, “I get it, I do. You don’t want to be a part of the killing. But surely, you must understand, that with or without our help, people are going to die here very soon.”

  Rajan stood his ground, “All the same, my role is to save, not to kill—And I will forever stand by that resolve.”

  Rob sighed and shook his head dismayingly.

  “I know you think I’m being obstructive, Rob,” Rajan glared at his ally, “But I will not break my morals for the sake of somebody else’s turf war—”

  “That’s good for you then, Raj,” Michelle interrupted him as she too now stood up, “But with all-due respect, Rob and I have the freedom to make our own decisions. You’ve been a good group leader, but you don’t tell us what to do – Surely you must understand that?” She repeated his own earlier question back at him.

  Rajan stared at Michelle for several seconds before backing down and sighing. “You’re right,” he mumbled in acceptance, “You have free will, and I’m not going to stop you. Even if I think you’re wrong, I hope you both make it out of this alive.”

  Michelle humbly nodded, “Thank you…” She unexpectedly hugged Rajan tightly, “…For everything.”

  “You’re welcome,” Rajan accepted her gratitude as he slipped out of their hug, “I’ll be in that cottage on the far side,” he referred to Alek and Emile’s home, “Come and find me when you’re done, okay?”

  With a smile of respect, Michelle nodded once more.

  “We’d best get to the armoury.” Rob ushered her.

  “Go on.” Rajan stepped aside.

  Without another word, Michelle and Rob both made their way out of the restaurant and towards the weapons’ storage.

  Given the notable increase in concern, there was a large crowd on gate duty this afternoon, as opposed to just two people.

  “Do you believe all this?” Dawn mumbled to Mac.

  “I think so.” He answered her with uncertainty. “To be honest with you, I really don’t know what to believe right now… It just all seems so wild and sudden and sinister.”

  Dawn grunted upon noticing the ashamed look in Mac’s eyes, “You’re not blaming yourself, are you?”

  Mac shrugged, “I think I’m partly to blame—Myself and the rest of the supply run group that is.”

  Dawn rubbed his back, “If you hadn’t had brought that woman in, then we would’ve been completely clueless about The Bandits’ attack.”

  “…And if we had just let her go like Nolan, who’s to say there even would have been an attack?”

  “You can’t do
this to yourself, Mac,” Dawn told him compassionately, “Believe me, I know better than anybody else that the blame game won’t get you anywhere. The Lord knows that I spent years on end blaming myself for Eric’s death, but one day, I suddenly realised, it wasn’t my fault by any means.”

  Mac gazed down at her with sombre eyes.

  “My son’s death was down to a woman named Sonia,” Dawn shuddered as she spoke that name, “She’s also the reason why Elliot is blind.”

  Mac’s eyes widened slightly upon hearing this revelation, for he had been wondering what the scar across Elliot’s face was about ever since he had fell out of the sky.

  “She sliced a knife straight across his eyes,” Dawn went into unnecessarily graphic detail, “And he told me one time that he could feel the pain of his cornea splitting open.”

  Mac was slightly disgusted by this vivid description.

  “The point is, Mac,” Dawn got back to what she was trying to say, “The moment I realised that Sonia was the reason for my misery, I found it so much easier to live with myself; whatever happens when The Bandits attack, you’ll one day have that realisation for yourself. Whoever, if anyone, dies, you’ll know because of this little conversation that you won’t blame yourself forever.” She offered him this advice as, in the back of her mind, she had a rather strong feeling that the impending attack would take several lives on both sides…

  Leaning out of the living room window, Alek listened to all the kerfuffle happening on the other side of the safe zone.

  “What can you hear?” Emile asked casually, as if he had not just blackmailed somebody into threatening a child.

  “There’s a lot of distress out there alright.” Alek answered. Whilst listening to the commotion, he was also looking across at the destroyed solar farm – So much had been happening in such a short amount of time that Mac had not had the chance to repair any of the panels.

  “I know you won’t like this,” Emile forebodingly began, “But I got this from the armoury earlier just in case.” He produced a rather small and compact Glock 26 that he had tucked into his trousers underneath his shirt.