by Mark Tufo
“Relax, y’all. She ain’t here to hurt nobody. She’s a good ‘un, like Pete. Sasha!” A rotund little man with glasses ran up and gave her a big hug.
“Oh, um, thank you.” Embarrassed though she was to admit it, Sasha had no clue to the identity of the man.
“You probably don’t remember me. We saw so little of you after your father’s death. I’m Colin Meyers. Your dad was one of my best friends and you and your family were over quite a lot before he passed away.”
“Oh, Mr. Meyers, of course I remember you. You brought me orange sherbet for my tenth birthday.” The memory flooded in with a tidal wave of others—many of them including a young and loving Kayliss.
“Yes! So nice to see you again, dear. You look so much like your father.”
“Thank you. Nick, what is all this?” Sasha looked nervously around at all the townsfolk that had been gathered.
“We are coming together and rebelling against Kayliss and her vultures. We had a plan in place to kill her but, with your arrival, things will have to be sped up.”
“I told you I’d be the one to kill my sister, if she needs killing.”
A woman shrieked and grabbed Sasha by the shoulders of the duster. “If she needs killing? If? That cunt of a sister of yours killed my baby. He was five and she shot him in cold blood because he got mud on her shirt. There is no if.” She let go of Sasha’s duster and slumped to the ground sobbing. Everywhere she looked, eyes filled with rage and pain glared at her.
“I know my sister is a monster but if I don’t give her a chance to turn herself in and face her crimes than I’m as much of a monster as her. You all can hate me for that if you want but I’ll sleep just fine knowing I’m not killing first and regretting later. You should have told me about all this before bringing me here.”
After admonishing Nick, she backed to the door and attempted to open it.
It was locked.
Panic set in for a moment and she took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down before grabbing the key and turning it. The door opened and she stepped into the night.
She tried to still the uncomfortable feeling rising in her at the woman’s grief and anger fueled words. Had her sister actually killed a young boy? Was she truly that far gone? A hard lump of misery sat heavy on her heart and she knew that killing Kayliss was the only option she had.
She still intended to attempt to talk with her first, Sasha felt she wouldn’t be true to herself if she didn’t try, but she had zero hope that it would do any good. Her sister didn’t seem the sort to turn herself in. So, death was the last gift Sasha could give her.
“I’ll have buried every member of my family.” She was quiet but was overheard.
“Most of us have thanks to Kayliss.” Nick stepped out to check on her and in all her turmoil she’d not noticed.
When he spoke she jumped and whirled around, pulling a knife from its holster as she moved. When she saw it was Nick, she resheathed her knife and gave him a solemn nod.
“She wasn’t always this…thing. There was a time she was a sweet little girl who liked to run barefoot on the grass and chase butterflies.” Her heart broke to think of it.
“She’s no longer that little girl, Sasha. You can’t allow your past to cloud your present. She will kill you if she gets the chance. I’m sure she’s got goons looking for you to bring you to her.”
“Probably. I really wanted to believe there was a chance, you know?”
“I do. Kayliss was my wife’s best friend. I had hope once too.”
“I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have left when Dad died, but I couldn’t stay. It was too hard to deal with people. I just wanted to be alone. Maybe, if I’d stayed, she would have turned out different.”
“You can’t put this on yourself. You lost just as much as she did and I don’t see you out there terrorizing the citizens.”
“I save it for Tuesdays.” The joke was half-hearted but they both smiled. “I know it’s not my fault she is how she is but if I’d made different choices than maybe we wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Do you have a time machine I’m unaware of?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t do anything about it. Dwelling on the past isn’t going to do any good. She is how she is and now we must deal with her as she is. She needs to die. We need law and order around here and all Kayliss brings is death and destruction.”
“I know.” Sadness and heartbreak had colored her words.
“If you would rather I do it, so you don’t have to shoulder that, I would be glad to. Many of us would.” He gestured back to the house.
“No, she’s my sister, it’s my duty. I guess I just need to work up the nerve.”
“What if I told you she killed Pete?”
“What?” Ice slipped through her veins and her stomach twisted.
“Pete was trying to keep her off the wrong path and when she set up a meeting with scavengers from Northwood he tried to stop her. He didn’t want those carrion eaters here. He went out and rode ahead to tell them to go on back home. That their help wasn’t needed. Kayliss found out and tracked him down. She shot him, left him where he was, and went on to her meeting. The next day the scavengers were here and we were at their mercy.”
“No. No, she wouldn’t have killed Pete. She idolized him.”
“Maybe little Kayliss did but—like I said—she’s not that girl anymore. You have to let that image of her go. She is not the person you knew, she is the person who killed her brother because he stood in her way and who kills children, women, and men without compunction.”
“Fuck. I don’t know anything anymore.” For the first time since her father died she felt a loss of control.
“Look, I get you have to talk to her, I do. Just be careful. Don’t allow your emotions to cause you to slip up. She doesn’t have those emotions anymore and she will try to play yours like a fiddle.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I know enough to know that you care about her and she doesn’t care about anyone but herself. I know how painful that must be for you.”
“I left. I was out and happy in the world. I left a good life behind to come here and pay my respects to Pete. I was hoping I still had a sister left. You all are telling me I don’t and I am not sure exactly what to do aside from the fact that if I have to kill her, I will.”
“You will. Please, Sasha, steel your resolve now. Make sure when you see her you don’t give her the chance to bury you too. You seem like a nice lady. Don’t let this destroy you.”
“Thanks, Nick. Nice to have met ya. Sorry about your wife.” She gave him a sad smile and began moving toward the theater.
She tried to stay quiet and stick to the shadows but that plan failed when Nick came up behind her and startled her.
“I’m going with you. In case you can’t kill her, I’ll be sure to do the job. Sorry, Sasha.”
“It is what it is. Just stay out of my way when I’m dealing with her. You do what you have to afterwards but I need to talk with her first and you promised me that.”
“Fair enough. I just hope she doesn’t put a bullet in you while you are talking.”
“If she does then you can go right ahead and shoot her without having to worry about me.”
“I’d planned on that anyway.”
“What about when she’s gone? Some other asshole will show up to take over at some point. What will you do then?”
“Whatever we have to. I’m more focused on right now. Look, the old movie theater was gutted years ago and Kayliss had several MMA rings installed. They pay to fight, winner take all—minus her fees of course.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. The fact she’s paying and not kidnapping people for it is what’s really surprising.”
“When you get in she’ll probably be in or around the center ring. I don’t yet have a plan for how to approach her without being seen.”
“It’s alright. She knows I’m here. I’m sure Derby told
her I ran into him.”
“We should wait until the fights are over and she’s leaving. We go in there and we’re stuck. After we kill her there’s no doubt we’ll be strung up if we just march in there and demand to see her.”
“I think she’ll be waiting for that. Hitting her while she’s preoccupied makes the most sense. As for the others, once she falls, I’m fairly certain most of them will walk away.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“If not, get out of there and let them focus on me. Hatch a new plan with the others. Don’t stop fighting.”
“Don’t you have a life to get back to?” He raised a quizzical eyebrow at her.
“Yes. I have a son. I’ve seen to it that his life will be a happy one, even if I don’t return.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I left for a reason. My boyfriend died in the Offensive, right after my dad. I was pregnant and didn’t want my baby to be raised in the Outzone. I moved Northwest to the city where my boyfriend’s family came from. I found them and introduced them to my boy. They’ve accepted me as family and I have lived these last few years in peace and happiness until I got the call about Pete.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through.”
“Thanks.” They walked along in silence for some time. “Why do I have a feeling you’re not planning on going back?”
“I never make plans I can’t keep. I came here to pay respects to my brother and visit my mother and father. I was hoping to save my sister but I realize that is impossible, though I still have to try.”
“I’m starting to see that you’re of the tenacious sort. I think you’ll get home to your son again.”
“I hope so, but I’m not counting on it. I learned a long time ago not to plan on anything.” She was about to round the corner to the theater when Nick stopped her and pulled her into the doorway of a building.
“Wait, she has someone sitting on the top of the bank building keeping a lookout. Keep your head down and keep walking with me at your side as normally as possible.”
“Okay.” She linked her arm in his and leaned in close to him. “Better?”
“Yeah. Sorry we don’t have a disguise for you.” He escorted her to the theater and opened the door, grateful that no alarm had been raised.
“It probably wouldn’t have worked any…what the actual fuck?” She looked around and her heart broke at what they’d done to the old theater.
“Kayliss doesn’t care about cleanliness as much she does her fights bringing in cash, or her Scavengers bringing back loot.”
“I don’t get it, this place was beautiful ten years ago. The Historic Society had completely refinished it after the war.”
“It was. When the government fell and Kayliss rose to power things began falling apart. She used the money collected from taxes for her own purposes. The theater and a few of the other historic landmarks fell into disrepair and she even began selling bits of them off.”
“I used to love this place. We came here for Three Stooges marathons, it made things like the bombings less scary somehow. It sucks seeing it all torn up like this.” There were holes in the walls, missing chandeliers and other furnishings, and what was left was covered in dust.
“Hurt a lot of us. My wife and I had our first date here, hours before the Koreans took out New York City and hit us on the way inland.”
They looked around at the three rings they could see. The central ring boasted Kayliss and a few of her scavengers. They sat watching and mocking—or cheering—the other fighters. In one ring a woman beat the tar out of a man who looked too afraid to hit back. In another two men were beating each other bloody and both looked about ready to fall over.
Taking a deep breath Sasha moved over to where Kayliss sat, screaming at the man to hit the bitch, and sat behind her sister.
Her breath shook as she leaned forward and said, “Hello, Sis.”
“I’m glad you came to see me. I didn’t think you’d show since the funeral already happened.” Kayliss sat back in her chair and kept her head high, showing no sign of surprise.
“Well, I did happen to love our brother. I wanted to say goodbye, so I came.”
“Too bad. You really should just go on home. This isn’t your town anymore.”
“It will always be my town. I hear you’ve been a bit of trouble for the people here.”
“The people you left behind?” She turned and smirked at her sister.
“I did what I had to do for my son. The people who love me understand that.”
“That’s bullshit. I don’t love you and I understand perfectly. Every bitch wants her spawn to have a good run.”
“Are you truly so dead inside, Kay?”
“You don’t get to call me that.” There was a growl to her tone and pure hatred was welling behind narrowed eyes and the snarl on her lips.
She swung at Sasha, who ducked and kicked her sister in the knee.
“You cunt!” She turned to her vulture squad. “Fucking kill her. What are you waiting for?”
As she spoke she scrambled back to the other side of the ring, shoving her scavenger’s now-empty chairs at her sister as she went.
“Kill me? You’d do that to your own sister?”
“I did it to Pete, what makes you so different?”
Sasha recoiled. “I’d heard the rumor but, how could you?”
“With a gun; why, how would you have done it?” She sent a nasty smirk her sister’s way.
“You’re despicable.” Her little sister was gone and her resolve to destroy the demon that remained was hardened.
There was no doubt in her mind that Kayliss was going to have to die and that she wouldn’t feel as horrible about putting her down since she was little more than a rabid dog.
“No, what I am is intelligent. See, I wouldn’t walk into your turf and think I’d have a chance in walking out. These people here? They’re my family. Them, not you. These people will do what I tell them and won’t treat me like a child.”
“These people don’t give a rat’s ass about you.”
“Goodbye, Sasha. I’ll send my nephew your love. Go on, Derby. Take care of her.”
“You take care of her. She’s your sister.”
“If you want something done right, I guess.” She pulled her gun from her holster and aimed it.
Sasha pulled the knives from her sheaths and threw one, hitting her sister in the neck. Before she fell, Kayliss pulled the trigger, shooting her sister in the shoulder. Neither hit was fatal, but the shot in the shoulder meant Sasha wouldn’t be able to throw the second knife easily. She rushed her sister before she could get another shot off and swung her blade trying to slash Kayliss across the stomach.
Her sister jumped back, missing the slash by a hairsbreadth and clocked Sasha across the skull with her gun.
She fell to the floor in a heap. As Kayliss stood over her—blood streaming from the cut on her neck—she looked around for Nick and found him looking worried off to the side of one of the rings.
Everyone in the theater had stopped and were staring at her.
The click of the gun chamber brought forth her instincts and she kicked up at her sister’s hand, hoping she’d drop the gun. Instead, Kayliss steadied her hand and shot through her sister’s thigh. “You do not rise up to me in my territory, bitch.”
Sasha’s vision swam as Nick rushed Kayliss from behind and was promptly shot in the face for his efforts.
Dealing with Nick had distracted the wannabe warlord and allowed Sasha to creep up behind and plunge her remaining blade into her sister’s gut, ripping upward.
Kayliss’ dropped her gun and pressed her hands to her abdomen, trying desperately to hold in her innards. A few loops of intestine dangled between her outstretched fingers and the scent of feces spread through the air. The panic and fear on her face was unmistakable as she looked at her murderer.
“You’ve killed me.” She blinked and
sat down, trying to stop the bleeding and the further advance of her intestines.
“Someone had to.”
“Fair enough. One good turn, sister.” Kayliss reached into her boot with one bloody hand, allowing a foot or two of her own intestine to slip through her fingers, and pulled out a derringer. She quickly shot her sister in the head. To her lackeys she yelled, “Get me to a doctor, you morons!”
Nobody moved.
Several of the Scavengers ducked out after Sasha had partially disemboweled their leader.
“I still have a chance, get me to the fucking doctor!”
Derby acted as though he was going to help then he grabbed her hand, took her derringer, and handcuffed her to the turnbuckle. “Sorry, Kayliss. We think it’s time for a change in management.”
“You can’t do this to me! It’ll take me hours to die like this,” she screeched.
“I think you’ll find we can do whatever we like. You taught us that.” He smiled icily. “See, with you gone we have more money with every take and, truth be told, you were a fucking shitty leader to work for.”
“I will make sure you all suffer for this.”
“You won’t live long enough.” Derby shot her in the gut with her own gun. “See, now it won’t take hours. Don’t say I never helped you.” He turned and walked away with the others following him.
The woman who’d been fighting the man stepped in front of Derby. “No way, man. You promised us payment for what she did to us.”
“If you don’t think being disemboweled and gut shot is payment enough, feel free to enact your own revenge upon her. I, however, am done with Kayliss Byrd, now and for eternity.” He turned and spat at the woman who had thought him a dear friend.
He turned back and left, pushing the female boxer out of his way.
She ignored the push. “Hey, what do you say, guys? Shall we take our pound of flesh?” The fight earlier seemed only to serve her lust for spilling blood.
“I have money.” Kayliss offered up a large wad of cash—besmeared with her blood—from the fights.
The fear on her face fueled their excitement. She held on tightly to the bright spark of hope she could buy her way out.