“That’s not true. You can trust me. I don’t want to leave you, but I’ve got to take care of a few last minute things to do with work before the storm rolls in. Are you going to be all right until I get back?”
“I’ll live.”
“Good. When I get back, we’ll talk as much about this as you need.”
“What if I don’t want to talk about it at all? What if I want to pretend it never happened?”
“Then we’ll do that, too. You should know something up front. No matter what he did, it could never make me look at you any differently. You’re not a victim in my eyes. You’re strong. Most of all, you’re the girl I love.”
“Love?”
Liam had never said that word before. It was true that they were very close, but in the reality they were living in, it seemed like bad luck to say that word. People died all the time. Only bad things could result from opening yourself to feelings like love, and they closed themselves off to it in order to avoid future pain.
“Yeah. I love you. I have for a couple of months. I was too afraid to say it before, but it’s the truth. Pretending that I don’t so we won’t get attached is just a lie. My happiness is already linked to yours,” Liam said.
“I love you, too. That’s why you can’t go after him. Promise me that you’ll stay away from Timothy.”
“I promise. I’ll be back soon,” Liam said and gave her a soft kiss.
He had no plans of staying away from Timothy. There was no extra duty that he had to get done before the storm came. All he needed to do was kill a threat against the girl he loved. He walked over to Troy’s house and tapped on Timothy’s window.
“What are you doing? The skies are starting to look wicked. You need to get inside,” Timothy said.
“We have some things to talk about. You need to sneak out so we can settle this.”
“Is this about Zoe?”
“Yeah. Come on. It won’t take long. We can be back before it gets too bad.”
“Fine,” Timothy said and snuck out the window.
Liam led him outside of the city and deep into the woods. They never said a word to each other on the way. Timothy knew what was going on. Liam wasn’t leading him out there to talk. What he had in mind was murder. It wouldn’t hurt to try to persuade him to let things go, however. When they stopped, Timothy made up a cover story for everything that happened that day.
“You’re my best friend, and I want to explain before you do something rash. I shouldn’t have come between you and her. It was wrong, and I apologize,” he said.
“You tried to rape her, Tim. I would say that goes past trying to come between us and goes straight to psychotic behavior. I can’t let something like that go.”
“Is that what she told you? It wasn’t even close to rape. She came onto me, and I went with it. She’s pretty, and we don’t have many choices now. I couldn’t bring myself to go through with it, though. I stopped right before things could happen. She got pretty angry, and I was scared something like this could happen. I know you love her, man, but I think Zoe might be twisted. She tried to have sex with me, and when I rejected her, she made up this story to put us at odds.”
“That’s complete bullshit, and we both know it. Only one of us is going back to town, so you might as well tell me the truth before you die.”
“Fine. Don’t be so sure I’ll be the one dying, though. I saw something I wanted in Zoe, and I decided to take it. That’s the world we live in now. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“You’re the one who’s twisted.”
“You can think that, but you know I’m right. The strongest will thrive in this world. If you take a step back and really think about it, you’ll see that you’re not one of the strong ones. I could protect you and Zoe, but she’s going to be mine now.”
“Over my dead body.”
“That can be arranged. It’s funny. For as scared as she was, I think she enjoyed what happened today. The look in her eyes as I wrapped my hands around her neck was one of fear, but there was something else there. It was such an exhilarating look. Then when I slipped my hands around her waist and started to make her mine, she gave in. Your girl didn’t even fight in the last moments. If we weren’t interrupted, she would’ve found that the moment she had been trying so hard to run away from was everything she desired. Face it, Liam. You’re a sheep. You can’t protect her, and you could never be what I am for her. You’re just a boy. I can take things from here with Zoe.”
“Let’s get this over with. She’ll never be with you, and after today, no one will.”
“Is there any way I can convince you to go home so I don’t have to kill you?”
“No. We’re past making peace now.”
“So be it,” Timothy said and came at him.
He tackled Liam to the ground and wrapped his hands around his neck. This wasn’t about pleasure like it was with Zoe, though. It was about snapping his neck as soon as he could. As Liam struggled for air, he came to a realization. Timothy was far stronger than him, and if he didn’t fight with all he had, he would be dead within the next minute. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocketknife. Then he grabbed Timothy’s right ear and hacked it off. Timothy fell off him and screamed in agony. Liam, meanwhile, backed away from him and caught his breath. He had almost died, but now the odds had fallen back into his favor. There was nothing left to do but end this. Liam stood and walked over to his former friend. He raised his knife and attempted to plunge it into Timothy’s gut, but he caught his hand in midair and swept his legs out from underneath him. As Liam crashed to the ground, the knife came loose. Timothy simply grabbed it and threw it to the side. He had lost an ear thanks to Liam, and he wasn’t going to give him an easy death by slitting his throat. He was going to beat him to death.
Timothy kicked him in the ribs several times and got on top of him. Then he pounded him in the face over and over again until bruises and cuts covered Liam. Just when Liam was about to black out, Timothy stopped and looked down at him. He knew that the fight was over, and it was time to give his best friend a last message.
“I want you to know something. I’ll think of you every time I’m with Zoe. Don’t worry, though. You’ll see her again soon enough. When I get tired of her body, I’ll bring her out to this same spot and get rid of her,” he said.
“You’re crazy.”
“No. I’m just a shark in a world full of weak vermin. Now, die.”
“You first,” Liam said and grabbed a stick.
He shoved it into the side of Timothy’s neck. Blood spurted from the wound, and Timothy fell off him. Liam watched as the boy who hurt Zoe choked on his own blood. There was no regret or guilt in him. Liam was happy to watch him slowly die. As the wind picked up and the rain began to come down, Timothy’s life ended. It was done. There was only one problem. Liam was exhausted. He had several fractured ribs, a lot of bruising on his face, and his brain felt like it had been rattled around in his head a little too much. He was dizzy, and walking was a hard thing to do. Still, he had to at least try to move. When he stood, he felt even dizzier, however, and he fell back to the ground. He vomited, and a strange feeling overtook him. Then the world started to go black, and every muscle in his body felt like it was as tight as it could get. Liam didn’t know what was happening, but he thought he might be dying.
* * * * *
When the rain started to come down back at the house, Zoe realized that Liam hadn’t really gone to do any work. He had been gone too long, and she knew what that meant. He was with Timothy, and odds were that one of them wasn’t coming back. She had to do something, but she didn’t know what. Max walked into her room to see that she was in a panic. Zoe tried to hide the way she felt, but he saw straight through her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“It’s nothing. I can’t talk about it right now.”
“Why not?”
“I just can’t.”
“Okay. Does it have to do with
Liam? I haven’t seen him, and this isn’t the time for him to run off. The last storm we had was really bad. Three people died in it, and I’m sure this one will be no different. If you guys had a fight . . .”
“We’re not fighting.”
“Then what is it? This is one of those times when I’m trying to put on the parent hat and be what you need, but you’ve got to give me something. If I don’t know what’s wrong, I can’t help.”
“Timothy tried to rape me. He’s crazy. I found out he was the one who killed his mother, too. I told Liam, and he said he wouldn’t go after him, but I think that’s where he’s at now.”
“Wait a minute. What do you mean he tried to rape you? What happened?”
Zoe told him everything. He knew for a fact that Liam was with Timothy by the time she was finished. If he had known what that kid tried to do to her, he would have killed him, too. This was serious business, though. Timothy was older and stronger. One of their own could be in trouble.
“I’ll find him. Don’t you worry for a second, Zoe. I’m sorry that happened to you. Rest assured that I’ll make sure it never happens again, and I promise I’ll be bringing back a boy who would never hurt you. Liam’s going to be fine, and even if it doesn’t feel like it right now, you will be, too,” Max said.
“It doesn’t feel like this will ever be all right.”
“I know. I’ll make it better, though. You just have to realize two things. The first is that none of this was your fault. The other is equally as important. You can’t stop trusting people. That kid was sick. Not everyone is like him. In fact, I think there’s a lot of good in this world. Don’t let someone like him steal the trusting and innocent side of yourself.”
“I’ll try.”
“Good. Hang tight here. Rebecca and I are going to find him. We’ll be right back,” Max said and walked straight to Rebecca.
He told her everything, and then they walked from door to door to see if anyone had seen Liam. One person had. He said that Liam and Timothy had walked into the woods about an hour before and pointed them in the right direction. As the wind grew worse, Max and Rebecca knew that they had to hurry. If Timothy didn’t kill him, then the weather would soon enough. While they walked, she expressed doubt in the situation.
“Do you really think we’re going to find him? He’s a strong kid, but judging strictly by size, I don’t think he could defend himself against Timothy,” she said.
“He’s stronger than you think. He fought to the death in that prison and won. That proves he’ll do whatever it takes to stay alive. I don’t think we should doubt him for one second.”
“Okay, but why do you think he just ran off like that? He should’ve told one of us. We could’ve talked to Troy and gotten all of this straightened out.”
“Timothy is his nephew. He would’ve wanted to help him. Troy already knows what he did to his mother, and he’s still letting him stay here. If he can live with that, I’m pretty sure he can accept Timothy hurting Zoe. Liam didn’t want a slap on the wrist for Timothy. He wanted to give him what he deserved, which is death.”
“So you would’ve done the same?”
“If someone tried to hurt you, I would slowly rip them apart piece by piece. If Zoe had come to me first, I would be the one in these woods killing Timothy. I don’t care if he is a kid. We don’t need someone like him in our town. Troy can’t see that, but it’s the truth. What do you think?”
“I can’t say I would be sad to see him die. This is a lot bigger than just revenge, though. It could affect everything about our futures. If Troy loves this kid enough to give him a second chance after he killed his sister, then I bet he’ll hold a grudge against us when he finds out Liam killed his nephew. He already doesn’t like you because you shot his brother.”
“I didn’t think of it from that angle. We’ll just have to make sure he never finds out what happened to Timothy.”
“Agreed. I can’t believe you would actually kill a kid for Zoe or rip someone apart for me, though.”
“Why? Over the last few months, you’ve become my favorite person in the world. I would do anything for you. Zoe’s like family, too. I like most of the people from this town, but I don’t consider them my friends or family. That’s isolated to the people in our house. I would do anything for all of you.”
“Sometimes I think I might love you.”
“Only sometimes, huh?”
“Okay, all the time. I can’t believe I got lucky enough to find you.”
“I was the lucky one. I thought I was going to have to kill you when we first met. I’m sure glad that . . .” Max managed to say before he saw Liam lying on the ground.
Rebecca saw him around the same time, and she ran to him. He was awake, but Liam looked like something was wrong. He was weak and bruised all over. He also seemed drained and not in a normal way. Something bad had happened.
“Are you all right?” Rebecca asked.
“I . . . I don’t know. Something happened, but I don’t know what it was,” he said while trying to shake the cobwebs from his mind.
“What do you mean?”
“I took a pretty bad beating before I could kill him, and when it was over, I fell down and started throwing up. Then everything went black. All I remember is it feeling like every muscle in my body was contracting at one time before I passed out.”
“You probably had a seizure. That’s not very uncommon when you take a lot of blows to the head. We’ll get you checked out by the doctor after we get home, but we’ve got to go right now,” Max said as the wind grew violent.
“Can you stand?” Rebecca asked.
“I think so,” Liam said and slowly stood. As he did, he nearly tripped, but Max grabbed him.
“Lean on me, and we’ll get you back home,” Max said.
“I’m sorry for this.”
“You have nothing to be sorry about. We should be thanking you. That kid didn’t deserve to live. You did us a favor, and I know Zoe will understand why you did it in time,” he said as they started to move.
“We have another problem we need to talk about,” Rebecca said.
“What is it?” Max asked.
“He needs medical attention, but the doctor is under Troy’s control. If we take him there, he’ll put two and two together sooner or later. Timothy’s missing, and Liam looks like hell. He’ll realize what happened, and then we’ll all suffer the consequences.”
“You’re right. I just won’t go to the doctor,” Liam said.
“You have to do something. You might have had a seizure, and we don’t know how many broken bones you have. If your ribs are in bad shape, then you could even be in danger of puncturing a lung.”
“I know, but I’m not going to jeopardize our lives here. I’ll be fine. Just get me home to Zoe, and we’ll figure everything out from there.”
Max and Rebecca were hesitant to do so, but what choice did they have? Taking him to the doctor would lead to exile, which was no more than suicide. A storm was coming, and it had nothing to do with the weather. Troy would find out what was going on sooner or later, and then nothing would be certain. Max just had to find a way to protect everyone when that happened.
Chapter 21
A New Home
By the time they got home, the weather was growing violent. The cool air blowing in did nothing to stop the straight-line winds that were pounding their neighborhood. It was the worst storm they had seen in weeks, but if there was one thing they had learned, it was that worrying would do nothing to stop the wind. They would simply have to ride the storm out.
After dinner, Zoe went back to her room, and Liam followed her. They had a lot to talk about, and she didn’t want him spending the night alone after he just had a seizure. It might not even be safe to let him sleep. She was scared of losing him. The responsible thing would be to go to the doctor’s house, but that would lead Troy back to them. He had come to their door earlier and asked if they had seen Timothy. Max, of course, said no an
d didn’t invite him in. Doing so would have given him a chance to get a look at Liam’s face. Then he would know something bad happened.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Zoe asked him.
“I’m fine. I took care of things like I should have. This is nothing,” Liam said, referencing his face.
“I’m serious. You got really hurt, and I didn’t ask you to get revenge.”
“You didn’t have to. He deserved to die. He might have hurt you again, if I hadn’t killed him.”
“You could’ve died. Do you have any idea what that would’ve done to me? I can’t lose you after everything that’s happened.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you. I’ll always protect you, though,” he said and kissed her.
As he did, she wrapped her arms around Liam and rolled over on him. Things were growing passionate very quickly, and he had to stop it.
“Wait a minute. We’ve got to stop,” he said.
“What is it? Oh, I’m on your ribs, aren’t I?” she asked while getting off him.
“It’s not that. A lot happened today. You were hurt. Don’t you need more time before we do something like this? I don’t want to . . .”
“I knew it. You think of me differently now.”
“I don’t. You’re still the person I love, but have you even been able to process what happened?”
“Nothing happened. He almost raped me, but I got away. I can’t change what happened today, and it’s definitely going to make me more cautious around men, but I’m fine.”
“I’m a man. I would never hurt you, but I’m just saying that maybe you should take some time to get over everything before we’re intimate.”
“Intimate. Wow. You’ve never used that word. You make it sound so stuffy. Fine. If you don’t want me, then we’ll just sleep.”
“Of course I want you. Don’t be this way. You know I’m right.”
“No, I don’t. Think about it for a second. Someone hurt me and almost did something awful to me today. That’s going to make me lose some trust in people, and I won’t lie. It’s traumatizing, but you’re not just any man. I don’t feel any less trust for you than I did before. You’re the only part of my life that feels normal right now, and I’m scared that if I let you go to sleep you’re going to die. You killed someone for me today. That makes you worthy of all my trust. I never worry about you hurting me. You’re the person I always want to be with, and that includes tonight. We can just lie here and talk if you want, but I do need to know that you don’t think of me differently because this hasn’t affected how I feel about you in any way. If anything, I feel closer to you.”
The Divide: Origins Page 19