“It’s not right,” Erica scolded Ellie.
“Erica! It’s not even what you think. Keep your heels on, dammit!” Ellie defended herself. Her sarcasm made it clear this was perhaps an ongoing feud between the two.
Gwen shook her head, but remained in silence.
“Yeah, Ellie’s right. There is nothing between us!” Zach didn’t sound very convincing, and additionally, looked extremely guilty.
Erica laughed in disgust, “It’s the apocalypse of the world, not the apocalypse of morality.”
“It’s the same thing really. How many people have you killed since this whole thing began?” Ellie didn’t mean to come across as harsh, yet Erica took it this way. “What about those stories of London you tell me?”
This pushed Erica over the edge. She shot up out of her chair. “You bitch! I only killed people when I absolutely had to! I always told you that point about London!”
Ellie jumped out of her chair symmetrically to Erica. Zach kept his head down and merely sipped his soup, gulping it – He was desperate to leave this situation.
“Oh yes, that’s right! Only people you ‘had to’! You always emphasize that point! Why? To try and excuse yourself! That’s why! But deep down inside, that guilty conscience grows even to this day….” She thought hard about whether or not to go ahead with her next remark, “And that’s why Tina dumped you then left the Camp without you!” She rushed the remark out, desperate for it to be heard; but she regretted it instantly.
Erica was stunned into silence, shaking her head. With a low and sombre tone, she merely responded with, “And your psychotic nature is the reason your father died… Poor, poor Tobin.” Unlike Ellie, Erica had no regrets about what she had just said.
“Ok, enough!” Gwen shouted loudly, causing both the women to jump back.
“I’ve had it up to here with the feud between you two! We’ve all lost something! We’ve all lost someone! Just accept it’s a trait which you both share, shake hands on it, and just be friends for goodness sake! We’re all on the same side here… You wanna be furious with someone? Be furious with the assholes that drove us out of the Camp in the first place! Half of them are dead, so it won’t even matter! The rest, we won’t ever see again! That was back in France, and in case you’d forgotten, we followed the damn map all the way to here, the edge of Italy!”
Gwen’s confusing monologue caused Ellie and Erica to resume their seats.
“I’m… Not every hungry, anymore…” Zach jolted back out of his seat, dashing back up the stairs as quickly as he had come down them.
“No, Zach! I’m sorry…” Gwen motioned to go after him, but then clenched her hands and sat back down. Erica looked at her with great curiosity.
“He’s your stepson,” Gwen spoke to Erica, but remained looking down into the soup bowl, “If he were Elliot, I would have gone after him… But he isn’t. Elliot’s dead,” it was clear that she believed this, “He isn’t Elliot. He’s Zach. Therefore, you shall go after him.” She ended her sentence there, saying no more.
Erica’s face slowly returned to a neutral expression. She drew breath to respond, but then let it all out as a sigh. She nodded, both to Gwen and herself, before leaving the table to go after Zach.
Ellie’s eyes traced her, warily, as she headed up the stairs; an eerie contrast to how Erica had watched Ellie come down the stairs in the first place.
“Tina, please don’t leave. I’m sorry, ok?” Erica begged with her.
“You went too far this time, Erica!” Tina refused to turn and face her, she continued walking away instead.
“I had to, Tina! Don’t you get it? Elliot and Annabelle don’t know what they’re doing! They’re executing people!”
“If crimes like what Tobin did are allowed to slip, then this whole Camp will fall into anarchy!” Tina snapped.
Erica snapped in return, “It wasn’t even Tobin! Ellie was the one who stole those meds… Her father took the fall for her!”
Tina laughed that truth off, “Then it’s Tobin’s own fault for taking the fall for such a psychotic bitch of a daughter.”
“Look,” she grabbed Tina’s arm, and swung around to stand in front of her. She placed her cold palms on Tina’s cheeks, “Burning that house down… No one knows it was me! It was a symbol of freedom to the people here! As far as I can see, Elliot’s no better of a ruler than William was! Neither is Annabelle! Their joint leadership, it brings double-tyranny! How many more people have to die before you can see that?” Erica clearly believed Elliot and Annabelle to be corrupt.
“My goodness,” such a viewpoint shocked Tina, “You genuinely believe that they’re corrupt?”
Erica didn’t want to lose Tina’s love, but wasn’t willing to sacrifice her views for her. She nodded silently.
“Screw you,” Tina scolded her, “Elliot’s struggling. He’s doing his best… You know what? You wanna assassinate him? Do it, I dare you! But I’m done with this stupid place! I’m packing and leaving; to get away from you. I don’t ever wanna see you again! Do you hear me?” She pushed Erica, and then stormed away from her.
“Tina! Please!” Erica began to tear up, throwing her hands over her head.
“Dammit!” Out of anger and heartbreak, she kicked the nearest tent as hard as she could.
From a distance, Gwen had been watching Erica and Tina’s argument.
Later that night, Gwen had decided to pay a visit to Erica in her campervan.
“I heard some parts of what you were saying… Specifically, about how you think my children are corrupt.” Gwen sounded as though she were annoyed about this, which put a look of guilt on Erica’s face.
“I agree…” Upon Gwen speaking these words, Erica’s face shot up into relief, with some level of delight surprise, “You, what?”
“Annabelle’s been going downhill for quite some time, that’s no lie.” Gwen confessed, “She killed Andy, because she thought Vincent’s ideology was still affecting him even after this death. Now, she’s working right alongside Elliot as the co-leader of this place. Witnessing Elliot shoot Tobin like that, with a complete lack of mercy, in front of Ellie as well… It was barbaric.”
Erica was pleased that Gwen shared her perspective.
“I’m not defending what Ellie did,” Gwen added, “I know she stole those pills to make some drugs, but at the same time, it didn’t justify death. If her father wasn’t so loving, Elliot would’ve killed her in that brutal fashion. That would’ve been far worse, people here love Ellie a lot more than they did Tobin. Especially the ones from the other camp. You know, Leroy’s lot…”
Erica nodded and swallowed hard. She leant forward over her table, “So Gwen… What are we gonna do?”
Gwen nodded in return, with a crafty smile, “Well, remember what happened in London? Brace yourself…”
Erica woke up all of a sudden. It was the dead of night. There was no noise outside, not even wind. No leaves rustling, no grasshoppers, just complete silence.
Then, from outside her door and across the hallway, a blood-curdling scream echoed out through the mansion…
Chapter 17: Living in the Moment
Annabelle could no longer enjoy the breeze as it caressed her face, neither could Elliot. In fact, they both found it rather uncomfortable and annoying.
In the back of the scout SUV, the three seats were all occupied once again; Bertie now having taken Reed’s place. Kristina, still unconscious, remained lying across all three of them.
Due to not knowing where they’re headed, nor having the space to carry the corpse, the group had decided to bury Reed back at the roadside. They were both quick and slow, due to the shooter potentially still being nearby, and out of respect for Reed, respectively.
The one question on everybody’s minds now was, ‘Why? Why Reed?’ If they knew who the shooter was, especially Bertie, that question would have a deeper cut of confusion to it…
In a lone traditional German village surrounded by mountains, Sonia ha
d made a new ally in Frieda.
“We are here,” Frieda pointed to the map, laid across the dining table in her kitchen, “You follow this road, and eventually you will make it to Prague. I warn you however,” her deep German accent was now backed up with a tone of angst and seriousness, “There are very bad people in those parts… People who have lost their way, and the way of being human entirely. They are animals. They will… What is that word you English-first-language-speakers use? Brutalise… Yes, they will brutalise you…”
Sonia wasn’t sure if Frieda had intended to use that word, or if there was a language barrier preventing her from using the correct word.
“Right…” Sonia politely nodded.
“May I ask,” Frieda stood up right, fastening her attention on Sonia. “Why exactly is it you want to go to Prague?”
Curling her lip, Sonia was hesitant to answer briefly. She then shrugged, “I’ve heard… Stories, I guess.”
“What types of stories?” Frieda sounded intrigued, however Sonia did not have the time nor the will to explain herself to someone she had just met. She rolled her eyes.
“I didn’t wanna have to do this I’m afraid,” she sighed, putting a look of confusion upon Frieda’s face, “I’m just not much of a talker really.” With that witty remark, she briskly slid her knife off of her side, and down her palm, into a comfortable grip. She fastened directly up into Frieda’s jaw; an action which happened so quickly, Frieda didn’t even have time to emit a reflexive gag.
“You helped someone, my dear Frieda,” Sonia darkly justified herself, “Helping people is a bad thing, because people betray you in the end, always. I killed a handsome young man earlier, purely to prove to the rest of his group that there is no such thing as working together, no such thing as friendship; they’re all deluded… Maybe the boy’s death brought them all a reality check.”
Sonia’s eyes fastened back into Frieda’s; she felt as though she had justified her killing of Reed, and now Frieda as well, to a sufficing level.
She withdrew the blade in a quick, and somehow respectful, manner. Frieda dropped to her knees, collapsing on her side to the ground. The blade wasn’t long enough to quite reach her brain, however the blood loss from the wound in her jaw was enough to seal her fate.
“The deluded must die…” Sonia reminded herself, as though she felt some level of subconscious guilt for her actions, on the inside…
“Elliot,” Annabelle applied less pressure on the accelerator pedal.
“I see him,” Elliot’s eyes were unwavering from a hitchhiker standing alone in the middle of the road. He checked his pistol, ensuring there was ammunition in the magazine. He looked behind him, giving a simple instruction to Bertie, Tina, Celeste, and supposedly even the unconscious Kristina, in the back of the vehicle, “Stay here. Stay alert. At the first sign of trouble, ditch the vehicle, head for the trees,” Elliot briefed them. They all nodded back in affirmation; though Bertie’s nod seemed less ‘secure’ than Tina and Celeste’s nods.
As the vehicle halted, Elliot slowly and warily stepped out onto the road. He glanced around him, checking for any signs of a trap, or other people. He looked over to his sister, “If it all goes south, follow the others,” he nodded to the three, technically four, in the back. Annabelle nodded, submissively; even since before Elliot became her stepbrother, she had trusted his judgement in all situations.
As Elliot and the man walked closer towards each other, the man waved at him. He then greeted him with a German sentence.
“You speak English? English?” Elliot raised his voice in the traditional ‘Foreigner cannot understand English’ trope.
The man shook his head, and it seemed to Elliot as though he was apologising.
“What… do you… want?” Elliot backed up each part of his question with hand movements, hoping the gestures would get the two men somewhere.
The man pointed at the scout SUV, and spoke a German sentence once again.
“You want a ride?” Elliot simplified his query as best he could. “You… join us?” Again, he tried using hand movements to communicate.
The man shook his head, and quickly pulled out a snub nosed revolver.
Before he could make any demands however, another handgun had already been fired on him, a bullet ripped through his head, and his corpse collapsed down onto the cold and jagged road instantly.
Elliot turned around, and saw that Annabelle had pulled out her pistol, smoke emitting from the barrel. Elliot nodded in gratitude.
Annabelle holstered her weapon again, and brought the vehicle a few yards further to save Elliot such a ‘tiring’ walk back. Before jumping back into the vehicle, Elliot picked up the revolver, checking how many chambers were loaded; they were all empty, the man was never a threat. Elliot shook his head in remorse, “We could’ve helped him…”
As Elliot reminisced, Tina and Celeste still had their eyes peeled on the surroundings; something which Elliot could sense.
“He was ok… That man was genuine, he had no one with him… Whatever people did to him in the past, it made him distrusting of us. If you hadn’t of shot him Annabelle, we could’ve taken him in… Made him into a better man. A good man. Once upon a time. I’m sure he was.” He looked at everyone solemnly. While no one in the back could make eye contact back with Elliot, Annabelle in the front most certainly could.
“I’m not gonna apologise for saving your life Elliot. He did pull out a firearm on you after all, knowing full-well that we were sitting back here… Heck, if anything, it sounds to me like he wanted to die. It’s like you said, he’s completely alone, no one is in these trees waiting to ambush us. It seems like he wasn’t strong enough to end his own life, he needed you to nudge him into an assisted suicide. So, by that logic, we did him a favour.” Annabelle justified herself.
Elliot did not want to fight with his sister, so he silently jumped back into the passenger seat.
Bertie was beginning to figure out what this ‘new’ group was like; they were surviving on a ‘live in the moment’ basis. They no camp to go to, anymore. They had no other friends to meet up with. It was just them. Even Reed’s death which had happened not even an hour earlier seemed to be completely forgotten about as well, as though he’d never existed…
Not too much longer later, the group had stopped on the side of the road. Annabelle refuelled the SUV, using the last petrol can they had.
“Celeste, Tina, I know you guys will both be opposed to this, but… If the stories are true, I think we should risk it,” Elliot began to make a suggestion, though both women knew where he was going with it.
“No,” Celeste objected instantly, “We are not going to Prague dammit! The promise of sanctuary, the promise of a water reserve… It’s bullshit, Elliot. You know it is. Just think about it, don’t you think it all would have gone to shit by now?” Ever since becoming fluent in English, ‘shit’ was evidently Celeste’s favourite word.
“I get what you’re saying, but if it really is a divine sanctuary, then maybe it could actually still be standing!” Elliot tried to sound hopeful, despite everything.
“Celeste, he’s right,” Tina took Elliot’s side, which shocked Celeste. “Are you serious Tina? You used to be equally, if not more, opposed to heading into the Czech Republic than I was!”
Tina looked down at the ground, “Reed wanted to go Prague… He never will now…” She sombrely spoke her only, yet entirely logical, reason.
Celeste gave in, “Well when you put it like that…” But then, she took up her stance again, “No, no! Come on, Tina. I get it, and I loved Reed as much as the rest of you, but he’s dead now! The idea of going to Prague dies with him, and that’ll be the end of it.” Had anyone else of said those words, Elliot most likely would have attacked them; but Celeste had a maternal-like rationality to her, none of the group ever wanted to go against her judgement, even now.
Tina threw her hands up, “You guys settle this. I have a patient to check on,” she hopped back
into the vehicle, assessing Kristina’s condition.
“How is she?” Bertie appeared seemingly out of nowhere, giving Tina a light fright.
“She’ll be ok… for now. Though we must treat her properly, and we must treat her soon as well. I can’t spare any more antibiotics. I’m sorry Bertie, but my family comes first.” Tina looked sorrowful, but Reed understood; after all, he would’ve done the same if it were the Gemini crew in this circumstance.
“I am still baffled by one thing however… What exactly did her, attacker, have on her nails?” It was clear Tina had never come across such a bizarre cause of infection before.
“I’m as clueless as you are. I wish I knew,” Bertie reminisced. “It must have been something horrible though…” He looked at how grey Kristina’s unconscious face was.
“Hey,” Tina held his hand, “I’ll make sure she lives, ok? We’re bound to find a hospital or a pharmacy eventually.” She leant back slightly, to be within earshot on Celeste, “Maybe there’s a hospital in Prague!” She raised her voice. Celeste ignored this wittiness.
“But… if we don’t find a hospital, or a pharmacy, or anything – Heaven forbid – How… How long, will she have?” He struggled to ask such a heart-breaking question.
“It’s hard to say… Judging by the rate at which the infection is spreading? A day or two, perhaps three, at most. I’m sorry Bertie…”
He nodded, but did not feel concerned; he was absolutely certain that they were bound to come across some medical supplies sooner or later.
Chapter 18: Nightmares
“Gwen? Ellie? Zach?” Erica called out in a panicked flurry. “Guys? Where are you?” She tried to navigate in the direction the scream had echoed out from; though she couldn’t single out one particular location in a mansion where every noise resonated.
“Erica!” Zach’s voice echoed out.
Human Nature (Book 2): Human Nature II Page 9