“Shut up.” Naomi scolded him.
Kieran squinted, “What?”
“Look!” Naomi referred to the boy’s corpse, which she was still holding in her arms.
“It was him or us.” Kieran defended himself.
“Are you serious?” Naomi was disgusted. “Did you see the fear in his eyes as he died?”
“Well maybe if he hadn’t have chosen to join such a reckless group--”
“It might not have been his fault! Most of the children are brought into the group by their desperate single parent! That boy had a life ahead of him, and now you’ve taken it away!”
“Keep your voice down, you’ll draw attention.” Worm reminded the pair of them.
“I’ve got roughly one and three-quarters of a clip left.” Kieran tapped on his rifle’s magazine. “If we are quick and quiet, we should be able to make it out of the village.”
Naomi still had that disgusted expression on her face, “What about him? Are we just going to leave him here?”
Kieran didn’t see the problem. “He’s dead.”
Naomi shook her head and ignored Kieran’s callous tone. “I’m not leaving him here.”
“Then you can stay with him.” Kieran heartlessly suggested. “How about you run back to your dustbin divers and try to explain your moral conscience to them?”
Naomi was just seconds away from raising her machete now.
“I’ll carry him.” Worm broke the tension, “Fireman’s carry over my shoulders. He’s a child, he’ll be light. We can give him a burial once we’re in the clear.”
Naomi nodded gratefully.
“Does that work for you?” Worm faced Kieran head on.
He thought to himself for several seconds, still aiming his rifle towards the staircase. “Whatever… Let’s just hurry up, before more of them flock us.”
The trio waited in the dining room, peeping through the curtains, and watching as more of the savages passed on through; some of them were presumably tracing the child’s outcry still.
“Ok, I think we’ve got an opening,” Kieran observed. “You first,” he turned to Naomi.
“What?” She protested. “You’ve got the rifle, you go first!”
“Yeah, but you’re actually one of them.”
Naomi crossed her arms and cast a stern expression towards him, “Is there something you wanna get off your chest?”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Worm rolled his eyes and took the lead. “Stay close behind me.”
Silently, and crouching, they snuck diagonally from the house back to the road that Kieran had led the savages up; they had successfully made it out of the memorial square.
Worm stopped less than a quarter of the way down the road.
“Why are you stopping?” Naomi slated him.
Worm, short of breath, responded with, “I’m carrying a dead child on my back, remember that.”
Naomi found that remark to be highly distasteful, but Kieran nearly smirked at it.
“Right, now I’m ready.” Worm hoisted the child up his shoulders again and continued to sneak onwards.
“Make a left here!” Kieran suggested, as they approached the end of the road.
But just as Worm made a left turn, he stepped directly into the eyeline of one of the savages. “Kieran!” He cried out.
As the savage began to let out a war cry, Kieran raised his rifle, and shot him stone dead.
Without acknowledging this event, they all carried onwards out of village.
And sure enough, several minutes later, they were finally in the clear.
“Right,” Worm gathered his breath again, “Good job everyone. We made it.” He said half-heartedly, uncertain if that was even a worthy achievement.
“Ok, let’s get this over with and dump the boy into the lake.” Kieran indecently suggested, as he reached over to grab the corpse from Worm.
“Seriously, what is your problem?” Naomi flipped at him. “First, you kill the child, and then you don’t even show the slightest signs of remorse!”
Kieran shrugged, “Maybe I’m just a heartless crazy fucker. Will you shut your yap if I admit that?”
She clenched her fists and turned away from him.
“Kieran,” Worm whispered to him, “I’m grateful that you saved me and everything, but Naomi’s right; you need to be a little bit respectful, ok? You never know what somebody’s lost these days.”
Kieran sniggered at him, “I do actually. Everybody’s got the exact same sob story. Oh, I lost my father, I lost my mother, my brother, my sister, my aunt, my uncle, my dog, my cat, my online gaming buddy, etcetera and so on, until the dead cows come home.” And still, without any empathy, he scooped the child’s corpse up in his arms, preparing to genuinely throw him into the nearby lake.
“Wow.” Worm was in disbelief. “I’ve met a lot of people in my life, but nobody comes quite as close to being as much of an asshole as you are! Neither before, nor after.”
Kieran smiled at him and nodded, “Wow, I’m finally number one for something! Cheers mate!” He took a step in the direction of the lake.
“No.” Worm stepped in his way, “Don’t you ‘cheers mate’ me… If you think you’re gonna get away with being like this, then you can think again.”
“Oh, ok, sure, let me think again…” He jeered, “Nope, still reached the same decision. The ball’s in your court. You and your smelly melodramatic girlfriend can either come with me and have safety behind bullets, or you can bugger off into the night and leave me in peace, which is how it’s been for quite some time now before those assholes showed up.”
Worm stopped and didn’t say anything back; the way how Kieran was acting reminded him of himself, and how being alone for so long could drive a person into being someone they really aren’t. He felt like he was staring a bad reflection of himself…
Chapter 8: The Trade
Erica stiffened up, glaring at the horse rider as he approached.
“Howdy partner,” the man greeted her in an American accent, ceasing his approach just metres in front of where Erica stood. “They call me J.V.” He puffed up his chest to indicate the two lapel letters on his tuxedo collar.
Erica was silent and stern, still glaring at him.
“Silent-type, hey?” J.V. mocked. “Or… Wait, do you even speak English?”
“Yes.” Erica brusquely replied, being careful with how much she said; she wanted to keep the situation level and civil, not in favour of either party.
“Whoa, was that a British accent I heard there?” J.V. dismounted his horse, and slowly strode towards Erica.
The two were now very few feet apart and were even heights.
“Let’s hear it again… Oh, pretty please?” He mocked her again.
“What do you want?” Once again, Erica was blunt, and straight the point.
J.V. put his right hand on the brim of his hat. “I want to open up a new trade with your people.”
Erica tilted her head back, to indicate a sense of power. “We’re not open for business.”
J.V. chuckled, taking that comment on the chin. “My darling, I have sources that would beg to differ.”
Erica tilted her head back forward now, feeling dismayed by his cryptic words.
“Oh, that’s got your attention, hasn’t it?” He grinned.
“What other sources?” Erica still wasn’t in the mood for any sort of power play, so kept the conversation on topic.
“Well, you see, I’m not sure how to tell you this but, um…” He leaned into Erica’s personal space, “You’ve got a sell-out amongst y’all,” he whispered, and then slowly leant away from her again.
“Is that so?” Erica sounded confident and wasn’t buying into what J.V. was saying.
“Oh, you don’t believe me, do you?” J.V. caught on to her confident tone. “Well, how about if I tell you this: My boys and I know everything about your group. For example, oh, I don’t know,” he paused to unnerve his new rival, “We know that you
’ve only got seven guns amongst you. Four handguns and three rifles; two of which are broken, right?”
Erica took a deep and unnerved breath.
“We also know that there’s at least thirty-six of you people living in this town,” J.V. continued, “And judging by your hair style, your voice, and your overall demeanour, you must be Erica…”
A wisp of concern came over her face, as she looked over to her right, up at Elliot and Petra on Petra’s balcony still.
“Erica is looking at us,” Petra informed him. “She is looking rather worried, Elliot.”
He grabbed his walkie talkie from his side and pulled it up to his mouth; he only ever had the frequency set to one specific person. “Annabelle, I think Erica may need some backup…”
Erica turned back to face J.V., but she was left speechless.
“But don’t worry,” J.V. jeeringly reassured her, “Your sell-out’s not really a traitor. In fact, the person in question has actually done all of this in order to keep you people alive!” He referred to Klara’s trades, which nobody who was still breathing knew of.
“The thing is, my boys are getting a little… Agitated, these days. I’ve got trades with several different ‘sell-outs’ going on,” he implied that other groups existed in nearby areas, “But it’s not gonna be enough, not for much longer, anyway.”
“Cut the bullshit, and just tell me what you’re trying to say,” Erica hurried him, trying to calm her nerves.
“Well, your group are the closest to ours, so, in a way, I guess you’re kinda like our next-door neighbours!” He threw his arms up jokingly as a welcoming gesture. “Therefore, your group have the privilege of being our new primary provider! Congratulations!”
“No.” Erica shut his entire speech down. “We barely have enough to keep ourselves going, let alone with some parasite feeding off us.”
J.V. put his hand over his heart, “Ouch! That really hurt!” He imitated a genuine injury, in an almost charade-like manner.
“Look, we don’t want any trouble. Just go, please.” Erica point back towards the bridge.
J.V. sighed, “My dear, I don’t think you understand the stakes here – I couldn’t care less how much you guys have for yourselves. I could kill you all right now and take what you have, but I’m choosing to let you live, and trade things with me.” His tone became sinister.
“Trade with us? What exactly are we getting in return for all of this then?” Erica noted the unfairness of this ‘deal’ so far.
“Oh, you get to live.” J.V. was blatant. “Seriously, if I wanted to, I could’ve had your entire group massacred already; but I haven’t. I’ve done that because, well firstly, I’m a genuinely nice guy, and secondly, I keep my promises,” he again referred to how Klara’s trades.
“Bullshit.” Erica shook her head, “You’re bluffing. If you and your ‘boys’ were really that much of a threat, then you’d demonstrate this ostensible ‘omnipotence’.” She believed she had beaten him at his own game.
“My dear Erica, I’m going to warn you once, you’re better off not living your lives in fear of us, so don’t give me a reason to demonstrate my power.”
“Bull. Shit.” She reiterated.
J.V. shook his head and looked down to the ground. “Very well, fear it is then…” He looked back up, and dead into Erica’s eyes. Then, he raised a curled fist into the air.
‘PEWON!’
A bullet ricocheted next to Erica’s foot; she could feel the wind of it as it bounced away from her. Immediately, she looked down at the ground, and noticed a deep and large round dent from where the high calibre round had hit and bounced off the ground. Her face began to fill with visible distress and anger at the same time.
“Now, my boys have orders to go for a more organic target if I raise this fist again.” J.V. raised his voice with sincerity this time. “So, I’ll make it clear for you once again Erica: You are going to trade with me and my boys on a weekly basis, and in return for that, we’ll allow you to live a little longer. Do we have a deal?”
Silently, Erica nodded her head, unable to look J.V. in the eyes.
“What the hell’s all this about then?” Annabelle approached the scene, following on from Elliot’s radio-call.
J.V. gasped, “Well, look at you!” He got down onto his knee and reached out to grab Annabelle’s hand. He pulled her hand forward and kissed it lightly.
“Uh, right.” Annabelle was at a loss, and turned to Erica, pending information.
“We have to trade with these guys every single week otherwise we all die.” Erica summarised.
“Well, you don’t have to be so blunt about it. You make sound almost evil!” J.V. added.
“Look, all-due respect Uncle Sam, I highly doubt you and your little horse there will be able to take us all down.” Annabelle challenged him.
“Don’t.” Erica warned her.
“Seriously, Erica? Look at him! He’s literally wearing a god damn tuxedo of all things!” Whilst Annabelle mocked him, J.V. stood silently with a grin on his face, his eyes traced on Erica.
“Annabelle, I’m telling you, just leave it.” Erica warned her again.
Slowly, J.V. began to raise his hand again.
“No! Don’t! She won’t do anything! She’s just hot-headed!” Erica slurred her words, in a hurry to stop J.V. from fully raising his arm.
“No,” Annabelle didn’t back down. “I mean it. In fact, how about I kill you right now?” She gripped her knife.
“There’s a sniper in the mountains! Annabelle, please, don’t do it!” Erica begged, stepping in front of her.
“Snipers, actually. Plural.” J.V. inputted, once again in his manipulative tone.
“Look!” Erica stepped to one side and pointed at the dent in the ground. “That happened just now…”
Annabelle looked back up at J.V. “We don’t take lightly to threats. If you really think you can just march in here and start demanding orders, then you’ve got another thing coming for you.”
“You’re a pretty girl, Annabelle,” he said rather forebodingly. “Yeah, you know what, that’s a good idea.” He said to himself. “Let’s start our trade today. I’ll take the beautiful Annabelle here back with me, and then next week, you can hand me another beautiful lady…
“Absolutely not.” Erica declined his request. “You are not taking her. She stays here.”
J.V. ignored this denial, and carried on, “It’s been a while for the boys, they could do with--”
“Take me then, fine!” Erica suggested.
“No, the group needs you.” Annabelle countered. “You’re a doctor, and you’re a wife. You have to stay.”
Erica put her hand on Annabelle’s shoulder, “You’re a leader and a sister. Elliot needs you now more than ever.”
“Mum can look after him. Look, if what you’re saying is true, then I’m willing to risk my safety if it keeps the rest of you alive.” Annabelle reasoned.
Without rebutting, Erica back around to face J.V. “You can have me. Deal?”
J.V. shook his head immediately, “No offence, but you’re not the boys’ type. Annabelle here however, she fits the criteria perfectly.” His grin was unnerving. “It’s her, or we don’t have a deal…”
Now knowing what exactly not “having a deal” meant for the rest of the group, Annabelle stepped forward.
J.V. grinned, and nodded over to the horse, gesturing for Annabelle to mount it. “Pleasure doing business with you,” J.V. tipped his hat to Erica once again, and then got back on his horse, with Annabelle reluctantly wrapping her arms around his waist.
Erica felt a lump in her throat; a strong sense of guilt, scared for what exactly ‘the boys’ were going to do to Annabelle.
“He has just taken Annabelle,” Petra confessed to Elliot in complete dismay.
“What?” He panicked. “No, no! Get me down there. Petra, now!” With his arms out in front of him, Elliot hurried off the porch, and towards the stairs leading down to th
e road.
“Elliot, you are going to trip! Stop!” She tried to catch up to him, but Elliot was now sprinting.
Just as he was about to call out for Annabelle, Elliot’s foot lost balance, causing him to tumble down the brick stairs.
Petra had taken Elliot to the medical bay.
“Does it hurt here?” Tina asked him, as she pressed down on his shin with her thumb.
Elliot scowled and grunted in response.
“Ok, what about here?” She pressed down on his ankle this time.
Again, he grunted in pain.
“Alright, last one, how about here?” Finally, she pressed down on the heel of his foot.
This time, Elliot responded with silence.
“Alright,” Tina sat down on the stool beside the bed. “There’s a chance you’ve fractured your ankle.”
Elliot rolled his eyes and turned away from her.
“Come on buddy, don’t be like that!” Tina tried to come across as enthusiastic, but she sounded more uptight if anything. “I’ve had enough of this from Nikola earlier.”
“Annabelle was taken.” Petra informed Tina. “Erica gave her to the man. Elliot is very annoyed.” Again, she was doing her hardest to form proper English sentences.
“Why did he take her? Is she coming back?” Tina was genuinely concerned for Annabelle as well.
Petra shrugged.
With almost impeccable timing, Erica entered the medical bay, headed straight towards them. “Elliot listen, just hear me out,” she pleaded.
“Get out of here.” Elliot refused her.
But still, Erica approached him on the medical bed. “Elliot, you have to understand, this wasn’t a lone threat. This guy has snipers trained all around this town. I was just one hand signal away from having my head blown off.”
“Oh right, very reassuring to know that you’ve put my sister in the hands of these same psychos! Thanks Erica!” Elliot sarcastically screamed at her.
Erica looked over at Tina, who had an equally dismayed expression on her face.
“Elliot,” she looked back down into his grey eyes, which caused her to feel even more guilt. “We’ll get her back, ok? I promise you that. It was her choice to go as well. Otherwise, I would have been dead right now; maybe she would have been too.”
Human Nature (Book 3): Human Nature III Page 6