“What the hell does this asshole even want with her?” Elliot continued to shout.
Erica hesitated to answer.
“For goodness sake, just bloody tell me!”
Erica turned away in shame, and confessed, “The unthinkable...”
Elliot was flabbergasted.
“Are you serious?!” Tina bellowed, feeling equally as angry as Elliot.
“I did it for us! For all of us! Please!” Erica begged.
“Get out!” Now, Tina was the one turning away; she was too ashamed of Erica to face her. “Just get out! Go!”
Erica’s eyes quickly watered up.
“Is she still here?” Elliot asked, his voice cracking up in fear for his sister.
Petra put her hand on Erica’s shoulder, “Would you like a drink?”
Erica turned to her and nodded, but her eyes were still traced on the ground in shame.
“Follow.” Petra rubbed Erica’s back, and guided her out of the medical bay.
Elliot and Tina were left in absolute distress and anguish.
Chapter 9: Journey
Naomi, Worm, and Kieran had made it to a small café in a park which was a safe distance away from the village.
Naomi and Worm were mapping out places that they could visit for supplies, and potentially even transport, to get them as far away as possible from this new savage threat.
Kieran was cleaning the rifle of his barrel.
“There’s a shopping centre here,” Worm pointed out on the map.
“Oh,” Naomi thought to herself for a second, “I think I’ve passed that place; it’s completely raided.”
“Dammit.” Worm crossed it off with a marker pen. “What about here?” He pointed to a wildlife park which had another café.
“Possibly?” Naomi said with caution.
“Well, there’s no harm in checking it out at least.” Worm asserted.
“We could always do a pub crawl!” Kieran butted in from the farthest table away.
Both Naomi and Worm ignored his frivolity.
So later that day, the trio departed from the park café, and reached the shopping outlet.
“You said it was a centre.” Naomi was keen to point out.
“We all make mistakes.” Worm shrugged jokingly.
In an equally light-hearted manner, Naomi rolled her eyes, “Come on.” She marched onwards to the first store, with Worm and Kieran following closely behind.
They lined up on the wall next to the computer store.
“What the hell are you expecting to find in there? A new smartphone?” Kieran jeered.
“They don’t just sell computers here, asshole.” Naomi retorted. “There could be bags, watches, kitchen roll, you know, banalities.”
Still, Kieran responded with cynicism. “Kitchen roll? Have you lost your mind? What are you gonna do? Build the world’s tiniest shittiest boat?”
Then, Worm and Naomi exchanged a suggestive look with each other.
“What?” Kieran prompted them.
“Would you rather wipe your arse with your fingers?” Worm heckled.
Kieran suddenly went bright red.
They snuck through the store in darkness. The only light shone in through the smashed windows from outside.
“Smells like human shit in here.” Kieran remarked.
“Would you shut up for a minute?” Naomi mumbled to him.
“Got quite a temper, haven’t you?”
Naomi cast him a foreboding look.
“Um,” Worm stuttered, “I wouldn’t.”
Kieran mimicked Naomi with his facial expressions.
Then, there was a faint noise in the distance, as if an object had just been pushed slightly across the floor.
Immediately, the trio all looked to and from each other.
Kieran held his rifle up, gazing around the store for any more commotion.
“Where did that come from?” Worm asked in whisper.
Naomi put her finger over her lip, gesturing for him to be quiet and listen out.
“Show yourself!” Kieran called out, giving away their position.
Naomi turned around in alarm and darted furious eyes towards him.
“Come on! Come out with your hands up!” Kieran ignored Naomi’s firm glare and continued to take leverage of the situation.
“What are you doing?!” Naomi gritted her teeth at him.
“Please!” A timid voice cried out, “Don’t shoot!”
“That depends on you!” Kieran showed no signs of backing down.
“Enough!” Naomi grabbed the barrel of his rifle and snatched the firearm from him.
Kieran tried to grab it back, but Worm intervened. “No. Naomi’s right; play with your own life, but not ours.” Worm laid down the law.
“I’m saving all of our lives here! We don’t know how many people are hiding back there in those shadows!” Kieran argued. “What if it’s more of those savages waiting to jump us?”
Worm didn’t want to concede, but knew Kieran had a valid point.
“Can you help me?” A frail and scruffy-looking man stepped out of the shadows and into the daylight.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Naomi passed the rifle back to Worm, who took it from her. She slowly walked towards the man.
“Don’t.” Kieran tried to warn her, but she ignored him.
“What’s your name?” Naomi asked, as she held her hand out to him. “I’m Naomi.”
The man smiled at her, and slowly edged forward to accept her handshake. “Dick.”
“I beg your pardon?” Kieran straightened up, curling his fists at the man.
“Oh no, no!” The man threw his hands up in defence. “My name is Richard, but most people call me ‘Dick’.”
Naomi chortled slightly, and Worm smirked. Kieran was far from amused, however.
“Well, um, what are you doing here? In this place?” Naomi looked around as she asked this.
“They told me to wait here.” Richard pointed to the ground on which he stood.
“They?” Kieran was the first to question him on this point.
“My group! There’s four of us, currently.”
“How long have they been gone?” Naomi asked, but Kieran immediately asked his own question over hers’.
“Where are they then? Why have they left you behind?”
Richard shook his head persistently, “They haven’t! They’ll be back soon. They just, they wanted me to be safe. So, they told me to stay here. Nobody’s exactly going to be rummaging through a computer store these days, are they? Oh, save for you folks of course!”
Kieran scratched the back of his head.
“One nil.” Worm wisecracked, leaning over to Kieran.
“Look, I didn’t mean to frighten you three just now.” Richard expressed soothingly. “Truth is, you all just startled me! I haven’t seen a gun in years. I wasn’t sure if you were going to light me up and then take my stuff or what, y’know…”
“Oh no, it’s ok. We help!” Naomi grabbed his cold hands and pulled him towards her, as a gesture of good faith; on the inside however, she was trying to make up for her time as a part of the savages’ group.
“Where’s all your stuff?” Kieran interrogated him, still refusing to let his guard down.
Richard didn’t realise Kieran was talking to him at first, but quickly caught on. “Oh, my things are--”
“No, you don’t have to answer that.” Naomi interrupted him, before turning around to face Kieran herself. “First, you nearly shoot this man, and now, you want to take his stuff?” She had tolerated him up until now, but this was the final straw.
“No! I just want to be sure he’s not hiding anything dangerous from us, let alone anyone!” Kieran explained in an imperial and self-absorbed tone.
“Look at him!!” Naomi yelled. “He’s just a scared man waiting for his group to return! He’s waiting on three friends, and now he’s got three more – Do you really think he’s got some ulterior
motive going on?”
Then, as if she had just tempted fate, Richard wrapped his arms around Naomi, pulling a knife up to her throat. “Don’t shoot! Dead man’s finger; I die, she dies!”
Worm raised the rifle instantly, as Kieran threw his head back in disbelief.
“Drop it!” A woman looking equally as scruffy as Richard jumped out from the shadows, whilst holding a hatchet in a ready-to-throw stance.
Worm hesitated to lower the rifle and looked to Kieran for support; who put his hands over his head, and responded to Worm with a hellish glare that translated to ‘I told you so…’
At that very moment, Worm then felt a knife held against his back.
“You heard her,” another man whispered into Worm’s ear; his atrociously bad breath nearly causing him to wretch. Worm closed his eyes in regret, and then opened them again to look upon his old friend’s face; as he saw Naomi struggling in Richard’s grip, all he could think of was how he had left Polaris to rot away, which rendered him feeling unable to let Naomi down a second time. “I’m sorry.” Worm calmly said directly at her, as he dropped the rifle.
“Valorie, grab the rifle.” Richard commanded his female comrade, as she obeyed, and grab the weapon from Worm’s feet.
“Harry, take that bastard outside,” he nodded to Kieran, “And rough him up a bit, would you?” He commanded his male comrade.
Harry also followed Richard’s orders. Grabbing Kieran’s arm, he dragged him outside.
“This is all your fault Naomi!” Kieran shouted back, before Harry headbutted him to shut him up.
Naomi felt tremendous guilt and naivety; Kieran’s point had been proven by this unfortunate scenario, and now she was determined to do anything to even the play field…
Harry took Kieran around to the side of the shopping outlet and threw him to the ground.
First, he kicked Kieran in the abdomen with force, winding him.
“Get up mate. Come on, don’t make this too easy for me!” Harry taunted him, as he kicked him a second time. “Seriously? Are you that weak?” He remarked regarding Kieran’s pained winces.
“Go… Fuck… Yourself…” Kieran expressed his anger, albeit breathily.
“Sorry? What was that?” Harry bent down, pretending as though he hadn’t heard Kieran’s words, and taunting him.
But this was an error of judgment on Harry’s part, as Kieran now raised his foot, and kicked Harry’s shin furiously. Then, he gripped his head with both hands, and thrashed him into the brick wall, bludgeoning him.
Harry curled up on the floor and cradled his bleeding head.
Now, Kieran loomed over his aggressor with his own knife, and smirked; “I’d kill you, but I’d prefer to rough you up a bit first…”
Chapter 10: Enemies Closer
Erica had called for a meeting in her house, with her oldest friends as well as other newer members of the group whom she had come to trust. Gathered at the kitchen table were Elliot, Erica, Tina, and Petra. There were a few others stood around. Gwen was absent from the meeting however, as she was still in too much disarray to see anybody.
“We know for a fact they have snipers traced around us.” Elliot summarised. “Isn’t the solution obvious? We need leverage. If we can take one of these a-holes hostage successfully, we can trade him back for Annabelle.”
“And then what? You think they’ll just let us go?” Alek rebutted, leaning in the doorway. “The moment they get their sniper back, and if what Erica says is true, they’ll just go ahead and kill us all off anyway.”
“What would they gain from that though?” Tina queried, sitting at the opposite side of the table to Elliot. “All that would result in would be the loss of a trading partner.”
“Well they’d gain a new place and raid all of our stuff, for one.” Jázmin, a new close friend of Erica and Tina’s, pessimistically noted.
“So why haven’t they done that already?” Tina held her point.
“Because they can milk us, that’s why – Think about it, they’re just going to keep on threatening us until we have nothing left to give, and then they’ll kill us and take the little which we save for ourselves.”
“Any thoughts from you, Petra?” Elliot turned to his own new friend now.
“Annabelle is a good friend.” Petra reminded everybody. “She is a sister. She is a daughter. She is loved. We must save Annabelle. It is more important than anything.”
“So, what do you think about my idea then?” Elliot reiterated the purpose of the meeting.
“For Annabelle, do it.” She was in favour of Elliot’s idea to locate and kidnap one of the snipers.
“Right, that’s two votes for my plan.” Elliot summarised. “Anybody else? Nikola, what about you? You haven’t said much.”
Without saying anything, Nikola shook her head; she too was feeling disgruntled, believing that the face she had seen back in the industrial zone was somehow tied to this new group.
“Alright, so that’s two-to-one. Tina? Are you with me?”
She nodded. “Petra’s right. Annabelle’s a good friend, and she’s also family to, not just you, but to me as well. I love that girl. She’d do the same thing for me.”
“Great. That’s three-to-one.” Elliot tried to recall who else was in the room, but he had forgotten. “Everybody else?” He threw the question out there ambiguously.
“Nope.” Erica spoke up. “I love Annabelle, I do, so you know I wouldn’t have let her go if I didn’t think she was capable of handling whatever is being thrown at her.”
But neither Elliot nor Tina were sure of this fact.
“I’m still with Erica.” Alek cast his vote. “Those snipers have eyes on us, and not the other way around. If we are spotted making this move, it could make the situation even worse. Sorry Elliot.”
“It’s fine,” Elliot’s disgruntled tone contradicted his words. “That’s three-to-two… Who’s left?”
“Me.” Jázmin reminded Elliot. “I’m with Alek and Erica. It’s too dangerous for the rest of us.”
“Oh…” Elliot put his head into his palms. “We’ve gotten absolutely nowhere. That’s a three-to-three perfectly equal split.”
Erica drew breath to confess something, but then decided against it; she still hadn’t told anyone about the ‘sell-out’ which J.V. had informed her of, purely because she suspected it could be anyone at this point…
Alone in her house, Gwen anxiously chewed away at her fingers, rapidly bouncing her knees up and down.
Then, there was a knock at the door.
At first, the sound flew over her heard.
There was a second knock, which was noticeably harder than the first.
“Go away!” She viciously called out.
But whoever it was had intention of leaving; the door unlocked, followed by footsteps in the hallway.
Gwen ceased her fidgeting, as an element of hope emerged in her eyes. “Annabelle? Is that you?”
“Your other child.” Elliot denounced her hope, as he walked into the living room.
Gwen sighed.
“Good to see you too, mum.” Elliot said jokingly.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that.” She dropped her head into her hands. “I’m sorry, I’m just… All over the place.”
With an empathetic face, Elliot sat down next to his stepmother and oldest friend, using his hands to navigate along the wall and towards the sofa.
Gwen noticed Elliot guiding himself, and remarked, “Annabelle told me she was helping you get used to it – To being blind, I mean.”
“Yes.” Elliot bluntly replied, as he reached over aimlessly to grab Gwen’s hand; realising he was doing this, she met him half-way and grabbed his longing hand. “It’s been a long time since we really had a moment, isn’t it?”
Gwen nodded, “Yeah, it has.”
“We’ll get her back.” Elliot knew what was on her mind. “I love Annie as much as you do.”
“Who the hell does Erica think she is giving away
my daughter like that?” Gwen was severely enraged. “I mean, just because she couldn’t keep her own kids safe…”
Elliot was pained by this reference. “Zach’s death wasn’t Erica’s fault, Gwen.”
“And what about Cora?” She snapped back at him without a second thought. “Does Erica even know that she had a daughter once?”
“Whenever you say things like this, that’s when you’re Gwen to me.” Elliot confessed to her. “You’re the woman I met many years ago who pointed a gun at me and tried to take all my things.”
Gwen went silent, unsure of how to respond.
“But when you show how much you care; that’s when you become mum to me… I know how upset you are, and that’s ok!” He comforted her. “To be honest, I’d be more concerned if you were carrying on as if everything’s alright. This way, I know how much you care. You care too much about her in order to hide your feelings.”
“We had an argument.” Gwen revealed. “Just before… I told her I couldn’t forgive her over Andy.”
“Wow.” Elliot was taken aback once again; the past was very suddenly coming back after so long. “That was a long time ago. She regrets it, but she also owns it – She did what she had to do, for you.”
Gwen shook her head. “But I don’t forgive her. That’s the thing, I love her, and I would die without her in my life, but I can’t just let go of what she did. Every single day, I’ve carried it with me. It’s the reason why I left Camp Hackley in the first place.”
“Well you’re going to have to forgive her.” Elliot was firm. “If you don’t, you’re just going to drive her farther away, and that’s something we can’t afford anymore.”
Gwen was still in dismay, however. “I argue with her too much. Every time anything big happens in our lives, we always fall out over it. I just, I think to myself: What would her father think?”
Now, Elliot was the speechless one.
Human Nature (Book 3): Human Nature III Page 7