“But,” he continued, sparking Naomi’s attention, “Your other way worked, to be fair; that’s why I helped. Purely out of respect, nothing more--”
“Well thank you, then.” Naomi interrupted him before he could devalue this moment of sentiment. “Thank you for letting us bury the child as well.”
He nodded, accepting this gratitude.
During this interaction however, Worm continued to watch the Savages raid the stores; and all he could think about were the days of the Infected roaming the streets.
Eventually, the Savages passed on through the outlet, without the need for a second fight. Once they were gone, the group carried Harry’s corpse out to the nearest grassy area; it was a large roundabout.
One of the stores in the outlet was a gardening centre. As such, there were shovels available to the group.
Richard and Worm dug up a grave on the roundabout, and carefully rolled the corpse into it.
“Would you like to say a few words?” Naomi prompted Valorie.
Tearfully, she nodded, and stepped forward. “You were such an idiot,” she laughed. “I’ve met a lot of stupid people in my life, but none of them were as stupid as you, Harry.” Her smile quickly turned to a frown. “I knew how you felt about me. I knew that you loved me right from the moment our paths crossed. All I can say is, well, I’m sorry I didn’t at least give you a chance. If I’d have known today was gonna be your last, I would’ve at least given us a go.” She stepped back, unable to say anything else.
“Fly high, my friend.” Richard concluded for her, as he began to shovel the dirt into the grave again.
Worm assisted him again, while Naomi respectfully bowed her head, and Valorie remained tearfully silent. Kieran, on the other hand, stood around as though he was bored as opposed to remorseful; after all, this was the second burial which he had attended, “In the last two days.”
Noticing Kieran’s disrespectful expression, Naomi nudged him.
‘What?’ He mimed at her.
She gestured for him to bow his head.
Although he really didn’t care, he complied with Naomi’s request, and bowed his head anyway.
Chapter 14: The Line
Klara had taken Gwen to the trading point; the same place where she had traded Mattias and the medical supplies away.
Elliot went along with her; he wanted to be there for his sister’s return, just as she had been there for him every single day since they met. To guide him along the way and act as his eyes, Alek was by his side.
The final member of this group was Andre, who was keeping Joshua restrained.
“This is it.” Klara informed the party once they had arrived.
“He’s not here, why isn’t he here?” Gwen freaked out.
“Relax. He’ll be here, if he knows what’s good for his son, that is.” Elliot proclaimed.
Just shy of ten minutes later, three horses with riders appeared from around the corner, trotting through the moonlight.
A trembling sensation overcame Gwen, as though she could feel her daughter’s distress.
Elliot didn’t need his eyes to know how Gwen was feeling. Instinctively, he held her shivering hand out of comfort.
J.V. halted on his side of the point, and then dismounted his horse, revealing a figure hidden by the darkness on the back of the same stallion.
He assisted the shady figure off the horse and walked them into the moonlight.
“What’s happening?” Elliot whispered to Alek.
“J.V.’s stopped, there’s two other riders. He’s guiding someone to the middle I think.” Alek theorised.
As J.V. stepped into the moonlight, the figure’s face was revealed; it was Annabelle.
“A-A…” Gwen stuttered tearfully, her mouth jittering at the sight of Annabelle’s appearance.
“Mum? Alek?” Elliot prompted for more information.
“It’s your sister,” Alek revealed to him. “She looks traumatised, Elliot.”
Annabelle’s face was a ghastly shade of white, and she did indeed appear to extremely distressed, and was rather far from her usual self.
After spending an eternal moment in disbelief, Gwen finally took one step forward.
“No.” J.V. slipped a sawed-off shotgun out from his cream tuxedo using his free hand and pointed it downwards to Annabelle’s legs. “My son first, then you get your daughter.” He established the rules firmly.
Not taking any chances, Gwen turned to Andre and nodded, signalling for him to release Joshua.
Once free from Andre’s grip, Joshua slowly walked back over to his father’s side.
“I’m sorry dad.” Joshua mumbled as he approached.
“Don’t sweat it son. We’ll talk about it later. Just get on the damn horse.” J.V. ordered him.
“I held my end, now hold up yours.” Gwen brought his attention back to the deal less than a second later.
“Have you met my other sons?” J.V. procrastinated, still holding Annabelle at gunpoint. “That one’s Johnson,” he nodded back to the rider on the left of his horse, “And that one’s James,” he nodded over to the other one.
Johnson and James both nodded in greeting.
“I don’t give a shit.” Gwen told him, not breaking eye contact or even looking away in the slightest. “You’ve got your kid back. I won’t ask you again: Give me my daughter.” She turned her nose up at him in frustration.
Elliot, worried about how unhinged J.V. clearly was, squeezed his mother’s hand, as a subtle way of telling her to calm down.
“You know I had twelve sons once upon a time.” J.V. continued to stall, still holding Annabelle back; though she appeared to be unphased by the situation judging by her empty and traumatised eyes. “Three of them died along the way, and I gave up all of my daughters because I never needed them.” He said this without even a hint of regret. “Well, only the ones whose mothers I didn’t leave behind first--”
“I don’t care!” Gwen interrupted and screamed at him, pulling out her pistol.
Instinctively, Johnson and James produced their own handguns as well, aiming them at Gwen.
“I’ve done a good job at keeping my boys alive. Nine out of twelve’s not bad, is it? Your pretty daughter here was able to satisfy their desires perfectly.” J.V. deliberately taunted her.
“Fuck you!” Gwen unleashed her anger, and pulled the trigger on her pistol; but nothing fired, the magazine clicked. She tried again, but still nothing came out. “What?”
“I’m sorry, mum.” Elliot apologised to her. “I took the liberty of having Alek empty the clip because I knew you would do something like this.”
“Why?!” Gwen turned her anger towards Elliot now.
“Because if you’d have killed him just then, his sons would’ve killed us and everybody back home!” Elliot shouted back, essentially sending Gwen into silence. He turned to face J.V., and cautiously stepped forward. “I want you to understand something. We don’t want any quarrel with you. We didn’t want to kidnap your son, but you gave us no choice. I just want my sister back, that’s all. By disarming my mother’s weapon, I hope you can see that.”
J.V. looked extremely displeased with Gwen’s attempt on his life… But then, after a few seconds of quiet, a smirk came over him. He lowered his shotgun and pushed Annabelle forwards; but she remained motionless in trauma.
“Oh, my girl!” Gwen ran up to her, and pulled her back to the rest of the party. She kissed her on the head, and embraced her tightly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I forgive you. I’m sorry.” She teared up, running her hands through her daughter’s hair.
“It’s over.” Elliot told J.V. “You never come back here, and you never threaten any member of our group again. Let’s just agree to live separately and peacefully, ok?”
J.V. didn’t move from his spot or say anything.
Elliot turned around, and reached out for Alek, as the party prepared to head home.
“We’re not done yet.” J.V. worryingly informed th
em.
“I think we are.” Elliot retorted, without turning around.
J.V. sighed and raised his shotgun again, then pulled the trigger.
Andre cried out distressfully, as shotgun pellets ripped through and up his back. He fell forwards, as blood guzzled out of his back and formed a pool around him.
“Andre!” Alek moved away from Elliot and crouched down to be at his friend’s side. “Andre? Andre?” He shook him vigorously, but there was no response.
Gwen continued to embrace Annabelle, making sure she faced away from J.V.
“That’s not fair!” Finally, after remaining silent the entire time, Klara stepped up to the mark. “I matched every single one of your trades! I did everything you asked! You’ve just killed him for no reason!”
“Enough!” J.V. shut her down. “I just told you people – I take pride in how hard I’ve fought to keep my remaining sons alive. There’s a line, you see, and your group crossed that line when you decided to take my Joshua hostage! That little execution just there, hopefully that’s put you all back on the right side of said line.”
Klara shook her head in disgust. “No. I’ve put up with you for far too long. I stopped taking your medicine, because it was making me worse! You were the reason why I was going crazy! But now, well, now I can see things more clearly than ever!” She bravely marched towards him. “I should have told my group about you from first contact. But I didn’t. I did that for their sakes, not for yours.”
Now, the two were face-to-face. “Threaten the other groups you trade with? Sure, carry on. But us? Our group? No, we’re out. If we catch so much as even a glimpse of one of your boys on the mountaintop, we shall--” She halted her tongue, only wanting to deter J.V., rather than provoke him.
“You’ll do what, exactly?” J.V. prompted her. “Please, do finish that sentence. Otherwise, I’ll just have to assume what you were about to say.”
“Just leave it, Klara. Let’s go.” Elliot advised her.
“No.” J.V. grabbed Klara’s arm. “Nobody goes anywhere until she finishes her sentences.”
James took aim at Elliot, while Johnson took aim at Alek. Joshua stepped in front of his father’s horse and aimed towards Gwen and Annabelle.
“…We shall defend ourselves in whatever way we must.” Klara finished her sentence.
“How far would you go?” J.V. mumbled to her. “Would you kill any of my boys? Would you harm a single hair on their heads if it came to it?”
She maintained a look of disgust but didn’t reply.
“Feel free to answer that question whichever way you wish.” He implored her. “It’s only fair, isn’t it? I mean, my boys would harm every hair on sweet Annabelle’s head if she was still with us.”
“Yes.” Klara vengefully answered, thinking of Gwen.
“Well then.” J.V. tipped his hat to her. “I accept your terms. I’ll keep my boys away.”
Klara relaxed her shoulders, as her expression dropped into relief.
“But I don’t think either side can really trust you anymore, Klara.” He disdained her.
“What?” She sounded shocked by this comment.
J.V.’s smirk intensified once again, “Well you see, first, you sell your friends out to me, and then you take my son hostage for them…”
The moment that Klara realised what was about to happen, it was already too late.
Another blast echoed out from the shotgun, followed slipping onto the ground.
Alek slowly raised himself up again, shuddering at this turn of events.
Gwen tightened her embrace with her daughter.
“What the hell did you just do?” Elliot cried out in both distress and rage.
“I just did you a favour!” J.V. defended himself. “She wasn’t loyal to either group. Chances are, she would have sold you out for the next American to wander upon your village.”
“No, that’s it. We’re done. Nobody else dies!” Elliot took charge of the situation.
“Oh, I agree with that.” J.V. put his shotgun back into his tuxedo and backed up towards his horse. “Well, nobody else dies tonight at least.” He tipped his hat towards Elliot, and then got back onto his horse.
Without anymore words, J.V. and his sons rode off into the night.
“What now?” Alek asked, looking between the two corpses on the ground.
“We bury them.” Gwen snivelled, though the tears were more over her daughter than the deaths.
“Shouldn’t we take them back? A lot of people cared about them, even if Klara was doing things behind our backs.” Alek followed up.
“We can bury them on the mountainside, perhaps?” Elliot suggested.
“Easy for you to say. That takes a lot of effort, and not all of us can play the blind card.” Alek had intended this as a joke, but quickly realised it could have come off as offensive too. “Elliot, I didn’t mean it like that.”
“It’s alright, don’t worry.” Elliot accepted his apology. “Maybe if we carry them somewhere safe for tonight, we can organise a larger recon party tomorrow, and come back to collect their bodies then.” He added to his suggestion.
“Sure. That gives us time to break the news to them as well.” Alek agreed.
“Mum? How does that sound?”
Gwen swayed, still embracing her daughter, singing a lullaby to her; presumably one from her childhood. She didn’t respond to the question.
Elliot turned back to face Alek and nodded sentimentally. “I guess that’s the plan then.”
Alek carried the corpses to a nearby pickup truck. It appeared to be polished and well-kept, but he thought nothing further of this observation. “Sorry guys.” He mumbled to them, feeling sorrowful over their deaths, before departing with the rest of the party.
Unknown to him however, this pickup truck was the same one that J.V. had driven Mattias’ corpse away in…
Chapter 15: Paranoia
The following morning in Czechia, everything was still and quiet. As the sun began to rise, the recon group returned.
Nikola and Jázmin had been on watch for the last quarter of the night. Immediately noticing something wasn’t right with the party, they both ran over to them.
“How is she?” Nikola tenderly asked Gwen, who had a still-traumatised Annabelle by her side.
Gwen shook her head as if to say, ‘Not good.’
Nikola caringly patted Gwen on the back.
“Wait.” Jázmin had figured out what was wrong. “Where’s Klara? And Andre?”
“They’re dead.” Elliot answered bluntly. “J.V. killed them.”
Jázmin’s eyes widened in shock.
“Get the word around. It’ll be easier to break the news like that.” Elliot suggested; to which she complied.
Gwen and Elliot took Annabelle back to their house and tried their best to comfort her.
The three of them sat on the sofa, with Annabelle in the middle, and her kin holding her hands either side.
“What happened, baby?” Gwen asked softly.
Annabelle’s face was still ghastly and distraught. She didn’t even appear to be acknowledging her mother’s question.
Nonetheless, Gwen continued her efforts to get through to her daughter. “It’s ok, we’re here now. Whatever it is, you can tell us.”
Still, she was unresponsive.
“Annabelle.” Elliot addressed her. “We know what kind of a man J.V. is. You don’t need to worry about what we’ll think or how we react. We just want to know, ok?”
Gwen nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’s all. Just tell us honey.”
“Did they--” Elliot swallowed hard, “Did they do anything to you? Did… Did they touch you?”
Hearing Elliot’s concerns, Annabelle slowly shook her head once. “No…” She whispered.
Gwen looked over at Elliot, but then remembered she couldn’t exactly communicate anything visually to him.
“Then what happened?” Elliot followed up abruptly, intent on figuring out the trut
h.
“They didn’t… They didn’t… Lay a finger… On me…” She stuttered dismayingly, not necessarily in response to her stepbrother.
Gwen felt a small sense of relief with this confirmation.
“So, what did they do?” Elliot’s mind was set on finding a reason to get revenge, in contrast to Gwen only wanting to keep her daughter safe.
“Cannibals…” Annabelle replied breathily; her eyes fixated on the floor, as though she were in a hypnotic trance.
“What?” Elliot snapped in consternation.
“You mean they are cannibals?” Gwen tagged onto Elliot’s shock.
“Mattias…” A tear formed in Annabelle’s eye. “They… Me… I was forced… One mouthful… That was all…”
“Of what?” Elliot became enraged. “One mouthful of what?”
Gwen had worked out what Annabelle was trying to say, so answered on her behalf, “Of Mattias…”
Finally, Annabelle looked at her mother. She nodded at her, and then broke down into tears.
“I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” Gwen told her as she held her tightly once again.
Elliot, on the other hand, began plotting out an act of vengeance in his mind…
Outside, everyone had gathered out on the road, looking up at the hillside, where Alek was confirming the rumours about Klara and Andre’s deaths. Tina and Petra stood either side of him as support.
“…And that’s the truth, everybody,” He had just finished his announcement.
“What happened to that son of a bitch?” A heckler called out from the crowd beneath, in reference to J.V.
“Uh, well--” Alek scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to say.
“Where are the bodies?” A second heckler added.
“Well, that’s why we’ve called you all here--”
An empty can was thrown towards him from the middle of the crowd, but it missed. “How come you survived? Did you run, coward?” The thrower anonymously yelled out.
Tina stepped forward, “People please!”
Human Nature (Book 3): Human Nature III Page 10