Chapter 42
Chapter forty-two
Isla
‘Ihate men!’
‘Don’t blame you,’ Elizabeth agrees with me as she pulls on her jacket.
‘I’ll admit they can be pretty fucking annoying.’ Fauna chimes in.
Liz found me first after my silent meltdown, internally screaming my head off. She probably saw the steam billowing from my ears and heard the alarm bells ringing around me. Her and Fauna came running, along with — for once in her life — a very silent Luna.
‘He’s an idiot, Isla.’
I roll my eyes at my best friend. ‘Tell me something I don’t already know.’
She grimaces, ‘Sorry.’
‘Just keep Ru away from me or else you might find yourself with a dickless boyfriend.’
‘Noted.’ She nods from the doorway, axe in hand.
Hilda affectionately pecks at my cheek, checking that I’m not about to have another one of my meltdowns and cause the stadium to go up in flames with me.
I swear the rage I’m feeling right now could cause second-degree burns if anyone dared to get too close.
‘C’mon,’ I motion for the three of us to leave.
Am I about to go find my boyfriend — or whatever the fuck relationship status exists in the apocalypse — wearing my jammies and slippers? You fucking bet I am. I've got the bed hair to match and my machete in hand to top off the fit.
See what a man can drive me to? I look bat shit crazy. Like really, really crazy. Oh, how times have changed.
Although my eight-month pregnancy belly would probably give most people pause. It’s not every day in the apocalypse you see a pissed off pregnant lady ready to machete any fucker down that gets in her way.
And to think a few months ago I was anxious about being able to protect my family. I scoff. Bet I didn’t imagine racing off to go drag said family member back since he insists on being a fucking idiot.
‘Isla, hey! Wait a sec.’
I don’t bother to slow my stomping pace; whoever it is can either fuck off or join me. I’m in no mood to be messed with.
‘I brought back up!’ Luna shouts as she catches up to jog alongside me. ‘Fuck for a pregnant lady you sure can move.’
Yeah, maybe because I’ve adopted the feeling of a raging bull, and the red towel thingy has morphed into Liam’s big fat idiotic head.
‘The others are coming and Amelia brought supplies!’
‘What?’ Confused, I look behind me and sure as shit Amelia, Isabella, Eloise and Clover are all armed and following.
But what caused me to stumble a step is what they're wearing.
‘What the…’
‘Cool right!’ Luna claps and shoves a knitted mask over her head. The bright pink wool a perfect fit for her personality. Just like the scary ass grin that is knitted right where her mouth should be.
Wide eyed I look to Amelia whose mouth is crocheted into a barbed wire frown. Her eyes glinting with war.
‘Made one for you, Momma bear.’ She hands me my own mask. The wool soft and completely at odds with the sharp fangs stitched into its face.
‘You’re a genius, Mills.’ I laugh, slipping the fabric over my head.
I adjust the eye holes, which, rather suspiciously, are a perfect fit for my head. Running my palms over the top I stop, inspecting two bumps on opposite sides.
‘Ears,’ Amelia states.
‘They are just perfect, aren’t they!’ Luna cheers and that’s when I notice her pom-pom bobbing at the end of her hat.
Fuck she looks psychotic. Amelia hasn’t just made her into some grinning pink thing. She's made her into the creepiest, sinister clown I’ve ever seen.
Fauna and Liz step forward and I take in their new masked appearance.
Fauna’s mask is some form of mind-control-looking thing.
Her eyes have two big swirling patterns, and they’re so fucked up I have to look away.
Liz’s is at complete odds with her auburn hair as the entire mask is black but the two distinct devil horns on top sum her up perfectly.
She may hide in the shadows but she is not to be messed with.
We look badass.
I mean, we always have but really looking at us now, it’s incredible to see how far we have come.
Each of our bodies have filled out, no more bones protruding with hunger.
Instead, we look healthy and strong as fuck.
Where our skin looked drained, we now look alive and full of life.
And now we have our masks to accompany our weapons.
Stepaside Skulls, there’s a scarier group in town.
We make our way down the corridor and out the front gate.
Kit is on guard again and it’s not lost on me that it feels like a full circle of when I arrived two months ago to him greeting me.
He’s a good kid and right now he has earned even more brownie points since he didn’t even bother to try to question what we are doing.
He takes one look at our new masks and opens the gate.
I wonder if he was the one to let Liam out?
Hilda takes flight, leading the way and it doesn’t take long before we find ourselves at the entrance of a dark hole.
‘Seriously?’ Fauna groans from beside me. ‘What is it with this cities obsession with living underground?’
She’s got a point. All of this space and groups are insisting on living in the dark. I suppose that is one consistency with humanity — people are fucking weird.
‘I thought most people were scared of the dark,’ Luna chirps as Elizabeth vaults over a ticket barrier.
‘Cowards hide in the dark,’ Elizabeth states in her spooky voice.
For a girl that doesn’t talk much she makes the perfect candidate for a scary storyteller.
It’s like she can sense when people are getting creeped out and can’t help but add to it.
I’ve lost count of the amount of time she’s done it to Fauna and me in winter — she’s one spooky bitch when she wants to be.
‘Don’t talk like that, Liz. You’re giving me the heebie-jeebies.’ Luna shivers.
Unphased, Elizabeth disappears into the darkness. I know she’s still here, never too far away but apart from that confidence in her loyalty I have no other way of knowing where she is.
‘Spooky, bitch.’ Luna shudders and Fauna slaps her arm.
‘You’re one to talk.’
‘I don’t do shit like that.’
I snort, ‘No, you just pull a knife when you're about to cum.’
Luna gasps, scowling daggers at me.
‘Too soon?’
She nods, ‘too soon.’
Noted. No talk about Luna’s deadly kinks for a while.
Dampness clings to the air as we make our descent into the tunnel. Our steps are light, but despite our efforts, every so often one of us ends up splashing into an unfortunate puddle.
Most would be annoyed at giving away our location.
But not us.
We’re the predators in this story, not the prey.
There is no need to worry about someone hearing us. In fact, I want them to be scared. To be shitting themselves at the sound of our approach.
Every now and then we become something others forget we are capable of… monsters.
The thing is. We’re often misunderstood. And I don’t blame others for doing so. We play the part of damsels in distress well, after all, it is partly why we have survived so long. You don’t often barrel your way through seven years of violence unscathed.
But one thing is for sure. When we need to, we are not afraid of becoming the evil we hear stories about. The only difference is that we do it in the dark, where no one else can recognise us for what we really are.
I drag the edge of my machete along the tunnel wall, feeling my way through the darkness with the help of the rail line. The others prowl behind me like a pack of lionesses, ready for the kill. The sinister sound of metal scraping against rock echoes with us.
Blood pumps a thrumbling beat around my body, the adrenaline setting my nerves alight. Inhaling deeply, I bask in the feeling of power.
Oh, how I’ve missed this.
One of the girls — Fauna — taps my arm, signalling up ahead where I see one lonely flickering light.
‘They have electricity down here?’
Sure looks that way.
Beneath the vibrant light lies a slumped figure. Boots stretched out in front of him, his chest rising and falling with each breath.
‘So much for a lookout,’ Fauna whispers.
I can't imagine they get many visitors down here, but that’s no excuse. This lazy piece of shit is a cocky idiot, and he's about to suffer the consequences of his actions. Or in his case, inaction.
Elizabeth’s bright blue eyes come into view behind the man, the hunger in them palpable. She crouches low and blows.
He splutters awake. ‘Wha—’ he starts but his words are cut short when he sees me.
His gaze takes me in, bump and all. I see the second his disgusting mind comes to the conclusion that he is the one with the upper hand.
I step forwards and I spot Fauna creeping around his back, out of his line of sight and ready to pounce. I may be raging but I’m not stupid. Not even my rage is worth putting my baby at unnecessary risk. That is why I have my girls to protect me whilst I sort this mess out.
‘Where is he?’
The mans eyes widen and he looks from me to the dark tunnel at my back.
‘I asked you a question,’ gentling my voice. ‘So answer.’
The gentle is maybe more on the fake nice side of questioning but men are fickle. They see a pregnant lady and think: oh look, a defenceless little thing that can't do any wrong.
He mumbles a response but I get the message. He won't give me anything and I can’t be arsed to force it out of him.
Hilda led us down here for a reason, and I’m way more inclined to trust a pigeon over a man who fell asleep on watch.
I pull back, straightening as I look down at him.
‘How about I look after ya instead, hmm? A sweet thing like you shouldn’t be wandering alone around these parts.’
I roll my eyes.
‘Don’t be a bitch. I’m only helping yer.’
The insults are always the same. Bitch, whore, cunt, they're always as pathetic as the last.
‘That all you could come up with?’ I ask, batting my eyelashes.
‘Now listen here, little girl.’ And what is it with the belittling shit? I’d hardly call being somewhere in my early twenties and eight months pregnant little. ‘I’ll let you off since you’ve clearly gotten lost. So come here.’ He says, tapping his thigh.
I laugh.
‘What yer laughin at?’ His overgrown eyebrows pull together and an irritated glint takes over him.
Jeez I don’t know. Maybe the fact that this slopping piece of shit seriously thinks that I’m so naive that I will just waddle over and do whatever he says. I look down my nose at him, ‘You.’
That does it, not that I'm surprised. Wounding a man's ego usually doesn’t take very long and is disappointingly predictable. Although I hate to give him any credit, Liam was always a good sport about it. Shame he had to fucking leave like the asshole I knew he was.
‘Big mistake, girl.’ The man on watch gets up, his legs unsteady, and I give a subtle shake of my head at Liz, who's ready to pounce. ‘I’m gonna make yer man watch as I tie you up and have my way with yer.’
‘Not my man,’ I throw out there because I'm petty and pissed off.
He laughs, licking his lips. ‘Yer the reason he’s down here aren’t ye.’
Well that’s just fucking rude. He didn’t just run away, he fucking told everyone about it as well. What is he, some evil mastermind down here?
‘Bet he’ll never see this coming. Just like he never saw her coming.’
‘Her? Who the fuck is her?’ I seethe.
It only causes him to laugh further and my heart breaks a little at the thought of Liam with another.
That’s it, I’m done.
‘It’s alright, I can be yer shoulder to cry on. I’ll even let yo—’
I don’t let him finish his sentence as I slice the edge of my blade across his neck. A river of red streams from the cut, drenching his front in the sticky liquid.
He tries to cover the wound, to somehow seal the fatal cut but it’s pointless.
I know how to slit someone's throat, I’ve done it too many times to count.
Nevertheless, the sight is always as breathtaking as the last. I mean, literally for them, since in a matter of seconds they are choking on their own blood.
They always try to speak but it only comes out as gurgles.
It’s quite poetic if you ask me.
I watch the moment the girls must come into view behind me, emerging from the shadows like the vultures they are. His wide eyes flick between each of our masked faces, the last thing he will ever see.
‘Isla,’ Fauna says my name. Her tone is cautious and I know she heard what he said — they all did. ‘Liam wouldn’t do that.’
‘You don’t know that.’ I try to even the emotion in my voice, but it still shakes despite my efforts.
And then we hear it, the distinct sound of a feminine voice.
And I see red.
‘Light them up, Luna.’