Your Scream's a Whisper

The best element of the cops’ stupidity back in New York was their time of taking action. In waiting until the late night/early morning to attack, they gave us the perfect amount of time to spend on the highway. What better time was there to do 100 mph across America than 4 AM? There’d be no annoying cops to try and pull us over.

Matt reclined in the passenger’s seat, propping his feet up on the dashboard. “Do you even have any idea where you’re going?” he asked.

“Not specifically, no. We’re already in Pennsylvania. I figured we could head to some place like Kansas that has all farmland or some shit.”

He nodded before directing his attention to the back of the car. “You awake, Rev?”

I glanced up in the rearview mirror and saw that he had an arm wrapped around a sleeping Nicole while sharpening a knife just above her head. He glanced up briefly before focusing back on his task. “Do I ever sleep?” he snickered. “What do you want?”

“See if you got a signal on your phone. We need to find an abandoned house or something, preferably on a farm, so it’s relatively secluded.”

Rev sighed, and then discarded his blade in its leather case to access his iPhone. He sifted through a few results, suggesting some places every now and then. After searching, probably half assed, for a good forty-five minutes, he located an abandoned farm and house near Muncie, Indiana.

“Sounds perfect,” I said. “See how far that is from here.”

“It looks like it’s thirteen hours away from our current location.”

As the sun began to stretch across the upcoming horizon, I pulled the visor down, blocking just the right amount of the light. Then, I forced the accelerator down to the floor and smirked as the car jolted forward, reaching 165 mph, waking the passenger in the trunk with a shallow scream.

Myra

My body was spiraling down through this tunnel of thick darkness. I wanted to open my eyes; I wanted to be conscious again, even if that meant having to experience the resulting pain.

Every now and then I would see flashing images of Syn covered from head to toe in blood, wearing the evilest smile – the contrast of his perfectly straight white teeth standing out against the crimson blood. Every time I saw the image, there was a different body at his feet. It was always someone I cared about.

And it always felt like my heart had just been ripped from my chest.

There was a sudden lurch that flung my body into something hard, forcing me awake. I screamed slightly upon feeling the impact of being slammed into the row of seats in front of me. And as expected, the pain all resurfaced in one suffocating wave across my body.

It didn’t take too long to realize that I was in the trunk, an unfortunate circumstance. I held a hand to my dizzied head and crawled back toward the corner. Ronnie slowly peeked his head over the headrest and stared at me. What else could he do? None of us had a reason to smile anymore. Yet, even in the simple gesture, I felt better. Just knowing that he cared…

“Aw, look who’s finally awake,” I heard Syn announce from the opposite end of the car.

Naturally, I didn’t respond. I was a little too preoccupied with the numbing pain and immense amount of crusted blood on my leg. And much to my surprise, I think he realized the seriousness of said situation.

“Since we’re going to be on the road for a while, I guess you should have your wounds treated,” he said.

I heard Nicole making sounds of a struggle as the Rev shoved her out of her seat. “You heard the man. Get the hell back there. You’re the only one qualified.”

She groaned as he slapped her ass hard while she was trying to crawl over the bench. Ronnie helped her over the second bench until she was secure in the trunk with me.

“Okay,” she breathed, “what did he do to you?” Her voice was shaky. I could tell she didn’t feel comfortable being responsible for this. And I didn’t blame her. I knew what she needed to do. And I knew that we didn’t have the right supplies to do so.

I rolled up my jeans and revealed my bloody leg with the central bullet-induced crater hole. She gasped at the unexpected sight and stood up as best as she could. “I-I can’t do anything to help her yet. I need tweezers or something. There’s no other way to get that out of her!”
“Use your fingers,” the Rev replied nonchalantly.

“But she could get an infection and –.”

“Just do it,” Syn growled from the driver’s seat. His tone sent a frightening chill through the entire car.

Nicole turned back to face me with hesitance. I reached for her hand and stared directly in her eyes. “It’s okay. Let’s…let’s just get it over with.”

She nodded slowly and exhaled deeply before returning to a crouched position next to me. Part of the bullet shell was sticking out of my skin, which I guess was a good thing in this case because it made it much easier for someone to grab.

She pinched the extended portion with her thumb and pointer finger and held onto my leg with the opposite hand. “O-on the count of three,” she whispered, slowing naming off the three numbers. One…two…three.

My head fell backwards into the back of the car as I cried out in pain. The shell flew from my flesh and caused a splash of blood to coat Nicole’s body. She fell back against the other side of the car and dropped the shell on the ground, gasping for air.

The wound was starting to bleed again, so I held my hand down tightly over the source, feeling the slippery blood slide through the spaces between my fingers. “Here, let me help with that. Y-you really have to pressure the wound,” Nicole said, grabbing a shirt out of the nearest duffle bag and slamming it down on my leg.

Thankfully, the blood didn’t seep entirely through the shirt’s material. Nicole and I shared exhausted, yet relieved expressions as we remained together in the trunk, surrounded by assorted suitcases and duffle bags.

***

By late afternoon we had long since crossed the Indiana borderline and gotten off at Exit 41 – Muncie. The exit ramp led us through a small town, filled with so many tempting places to stop – McDonalds, Wendy’s, shopping malls, and a downtown strip of various stores and restaurants.

Of course we drove right past every one of them until we were driving through the barren wasteland known as the Middle of Nowhere.

Syn turned sharply off the main road and onto a bumpy gravel road that was leading to a rather uninviting farmhouse, surrounding by miles of burnt remains of a cornfield. Thick, black clouds started rolling in, veiling the abandoned land in an ominous darkness. How vaguely appropriate.

After parking the car, we all filed out like mindless zombies. Syn was wearing a psychotic grin. “Isn’t this great? You can scream, cry, or run as much as you want, but no one is here to hear you!” he exclaimed.

I don’t know how it’s possible, but he seemed to be getting crazier by the hour.

Katie stood within Zacky’s protective embrace, both seeming to be void of emotion. Val was lifting the babies’ car seats out of the car. I scoffed and stormed over to her, as best as I could in my injured condition, and ripped the handles right from her hands. “Stay away from my babies,” I growled.

Angered, she reached out and tightly gripped my arm. I was forced to turn around and face her. She was about to say something, and I already had several speeches lined up in my mind, until Shadows approached us.

“Val, we need you to help get the shit in the house.”

She didn’t tear her eyes away from me, even when she responded to him. “Why don’t you have one of the other bitches do the dirty work?”

“Now,” he said harshly.

Begrudgingly, she released my arm and made her way to the trunk. Shadows and I locked eyes for a brief, awkward moment. I don’t know whether or not he did that for me, but there was still some sort of mental understanding that took place.

It made me rather uncomfortable, but I took advantage of it nevertheless. I carried the babies over to where Chris and Ronnie were standing. Ronnie’s face lit up the moment he saw us coming in their direction.

“Here, let me help,” he offered, holding onto Renee’s car seat. Of course this left me with Syn’s demon child, but I’d say the look on Ronnie’s face was worth the sacrifice.

Chris was an entirely different story. He was standing with us, but he seemed to be in his own world. I placed Branden’s car seat on the ground and unbuckled him, cradling him in my arms to reduce the weight. I reached out and ran my hand down Chris’s arm.

“I realize how stupid this may sound in our situation, but I have to ask. What’s wrong?”

He turned to look at me with such hurt and sadness in his eyes. “I loved her, Myra. And I never got the chance to tell her. I wanna fucking murder all of them for what they did to her. I can’t live with this guilt!”

The Chris I knew…he was always so calm, collected, and calculated. I wasn’t sure how to respond. I knew that he was referring to Randi. Just hearing her name, recalling her makeshift funeral made her feel like a ghost. I could barely remember what our lives were like before college. That didn’t seem real.

“It…you…didn’t do anything wrong, Chris. None of us could’ve done anything to stop this. At this point, I don’t even know if life means anything anymore. Why should it? These psychos are unpredictable and unredeemable, which makes the chances of us dying so much greater.”

His face was unreadable, and I couldn’t tell if my words meant anything to him or not. I knew that there was nothing that I could say that would make his loss any lesser. I was in his same position months ago.

***

Once the trunk was emptied and all bodies were accounted for, the topic of food came up in discussion. The air conditioner in the house was broken, and the humid air outside was somehow cooler than indoors. We all sat on the spacious, though decrepit wooden veranda. I sat secluded in the far corner, having just finished breast-feeding.

I kept my eyes locked on Syn, though I doubt he even noticed. His attention was evidently elsewhere, somewhere along the edge of the property from what I could infer. He looked displeased. Did he finally realize that they picked a house with no scenery whatsoever? Yeah, I would be displeased, too.

I glanced out through the railing and discovered what he was looking at. There was smoke on the other side of a thin forest. Smoke meant civilization. Civilization meant there were neighbors nearby.

“Rev, did you even research this area before you picked it?” he asked.

Rev shrugged in response. “An abandoned farm is an abandoned farm. What more do you want?”

“One that doesn’t have neighbors.”

“It’s not that hard to fix,” Shadows said. “We could just pay them a visit.”

Syn faced him and smirked in approval. “I think we just figured out our dinner plans.”

As it turned out, they didn’t feel comfortable leaving all of us alone together. And since Syn sucked at playing three simple rounds of rock paper scissors, he was the lucky winner who got to stay behind.

The Rev, Shadows, Zacky, and Val grabbed some weapons from inside the house and started walking toward the source of the smoke. Apparently Zacky and Val were still not to be trusted, even worse of then we were, and had to go along to be “tested.”
Personally, I didn’t mind their absences. Though this did mean that we were left alone with Syn. And when I say “we,” I really mean “me” because we all knew I was the only one he had his menacing black eyes set on.

“Now that we’re alone, let’s go inside for a moment. We have business to discuss,” he announced, approaching me and roughly pulling me to my feet.

Ronnie, Chris, and Katie remained seated solemnly watch me go. What could they do? Even though he was outnumbered, I’d still say he could take them. And that wasn’t a very pleasant thought.

I tried to struggle against his tight grip, clinging on to what little resolve to escape remained, but froze once he brought me into the living room, throwing me down on the ground in front of the babies. Despite their young age, I intended to avoid conflict between Syn and I in front of them.

I pushed myself off the ground and sat next to the babies, currently asleep. That made it easier. I didn’t even want to think about what it would be like once they get a little older and don’t sleep so damn much. The thought alone brought tears to my eyes. I was scared for them. And I was scared for myself.

“So, what’s this business we have?” I asked. I just wanted to get this over with.

He sat himself down in a tatty cloth recliner, a small group of flies buzzing around his head. His face was covered in a layer of sweat. Yet he was still wearing that arrogant, malicious smirk. “Did you know that you’d already be married by now back in the old days? Actually, marriages start around age 13 or so, depending on the culture.”

I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the history lesson.”

He held his hands up in defense. “Hey, I’m just trying to make you feel better. Also, that would suggest that by now you should be capable of doing all the things expected of the wife.”

I snorted despite myself. He was going to have a sexist talk with me. Just because I was being held here against my will did not mean he was going to limit me to the kitchen and the bedroom. “Save the speech. I already know where you’re taking this, and I already know my answer.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure on that, Myra. I’ve come to notice that you can be very easily persuaded.” He stepped over to me and tangled his fingers in my hair. Once he had a decent grip, he slammed into the cracked wall next to the fireplace. He used his grip to hold my head at a very sideways, uncomfortable angle.

“Get your ass in the kitchen and make me something to eat before I wake up our bastard child and punish her for your misdeeds.”

I cursed him over and over again in my head as I stared him down. He remained in place, so I tried shoving my hands against his chest. He was about ready to laugh at what may have looked like a feeble defense, but I cut him off. “It’s a little hard to get to the kitchen, when you’re holding me down, jackass.”

He swallowed his laugh and stepped aside, relinquishing his grip. I gave him a bitter glare before limping over to the kitchen. I needed to sit down before I did anything. My wounded leg was killing me and still bleeding every now and then.

A heap of trash was spilling out of a sagging trash bag in the kitchen. Flies were manifesting on the decayed, molding food. I felt myself gagging, but forced the vomit to go back down. The last thing this kitchen needed was another foul smell.

The tiled floor was smeared with a thick layer of dirt. Cabinet doors were hanging off hinges. The light bulbs in the ancient fixture above the table were flickering. And I wouldn’t go near any of the remaining uneaten food, even if you paid me.

I kept a hand tightly wrapped around my nose and mouth as I began searching through some of the cabinets. Much to my surprise, I managed to find a few cans of soup and bottles of soda. I was almost positive that soup wouldn’t be enough to feed a fatass like him, but it was the best I could find.

As I was getting up off the ground, a large white container caught my attention. It was just a plain container, kind of like the ones bleach came in, with a rather blunt image on the backside. It was the skull and crossbones – the symbol of poison, toxicity.

A smirk graced my face as I cradled the container in my hands. “Have you found anything to make yet? I don’t hear any cooking going on!” he shouted.

“Uh, yeah, the best thing I’ve found so far is soup. I wouldn’t serve anything else to you, even by my standards,” I shouted over my shoulder.

I grinned as I dumped the poison into a pot, followed by the soup. I’d never been so happy to be a stereotypical wife in my life.

Zacky

Even though there were only four of us going to the neighbor’s place, we still somehow managed to split up into groups. Val and Shadows were walking a few feet ahead of the Rev and me. I could make out faint words of a conversation, though couldn’t quite get the gist of what they were discussing.

If I had to guess, it would be him interrogating her, trying to determine her motives. At least with her around, I didn’t seem like such a bad guy in their eyes. Surely, they’d trust me before trusting that bitch.

But none of that changed the facts. Val and I were brought along to participate, to prove that we meant what we said when we claimed allegiance. I knew I’d have to kill someone tonight. Thank God Katie wasn’t here. It’d be easier now.

The other people’s home was like the complete opposite of ours. They had strips of grass in front of their house, manicured bushes, freshly painted exterior, healthy crops, and a variety of cattle and horses. Basically, it was your typical farmhouse, complete with a red barn and everything.

Since Shadows’ head had been so fucked up since Val’s arrival, Rev stepped forward and decided to lead the expedition. He knocked on the door a couple of times before someone answered. A man, probably in his late 50s, answered the door with a kind smile. “Hello, what can I do for you folks?”

“We just moved into the house on the other side of the woods and haven’t had the time to go buy food. We saw smoke coming from your chimney and thought we’d come over and introduce ourselves, possibly getting a bite to eat?”

“We haven’t eaten since breakfast this morning,” Val groaned, offering what she considered to be a look worthy of pity and compliance.

The man scratched the back of his neck and grew concerned. “Gosh, that’s terrible. Well, my wife should be preparing dinner now. I’m sure there will be plenty of food to go around.”

He stepped out and held the screen door open, letting us into his home. The man’s name was Jerry, his wife was Angie, and their son was Tyler. It was amusing watching him shamelessly flirt with Val, all while Shadows sat fuming in his seat.

The dinner was pleasant – roasted chicken, crescent rolls, green beans, and mashed potatoes. I couldn’t remember the last time I had such a delicious home cooked meal. Conversation was flowing. The family told us about themselves and we weaved our lies. It was almost scary, seeing Shadow and Rev acting like they were so nice and normal, when that was anything but the truth.

Once the hour mark rolled around, I could tell that Rev was getting antsy. He came here to kill, not converse. Jerry stood up and came over to us to shake our hands, apologizing for the abrupt ending, but that he and his son had to finish up the chores on the farm. The Rev sneaked into the kitchen and greeted Angie in his typical, bloody fashion.

I stood frozen in place, watching him kill her. He ran at her, wielding one of his custom knives in his hand high above his head. He stabbed her in the abdomen, causing her to lean over, clutching her stomach. He sent his bent, bony knee flying into her face, emitting a horrible snapping sound. Her body flew back against the sink, a wave of blood splattering onto the shrill white curtains.

With her back facing him, he jabbed the knife into the top of her spine and slowly tugged it downward, perfectly reaching all of her sensitive nerves. By the time he was done, the entire center of her back and torn clothes was soaked with blood. A singular gash traced her spinal cord all the way down to her tailbone. She had fallen over the sink, breathing shallowly. He finished her off by slitting her throat, perfectly down the center.

Shadows and Val were arguing about who deserved to kill Tyler – Shadows argued in defense of jealousy, while Val argued in defense of being creeped out. Their hands both touched the table simultaneously, landing on a pair of unused silverware. They shared a knowing smirk before chasing after Tyler and cornering him.

He shielded himself with his hands, as if he expected that to actually do something.

Shadows rolled his eyes and gripped his arm, pulling him up to his feet and against the wall. He shoved the boy’s arms out of the way as Val counted to three. They each held their forks high in the air at about a forty-five degree angle. And once she reached three, they both jammed their angled forks into the boy’s neck. Blood sprung from his flesh and soaked their hands.

They looked positively ecstatic.

Jerry was frightened at first, but soon became enraged. He threw himself at me, tackling me to the ground and sending his fists flying into my face and chest. I knew that he was going to be my victim. I guess I was relieved, in a twisted sense. He wouldn’t plead for his life. That meant I could take it with much more ease.

Yet there I was, lying beneath him and taking a tremendous beating. His blows were heated with rage, all of which was aimed at me, despite the fact that I had nothing to do with his wife and son’s murders. If I didn’t take action soon, he would be the one killing me.

A small, isolated part of me wanted to let that happen. But I couldn’t give in to that temptation. I wasn’t just living for myself anymore. I was living for Katie, too.

I caught his next blow in the palm of my hand, constricting my fingers around his fist tightly. I could hear him breathlessly wince in pain. I squeezed tighter while my other hand reached for the pistol in my jeans. I cocked the gun and pulled the trigger all within the same rapid, thoughtless movement.

The shot rang out through the entire room. Everyone’s eyes landed on me. His body collapsed on top of mine, but I quickly shoved him off of me. I wiped some blood from my lip and held the gun over his body, watching him struggle to breathe. I kept my stance rigid, firm. And I didn’t stop shooting.

Bullets flew into his body, sending small, excited splashes of blood into the air, like some sort of water show with colored fountains. His body convulsed at the rate of being shot. He was long since dead before I even considered stopping. Once the magazine was emptied, I dropped the gun to the ground and stood above him, trembling.

Rev was the first one to approach me, patting me on the back and grinning like a madman. “Welcome back, Vengeance.”

Where did I go? Why did I leave? In my mind, I already knew the answer. It was simple. It was Katie. I stopped killing for her. I rejected myself so that she could trust me…love me. But now, now I don’t think I can give this back. It was like nothing else in the world.

In those brief minutes, I managed to come up with a personal compromise, one I would probably have to share with the guys. I would kill. I would gladly kill. As long as it was never in front of Katie.

My spirits were high and the creative juices were flowing. “Why should we stop with the people?” I asked. “Why not go after the animals? We’d have enough food for months!”

Shadows nodded enthusiastically. “Brilliant. We’ll probably only be able to carry a couple animals back, though.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t have more fun,” Rev added.

With our weapons in hand, we climbed over the fence and approached the cows. I had read once that in slaughterhouses they slit the animal’s throat and let them slowly bleed out. How inhumane of them. I ran at one of the nearest cows and slammed a steak knife into its back. It moaned low in pain. Blood covered its black fur, causing it to become moist and blotched.

I continued stabbing the animal until it dropped to the ground, bleeding out into the muddy puddle below it. By the time all was said and done, we killed every god damn animal on the farm – cows, horses, chickens, and a couple of stray dogs. The smell of blood filled the air, just before the rain began to fall from the black clouds overhead.

I was covered in multiple sources of blood. And it never felt so good.

Katie

Rain began pouring in sheets across the flatland. Ronnie and I had been having a civil conversation, to my surprise, as we tried to get Chris out of his emo stage every now and then. Of course we heard every word spoken inside the house. I watched as Ronnie’s fists clenched and unclenched.

Not only was Syn hurting Myra, but he was also threatening to hurt Ronnie’s baby. Thankfully, I managed to talk him through it before he could go in there and get himself killed.

After what felt like forever, the others finally returned. To say that I was worried the entire time would be an understatement. I was absolutely terrified because I didn’t know what they’d make him do.

He stepped onto the porch and lingered while the others dragged something to the side of the house. He was covered in blood and soaked from the torrential downpour.

“W-what happened?” I whispered.

He avoided eye contact at first before finally speaking. He looked so distraught. “They…they made me kill a guy, Katie,” he confessed.

I expected just as much. I wrapped my arms around him and held him close. He backed away suddenly and glanced out at the landscape, taking my hand in his. I laughed a little uneasily. “Zacky, where are we going?”

He stopped just short of stepping into the storm. “Haven’t you ever wanted to kiss in the rain?”

“Well, yeah, but this is a bit much…will they even let you leave?”

“I don’t care about them. Just let me be with you,” he pleaded.

Against my better judgment, I followed him into the downpour.

Myra

Shadows, Val, and Rev entered through the backdoor in the kitchen, completely soaked and bloodstained. It must’ve been a massacre. I realized just how little life meant to them, and as hard as I tried, I still couldn’t make any sense of it in my mind. How could they so thoughtlessly take life like that?

Didn’t they feel anything?

Shadows walked into the living room. “Hey, man, we scored some food – probably enough for the next two weeks.” I took that as my way in.

“Speaking of food, yours is done now. So get your ass in here,” I said, poking my head in the room.

He sat down at the table and I placed the bowl of soup in front of him. “You’re lucky I like vegetable soup,” he muttered, stirring the substance around and watching the letter-shaped noodles float around.

He scooped up a hefty spoonful and brought it up to his lips. I couldn’t hide my smile even if I tried. A grand majority of my misery would be ended about three spoonfuls from now. And I could hardly wait.