Bat Country

“Matthew, do you want her to be prepared or not?” Thor was asking.
Rev, Johnny, and Zacky were all listening from a distance. Zacky and Johnny were on each side of the hallway and Rev hovered over Johnny’s shorter frame.
“You made my entire nest attack her! Not your nest, Thor! Mine! Callie alone could have made it a point to kill her!” Matt bellowed. “Not to mention, when you finally got what you wanted, she very well could have killed Callie and she nearly killed you! So tell me where in your head it sounds like a fucking good idea to keep going!”
Thor laughed loudly and stepped in front of Matt. Being slightly taller, Thor could loom over Matt. “I‘ll do what I want, Matthew. I made you, you will not tell me what I can and cannot do. I will do what I want with Alexis.”
Johnny looked up at Rev. “This is out of control.”
Rev just nodded. “Probably wasn’t the smartest idea Thor’s had.”
Zacky leaned in. “Well what else were we going to do? Just not fucking listen to him? He’s going insane with power that‘s not even his.”

Alexis was frozen on the couch. She took up most of it, and she had been perfectly still for hours. Her eyes were open but unfocused. They only reacted when the hatch opened. Brian climbed down the ladder and sealed the hatch shut again before hopping down and turning around. Upon seeing Alexis, his eyes dropped and he did his best to quickly leave.
“Wait.” Alexis croaked. Her voice was hollow again like it had been before she perfected.
Brian stopped and walked back around the couch before sitting on a chair across from Alexis, but Alexis didn‘t turn her head and their gazes never met.
“Why didn’t you attack me…like the others?” She breathed.
Brian kept his head down and paused a moment, trying to figure out what he wanted to say. His hair was blown in all directions and he ran a hand through it before rubbing his hands together.
“Haven‘t I done that enough for a lifetime?” He said softly.
A long silence passed between the two. It was taking Alexis a long time to process her thoughts but finally she managed to get them where she wanted.
“Kill me.”
Brian’s eyes came up from the floor and he studied Alexis’s thin, unperfecting body. This was no existence, he thought. No one should be subjected to this kind of life, and then starved this way. No wonder she just wanted to die. Every time he had unperfected, it was because he wanted to. Somewhere deep in his heart, he hoped that he would die, even though he knew it was impossible.
Rising from his seat, he walked past Alexis and stopped at the arm of the couch and studied her once again before blurring away.

When Brian came to the hallway, it was blocked by Zacky, Johnny, and Rev were nearly blocking it.
“Get out of the fucking way.” Brian barked to all three of them at once.
When none of them responded, Brian shoved through them, his shoulders grazing Johnny’s head.
“Dude what the fuck?” Johnny said, rearranging his hair.
Zacky turned to look at the other two and they all shrugged as the watched Brian kick the door open.
“Fucking feed her! I can’t stand fucking looking at her!”
Matt’s eyes shot over to Brian with a mixture of anger and confusion painting his face. Thor just looked unimpressed as usual.
“Oh shit!” Zacky said, almost laughing. He covered his mouth with his hand and looked to the Rev and Johnny whose jaws were wide open in shock.
“Not yet.” Was all Thor said.
Brian’s eyes shot over to Matt this time, who had his arms crossed and looked like he was ready to end this all. Brian’s eyes swerved back to Thor.
“What do you mean ‘not yet’?” Brian asked. “Fucking look at her!” his arm swung towards the door, meaning to gesture to Alexis. “She’s going to unperfect if she doesn’t eat.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Thor brushed Brian off as insignificant before he turned to speak to Matt.
“You think I don’t know about unperfecting? I know exactly how it works, and I’m fucking telling you she will be unperfected by tomorrow night if she doesn’t fucking eat.”
Thor’s eyes narrowed at Brian. “Mind your own business, Syn. Or I promise you will regret it.”
“She asked me to kill her.” Brian’s eyes shifted to Matt whose arms and face fell as Brian turned and left.
He burst back out of the hallway. “ISABEL!” he shouted as he entered the communal space. It didn’t take long for Isabel to answer him, and she stood quietly with her head down. For once she hadn’t worn a dress, and settled on a white flowing top with a pair of dark jeans. Perfect, Brian thought. It would make this easier.
Alexis’s eyes didn’t move as Brian scooped her up in his arms. “Isabel,” he said, glancing up at her. “I need you to help me tonight.”
Isabel didn’t ask she just nodded and stepped next to Brian.
Both looked up when Thor came into the room, followed by Matt.
“Where are you going?!” Thor yelled. Matt’s eyes scanned the room as Zacky, Rev, and Johnny stood behind them with a glaze of shame covering their faces.
“I’m feeding her.” Brian said nonchalantly, holding Alexis’s body to his.
Thor was in Brian’s face in an instant and anger covered him from head to toe.
“You’re overstepping yourself.“ Thor said with a menacing tone that made Isabel look away.
Brian stepped back and turned Alexis away from Thor, his tattooed arms still tightly locked around her as she weakly held on. “You might control Matt, but you sure as fuck don’t control me.”
Matt’s eyes locked onto Alexis and his face dropped. She was nearly skeletal, her ears pointed upwards and her eyes and cheeks looked like they had collapsed and they were dark. The skin which had once been almost illuminated was now flat, and a pale gray. When Alexis's sunken eyes turned to him, he burned. In this moment, he was proud of Brian, but his eyes locked back to him, and begged him for an unspoken answer.
Brian finally looked up at Matt and nodded almost unseen, and back to Thor who was seething.
“Isabel, get the hatch.” Brian said, tightening his arms around Alexis as he backed away.
Isabel ran up the ladder and opened the door before they both exited the nest, Brian kicking the hatch closed behind him.