Kid tried to control his gaze, just a little, just enough so he could give Treycore something… an indication of a part of himself that was still there… the part that was really him… the part who wanted him more than anything else… the part that saw Treycore as the only creature worth living for.
But he must’ve failed, because Treycore turned and walked away.
The creature snickered. It was enjoying its little game.
Fuck you!
***
Maggie sat in the recliner in the nursery, holding Jeroda in her arms.
“Could you grab me a diaper?” she asked Trento.
Maggie had crafted her escape plan. She’d watched outside the day before, seeing the trucks coming to and from the warehouses nearly a mile from the house. If she could nab one of those trucks… or get someone to help her, then she could take it and flee this place with her child and get it away from these monsters.
Trento looked like she had greatly inconvenienced him as he stepped across the room to the shelf. He riffled through the baby’s things, then grunted.
She knew there weren’t any diapers, as she’d snatched them throughout the day and stashed them in her room—a part of her escape plan.
“Oh, no. Don’t worry about me,” Trento said facetiously. “I’ve got it.”
He headed out of the nursery.
Maggie waited, timing it out until she believed he would be heading down the stairs, then she rose from the recliner, slipped to the door, and peered into the hall.
Trento was gone.
Creeping out of the room, she kept watch, listening carefully to make sure no one was coming.
She snuck out the back stairwell and crept down the stairs… just in case Trento had decided to take those instead of the main stairwell.
As she came to the bottom, she burst through the door and headed across the yard toward the warehouses where she’d seen the trucks.
She could do this. She could get into one of those trucks and get out of there. But could she take the baby to Kinzer? Surely that’s what she needed to do, but she couldn’t help but think he’d only want to destroy it. No. He didn't understand. He couldn’t. This was her child, and she would just have to take him away and raise him on her own.
As she approached the warehouse, she felt a chill rush up and down her spine. Despite the absence of people, she felt like she was being watched. She convinced herself the chill was related to the high Jeroda had provided her with the night before, which she now felt as if she’d come crashing down from. She’d mentally pleaded with him to ease her all morning, but no relief came. Perhaps Jeroda didn’t realize the consequences of providing that sort of excitement, that sort of life-force, but now it felt painful… like a terrible withdrawal.
It hurt… hurt more than any of the crippling moments where she’d had similar sensations.
Perhaps he couldn’t control it. Or perhaps he was only able to provide her these feelings occasionally. She wasn't sure the reason, but she only hoped he would be able to grant her relief soon after they escaped. She wasn’t sure how far she could make it in the state she was in.
She snuck into the warehouse.
Welders torched metal. Other workers sewed together, with strings of wire, what appeared to be giant pieces of flesh.
She tucked close to the wall, in the shadows, as she crept to the other side of the warehouse.
Jeroda whimpered.
She shushed him, hoping to convey to him the importance of silence in this moment. Although, considering how she had mentally pleaded with him to continue to supply her with that high… or at least relief from the fall… she knew he couldn’t understand her.
She passed a cage of luminous bars that contained a monster that was nearly as tall as the building.
It had eight tentacles and a large eye that glistened beneath the fluorescent lights in the cage. It stood motionless. Like a wax figure, rather than a living creature.
As Maggie checked the other cages, she saw each contained one of these creatures. There had to have been at least twenty in this warehouse.
But none were moving. Were they dead?
