But it’s the bruises. Along her porcelain skin, in bright red, turning purple. Along her thighs, her throat, her arms.
And she whimpers as she turns away from me.
Because I’m looking.
Because my eyes hurt her.
I turn to the men, prepping the trigger with a click that makes them both flinch. The sight of the gun makes them both retreat even further and raise their hands in the air with new surrender, but their sex is still semi-hard and exposed.
They’re guests—
“We just ran from the chaos,” the first man says, trying to placate me.
“Yes, we figured we’d be safe here,” the other nods his head in agreement.
They’re guests, they’re not attackers—
Still, I’m having difficulty hearing my own thoughts through the roar of sound in my ears.
I don’t hear when the gun goes off twice, shooting them both in the thigh and making them fall to the floor.
“You fucking shot me!” The first man raves as he screams, clinging to his leg on the floor.
His true nature leaks out, sneering maliciously, “Do you know who the fuck I am?! You’ll rot in hell for this!”
I drop the gun because I can’t think.
Because I don’t care if they’re guests.
“We—we were just having fun,” the second man crawls backwards. I step forward to grab him by the hair and pull his head up.
“The slut fucking liked it—!” His words die with my knife in his throat. Two stabs in his neck as I force him to look me in the eyes, making sure I’m the last thing he sees as he chokes on his blood. I remove the weapon from his skin only when he’s dead.
“You’re fucking crazy!” The first man crawls back as well, finally realizing that there’s no way I’m letting him escape from here. “You have no idea what you’re getting into youdumbfuck—”
I grab him by the hair to pull his head back like I did the other one, and he seethes at me, baring his teeth and going red in the face with his rage, “He’ll have yourfuckinghead. You’lldiefor this, you stupid piece of—”
My knife sinks into his throat.
“I’m already dead, you disgusting son of a bitch,” I seethe in his ears as I stab him again, pulling the knife from his skin to sink it firmly into his throat again.
I was right when I told Lucia the first time.
These aren’t people. They’re monsters.
And it takes monsters to kill monsters.
In my periphery, Lucia doesn’t move, but I can feel her eyes on me.
I’d forgotten this world was full of monsters just like Everett.
We watch each other quietly, unable to speak, or ask what the other needs, so I move around the bed to scoop her up in my arms. I am surprised that she allows it, but after a moment of tension, her shoulders relax.
“I won't hurt you,” I promise softly.
I'm unsure what to do with her from there but when I look at the state of her...
It’s a bath that comes to mind.
