“Dead? Those sweet children? Kendall adores them.”
“I fucking heard you!” Johnnie roared.
“Then you heard wrong,” Charlotte said flatly, her eyes drawn to Diesel as he walked in, a big fucking knot on his head, Val close on his heels. She didn’t bother to greet them and looked at Johnnie again.
Diesel walked to her, shoved a gun against her temple, and waited a second. Until her danger registered and her eyes widened. He pulled the trigger, spraying blood on him and Johnnie.
Shaking his head, Val jammed his cigarette in his mouth and grabbed the shotgun Bash kept right outside the kitchen door. He brought it to Johnnie. “Here, motherfucker. Get it out of your system.”
“You had no fucking right to kill her, Diesel.”
“You were taking too fucking long, Johnnie. The sound of that cunt’s voice nauseated me.”
Johnnie glared at Diesel, then pressed the heel of the gun into his shoulder and laid his cheek against the stock. He aimed the barrel at her headand pulled the trigger. Before he fired the second shot, he pointed at her heart.
His eyes bright with insanity, he inhaled and his breathing quickened.
He laughed, then knelt next to her. “I can’t wait to get you to the meatshack. You should’ve been dead years ago, Charlotte. Wouldn’t you agree?” He rubbed his fingers over her head wound and his nostrils flared.
“Do I have to knock you out too, Johnnie?” Val asked, leaning against the counter, spattered with blood and pieces of brain. He nodded to Diesel, ignoring his glare. “I could’ve left him fucking conscious since you two motherfuckers went off the script anyway.”
“She wanted to fucking kill my children,” Johnnie snarled, so fucking unhinged Easton wondered if he’d return to the man he knew.
Bash was silent, taking everything in, looking a little shell-shocked by the turn of events.
Johnnie snatched Charlotte’s corpse to a sitting position and shook her. “Why, you fucking bitch?Why? Kendall thought the world of you! You wanted to take her children away because of me?” He shook her again, then released her and let her topple to the ground, laughing again. “Blood,” he breathed. “Blood. The hallmark of life.”
Beginning to sweat, Easton looked at Bash, wondering exactly how safe he was as a Dweller prospect. He’d never fucking witnessed someone in a frenzy because of blood.
“Do you haveanybodyelse this motherfucker can kill?” Diesel demanded.
Bash swallowed. Even Cleaner pressed his lips together.
“I was supposed to kill this cunt if you hadn’t stolen my fucking thunder, nephew,” Johnnie sneered.
“If you wanted that much fucking interaction with that bitch, you should’ve taken her to the meatshack,” Diesel replied.
“I was trying to decide how to fucking kill her, asshole. I didn’t know if I wanted to slit her throat, stab her in the fucking eyes, or shoot her. I was thinking. I might’ve taken her to the meatshack if you’d had a little bit of fucking patience.”
Easton was still recovering from his gunshots and he was fucking surrounded by lunatics.
“You didn’t have knife or gun out, Johnnie,” Diesel argued.
“She wasmyfucking kill.”
“No, she wasBash’skill,” Diesel retorted. “Whoyouwanted to hold a fucking conversation with.”
“I like torture!”
“Conversation isn’t fucking torture,” Diesel said. “It’s socializing.”
“Are you two motherfuckers finished trying to out-crazy the other?” Val interjected.
“No!” Johnnie and Diesel chorused.
“As I was thinking of how I wanted to kill that cunt, I was building up to the actual torture,Diesel. There’s a fucking art to what I do. Finesse fuckheads into thinking they are off the hook, then stab them or shoot them or tell them you’re about to do something gruesome to them. Don’t do it immediately. Then scale back.”
“I know how the fuck to torture motherfuckers, Johnnie,” Diesel growled.
