The gun is shaking in my hand, and I want to turn around, shoot the last two bullets in the center of both of their heads, only I will not take that from Harlen and Rusty. So, I close my eyes for a beat, inhaling a deep breath, and when I open them, Harlen is in front of me. I latch onto his gaze, feeling my pulse settle slightly in my throat, then I drop the gun.
He squeezes my hip, and I whisper, “Make them fucking bleed,” before my feet move toward the stairs.
Manic’s and Knuckles’ cries only become louder, and when I bridge the steel door, turning back over my shoulder, I see Harlen, Rusty, and Keaton getting the peace they deserve.
My legs buckle at the sight, but Chase catches me. He dips down at his knees, throwing my arm over his shoulders before helping me through the door, down the hallway, and out into the morning light.
I take a deep breath, seeing the sun rising behind the woods in front of us, then I whisper with a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. “Fuck, that felt good.”
We had made a mess.
It was a fucking bloodbath.
I’m glad Cherry left because she didn’t need to see this.
Keaton had just finished skinning Knuckles alive. He had every intention of tearing him apart the way they had his sister, and Rusty and I had made sure that Manic watched every last second.
I had thrusted his head back, and in a moment of blazing fury, I had beaten his skull into the wall behind him so hard that brain matter and rotted flesh stuck to the smoky concrete. However, before I could lose control fully, Rusty had stopped me. I had felt a subtle volt of satisfaction buzz in my chest, settling in the tips of my fingers, only it was nowhere near enough.
I wanted more.I wanted so much fucking more.
Rusty had instructed me to curl my fingers around Manic’s eyelids and to pry them open. So, I did exactly that when he snatched up the staple gun at his side and shot four total into each piece of thin skin precisely.
One for Cherry.
One for Laney.
One for Cherry’s mother.
And one for my mother, his wife,Summer.
I found myself smiling when he screamed.
I knew darkness lingered in my blood. It had seeped through the cracks, itching through my veins since I was fourteen. The thought of one day getting revenge for my mother was something that drove me forward for years.
Too many men hurt women.
And too many men got away with it.
The day was finally fucking here.
Manic, Knuckles, and Menace thrived off Cherry’s and Laney’s pain. Just as Manic did my mother’s. Their evil crawled through the trellises of their family blood, and it wouldn’t stop until someone put an end to it.
I knew what I had to do. I had never killed anyone before,but I would today.
My hand is steady when I snatch up the knife at my side, spinning the glistening blade between my fingers with confidence. You would think I’d feel something at this moment, only I don’t.
No excitement.
No thrill.
Just a void.
That’s how I know what I’m about to do is right, that it would setthemfree. The women who suffered at the hands of evil. The mothers, the daughters, the sisters, those who should still be here with us today.
My mother’s life was stripped from her. The same way mine was when I lost her. The same way Cherry’s was when she found herself trapped between the walls of evil. She has to battle those demons now for the rest of her life, and even though revenge is sweet, it doesn’t change what happened to her and the scars she’s now forced to cradle.
She would never be the same again.
