That's right. The final girls always survived.
I drove to the woods, and when we got out, I insisted on carrying her through the trees again. I liked having her in my arms.
"Did you call Kansas and let him know we were coming to pick him up?" she asked as we made it to the Church and I set her down.
"I didn't feel the need. He'll be ready in minutes," I said and stopped dead in my tracks right at the head of the stairs. The thick smell of blood was wafting up from down below.
"What?" Eisley said and tried to step down, but I put my arm out to block her.
"Kansas?" I called. Footsteps echoed from down below, but no answer. "Eisley, go to the entrance." I kept my voice low.
"Everything's good!" Kansas's voice drifted upward, and relief flooded through me. He came to the bottom of the steps and gave us a thumbs-up. "Well, not for Therese. I've got her blood draining into a bucket and her insides placed in a bowl. Had to since all the other stuff was thawed out from the storm. Bitch surprised me, got a few strikes in before I was able to catch her and stop her crazy ramblings. Little Miss Know-it-all. You guys can come on down. I'll need help carrying her back up in a few. Probably just bury her."
"Therese is dead?" Eisley asked. Her face contorted in confusion, as if she wasn’t sure whether to be upset, or at peace.
I inhaled deeply and put my arm around her middle.
"Come on, let's go put you in bed and give you something to rest. It's been a long day."
"How can I rest? Therese’s dead body is down there.”
When she wouldn't go, I bent my knees and picked her back up, bringing her down, past Kansas, the altar, and back to my room. I laid her down on the mattress as gently as I could.
"Wait here," I warned her. She stood anyways, and I reached for the door handle and froze. If I locked her in here, I was no better than my father or the rest of the Family. I removed my hand and shook my head, my eyes drifting back to the woman I would give anything for. My wife. "Eisley, please."
Kansas came by holding a bottle of wine he'd taken from her house, which I knew from before that it had something in it to relax her. "Here, drink this, and we'll come back in a bit." He offered it to her, but she refused so he set it beside the mattress.
"And then what?" she asked, curling her legs under her.
He stood beside me and grinned. "And then we start the ritual."
Rule 80 - Eisley
There’s always two killers.
They'd laced my drink. I knew, about twenty minutes in, after I'd had a few sips to calm my nerves and stop the sobbing that something wasn't right. I was seeing double, and everything was fuzzy.
Those fucking bastards.My body grew heavy and I fell onto the bed, staring at the ceiling and seeing gold swirls drift along the stone ceiling.
Time meant nothing now, as my mind was too rattled to think straight. What had they put in there? And then things made sense. Not all herbs and plants I had saved were poisonous. No, they'd taken some of the salvia too. If that was what was in my system, I'd come out of this high in a short time and then I'd run.
I closed my eyes and relaxed, letting the hallucinogenic drug take over my mind and body. I'd had salvia before. I'd tried a lot of drugs meant to give you visions and make you dig deeper into your body and soul.
I thought about the ritual they were planning somewhere far away from me. Therese was dead. I had to accept that. My husbands were the ones killing people to serve a higher being. God? No, but something powerful and gracious to his followers. Was I ready to become one? I'd spent so long running from the Church, this place, only to return willingly ten years later. What was going on?
"Eisley, can you hear me?" a voice I vaguely recognized called, and I laughed. Could I hear him? I could! Did I care what he had to say? Not even a little. "She's fucking blown, man. I knew we shouldn't have given her that whole bottle."
"She'll be fine. Come on, let's get her up." Hands went under my arms, but I was made of noodles, and I couldn't help him. Whoever was trying to get me to stand gave up and laid me back down, picking me up like I was his bride and he was taking me over the threshold of our new beginnings.
I blinked rapidly when we stepped out of the bedroom and into the main room, where thousands of candles had been lit.
"Woah," I said.
"We're not going to be able to do this," one of them said.
"She'll be fine. I'll just hold her. Actually, I think this will work great."
I was laid down on the hard table with the red silk cloth, surrounded by oodles of candles, all flickering menacingly at me. They were chanting loudly like tiny little monks. A giggle escaped my lips.
