"What do you say? You want it? Then they stay until I figure this shit out."
Rule 55 - Swayze
Play along.
Icame down to sit with everyone at the evening fire. It'd become our little routine, the survivors and us. The Risky family, the remaining ones, had offered up their home to us while we figured things out. They were still paying us too, which was another incentive to stay. At night, we'd hang out here, drinking, eating, and having a good time, forgetting that our friends were dead. Then, we'd head up to the house, and once everyone was asleep, either Koi or I would leave for a cigarette, and head over to the park, where Domino slept.Tossed and turned, really.
She didn't seem to care how much her pretending to hate us hurt me. I'd never felt pain like this before. When I wasn't with her, all I could think about was her. I wanted to absorb her into me so we could become one, but she refused to even look my way. Every minute felt like someone was tearing my heart and stretching my guts, trying to make me truly feel the pain that was a broken heart. And I needed her to feel pain too.
I kept the vote up on our website. We'd made thousands of dollars off it. At a dollar a vote, over eighty thousand people had tuned in to select the photo they liked. And during the day, while Domino was busy avoiding us, we'd get on and live stream thegroup, making sure no matter where she went in the park, she saw us on TV or heard us through the megaphone speakers.
Each night, she took some kind of sleep aid she'd found in the med office. That first night, I hadn't realized she was on something when I came in, but it was obvious the moment I saw her, it was incredibly hot to have her at my mercy, but still pleading for more. And each night after was no different. Koi said the same thing. Whether she was ready to admit it or not yet, she still wanted us.
"Swayze, you there?" Beth called to me. I blinked and looked up from my boots.
"What?"
"We were just talking about Domino and Fabian. They've been locked in that office all day. What do you think they're talking about?"
I took a drink of my beer. "Beats me. Maybe they're the killers," I joked.
No one laughed.
"Are you serious?" Beth looked from me to the rest of the circle. Everyone's faces were deadly serious. Marisol had her legs up on the arm of her lawn chair, lounging lazily across it.
"I mean, it would make sense. Those two, conspiring together. Fabian has been trying to cut us out for years. His only shot at this point is murdering us."
Mattias tossed a log on the fire, sending sparks flying. "Don't fucking say that." He shuddered and sat back down.
"Why not? A little too real?" Marisol sat up and placed her feet on the ground. "What else could they be doing up there?"
Koi and I exchanged a look. We knew neither of them was killing anyone, but it was interesting to hear the pack panic and try to figure it out.
Mitchell sipped his drink. "Fabian wasn't at the ziplining."
"But Domino was," Beth pointed out. She gasped and flung her head side to side. "What if he was hiding on the other side? And when they left to run back to us, he came out of the woods and stabbed Ruth!"
No, that was Koi, but interesting theory.
Grace nodded, eager to accept any story that made Domino the villain. "Yes! And remember, she stepped out of line right in time, making Ruth go ahead of her. Like, she knew to do it."
“And we never figured out who it was with the chainsaw!”
Murmurs began, and I could feel the energy shifting. This wasn't just shit-talking, this was real.
"Maybe that's why Blane was the next one to die," Mitchell pointed out. "Because he saw Fabian and threatened to tell everyone."
"Which is why Fabian gathered us all at that bonfire!” Grace hissed.
Nope, that was us, texting and urging Fabian to do that. Two for two.
“Okay, but what about Chitra?” Koi smirked. “Why would he kill her?”
Silence fell over the group, trying to figure out the third piece of the puzzle.
“Wait, wasn’t Chitra the one that went before Ruth on the zipline?” Mitchell asked. “Maybe she saw Fabian come out of the woods.”
Everyone exhaled with “aah” as if they’d cracked the case.Frankly, it was laughable.
