“No,” I said, hesitantly. “Given enough time, they do work.”
“Prove it. Take your mask off and fight me like a real man."
Reluctantly, I tossed the mask next to his black one. I inhaled deeply. I'd never tested the pills out. I was either about to feel fire in my lungs and begin to change like Milton, or they were going to work. The air was... okay.
"I'm not going to let you do anything to her."
"Why, because you're her Daddy now?" He laughed. "What are you gonna do, tell on me? She won't believe you. She fucking hates you. I always made sure of that. Remember, when we were kids and you told me how pretty you thought she was? I was jealous. So I did everything I could in that first year to make sure you hated each other, and it worked. Eleanor won't touch you with a ten-foot pole."
"And you think she'll want you? Milton, you're turning." I reached for my gun. "The best thing that could happen to you is for someone to mercy kill you."
"Like hell," he snarled. "I'm going to rip you to pieces with my new-found creepie strength, and then I'm going to put thisblackout mask back on and fuck her until I put a bullet in the back of her brain. I think I hear her now." He put his hand over his bleeding ear and grinned. "I do."
Growling, I hurled myself at his middle, dragging him across the platform. We hit the cement half-wall and he pushed me back. I reached for my gun but he was faster than me and managed to slap it out of my hand. I rushed him again and he flipped over the wall. A sickening slicing sound pierced my ears and I looked over the edge. There were sharp, metal rails strewn all over the park and Milton had been impaled on two of them. One in his chest, the other through his mouth. I looked away quickly and just then, I heard Eleanor's voice.
"Milton?" She was coming up the stairs. I panicked, looking around for something, anything to explain why I was here and Milton was not and then, when I couldn't think of anything, I picked up his blacked-out mask and slid it on, just as she turned the corner and stepped onto the platform.
Shit.
Chapter 32 - Eleanor
It’s okay to fuck the final ghoul if she doesn’t know it’s you.
I'd been hesitant to come. When Olive handed me the letter in the bathroom, I'd almost tossed it away. But I slid it inside my shirt and went about my day, all the while trying to figure out a plan. My Daddy was too good at his job. He didn't take his eyes off me, so it was harder to slip away. Either that, or he had thoughts about what had happened the night before.
"Milton, is that you?" I crept closer to the masked man, eyeing him up and down. "I thought you died."
He didn't speak.
I ran to him, throwing myself into his arms. He was alive. I inhaled, only smelling his PARA suit.
"How did you manage to survive out here?" I asked. He tilted his head down, but I couldn't see his face. He didn't speak either. "Is your voice box radio broken or something?"
He nodded.
"Oh, how terrible!"
I couldn't imagine being stuck out here in the above world with no way to speak to people. Hesitantly, he put his arms around me and hugged me back, patting me.
"Is there somewhere we can go where you can take off the mask? It's been weeks. Surely you couldn't survive without removing it to eat."
He shook his head and pointed to me.
Not anywhere I could go.
My mood fell. "Well, I guess I'm glad I get to see you now here. You want to sit down?"
I took his hand and led him to the tram. We stepped inside. This part of the park was relatively untouched by the chemicals and monsters that crept around in the above world. Crawlies must not have found this place yet, and creepies probably wouldn't get too far off the ground.
"Are you going to come back with me to the bunker?" I asked, hopeful. He shook his head. My stomach twisted. "Is... this the last time I'm going to see you?" There was a hesitance and then a nod.
"Oh, Milton. I wish I could go with you, wherever you're going. It's been awful since you've been gone. My Daddy died the same night you went missing and then they gave me a new one and, and—" Tears spilled from my eyes. "I hate it!"
He cocked his head.
"You wouldn't believe it. Callahan is my new Daddy. He's even worse than you could even imagine."
Should I tell him about what Callahan did after the spanking? I certainly couldn't tell him about the other stuff. About sleeping in his arms last night. I pressed my lips together and shoved the memory down. It would only anger Milton to not have been the first to touch me.
