His Favorite Girl (20 page)

I wouldn't let it happen again.

I would stand between them.  He would have to kill me first.

Brian was sobbing uncontrollably now, and Patton got up and ran to him, cupping his brother's gaping cheek and crying right along with him.

Suddenly Patton seemed like a stranger to me.  As he wept with his brother, my love for him drained out of me, replaced only by a desire to protect Flora.

"Stop your weeping, you goddamn queers!" Mr. Shriver shouted.  "I already said I wasn't going to kill him.  I really fucking
want
to, but I can't."

"Yes you can," I said.

Patton looked at me, shaking his head.

Mr. Shriver was also shaking his head.  "No, you don't understand how things work here.  He's essential."

"No he's not," I said.

"Melissa, shut up!" Patton said.

"Fuck you, Patton!"

"Everyone shut the fuck up!" Mr. Shriver screamed overtop all of us.
  "Now if you've got something to share, Melissa, do it.  I don't have all goddamn day."

"Judy," I said.

"What about her?"

"She knows how to make the Libido Drug, the Love Drug . . . and the Longevity Drug."

That got everyone's attention.

"How did you know about the Longevity Drug?" Mr. Shriver asked.

I ignored the question.  "She's also further along on the new research than Brian.  She told me about it when she came to me that day about Brian letting Sean's guard in her room to beat on her."

Mr. Shriver looked to Sean.  Sean said, "I took care of that already."

"Go on," Mr. Shriver told me.

"That day," I said, hoping like hell no one could smell my bullshit, "Judy told me Brian has been distracted lately, not participating in the work.  She actually said he's a hindrance at this point, that things would be moving along faster without him coming behind her second-guessing her work. 
Her
work, she said, not
his.
"

"She's l-l-lying," Brian whispered.

"I mean seriously, Mr. Shriver," I said.  "After all this, do you really trust Brian to carry on the research?"

He stepped up to me, lowering the knife and standing so close I could smell licorice on his breath.

"You know where she's at, don't you?"

"Yes," I said, taking a deep breath that might well be my last.

"Where?"

"Kill Brian, and give me your guarantee
you won't kill Flora--ever.  She's mine.  Even when my money runs out, she and I both get to live."

"What if I just have Sean torture you until you tell me?"

"You could do that," I said, "but then you'd have Patton all in a twist and you'd have to deal with that.  Plus I think Sean's growing pretty fond of me himself.  And besides, wouldn't it ruin your big plans for me?  Dear?"

He smiled.  "Good point.
  Sean, kill Brian."

"No!" Patton shouted, jumping to his feet.

Sean approached him, stopping a few feet shy.

Mr. Shriver put his creepy hand on my arm.

"Young lady, we might ought to step aside he said, guiding me to the right and shuffling like an old man.  "I haven't seen these boys fight since they were kids, but it can get pretty ugly."

I pulled free of him and jumped up on the platform to stand with Flora.  Over by the bar, James watched with fascination, longing to see death the way young boys long for young girls.  They don't know why, and they don't care.  The feeling is as pure and real as it will ever be again.

I gave Flora a kiss on the cheek just as Sean tackled Patton to the ground.

Flora turned sharply when she heard the punches.  It sounded like a butcher was slapping one cut of beef as hard as he could against another.

I put my hand on her cheek and turned her face back to mine.

"Just look at me," I said.

Then I reached up and started ripping at the layers of duct tape holding her to the pole.  My hands were shaking and it looked like Sean had used a full roll just on her wrists.  I grew frustrated quickly, more and more disturbed by the violence taking place a few feet away.  Patton and Sean were rolling around on the floor jabbing at each other in the ribs.  Each blow was distinct, powerful, and I couldn't help but imagine bones snapping, organs crushing.

"I don't have all day, boys!" Mr. Shriver called.

"Mr. Shriver, Mr. Shriver listen to me."  Brian had regained his composure.  He still spoke in a low voice, fighting the pain in his cheek, which might be cut clear through in the deepest part, but he spoke slowly, calmly.

Mr. Shriver turned to him.

"I'll do whatever you say," Brian said.  "I promise.  I'll do whatever you say and I won't betray you again.  You have my word.  Don't believe this slut.  She'll fuck you over.  In the end, she'll get you.  Please."

Mr. Shriver smiled and pivoted on one foot to face me.

"My youngest brother has no confidence in me," he said.  "Does that make you sad?"

I sighed and approached Mr. Shriver, holding out my hand in a desperate attempt to distract him.  "Can I borrow that knife for a sec?"

He gave me a curious look.  "Now I'm supposed to hand you a knife?"

"Look, I know about your will, I know what happens to the rest of us if you die, I can't kill you, all that stuff.  I think you're pretty well insulated, Mr. Shriver.  Knife, please?  It's gonna take me forever to r
ip through this much duct tape.  Save yourself the expense next time, by the way.  A third of this would have held Flora."

Mr. Shriver
was giddy as can be.  He flipped the knife up in the air and caught it by the blade, then presented the handle to me delicately.

Patton sat atop Sean now, delivering a flurry of blows, some of which landed, some of which Sean managed to block.  At some point Sean's wound ripped open, the stitches breaking like thread in a badly sewn
shirt seam.

When I reached for the knife, Mr. Shriver
raised his hand and pulled it away.  "Remember now, as soon as this is over you go get Judy and bring her to me.  No delay, no excuses.  You just bring her.  Got it?"

"I got it."

He lowered his hand and allowed me to take the knife.  I gripped it and stood there for a moment staring at his throat.  Not fighting the urge to stab him, just giving him a chance to get scared for a change.

Then I turned and reached to cut the duct tape.

"Ahem."

I stopped, glanced back over my shoulder.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Mr. Shriver asked.

I
turned around, looking about the room, confused.  Sean had freed himself from underneath Patton and now they were rolling again, leaving behind a thick trail of smeared blood.

Brian snarled at me like a pit bull who knows it's at the end of its chain.

Mr. Shriver was pointing at him.

I stepped along the edge of the platform, coming around to face Brian, still gripping the knife.

"Bitch," he rasped.

"Melissa!"
  It was Patton.  I looked over and saw him trying to lunge at me, Sean fighting to keep him on the ground. 
"Melissa don't!  Please!"

He made himself vulnerable, and now Sean was on top of him, delivering blows to the back of his head.

"My patience is running thin," Mr. Shriver said.

I turned back to Brian quickly.

"Where do I stab you where it will hurt the least?"

He laughed open-mouthed, blood oozing out of the corner.  "Are you serious?"

"Yes.  Where?  Hurry up!"

"The fuh . . . the fucking
eyeball, I guess.  You have to do it hard so it sinks all the way into the brain.  But I mean damn . . ."

I grabbed him by the hair, yanked his head back, raised the knife, and brought it down
as hard as I could into the deep beautiful cosmos of his eye.

Behind
me, Patton screamed every hurtful thing he could think to say.

─Unwelcome Fucking Epilogue─

DEPOSITING FLORA on the bed, where she lay down and immediately cuddled a pillow, still shaking like a leaf, I ran to the shower room and climbed into the air d
uct, knowing it would likely be the last time I ever did so.  The dust made that sound like a good idea, but I felt panicky thinking back on the hope this labyrinth behind the walls had given me.

When I heard the screaming, the panic vanished instantly and I started to crawl faster.  If one thing about me functioned properly, it was my fight or flight response.

I knew what I was coming into before I even reached the secret room, but seeing it was much more horrible than what I could have anticipated.

Clifton
was raping Judy.

He was naked, like he'd prepared himself for such an encounter.  Beneath him, Judy screamed for help.  She didn't dare fight.

I came out of the air duct and started down the staircase slowly.

The third step down creaked and
Clifton peered up at me, smiling with his jaw hanging loosely, fat chin wobbling.  Drool seeped from the corner of his mouth.

"Kate's awake," he said with a strange, deep giggle.
  "Kate's awake."

I continued down the steps and
Clifton was not perturbed, even as I stepped around them and knelt between Judy's head and the wall.

Looking down at her, I said, "How does it feel, Judy? 
You did this--
this
--to millions of people. 
How does it feel, Judy?"

I picked up the thickest
book I saw in Judy's stack.  It was called
Moby Dick
.  I'd never read it, but I knew it was about a fisherman who drove himself mad chasing something he couldn't prove existed.

I stood up and swung the spine of the book as hard as I could against the back of
Clifton's skull.  He stiffened, then rolled over onto floor.

I knelt beside him and leaned forward so my face hovered over his.

"How do you get to Level E?" I asked.

"Kate's awake," he said in a long wheezy breath.

"Clifton!"  I raised the book.  "How do you get to Level E?"

"Elevator," he said, giggling.  "Elevator.  Kate's awake."

I swung three more times.  On the second time he went unconscious.  On the third, I thought I heard a cracking sound.

Dropping the book, I stood and walked over to the wall
Clifton had built to divide this room from some other.  With Judy sobbing on the floor behind me, I tapped at the drywall with the bottom of my fist until I found two studs.

Then I started kicking
between them.

TO BE CONCLUDED