Rot & Romance (Rewriting)

Chapter 61

"You may as well go ahead and kill me now," Freya said to Benjamin and Joseph. She sat calmly, tied to her seat in their hideout's living room, not even attempting to escape. "Because once you two are out of sight I'm getting out of here."

"We don't want to hurt you," Benjamin said. "We are trying to reason with you --"

"There is no reasoning!" Freya yelled. She had a desperate look in her eyes and sounded almost as if she was pleading. "Don't you understand? Your fate is written in stone. You're not supposed to be alive, it's against the law of Nature. As long as you're walking without a beating heart, you will be hunted. You will die."

Joseph sighed.

"Sounds like you want war," he said. "Guess we'll just have to take out every witch that crosses our path," he said.

"You can never get rid of all the witches in the world," Freya said. "New people are Touched every day. There will always be witches."

"Well then I guess the never-ending war is underway because new dead walkers are born every day."

"Freya . . ."

Freya eyed Benjamin with surprise embedded in her eyes.

"What?"

He knelt down in front of her, staring her in the eye.

"You have a twin sister. Leah."

"Yeah, what of it?"

"What would you do if she ever became a dead walker?"

Freya quickly averted Benjamin's gaze.

"Don't ask me that."

"I believe he just did," Joseph said.

"DON'T. ASK ME THAT!"

"In other words, she wouldn't do a damned thing, Benji."

Benjamin shook his head, eyes still on Freya.

"Nothing?"

Freya shook her head.

". . . Don't ask me that," she said weakly.

He nodded.

"I thought so."

* * *

Jules and the others all rushed back into Fawn's living room, grave look on their faces. Fawn and Mama quickly got to their feet.

"Did something happen?" Mama asked.

"We've located the Primitive dead walker, Farrah," Jules said. "It was Benjamin Crawford."

"The Benjamin Crawford?"

"It seems so."

"Wait a minute . . . the dead walker's name is Benjamin?" Fawn asked.

"Crawford," Vivienne said. "Not just any Benjamin."

"Wh-what's so special about him?"

"For whatever reason he's wanted by the most powerful undead man in the world."

"You mean . . . Ulysses Morrison."

"Someone's been studying while we were away."

Fawn noticed tears in Leah's eyes and Freya's absense.

"Where's Freya?" she asked slowly.

"She was kidnapped by those monsters," Nox said, walking past Fawn and Mama.

"What?" Mama asked incredulously.

"Primitive Ones are more powerful than I ever imagined," Jules said. "Our magic was useless against him. There wasn't much we could do."