Monsters are real. They have been for a very long time, but have learned to hide themselves well. Clarine Denz is one such monster, perhaps the worst of the lot. She's a killer, she's delusional, she has lost hope and she has no sympathy for other...
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-November 27, Somewhere in the Mountains CO-
I hear the truck pull up outside, Harry must be back from figuring something out. When we woke up this morning it was white outside, but most of the dusting has since melted. Harry let Cassandra out of the cage and they ate some of those rations we got from the traffickers out there in the cold. When he brought her back in to put her away, he told me he was going into town. He's been leaving the cage uncovered, saying it's more human than hiding her in there like an animal.
Harry opens the door and enters with several shopping bags. He drops them on the floor in the same place he dropped the logs yesterday and goes out, only to return with more. After a third trip he closes the door and takes off his winter jacket. Cassandra shakes the cage near where the locked door is and Harry walks over to the corner where we've piled most our stuff. He retrieves the black glock and comes over handing it to me, before padding down his jacket pocked to confirm the second gun is securely zipped up within the pouch.
He pulls a small ring of keys out of his pocket and opens the cage. He pushes on his pocket to let her know the weapon is there and uses his eyes to point at me. I have the second gun resting in my lap. She knows the drill. If it were me I'd never let her out except for the bathroom. Letting someone like that out could be extremely dangerous. One second and she could have a knife, or a block of wood, or a gun and that'd be the end of us. Harry doesn't see it that way. To him he's doing her a favor with letting her out of the cage and talking with her.
Cassandra steps out of the cage and stands, stretching her arms in the air. She adjusts the ruined gown on her shoulders. Harry rummages in one of the bags and pulls a pile of fresh new clothes out. He sets the clothes on top of the cage. Cassandra whispers something to him and picks a white tank top off the top of the pile. He whispers something back to her and they both nod.
As Harry turns back to the bags in the middle Cassandra pulls the straps off her gown and lets it fall to the ground. Her back is covered with welts and lacerations and there are several dark bruises on her rib cage and the backs of her arms. I turn away. "What's the plan?" I question.
He bends down to two of the bags and pulls them up, dropping their contents on the ground. What falls out is an array of plastic tubing, needles, bandages, vials and medication. I look at the impressive pile, "Did you, rob a hospital?"
"He comforts the weapon in his pocket, "Does it matter how I got it? I couldn't get what mattered, blood."
"What do you plan to do with it?" Behind him Cassandra has put on the white tank top and short blue pants. It's not particularly winter wear, but it's better than the rags she had on before.
"Well, we can draw blood, look I got the bags." He pulls a few empty bags out from under the pile.
"I would need more than what either of you could supply with those, for whatever reason I can't digest it properly and need significantly more that way to get my fill."
