Rot & Romance (Rewriting)

Chapter 53

Lainey didn't know how to respond. Mom could be dying because of what Mrs. Parker did. But she knew that the "thing" that bit Mom wasn't Mrs. Parker at all. It was a monster. But should Mrs. Parker have to die for falling victim to a supernatural curse?

"I-Is there really no other way?" Lainey whispered. "For dealing with the undead? Maybe in a way that can—I don't know, save the victim?"

"I've already told you," the girl said. "Dead walkers are already dead! There is no saving them. They're all resurrected as monsters."

"That's not true!" Lainey exclaimed. "Not all of them are bad!" She glanced at Benjamin. "He's not a monster."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" said the boy, narrowing his eyes in disgust. "You can't possibly believe that this demon is capable of showing humanity."

"He saved me!" Lainey seethed.

The boy shook his head, sighing.

"This girl has been indoctrinated by this demon," he said. "We're not going to get through to her."

"I'm not indoctrinated," Lainey said. "I know what I'm saying. I know what I'm doing."

"We can help you," the red-haired girl quietly said. "That's what we're here for."

"Get out of my house!" Lainey bellowed. "All of you. Now!"

"We'll leave as soon we take care of what we came here to take care of," said the dark-haired girl.

"I'm not going to allow any of you to kill me," Benjamin whispered. "Please leave—I don't want to do anything you'll regret."

Vivienne scoffed.

"Excuse me?"

"Leave!" he roared. "Unless you all want to die."

Vivienne grinned.

"'Unless you all want to die,' he says." She glanced at Lainey. "Sounds like a keeper."

"Not like you're trying to take his life or anything," Lainey retorted.

Vivienne scowled.

"What life?" she said exasperatedly. "Golly, it's like you're not understanding a word I'm saying!"

"I'm not a monster," Benjamin said. "If I was, Lainey would be dead. You all would have been dead the moment you stepped foot in here. So please leave."

The boy's lips curved into an ugly snarl.

"You're not a monster?" he yelled. "That's not possible. Your species is monstrous by nature. It's all you know how to be!" His lips began trembling and his eyes grew glossy. "I've seen with my own eyes just how monstrous your kind can get," he whimpered, voice breaking.

"Noxford," squeaked the red-haired girl, approaching his side.

"My family was taken away from me by a horde of dead walkers—the youngest, only seven years old," the boy named Noxford continued. "She was my little sister. She watched as our mother was devoured alive before pleading for her own life. Did the dead walker spare her? An innocent child with so much to live for? Of course not. Because dead walkers aren't capable of human compassion. You may have fooled this girl into thinking you're not a monster, but you can't fool us. You're no different than the rest of them."

"Stop this!" Benjamin growled, approaching the witches. "I don't want to hurt any of y—"

The dark-haired girl stepped forward, her arm stretched out.