Decimation

Chapter 12:

Camila and I pried Jess away from the ruins of her sister. It was hard. She screamed and kicked and threw punches but arm in arm, we carried her out of the house.

"Get her in the car!" I yelled and let Camila take the weight of Jess.

"Where are you going?" Camila struggled to hold her grip on the Aussie because she was still trying to fight her way out of Camila's hands and run back inside. "I can't do this on my own, Lauren!"

I looked the Cuban up and down. The expression on her face was a mixture of pain, anger, guilt and sadness. I watched as Jessica cried in the direction of that old cottage house where she had left her sister. I rubbed at my face.

"I'll be back, okay?" I tried to console her but she just looked at me with worried eyes. "I promise."

I then took off in the direction we had just come from. I took one look behind me to see Camila helping (if not, forcing) the dark-haired woman into the car.

I guess this wasn't going to be our new home after all.

-

I marched back into the house with my heart banging against my ribcage. My breathing was the only thing I could hear as I tightened my grip on the rifle in my hand. Announcing my return would've been the wrong thing to do, so instead I made my way to the room where I knew Lisa would be.

"Don't fucking move a muscle or I'll blow your God damn brains out." I growled at the men who were crouched at Lisa's body, examining it like it was some sort of ornament. "I swear to God." I added in a whisper, squeezing my eyes shut for just a second.

"Listen lady," one of them started with their hands in the air.

"I didn't ask you to fucking speak. You can say whatever you want to say but it's not going to change anything; not your motives and definitely not mine." I told him and could swear there was an ounce of uneasiness in his eyes. "Not that you care, because you're clearly both vermin, but that woman you just killed was a twin sister; if you couldn't already tell. They had spent every waking moment with each other starting in the womb. She had memories, likes and dislikes – she had anxieties, doubts and worries. Her favourite song was 'Vincent' by Don McLean and she absolutely hated Billie Holiday; and she wasn't a big fan of poetry. But you know what she did like?" It was a hypothetical question but their eyes were wide now. "She liked long drives with the windows down and the wind blowing through her hair." I was choking up now as all our gazes dropped to the woman who was still on the ground - the headless woman on the ground. "But that doesn't matter anymore does it?" I snapped again, my voice thickening and deepening as I kept my aim on them.

"We've never done this before." Camila's captor spoke up and referenced to 'murder', of course. I could tell by the way they were acting that they'd never done it before. I noticed my words had gotten to them because I could see their hands starting to shake.

"But you have now. How does it feel?" I asked and hoped they wouldn't actually give me an answer. They didn't. There was a fire burning inside of me as I reached for the shotgun on the ground and held it in my right hand, keeping my rifle in my left. "I haven't come back to kill you. What would be the point in that?"

They exchanged perplexed glances. What I had in mind was so much better than killing them.

"I want you both to live with this guilt. You'll watch her disintegrate and only then realise exactly what you've done and exactly what you have taken away, and realise you can't take it back." I had no idea what had come over me or why I was feeling so much anger but I was; I definitely was.

I angled the shotgun at the one who had angled it at Lisa; and I didn't give any warning before pulling the trigger and watching his arm get shot to pieces. His scream startled me and I flinched at the power of the gun, dropping it on the ground before angling my rifle instead.