ACT iii. day of the dead. haha, get it ?
CHAPTER xxiv. ❛ WHERE'S MY HOMICIDAL BROTHER WHEN I NEED HIM ? ❜
tyrus, turgistan.
1 day until
the day of the dead.
ZERO'S EYES FLICKERED OPEN THE SECOND the voices entered her earpiece, awakening her from a nightmare-riddled slumber. After Five had left to go check up on Murat, the girl had been left all alone in that rented storage space, evidently falling asleep. And by now, the sun was setting in the sky outside. Not that she would know. All around her was darkness, an empty bottle of vodka and the tub of ice cream that had melted long ago. She groaned as she sat up in her chair, rubbing her eyes.
Was that a dream or were she and Five actually friends?
Either way, it wasn't Five that had woken her up. It was no other than her idiot brother who had forgotten to switch off his comms.
"Does it ever bother you, bro?" Seven's voice flooded her ears. She sat up in her chair, muting her mic. "To mean nothing to nobody. Like, one wrong move and they go in there and they go find themselves an Eight. Or a Nine?"
Zero pondered upon the question for a moment.
Did moving on really mean it didn't mean anything at all?
Six was dead now, and she had moved on. Or...tried to, at least. Because she loved him and he died and it hurt to remember so. But it had still meant something to her. Everything to her. Because Six was the first person she had ever fallen in love with and that was...special. And he had been one of the first to love her that never asked for anything in return. He was good and pure and better than anyone else she had ever met. And when he died, Zero had done just as Seven said. She simply moved on, as if he meant nothing, and found another number. But if the tables had been turned, Six would never have been able to move on. Eden Lambert wouldn't have either. But the girl knew that with each day ━━━ with each heartbreak, she strayed further and further from the girl she once was. She was becoming more and more like a ghost and less and less like a human.
The fact scared her.
"Why do you think I chose you?" One queried. "A man whose longest relationship is with a rifle."
Zero smiled.
"You don't know my fucking life, bro," Seven snickered back at him.
"You can't do the stuff that we do and have someone you love," One stated, his tone lowering. "It doesn't-...it doesn't work."
Zero's smile faded.
That was like a stab to her heart. And she wondered how many times she'd give her brother the opportunity to break it.
"Asshole," she whispered to herself.
Was he right?
She had loved Six and that certainly hadn't ended well. But now, her mind was drifting elsewhere. She thought back to that night on the tower. When Four was about to confess...everything. And instead of listening, she kissed him. She just wished she hadn't. Because now, she couldn't stop thinking about it. The way he had made her feel. Like she was human again.
But circumstance got in the way and he threw her off a building.
One was right.
It didn't work.
Which is why she had to leave.
"You're full of shit, man," Seven answered. "I've seen the way you look at your sister."
"And how's that?"
"Like she means everything in the world," Seven said. "And you, my friend, are a prick. You have no idea how lucky you are. To have someone like that love you the way that she loves you. But if you keep treating her like she means nothing, you're gonna lose her, man. For good."
There was silence on the other end and Zero didn't notice the tears pooling in her eyes.
"Maybe that's for the best," One finally admitted quietly. "This way, I can leave the world the same way I entered it. Alone, and my sister joining me twenty years later."
"...You're as dramatic as ever," Seven commented.
Zero started to laugh a laugh of sorrow. The tears were streaming down her cheeks now as she felt an alien emotion wash over her. Her smile was laced with a great melancholy as she cried some more.
"You can drop the boohoo bullshit 'cause I can see right through it," Seven disclosed.
One shrugged it off.
"You know, you were good in there," he complimented.
"Yeah, I know," Seven smirked back.
"That Turkmen was garbage."
The pair laughed and Zero did too.
"You've got a soul, man," Seven realised. "You should let it out."
With that, the intercoms shut off and Zero stood up from her chair. She glanced at the time and sighed. Nightfall had bestowed itself upon her and she wiped her eyes, ridding them of any tears. The girl didn't need emotions distracting her. Not now. Because the Day of the Dead was tomorrow. The most important day of her after-life. Her final day of her after-life. And she was going to have to fight harder than she ever had in her entire life.
Zero knew that, tomorrow, either Rovach Alimov was going to die or she would instead.
As she grabbed the most expensive technology in sight, she slipped her backpack on her back and pulled out a glock. She shot at the two cameras in the corners of the room, completely obliterating them. Then, dousing everything in sight in a layer of gasoline, she pulled up the door to the storage space. Once outside, the match was lit. She tossed it inside, gazing back at the flames of destruction. And her bright green eyes were illuminated by the dancing of the fire.
Tomorrow, she thought.
Tomorrow.
∘₊✧─── ·𖥸· ───✧₊∘
october 17th, 2015.
westbrook, iowa.
EDEN LAMBERT STARTED TO YELL THROUGH THE TAPE across her mouth once more, growing increasingly irritated. The muffled cry echoed throughout the abandoned warehouse, falling upon deaf ears. Oh, yeah. And those of the serial killer lurking in the shadows. The Campus Killer watched from afar as she pulled on her binds, blood pouring down her wrists. There was already a scarlet stain upon the wall and floor from where he had dumped her head. He didn't like the messiness. So, instead of allowing her to bleed out, he stalked towards the girl and grabbed a handful of her hair, yanking her head back. She gasped in surprise as he ripped off the tape.
"...Ouch," she groaned, sulking slightly.
"What is it now?" he growled, afraid to even hear the answer.
"I'm thirsty," Eden shrugged.
The CK's shoulders deflated. He reached forward and gripped her face, grabbing it towards his. She tried to pull away, but, though slender, he was much stronger. As he gazed into her eyes, he saw a strong hint of defiance. His eyebrows knitted together. "You're not afraid of me, are you?"
Of course she was. But the Lambert girl did a hell of a good job hiding it.
She tried to smile back at him. The throbbing in her skull turned it into a grimace. "And why would I be scared of some scrawny pervert like you?"
He smirked sadistically. "I guess we'll find out."
Dropping her face, she pulled back towards the wall, panting. The man circled back towards her, stroking the ends of his moustache as if he was some sort of blockbuster movie villain. "Do you know who I am?"
"You mean, besides from the ASSHOLE who kidnapped me?" she asked, infuriated. But when her eyes trailed to the grime-coated bathtub behind him, her anger faded into dismay. She swallowed. "You're the Campus Killer."
He smiled, proud of his craft.
"You know, you're the one who should be afraid," Eden threatened. "Do you know who my brother is?"
"Dead."
Ouch.
Eden tried to recover from her moment of embarrassment.
"I'm thirsty," she repeated through gritted teeth and he sighed. "I'm dehydrated. I could die, you know?"
The killer gazed down at his irritating prisoner for a few moments before disappearing into the shadows. The warehouse was wide but devoid of light, a silver slither of the moon's glimmer escaping through a crack in the wall and illuminating the parts Eden wished weren't illuminated. She glanced around the room, her alarmed breaths filling the eerie silence.
The man returned, holding a glass of water. However, as he approached, his foot met the puddle of blood surrounding the girl. In one tumultuous moment, he crashed to the ground and the glass shattered. Eden's eyes widened as she noticed the shards of glass all over the floor. The CK growled in fury, rushing to clean it up. Again, he hated messes.
As he turned his back on his abductee, Eden made her move.
Gradually, she slid her foot across the floor and stomped on top of the closest thing she had to a weapon. Retracting it slowly, she pulled the shard from beneath her boot. Then, as cautious as she could possibly be, she slotted the glass between her wrist and her shackles. The tip sliced into her skin and she whimpered slightly.
"What?" he snarled.
Eden glared back at him, shooting him a strained smile. "Second-hand embarassment."
He was up on his knees now and charged straight for her, grabbing onto her ponytail. Yanking her backwards beforehand, he slammed her skull into the wall and her face exploded in agony. Her cheekbone fractured upon impact and she jolted backwards, clutching her face. A downpour of blood gushed into her palm and she wasn't even sure where it was coming from anymore. Her breaths came out in shaky exhales as she tried to focus her mind. Her vision started to blur now and she wasn't sure if that was on account of the tears, the blood or the pain.
The man wrapped an arm around her throat and started to choke her.
"The last girl I took was much more compliant," he whispered in her ear, cutting off all oxygen to her lungs. Eden sunk her teeth into his forearm until she tasted blood and he released her, yelping. He shoved her to the ground with a hard jostle.
She didn't get up.
"Her name...was...Addison," Zero gasped.
The man looked down at his prey. "Her name was #7."
The girl felt sick as she looked back at him.
"I'm going to kill you," she promised.
He smiled and bent down to her level. Beneath those eyes, she saw no sign of life. Just tissue and gristle and pure evil.
The next thing he said to her chilled Eden Lambert to the very bone.
"Well then. You better hurry. It's almost bath time."
▃▃▃▃ AUTHOR'S NOTE ▃▃▃▃
hiii, so we're back with another flashback and I just wanted to thank everyone so much for the positive feedback on the last one !! I wasn't sure if you would like or not but I'm so glad you did ♡!!!
anyways, this chapter is dedicated to olivia_did_dis_2_u for her support on this book with comments that have frequently made me laugh <3
well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
bye !!!
(p.s. I made these text posts a while back but forgot about them,, oops)