thought we would have waited here for you to show up, if we didn’t already have the advantage.”
“Look, you don’t need to kill them,” she said.
“Oh, would you rather it be you?”
He came close to Izzy, placing his hand under her chin. She slapped it away.
“Yeah, maybe that’s it. Take one of them out and bring her in.”
Jess and I ran forward but were quickly hauled back by four of his men.
“No,” Jess yelled.
Elijah went nuts and smashed one of the guys in the face before Steadman shot him in the shoulder.
“Now anyone else want to be a hero?”
He waved his gun around wildly. We watched as Izzy was dragged over to the others and they took one of them and moved them over to us.
“Please don’t do this. Whatever you want, we can talk about it,” I said.
Tears welled up in Jess’s eyes.
“Um.” His eyes moved back and forth between Izzy and myself. “Perhaps you would like to take her place. Would you?”
Fear spread across Izzy’s face.
“Yeah, just take me. But let her go,” I said.
I wrestled in the grip of the men but they held tight.
Steadman came up close to me. “Who did you lose that you would want the sweet release of death?”
He studied my eyes for a few seconds then let out a laugh that slowly tapered off. “No, I think you will live.”
He motioned with a wave of the hand, and a second later, a burst of fire from multiple angles engulfed the group. Screams filled the air. I fell to my knees as flames consumed Izzy and the other fourteen. I squeezed my eyes shut unable to bear the sight.
Jess wailed uncontrollably while several of his men kept a firm grip on her. I glanced up at Steadman and his face looked back with zero emotion. Cold, full of hate and unmoved by the death of innocence. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what had brought him to care so little about the lives of others.
As the cries turned to silence, Steadman bowed.
“Does that answer your question?” he paused. “That concludes our demonstration.”
Chapter 7
S tripped of our weapons , we expected the same fate as Izzy. Instead, they released us with a message for the founders of Paradise. Concede or suffer. After seeing them, I couldn’t imagine they would attempt to take the colony. There were too many of us. However, it was possible there was more to this than what appeared. Why release us? Why not just kill us all and leave one alive to return with the message?
We kept looking over our shoulders as we returned to the truck. All of us were sure that they were playing some game. Release and capture perhaps? But that wasn’t the case. All of us were in a deep state of shock. We couldn’t believe what we had just witnessed. He massacred them all in front of us in the most brutal manner possible.
No one said a word as we filled the back of the truck and pulled away. Our eyes were swollen, red and our faces blackened by the smoke that came off the dead. She was gone. Just like that. One second she was breathing, the next no longer with us.
Life it seemed showed no preference. No matter what you believed in this world, bad shit happened to good people. As the truck rumbled its way back through the streets, my thoughts drifted back to when my mother was sick. She had spent much of her final days at home throwing up. On one particular morning, I sat out back, trying to block the sound of retching. I picked away at a few blades of grass when my father came out. I remembered that specific time in my life as clear as if it were yesterday. He was never one for showing emotion; neither did he have deep conversations with us. Our father was a standoffish man who felt that any amount of coddling people only seemed to weaken them. In his mind, it was his job to make us strong.
Though that morning, he didn’t attempt to give some spiel about how we would be stronger for it. I think even he was overcome by the injustice of it all. He sat down beside me out in our yard and stared at the pond. Water
“Look, you don’t need to kill them,” she said.
“Oh, would you rather it be you?”
He came close to Izzy, placing his hand under her chin. She slapped it away.
“Yeah, maybe that’s it. Take one of them out and bring her in.”
Jess and I ran forward but were quickly hauled back by four of his men.
“No,” Jess yelled.
Elijah went nuts and smashed one of the guys in the face before Steadman shot him in the shoulder.
“Now anyone else want to be a hero?”
He waved his gun around wildly. We watched as Izzy was dragged over to the others and they took one of them and moved them over to us.
“Please don’t do this. Whatever you want, we can talk about it,” I said.
Tears welled up in Jess’s eyes.
“Um.” His eyes moved back and forth between Izzy and myself. “Perhaps you would like to take her place. Would you?”
Fear spread across Izzy’s face.
“Yeah, just take me. But let her go,” I said.
I wrestled in the grip of the men but they held tight.
Steadman came up close to me. “Who did you lose that you would want the sweet release of death?”
He studied my eyes for a few seconds then let out a laugh that slowly tapered off. “No, I think you will live.”
He motioned with a wave of the hand, and a second later, a burst of fire from multiple angles engulfed the group. Screams filled the air. I fell to my knees as flames consumed Izzy and the other fourteen. I squeezed my eyes shut unable to bear the sight.
Jess wailed uncontrollably while several of his men kept a firm grip on her. I glanced up at Steadman and his face looked back with zero emotion. Cold, full of hate and unmoved by the death of innocence. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what had brought him to care so little about the lives of others.
As the cries turned to silence, Steadman bowed.
“Does that answer your question?” he paused. “That concludes our demonstration.”
Chapter 7
S tripped of our weapons , we expected the same fate as Izzy. Instead, they released us with a message for the founders of Paradise. Concede or suffer. After seeing them, I couldn’t imagine they would attempt to take the colony. There were too many of us. However, it was possible there was more to this than what appeared. Why release us? Why not just kill us all and leave one alive to return with the message?
We kept looking over our shoulders as we returned to the truck. All of us were sure that they were playing some game. Release and capture perhaps? But that wasn’t the case. All of us were in a deep state of shock. We couldn’t believe what we had just witnessed. He massacred them all in front of us in the most brutal manner possible.
No one said a word as we filled the back of the truck and pulled away. Our eyes were swollen, red and our faces blackened by the smoke that came off the dead. She was gone. Just like that. One second she was breathing, the next no longer with us.
Life it seemed showed no preference. No matter what you believed in this world, bad shit happened to good people. As the truck rumbled its way back through the streets, my thoughts drifted back to when my mother was sick. She had spent much of her final days at home throwing up. On one particular morning, I sat out back, trying to block the sound of retching. I picked away at a few blades of grass when my father came out. I remembered that specific time in my life as clear as if it were yesterday. He was never one for showing emotion; neither did he have deep conversations with us. Our father was a standoffish man who felt that any amount of coddling people only seemed to weaken them. In his mind, it was his job to make us strong.
Though that morning, he didn’t attempt to give some spiel about how we would be stronger for it. I think even he was overcome by the injustice of it all. He sat down beside me out in our yard and stared at the pond. Water
Similar Books
