Serenity

Chapter 63: Slaughter of Innocence

**TW gross descriptions of dead bodies**
Jo's POV
About 2 hours later...

Vile.

The smell is absolutely fucking vile.

Maybe it's the pregnancy thing, my tendency to find things absolutely gross has been heightened. I'm genuinely surprised I hadn't thrown up when we walked into the main house however long ago that was.

It feels like it's been years.

I spent the past hour packing all of me and Hero's things and putting them in a van for transport. Each of the 48 have a van, somewhere to put their stuff to go to the next place.

When I went back downstairs, I saw the guys around the counter. They were clearly having some kind of meeting, and part of me didn't wanna know what they were talking about.

I reluctantly go over to them and stand next to Hero, who is leaning on the counter completely stressed. "There," is all he says and points to a map. The guys nod and quickly whisk it away. "Just give me a minute." He says softly and looks down at me.

"What's going on? You pointed to the middle of the woods," I say the obvious because clearly I'm missing something.

"We uh... we have to get rid of the bodies," he tells me and my heart sinks.

"So what are you gonna do to them?" I ask and he takes a deep breath, running his hand through his hair. It's out grown and in his face a bit.

"Jo..." is all he says and I can see the internal battle going on in his head. It's a dark one, but one he's trying to have the rational part win so he doesn't have to tell me.

"I'm a big girl Hero, I can take whatever you got," say and he doesn't meet my eyes. I don't blame him, I wouldn't want to meet them either.

"We're burning them... and making a grave if their ashes," he tells me and I close my eyes, looking down. "They deserve something better then what we could give them, but this is all we have," he tells me and I nod.

"I'm coming with you," I say and I watch his face fall further, if that was even possible.

"No, no absolutely not. This is why I wasn't gonna tell you until it was over. You're not coming, I'm not subjecting you to that," he tells me and I grab his hands.

"I'm coming because I'm the reason they're all dead," I say and he rambling comes to a stop. He stares at me and shakes his head.

"That's not..." he starts to tell me but I cut him off.

"It is true. I killed Tony, my dad killed the amount of people that equated to how important Tony was. Felix is always talking about a god damn ripple effect, well this is it in action," I say and Hero sighs.

"Come on," is all he says after and holds my hand as we walk out into the middle of the woods.

We don't say a word to each other the entire walk, but I didn't expect anything else. It's scary, knowing death is lurking, especially when the people around you are the bringers of death.

Including yourself.

I can see one of the piles of bodies when we make it into the part of the woods Hero pointed to on the map. The smell of death is a familiar one, but then again no one has started burning yet.

"What the hell is she doing here?" One of the girls, who I learned is named Daria, says to Hero.

"She wanted to be here, let her," is all he says before waving his hand to someone.

"No, no she can't be here. How could you let her be here Hero?! I thought you were better then this!" She yells and everyone's attention goes to her. To us.

"She has her own reasons and we have our reasons, leave it alone Daria unless you want the rest of us to end up like them," Hero snaps and I haven't seen him like that the entire time I've been back.

I think this really put things into perspective for him. How sensitive the feud with my father really is. Now Hero sees the real lengths my father will go to to get what he wants, and what he thinks he deserves.

I wouldn't say a mass murder is the answer but who am I to say that?

Daria doesn't say more after that, and I'm happy about that. I might be pregnant and we might be burning bodies as a funeral but I will be this bitch down if I have too.

"Should we start?" Someone asks Hero and he nods.

"Yeah, go for it. And do it exactly as I told you too," he says and they nod. He pulls me closer and I wrap my arms around waist. This is hard for anybody, especially someone who cared about them.

"Finn should be here for this," Daria says as the first body makes it into the flames. I feel Hero tense against me.

"Finn is busy," Hero says and I just keep listening. If it weren't for Daria, you could hear a pin drop on the grass. That's how quiet it was.

"He's always busy, isn't he. Come on Hero, something is up and it's been weird ever since you started fucking her. Because we all that's when all of this started," she says and I bite my lip.

Before Hero says anything, I unwrap my arms from him and go over to her. "You don't want me here, so I'll leave," I say softly and she looks at me like I'm stupid.

"What?" She asks and I look back at the fire and then back at her.

"I'll leave," I say simply and go over to the bodies. "Dilexit vos sunt," I say softly and I go back to Hero. "I'll see you at the house, I'll keep packing," I say softly and he just nods.

And that's when the smell hit me.

As I was walking away I could smell the bodies. The burning flesh of the people my father had killed. It was putrid. It was worse then hearing someone be burned alive. I stopped in the middle of the woods and lean over into a bush.

I can't help throwing up at the smell. If I was like I was a few months ago, I wouldn't even bat an eye at it. It would be as if people aren't being burned and buried.

I lean up and wipe my mouth, hearing branches crunch behind me. I pull my switchblade from my belt and turn to the person. But it's just Hero.

"I should've told you the smell was worse out here," he tells me and pulls me closer to him in a hug.

"I'm okay, I'll be okay," I say softly and look up at him. The dim light from the fire lit his face up enough where I could see the wetness on his face.

"You always are..." he mumbles and I bring my hands up to wipe his face.

"You get your numbers back, I'll help you, I know people believer or not," I smile and he chuckles.

"We need to keep you and the baby safe, so don't keep your hopes up on that," he tells me and I giggle a bit, leaning my head on him.

It feels wrong to be laughing during a situation like this. It's such a lighthearted thing during such a dark time.

"Let's get you home, we have a long few days ahead of us," Hero tells me and I nod. He walks me back to the house and stays with me. I don't think he wanted to watch that either, or maybe Daria was pissing him off.

But he's here.

Maybe he was scared they were gonna come back for me.

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Authors Note!🖤

Ik ive only really been updating this but this is what I'm inspired to write lol

Hope you enjoyed!
See you in the next one!