Aer II

6

   Daisy wakes to Ciaran nudging her 'I have to show you something'.
They creep out of the hotel, making sure none of the rest of them wake. It's the early hours of the morning and a lot of snow has fallen. Daisy's well wrapped up but can still feel the cold.

'It's not far,' he says.
'Good,' she fixes her hat over her ears 'because I'm freezing'.
  'It's nice weather'.
  'To look at from inside'.
'True,' he laughs.
They climb up the hill until they reach the edge.
'Oh my God,' Daisy follows Ciaran's gaze.

  The settlement is all lit up, surrounded by huge walls. It's much bigger than anything Daisy has ever seen, so secure nothing could get into it.

'He's there,' she says.
'How are you gonna get in?'.
Daisy stands speechless, she didn't think that far ahead.
'You know you can always come back with us'.
'No'.
'Daisy...'.

'What?' She turns to him 'do you not want to see him suffer for everything he's done?'.
He doesn't say anything so she continues 'I know everybody else back at that hotel does, I know I do. I know it's not your orders and you don't want his blood on your hands but I know deep down you want to avenge those lives he took'.
'Maybe,' he looks away 'but I can't'.
She rolls her eyes 'look ye helped me find it, I'll figure something out'.

'It's going to be impossible to get in'.
'It's fine,' she says 'now I know where I need to go, I can do the rest myself'.
'Just come back to the hotel and we'll help you come up with a plan,' he grabs her arm.
Daisy moves away 'I will, later, I just need to take it all in first'.
'Okay,' he leaves her standing on the hill.

'Fuck that,' she says to herself, she climbs down the hill, in the opposite direction of the hotel, she'll think of something on her way there, she always does.

More snow begins to fall and it's hard to see anything in front of her. She climbs over fallen down trees and makes her way down a narrow path, trying to find the road.

   The wind begins to pick up and soon enough she can't see or hear. She turns a corner and a Freak jumps out on top of her, knocking her to the cold ground. She tries to push the snarling creature off of her as it snaps at her, it's saliva falling onto her face. A spear jams through its head and she pushes the limp body onto the ground. A hand reaches out for her, she takes it and stands up.

'You good girl?' a young man stands in front of her, another behind him.
'Where you headed?' He asks.
'I'm not from around here, I don't really know,' she lies.

'We need to take shelter from the storm anyway, then we can help you figure it out,' the other man says.
'I'm Daisy,' she says.
The man that helped her smiles slightly 'I'm Mikey and this is my brother, Sam'.

Daisy's heart drops, there's no way it's that easy, it's as if God's giving her a sign to avenge Charlie's death, as if Charlie's guiding her.

'My group is taking shelter in the hotel up the hill,' she says.
'That's along our patrol route anyway,' Mikey says to Sam 'storm should be gone by the morning, we'll report to the others once we get there'.
'Okay,' Sam says.

Daisy follows them as they lead the way, she'd have no idea how to get back, although she just left, everything looks so different and with the snow belting off her face she wouldn't be able to make sense of her surroundings.

The hotel comes into sight, Mikey lifts the garage door into the basement although the front doors are opened but Daisy doesn't mention that. She hasn't said a word, she's too in shock to comprehend what's going on.

She pulls down the garage doors, making sure they can't get out. She grabs a hammer from the table and hits them across the heads, knocking them out.
She grabs two wooden chairs and ties rope around them so when they wake they can't get up.

'Guys,' she finds everyone awake in the main area 'I found something. Get your ski masks, they can't see your faces'.
''They?'' Nix frowns.
'Just put them on'.

They do as they're told and follow Daisy into the basement, just as they enter the room Mikey and Sam are gaining consciousness.

'What the fuck Daisy?' Ciaran frowns.
Leah's the first to recognise Sam, she takes a step back, in disbelief.
'Tell them your names,' Daisy says to Mikey.
'We helped you,' Mikey hisses.
'Tell them'.
'I'm Mikey, this is my brother, Sam'.

Everyone falls silent, Ciaran stares at Daisy 'No'.
She ignores him and takes Mikey's radio from his pocket 'tell them you're in the hotel, taking shelter from the storm'.
He does as he's told, getting through to a man. He tries to say something more but Nix knocks the radio from his hand and places his shotgun against his head.

'No,' Ciaran says 'we can't do this'.
'Says who?' Nix says 'fuck these murderers'.
'Ciaran they're here, it's a sign,' Leah says 'think of all those lives lost'.
'I'm not being a part of this,' Ciaran leaves the room 'fuck this shit'.
'Ye can go if ye want,' Daisy says to the others but they don't budge.

Daisy takes off her jacket and hat and picks up a baseball bat from the corner of the basement.

'Kill him,' she points at Mikey 'make him watch, see what it's like to lose someone he loves, like I had to'.

Nix doesn't hesitate, he blows Mikey's head to smithereens, he falls to the grand in the chair.
Sam's screams and cries, trying to get out of the chair, cursing and yelling. Joey keeps his hands on Sam's shoulders so he can't move.

Daisy readies herself with the baseball bat and swings it at Sam's head, he's half unconscious. She waits for him to come around before bashing his head again, making sure he can feel all the pain.

The others watch in silence as Sam screams in pain. With all of her strength, everything she's worked for, everything's she's lost, Daisy imagines how she could've had a perfect family as she swings the bat off his head, bashing his skull in.

Within seconds the door bursts open. Daisy turns to a young girl.
'Knock her out,' she says 'no loose ends'.
Nix hits her across the head with the hammer.
'Fuck,' Lisa sighs 'fuck'.
The three of them disappear upstairs, leaving Daisy and Nix.

'Come back with us,' he says 'we've to go before she wakes up or someone else finds us'.
'The snow,' she says.
'We'll go on foot if we have to'.
'Thank you,' Daisy grabs his arm.
He looks down at her and smiles slightly 'an eye for an eye'.