BODYS ; M. MUNROE

CHAPTER TEN

★彡

THE GROUP looked down at Josh's unconscious body, each of them frazzled with nerves, Cassandra didn't know what to say or do. She blinked back tears. Horrified, exhausted tears.

"Did you really have to knock him out?" Chris asked, arms loosely folded, he blinked tightly, still trying to come to terms with what had happened.

Mike frowned, opening and closing his mouth, trying to find the words.

"What would you have done?" Cassandra asked, her tone rather defensive, she kept her eyes on Josh's face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mike look down at her, but she didn't meet his gaze.

Chris sighed, defeated. "I dunno..."

Sam rubbed the back of her neck in a circular motion, she stood close to Ashley, who was hugging herself tightly. "We can't focus on that now, we need to figure out what to do with him..." She grimaced, looking away from Josh's body. "Personally, I don't feel comfortable with him here..."

Cassandra furrowed her brows, then thought back to how Josh had kidnapped Sam, how he left her in a towel, and tied to a chair. She thought about how invasive and traumatising that must've been, she couldn't comprehend it, Sam had been one of Josh's closest friends. Why would he treat her like that?

"Is it true?" Ashley mumbled. "Did he really kill Jess and Will?"

"No fucking doubt," Mike squatted down to look Josh, his breathing had gone shallow. "it was horrible... Jess was so... Mutilated."

"I don't believe you." Chris interjected.

Cassandra frowned, looking over to him. "I know it sounds hard to believe. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't been there, but we both saw her. Maybe... Maybe it wasn't what he wanted to happen, maybe she was supposed to just get spooked or something — but that's not what ended up happening..."

Chris messed with his glasses, wiping the lenses with his sweater. "Yeah sure..." He paused, thinking. "We could take him to where he took me and Ash, this... Saw trap shed not far from here."

Mike nodded, and looked at the rest of the group. "Alright, me and Chris will take him, you guys get back to the main room." Mike gestured to Chris to crouch down, the two began to raise the unconscious Josh to his feet, his arms over their shoulders.

The three girls stepped back, giving the guys space, Cassandra stared at Josh's face, then his overalls, noticing a bloom of blood on his shoulder. She couldn't understand it, she tried to, tried to link what happened to his sisters, to wanting to torture his friends, to kill them. She then thought to the sanitarium, how had she ended up there? Did Josh have someone working with him? For him? She hadn't realised she'd gotten so in her head until her name being called brought her back to the present.

"Cassandra," It was Mike, he tilted his head up at her, waiting for her to look at him. "you okay? You were staring off."

The girl blinked twice, eyes moving to Mike's. "I want to come with you guys, when he wakes up I want to speak to him."

Mike sighed, wincing as he tried to keep Josh steady, worried he'd wake up at any moment. "Are you sure? He's not himself right now, I don't think—"

"I'm sure." She straightened her shoulders, forcing herself to be stern.

~

AS CASSANDRA stood in between Chris and Mike, all three facing Josh, who'd been tied to a stool, she shuddered in the cold. Her fingers gripped her arms tightly just so she could still feel them, her toes curled, desperate to look unfazed by the cold.

"Cassie, hey," Josh's voice forced her to look at him, he almost sounded nervous, almost pleading. "you understand right?"

Her arms fell to her sides, hands clenching and unclenching to keep them warm. "What could I possibly understand?"

"Revenge." Josh replied plainly. "Remember? You told me you'd do anything to get your hands on the guy that killed your sister... The 'drunken asshole who didn't look where he was going'? You told me you wanted revenge, how's this any different?" His voice gained a confidence as he watched her shrink before him.

"Wh-what? Like this is even remotely similar- you don't have the right to say that, to throw that in my face and call us even. To call it the same. What we did was an accident, and we felt bad- we still feel bad, but we didn't tell her to go outside in the dead of night. Into the woods. To even... To even think I'd understand..." Her face burned with anger as she spoke, hands clenched tightly at her sides. "Fuck you Josh."

Mike stepped between them, his arm stretched out in front of her, hand loose her forearm. "Josh. Knock it off, I'm warning you..." His voice was surprisingly calm.

At that, Josh started to laugh, rocking side to side on the little stool, though his movement was limited. "Well, well what a surprise! Mike's defending his little lady that's not his lady. I'm surprised man, out of all of us I would've thought you'd be the one to have enough balls to stick his flag in it — if you catch my drift."

"Josh shut up!" Chris scowled, he sounded desperate, he placed his hand in front of his face, and rubbed as his temples. "You're making it worse, bro."

Cassandra looked down to Mike's hand on her arm, his grip had lessened but the touch remained, she then looked up to the back of his head. What the hell was Josh saying? She moved her arms to hug herself, Mike's arm fell to his side.

Slowly, the three stepped away from Josh, letting him babble to himself about everything and anything, Cassandra shook her head. She'd seen Josh at his worst before, well what she thought was his worst; he'd seen her at hers too, but she never expected this. She didn't know who he was anymore. Did she ever?

"I can't stay here anymore dude, this..." Chris looked to Josh, then flickered between Mike and Cassandra. "It's hard to watch, man."

Mike nodded, putting a hand on Chris' shoulder. "'S alright man, I get it. Head back to the lodge, I'll wait here 'til the police come." He looked down to Cassandra, gesturing for her to go with Chris.

"I'm staying with you."

"Cassandra, you're shivering. Do you really wanna stay out here with him like this?" Mike reasoned, he glanced back to Josh who was still rambling.

"Mike..." She finally said, voice soft. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed his wrist. "I'm staying here."

Brave: Increased

Relationship with Josh: Decreased