Death comes for all (TNN)

Broken spirit

Sorscha walked along the corridor whistling, she was on her way to the cellar. As she opened the door to it, she could hear the sound of thuds.

She walked down the stairs into the darkness, the smell of blood was in the air. But that was more due to the dead deers hanging from the ceiling on hooks.

Sorscha walked through the carcasses until she stood behind the butcher.

He kept hitting the person who was also hanging on one of the hooks in front of him.

"I think that's enough for today," said Sorscha.

The man stopped and turned towards her. He was a tall man with a half bald head and a beer belly. His apron was smeared with blood.

"Have a nice evening, I'll take over," said Sorscha with a slight grin.

The man took off his apron and left without saying a word.

"Well Mia, how are we doing?"

Mia lifted her head weakly. " Fuck you..."

" Still feisty."

Sorscha took a knife and cut the ties that bound Mia's wrists to the hook. The redhead fell to the floor.

Sorscha grabbed a bucket from under one of the hanging deers. The bucket was filled with blood. She put it down next to Mia.

" You know, Mia. You and I are not that different."

" Shut up..."

Sorscha raised her eyebrow. "Too bad I thought you'd learnt your lesson. You know Mia, ever since I had to smash my own wife's head in, I find it very difficult to sleep at night. So what do you say we spend the night together?" She grabbed Mia by the back of the neck and pulled her towards the bucket. "Have you heard of waterboarding?" She pressed the redhead's head into the blood and waited a few seconds before pulling Mia back up.

Mia gasped for air, but she couldn't even take a deep breath before she was pushed back into the blood.

"Sorscha wants me to be her right-hand..." Marjorie murmured.

"That's good. The closer you are to her, the more information you can find out," said Reece.

Autumn was still washing the blood from her hands.

"They've got dynamite here," said Winter.

Reece pricked up his ears. "Dynamite?"

" Yes. I saw it when I was going through the resources with Kate today."

"Loud noises attract the biters. If we set off an explosion, we could escape in the chaos," Reece said.

"That's crazy," said Marjorie.

"Do you have a better idea?" asked Reece.

"No..."

The group decided to go to bed. Autumn fell into a restless sleep.

She was back at the forest, where they had been taken by the Ratcatchers. She knelt on the ground, blinded by the car headlights. When she saw a figure coming towards her.

At first Autumn thought it was Sorscha, but the outline of the person changed and she saw herself.

Autumn looked next to her and saw Charlotte, also kneeling on the ground.

The brunette looked at her. "Autumn..." she whispered, before a baseball bat hit her.

Autumn was rooted to the spot and had to watch herself hitting Charlotte with the bat.

Autumn awoke and sat up straight. Winter was lying next to her in bed, fast asleep.

You killed that man.
You're not better than Sorscha.
You're a monster.

The thoughts in her head consumed her.

Carefully, Autumn layed back in the bed and buried her face in Winter's chest.

In the morning, the group waited to be let out of the cell. To their surprise, Sorscha stepped in front of the cell together with Mia.

Mia just stared at the floor. She looked like as she hadn't slept for one minute.
Her clothes and hair were wet, but her shirt had clear traces of blood on it.

"Good morning everyone!" shouted Sorscha, opening the door.

"Mia..." Marjorie jumped up and wanted to go to the redhead. But Sorscha raised her hand and signalled her not to come any closer.

" I have a reward for you. Since you did such a good job yesterday. You can now move freely around the building and you will no longer be locked up... and I have another piece of news. Mia here has forgiven me."

Mia was still staring at the floor.
"Yes..." she whispered.

"Great and you don't want to kill me anymore. Right Mia?"

The redhead just nodded.

" Why don't we demonstrate it to the others? Give me your hand."

Mia looked up in fear and carefully held out her hand to Sorscha.

The Irishwoman drew her weapon and placed it in Mia's hand. "Point it at me."

The others watched in horror as Mia aimed the gun at Sorscha's head. With a  trembling hand. Sorscha grinned and pressed her forehead against the barrel of the gun.

"Do you want to kill me, Mia?"

"No..." she managed to say in a shaky voice.

" Are you going to do what I tell you?"

Mia nodded.

" Great! Give me my weapon back."

Mia immediately lowered her arm and gave the weapon back to Sorscha.

" Oh my God..." whispered Marjorie.

Sorscha grinned at them all. "Today you will go back to where you were yesterday. Marjorie, I'll be waiting for you in my office. Mia has the day off. She's completely exhausted. Have a nice day!", With that she left.

Reece immediately went to Mia and wanted to give her a hug. But the redhead avoided him. She walked past him in silence and lay down on one of the beds.

"What did she do to her?" Winter asked in shock.

"Broken her," said Autumn.

Carly reached for Marjorie's hand. " We have to get out of here..."