★ Paranoia

Chapter 61

JJ made it back to the room undetected. He dropped the leader's corpse at his feet, hearing a simultaneous faint squelch and a thump. Grumbling something about how ugly the leader was right now, JJ turned his attention back to the room.

He carefully entered, leaving the body outside for now, and made sure that Mikey was still asleep. Sure enough, he was still in a heavy sleep, his exhaustion from the earlier dilemma showing clearly. JJ then propped the door open, and resumed in dragging the leader's body inside. He pulled him into the kitchen, only letting him fall once he was in the freezer room.

Excitement pulsed through JJ's veins as he rummaged through the utensil drawer, eventually finding a decently-sized cleaver that he was satisfied with. There were so many wonderful things in this kitchen that he could use to make this extra special for Mikey, and he couldn't wait to see his idea to come to life. Usually he never did his work in here, because there was always the risk of Mikey seeing it, but this time was different.

"So you were starving my precious, is that right?" JJ asked, using his cleaver to hold up the leader's head. The motion allowed him to see his throat wound more clearly, and as he did, more blood trickled from the opening. JJ grinned at the sight of him looking so hideous and rotting. "And telling him that he didn't deserve to eat? Well, I've got bad news for you, you bloodsucking fucking viper. He will be eating, and it will be ever so ironic that the person you've hated so intensely will be the person that your body will forever rest in. It's exactly what you deserve, honestly."

JJ then tilted his head, as though he were imagining a response from the corpse.

"Oh, he doesn't have to know where it came from." JJ dismissed. "I've already got a coverup story for that. Now, enough stalling from you. It's time for you to fulfill your punishment."

-

When Mikey woke up, it was easily midday. He felt too lazy to do anything, so he planned to return to his rest, but something prevented him.

It was something that Mikey initially dismissed as a figment of his imagination, but the longer he remained awake, the more it became apparent that he wasn't making it up - he could smell something cooking.

Mikey sat up and rubbed his eyes. The more he took in the smell, the more he could feel his hunger being roused, so much to the point where he could feel his stomach starting to hurt. He often went through bouts of pain because of how hungry he was, but with everything else going on, he'd always decided to just ignore it.

But now that his stomach was hurting, Mikey decided he might as well investigate this smell, seeing as the pain was starting to outweigh his drowsiness. He trudged into the kitchen, finding JJ moving something around inside of a pan.

The sight surprised Mikey. He didn't expect stoves to be working during a time like this, but then again, there was also working electricity and running water. JJ looked so exceptionally thrilled as he worked, and the sight overall made Mikey start to re-question everything. Maybe he was dreaming, after all.

JJ noticed Mikey standing there, and his expression became twice as elated, so much so that it startled Mikey when he rushed over and squeezed him.

"You won't believe what I've found, Mikey." The brunette explained excitedly. "It's something that conniving 'leader' has been hiding from everyone, all this time."

"What... is-" Mikey was too fixated on seeing what was inside the pan to fully ask his question, nor pay attention to JJ. JJ followed his gaze and connected the dots, leading the turtle over to see what he was making.

It was some kind of meat, though Mikey couldn't decide if or looked more like beef or pork. It definitely smelled like pork, at least, but Mikey still couldn't confirm it. Maybe it was because his knowledge on meat was hazy; he rarely ever ate meat before, in his life on the surface. But his experience in the slaughterhouse had easily petrified him into never wanting to touch it again, as well as scared him so bad that he no longer retained any information he did know on it.