HUMAN-LESS

Chapter 7: Inhumane

05:48

I tense as a pair of headlights appears in the distance. I suppose it is that feeling when you don't even know what the fuck you're feeling and that is the worst of it.

The sound of a car engine rumbles behind me.

All around me now stands a pile of dead bodies, Ira, Penny and that one person I hoped would forget me for she knows too much.

One of us will die if not both.

05:51

Now, this is something new: Her pet.

His features are generic – nothing worth mentioning, however, blows to the face suggest a great deal of anger.

He leans in closer. "Don't you want to see a man up close?" His frown is much more convincing.

Something inside of me snaps with that empty rhetoric question and I darken.

Even after all these years, I am filled with a sense of shame. How to explain what happened? It left like a switch had been flipped. A feeling of sadness without a cause.

"Don't make any sudden moves." I tell Penny. She is no fool; she knows I am watching all of them.

The tattoos on Penny's neck seem to hold some type of meaning, one that couldn't be deciphered by anyone but her.

And things get worse.

More soldiers are surrounding us.

Should you find yourself scared remember this is the only way.

If Penny and Ira lift a finger it will get ugly for them since both are disposable. Especially when they just realized that the virus wasn't an accident at all—somebody did it on purpose.

Humans are dying in their thousands every day so two more deaths shouldn't be a surprise. About 100 billion people have died in all human history.

And I know I told you she killed herself, but I didn't tell you she stayed dead too.

I sense her cynical feeling of distrust coming before I see her. Her credo hasn't changed. She takes refuge in violence.

She should have kept her distance, but she just stops next to me. The rambunctious pet remains behind her; he mimics her posture.

Survival mode is supposed to be a phase, not a lifestyle.

Penny gives me a sideways glance and grins. It makes me want to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her.

Focusing on her and Ira might be the best thing I could do right now.

It turns out that monsters are real because one lives inside me.

There is honor in revenge. There are necessary rules to do it right.

Rule number one: never show weakness. As far as anyone knows I feel nothing.

"Sister." The voice of a familiar stranger hits me right in the bones and it feels like salt on an open wound.

She wears her smile like a request for forgiveness. An admission of guilt stretched across her perfect teeth.

"Don't walk past me as if we were strangers."

The next thing I know, she is holding my hand.

I ignored her existence well enough, but this means peace is over between us for she is a participant in this conflict. What made her suddenly break her silence? She has made it a rule to stay out of things that do not involve her. She also knows all too well that trouble comes to those who stick their nose where it doesn't belong.

We both know this is a minor match preceding the main event. It's not like I don't understand why, but that's where the good news end. Some secrets can't be hidden in the shadows. Sometimes the most ordinary things and gestures turn out to be the most frightening.

I look at her outfit – a pleated crochet white maxi-dress with a high neckline.

She is beautiful; beautiful like a tsunami rinsing the ground clean of human life.

Much like today, she will have to take matters into her own hands.

"Aliza." I manage to make my tone sound calm. She thought she was in control but she is wrong once again. This will take her further from the glossy, passive doll she seems to be.

"You are over thinking it, sister."

I watch her walk away, her voice flat.

Returning a false smile, I force down my anger and allow her to believe she is in control. I've seen it all before but she has not.

  I'm dedicating this chapter to giveitameaning , fright , LauraSlate , ProjectNotAlone & TalkingHelps