Seeing Red

Chapter 6 - To Ashes

Joe and Sandy had been arguing the whole ride to the Crematorium.

It was more than enough to make Katarina want to throw herself out of the van and into the street. She hadn't thought that the sound of two people talking would drive her insane, but lo’ and behold, they had proved her wrong.

She sighed as Sandra brought up Joe's treatment of her and leaned her head against the window, enjoying the feel of glass against her cheek. In the short while she had her conscience, she had learned so much about the human race. Joe had given her a phone to search up anything she took interest in, and she had already spent three hours searching up basic information on how they acted- body language, emotions and how to convey what you feel through speaking. It was fascinating.

She had also looked up various objects that kept coming up in their conversations. Things like a phone, television and automobiles. She had spent at least an hour reading about the government, and the experiment that brought her to the earth. The whole time she had read it, her fists were clenched and teeth gritted. The horrors they did- she hoped that she would never end up like them.

She closed her eyes and recalled the information about the experiment, and thought of the other three out there. She was the first, sure, but not long after they had created three more. And two of those were in the possession of the government, the other was being held by the scientists, possibly waiting for the highest price. She wondered if she should tell Joe, or if this would bring his discomfort- or worse; he would run off and try to save them. From what she read, two of the others were mindless beasts, but the last had been a mistake- implanted with human emotions.

Like her. Although she had been hit with a needle by Joe and not born with them, she felt the need to rescue this Veela from their doom. All she knew was that the laboratory wasn't very far from Joe's house; it was the center of the city.

She opened her eyes as the van came to a stop and looked out the window. A large, black factory stood in front of her, smoke pouring out of the black spires. She shivered, and then swung the door open, jumping down to the ground.

She made her way to the other side of the van, noticing Sandra pushing a cart with something wrapped in a black bag. She shuddered, remembering the violent scenes with Bill, and stuck closer to Joe.

"Katarina? What's-" He broke off, staring at the bag then bringing her close to him in a hug. "It's alright; you didn't know what you were doing." He gently stroked her hair and down her back in a calming manner. Soon the sick feeling in her stomach had ebbed away, leaving her with discomfort.

She gently pushed him away and motioned to the building. "She's going to burn him?"

Joe gave a slight smile, leading her inside. "Well, yes. That's what he wanted. From ashes to ashes." He sighed at her puzzled look and then continued on. "His religion."

"Oh." She nodded, and then opened the door to the factory, holding her hand over her nose and mouth. The area was filled with smoke and dust, making it hard to see. She looked over to Joe who was doing the same thing, although cursing in between coughs.

"Damn it, how does she not have lung cancer already? Or even breathing problems? The woman is invincible."

He took her arm, marching her between rows of various machinery towards a pit. Katarina's eyes widened as she saw the hot orange glow, and she struggled away from Joe.

"She put Bill in that?" She saw Joe glance towards her, sighing. He took her arm and dragged her closer, close enough that she could feel the burn of the fire.

"Yes. Remember- it's what he wanted." Joe shook his head, giving up on bring Katarina closer and called Sandra over.

“What is it?” Katarina suppressed a laugh at Sandy’s tone, smiling to herself. She was starting to like the woman; after all, she had a habit of making jokes about everything.

“Sandra, get over here! We need to talk about our plans!” Joe growled, muttering something about ‘rebellious daughters’ and their lack of ‘common sense,’ making Katarina laugh. He shook his head, eyes growing wide as his daughter approached.

She was covered in black soot, not only her clothes, but her hair too. Sandra smiled at their expressions, bringing her hand up and saluting.

“What’s up?” She wiped sweat away from her brow, increasing the amount of dirt to skin ratio. Joe sighed, shaking his head.

“You are not my daughter- hell, you aren’t even Nat’s! No one in your family likes the dirt this much.” He sighed, reaching out to grab her arm to bring her closer, but seemed to have second thought about it. “Come on. It’s time to go.”

Sandra smiled, showing blackened teeth. Katarina stared at her, surprised at the lack of cleanliness the girl had. Honestly, even she cared about her appearance more than Sandra.

“Fine, okay. Just let me turn off the pit; I don’t wanna be blamed for starting another fire.” She turned and jogged over to one of the levers in the back. Katarina watched in awe as the opening closed and the heat dissipated, leaving the room feeling slightly warm.

“Alright, what are we gonna do?” Katarina cringed as Sandra wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her closer to the dirty woman. She looked at up at Joe, silently begging him to free her.

“First, we are going to get in your van and leave the country. After that, we’ll discuss our further plans. And Sandra, please take your hands off Katarina; she doesn’t like filth as much as you.”

Sandra smiled, leaning in closer to Katarina; she could smell the smoke off of her. “You can’t make me.”

“Sandra. Please.”

“What, are you afraid to get down and dirty?” Even Katarina had to laugh at the Joe’s horror stricken expression as they walked out; the way his lip curled and his eyes bugged out was just too much.

“God no!” He quickened his pace, leading the two out of the factory. Soon the smell of smoke, and the itching in Katarina’s eyes left as she walked into the light. She smiled at the slight warmth she felt, stopping for a moment to enjoy the heat.

She closed her eyes, ignoring Sandy’s laugh and just stayed like that; arms out, eyes closed enjoying the way the sun felt on her skin. She took a deep breath, exhaling softly. She could get used to this.

She heard a thump, and a muffled scream. Her eyes snapped open, and her senses went on alert, looking around for her friends. She made her way to the van, sneaking around it, nails lengthening to talons.

She stopped, eyes widening in terror. Her instincts told her to run, but she felt her feet were rooted to the ground. The three men smiled, one aiming his gun at her, an evil look in his eyes. Katarina froze, eyeing the scene in front of her.

“Hello darling.”