D E A D H E A D

Chapter 16

The beefy man that murdered Willow walked into a camper surrounded by clear plastic tarps and barbed wire fence. When he was in the camper he sat the duffel bag filled with supplies down. In the camper was an older man that looked to be in his fifties and two teenage girls. One of the girls had a black hard drive in the back of her neck just like the man.

"It's about goddamn time," the older man said.

"Did you find anything good?" the girl with no hard drive asked.

"I found us a new home," the man replied. The muscular man's reply made everyone gleam in happiness.

*****

"It appears to be some sort of homing device," Peter said while holding the device that will allegedly save everyone from the horror they're living through.

"And," Taylor said.

"It should be able to call a helicopter," Nelson said.

"When the green light turns on then that means it successfully made contact," Jess informed. "So don't press it until we're all ready to go."

Peter gave her a 'you've gotta be kidding me' look. "You're not going."

"Excuse me?" Jess sassed. "You can't go without me. It's my beacon calling and my helicopter. They are not going to save y'all without me."

"What he means is that he's not calling," Violet said. Jess threw her hands up and signed.

"Our experience with Keller Chemical has been anything but positive," Peter said.

"So you're not going to let anyone get rescued?" Jess asked in frustration. "And to think I was the evil one."

"We've had people from Keller come twice and each time they tried to kill us," Nelson informed.

"They did kill some of us," Zora corrected while staring at the ground.

"Exactly! They tried to kill you. I have nothing to do with that," Jess stressed.

"They are not cold-blooded killers," Ashly said.

"Likely not," Peter responded. "But, the people coming to retrieve them most likely are."

"Oh please! Do you not see how much of a cynical little prick this guy really is?" Jess insulted.

"Trust me, we do," Taylor responded.

"He's a cynical little prick that is usually right about this kind of stuff," Violet added. Everyone left the conversation and went upstairs. Peter, Violet, Zora, and Nelson went into the office to talk things out.

"So we have someone locked in our basement and we don't have a plan of what to do with her," Nelson said.

Peter set the device down on the desk. "I think we should force her out."

"Where?" Zora asked.

"Outside," Peter replied. "We should make her leave."

"So you want to kill her?" Nelson asked. "Because that's what forcing her out will do."

"She wouldn't last a day," Violet added.

"That's her problem," Peter said.

"No," Nelson firmly said. "I'm not willing to do that."

"That's what you think?" Zora asked Peter. You can tell in the tone of her voice that she has been through a lot.

"I'm trying to think of what's best, yes," Peter replied.