Panopticon

Eden

“So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep,” she spat. “And while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”

When Peck opened his mouth, however, he could spit nothing out but blood. The bone sticking out of his neck was indeed a rib, as far as Emma could make out, and it had taken them all by surprise. Finished quoting, the woman stepped out from behind the dying hunter, and watched him fall to the ground.

“How arrogant must man be, to build a religion on nothing but their own sense of superiority? They truly worship no god but themselves.” The killer paused. “If there has been any divine action here, though, it has been in my favour. Concentrating the world’s most evil men all together on this island, all unarmed, and then setting me loose on them? It is the perfect chance to fulfil my mission; almost enough to make me believe in signs from above. Samir would be proud.”

“No,” whispered Elena.

“I’m sorry?”

“No. This not about you, or your mission. This is our story, one of tragedy and loss, and you are just one of many villains. In fact, you are indistinguishable from the men you claim to despise. You call them arrogant, but now you’re the one thinking that it all revolves around you. It doesn’t. Your story, if you ever had one, was over a long time ago.”

“Perhaps, but then it is thanks to me that yours has only just begun. I’ve liberated you from the control of your husband, just as I’ve liberated you from the killer at our feet, and now you are free to live a new life without fear. I have removed all the men from your life, and so you are safe.”

“All the men?” Elena looked panicked. “You found my son, Aiden?”

The monster smiled. “Where do you think I got the rib from?”

With that, the weary mother collapsed.

“He wasn’t a threat to anyone,” she said, after a pause. Elena had sat down by Peck’s head, now that the hunter lay still. “Neither was James. You were mistaken. Even if they were a danger, though, I could decide that for myself. I’m an adult, and I don’t need you to make those choices for me. You are entitled to your beliefs, of course, but please don’t force them onto others.”

Even now, Emma noted, she spoke politely. Nobody deserved such torment, and this quiet, unassuming woman least of all.

The smirking killer began to slink towards her, crawling over her latest victim’s body. Standing behind, and with the sharp rib still exposed, Emma worked out the angles. It may not have been the perfect chance to kill the monster, but it was certainly the best she was going to get. All she had to do was pounce, using her weight to force the woman onto her ivory dagger. All she needed was gravity.

The seconds crept by, and the psychologist fought to build up her courage. Could she do it? Physically, there was a strong chance. Mentally, however, she lacked resolve. Despite the park’s corrupting effect, she wasn’t yet a killer. Emma couldn’t bring herself down to the scarred woman’s level, no matter how much parts of her wished her dead. There was a moral line to be drawn, and she was still in control. She hadn’t lost yet. Emma stood by, and watched their only chance of vengeance slip away.

Elena caught it with both hands, grabbing the killer’s head and repeatedly dashing it onto the pointed bone. The other women rushed to restrain her, but there had been no predicting or preventing this frenzied act of madness. Emma pulled the grieving mother away from the body, but her work was done; the monster was left draped over the hunter, her face seemingly nuzzled into his neck. To an outside observer, they almost seemed like lovers.

“And they become one flesh,” she finished. There was something almost comical in seeing the two convicts entwined together, but perhaps the relief had just blown her sense of perspective.

“I said she was bad at judging threats,” said Elena. She was smiling, and seemed to have lost her sense completely. “She was right, though, about vengeance. Now I have suffered, I understand it fully. I hope all the killers are dead, to give their victims and those that knew them peace. We should campaign for it. After all, I have nothing else left to live for.”

Emma recognised the worrying psychology, but she’d been looking for it in herself, not in her mild-mannered companion. She’d been so concerned about the park corrupting her own morality, she’d forgotten to look out for Elena.

“No, that’s her attitude. You have to be better than that”. No reply came from the smiling woman, so she turned to Charon. “What do we do now?”

“We leave.” Their host seemed weary, and she had good reason to be. “If we think everyone else is dead, we have nothing left to stay for. We should head to the helicopter. Alice won’t be expecting us yet, but hopefully she can take off as soon as possible.”

Now that Elena was subdued, Emma began to worry about Charon. She had seemed strangely relaxed as her world crumbled around her. Perhaps, like Nero, she had started the fire herself. She’d certainly found a way to survive it, always in the eye of this perfect storm, and was safely in the Hub when chaos first descended. In all her speculation about Alex, Emma had forgotten that their host had also left the room. She would have had plenty of time to take a detour, and the perfect person to pin it on.

Motive was her biggest defence, with the park’s owner the biggest victim of its collapse beyond the dead, but there was always a reason. Durgan had mentioned she was in debt to past partners, and if Charon had seen the park as an unworkable business she might well have decided to scrap it and seek some sort of insurance.

Alternatively, she might be targeting the investor himself. If he had been about to withdraw his funding, this would have been the ideal chance to kill him off. Emma was unsure how the law worked on this matters, but she assumed that the contract would still be honoured by Durgan’s estate after his death, if he hadn’t cancelled it when alive. Watching the money, there were ways Charon could benefit from this, whilst seeming the least likely suspect.

Finally, Emma returned to worrying for herself. She had the island’s newest killer on one side, and perhaps the woman behind this hell on the other. Even if they made it to the helicopter, she felt, there was no guarantee of her safety.

She’d struggled to stay sane amongst the chaos, but perhaps she was the only one left.