Cannibals

Chapter 23

~~~ Seth's P.O.V. ~~~

It was the morning after Derc made me bomb the school. I was already hoping my friends would come for me. The second Derc woke up, he began his torture on me. Derc cut my shirt till there was nothing left and then cut my pants till they were shorts. He tied me up to a chair. Every hour he would walk in with wooden skewers and stab them into my skin. They were everywhere on me. My arms, my legs, my stomach. Then he would leave me there like that. I was basically a human pin cushion.

As Derc stabbed me with another skewer, I closed my eyes and tried not to scream. Any movement made the pain worse and screaming made it agonizing. I took a deep breath as beads of sweat rolled down my face as the torment went on. I was soaked in my own blood and sweat. Derc laughed harder with every stab.

"What to do next," Derc thought out loud. "I want this torture to last since I lost Arianna and Alex."

I glared at him. He only laughed in return.

~~~ Josh's P.O.V. ~~~

We hid behind the fence of the house Derc was hidden in. Morgan called Derc on a satellite phone that Morgan gave to him for just in case. Morgan called Derc to try and "join" him. Morgan made it sound like he had nothing left and that all the people at his school had died. He also told Derc he knew of a way out of the quarantine. Derc bought it and told Morgan where to find him.

Natalie and Kevin were the only two from Morgan's group to join us. The rest didn't want any part of confronting Derc after hearing how psychotic he was. Even the soldiers working under Morgan. It was annoying, but it was their choice. They'd just have to wait until we finished what we had to do before escaping the quarantine.

I didn't care much. To me it was easier to be stealthy with fewer people. The only reason I wanted to get to Grassfield was to find Morgan to make it easier to find Derc. If we hadn't gotten help from him, searching for Derc would have probably taken too long. I wasn't about to be away from my people for more than a few days.

Mike sat next to me. He had a troubled look on his face. I could tell he needed to get something off his chest. None of Mike's family were around us. Everyone had circled the house in pairs.

"Is everything ok Mike," I asked.

"I'm not sure," he said with a bit of a far off look. He thought for a second and then shook his head. "I'm worried about Arianna."

"Why is that? Are you worried about her leg? You know our doctor will take a loo..."

"That's not it," he interrupted with. "Don't get me wrong, I am worried about that too. But mostly I'm worried about how she spoke to Morgan about Derc. I've never seen her like that. And from what Marissa and Niana have told me, it's been getting pretty bad."

"I did notice that. But I'm not sure exactly why that is a bad thing."

"It's not her. She's been the sweetest, kindest, most caring person you'd ever meet. So for her to be so traumatized by this one man? I could only imagine how crazy he must be. He changed my daughter and I hate it."

"I'm sorry this is hurting you so much. Maybe when this is all over things will go back to the way they were before."

"Can you promise me something Josh?"

"What is it?"

"When we get this guy, don't let her kill him. Let him live. Help me make it so she doesn't lose her humanity."

"You know me Mike. You know I can't promise that. What if it's out of my control? And why let him live? She won't have to be the one to do it. I'll gladly chain him very heavily to a unfortified position and leave a radio or car with the alarm going off to draw zombies to his position and leave him to die and turn."