The Rot: Book 2

Chapter 25

 Mick and I rushed forward, but Carter aimed his assault rifle at Cynthia.

"Take one more step and I'll blow her fucking brains out," Carter told us.

"Okay, okay. Take it easy, Carter," I replied.

"Drop your weapons," Carter ordered Mick and I

Mick dropped his chain and I tossed down my axe.

Carter looked at Cyn, "Your knife?"

Cyn pulled out her blade and tossed it aside.

"Now get up and join your friends," Carter ordered Cynthia.

Cyn stood beside Mick, and the three of us stood across from Carter. He was standing there in the doorway, keeping his rifle and flashlight trained on the three of us.

"So, what were you three jackasses planning on doing?" Carter asked us.

I wasn't about to tell him that we were planning on killing him. I wanted that to be a surprise. "Oh, Carter, we just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood."

Carter started to Cackle. "I really like you, Reid. I'll make you suffer the least." How gentlemanly of Carter.

"Gee, thanks."

"What the hell did I trip over?" Cyn asked Carter.

Carter shone his flashlight on the ground to show Cynthia just what she had tripped over the body of a dead woman.

Cynthia gasped, "Oh shit!"

Carter chuckled, "You wanted to see her."

The woman's corpse was wearing a gray tank top, and dark, yellow sweat pants. She was staring vacantly at the ceiling with a bullet wound in the center of her forehead. The woman's eyes weren't beige-colored at all. They were a dark blue. That meant she wasn't a biter that Carter put down.

"She was, uh, normal?" I asked Carter.

"Yep. She was," Carter replied.

"Was this her place?"

"She was here when I showed up. She was nice enough to take me in after that horde claimed the rest of my friends."

"Then why the fuck did you kill her?" Mick asked Carter.

At first, Carter didn't answer us. He just stared blankly at the woman's body. That's when I noticed that Mick's chain was draped across Mick's right boot. It gave me an idea.

"Are you still with us, Carter?" I asked our assault rifle wielding, psychopathic pal.

"Huh?" Carter replied, snapping to.

"Are you okay over there?"

"Yeah. I'm just fine."

"So why'd you kill her?"

"I had to."

"Why did you have to?" I pointed down towards her body, to get Carter to look at the corpse again. When he did, I quickly tapped Mick on the arm and pointed to the chain. Mick saw it and gave me a very slight nod.

"She didn't want me killing you guys. Said we should team up or something. Pool our resources," Carter said. "I got sick of hearing that shit."

"We could have teamed up, too. That is if you didn't lure the stenches to the warehouse and kill a few of our friends," Cyn told Carter.

Carter laughed again, "Yeah, that was pretty fun."

"Not really," Cynthia replied. "We lost some good people."