Post by StoryGirl83 on Mar 19, 2017 23:35:47 GMT -5
Chapter Thirty-Two – Torturer or Tortured?
10:59 AM (1:59 PM in Richmond)
“Hello, Love,” the sultry blonde said as she entered the living room in only a spaghetti strap night shirt and the matching skin tight shorts. “What’re you watching?”
The dark haired man glared at her. “Don’t call me that.”
“I’ll call you whatever I like,” she snapped. “Or did you forget my trump card.”
He didn’t stop glaring, but he kept his mouth shut.
“That darling little ward of yours hasn’t a magical bone in her body, my handsome little witch,” she reminded him sweetly.
A hiss escaped his lips.
“And if that isn’t enough incentive to do what I say . . .” the sickeningly sweet look was making his stomach turn. “I do have another trump card.”
He glared at her and tried not to take the bait.
She pushed up his shirt and started drawing circles on his chest with her finger as she continued. “He screamed and begged for mercy as I broke his fingers, one by one. But you know what I enjoyed even more?”
He gulped and tried to shrink into the couch, but he didn’t say a word.
“Smashing his kneecaps in with a baseball bat,” she said a look of fond glee on her face. “My brother thought I should just end his suffering, but I made sure he survived. Oliver thinks it’s fun to just end lives. Personally I derive more pleasure from letting them live.”
He grimaced, pity for the unknown man filling him. But why was she telling him? Were these her plans for him if he continued to be uncooperative? He’d kill her first . . . if he could figure out how.
He’d put up with her torture only until he could figure out a way to protect Alexa from retaliation. Unfortunately he knew that he had no way to hide, so he had to take out Miriam and her allies all at once and he knew nothing about her allies.
Which didn’t matter anyway, since he didn’t know how to vanquish Miriam either.
“After his knees I thought it would be fun to break his ribs,” Miriam continued. “I didn’t want to kill him, so I had my brother do it. After two broken ribs, I made him stop. Watching is such a bore.”
He grimaced. This poor man.
“Are you listening, Mark?” she demanded of him.
He nodded.
“Speak when I ask you a question.”
“I’m listening.”
“Good.” The sickeningly sweet voice was back. “Now, are you enjoying my description of my playing with your best friend?”
Mark sucked in a breath so hard it hurt. Josh? She had Josh? Josh was alive?
“Oh, good,” she smiled. “I have your attention. It’s so rare that I have your undivided attention.
He fought the urge to try and strangle her. She had Josh. She’d probably had Josh for the entire two years he’d been missing, long before she ever forced her way into Mark’s life. Who knew what that could have done to his best friend, especially considering how badly Miriam claimed to have treated him.
He had to remain calm. More was at stake here then he realized. He had to find a way to get her to tell him where Josh was. The time for waiting for an opportunity was up. He couldn’t afford to wait any longer. Josh needed him.
Noticing Miriam was silent, he looked up. Her full attention was focused on the muted TV he’d been watching. He looked at the subtitles confused, but nothing jumped out at him. What had grabbed her attention so full?
“Oliver!” she growled and then to his shock she was gone.
Oliver? Why did that name sound so familiar?
11:04 AM (2:04 PM in Noble)
Jason Chambers replaced the warm washcloth on his sister's forehead. He dipped the new one in cold bottled water. He'd been stunned when he realized his father's most important rule about never drinking water from the tap was actually a matter of life and death.
Kara Chambers moaned as the cold washcloth touched her forehead. "Haven't given up yet, Jace?"
"Not going to," the thirteen-year-old informed her. "I can't believe you're all going to die. I won't."
"Dad said . . ."
"I don't care," Jace scowled. "You're still stage three and we aren't going to let you get any worse. Got that?"
"Izzy's stage four now?" Kara caught on to what he didn't say.
He sighed. "You're all going to make it, Kar. I won't let you die."
"I don't think you have a say in it," she gave him a woeful look.
Jace swiped away a tear that threatened to fall from his eyes. Boys didn't cry, especially not in front of their older sisters.
"Have you told anyone yet?"
He shook his head. "Dad said if you wanted to go to the hospital you could, but unless you said you wanted to or I thought you should, it was my call. Kar, two-thirds of the town is dead, not dying, dead. Anyone who isn't is just as sick as you are or worse. There is no hospital, not really. The staff is in the same condition as the rest of the town, probably worse since apparently coffee is a favorite drink for late nights and boiling water doesn't eliminate curses like it eliminates germs."
"I don't suppose I have to ask about Jared," Kara wheezed.
That brought a tiny laugh from her brother's lips. "Actually I found him. Dad apparently kidnapped him. He's in Honolulu."
Kara's pale eyebrows shot up.
"It was the farthest Dad could send him without a passport," Jace retorted.
"So he's fine?"
Jace nodded. "According to him he'd listened to Dad's water bottle edict, too, so it looks like he is completely unaffected . . . physically. Told me he got a really strange look the first day after he woke up when he went down to the store and bought a month's worth of bottled water. He said he felt really silly about it, too, until someone on twitter started claiming this was spread through the water earlier today."
"Does that put you in danger?" Kara asked worried.
"I don't think so," Jace shrugged. "No sign of 'dear cousin' Hannah, so I think we're safe. Or as safe as we can be."
But how safe was that really?
2:16 AM (2:16 PM in Boston)
Miriam had stalked the halls only fifteen minutes before she had gotten a pretty good idea of what happened. Or as good as she was going to get without interrogating the monster who had killed her brother in cold blood. To make things worse, there was no sign of her sister either and Jessica always followed Oliver. Had she lost both of them?
Figuring she’d get a better idea of what was going on outside, she spent the last ten minutes pacing the crowd, looking for a lead. Was Oliver’s killer here?
She ignored the reporter who was busy vilifying Oliver, saying he shouldn’t have been suffocating people. They were going to die anyway. Why not let him have his fun?
She swept the crowd, again, and stopped. Watching silently in the shadows she saw a familiar face. She scowled.
Sarah.
Was Sarah her to watch the carnage? Or had she led it? Sarah had always hated them.