There was no trace of movement. The interior of Frank's cabin was as black as the night itself.
He was waiting for her and she knew it, but he was terrified of her. She was not terrified of him. She was the hunter, he was the hunted. She'd broken him, and the only recourse he had left was to flee to his cabin to collect his knife and hide. But even though both were armed now, she did not expect the fight to go on for very long.
Thinking of the two of them armed with knives brought to mind a memory of something from many years ago. In her senior year of high school, she'd volunteered as a stagehand for the spring play, a production of "Romeo and Juliet." It met a graduation requirement and kept her away from her father's lustful touches and looks. He was usually well passed out by the time rehearsals were over.
The drama coach had gone all-out and brought in a friend who was a fight choreographer. He'd lamented to his cast and crew that in other productions he'd seen, the sword fights were lame and he wanted to do it right. He even had the choreographer friend bring in real swords with blunted tips, and real knives, tips also blunted, rather than the usual fencing rapiers with the plastic on the end. In fact, the drama coach said they were the first production that he could recall that would include the realism of the sword fighters not only carrying rapiers, but knives as well
One night, she'd watched the choreographer rehearsing a fight with the actors who played Romeo and Tybalt, going over the beats to when they both lost their swords and fought with their knives. Even though the guy playing Tybalt didn't have a ton of lines in the show, and was not present often for the blocking (He was killed off in act three of a five-act play,) he was still at rehearsal constantly, as his character was the master swordsman. They would rehearse in one of the music rooms, sometimes Tybalt and Romeo, sometimes Tybalt and Mercutio, and the play also opened with Tybalt in a group swordfight with a variety of characters. Beat by beat, "Tybalt" learned every swipe, parry, and other movement in each of the fights he was in.
She remembered what the fight choreographer had said when she'd sat in to watch the Romeo/Tybalt sword fight blocking that one night: "Once the swords are gone, and the knives are in play, the fight is over quickly. You can make a fight last with a sword because there's distance between you. Once you fight with knives, it's close combat and it's over just like that. You're beyond flourish, now it's all about who stabs the other first." The choreographer had seen her interest, and had let her see the pages of fighting blocking he had worked out. There had been three pages of handwritten notes for each blow of the swords. The knife choreography to wrap up the sequence had been less than a page.
At least the blade of her knife was long, much like those rapiers the actors used in high school. But still, Amanda knew that once she found him, the fight would likely be quick and brutal, and it was a fight she was going to win. She went through the door in a crouch, every sense seemingly heightened as her eyes adjusted to the dark. She wasn't stalking four people who would run from her as she had 25 years ago, this time, she was against someone armed, and someone who's life she had just destroyed. His anger would make him stupid, but it would also make him a threat.
She listened intently, trying to hear him breathe, and actually found herself wondering for a brief moment if he'd climbed out the window and ran into the trees as she walked in a crouch beside Frank's stinking bed. Even as angry and broken as he was right now, she wouldn't put it past him to also be a chicken shit. She had been trying to castrate him a moment ago, after all. Those who fight and run away live to fight another day...
Nope. he hadn't run. She felt a sharp pain in the outside of her left ankle. He'd been hiding under the bed and had stabbed at her from underneath it when he'd sensed she was in range. The blade had managed to bury itself somewhat-deeply in her flesh, but the thick leather of the boot had been a thick enough shield that it prevented her from being so injured that her ankle was useless. She felt warm blood trickling when he pulled his knife back out of her.
Smelling blood in the air, he kept stabbing out in her direction in a frenzy, grunting, and she countered by keeping a distance and using her longer blade to her advantage. She swung her arm in the darkness, again and again until he hollered in pain as her blade finally cut his hand as he was stabbing out at her. His painful cry turned into rage and he forced himself up to his feet, tilting the bed and mattress so it fell on its side in front of her as he dashed out the door.
Yep, it still smelled like it had been smeared in shit and wiped into the threads by his asshole. It also reminded her of how she'd felt, helpless, suffocating in his stinking pillow as he did...THAT to her. Her wave of rage cooled to careful revenge. He would pay, and she would collect. She grabbed the upturned side of the mattress, vaulted over it like a ledge in a trial, and followed him out the door.
Frank ran into the center of the camp until he was at the table and the torches he'd set up for her. Portions of his shattered psyche healed themselves from the blind rage and terror coursing through him. Less than a half hour ago he'd been imagining fucking her as her husband's blood dried on her body. Ex-junkie, adopted a serial killer to be her daddy, fucked up brain, guilt, self-image issues.
She'd been easier pickings than the other three to be manipulated, and yet somehow she'd managed to not only completely beat him, but she'd somehow managed to turn the others against him by revealing she was to take their place, and showing that Frank definitely had no real interest in Julie and Susie other than them following his orders and being ready to let him fuck them. She'd even insulted his dick and called him a lousy lay. She'd stabbed him in every place that mattered and had damaged him far more than her actual blade had damaged his shoulder.
He'd smelled her weakness and thought he was taking advantage of it. Because he'd smelled Joey and Julie and Susie's weakness and HAD taken advantage of it. If they'd been weak enough to let him, and if she had actually been weak enough to let him, then that was their own fucking problem. The strong ate the weak. They deserved what he'd done to them.
Fuck her. FUCK HER! FUCK HER FOR HUMILIATING HIM AND FUCKING UP HIS LIFE! FUCK HER FOR BEING SMARTER THAN HIM! HE WOULD SHOW THE SMART BITCH THAT SHE COULD STILL FUCKING BLEED!
He spun as she darted from the doorway of the cabin after him. She rushed him, but he was faster, He yanked one of the torches from the ground and he thrust it as hard as he could into her chest. Because of her small frame, the force sent her flying and she landed on her back. He made a move to rush her in return but she threw her legs in the air and pulled herself upright, quickly landing on her feet about three or four yards from him.
Frank darted into the shelter of the trees, and Amanda started to chase before realizing that was a big fucking mistake and stopped in her tracks.
There was no harm in admitting he had speed over her. She of course had her rushing attack from a crouch, but Frank could dart and stab without any build-up, it was his natural skill, same as all the Legion. When they were both standing and rushing each other, she was just a little bit slower. Also, when it came to the rushing attacks, he had the blade for it. In the darkness of the trees, she could sneak attack him from a crouch but it would be hard for her to see him, even if he was at the same disadvantage. If she missed, he could stab her while she recovered from a missed attack. Plus, he knew she was nearly invisible in the crouch now, so if she tried to pull it on him in the dark, he'd be prepared for it. She wouldn't be able to do what she'd done to Claudette and Joey.
Another disadvantage in the dark was what she had already realized. His blade was more effective for use in his rush attacks and would be even more potent when she had a hard time being able to see him. While Amanda loved her blade, it was strapped to her wrist. It was larger than his, but harder to control. He could stab with either of his hands, though less effectively from his left since she'd heavily injured his shoulder, but still, he might find the adrenaline to do it. While he had all those options, she was locked into one. She would have to move and swing her whole arm to stab and slash him in return, and that was just fucking slower than the way he could stab her with his own knife. And in the dark...And among trees...Nope.
I'll wait for him right here in the light of these torches. I've got all the time in the world. He's fucked up and stupid. Eventually, he's going to get tired of waiting and come to me. And when he does, he'll still be fucked in the head. Eventually, I can use that to my advantage.
Frank ran to the light and darted into the trees twice more, before returning and standing at the edge of the tree line at the edge of the camp's central clearing, finally accepting that she was just not going to chase him. She stood rooted to the ground and stared at him. He let out a scream similar to the one he would utter from a missed attack, irritated she refused to play his game. He slowly walked in front of the wooden altar like an old west gunfighter and turned, several yards away, directly opposite her.
Sorry Frank, you've been playing my game since the start, and you'll be playing it till your end, she thought.
They stared at each other, knives raised. He noticed with mild satisfaction that blood was running down the left side of her boot and dripping on the ground. It made up slightly for the bleeding wounds in his left shoulder and the blood dripping from the hand she'd slashed with her blade.
Frank psyched himself up and rushed at her. He swung, missing, and let out an angry yell. She crouched and slashed, and the pocket of his hoodie as well as the cloth across his waist fell open as her long blade left a cut to his midsection. He quickly turned and swung his knife downwards and the point of the blade left a long cut across her left cheek. She retaliated with a quick, deep stab to his left thigh.
The next movement was like a dance as she moved a few steps backward and he moved backwards himself, stopping with his back once again at the altar, directly opposite her. He was now limping, his leg bleeding as well as from the cut above his waist. Blood streamed down Amanda's cheek and dripped from her jaw. Frank's eyes were deranged in his rage, while Amanda's remained cold and calculating as he stared into them.
Frank decided to continue using his height advantage and speed. His adrenaline made him forget the leg wound and his speed did not decrease. He rushed her again, and then, anticipating her swing, swung himself sideways as she sliced the empty air. While she recovered from the missed hit, he quickly spun and was facing the same direction she was beside her and savored her cry of pain as he lashed out with his right hand and the knife sunk through the leather sleeve of her coat and deeply into her left arm. He recovered quickly and took a few steps backwards before he added another stab in the back of her left shoulder as turned towards him and she swung at him again...But again only sliced the empty air.
Frank darted past her and ran back to his original position, panting as Amanda turned herself back from her missed swing once more to face him. Her blade had more length than his own, but Frank realized in that moment what Amanda had already determined. The length of the blade and the fact that she wasn't holding it in her hand was slowing her swing due to having to move her entire arm to use it. She gritted her teeth as her left arm hung weakly and he smiled in satisfaction that she hadn't even gotten one hit on him on his second rush.
Still, her eyes kept looking at him in that cold, calculating way. She wasn't displaying any terror or fear of potential defeat, even though he'd one-upped her that time, and it pissed him off. He would see the fear in them before he finished her off. He was going to hurt her body with much more than his knife before he killed her.
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Jake had watched from the window and was freaking out as Frank suddenly seemed to have figured out a way to start besting her. That second attack had been awful. Amanda had a swing and a miss both tries. If not for Julie and Susie holding him back he'd have flown straight out the door.
"She's the Entity's emissary," Susie said. "She'll get him. We serve the entity and so does she. Our God will not allow her to fail." Her voice radiated confidence.
They were going to protect him on Amanda's orders, and they were not letting him leave here until the fight was over, one way or the other. They were stronger than he was, and he knew there was no way he could get past them. There was nothing he could do but wait.
But deep down, he forced himself not to panic. He knew Amanda inside and out. She had to already have seen what he did, and she had to be forming a way to retake control. She just had to be.
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Frank rushed her again, sticking to the left side of her body. He smiled in satisfaction as his heightened speed once again proved an advantage, and allowed him to connect with her side as she slashed at him, and missed. She let out another cry of pain and went from standing into a crouch. Frank elected to settle for the one hit, since he'd gotten her in her upper body, and simply sprinted back to the altar position as she winced in pain in her crouch.
She was weakening and he knew it. Sure, she was pissed off at him, and her rage had fueled her in the beginning of the fight, but he was pissed too. She didn't stand a chance now. Once he made her deadly right arm as limp and useless as her left, he would incapacitate her and take his time. He would go into the cabin and quickly kill Julie and Susie for insulting and abandoning him, then cripple Jake and drag him outside and lay him where he could watch. The Entity could piss off.
He'd fantasized about fucking her as she was covered in Jake's blood. But now...He decided that once he had her helpless, once her arms were useless, he would stab her legs until she was crippled before he killed Susie and Julie. Once Jake was out here where he could see, he would cut her clothes off her defenseless body. With her arms and legs wounded and immobile, she would be unable to get away. He would smear her naked skin with the blood of her own wounds, and then he would rape her as brutally as he could while Jake cried. He would rape her and cut her and when he filled her with his cum that he now knew she despised, he would stab out her eyes and cut off her tongue and she'd have to feel his cum run out of her as he finished her off completely.
Then he'd cut off Jake's dick and sit on his throne and let Jake bleed out while he stared at his wife's raped, bloody corpse, knowing he'd been completely unable to save her. Fucking prick.
But while Frank's psychosis brought sick, murderous fantasies to his mind of what he would do to her, Amanda's cunning and calculating mind was working on a plan of her own.
Yes, despite appearances, Amanda had a plan. Yes, even though Frank had become so psychotically deluded that he'd progressed from trying to merely save himself to believing he could rape and murder her in front of Jake without even the Entity itself being able to stop him, he was on a losing path. She gritted her teeth and rose to her feet, waiting for the mistake she knew he would make by letting herself once again appear like he was beating her. Well, technically he WAS sort of beating her, but only on the second wave. She'd intentionally miffed her swing when he'd rushed her for the third time, setting up this current and the upcoming moments. But...FUCK that stab to her side got her good. She could feel blood running from the wound every time she took a breath. But she hoped her next actions would save her from having to play possum for a fourth time.
His speed as Legion was preventing her from making the move that she knew would quickly end the fight. She had to get him closer, and get him completely unprepared to dodge. If she did it now, and she missed, he'd remember she could do it and she'd not get another chance. So she would once again do exactly what she'd been doing since that first night, swallow her pride and let him believe for one last time that he was winning. She'd taken this last hit that would make her bleed and allow her to pretend she was getting weak from blood loss and build his confidence. She mentally goaded him to make the fuck up that would kill him, just like the fuck ups that had ended his tenure officially in the realm.
For just a brief moment, he saw that the icy cold gleam in her eyes was gone. It wasn't fear he saw there now, but at least he knew he was getting there.
Amanda's rise from the crouch had been as calculated as everything else in the fight, and she shook her head as if she was suddenly disoriented. She shook her head as if to clear the fog from it, then let herself stumble before she dropped back into a crouch.
His arrogance returned and he was confident enough to gloat. She was smaller, thinner, and the blood loss from her wounds was getting to her faster than the blood loss from his own. He stepped closer to her in his frenzy and let his knife hang to his side. His eyes blazed as he screamed, "COME ON YOU FUCKING CUNT! GET THE FUCK UP AND FIGHT KILLE..."
The lion's roar that escaped from her mouth ended as he finished saying "cunt." She was suddenly moving at an incredible rate of speed as he said "up." And before he could finish the word killer, she'd looped around him, forced her injured left arm to wrap around his throat, and sunk the blade of her knife into his back again and again as she bared her teeth and screamed with each stab.
Amanda's rage in victory got the better of her and she dismissed any effort to stretch Frank's agony out. Again and again she stabbed, and the force of some of her arm movements was strong enough that her blade went entirely through him and perforated the skin of his chest.
As the sharp pain filled him from wound after wound, his mind flashed back to their very first meeting, and he remembered suddenly why he'd decided to recruit her in the first place. He finally remembered her standing behind him with her knife at his throat, and she was coming full circle, getting the upper hand that first time, to getting the upper hand the final time with the exact same killing move.
His body weakened and he dropped from her grasp, falling forward on his face in the dirt, the knife falling from his hand. As he felt the strength draining from him, his body filled with a single sensation. Failure. He'd lost. She'd played him again. She'd fucking played him again and this time it had been for all the marbles. She'd shown him exactly what she'd wanted him to see and he'd reacted exactly how she'd wanted him too. Lost. He was beaten by a woman.
She knelt down beside him and put her mouth next to his ear as he struggled to breathe. She was no longer worried about taking his dick. She'd decided on another quicker, more meaningful way to make him pay before the life went out of him. She said, quietly, "Do you know what anal feels like with a rough piece of shit who uses no lube?"
His terror made his eyes widen, but he could not move from what he knew was coming. She rammed her blade into his asshole until her hand hit his ass cheeks, and she kept shoving until his skin refused to give any more under her force. The pain was so awful and searing that even on the brink of death, he managed to choke out a painful squeal. The last thing he heard was, "It feels something like that, you raping fuck. The Entity sends its regards...Game over."
Frank's eyes went sightless and he stopped breathing.
Amanda pulled the blade from his asshole. It was covered in blood. Absently her left hand reached under the collar of her shirt and touched the necklace that rested over her heart, her and Jake's original engagement rings from the realm, still held close to her on the fine chain.
Yeah, she could have taken his dick, but this necklace had far more meaning. Amanda's tastes were much improved, and at the end of the day, Frank's dick necklace would have just been a cheap knock-off that would have turned her neck green.
"Have you made him suffer to your satisfaction?" The Entity. Speaking to her.
"If I had it to do over maybe I would have made him suffer more," she thought. "But this was enough. I broke him, and I destroyed him. There's nothing on him of value worth cutting off. It's all rancid. If you're ready to take out the trash. He's all yours. Thank you." Amanda thought in reply.
"It is I who must thank you. I am glad he was reminded of the doorman as he took his final breath." And in a flash, Frank's mutilated corpse disappeared.
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In the woods outside of a lodge near Ormond, the dead body of Frank Morrison appeared. He'd been stabbed numerous times, and his asshole had been mutilated. To the handful that knew him, if asked, they'd have said he'd had it coming.
It was almost a week before the random hiker had found his body, and ran through the woods screaming to find a phone and call the sheriff's office.
The body was taken to the Gilliam County Coroner's office. While headquartered in Ormond, the office was in charge of autopsies for a total of 13 counties, including Gilliam. The former coroner, Quincy, had retired only two years prior, but remained on as an assistant once he saw who had been hired as his replacement. The duties of chief medical examiner were now overseen by the new hire, Laurel Weaver, a surprisingly attractive, pale, raven-haired woman with a husky and sexy smoker's voice and brown eyes. She'd been an ME in New York City, and had traveled cross-country to take the position and enjoy the quiet life, she said.
When rumor spread across Ormond that THE Frank Morrison's mutilated body had been discovered in the woods near where the body of cleaner Leroy Jessup had been discovered, more than 10 years after he'd suddenly disappeared, the discussion around the coffee shop was whether or nor Quincy might usurp Weaver and oversee the autopsy himself.
However, Quincy was a man in his early 60s, and like most of the men in Ormond who saw the attractive Weaver around town, he preferred to keep things between them friendly, especially because he worked with her. She had a fine figure and he may be old, but damn, was she nice to look at, even if his plumbing wouldn't allow him to do anything more than stare. Despite her attractiveness, she remained unattached, in part due to a creepy vibe she personally telegraphed when necessary.
Many men she'd had no interest in whatsoever who approached her when she was having an occasional Manhattan at Mike's Place, the local bar, were sent packing only minutes after striking up a flirtatious conversation with her when she'd lean in close to them and say in her husky voice, "Do you know what I like to do sometimes in the coroner's office when it's really late...?"
So far, no man had ever had the balls to ask her. Instead, that was their cue to make a hasty exit. And for Laurel Weaver, that was exactly what she wanted.
So when it came time to autopsy THE Frank Morrison, Weaver had remained completely in charge. The autopsy hadn't been able to tell them much. Multiple stab wounds in Morrison's back. The mortal wounds had punctured his right lung and nicked Morrison's right ventricle. Despite the massive trauma to Morrison's rectal cavity, that wound had likely been delivered after he suffered the trauma to his upper body. Some of the stab wounds had been so deep they had perforated the skin of his chest. The blade was no ordinary knife, perhaps a blade, or some sort of small sword. The killer, based on the trajectory of the wounds, was shorter than Morrison, possibly a female.
One thing they did know...Whoever had done this, it had been personal. Weaver said to Quincy, "This was done by someone who really hated him. Someone who knew him. Knife attacks are personal. This wasn't someone who killed him from afar with a pistol. They got close to him, probably right up behind him, and butchered him in a rage. They even stuck a knife up his rectum for good measure to make him suffer." Quincy agreed with her assessment.
It wasn't until after the autopsy was completed and Quincy was standing outside the back door watching Weaver smoke a Camel light that she brought up the oddest thing about the corpse.
"He was 19 when he disappeared, right?" Quincy had nodded. "He's been gone for 10 years...But the body on that table isn't 29. It may be slightly older than 19, but not that much. I'm not going to put it in the report, because it's just crazy...But how did Frank Morrison disappear for 10 years, then come back butchered and seemingly without having aged a year?"
Quincy had no reply. Weaver submitted her autopsy report to the Gilliam County Sheriff's Office, but always remained curious as to how Morrison had seemingly found a fountain of youth before his ultimate death. Privately, she'd sit alone in her office and look at the autopsy report for some clue from time to time.
The Gilliam County Sheriff's Office didn't investigate too hard. Frank thought highly of himself, and while the kids had fallen for his lies, the adults all despised him, particularly the authorities. They knew, but could never prove, he'd organized the string of vandalisms and burglaries. Also, the three kids closest to him remained missing, and the police had linked him to the murder of Jessup though his fingerprints on the body. Investigation of the crime scene turned up nothing of value. There were no tracks in the dirt, and there was no way to determine who had dumped Morrison's body, and from what direction they'd entered and exited. It almost seemed like his corpse had appeared from thin air. Even if they'd been interested in a thorough investigation, there were no leads. since the ME's report suggested a female killer, perhaps it had been Julie or Susie after they'd gotten fed up with him.
Once the crime scene turned up nothing, they halted the investigation any further. Maybe one of the other three with him had done it, or maybe it was vigilante justice. If it was the latter, while morally wrong, it saved the taxpayers of Ormond the cost of a trial. The Frank Morrison portion of the investigation was closed, and the other three remained persons of interest. Frank's remains were kept on ice for well over a month and remained unclaimed. Finally, Ormond city administrator Gary Parker agreed to a discounted fee for cremation of the body from the R.J. MacReady Funeral Home. The business was owned by Ormond Mayor R. Jack MacReady, who was able to pocket a little off-the-books money for himself, a portion of which he used to buy several cases of Pibb, which was the only Coke product he enjoyed drinking.
After it was done, his mortician, a tall, balding man named Phil Esterhaus, brought the cardboard box of Frank's ashes to Macready's office. "What do you want to do with these?"
Jack MacReady grinned. "Leave 'em to me." After Phil left, Jack walked straight to the bathroom and dumped the contents in the toilet. If anybody had wanted them, they'd have claimed the body during that first month and paid for the fucking funeral that would have netted him a few grand, rather than a paltry $150 cremation fee from the city.
Besides, that hooligan had corrupted several seemingly-innocent kids into murder. They'd found a corpse outside of Ormond that proved it. One of them, Julie Kostenko, had been captain of the cheerleading squad. Her best friend Susie was so shy she wouldn't have told a turd it stank. He'd beaten old Larry Vaughn in the mayoral election eight years ago running on a platform that included bringing Morrison to justice, and in the intervening years had almost lost to a goddamn tree-hugger when Morrison remained at large.
Finally, Morrison was dead. Jack pissed on the ashes, a final coup de grace. It took three tries, but eventually Jack managed to flush the ashes entirely.
"Rest in shit, fucker," Jack said before returning to his office. He grinned in satisfaction. He hadn't delivered on bringing Morrison to justice per se, but dead was dead. The voters would remember. Now that the thread of Morrison had finally been snipped...He'd win the next election by eight points, easy.
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Amanda had knelt on the ground until Morrison's body had disappeared. She forced herself to her feet.
She didn't realize it then, and even later she still wouldn't have realized it until Jake told her what it had looked like to him as he'd seen her do it. After all, that boy was fascinated in his movies.
Her next action, Jake told her, was like a scene from an old western, where the retired protagonist gunfighter straps on his gun belt one last time, vanquishes the evil, then leaves it behind to ride off into the sunset.
As she stood, swaying on her feet and feeling blood running from her side in an increasing trickle, Amanda pulled her right arm from the sleeve of the black motorcycle jacket. She forced her injured left arm up and undid the first strap of the blade on her wrist with her weak left hand, then the other, and let the bloody instrument of murder fall to the dirt at her feet. The gunslinger had once again retired.
She'd lived as the Pig for one last time. It had felt good. It had felt right. It definitely wasn't the feeling she'd had when she'd stalked poor Claudette in the dark. She'd vanquished the evil, and now she would be able to relish that her final act in the role she'd first been brought into the realm to play, was an anti-hero who slaughtered a wicked little fucker whose balls were bigger than his brains. Now it was time for her to ride off...
Amanda felt a wave of dizziness for real this time, and she sagged to the ground. Even as she started sitting Jake had finished making his jog from Julie and Susie's cabin to her. He knelt by her side, asking if she was okay.
Julie and Susie watched from the doorway. They'd only seen this Jake for less than a half an hour, and the real Jake was completely the opposite of the one they'd seen at the camp before. Frank's lies had made him seem like an even bigger monster. They couldn't believe how wrong they'd been about him, and had to applaud his performance. The way he'd tried to run out of the cabin and they'd had to stop him so he didn't get hurt...The way he was trying to comfort her and help her showed how deeply he loved and cared about her. He was everything Frank had never been.
"I'm okay...I think. I need to get to the border so I can get healed, If I'm...A killer, it can't happen. Killers can't heal the way survivors can, and you can't heal a killer." Amanda said.
"We can have the Entity..."
Amanda shook her head. "I just vanquished evil. I'm not gonna start being a pussy now. The Entity has done enough for me tonight. I can limp that far at least. If I can't, then call for help. After all...I'm trying to build up for a request that will really test its abilities, just like it wants." She smiled, winced, and kissed him, then started to get to her feet. Jake helped her up and and she leaned against him, pressing her right side into Jake's left side and keeping the bloody side of her from soaking his shirt.
Julie and Susie approached. "We knew you could do it," Julie said. She smiled at Amanda. As Amanda's body, even in pain, surged in her victory, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the two girls. She'd been taken in herself by men who were nowhere near as talented as Frank was, and finding out someone wasn't who they convinced you they were hurt like a motherfucker. A bruise could heal easily. Knowing you'd fallen for lies and been used took a lot longer to heal from.
"I wish...That he hadn't been a fucker. I've been in your shoes, honestly. I know it has to fucking hurt. The way he treated you was one of the many reasons why I knew I had to clean his fucking clock."
Susie looked at the ground. "It did...It does." Susie looked up at her and grinned. "But hey, we're teenagers! We'll probably be over it by tomorrow! And if we hadn't found out, it would be even worse. Who knows how many he would have tried to get into his harem. You were next for sure, maybe Claudette after...He'd have kept going and going every time a new chick was in this camp. Now Julie and I have a chance to find our true selves...Together."
And then, to Amanda's surprise and Jake's complete shock, Julie grabbed Susie's head and the two just started making out right in front of them. It was passionate, and they stuck their tongues into each other's mouths. Jake looked away, red-faced, and embarrassed.
Amanda wasn't embarrassed at all. She watched with an arched eyebrow and a slight smile on her face. What the fuck, she was bi. It was pretty fucking hot. It seemed like a full minute before they came up for air. It looked like now that Frank and his lousy sex was gone, they'd be helping each other make up for the years of missed orgasms, and were going to be working on having at least one each as soon as she and Jake got the fuck out of there.
Amanda asked them, "So, Frank's dead. What are your plans now? Will Legion remain the high map pressure force I've grown to enjoy running from?"
Julie looked at her. "The Entity told us we could go or stay. Now that we've...Truly discovered each other, what better place to keep doing it and doing it than right here, until the Entity decides our time is really up? With all the killers to choose from, there will be a lot of down time...Which means that Susie and I have a lot of time to spend together between trials." She grinned at Amanda, and Amanda returned the grin.
Susie looked at Amanda excitedly. "Besides, we really enjoy killing all of you! Not only are we really really really good at it, like, almost the best ever, but it's so fun, because you never really die! It's like an interactive video game and we have the epic and cool characters and you've got like, the weak mage characters. The killers are the tough characters, and they're us! We get to slaughter you over and over and over again and all you can do is run!"
The excitement in her voice at being able to keep playing her interactive murder video game endlessly made Amanda grin yet again. She was happy that the two killers would be sticking around to torment all of them, and make up the years of lousy sex with each other.
Julie added, "Legion is under new management. Now we're all equal partners. We're totally cool if Joey wants to kill with us and go hang out with Claudette at the survivor camp. She's good for him. Now that we see things clearly, we're both super happy for him. He's got himself a great girlfriend. But tell the others in the camp...If anyone thinks that because that asshole is gone, we're not still a threat...Well, they're wrong. We're stronger than ever now that the dipshit in charge is a corpse." Julie winked at Amanda, and Amanda winked right back.
Susie said, "Yeah, It pisses me off that I let Frank drive a wedge between me and Joey, but I'm really happy for him and Claudette is such a good fit. Besides..." Susie looked at Julie with lust. "Julie and I have shown each other that we never need a fuckin' man again..." She eyed Jake briefly, "Unless he's super hot...And maybe has long hair."
Jake, looking at Amanda with concern as she started leaning against him more and more for support, was completely oblivious to Susie's eyes giving him a once over. Amanda wasn't, but to her surprise, she felt not a single twinge of jealousy.
Amanda leaned forward. "Before I met Jake, I've always felt that no one knows a woman's body better in bed than another woman. I speak from experience." Julie and Susie shared a knowing glance. Amanda looked at Jake. "But a nice lon- haired guy who knows how to use his cock can know a woman's body pretty well too." The two girls grinned at her naughtily knowing that she was a kindred spirit.
Jake just looked confused as to why she was talking about his cock. But then again, she was probably delirious. And knowing his wife so intimately, even though she was slowly bleeding out, she was probably horny, too. Amanda added, "I definitely have to give Jake his due, he's known my body better than any woman I ever had for the last...Mmmmm...24 years."
Jake still wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he knew praise of his prowess when he heard it and said, "You're damn tootin', dangerous girl." She smiled at him, then she seemed at the brink of passing out and Jake had to grab her to keep her from falling. The sudden breaking of her fall seemed to wake Amanda back up, but not entirely.
"Since you don't want to be a pussy, we need to get you to the border. I'm sorry to cut things short but we need to get her back into survivor mode so we can heal her." Julie and Susie both nodded. Jake started helping her to walk. Julie called out, "Amanda?"
She stopped and turned. Julie asked her, "You can still come here, right?"
Amanda shrugged and winced. She thought, Quit stretching out your wound, you dumb bitch. You trying to bleed out more? She said aloud, "I think so? I dunno, the Entity hasn't told me I can't, and the realms are usually open for survivors to wander in between trials if they don't mind meeting a killer in a dark place. I'm assuming if I visit you're not going to chase my ass...Unless it's to smack it."
Julie grinned and shook her head. "If you can...If you want to...Will you visit us? We kind of got to know you, but a lot of that was made up to fool Frank. We want to know the real you. Just because we try to murder you doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?"
Amanda giggled and winced. "I'll check with the Entity to be sure, but yeah. I'd like that. And now that you're not brainwashed into believing Frank is the king shit among the farts, I'd like to get to know the real versions of you as well." She looked at Jake wickedly. "But since I'm bi, I better bring Jake along...You know, to chaperone...Or watch."
The two girls giggled as Jake melodramatically rolled his eyes. "Even dying...Sex on the brain. I'm surprised you don't hump my leg sometimes."
Then, still with a smile on her face, Julie turned to Susie. "You want me to lick you?" Susie nodded eagerly. The two ran into their cabin, giggling.
Jake started helping her along again. "I think those two are going to be just fine. The pleasures of youth. Recovering from a brainwashing is like replacing a broken cell phone." Amanda nodded. Jake looked at her as he helped her slowly along. "Better not be seriously thinking about any lesbian threesomes unless I actually CAN watch." He smiled at her deviously. "I think that's, what, Page 36 in that Kama Sutra book?"
Amanda felt her blood soaking into the waistband of her jeans. "You won't be able to leer at any of our threesomes for at least a month. Maybe after that I can start bringing you along." Jake gave her a look of feigned indignance. "I'm just saying, I could teach those girls a TON if we're alone. With a watcher, they'll have performance anxiety." She stuck her tongue out at him.
"I knew it," Jake said, pretending to be forlorn. "I've created a monster. Who's next? Will you exchange your hidden talents with the Huntress behind my back too?"
Despite her blood loss and weakness, Amanda stopped and turned her to face him. "Truth be told, I enjoyed eating pussy, and getting mine eaten, and I'm sure I'd enjoy it again...For a time, I preferred it to sucking cock. But...Then I met you. And no experience I've ever had even remotely holds a candle to sucking your cock and feeling it fucking the Hell out of me. I'm not sure how many times you've made me cum but it's for damn sure more than all the other times combined before I met you. I get that we've been together for two decades, but making a woman cum from cock isn't easy...Yet you do it every fucking time we fuck and it's fucking incredible...I'm now a chick addicted to cock. Your cock. I'm...Shit there's no point in even denying it. I'm fucking addicted to YOU. Every fucking part of you. And I'll spend forever getting high off of you and making sure you never fucking forget how much I'm addicted to you, big boy. Pussy is a hamburger and your cock is a steak, and I'll always love steaks more than burgers."
"My memory is fading, you know...When you add in the realm years I'm in my early 60s...I'm going to need you to remind me...A lot...At least once a day...Maybe even more."
"Fuck," Amanda said. "I'm like 70 now. Looks like you're going to have to remind me just as often by pounding my pussy with that big glorious cock of yours...Maybe five times a day..." Her wicked grin was mixed with lust, and just a hint of deliriousness, as she mocked Frank's ridiculous dream.
"Three times a day." Jake said, Amanda swayed and arched a brow. "Five times a day was collectively only about 30 minutes of sex for Frank. Based on how I can go for an hour each time...That's like 30 fucks from Frank. I only need three hours to make you cum so many times your pussy is numb."
And Amanda laughed, hard, and then she winced and screamed and said quickly through gritted teeth, "DEAL." The two kissed deeply until Amanda weakened again and her legs went out from under her. Jake grabbed her quickly before she hit the ground and said, "I said it just a minute ago and I'll say it again now. You are the only woman in history who worries more about fucking than bleeding to death. Move it, sexy. When we get back to the cabin, I think it's very important that we give each other our first reminder."
They had just reached the edge of the Legion camp when Susie's voice screamed. "OH...FUCK...JULIE...YESSS!" Jake shook his head with a smile as they kept walking. Amanda smiled for the upteenth time. Christ she had smiled as much in the last 10 minutes as she had all day. It was either the relief that it was over, or maybe just the increasingly foggy feeling in her brain was making everything she heard make her feel happy. But that scream told her one thing for sure: Julie and Susie were going to be JUST fine.
As they walked in the darkness of the trees towards the border, Jake said, "I was thinking about that the other day. You being addicted to me. And I realized...I'm just as addicted to you. We both need our fix from each other, and we'll never ever run out. I think that's one big reason why it was almost easy letting you do what you needed to do. Because I knew you were addicted to me. And we're at the point where we can joke about you having sex with those two girls. This whole thing has sucked, but...I think it's made our already strong marriage even stronger. I can see that you're carrying less guilt about the past and everything else. Plus, being addicted to each other is very healthy. We can keep all of our teeth."
"And we don't have to spend all of our money and then steal shit and pawn it to get more money to buy our Amanda and Jake drug when the cash runs out. And I'll tell you something else, it's a good thing our fucking addiction is free, because you never get anywhere near what the shit is worth that you try to pawn...Fucking vultures. Fifty bucks for a brand new T.V., in a box...Fucking bullshit," Amanda grumbled.
"I know it's awful, because I know you were strung out at the time, but you say stuff like that so matter-of-factly that I can't help but laugh," Jake said. "It's going to be like that forever, isn't it? Your tidbits of sage advice. Tomorrow you'll wax poetic about the time you boosted stereos from cars, but discovered a flathead screwdriver was much more useful than a Phillips."
"Probably. And did you know that Heroin cooks better in a spoon with a Zippo rather than a Bic? I like giving you a new tidbit every so often. It keeps me sexy and mysterious..."
"You're damn right it does. Even after all this time, it sometimes feels like I've only scratched the surface of the wonder and mystery of my Amanda." He glanced around in the darkness. "Where do you think Claudette..."
Amanda suddenly hollered, "CLAUDETTE!" The sudden shout startled him so much he jumped.
He felt her shrug against him in the darkness. "Fuck. I really need to stop shrugging like that...Frank's dead, and Julie and Susie would probably rather fuck me than kill me. They also probably want to fuck you more than kill you...And we know Joey certainly isn't going to kill me. Why beat around the dark woods like idiots while I bleed out? CLAUDETTE!"
They heard the sound of thrashing through the brush and Claudette's flashlight kicked on. "It's over?" Amanda nodded. Claudette's flashlight beam lit up Amanda's hand, holding her side, and the blood seeping through her fingers. Amanda said weakly, "You should see the other guy. He came for me and all he got out of it was a bloody asshole."
Joey looked at her. "Claudette told me everything. At first I didn't listen...But then I finally did. He stole everything from me. And after I got over that, Claudette said he was planning to do it all over again and sleep with her just to spite me. He fucked with my life just for the fun of it. Because he could. Did he...Were you able to make him pay? Did he suffer?"
Amanda would always remember the sweet satisfaction of ramming her blade up his ass and the final noise he made in death. She said, "I can assure you that I made him squeal like a pig."
Joey and Claudette shared a glance. "And now...I can come and go at your camp? I've thought about staying eventually, but a part of me is worried about leaving Julie and Susie alone."
Right now, Susie probably her head between Julie's legs returning the favor. "I think you'd be surprised. I think they'll be just fine even if you're not there, but if you still want to keep Legion at three, I'll be more than happy to welcome and support you. Besides..." Amanda gave Jake's chest a slap and winced. She really needed to stop moving her fucking upper body AT ALL. "...I just happen to be fucking the guy who's the camp's defacto leader. I promise to put in a good word."
Joey, lit faintly by Claudette's flashlight beam, lightly gawked. Jake said, "For the third time, this woman thinks more interested in sex than getting healed. She's insatiable. Really. I think she has a higher sex drive than any man."
Amanda swayed on her feet but recovered, "Don't act like you don't love it, mister man." She stuck out her tongue at him as she struggled again briefly to keep her eyes open. Maybe she should take a nap. She'd probably feel refreshed...
"Us, together," Joey said. "It's like a dream." They kissed. Amanda had one brief moment to fix a dreamy smile on her face before her eyes rolled up in her head completely and she finally passed out, crumpling to the ground.
Jake scooped her up in his arms. "Sorry to cut things short, but we can't heal her until she's back to being a survivor and out of here. She didn't want to ask for help, she wanted to walk to the border. Sometimes the woman is as stubborn as a mule." He dashed into the trees. Claudette gave Joey one last kiss. "Visit me tomorrow?' She smiled.
Joey said, "First thing in the morning." Claudette smiled, waved, and scurried off after Jake.