III - Seeing Red
The doorknob jiggled. Sweat dripped from Tim's face as he aimed his gun at the door. The patients inside the infirmary did their best to keep quiet as Maria dimmed the lights.
Tim, Ronnie Anne, and Lana kept their heads low as they walked into the kitchen and to the back door. Tim then slowly opened the door.
"There!" shouted a voice from outside.
Tim turned to his left before a bullet struck his neck.
"Tim!" yelled Ronnie Anne.
Tim coughed out blood as he dropped down. Ronnie Anne quickly dragged him back as more gunshots followed. Lana closed the door and locked it before getting down, avoiding the bullets going through the door.
Leo turned around only to get shot in the back through the front wall. Gunshots commenced from the front of the infirmary as the survivors inside were now trapped by a rain of gunfire. Windows cracked, shelves broke, wood splintered.
Albert and Bobby fired back at the windows, though they had no idea who they were shooting at. The bullets seemed to come from random directions and the source of the shouting outside was hard to make out.
The door was being kicked before Albert shot at it. He heard a body drop before more gunshots came inside the infirmary. He ducked underneath a couch, using it as cover.
"Mom!" shouted Ronnie Anne.
Maria ran over to the kitchen, flinching upon seeing blood spill from Tim's neck. He was coughing up drops of blood while his breath sounded ragged. He was losing consciousness.
"Dios mío, no, no, no," whispered Maria as she knelt down to Tim's body. "Patti! Bring the ventilator!"
Patti kept her hands over her head as a couple bodies in the beds were shot. The more holes that appeared in their bodies, the more shock Patti was going into.
"Patti!" shouted Maria. "It is not time to panic! Not now! Not now!"
Ronnie Anne quickly crouched over to the closet and lifted herself up as she opened it, grabbing the manual ventilator as fast as possible without getting shot by the flying bullets. One of the rookie cops fell down next to her, dropping her pistol. Ronnie Anne grabbed it and handed the ventilator to her mother.
"Gracias, Ronalda."
As Maria grabbed a pair of tweezers and bandages, Ronnie Anne looked at the shattered windows, seeing the familiar Laborers showing their faces and firearms. They continued to fire at the infirmary in unpredictable bursts, keeping the survivors inside in a state of panic.
"What do we do?" asked Lana. "Ronnie?"
Maria carefully pulled the bullet out of Tim's neck and tossed it away before wrapping his neck with bandages. Tim continued to gasp for air before Maria stuck the tube down his throat. She then squeezed the ventilator, giving Tim air.
"Ronnie!" exclaimed Lana. "I don't wanna die!"
Ronnie Anne was frozen with the gun in her hands. Albert and Bobby kept themselves behind cover as they each took turns returning fire. Leo groaned as he fired at the back door from the floor, not letting his wound stop him. Ronnie Anne wanted to shoot at the Laborers. However, her mother was right there. Why it mattered that her mother was there— she did not know.
Her eyes then snapped back into reality before she screamed in shock. Bobby stumbled to the floor as blood splattered off his ribs. He dropped his gun and dropped to his knees as blood stained his lips. He clutched his left ribs with his right hand before removing his hand and taking a look at it, seeing it covered with blood.
"No!" screamed Maria. "Lana— give Tim air!"
Lana grabbed the ventilator and pumped air into Tim's throat as she watched in horror as Bobby crawled towards his mother with pained eyes. Patti kept herself in a fetal position as tears fell down her face, her eyes staring at the dead patients in the bed.
Albert looked at Maria, who began patching up Bobby, before facing Nurse Patti. He reloaded his pistol and aimed it at Patti.
"Start pumping Tim's air right now," said Albert, cocking his pistol. "I'm not gonna ask again."
Patti shivered as she crawled over to Tim, grabbing the ventilator from Lana. Albert then pulled Ronnie Anne's arms and Lana's hands away from the living room and onto the stairs. They all ran upstairs as Maria continued to tend to Bobby and Patti tended to Tim. Leo and a few others stayed by the beds, struggling to stay alive.
Albert looked out the window that showed the backyard. He saw two Laborers that had their rifles aimed at the back door. He then pulled out his pistol and smacked it against the window before quickly aiming at the Laborers, firing at them. The two Laborers dropped dead.
Albert then climbed through the broken window with Ronnie Anne and Lana behind him. He slid down the roof carefully before grabbing Lana's hands and lowering her down to the backyard as much as he could before letting her go. Lana landed softly into the grass. Albert did the same with Ronnie Anne. He then held on to the gutters as much as he could and lowered himself before letting go, landing hard on the grass. He groaned in pain before dusting off his pants.
"Let's go," said Albert.
"What about my mom?" asked Ronnie Anne.
"She's not gonna leave your brother and Tim."
"There's no way I'm leaving them either."
Albert aimed his pistol at Ronnie Anne.
"Pop-Pops, what are you doing?" exclaimed Lana.
"You're bluffing, old man," hissed Ronnie Anne. "You're not gonna shoot me."
Albert then aimed his gun at the infirmary house and fired off a shot.
"Stop!" screamed Ronnie Anne. "My mom's in there, what's wrong with you?"
"If you don't move, I'll fire off another shot."
"You're sick!"
Ronnie Anne and Lana walked out of the backyard and into the sidewalks as Albert picked up the rifles that the two Laborers had. He then fled the backyard.
Maria took off her sweater and placed it under Bobby's head, cushioning it while tilting his head to the side. Bobby groaned in pain as Maria pressed on the bandages wrapped around his ribs.
"Perdóname, mijo. Por favor…"
"It's… okay, mamá. I'm good."
Maria lifted the bandage and noticed how little blood there was. The bullet did not rupture any arteries or veins. She placed the bandage back and took a breath of relief before the door busted open. She noticed that Ronnie Anne was gone, along with Lana and Albert. She smiled for a fraction of a second before looking at the two Laborers invading the infirmary. They passed by Maria, Bobby, Patti, Tim, and the patients before stopping above Leo. They aimed their guns at him.
"No, wait," said Leo. "Please…"
Maria looked at Leo with horror in her eyes before closing her eyes at the sound of gunshots. A tear rolled out her eyes before she opened them again, seeing the two Laborers dead in the ground. And somehow, Leo was still alive.
"Who's the doctor?" asked one of the Vultures, holding a gun.
Maria looked at Patti, who kept her face low while pumping Tim's ventilator. She then looked back at Bobby before taking a deep breath. Then, she stood up.
"I am," said Maria.
"We can't have you treat him anymore," said the Vulture, aiming her gun at Bobby.
"No! You don't need to kill him! I'll treat you!"
"We can put him out of his misery."
"That's my son… you kill him… and there's no way I'll ever treat your friends."
The Vulture gave an understanding nod. She then tilted her head, signaling the other Vultures to come in with the injured Vultures. Some had burn scars. Others had cuts. One had a gunshot wound.
"I'm Naomi," said the Vulture. "I have nursing experience. I'll help you. Sorry about pointing a gun at your son. We just wanted to let you know we were serious."
"Y-You got your point across," said Maria.
She sighed as she walked over the dead bodies on the floor, grabbing her trembling hands to keep them steady. She grabbed nonlatex gloves from the closet and wore them over her blood-stained hands. These people were not Laborers. She had no idea who they were. Not that it mattered. She had to help them, no matter who they were. She was forced to.
Smoke could be seen lingering outside the infirmary. Lincoln shook his head as he grabbed Lily's hands and headed somewhere else.
"Where now?" asked Lily.
"Girl Jordan's house," said Lincoln. "The most isolated manhole is there. We just have to pray there aren't any Vultures waiting above it or on the other side."
Lily nodded. She trusted her brother.
The sunset splashed colorful warm colors across a cool sky. It was going to get dark soon, but it didn't matter. The community was nearly completely taken over.
Becky walked out of the police station, whistling to the tune of the theme of 'The Shining' once again as she carried her fire axe across her shoulder. She looked around, seeing the Laborers being handcuffed by the armed Vultures. Some houses were on fire— due to the Molotov fires going out of control. Carol was behind her, being escorted by Shiwen.
One of the Vultures, holding a bow and a quiver on her back approached Becky.
"The City Hall building is still locked down," said the Vulture. "Windows are bulletproof and the cops are making it tough to break through the doors."
"Figure something out. I need to get in there before Lori and her group get back," said Becky.
"Yes, ma'am."
The Vulture jogged away as Becky smirked. She then continued to march towards the infirmary.
"Is this what you wanted?" asked Carol. "You just wanted to boss people around?"
"Oh, Carol… you know me better than that."
"It feels like I don't know you at all."
Becky turned around, having a serious expression on her face all of a sudden.
"Don't say that," said Becky. "I'm still the same Becky you know! Just a hell of a lot more honest and… driven. Yeah."
"The Becky I knew would've never done this. You're practically burning this place down."
"What is it that we did in Houlton?"
"That was… different."
"These cops are basically rogues. Schoffner's like Black. Lori is like David. Both are not fit to lead."
"You sound crazy, Becky. Yes, Schoffner has her flaws, but in what world is she like Black? She doesn't want to execute people— that's how this all started! Because we killed people— not as a last resort, but as the first choice! Schoffner wanted to stop that but we pushed her over the edge! All of this is our fault!"
"You've always been the kind to take the blame for everything. You're not like Lori. She blames others except for her and her family."
"It's not about that! Look at what your group is doing. You're responsible for your group! You're getting innocent people killed!"
"No one's innocent these days."
Carol closed her eyes as she tried not to cry for her friend. She then opened her eyes and looked at Becky, who kept on walking and whistling.
"You're wrong," said Carol. "Half of the people in this community have never even killed a roamer before. And your brother—!"
Becky raised her hand to hush Carol. She looked into the distance and saw Albert and Ronnie Anne lifting Lana over a fence. She unholstered her pistol and lifted it to line the iron sights with her right eye. She closed her left eye.
"No, Becky!" shouted Carol.
"Time for some payback," said Becky.
A rock was then thrown at Becky, hitting her in the shoulder. She flinched and quickly turned her gun towards the attacker, who turned out to be Lincoln. Shiwen swiftly placed a machete against Carol's neck.
"Oh, it's you."
"Becky…" groaned Carol.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill him," said Becky, holstering her pistol. "You better not make any sudden moves… Ace."
"Don't call me that," said Lincoln, raising his arm as he came closer.
"Well, you wanna be the hero, right? Savin' your good ol' Pop-Pops. You better not make any sudden moves or else… Carol gets the treatment I got."
Lincoln looked confused as he continued to walk towards Carol.
"My slit throat," sighed Becky. "Aren't you supposed to be smart?"
"You could have referred to the torture you got from Hana. Or was that just a lie?"
"I see Lori told you. I may have exaggerated some details… but the torture did happen. Just not as long as I said it did. After all… I would have needed time to organize seventy-seven Vultures."
Lincoln gulped. That was a lot of Vultures.
"You would never hurt Carol," said Lincoln.
"I know. But Shiwen would. She's merciless like that."
"Aren't you supposed to be their leader?"
"I'll be your leader too."
Lincoln paused as he looked at Becky's bruised left eye. She then looked at Shiwen and noticed how close the blade of the machete was to the skin of Carol's throat. She was bluffing.
He screamed and lunged towards Becky, taking out his Bowie knife as he tackled her down to the ground. Shiwen dropped her machete and took out her pistol as Lincoln placed his knife against Becky's throat.
"Easy there, Ace," groaned Becky. "That's a sensitive point."
"Make 'em stop!" he yelled.
Becky waved her hands to signal Shiwen and the nearby Vultures to lower their weapons. Carol inched towards the machete on the ground, though Shiwen quickly grabbed her other machete and pulled Carol upright.
"Why do you want to stop this?" asked Becky. "I'm killing everyone that is in Lori's way."
"You were gonna kill my grandpa!"
"He's a traitorous asshole. He caught me to stop Lori from becoming the leader."
Lincoln shook his head.
"Yeah, bet you didn't know that."
"You're a liar. You lied about everything… so sorry if I don't take your word for it."
"Guess you don't know him as well as you think you do. You guys think I'm being a bad friend and all… but I'm the only one who wants Lori in power. You guys took five months to possibly vote in Lori? It took me two days to take over this place! Would have been less had you guys helped me!"
"And you think killing our grandfather is what Lori wants?"
"I don't care what Lori wants. I'm only doing what needs to be done for all of us. She needs me. As long as I'm alive… she will be alive too."
"Because the Vultures will kill her if I kill you right now."
"You figured it out."
Becky slapped Lincoln's wrist and shoved his knife away before kneeing him in the stomach. She quickly stood up and grabbed her fire axe as Lincoln swung his knife. She dodged the swing and hit him with the handle of the axe. He quickly backed away, being wary of the axe's long reach.
"What are you trying to accomplish here, Ace? You kill me… they kill your sisters. They'll kill Carol too. They'll kill everyone in this town."
"They want you alive for some reason," said Lincoln. "I haven't figured that one out yet but… I'll just make you my hostage."
"Becky, we can stop him!" said Shiwen. "You don't have to fight him!"
"No, I do," said Becky. "It's the only way I keep you all alive. If he only fights me, then no one dies."
Shiwen looked concerned for Becky. Lincoln could see it all over her face. The same for the other nearby Vultures. But they remained where they stood. Lincoln figured it out.
"I get it now," said Lincoln. "You're the only one who can keep them all alive. Or so you made them believe. They think you're some kind of savior or something?"
"I am their savior. Calvin didn't care about their lives. Neither did Hana. But I do."
Lincoln then looked at the Vultures.
"You really believe that?" he exclaimed. "You think this person saved all of you? She's only using you to get what she wants!"
"Wrong!" exclaimed Polly.
Lincoln's eyes opened with surprise.
"She is our savior! Ever since she found us, not a single one of us have died. She cares about us! That's why she infiltrated your precious community by herself. If we wanted to, we could've invaded your community without her risking her own life. But that means a lot of us would've died— and no way was Becky going to let that happen! So she returned to a community where she was persecuted and brutalized by the police so that she could do all the hard work. She even risked her own life before when negotiating with the Laborers! She really cares about us!"
"Polly…"
Lincoln's fast reflexes snapped in, making him leap back just in time to dodge a low swing from Becky's axe. He could see that she was aiming for his legs. Becky then jogged closer to him and swung again, though Lincoln simply leaped above the swing. He then swung his own knife at her face— the tip of his knife making a long cut from her left cheek up to the bridge of her nose. A short pained cry came out of her as she covered her face. Lincoln then reversed the swing, bringing the tip straight towards the right side of her face. However, she quickly moved her face back and dragged her axe with her. She made another quick swing, though with less power, managing to strike the side of his right thigh. He screamed and fell to the ground. It was a bad cut, but not deep enough to rupture any veins.
"Oh my god…" gasped Polly, "...do we have to hurt him?"
"Polly…" panted Becky. "His sisters got Rusty killed."
"What?"
"We went out on a mission to kill General Black… you remember me telling you, right?"
"Yeah."
"But Lynn and Luan got themselves captured."
"You were with them," panted Lincoln.
"I never got captured. I wasn't like them."
"You got lucky."
"You wanna know luck? When Black arrived, he showed Lori's weakness as a leader— she could've saved her community had she just taken out Black right then and there. All she would have lost… was two of her nine sisters. But she didn't take the shot. Luna did. And she missed. No, wait… Lincoln, you remember, right? She didn't miss. She hit Lynn. She hit Lynn with a rifle bullet— and Lynn survived it. That's luck. Then, Luan escaped. Rusty followed her. But Luan gave his position away to make it easier to escape. And that's how he died."
Lincoln knew Becky didn't believe it either. They both knew Haley and Luan prioritized saving Lynn and Rusty. But nothing Lincoln could say would make Polly understand. Becky would twist it and make it sound worse than what actually happened.
"Lincoln… your sisters truly are devils…" said Polly. "Now I understand why Becky told me not to trust Lynn. I'll gladly kill her when she gets back."
"No, she's lying," said Lincoln. "My sisters had nothing to do with him!"
"And then there's you… wrapped up in your pity party over not being able to save Rusty… why?" asked Becky. "Why do you feel responsible?"
"Stop… mentioning his name."
"You can't handle the ugly truth?"
"Stop lying on his name!"
Lincoln grabbed the tip of his knife and tossed it with immense power— created by rage. Becky flinched by turning her face. The flinch saved her life as the knife zoomed past her face. She then turned back towards Lincoln, looking at him with shocked eyes. Her eyes then filled with anger.
"You… you were gonna kill me?" she panted. "You!"
Becky screamed as she dropped her axe and ran up to Lincoln, grabbing his hair and kneeing him in the jaw. She then slammed his head against the ground before stomping on his chest. He coughed up saliva stained by his bleeding tongue before being kicked in the stomach.
"Stop, Becky!" shouted Carol. "Stop!"
Becky knelt down and wrapped a hand around Lincoln's throat as she punched him repeatedly. Lincoln groaned out in pain before hearing the cocking sound of a pistol. He then felt the cold barrel of the pistol touching his left temple.
"You won't get away with it!" screamed Becky.
"Goddamn it, stop!" yelled Carol as tears flowed out of her eyes. "Becky, what the hell is wrong with you?! You're gonna kill Lori's brother? You do that… and I will burn the hell out of your dead body after Lori kills you!"
Carol choked up. Becky faced her. Her murderous green eyes stared intensely at Carol.
She then broke into laughter.
Polly looked at Shiwen, who shrugged. Carol sniffled as Becky continued to laugh hysterically. Becky then pointed the gun against her own head. Shiwen, Polly, and the other Vultures all flinched.
"Is this what you want?" asked Becky.
Carol shook her head in a distraught manner.
"Just… please… stop," sniveled Carol.
Becky looked away, staring into the burning fire in the distance. A few residents ran out of the blazing house before the Vultures ran up to them, grabbing them. They dragged the residents to City Hall and tossed them against the windows. The Vultures then began to execute them one by one. She then turned away and looked back at Carol.
"I'm sorry…" said Becky. "I lost control there for a minute. I just… I just don't want to die."
She then saw smoke clouding her vision. She looked down to see her holding the fire axe before the smoke completely fogged up her vision.
"Becky?" exclaimed Shiwen.
Becky stood up and backed away from the smoke as she looked around, not seeing Lincoln anywhere in sight. She then looked down at the ground and saw smoke pouring heavily out of a small canister.
"Polly… see if you can follow his blood trail," said Becky. "He's bleeding from the thigh. But he's not bleeding out, so the trail won't go far. Hurry."
"Understood," said Polly before she and the other nearby Vultures ran into the smoke.
Becky looked at Shiwen and motioned her to follow her. Shiwen grabbed Carol's arm firmly and kept her moving.
"You got more injuries to treat," sighed Becky as she touched her blood-covered nose.
Sam paced around the room. She looked up at the dead camera in the corner of the ceiling. She then looked back at Simon.
"Don't suppose I could use this?" asked Sam, taking off the paperclip earring.
"Do you have another?" gasped Simon with excitement.
"No… Luna has the other one."
"Only someone really smart and with a ton of experience could pick a lock with a simple paperclip. You would need another paperclip to make it a lot easier, especially for a beginner like you. I can't even pick a lock with one paperclip."
"Leni picked a lock with one paperclip."
"Who's Leni?"
"One of Lori's sisters."
"I… never heard of a Leni… how does she look like?"
"She's not around anymore."
"Oh. Well… she must've been really smart. Or she probably robbed a ton of houses under her family's noses, heh."
"She was an angel. But not so bright. None of the Louds told you about her? Luna, Lori, Lincoln…? Lana?"
Simon shrugged. Sam scoffed quietly to herself as she continued to pace around the room.
"Time to… conduct… Operation Escape… the… scary room…" muttered Sam to herself.
"What are you doing?" asked Simon.
"I'm trying to put myself in Lincoln's shoes."
"Why?"
"He's the man with the plan. He always knows how to get himself out of a tight spot. Of course, you would know that if you actually hung out with him. Or any of us."
Simon looked down. Sam felt her heart sink softly.
"Sorry," said Sam. "I didn't mean to be rude."
"No, it's okay. If I had known that, I would have brought him here with me."
"Don't blame yourself, I was just venting. I… tend to do that a lot lately. Luna says it doesn't bother her, but I could tell it does."
"I gotta admit… I can't picture Luna being annoyed."
"Oh yeah, she hides it very well. But having dated her for more than three years, I've come to know a lot of things about her. Like she does this thing with her eyebrows— one of them goes down and the other does this… weird position like it wants to go down too but Luna's resisting the urge… oh! It's the same thing Mom did with Dad, remember?"
"Umm…"
"You don't remember?"
"No…"
"O-Oh, it's okay. It was a long time ago, anyways."
"Is this what venting is?"
"Not exactly, venting's more like—"
An idea sprung up in Sam's head.
"That's it—!" she gasped.
Sam looked up at the ceiling, only to see a vent no wider than the landline phone outside the room. She sighed in disappointment.
"What?" asked Simon.
"I thought we could get out through the vents," said Sam. "It's what Lincoln did at one point like a year ago. It's a pretty crazy story… not something I'd like to share though. Bad memory, you know."
"Yeah."
Simon then lifted his head rapidly. Sam looked at him, seeing the light bulb above his head.
"The lightbulb," said Simon.
"What about it?"
"It has wires inside. Just remove the wire and it should work great as a tension tool!"
"Oh, that's smart! I didn't even think about that! Very sharp mind! Haha!"
"Heh, that's new."
Sam removed her boot and lifted it.
"Woah, woah, what are you doing?" asked Simon.
"I'm going to break the bulb to get the wire inside."
"Turn it off first."
"Oh. Right. Didn't think about that."
Sam hopped over to the light switch and turned off the light. The room faded to black.
The twilight sky reflected the light coming from the burning houses and cars around the town center. The roamers outside the walls were gathered around the main gate, reaching their hands between the metal bars. The other roamers scratched at the walls, which stood sturdy with the exception of the wall that the armored truck crashed into, which swayed softly as the roamers pushed themselves onto it.
Becky looked away at the swaying wall and entered the infirmary after Carol and Shiwen. The stairs were ridden with bullet holes while the living room had puddles of blood and flesh. Bodies could be seen stacked below the shattered windows. The rest of the living room behind a toppled table had Vultures in all the beds except for two of them. In one of the beds was an unconscious Tim with Nurse Patti standing next to him. And in the other was Leo, who was on his stomach while his blood seeped out of the bandage in his back.
"Oh, good, we need extra pairs of hands," said Maria, tending to a Vulture.
"Where's Naomi?" asked Becky.
"Upstairs. She is— wait… how do—"
"It's her group," said Carol.
Maria faced Carol, seeing her accompanied by Shiwen. She could tell Shiwen was a Vulture based on her clothing and the surgical mask that she kept on her neck, as well as her dirt-stained face.
"You don't have to tell everyone everything," said Becky.
"I just wanted her to understand why I can't lend a helping hand," said Carol.
"Just treat my fucking face."
Becky groaned as she rubbed her head. Carol grabbed an ice pack, wrapped it with a towel, and moved Becky's hands away before placing the ice pack on her left eye. She then grabbed a wet wipe, poured rubbing alcohol on it, and placed the wipe on the cut on Becky's face.
"Ouch."
"Sorry," said Carol.
Maria gulped as she continued to treat her patient. Carol put a bandage on the cut. She then grabbed another wet wipe and prepared to clean the rest of Becky's face.
"No," said Becky. "I'm good."
"You still have blood all over your face."
"Leave it."
Carol nodded and used the wet wipe on her own hands instead. Becky then stood up as she looked at Naomi entering the room.
"Becky!" smiled Naomi. "Thanks to this place… we managed to save all of our people."
"Not one person died?" asked Becky.
"Not one person."
Becky turned around, looking at the bodies. She nodded approvingly before tilting her head. She walked over to Leo's bed and looked at the uniform on the floor next to the bed. She then grabbed Leo's face softly as she turned him to face her.
"Becky…" groaned Leo. "Your group… they saved me…"
"Naomi, this one's a cop," said Becky.
"Yeah, I know, but he looks kinda young doesn't he?"
"Doesn't matter. They need to understand we're not here to help them."
Naomi nodded. She removed a knife from her belt and walked over to Leo. Becky then grabbed the walkie-talkie from Leo's pant and placed it in her back belt.
"What are you doing?" asked Maria. "He is going to pull through!"
"This isn't about stopping his suffering," said Becky. "Maria… you've seen what these cops did. You should be on my side."
"He was only doing his job. He is young— he does not deserve this. Please, Becky, I defended you."
Becky then walked over to Maria and turned her head around so that she faced her patient.
"No… no, you didn't. You only listened to Lori."
Becky then pulled out her gun and pointed it at the back of Maria's head. Carol gasped and stood up as Shiwen held her back.
"Becky, no!" cried out Carol.
"Where's Bobby?" asked Becky.
"I am not going to tell you," said Maria.
"What, you think I'm gonna kill him? I just need some insurance— for when Lori comes back."
"That's her son, right?" asked Naomi.
"Yeah."
"He's upstairs. He got shot by one of the Laborers but he's fine. Bullet ricocheted off his ribs. He's completely healthy."
"You'll have to watch him then, Naomi. You… are good on watching both Bobby and Carol, right?"
Naomi nodded.
"Good. Kill Leo."
"As you wish."
"Carol…" groaned Leo. "Tell my mom… I love her…"
Carol's breath quivered. Naomi looked at her.
"You heard that?" asked Naomi.
Carol looked at her with a surprised expression. She then nodded.
"Okay."
Naomi then used both hands to lunge the knife deep into Leo's skull. Afterwards, she removed her knife and whistled as she went back to helping the patients. The other Vultures removed Leo's body from the bed and dragged him over to the pile of bodies.
Carol looked at the pile of bodies. She saw some wearing police uniforms. The rest wore normal clothes.
She wanted to cry again. Becky walked over to Carol and looked at her. However, Carol didn't look back.
"Carol…" said Becky in a low voice. "It doesn't have to be awkward between us."
"I just want you to stop," said Carol.
Becky placed her hand on Carol's chin. Carol looked back at Becky. The right side of her face was barely splattered with blood. But the left side of her face had a large cut covered with a bandage, a bruised eye under the ice pack, a cut lip, and a lot of unwiped blood— some not belonging to her.
"You'll see soon enough," said Becky.
Becky then walked out of the infirmary with Shiwen behind her.
Carol looked at the pile of bodies again. Leo's body was at the top of the stack.
Tears rolled down her eyes.