In The Darkness (Project Artemis #1)(12)
Or at least that’s what it looked like as he moved through the room toward the kitchen with the bowl of food he hadn’t gotten Persephone to take even a bite of in all his time with her. He hurried toward the sink to wash down the evidence of his failure to force her to eat. Dishes from at least two days of meals piled up on one side, while on the other side beer bottles sat soaking in water. He had no idea why any of them would be doing that, but he didn’t care.
He just needed to get this grey shit down the drain before any of them saw how much was left in the bowl.
As he pushed aside the dirty plates crusted with egg from breakfast, he hurried to turn the water on and wash away everything in the bowl. Behind him, the heavy sound of footsteps told him someone planned to join him, so he pushed the spoon faster to get rid of it all into the drain.
“So how was your first time dealing with her?” the one everyone called Drist asked. “She’s a real bitch, isn’t she? I had to show her who’s boss once or twice.”
Nick took a deep breath of relief as all the grey oatmeal stuff disappeared and then turned around to see the man talking to him. Drist had light hair cut short to his head and far too many tattoos for any person to have on his neck and face. Any world that let this guy have control over anything was a world with serious problems since he obviously had made some extremely poor choices concerning his appearance.
Worst of all, though, was his obsession with that gun he waved around so much. Nick had been with them for just under a day, and in that time, Drist had used the handgun for everything from scratching his balls to punctuating his thoughts by pointing it at the person he was speaking to. Assuming he kept it loaded, Drist was definitely the most dangerous of all the militia men Nick had met so far.
He suspected Drist had been one of the men who had hurt Persephone. Any guy who needed to show off a gun as much as he did definitely had power issues with women. And other men. Hell, he probably had power issues with animals.
Before he could get lost in the horrific images forming in his head about what Drist had likely done to some poor kid’s pets growing up, Nick forced himself to answer his questions.
“You know how bitches like her are. They’re used to having everything given to them on a silver platter. She probably likes the idea that men are feeding her. I was thinking next time I might just put the bowl on the ground and let her eat like a fucking dog.”
Drist’s eyes lit up like he just heard the best thing all day. “Do it! You’d just have to make sure her ankles stay tied so she couldn’t get away, but I’d pay to see that bitch feeding like a dog.”
Thankfully, he turned around to tell the rest of the men playing video games about the fantastic idea, leaving Nick alone. Either that guy had the tiniest dick in the world, or some woman had wrecked him bad in the past. Maybe he had some traumatic thing with his mother. Nick could see the guy having mommy issues. He didn’t know what his problem was, but he silently vowed to keep him and the rest of the men away from Persephone as much as possible.
He couldn’t avoid dealing with them, unfortunately, though. For him to get her out of there any time soon, he needed to know what they planned. That meant he had to strike up a conversation with at least one of them.
The ones he’d met at the bar who brought him there had left, probably to go recruit more willing volunteers to the militia’s cause. That left Drist, who Nick never wanted to have to deal with, if he could help it, and four others who had done nothing but play on that X-Box since he got there earlier in the day.
Scanning the room, he tried to pick the one who looked the most civilized. It wasn’t an easy choice. None of them looked like they’d win any prizes for being very bright or even decent. As he considered which one to speak to, the guy with the ponytail threw the game controller in his hands across the room toward the guy on the couch.
“Fuck this! Let those damn zombies eat you if you don’t want to help me!” he barked before storming away toward the room where Persephone stayed.
Nick’s body immediately went on red alert. He couldn’t let that maniac go in there and terrorize her, so he quickly followed him. But instead of heading to that room, he marched down the hallway toward another bedroom all of them shared.
Relieved, Nick followed and saw him sitting on one of the old stained mattresses on the floor still stewing about how his buddy hadn’t supported his zombie killing in the game. He mumbled something about the guy being a motherfucker or some other kind of fucker, and when he turned to see someone else coming into the room, he jumped up like he’d been startled.
“What the fuck do you want?” he snapped.
Christ, the anger came off him in waves. Maybe video game zombie hunting wasn’t the best thing for him. Maybe some needlepoint might be better for this guy.
Nick held his hands up in front of him to let him know he meant no harm. “It’s cool, man. I just came in here to get away from those fucking zombies.”
For a moment, the ponytail guy stared like he didn’t know whether or not to believe him, but then he nodded his agreement. “I know, right? Who needs that shit? Fucking zombies. It’s not like they actually exist. Killing people is much easier anyway. That’s the kind of game I want. A people killing game.”
“Exactly. What the fuck do I care about killing creatures that eat fucking brains? Brains aren’t for eating, crazy fuckers,” Nick said with a chuckle.