Deadland

Chapter 119- Cave

(TW!! Mentions of drug usage!!)

It's the ass crack of dawn, I woke up from a nightmare and I'm just sitting on the couch, drinking a glass of water and waxing the thong of my whip. I think Magna went out hunting because her pickaxe and gun are gone. If she's not back by noon, I'll go look for her. I look up when I hear frantic knocks on my front door, so frantic I jump off of the couch and run to it. I swing the door open and see Rosita. She's pale and sweaty and breathing heavily, she's got a bruise on her jawline and a few red marks on the side of her neck. "Who the fuck did this to you?" I hiss, gripping the door. 

"Donte. He killed Siddiq. I-your house was closest." She pants, her eyes welling with tears. 

"Where the hell is he?" I ask, clenching my jaw and grabbing my knife off of the table next to me. 

"In Siddiq's house." 

"Is he alive?" 

"Yes and no. Knocked his ass out." 

I nod, "Good, I'll get him and bring him to the infirmary to keep him alive so I can beat his ass. You go and get Gabriel." 

"Do you need help?" 

I scoff and close the door behind me, "Fuck no." 

After I get Donte to the infirmary, I flop him on a bed and tie his bloody hands together, making sure the bones of his wrists are uncomfortably pushed together. He's got a cut on his cheekbone and blood smeared from his nose and lips. I walk over to the sink, fill up a bowl with water, and dump it on his head agonizingly slow so that he inhales it.

"What the hell?!" He exclaims, waking up and gasping for air. Just seeing his eyes open makes me want to rip them out. 

"You move, I kill you. Got it?" I order, setting the bowl on a table. Just as I do, Carol, Gabriel, Inejra, Daryl, and Rosita come inside. All of them look terrifyingly angry- I'm glad I'm not in Donte's place right now. 

As soon as Daryl locks eyes with him, he walks over and punches him in the jaw. "Hope that hurts." He grunts, walking away and shaking his fist out. 

Donte grunts quietly and spits out a bit of blood, eyeing Daryl like he was in the wrong. "It doesn't matter. None of this matters. Watch enough people get incinerated, devoured alive you see how ridiculous it is getting attached to ourselves. But knowing that sets you free." Donte says, smiling. Gabriel stands before him with Inejra next to him; though, Gabriel stands slightly in front of Inejra, as if to protect her.

"Is that what you're doing?" Carol asks, sitting on one bed across from him. "Setting us free?" 

"If you learn that lesson it'll only help you." Donte says. 

"What, so we can be more like you?" Daryl sasses, lighting a cigarette. 

"Accept the future." Donte replies, narrowing his eyes. As Daryl pulls the cigarette out of his mouth, I grab it from his fingers, resulting in a slightly offended look. I raise it to my lips and take a long drag, savoring the prickly smoke that drags down my throat. 

"Siddiq depended on you." Gabriel says while I hand Daryl his cigarette back. "Why put him through all that hell in the barn just to kill him months later? I-I can't see an ideology behind that." 

"I liked Siddiq." Donte admits, looking up at Gabriel. 

"Oh, you liked him?" Rosita chides from behind him, crossing her arms.

Donte's face drops, "He wasn't part of the plan. But he found out who I was, so I had no choice." 

"What plan?" Inejra asks.