Eutopia - Apocalypse

Chapter 20

Jinn arched his back and growled with a wave of fury, tensing his thick muscles against the steel of the net that kept him captive. The metal creaked ominously as Jinn tried to unfurl himself from his hunched position on the floor.

'Stop,' warned Scott, a stocky lad from the next farm over. He had been one of Mike's friends, always the first to jump on a dare and always the one to push the limits recklessly. He had been the first to laugh coldheartedly when she'd fallen from the tree and broken her arm, mimicking her cry when Mike had run to the cottage for Phoibe. She'd never cared for him much after that, but put up with him for Mike's sake.

'Or what? You're going to scratch my ass with that pitchfork?' Jinn chuckled, his anger turning to wry amusement as he wrenched at a link in the net and caused the metal wire to stretch a little. Most of the group gathered in the cottage had moved to the far end of the room, sitting around the fire Phoibe had brought to life in the stone hearth as they muttered in subdued tones and glanced at him from time to time. Scott had offered to stand watch over Jinn, a cocky grin forever tugging the corners of his wide, frog-like mouth as his hand stroked the pole of pitchfork he leant against. Eutopia sat huddled on a low wooden stool positioned just on the peripheral of the firelight. The flames flickered soft shadows over her hunched frame as she rested her chin on her drawn up knees, her feet tucked beneath her as she perched like a little elf with her loyalties torn. 'Can't say that would be unwelcome. Sitting in this shithole has given me fleas.' Jinn paused in his metal wrenching just long enough to scratch exaggeratedly at his arse.

'Think you're so big, ruler of the earth, huh? We won't be crushed by your kind any more. We're going to pick you off one by one. Starting with you.' Scott grinned, flashing his brown teeth as he lowered his pitchfork and advanced a few steps towards Jinn. Irritated by the thick, nasal quality of the boy's voice, Jinn flexed as though making a grab for his ankle which sent Scott reeling back a step as quickly as if he'd just been bitten by something nasty.

'I'm going to pluck you like a chicken, fucker,' spat Scott as he caught what he thought was a giggle from Eutopia when he stumbled backwards. However, when he turned to glower at her, he found her frowning gently at whatever Horace was insisting upon in hushed tones to the group gathered around him. 'Jed,' Scott called, 'got any of them iron stakes? We need to do this now.'

'Sure, in the smithy's. I'll have to get them.' Jed straightened up, cracking his knuckles as his dark brows knitted together. 'What do you want them for?'

'You ever pluck the wings off a fly or the feathers from a chicken?' Scott asked with a sickening smile on his too-wet lips.

'Not a live one, no.'

'They don't keep still. Think this huge fucker will stay still if we're hacking his wings off? We need to nail him down.'

Jed looked to Horace as though waiting for his confirmation on the order as the old man stood too, a weary acceptance etched on his face as he gave a nod so small it was practically a twitch. Eutopia raised her head and followed Jed with her eyes as he stalked from the room without a glance at her and paused only at the door to scoop up a basket of split logs to carry with him.

'Do angels bleed?' the Thatcher boy asked eagerly, voicing her own sudden thought, though with a little more excitement that Eutopia felt.

'We're about to find out,' grinned Scott as he licked his lips and leant against his pitchfork again.

'Maybe we should do this outside?' Phoibe suggested, wringing her hands as she thought about the mess she would have to clean up. People began to move, a few of the men checked the edges on their blades for sharpness and Marcus the thatcher hefted his reclaimed baseball bat, swinging it carelessly with one eye squinted at Jinn as though he was taking aim. A few of the women looked uncertain, though Tally grinned manically as she helped herself to Phoibe's best paring knife. Eutopia noticed her usually pale cheeks were flushed and her brown eyes were too bright.