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I hover in the shadows and watch as Dr Shaheed walks to the glass and looks at a quivering Casey. As a reanimate I don't recall Dr Shaheed's face looking like it does now: hard, cold and callous. She turns to Dale, "Do it Dale, put the kid out of her misery and let's move on," she says.
I watch as Dale's face literally lights up. His smile is wide and the whiteness of his teeth actually creates a beam of light that reflects off the glass and on to his face.
As Dale begins to role his sleeves up, one of the male D:Associates addresses him, "Do a real neat job; we need her looking flawless on reanimation, we don't want the press suspecting anything – you hear me?"
Dale bristles with excitement, "Oh, I hear you." He puts his hand's around the D:Associate's neck, so that both his thumbs are positioned in the middle of the mans throat, "I'll press down on her windpipe, closing it with my thumbs, I'll make sure she chokes real slow." He removes his hands from the man's neck and flicks a finger between his eyes and the man's, "And this way I get to see the terror in her eyes as she dies – awesome!" He says, almost salivating at the sickness of his own words.
A myriad mix of emotions fly through me: anger, terror, heartache, but one overrides them all, my impotency. I yearn for the mortal help of: Toby, Jess, the officer, and my own physical self. I glance at Casey, and see her wrap my shirt around her and furl further into a foetal position.
A position that I know will offer her no protection.
I glance between a positively posturing Dale and a defenceless diminishing Casey. Her petite frame is no match for Dale's tall gym toned power; this is the ultimate in un-even playing fields. And my powerlessness to help shames me to my spiritual core.
......
The Association
Three of our members are now outside Kirk's residence waiting for the officer to finish his press interviews. He is doing a sterling job of deflecting the journalists and news crews from the truth of this situation.
The officer has access to the property and our members are armed; should the situation inside become volatile, they have been briefed to act accordingly.
......
Dr Shaheed throws Dale some clean bath towels, "Here, take these in with you; put them under her before you go in for the kill, she'll no doubt soil herself and you don't want the indignity of getting covered in her mess," she says, matter of factly.
On hearing these words, Casey's body tremors and a low-level noise, like a whimpering, emanates from her.
Dale catches the towels, "Oh yeah, they always poop themselves right near the end," he says, with an experienced zeal.
