To Be A Killer

Chapter 78: Bad Moon Rising (Part 2)

"It'll be fine. It's going to be fine. It's just a run."

My heart pounds at the sound of Sam's voice echoing in my head. He sounds so calm, but I know that something's wrong. I can feel it.

Then I hear her laugh.

"That's what he thinks, eh? Head towards that bridge, Five... He's right, you know. It is magic. She's right too. It is dangerous."

"Five, don't slow down. You have to get away from that bunker. It's gonna blow any minute!" Sam tells, and I feel someone grab my arm to pull me along.

"I can't have more people trying to save me!"  Paula yells.

"Remember, this isn't just for you."

That's Veronica...

I hear her laugh again.

"I bet you can outrun him, though. I just love to see you sweat."

Boom!

The ground shakes and I'm forced back into the present. I instantly bring up a hand to wipe at my bloody nose. Thankfully no one else sees it. No one else notices. They're too distracted by the explosion.

I look back, but I see no smoke, although it might just be because of how far under the ground that base was.

"The charges are detonated," Janine says. "A complete success!"

"Did we-did we just kill a whole lot of people from New Canton?" Sam strains out, and I feel my heart sink at the realization.

"Kill? No." She pauses for a moment. "Oh, yes. Right. The charges Four, Five and Six laid were dummies... duds. No, I had already placed charges at the perimeter, presuming that the layout was similar to that of our Abel lab. We've sealed about one fifth of the population of New Canton into that underground lab."

"To... starve to death."

"I have satisfied myself that the stores contain ample recourses for a population of up to 8,000 people, or Moonchild may try to dig them out, which will further compromise her ability to attack us."

"That's... actually quite brilliant."

"Yes, I... it seems to me there are worse things that bring imprisoned. One must learn to manage one's emotions."

"Um, right," Sam says. "Is this-I mean, it feels like there's a subtext to all of this."

"Well, knowing we didn't kill a bunch of people sort of puts my conscience at ease," I mumble with a sniffle. "Lord knows I've killed enough people for at least ten lifetimes."

"Five, darling, you seem to have quite a bit of smeared blood on your face," Amelia says, her brow raised. My eyes widen and I bring my hand up again to try to wipe it away, but by the look on Jody and Owen's faces I guess I only smeared it more.

"What happened?" Sam asks frantically, his voice suddenly raising an octave. "Did you-did you get hurt and we just not see it?"

"I'm fine. It's just a nose bleed. Nothing to freak out about."

"You weren't bleeding when we left the base," Owen says, and I shrug.

"It just happens sometimes... when I get stressed."

He blinks. "That was literally the worst lie I've ever heard... ever."

"I scratched myself."

"I take it back. What you just said right there was the worst lie I've ever heard."