Survival of the Unfit

Chapter 26

Levi

 “One fish, two fish. Red fish, blue fish.”

A knock on the door interrupted my light reading for the evening. With an annoyed yawn, I closed my favorite Dr. Seuss book and threw it back on the bookshelf with the cookbooks in the kitchen, shuffling to the door and rubbing my eyes. Mom and Dad had left for Julia’s a couple hours earlier and being home alone was the perfect opportunity to read it without having Dad or Mom tease me about reliving my childhood.

What time was it anyway though? 10. Not even that late, what was up with me? Well I wasn’t going out tonight anyway, it was too risky. I had Hailey spread the word to the innocents there’d be no patrol tonight, so everyone should just stay at home for the night. I don’t know how effective spreading that message would be, but I just hoped it did the trick. If the only goal nowadays was to kill April and I, I think it made sense for me to stay home, and I think everyone else wasn’t at risk for the moment. I hoped April would stay on her side of town for the night.

There were still lots to consider about the whole murder situation. Five people now, five traits. She was unfathomably powerful, unfathomably smart, unfathomably cunning perhaps. And with her influence, she’s put a bounty on April’s head everyone’s willing to go after. That’s why groups had started to form all of sudden, evolving from singular killers and victims to systematic slaughters of people as bait for April. And perhaps me. What did this person want so bad? What she did want with April, from April? Her…cake decorating skills? Although I would think it’s April’s flawless combination of strength and agility that’d be her best trait now. I still wasn’t getting something, but the one thing I knew for certain? It’d be a fucking nightmare to kill the killer. And the longer it took to find her, the stronger she got.

But I shook my worried thoughts away and got to the door and opened it for whoever was there, rubbing my face and asking the standard, “Hello?”

I caught a glimpse of the figure before me in a plain black t shirt and dark jeans, hands together, wrung nervously. It was a girl, and her hair was long and brown. Eyes that unmistakable mint color, but watery and sad. Speak of the devil. 

She sniffed and squeaked out, “Hi.”

“April, what happened?” I asked, going to set an arm on her shoulder, but she pushed past me and went straight to the living room, down the hall and to the right. I followed, not noticing any wounds on her, but she was really distressed. And in my house. Huh.

I walked in on her pacing with her hands above her head, sniffing occasionally. “April…?” I started cautiously.

“I fucked up. I fucked, okay, I fucked up and just need somewhere to cool…to cool down.” I saw her close her eyes and take a deep breath.

“That’s fine, that’s fine,” I reassured her, taking a few steps forward. “But what happened? I mean, are you hurt?”

“My parents caught me with wine in my room,” she responded. “And I came home after work, and they…they just tore me apart, and I couldn’t…” She sniffed and wiped a quick tear from her face, and then another, and another, and then she was full on crying into her hands.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay. You’re okay, it’s all fine,” I coaxed, setting a hand on her hip and trying to catch her eye. I attempted to gently pulled her wrist away from her face, but she shook her head and then collapsed into me.

I stumbled a step back as she apologized profusely while continuing to sob, arms around my midsection, chin on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, this is so embarrassing, I’m really sorry to do this. I won’t bother you again.”