Chapter 22: Elektra

Chapter 21

Elektra

I get out of the car. We've driven for miles with nothing but barren landscapes for company. I flinch, the pain across my stomach has flared up. God, no. No.

“Lex, everything all good?” Danny asks, strolling over to me. It's registered. The pain has registered on my face. I smile.

“Yeah, fantastic. I'm fantastic. My feet have gone to sleep but I'll manage.” Jason pats down his pockets and reassures himself. “Are you all right?”

He nods and takes out a locket.

“Lucas wanted me to give you this,” He says, giving the piece of jewellery a further examination. It's beautiful, it really is. The gold has not tarnished or corroded. He hands it to me. I open the locket and look at the image. Jesus, is that me? The strange looking child, staring into the camera lens? Is that my mother? Wow, she was gorgeous. Exactly as I had imagined her. Not with the vivid blonde hair of my drug fuelled illusions.

I don't know what to say. I'm so overcome with emotion that anything I do say would be entirely redundant. I look up, tears filling my eyes. I rub my eyes, trying to prevent myself from crying. God, wow I'm a mess. Wait, why did Jason have to give this to me? Does my brother think I am so volatile that I would just obliterate my surroundings if I had any attack of emotion? Jesus, am I really that bad?

“Why didn't Lucas give this to me himself?”

“I do not know to be honest. He said he never had the chance, which still does not make any sense to me.” I run my finger over the filigree of the locket. It is so beautiful; I put the locket around my neck, turning around to indicate for Jason to do up the clasp.

“Well, I'd better go and say thank you then. Wow. I have a few questions about it.”

I start my waddle towards Lucas. He is holding Sophia in his arms, engaged in some form of baby babble conversation.

“Hey,” I gesture towards my neck to which he smiles, “thank you, it's beautiful.”

“I thought you'd like it. Gold compliments green eyes. I thought it was time you finally had it; it might look a bit strange if I were to wear it,” he laughs to himself, a sad laugh.

“Yeah, it's gorgeous. Why did you want me to have it, if you don't mind me asking?” He looks up at me and smiles.

“It was time. I'd kept it for the sole purpose of giving it to you when I found you; I always knew I would, I felt it in my blood. I wanted you to have something to remind you of mum and of who you used to be. You were so innocent, so naive. I wanted you to be reminded of that, especially after what happened today.”

Right, here comes the condescending leader talk. The patronising lecture from a man who knows nothing at all. He doesn't know what Connall did, even if I told him he still wouldn't understand. I can't even explain all of the things running through my head and even if I did, he still wouldn't f***ing understand.

“Uh huh. I'm not going to apologise for what I did; he took everything away so I killed him. For Christ's sake, he was going to gut me if I didn't fight back and, considering how heavily pregnant I am, I think I did pretty well.” My attempt to diffuse the situation has gone down like a lead weight. He just gives me a stern look and turns away from me. God, he's going to be pull the 'I'm above you so I know best' look that one who give a child before chastising them. I'm not going to say anything. I don't have justify myself to him.

“I answered your question, will you answer mine? I mean you owe me one answer. Why are you and Jason so bloody trigger happy? You two never seem to think, you just shoot without thinking about the repercussions.”

“Well, not quite. I'm not trigger happy; that would involve me having a love of guns. I stab people so I guess that would be make me slash happy which just sounds wrong. We're only 'trigger happy' because we have to be.”

He shakes his head and walks away. For the love of God. I grab the locket and move it up and down the chain. I've just got to calm myself down.

“What was that about?” Jason touches my shoulder.

“He doesn't get it. I didn't expect him to but you were right; he won't ever get it. It doesn't change anything in my mind.”

“You are both incredibly stubborn, I will give you that. Why and how would you relent? Connall would have disembowelled you had you not done anything; I should have been with you,” he leans against the car behind him, “I should never have let you go alone. I had a gut feeling that something might go wrong and it did.”

“You couldn't have known for certain; something didn't feel right but you couldn't know for certain. Hey, don't blame yourself,” I put my hand on his shoulder and smile at him. He sighs and nods.

“Right. It is just difficult to accept that I cannot control events.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I cannot always protect you, no matter how much I want to. I promised myself to do whatever it took to protect you and the bump. I heard him say he would cut the baby out of you and that is when I began to panic. I know you can handle yourself but I still worry,” he sighs and looks at me. I try and muster a smile by fail. I hold onto the locket, feeling the filigree designs with the edge of my fingertips.

“I can't ever repay you for everything you have done me; you have protected me and defended me to the ends of the earth. I can't express how grateful I am to you, Jace. You don't owe me...or 'bump' anything more.” Jason smiles at me and draws me into a hug. A shot reverberates. I jump backwards. That shot sounded too close for comfort.

“What the hell was that?” I ask, removing my gun from my belt and checking how many bullets I have left.

“I would say it was a few streets away. Other people must be in this area then?” Jason unhooks his knife.

“Helene and Elektra, you stay here with the kids. Jason, Danny you come with me. We'll see if we can find out what is going on,” Lucas instructs, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

“No f***ing way. You're not leaving me here; I'm not an invalid.” My protestations make Jason smile or so it appears from the corner of my eye. Lucas grunts in frustration; he storms over to me and drags me off to the side.

“Hate to break it to you but you are,” he whispers in my ear, “if anything happens to Helene, I need someone to be here and it might as well be you.” I turn away from him, look him up and down and give him a look of disdain. I slap him.

“How dare you? 'Might as well be you'? First thing, would you like to be any more condescending? Second thing, I'm more useful than your wife by a long shot and, if you are so filled with feigned concern about her, maybe you should stay and deal with your invalid?” I object, making sure that the others can hear my protestations. Helene makes an audible gasp. Danny puts his hand over his mouth as if to mock me in some way. Lucas grabs me by the wrist and looks me in the eye.

“You're staying here. No ifs, not buts. You're going to stay here and keep your f***ing mouth closed, understand?” I reluctantly nod my head while struggling to release my hand from his grip. He lets go of my hands and beckons the others to come with him.

Danny looks back at me and winks. I'm not in the mood for his bulls**t right now. I slink back onto the bonnet of one of the cars. Helene walks over to me and crosses her arms.

“An invalid, am I?”

“Well, you can't fight and you have two kids that need you so...yeah, that would qualify in my mind. Actually, I'll put it this way, if I'm an invalid then so are you without a doubt,” I respond.

“Hm, I see. Vas te faire encule! You understand nothing; you think I don't want to be out there? As soon as that sprog comes out of you, you'll be just like me. Nothing more than a mother who cannot do anything. I could be one of the only friends you have left,” she leans close until her face is a few inches away from mine. I can smell what she had for breakfast: vodka and bread. I suck my teeth at her; she's the one that doesn't understand anything whatsoever. There's a difference between being inhibited by responsibility and being weak. I can't be accused of being weak, I'm sure of that. I put my hand on my swollen abdomen, trying to reduce the pain that feels like it is ripping me apart.

One. One Riser emerges, followed by another...and another. A horde is heading towards us. Oh s**t. Oh s**t.

“Helene, grab Alfie and Sophia. We have to get out of here now.”

“What?”

“Grab your kids! We have to move now, unless you have a desire to become Riser kibble!” I yell, shaking her shoulders. She opens the car door and lifts Sophia out. I go around to the other side and undo Alfie's seatbelt. He looks at me with a look of confusion; he can't tell the urgency of the situation. I offer him my hand, which he refuses, and I pick him up and carry him over my shoulder. I begin to run to the right. There was a beach just a few roads away; if we can get there, we might be able to wait this out. One Risers blind-sides me, grabbing my arm. I kick the back of its leg, forcing it to the ground. From this angle, I begin stamping on its head until it finally lets go of me. I have to keep running. I look back to make sure that Helene is still behind me; she's using the tried and tested 'I'm just going to duck and weave and hope that nothing catches me' method of escape. I have to keep going.

I run in a side road ad beckon Helene to follow me. I've got to come up with a plan pretty snappy. A Riser runs towards us; I run at it, inserting my knife into its skull. I drag him back and put remove my knife. I then dig it into the Riser's gut and pull out an intestine. I put it around my shoulders and wipe the blood all over myself. I continue to dig around his inside, wiping blood on my neck and wrists.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you think I'm doing? I'm masking the scent. Quick, cover yourself and Sophia. I'll cover Alfie,” I instruct. She looks at the carcass with a look of disgust but she does as I say. She smothers herself and Sophia's blanket in coarse, thick crimson blood. Alfie struggles against me but that doesn't stop me covering his front and back. He begins to scream.

“Alfie, sh. Now is not the time. Shut up,” I chide. I hitch him up again and continue running. Not much further. Not much further.

I look over the water, glistening in the sunlight. We're surrounded on every front. Just this little piece of cliff that remains to us. It's fair to say I've made bad decisions. Bad decisions that have led me to this point but I can't bring myself to regret them; whatever I did, I was always going to end up here. I've come here to die. Helene stands on the edge, looking out, her hair flying like embers in the breeze. I can hear her sobs. It seems this city is overrun. There is no safe zone or, if there was, there isn't anymore.

I hear heavy breathing coming from behind me. Jason, Lucas and Danny. They're all still together and in one piece. Thank God. I put Alfie down and breathe. I just breathe because that is the only thing I can do; it is the only thing I have ultimate control over. Alfie runs over to Helene and she takes his hand.

Lucas tries to catch his breath.

“The city belongs to the dead now.”