Wise Men

Chapter 15

 Two weeks at our new base of operations, and the police could still be seen filing around the mall's exterior. Feeding off of the inventories of department store frozen meals and the fried goodness of the food court, our mighty force shuffled between sleeping in and around the mattress store and guarding the mall from the ongoing siege. Morale was kept reasonably high. Often people would play music over the intercoms; one man even found a piano. He played and sang for hours while we all listened. But, it could only last for so long.

 Revelin, Vi and I stayed in the administrative branch of the mall, where all the offices were. We each kept watch over the security tapes for part of the night, sleeping in shifts to keep out any intruders. We slept in the unused offices, our blankets stretched across cheap leather couches.

Nearing midnight, I returned to our wing. I walked down a few door to find Vi and Revelin. I heard the sudden crash of glass and paper falling to the floor. Peering into the small office, I saw Revelin, his eyes dark like a moonless night. His lips were pulled back in an animalistic snarl. Vi yelped and jumped away from the shattered glass, her hand at her mouth to cover her gaping expression. Fear was clear in her eyes, bright in the unlit mall office. Her uneven breathing was evident in the shaking of her shoulders as she struggled to inhale, tears like diamonds forming at the corners of her eyes. I followed her eyes and saw his fingers curled around his pistol, cloaked in shadow. My heart stopped.

“That man...” His hand was clenched so hard it shook, white and bloodless. “The death that man deserves is... it's worse than I can imagine. He deserves pain so terrible he begs for death, fire burning his flesh hotter than those of Hell—he deserves to feel what he put every single one of those woman through!” My thoughts raced violently as I tried to piece together what had set him off—and not only that, but what could be so terrible as to send him into such a state, past his usual brooding pretense.

Vi choked on a sob. “Yes, yes, I know Revelin.” Vi caught my eye, and her stare told me not to move. It also told me she was scared to death. I shouted at myself to grab her, step between her and the dark barrel of that gun, but I wasn't strong enough to muster the courage. Fortunately, the gun remained pointed toward the floor. He'd never do that, I told myself. He loves her. Goddammit, he loves her.

He cursed under his breath. “He killed that girl because I saw him rape her.” He shook his head, the hand holding the gun trembling violently. “He killed Sato, Fae, and Alex at a rally I led!” For a moment, he pointed the gun at his chest—he didn't even look like he knew that their was a deadly weapon in his grasp. He sighed, his breathing heavy. “He killed my parents for the fucking pay check, Vi.”

“It's not your fault.” I didn't know whether or not she believed it, and by the way she looked at him, she didn't know either. But it didn't matter then, she just needed to calm him down. Her words, however, were laced in tears, cracked when she felt a sob at her throat. She was anything but calm. Her tears were hot and sticky on her cheeks; she ran her hand through her hair, causing several strands to stick to her cheek.

“Don't lie to me, Vi.” His voice calmed, more frightening the anger that before clouded his words. “There blood is on my hands—”

“Revelin! You did not kill Cecilia!”

Each of those words stabbed me with the pain of a serrated dagger. My eyes caught a newspaper, discarded on the floor by his feet. “Governor's Daughter Kills Herself” was the front page article.

“If I had not targeted her, pulled her into all of this, then she would be alive!” He waved the gun in his hand, and for a second, I swear he was about to pull the trigger. My vision streaked red. Losing all control I once had, my body moved on its own accord, forcing me in front of Vi.