Watchers

Chapter 14: Really, Edna? Again?

Sasha turns to Father Gary as Daniel slumps down to the ground. She presses her back against the wall and looks at him in terror.

Gary is so sick of that look - that doe-eyed innocence that pleads for mercy which hasn't been earned. He lets out a sigh of irritation as he grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her forward momentarily, only for the benefit of greater force as he throws her back against the wall.

Her skull connects with the glazed tile with a satisfying thud and her eyes shut as she slides down the wall to join her little co-conspirator.

Gary turns to the nun in the butcher room and snaps, "Really, Edna? Again?"

"I'm sorry," she says, but he doesn't let her make excuses.

He steps into the room, careful to circumvent the blood on the floor as he closes his hand around Edna's throat. She may be four inches taller than him, but he's stronger.

Her eyes go wide and he can feel her panic as he pins her against the wall, growling, "How many times do I have to tell you never to slaughter without the recycling machinery running to cover up the sound?"

One of the women behind him - Mary or Agnes or some other interchangeable Catholic name he doesn't remember - is putting her hand on his shoulder and trying to calm him down.

"You know Edna's not right," she says gently. "It's not her fault."

Gary sighs and lets her go. Edna drops to her knees with a heavy thud, hands rubbing her throat, and he sneers, "Imbecile."

She's lucky she belongs to Therese, he thinks as he steps back into the hallway. He takes the clerical collar out of his shirt and throws it aside - the thing is always choking him - and looks down at his two latest problems.

"This is just great," he says, glaring at the women standing timidly nearby. "He wasn't supposed to leave for another couple of weeks, and she shouldn't have been tangled up with him in the first place. I told you people to keep an eye on her - I knew she was trouble."

"What should we do with them?" Mary-Agnes-whoever asks, and Gary has to resist the urge to punch her in her stupid face for letting this happen and then daring to ask him to fix it.

He can't do that, though - a nun with a black eye would certainly raise suspicions, and he can't afford this situation to spread beyond these two... oh, and there's the whore to think about. She's their friend and she'll have questions.

Gary clenches his teeth and says, "I guess we're going to have to send him over to The Elimination Game sooner than expected. Maybe we can spin it to our advantage - he's got a couple different monkeys on his back right now and that can make for good TV."

"And her?"

"Tomorrow's meatloaf night, right?" he asks.

"Actually I think it's supposed to be spaghet-" Edna begins to say, her voice croaky, and Gary cuts her off.

"That was rhetorical," he snaps. "I don't give a damn what's for dinner, just kill her already!"

He paces in the hallway as the three women strip the girl of her clothes. Edna slides her most recent slaughter along a track on the ceiling and into a walk-in freezer at the far side of the room - she'll finish butchering him later, and the shelter will eat well for a couple of days with this unexpected bounty.

Then they hoist the girl up, tying her feet tightly together with rope and then sliding a hook between her ankles. It slices into her skin and a thin trickle of blood is already working its way down her leg by the time they get her hung up.

Edna cleans her knife, moving lethargically as always, and Gary snaps, "Come on, I don't have all night!"

"Do you want me to turn on the recycling equipment?" she asks.

"What?" he asks, momentarily befuddled.

"You- you said," she begins to stammer, "never to slaughter without the machinery-"

"I know what I said!" he bellows. He's beginning to get a tension headache and he's not sure how much longer he can deal with this idiot before he blows a fuse. He says through clenched teeth, "This is a special circumstance. Just get on with it."

The girl begins to rouse, her eyelids fluttering open. Gary watches her as Edna lumbers over - perhaps if he's lucky, the girl will lock eyes with him at the moment that the blade glides across her throat. That would make this whole ordeal worthwhile.

The girl sees Daniel laying in the hall, opens her mouth to scream, and Edna - unobservant oaf - hasn't even noticed that her prey has regained consciousness. Gary bites his lip in anticipation as she leans over and presses the tip of the blade to the girl's neck.

Then the girl swings her arms up, one fist tangling into the folds of Edna's apron, but the other connects squarely with her jaw. Edna stumbles back and the other women step forward to grab the girl, who's swinging wildly from the hook now, all fists and outrage. Edna comes at her again, knife ready, but Gary shouts, "Stop, that's enough!"

"You don't want me to kill her?" Edna asks, looking like her brain's about to short-circuit from all the contradictory instructions.

"No," he says. "I just thought of something better. We've got a fighter on our hands."

The girl's face is turning red as blood rushes into her head. She opens her mouth to scream but Gary drives his knee into her chest, knocking the wind out of her. She goes limp on the hook.

"Get her down," he orders.