Cannibalism (3)

"Wakey wakey!" Arnold exclaimed, "It's time to get up!"

The shouting made Will open his eyes wide open. Took him a few seconds to realize the situation. When he saw Arnold's face close to him, he crawled away instantly. He looked around to find his gun.

"Looking for this?" Arnold waved his gun with a smile.

Will kept staring at his gun and realized how stupid it was for him to fall asleep.

"Are you going to kill me?" he said with a low voice.

"Ah?" Arnold couldn't hear him, "What did you say?"

"Are you planning to kill me?"

"Kill you?" He laughed, "No, rather, I need something for you to do for me."

"..."

"That horse outside, it's yours, isn't it?"

"What if it is?"

"I'd like you to take me somewhere."

"..."

"Will that be a problem?" Arnold smiled.

Will took a moment to think.

"What if I don't?" he said, "Will you kill me then?"

"Well yes. If you refuse."

Will sighed, "Is it far?"

"I suppose not, I was too drunk to remember last night.”

Will sighed again, “I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“Not at all.”

…

“Let’s go outside for some fresh air,” Manny suggested.

“Huh? It’s freezing outside,” Emma said.

“She’s right. It’s really cold,” Ruby breathed out some warm air on her hands.

Lucas joined the conversation, “L-let’s go outside. It’s kinda boring here.”

“It’s the first time Lucas wanted to do something,” Emma looked surprised, “How can I refuse?”

“So it’s decided then!” Manny exclaimed with joy.

“No,” Emma refused immediately.

“Huh? But you just…”

“You just wanna go outside and stand there?”

“We could play snowballs, you know,” Marco joined the conversation too.

“Don’t put stupid ideas in his head, Marco.”

“That’s a great Idea!”

“What are you? A kid?”

“Come on, Emma. It’ll be fun.”

“I am up for it,” Ruby seemed excited.

“Go without me, it’s a comfy day today. I’d rather sleep in my bed.”

“Come on, Emma!”

“Yes, Emma. It will be no fun without you!”

“Yes, Emma! Let’s play!”

“Alright alright! Let’s Olivia decide what to do,” Emma suggested.

“Speaking of Olivia, where is she?”

“Oh, she might’ve gone into the woods with Nolan.”

Marco said, “No, I saw Nolan go alone today.”

“Is that so?”

…

Keren was almost done with her work. Even in this coldest winter, she was sweating heavily. It was also quite tiresome to do it alone. So she came out of the horse stable to ask for a hand. But she couldn’t see Olivia anywhere nearby.

Huh, maybe she went inside. It’s getting cold again.

Just then, she saw some people were coming out of the house.

“What are you guys doing here? You’ll catch a cold,” she said.

“Well, tell them that,” Emma said.

“Keren, have you seen Olivia?” Manny asked.

“Olivia? Yes. She was just here a few minutes ago,” Keren replied, “She was giving me a hand.”

“Where did she go?”

“I don’t know. She wanted to rest for a bit and then disappeared.”

“I see.”

“What are you people doing here anyway?”

“They wanted to play with snowballs,” Emma replied.

“Snow balls, huh” Keren smiled, “You may catch a cold though. Be careful.”

“Do you need a hand, Keren?” Marco asked, “I can help.”

“Oh, Thank you, Marco.”

…

“You don’t have to keep pressing the gun against me, I’m not going anywhere.”

“I wouldn’t know that. Young bloods like you are very dangerous. Who knows when you’ll do something reckless,” Arnold smiled, “Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?”

Will was riding his horse to where Arnold wanted him to go. He was sitting behind him pressing the gun against his lower back.

“You’re Mexican, aren’t you?”

“Hmm? What makes you think that?”

“Your accent.”

“Disappointed, ay?”

“...”

“Can’t you make the horse run or something? It’s so goddamn slow.”

“He’s tired as it is.”

“Tired, huh?”

"..."

“Say, kid. Let’s play a game.”

Will slightly turned back his head and looked ahead again.

“Since we have a long way to go,” he said, “Why don’t we get to know each other, ay?”

Will kept quiet.

“You’re no fun,” he sighed, “I have a thing for talking, you see. I LOVE to talk!”

“...”

“Whad’ya say, huh?”

“...”

“Fine, fine. I’ll just talk on my own then,” he cleared his throat, “When I was a little kid, say about your age. Boy, I was a hell of a kid! I used to go fuck girls all the time,” he laughed.

Will was more concerned about the deads. They might hear him.

“One day, my dad wasn’t home. Well, he was never really home. My mama died giving birth to me and I had a big brother. He was a nice dude. May he rest in peace.”

“...”

“Well, where was I? Oh, yeah! I had this girl coming over to my house. Both my dad and my brother weren’t home at the time. So, you know, what we were about to do, haha.”

“...”

“Her name was…ah…what was it again? I forgot. Well, whatever. So, I took her to my bedroom. She was a slutty girl, you see. She was already prepared for that night when I told her to come over to my house.”

“...”

“We talked and talked. One thing led to another. And all of a sudden, we were both all over each other.”

“...”

“Have you lost your virginity yet?”

“Wh-what?” Will was surprised.

“Come on, let it out.”

That moment popped into his head, with Olivia. He never really had the moment to think about these things. First the guy named James took over Rust, the matter with Ethan, the herd, Julia’s death. He had gone through a lot.

I wonder what Olivia is doing right now. Is she worried about me that I left without saying anything?

“Oi, kid!”

“H-huh?”

“Yes or no? I have a story to tell here.”

“I ah…” he hesitated, “I had done it.”

Arnold smiled, “Ah haha, it feels good, right ay?”

Will didn’t respond to that question. But Arnold carried on with his story.

“That night, with her, I had the best sex of my life. I still think about it. She was so soft and all,” Arnold let out a sound of satisfaction.

“...”

“But I was so busy feeling myself, I was out of my mind. Nothing was reaching my ear, I went completely blanked. When I came to my senses…” Arnold stopped.

Will waited for him to finish the sentence. But Arnold didn’t talk.

“Then?” Will asked out of curiosity.

“She was dead,” Arnold continued, “I choked her to death and I didn’t even realize. She wasn’t moving.”

“...”

“You know what I did?”

“Wh-what?”

“Nobody knew that she was at my place. So there were no eyewitnesses. I had to think fast. I didn’t want to go to jail. So I did something I am proud of, still to this day.”

“...”

“I took her dead body to the bathroom, cut her to pieces, put the parts in a plastic bag and hid it under my bed.”

Will was totally shocked hearing that. A murderer, behind him, with a gun, telling him a story about his dirty work. They were all alone in the woods. If he wished to kill him there and left off. Nobody would know a single thing. Will’s whole body shivered just thinking about it.

“It felt good,” Arnold said, “It felt better than the sex.”

“...”

“That was my first kill. I killed a lot of people after that. But I stopped at some point. It was getting risky, so I had to stop.”

“...”

“But I guess I’ll start it again. Just waiting for the right moment.”

Will shivered again.

Nobody spoke for a few moments. All they could hear was the sound of the horse walking tiredly through snow all over the place. It was quiet.

But suddenly, Arnold bursted into laughter. Will was confused.

“Did you believe all that bullshit?”

“Y-you…”

“Look at your face!” Arnold let out a breath. “Ah, so good.”

But suddenly, he changed his face. With a serious look on his face, he said, “But I’ve killed people, a lot of them.”

“...”

I’ll keep doing it,” he said, “Until someone kills me.”

___