Free Web NovelChapter 74: Chapter 74 - Blood On Her Hands
"Oh, Johnny..." Rhea’s voice cracked in half as soon as she saw him. She dropped the bat, knees buckling under her. "Johnny. Oh God. Johnny."
"Mama!" the boy screamed, reaching for her with small shaking hands.
The woman jerked him tighter, her arm crushing him against her side. The gun pressed harder into his head. The metal dug into his hairline. The child cried louder at the pressure.
The woman’s voice iced over. "Quiet. Quiet now."
But the boy only screamed harder, kicking, calling for his mother.
"Mama. Mama. Mama!"
"Stop," Iyisha said, breath trembling, gun raised but barely steady. "Please. Stop tightening it. He cannot breathe." Her voice cracked, but she held herself still. "Just... ease the pressure a little. Please."
The woman’s eyes flicked to her, sharp and frantic. "You step one inch closer and I shoot him. Do you understand."
"I said stop," Iyisha repeated, softer, trying to calm her. "He is crying because he is terrified. You gripping him harder will only make him scream more."
Johnny wailed again. His voice tore through the room. His little fingers clawed at the woman’s arm. His face red and wet and terrified.
"Mama!" he cried again. "Mama please."
Rhea crumbled forward on her hands. "Johnny, baby, please. Please stop crying." She hiccuped, choking on her sobs. "Mama is here. Mama is right here."
But the child only screamed louder.
The woman’s jaw tightened. She pressed the gun even closer. The boy gasped under the pressure.
"Please!" Rhea screamed. "Please, you are hurting him."
Iyisha’s stomach twisted. This was spiraling. Every second the panic grew, the boy was in more danger.
"Let me talk to him," Iyisha said quietly. "Just a moment. Just let his mother calm him."
"No," the woman snapped. "Not one more move from either of you."
Johnny screamed again, high and desperate. The woman winced as he kicked her shin.
She shifted the gun.
Rhea broke.
"Johnny," she cried, forcing her voice soft even as tears ran down her chin. "Baby, listen to Mama. Look at me. Look at Mama. See. I am smiling." She dragged her trembling lips upward, forcing a weak quivering smile that barely held. "See. Mama is okay."
Her voice wobbled, but the effort reached him.
Johnny’s sobs faltered. His breath came out in hiccups. He stared at her trembling smile with wide confused eyes.
"Good boy," Rhea whispered. "Just stay still. Mama is right here. Mama is smiling."
The boy’s shoulders softened a little. His crying eased to a whimper. He stopped fighting.
The woman adjusted her hold, startled that the child suddenly went quiet.
Rhea smiled again, tears streaming. "That is it, baby. Do not move. Mama is here. Mama is right here."
The boy reached a small hand toward her, fingers stretching through the air.
Iyisha swallowed hard. Her heart hammered so loudly she felt dizzy. Every muscle in her body trembled, but she kept the gun raised, kept her breath steady, kept her voice gentle.
"Good," she whispered. "Everyone breathe. We are not here to hurt anyone."
Her eyes locked on the woman’s.
"And you do not want to hurt that child. Not really."
"Please," Iyisha whispered, her voice cracking despite her effort to sound steady. "Let him go."
The woman snorted softly. "Let him go. With you pointing a gun at me." She shook her head, pressing the barrel tighter against Johnny’s temple. "You really think I can do that."
Iyisha’s hand shook again. Badly. The woman noticed. Her lips curled.
"Careful," she murmured. "Your hand is trembling so hard you might shoot the boy before I ever do."
Rhea let out a strangled sound but forced her lips into a trembling smile again, desperate. "Please," she whispered. "Please let my son go. He is all I have."
The woman’s eyes shifted to her, sharp and assessing. "You got kids in this place." It wasn’t a question.
Rhea nodded quickly. "We do. Lots. Lots of kids. Please. My little boy. Please."
The woman sighed, not annoyed but pulled by something deeper, something tired. "Kids," she muttered under her breath. "Dammit."
She looked around the room then. At the intact walls. The clean blankets. The neat shelves. A stark contrast to the filth on her own clothes.
"You people live too comfy," she said, almost resentful. Her voice softened into something like longing. "Hells. You even have heat."
Iyisha swallowed, unsure how the conversation had bent in this direction. The shift felt strange and fragile. "Well," she said carefully, "you can... you can enter a safe zone."
"Safe zone," the woman repeated, breathing out a low laugh, bitter and humorless. "Huh." Her laugh thickened into something almost hollow. "The safe zones aren’t as safe as you think they are."
Iyisha didn’t answer. She didn’t dare push. But the thought passed through her mind anyway.
Not safe because of wanderers like you.
She kept it to herself.
Johnny shifted again, uncomfortable in the woman’s tight hold. His small fingers dug into her jacket. The gun pressed harder into his head. Both Rhea and Iyisha stiffened instantly.
The woman cursed under her breath. "Stop moving, kid." She adjusted her grip again, frustrated. "I said stop."
Johnny whimpered, but stayed still.
The woman let out a long, heavy exhale. Then another. Her shoulders lowered just slightly.
"I will let the kid go," she said finally.
Iyisha’s heart leapt so violently it almost hurt. But she didn’t move. "What’s in it for you," she asked the woman. Not accusing. Just desperate to understand.
The woman shrugged, though the movement was stiff. "I want to live. Same as you." Her eyes flicked to the window. "We came for supplies. That is all. We don’t plan on killing anyone."
Iyisha blinked hard. Not because she believed it. Because of what it didn’t say.
They weren’t killing anyone with their own hands.
But by taking the animals, the grain, the medicine... they were deciding who lived and who didn’t.
Heart had over a thousand mouths to feed in winter.
Without the livestock... without the food...
They wouldn’t survive.
Iyisha felt the weight of that realization sink into her bones like cold water.
The woman wasn’t killing with bullets but she was killing by leaving them empty.
And somehow, she didn’t even seem to understand the difference.
The woman bent slightly, easing Johnny downward.
Rhea held her breath, barely containing a sob.
Iyisha couldn’t even swallow. Her throat was too tight.
The woman’s arm loosened around him. Johnny’s feet touched the floor. He wobbled, unsure, reaching for his mother with a trembling hand.
Iyisha’s pulse slammed so hard she felt it in her teeth.
What if she’s bluffing.
What if she shoots the moment she lets go.
What if she grabs him again.
What if she kills him because I hesitated.
Her gun shook.
Her breath broke in small, uneven bursts.
She fought to keep the barrel steady but terror climbed up her spine like it wanted to tear her apart from the inside.
Johnny shifted again, taking one unsteady step toward Rhea—and he stumbled.
A tiny slip of his foot on the cold floor. Nothing more.
But the woman reacted instantly.
Her hand shot forward to grab him.
Her arm jerked with the motion.
And the gun in her grip angled toward the child’s head without her meaning to.
That was all Iyisha saw.
The movement.
The angle of the barrel.
The danger.
Her fear snapped into action faster than thought.
She fired.
The crack of the shot slammed through the room.
The woman’s body jerked violently. The bullet struck her high in the chest, just off center, and the force spun her backward. She staggered once, eyes wide with shock, then collapsed to the floor hard.
Johnny hit his knees with a cry, but Rhea was already grabbing him, pulling him close, her sobs breaking open in relief and terror.
The woman lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her mouth moved once, a small sound lost in the air. Her fingers curled and uncurled, then stilled.
Her chest didn’t rise again.
She was dead.
Iyisha stood frozen, gun trembling in her hand, breath shaking so violently she felt sick. freёwebnovel.com
And she couldn’t tell if she had saved a child or doomed all of them with the noise she had just made.
The room felt too quiet.
Too still.
Too exposed.
