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  “Now, now, Grace. I do not wish to hear any talk of corruption.” Randall wagged his finger back and forth. “Not under my government.”

  Grace cackled. “Government? There’s five people here, you big-headed prick. You’re not the prime minister! You’re just a sad little man that wants to be in charge of all the toys because no one will play with him otherwise.”

  Randall turned to Victor. “Control her, please.”

  Victor shot forward and twisted an arm behind Grace’s back, making her squeal.

  Like a shot, Joe was on his feet and rushed the Scotsman, but before he knew what happened something cracked against the bridge of his nose. He staggered backwards, already feeling the blood and snot flowing between his fingers. When he looked up, through blurry eyes, he could see that Victor was holding up his long blade against Grace’s throat. He’d obviously smacked Joe in the face with Martha’s thick handle.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Bill screamed.

  Randall held a hand up as though he were talking to a church full of worshippers. “My first order of business is about the adherence to law and general obedience of the group. Victor is now the group’s Marshall and will deal forcefully with any disruption. From now on he will also be the only one with access to weapons. I took the liberty earlier of dispensing most of them to a secure place.”

  Joe spat bloody-mucous onto the floor. “And why did you do that if you didn’t know if you would get the vote?”

  Randall smiled. “It was just a precaution. A shrewd one, I believe. Victor will now escort Grace to my office until she calms down.”

  “What happened to this being a democracy?” said Joe, still blinking tears from the blow to his nose.

  Victor answered on Randall’s behalf. “The vote was democratic. Now that it’s been dealt with, consider this a dictatorship. It’s for your own good.”

  “Indeed,” Randall seconded.

  Victor strong-armed a protesting Grace through the door and out into the corridor, disappearing a moment later. Bill limped up to Joe and stood beside him, facing down Randall. “You’re not going to get away with this!” he vowed.

  “With what?” Randall scoffed. “I was voted in lawfully and am leading as I see fit. It is for your own good. With time you will learn to love my regime. I’m certain of it. And if not then you will most definitely respect it.”

  Joe took Bill away from the scene. He could see the man was ready to explode. “Come on, Bill, we’ll deal with him somehow. Let’s not worry for now.”

  “I hope that’s not conspiring I hear, gentlemen. This government takes a very dim view of plotting.”

  Joe turned back around. “Oh don’t you worry, Randall. We’ll play up to your delusions for now, but just remember that when the situation comes that you need our help, you won’t get it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a matter of time until you fall on your fat ass.”

  “Perhaps, but until then you will do as I command, or face the consequences.”

  Joe nodded. “Fair enough.”

  But sooner or later I’ll make sure that the consequences are for you….my friend.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Things are coming along nicely, Randall told himself. The group was under control and would be obeying his commands from now on. And if they did not, Victor would happily show them the error of their ways. After making an offer that Mason could not refuse, and with Bill being injured, there was now only Joe to worry about.

  But there are plenty of options to make that over-sized brute behave. Like his son, or the girl.

  Speaking of the girl, Randall thought, he should go see her and explain what was expected from her going forward. It would not do to have her kicking up a fuss again. It was bad for morale. He crossed the room and exited into the corridor. Victor was coming back the other way, jangling a set of keys between his fingers. When he saw Randall, he handed them over.

  Randall took them and smiled. “Everything under control?”

  “Aye, she’s sitting pretty in your office. Feisty one, that lass.”

  “Isn’t she just. I’m going to have to keep an eye on her. In fact I’m going to go see her right now.”

  Victor nodded. “I’ll look after things until you get back.”

  “Good man!” Randall walked away. The door to his office was locked and he used the keys to open it. When he did so, Grace immediately rushed at him. A swift backhand soon put her in her place.

  She fell to the floor, palm against her bleeding lip. “You bastard!” she hissed, wincing in pain.

  Randall placed himself down on a swivel chair up against the room’s desk. He folded his hands in front of himself and placed them in his lap. “Listen here, woman. You better get used to the way things will be running around here or else you’re going to find yourself locked up more often than not.”

  Grace pushed herself back to her feet and scowled at him. “You have no right!”

  “I was given the right by a vote.”

  “A vote you fixed.”

  “Such accusations will not be tolerated – especially ones with no substance. Now, if I hear such things again, I will see that you spend an entire week in here alone.”

  The girl’s eyes grew wide and Randall fought the urge to gloat as an obvious fear seized hold of her.

  “You can’t leave me alone in here,” she pleaded. “You have to let me out.”

  Randall smiled, his thin lips stretched wide. “Not until you learn how to behave, young lady.”

  “I’ll behave,” she cried. “Just don’t lock me up.”

  Randall thought for a moment. What on Earth had taken the fight out of her so quickly? Surely it couldn’t just be the threat of incarceration? Either way, it was a lot of fun watching her beg. Maybe he could even get her on her knees.

  “Why are you so afraid of being locked up, my dear?”

  Grace looked away, avoiding his attempts to make eye contact. “I…just don’t like being alone.”

  “Then perhaps a day alone will be a suitable enough punishment to teach you some respect.”

  Grace lunged across the desk. The act was so ferocious that Randall was in awe of how quickly she was upon him, hands around his throat. He grabbed a fistful of hair at the back of her head and pulled her off of him, slamming her down onto the desk. He moved his face close to hers, their noses only centremetres apart. “Now listen here, sweetheart. There’s a new mayor in town and you better learn real fast to respect him. You hear me?” He yanked harder on her hair and she nodded, tears starting to spill from her eyes. “Now I’m gonna leave you here on your own so you can do some thinking. When I decide to let you out, I hope to see a significant change in your behaviour.” Grace began sobbing, but he cut her off by shoving his tongue into her mouth. She struggled and fought to remove him, but he held the kiss a few seconds more until he was satisfied.

  I love it when they fight.

  Randall pulled away, and Grace spat onto the floor then started sobbing. He moved towards the door, but turned to face her one last time before he left. “You know, with a mouth like that, I may just make you my First Lady.”

  Randall slammed the door and locked it. Leaving Grace alone with her tears.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “What are we going to do?” Bill asked Joe. They were standing over in the corner of the room where Danny was playing with some toy animals from the warehouse.

  “I don’t know yet,” Joe said, “but Randall has no right to behave the way he is. We should just play it safe for now.”

  Bill nodded. “Or else we’ll have that psycho, Victor, on our asses.”

  “Exactly. That man is dangerous, and I don’t think he’s ‘all there’, you know?”

  “I hear ya. What should we do about Grace though? We can’t just leave her locked up.”

  Joe bit at his lip as he thought about her. “No, we really can’t. We have to get her out.”

  “Okay,” said Bill. “How?”
r />   “Appeal to Randall’s decency?”

  Bill laughed. “Don’t think the man has any.”

  “Me either, but I don’t know what else to do.”

  Bill shrugged. “Okay. Give it a shot.”

  The timing was perfect because Randall had just re-entered the seminar room and seemed to be in a good mood about something. Joe approached him over by the window. It was still deserted outside, the animals gone.

  “Hey, Randall,” he said, trying to sound calm and reasonable. “You think maybe you should let Grace out? She’s probably calmed down by now.”

  Randall faced Joe, the smug grin still on his face. “I’m afraid not,” he stated firmly.

  Joe threw his head back, already frustrated by talking to the man. He gave it another shot though. “It’s not safe for her to be alone. Last time she got attacked and bitten.”

  Randall nodded as though he was taking Joe’s concerns on board, but what came out of the man’s mouth said different. “Victor has safeguarded the room sufficiently. He’s even added a padlock to the door. There’s no need to worry about anything.”

  “Well how long do you plan on keeping her locked up? You have no goddamn right! It’s kidnapping.”

  Randall folded his arms across his chest. “Don’t be so dramatic. She was hysterical and had to be removed for the safety of the group.”

  Joe saw an opening. “And now she’s not, so she should be released.”

  Randall shook his head solemnly. “I thought just the same thing earlier, but I’m afraid that she attacked me as soon as I entered the room.”

  Joe looked at Randall’s neck as the man turned his head to one side. Sure enough there were red finger marks against the podgy flesh.

  So Grace really did attack you? Good!

  “That’s unfortunate,” said Joe, “but I promise to keep her under control if you let her out.”

  Randall leant closer to Joe, eyeball to eyeball. “Let’s just dispense with the bullshit, Joe. The whole reasonable act isn’t fooling anyone. If I release Grace then it will just add another person to conspire against me along with you and Bill. I’m afraid for now I need to protect the interests of the group and, until I feel I can trust you, that means keeping Grace out of harm’s way.”

  Joe’s fists clenched involuntarily. “So, what? You’re just going to leave her locked up indefinitely?”

  Randall smiled. “Don’t be silly. I’m a fair man. She’ll be released at some point. I suggest you just relax until then, my friend.”

  Joe walked away before he lost control of himself. Every cell in his body was tensing up with the urge to rip Randall’s pig head from his flabby neck. He had to find a way to get Grace out of there before…

  Before her illness becomes too much for her to take and she starts cutting herself.

  Bill was waiting for Joe back in the corner, keeping an eye on Danny. “Any joy?”

  Joe shook his head and sat down beside his son. “How you doing, Danny?”

  Danny put down a small plastic elephant that he was playing with and looked up at his father. “I want Grace to play with me.”

  “I know you do. I want Grace too, but she’s busy at the moment.”

  “That nasty man locked her up.”

  “He just took her to calm down. She’s fine now.”

  “You’re fibbing.”

  Joe didn’t know what to say. His son was smart enough to know that things weren’t okay, but was he old enough to know the full truth? “We’re going to help her, Danny, and then we’re going to get out of here.”

  Bill grabbed Joe by the shoulder and dragged him to his feet. “What you talking about?”

  Joe looked around the room and motioned for Bill to do the same. Victor and Randall were in discussion by the window and Shirley was about to join them. Joe looked back at Bill. “How much longer do you think things are going to remain civil? Randall is obviously an egomaniacal bully and Victor is happy as long as he gets to stab things. Then there’s Shirley; she’s a whole other level of messed up. You, me, and Grace are the only ones in this place that see the big picture here, but I have a feeling that our voices are about to get lost beneath the noise of Team Randall.”

  “What about Mason?”

  Joe shrugged. “After what he did, I really don’t know where we stand with him. He’s obviously happy to go along with Randall’s circus, so I say we let him.”

  “I think you’re crazy to even consider it. We’ll get ripped apart out there.”

  Joe put a hand on Bill’s shoulder. “Eventually, we’ll get ripped apart in here. We’re not safe, you know that. You’re injured. Grace is injured. The animals are chipping away at us one scrap of flesh at a time.”

  “The animals have gone.”

  “They’ll be back,” said Joe. “I’m certain of it. They’re just regrouping. Planning their next move.”

  “Animals don’t plan,” Bill scoffed. “They don’t think – at least not in the way you’re suggesting.”

  “These ones do. You may not have saw the way they worked together to surround Grace, but you did see the way they ambushed us downstairs.”

  Bill obviously didn’t want to buy any of it and shook his head adamantly. “Just a coincidence.”

  Joe sighed. He needed to get through to him. “Bill, you know that’s not true. Whatever caused all this has made the animals act differently, maybe even smarter. We need to find some help, and we won’t find it here.”

  Bill’s shoulders slumped and he seemed to deflate. “Where would we even go?”

  Joe shrugged. “That’s the part I’m not clear on, but there must be other people somewhere. The army or something. I still have my car keys. We could just drive out of here.”

  Bill shook his head again. “Well, I’m not on board unless you give me something better than that. I ain’t going nowhere till I at least have a destination.”

  “Fair enough,” Joe conceded. “Let me think on it. Right now, I’m going to go see Grace.”

  Bill raised both of his grey-black eyebrows. “How you gonna do that? She’s locked in that office. You try to break her out, you’ll have Victor breathing down your neck. Martha too.”

  “Doesn’t mean I can’t talk to her through the door. She needs to hear that things will be alright.”

  “You gonna tell her the plan?”

  “I thought you said I didn’t have a plan?”

  Bill laughed. “Well you have an intention. You could tell her that.”

  “We’ll see,” said Joe. “You good to look after Danny?”

  “As always. He’ll be safe with me.”

  “I know.” Joe looked down at his son. “You okay to stay with Bill for a few minutes, Danny?”

  Danny looked up from his toy animals and smiled. “Yeah, he’s big and strong like Kamala, the Ugandan Giant.”

  Joe cringed. “Danny! That’s…a little bit racist.”

  Bill patted Joe on the back and laughed merrily. “Don’t worry about it. Everyone’s a little bit racist sometimes.”

  Joe didn’t quite know how to take Bill’s comment, but the man seemed happy enough so he departed into the corridor. It was getting dark again and the corridor was shrouded in an opaque cloak of greyness. When Joe stood in front of Randall’s office door, butterflies spawned inside his stomach. The padlock on the door only increased their fluttering.

  What if she’s already hurt herself? What if she begs me to help her and I can’t do anything? While she bleeds to death.

  Joe went to knock on the door, but instead just placed his palm against the wood. He didn’t want to startle her. “Grace,” he said softly. Grace, are you there?”

  Of course she’s there, you idiot.

  A voice came back, weak and trembling. Joe was sure she’d been crying. “Who is it?”

  “It’s Joe. Are you okay?”

  For a while there was no reply, then: “No. No, I’m not.”

  Of course you’re not. Another stupid question for m
e to ask.

  Joe put his forehead against the door, wishing it wasn’t there between them. “Is there anything…dangerous in there?”

  Grace knew what he meant. “No. At least I don’t think so. Randall would have removed anything I could use against him.”

  Joe sighed relief. “Good, then you’ll be okay.”

  “No. I already told you!” She sounded desperate. “I’ll find a way to hurt myself, even if it means biting. I need to get out of here. The urges are already getting stronger, gnawing away at me inside. I have to get OUT!” She banged at the door and the impact knocked Joe away from the wood. The padlock rattled.

  “I’m going to find a way, Grace. Then we’re gonna get out of here.”

  “Thank God!”

  Joe was surprised. “You think it’s a good idea?”

  “What? Getting me out of this room or getting me out of this zoo?”

  Joe smiled, then realised that Grace wouldn’t see it. “The latter.”

  “I think it’s a great idea. I’d rather take my chances with the animals outside than the animals in here.”

  “What Victor did to you was–”

  “I’m not talking about Victor,” she said. “I’m talking about Randall.”

  The butterflies in Joe’s stomach flapped their wings again. “What did he do to you?”

  A pause. Then: “Not much…yet. But if you don’t get me out of this room soon then I think he’s gonna hurt me a lot more than I could ever hurt myself.”

  Joe heard Grace begin to sob quietly on her side of the door and felt a rage bloom inside of him that threatened to turn his entire body inside out.

  I’ll kill him. That sick, twisted bastard is a dead man. I’ll feed him to the lions before he ever lays another finger on Grace.

  “Joe?”

  Joe broke away from his thoughts. “What?”

  “I can tell you want to do something, but don’t, okay?”

  Joe clenched his fists and shook his head. “He needs to pay.”

  “Damn straight he does, but I don’t want you to go off half-cocked and end up locked in here with me.”