“Suffice to say, we have the numbers to turn the tide,” Vincent says as he looks down over the small group that remain.

“Not to sound negative sir, but those FUCKING things have decimated our numbers. How can you even contemplate going against them on their home turf with such limited resources and men,” a voice yells out from the small group.

“Because the very fate of mankind as a species relies upon us stopping these things, that’s how we contemplate this sort of shit.” He says as he slowly makes his way through the parting crowd who open up before him, bringing him to a stop in front of the vocal young man. “I can see you’re scared sin, and believe me when I tell you this, so am I. Those things out there don’t belong anywhere but in fairy tales, scaring the shit out of little pissants. Instead they’re out there, threatening my very existence. Now I’d like to offer you the door, say it’s okay did you to not take part in this war. But this is extinction level shit, shit that requires me to have anyone who can hold a fucking gun and shoot it by my side. Do you understand son?”

The man nods his head, “I understand sir, those things killed everyone I’ve ever cared about when they turned rabid. I just believe..” he stops for a moment and looks around at all the faces that stare intensely towards him.

“You believe what boy?” Vincent asks commandingly.

“I-I-I, I believe there has to be a better way to stop these things. I mean, hasn’t research showed there social structure is built like a bee hive, can’t we utilise that information to our advantage. Surely there must be a queen, maybe if we take her out there may be some sort of opening we can manipulate to turn the tide our way.”

Vincent stares at him in silence for some moments before smiling and slapping a hand down onto his shoulder and squeezing. “I like you kid, you’re a thinker and we need more willing to use their heads instead of their cocks! What’s your name son?” He asks proudly.

“S-S-Samuel, Samuel Dekker.”

“Glad to have you onboard Samuel,” Vincent says as he pats Samuel’s shoulder once more then turns around and makes his way back up to the podium. “What young Samuel has eluded to is something our best strategists have been working on achieving over the course of the last eighteen months, but no matter how many test scenarios they ran, none of them ended with us, as a race surviving. That was until we were given an opportunity that could quite possibly avoid our extinction,” he paused as he looks down upon the many faces of the men and women who’s lives he holds in his hands, and swallows. “Our enemy, like a bee hive do everything they do to serve on thing, their queen. Like any social structure, if you take out the key controlling factor chaos will flourish. Intel informs us that even if we take the queen down, the hives soldiers will continue following their former queens orders until a new queen sits in her place. So taking down the queen will do little for our cause unless we have a queen who is on our side, ready to take the ousted queens place.” He says as a figure moves from out of the makeshift tent behind him. “Let me introduce the future queen Ikari of the Lique, and saviour of the human race as we know it.” Her wings buzz momentarily out of excitement as her sixteen eyes look over the small rag tag group before her.

“Humans, my kind have too long hunted you down, let us rise up together and show through unity truly wonderful, enchanting things can truly happen!”

He drives the blade up into Maria’s chest, twisting it with vigour, and even though tears stream down his cheeks he allows a demented smile to slowly grow larger on his lips.

“How’s that for a FUCKING surprise then, BITCH?” He yells as he spits in Maria’s face, and thrusts her now lifeless body to the floor.

“Oh my god Peter, what have you done?” Cheryl yells as she rushes to Maria’s side, screaming in terror. “S-S-She didn’t FUCKING mean any of it that way! She just wanted you to back off! Just a little!”

His eyes tighten, and he hits down on his tongue ever so lightly. “Don’t bullshit me Cheryl, she meant it exactly how it sounded! I’ve been taking SHIT all my life, and I’ve developed a hard skin because of it. But she wanted to be clever about it. She wanted to not only be funny about it all, but she also wanted to hurt my feelings. That’s where she         took it too far, and that why I had to punish her for it!”

“You could’ve done it in so many other ways. You didn’t need to kill her!” Cheryl screams as she rocks Maria’s silent form in her arms, a pool of blood growing beneath them.

“That’s where you’re wrong, killing her was the only option I had. Anything else would’ve encouraged others to do something similar, or worse, and that’s something I couldn’t have happening. If you’d lived your life the way I have, then you would understand.” He says as he slowly stares at the blood drip from the knife blade. “But you can’t, and you never will,” he adds as he looks up to meet her gaze.

“WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO PETER? YOU GOING TO KILL ME TOO NOW? YOU GOING TO PUNISH ME AS WELL?” Cheryl yells as she launches herself to her feet and shapes up to him, in the process doing her best impression of Becky Lynch.

“If I have to!” Peter says as he stabs the knife at her quickly, but she easily outmanoeuvres his attack and thrusts him up shady the wall, pulling him arm back until the pain forces him to release the knife. As it drops to the floor she drives a knee into his back and forced him down to the ground. “You ain’t got to the strength or skill to do anything to me birdie,” she hisses in his ear.

He explodes with rage, trying to fight his way to his feet. But the more he fights, encourages her to dig her knee harder into his back.

“DON’T CALL ME THAT! DON’T CALL ME THAT!” He screams frantically.

“What’s wrong little bird, have I hurt your feelings? Have I made you angry? Does it make you want to hurt me? Good, be a hurt little birdie, it’ll make it so much easier to do this,” she says as she pulls back and his arms, causing him to scream louder. “I’m going to break both your little wings birdie, and then I’m going to leave you out her to die. Does that sound good to you?” She hisses as the ones in his arms start to snap under the pressure. She lets go of his now useless arms and gets to her feet. “You know birdie with all that screaming your pretty little voice has gotten a bit husky, pity it didn’t happen sooner, makes you sound dead sexy,” she says with a wry smile.

David places the blocks onto the floor before Harris and smiles. “Show me,” he says.

“What, with these?” Harris says as he tightens his eyes and taps his forehead with fingers as if playing a piano.

“No, I put them there for shits and giggles,” he says, the sarcasm dripping off his every word. “Of course I want you to use the blocks! They’re the perfect material to show exactly what you saw!”

“What I saw? What the fucks that supposed to actually mean? Are you completely removing yourself from the equation, because I seem to remember you standing beside me while it was all taking place!” Harris erupts with agitation, flinging the blocks across the room.

David smiles nervously, his bottom lip trembles like an idling dragster before the green light bursts to life. “Don’t do this now,” he hisses through clenched teeth in a low tone, glancing quickly at the mirror that takes up the complete left has wall. “Every move you make from this point in will decide the next. If you want any of what you’ve said, any of what we’ve seen be believed you need to show no fear and just do what I ask.”

Harris looks down at the blocks, across to the mirror and then up at David. “I’m not trying to be difficult, but there’s no way in hell that I’m going to be able to build a fucking picture that will explain the shit WE saw out there with those FUCKING BLOCKS!”

“Can’t you at least try?” David hisses through clenched teeth once more.

Harris looks down at the block again and let’s out a frustrated bellow of air, then folds himself down onto the floor and begins placing the blocks on top of each other. Several minutes pass as Harris builds the blocks into several different structures, before pulling them down and starting again, mumbling incoherent words to him self as he does. Finally, after what can only be assumed was hours, not the few minutes that actually passed, Harris stands proudly to him feet. Sweat drips from his brow, and he lets out an exhausted breath of exhilaration as he looks over to David with a smile upon his face, unfortunately David does not seem to share his positivity.

“What the fuck is that supposed to be?” David growls as he grabs Harris by the arm and drags him close. “You’re making me look like a fool!”

“I don’t get you,” Harris says as he pulls himself free of David’s grasp. “You wanted me to use the blocks to build some sort of fucking abstract mural, to explain what we saw and that’s what I’ve done. If it’s not what you want, why don’t you do better!”

“Because I’m not the fucking one making the report am I!”

“Neither am I!”

David stares at Harris for a few moments before he turns to the large mirror, his face twisted with confusion. “I was told Harris had made a report, and he’s telling me now that he hasn’t. What the fucks going on?”

They stand there in silence for a few moments before David rushes to the door, only to find it locked. He spins back to the mirror, his eyes wide with rage. “WHAT THE FUCKS GOING ON!” He yells as he pulls his revolver free aiming it at the mirror, and fires. The glass shatters in thousands of pieces, revealing an empty room. Suddenly a speaker in the corner of the room crackles as it comes to life.

“Lower the gun David, no one else needs to die tonight,” a voice says.

“No one has di….” David stops mid-sentence as he looks over to Harris, only to be met by an empty lifeless glare. He feels the gun tremble in his hands as the night slowly come back to him bit by bit, like building block being put in place.

“Say it again?” He asks with a bemused smile upon his face.

“Say what again?”

“It, what you just said!”

“Which part?”

“Fuck it, why not say it all again, from the start.”

“What stupid fucking game are you playing Smoltdon? You heard everything I just said, as did everyone else. So if you’ve got some smart-arsed comment to make you might as well just get it off your chest now, so we can move on.”

“I’m deeply offended by your accusations Mister Edwards. I’ve been nothing but cooperative since you ALL entered my house uninvited, utilised MY resources to help fulfil YOUR ludicrous end of world prophecies with first asking, and now that I’ve asked a simple request you vilify me,” Smoltdon says, furrowing his brow as he does.

Edwards feels all eyes fall upon him and he swallows a mouthful of dry air in a desperate bid to clear his throat before casting his eyes back upon Smoltdon. “I-I-I,” he clears his throat once more, this time feverishly clutching at it as if some sort of invisible hand is tightening its fingers around it. He catches a terrified glance from Clare in the corner of his eye, and finally after what seems an eternity breathes freely once more. He dry reaches, then spits out a mouthful of dry phlegm. The room falls silent as he stands tall once more, “Sorry I-I never, I never meant for that to happen, and..” he looks back over to Smoltdon, “I never any disrespect to you  Daniel. And yes, I agree wholeheartedly that you indeed have been nothing but a excellent host. The help you have provided, and the network you have introduced us to has been a vital part in our war against those who wish to see the world become a hollow shell of what it is. So please, if there is anything you didn’t understand or need me to repeat I will gladly do so,” Edwards says as he gestures towards Smoltdon and smiles awkwardly.

“Are you okay?” Smoltdon asks with a bemused look upon his face once more.

“O-Of, of course I-I am,” Edwards answers as a thick film of sweat breaks out upon his brow. He feels his stomach turn, then like a roller-coaster that’s suddenly come off it’s tracks he empties the contents of his stomach onto the ground before him. The room falls silent while the black goo dances around on the floor before them like a fish out of water, his eyes dart around at the faces of those he holds dear. “DO IT!” He screams as he tightly holds his eyes shut, and the whole world freezes around him.

“Welcome home,” a voice hisses in his ear as an ice cold hand rests on his shoulder.

“D-D-Da……” Edwards feels the fire burn in the back of his skull, and then nothing.

Clare pulls the blade from the back of Edwards skull and turns to face Smoltdon.

“How did you know he was infected?”

His face drains of its colour, and his cheeks go bright red, “I-I-I, I’d love to take credit for this, I really would. But…”

“But what?” Clare asks.

“He was right about my motives, I didn’t have anything constructive to add to the conversation. All I wanted to do was to stir the pot!”

She looks over at the lifeless corps of her lover, and then over to Smoltdon. “What in the world could you’ve found in such a heartfelt speech to take the piss out of?”

“The word’s tentative Clare, and that infected clown said ten-to-six, how could I not?”

Gerald looks over towards the girl and swallows before turning his attention back to Foster and Ives.

“No!” He says proudly.

Ives laughs hysterically for several seconds, only to have her laughter put to an end by the loud clapping of a gun firing. The girls almost decapitated body drops to the ground like a sack of potatoes as a small trail of smoke draws up from Foster’s revolver.

“Still want to keep it to yourself, or have we convinced you to change your mind?” Foster says with a snigger, all while Gerald’s eyes grow wide with terror.

“Y-Y-You don’t know what y-you’ve done. Y-Y-You don’t know wh…”

“Shut your trap,” Foster says as he shoves the revolvers muzzle into Gerald’s throat. “If you’re not going to tell us what we want to hear, then I don’t want to hear you talking. Do you understand?”

Gerald stares in bewilderment for a few moments before Foster digs the gun into his throat harder. “Okay, Ok…” he doesn’t get the chance to finish his sentence once more as Foster drives the butt of the revolver into his head, and he falls to the ground in agony.

“I said I don’t want to hear you talking unless it’s the codes for the account,” he says with a broader grin on this face.

“You’re a fucking maniac,” Ives announces as she slaps Foster on the back.

Gerald puts his hands in the air, keeping his head down at all times. “Can I say something, and then I promise I’ll give you the codes!”

Foster drives a boot into Gerald’s side, sending him back to the ground. “Codes first, and then you can speak all you fucking want.”

“N-Nooo!” Gerald hisses.

“You ain’t the boss anymore fuck-face I am, and I can do this all day!”

“S-S-So ca-ca-can I!”

Foster winds up to deliver another kick just as he feels the barrel of a revolver touch the back of his neck.

“You two might have all the time in the world to measure dicks, but I don’t. So why the fuck don’t you let the little shit say what he needs to say and we can all move on from this.”

Foster stares into her eyes for several seconds before turning back to Gerald. “You’ve got a handful of words to say what you need, then give us the account code and we’ll all go our own way.”

Gerald laughs as he gets to his knees. “Don’t bullshit me, we all know how this ends, and it’s not with me walking off into the sunset while you guys spend my hard earned fortune.”

“You never got your hands dirty once old man, everyone else did the hard shit while you collected the fortune. So don’t give me your fucking sob story! Now, anything else to get off your mother-fucking bleeding sleeve?”

“She’s not dead,” he says softly.

“Who’s not dead?” Foster asks as he raises an eyebrow of interest.

“Her,” he says nudging his head towards the girls lifeless form. Both Foster and Ives look at each other, then over to the girls body and back over to Gerald.

“I must’ve hit you too hard in the head old man, because that girl is far fro….” Foster doesn’t get to finish his words as a boney hand burst through his chest, holding his heart out for all to see. Ives screams in terror as she turns to face the screaming girl realising all too late that they had not trapped Gerald, for he was only bait.

“I don’t think your assessment is keeping in flux with what is actually wrong with the patient doctor, and that is why I am disagreeing with your diagnosis. There’s no ill gotten means, and I have no desire to see you made a fool of. All I want is the poor sod who’s lying on the bed in front of us to get the right treatment they need,” Jessika sternly snaps at Claude quickly, her voice almost void of emotion.

”BULLSHIT!” Claude fires back. “We’ve done this dance our whole lives Norma-Jean, and I’m so FUCKING tired of it! Everything I’ve ever truly done well at, has caused you  nothing but disgust!” He bellows as slithers of saliva explode from his mouth with gusto. “All I’ve ever wanted was for you to just leave me the fuck alone, to allow me one FUCKING THING to call my own. But NO, that’s not in your wheel house now is it Jessika?”

”Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little bit? This isn’t about a toy car or some cheap skirt who tried to get in-between what we have. This is about someone’s life, not you and me!”

”How many times have I told you that there is no me and you! Can’t you just leave me be? Can’t you just go live your own life far from me?” He bellows loudly, throwing his arm around as if he was a wacky waving inflatable tube man.

She allows her eyes to roll before gripping him by the shoulders and pressing firmly down upon them.

”Claude, my sweet. There is nothing I’d rather do than go off into this so called world of yours and love my own life, but I can’t. I tried it for a month back in twenty-eleven if you remember, and it was terrible for us both. The late nights. The travelling. The absolute sadness of it all. No Claude, I think this is our perfect form. The way we have always been, the mortar to the others brick. The typewriter to the others Jessica Fletcher. The Mack to the others Fleetwood. What I’m saying my perfect brother, my soul mate, we are the way we are meant to be.” She says proudly as she releases her grip and smiles a wide grin.

Claude lets out a fatigued sigh and scratches his head, “Maybe you’re right about Mister Watts,” he says softly as he picks up the chat and flicks through it once more.

”That’s the spirit,” she says as she punches him in the arm.

”Cut it out!” Claude says as he gives Jessika a stern look before turning his attention back to Mister Watts. “Sorry, you know how family can be,” he says jokingly.

Mister Watts stares at him bewildering, and then around the empty room before settling his gaze back on Claude.

”Wh-Wh-Who are you a-a-again?” Mister Watts asks nervously.

Claude smiles softly, “Doctor Chambers, I’m the one who’s going to be preforming your heart transplant.”

”H-H-Heart transplant? I’M IN HERE FOR A HERNIA OPERATION, NOT SOME FUCKING HEART TRANSPLANT!”

”We are the doctor’s here Mister Watts, and my sister Jessika has told me you need a heart transplant as soon as possible and lucky for you,” Claude says proudly as he holds up a bloody scalpel in one hand and a mangled human heart in another. “I’ve got a heart ready to go, so there can be no delay. Not when your life depends on it!”

“It’s not like that,” he says as he throws himself onto the table before him. Spit flys from his mouth and showers her face but she only continues to smile.

“You have forfeited any ability to make any alterations, and or claims after the twenty-four hours that passed directly following your signature of the contract. There is little, to anything that you or I for that matter can do. It is suggested in the bylaws that if one does come forward with a complaint such as the one you have brought forward, that we once agin address the original specifications of the agreement.” She smiles broadly, showing off her perfectly white teeth.

“But it’s not fair! What we agreed to was not what I originally asked for,” he says, the frustration oozing off each word.

“Any displeasure, or deviation from the original agreement should have been made within the first twenty-four hours, anythi….”

“TO HELL WITH YOUR FIRST TWENTY-FOUR HOUR BULLSHIT!” He screams slamming his fists into the table once more. “I was unaware there was any deviation, or problem with the fucking thing until I got a good look at it!”

“It states in clause two of the agreement that all goods must be checked by the purchaser within the first twenty-four hours after signature of the agreement, otherwise any displeasure, and or deviation from the original agreement will not be covered by any form of warranty.” She says, the broad smile still plastered upon her lips.

“But it’s not FAIR!” He yells. “How was I to know there was an issue? How was a supposed to know I should check every inch of it over before I took it home?”

“Because it states for that to be done in the contract you signed, and not only that.” She says with a smile, “You also signed box sixty-seven, which states you not only read, but fully understood the documents that you were signing.”

“No one ever actually reads all that shit!” He says as he throws his hands in the air in frustration.

“But that’s why we require you to sign box sixty-seven, to ensure you do read and understand what you are signing.”

”FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! CAN I SPEAK TO A FUCKING HUMAN?” He yells.

”There is a three hundred and forty day wait to speak to a human operator, are you happy to be moved into the queue?”

”FINE!” He hisses in frustration as she disappears and the little egg shaped pod that he is sitting in slides into an enormous   warehouse filled with thousands upon thousands of similar looking pod. As his pod comes to a stop behind another he turns to the motionless girl who sits beside him and lets out another sigh of frustration. The girl jerks forward and the turns to face him, smiling broadly.

”My love, whatever is the matter?” She asks as she places a hand on his lap, his face scrunches up and he pulls her hand away.

”I SAID DON’T TOUCH ME UNTIL WE GET RID OF THAT THING!” He bellows, he face drops and she frowns.

”You are still unhappy about it, is it because it’s bigger than yours?” She asks as she pulls her massive penis free from her pants.