CHAPTER 131: 131-LET HER IN

Clementine:

We had to find a way into the house, but Ian had already helped with that. He told us one of the back doors in the first brown house wasn’t boarded up. It had a lock I could easily pick, so we went straight there. While I was working on it, we began to feel uneasy.

"Shit, guys, come on, quick, quick, quick," Troy urged, his voice giving me goosebumps, and I knew why. The Medusa was somewhere nearby. I turned my head to the side and saw her shadow appear in the backyard of the house we were at. But before she could fully show herself, I had opened the door and we all rushed in.

Ian took the initiative to quietly close the door, and then we began moving around. Since we had already been in this house and scanned the first floor, we knew which rooms were there and where we could hide. But as soon as we entered, we realized there weren’t many people downstairs.

One of the crusaders, Jessie, was tied next to a sofa with a rope around her neck. She was badly beaten.

We began tiptoeing toward her when noises came from the side, making us step back again. The corridor was narrow, so we couldn’t see the whole living room, which was why we missed the people inside.

"What are we going to do with this Medusa?" a woman asked.

"She always comes once a year just to cry and take victims. I guess it satisfies her," The man replied, giving us more insight.

"Don’t worry about it. All of us know not to answer her door. She lures her victims in. But if she finds you in the open air, you’re done. Think of her as human, she can only kill you when she’s right in front of you. But she can’t unlock doors. That’s the one thing that makes her less human." He laughed, then fell silent, in a way that felt almost traumatic.

"Look at this bitch. Do you think I can fuck her?" he asked, pointing at Jessie. My heart pounded louder.

"Well, you can," the woman answered. "We’re already thinking about it. We need to grow our population, and for that, we have to impregnate the women quickly. She’s just nineteen, so I’m sure it will be an easy pregnancy." Her words made my fists clench.

While they were talking, a sudden knock came at the door.

"Open the door, please. I’m so cold out here, mommy."

We didn’t recognize the voice, but the woman jumped up and rushed toward the door. The man quickly blocked her path.

"Bsby, it’s not our daughter," he said, reminding her that it could be Medusa impersonating her. That’s when we realized these two were husband and wife, or at least a couple, and they were openly talking about impregnating other women. That was just sad.

"No, this is our daughter," the woman argued, struggling to free herself from his grip.

That was our cue. If they moved out of the way, we could put our plan into action.

"No, I’m telling you this isn’t her," the man said, dragging her aside, almost helping us without realizing it.

"We need to untie Jessie first," Haiden whispered, his voice low so that the couple wouldn’t hear him. I knelt carefully and moved toward the door.

Outside, Medusa kept speaking, her words meant to break the woman down. The woman cried a lot in those few minutes, even protesting and swinging her arms as her husband pulled her into the kitchen and locked the door to keep her away from the manipulation.

When they were gone, we moved out. Thankfully, aside from those two, no one else was on the ground floor, which made us believe the others were upstairs doing some ritual.

Haiden and Troy rushed forward, and Jessie began to wake up. She was on her knees, her hands tied behind her back. One of her eyes was so swollen we feared it might be permanent.

"You take Jessie out of here," I told Troy and Haiden, who quickly untied her. They rushed away after giving me one last glance and telling me to take care of myself.

Yorick and I stood guard while Ian reached the door.

"Okay, guys, we’re gonna turn around and fucking run out of here," Ian said, laying out exactly what to do once he opened it.

We were ready. We could’ve just left, but there was a real chance that the moment she got in, she’d attack Ian. We had to stay to protect him. And if she didn’t strike right away, we’d all run together to the back door.

Troy and Haiden had already carried Jessie out through the back. Then I watched Ian open the door. The second he did, he turned, and we sprinted.

We sprinted like hell. But while running, I heard something odd, the hiss of a snake.

Once we were down the small corridor toward the back exit, I stopped at the door and turned around. I don’t know what compelled me, maybe my curiosity had built up too much, but I had to steal one glance at her.

When I did, I saw her turning away from us. That’s when I noticed her red dress, torn and ragged. Her hair wasn’t hair at all but snakes, hissing and twisting around. Her skin was gray, almost blue, like a corpse. Her eyes were bulging out, but I couldn’t really see them since she was looking away.

Then the couple who had gone into the kitchen came out. I guessed they didn’t know she was there. That was when I saw her in her prime.

The moment the man and woman came face-to-face with her, they gasped. She didn’t touch them. But the instant they locked eyes with her, they froze. Their bodies stiffened, hardening into stone until they were nothing but statues.

The snakes on her head began to hiss and thrash until one of them turned toward me. I was so stunned I forgot to move, until a hand wrapped around my waist. Yorick pulled me close.

"Let’s go," he hissed, snapping me out of it.

Before Medusa could face us, Yorick slammed the door shut and dragged me toward the other house we had marked as our target.

"What about Xenia? What if she was in the other house, the one we just left?" I asked my squadmates.

Jessie was still with Troy and Haiden, and now we were on the road. But we knew Medusa was wreaking havoc, the screams from the second floor made it clear. One by one, the cries cut off, like those people had turned to stone the same way the couple had.

"Well, then she died," Ian replied flatly. He spoke about Xenia without a shred of remorse, and neither did the others. I guessed I was with them. She had made an innocent girl die. We had no reason to care for her.