Devyn followed Joy through the backdoor. Her brother didn't seem to want to enter the house anytime soon with the way he lazily brought the cigar to his lips and puffed the air. Jim acted like none of this mattered. Like he wasn't standing there with red eyes and an enemy to the Council. Like killing some of his coworkers would be okay.  

Who cares if they are Protectors of the Living. Jim has red eyes and can do what he wants. Just like when we were growing up. Devyn thought bitterly.

"Shit," Joy muttered, causing Devyn to look around them.

A few bullet holes were in the living room wall near the television he never used. The height of the couch obstructed the view of the floor. Devyn swallowed before edging forward to see a man in a Central officer's uniform lying facedown in his blood with a steak knife in his back. She braced herself on the couch's edge.

Devyn then turned toward the right; the small kitchen had been destroyed. Cabinet doors hung slightly off the hinges, and drawers were pulled loose. Steak knives stuck out of the wall in a clean line as if waiting to be the hooks for Jim's new floral arrangement. Well, if her brother ever took the time to be that creative.

She looked back at her brother and felt the crease deepen in the center of her forehead. Floral arrangements would be a lot easier to clean up than this mess.

"What are we supposed to be doing?" Joy asked. "I mean, how are we supposed to—"

"There is kitty litter in the big pantry," a hoarse voice said from the stairs.

The two women jumped and turned to meet another pair of red eyes. Devyn immediately recognized them as the P.U. lady in the trees.

"It covers up the smell," the P.U. lady finished when neither Joy nor Devyn moved. "For Christ's sake. Jim! Jim!"

The volume of her voice made Devyn's eyebrows rise and her heartbeat quicken. Her hoarseness didn't allow for the volume to increase much, but the sound made Devyn want to pour tea down her throat. Then again, if someone did hear her—

"Keep your voice down," Devyn hissed. "We are a little bit—I'm a bit. This isn't really what either of us expected."

The lady rolled her eyes at Devyn. "What did you expect? A powwow with the Protectors of the Living. They would be like, 'Oh, thank you for exposing us for being the complete jackasses that we are.'  And, then, we would say 'you're welcome,' and we'd all eat expired Girl Scout cookies?"

Something about the way the lady crossed her arms and leaned a hip against the railing bugged Devyn. She wanted to take off her shoe and throw it at this failed vax. Screw the tea. Let her voice burn.

"That my brother wouldn't have red eyes. I wouldn't be invited over here to be part of a Central officer slaying cover-up. And that some failed vax in a tree wouldn't now be standing in my brother's living room is the start of the list," Devyn bit out, making the lady smirk.

Devyn moved to step forward, but her brother's steady hand stopped her. She turned to look up at him, and he gave her a sad smile.

"Sorry, sis," he sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't get involved in all of this. But, Paige—"

The lady on the stairs skipped down the last stairs while pointing a finger at Jim. Joy's eyes widened, and she backed out of the lady's way.

Her red eyes flared as she got closer to Jim. "I thought it was you that got stabbed. I wouldn't have been able to stay. You—"

Jim made a sound to silence and soothe her while holding a hand up. "I didn't blame you, Paige. Let me finish."

Paige's red eyes narrowed, and she motioned for him to continue talking. Joy looked at Paige with a mixture of fascination and fear, making Devyn smirk. Joy doesn't travel beyond 610 often."

"Listen, Dev," Jim sighed. "I didn't want you to find out about me or this whole thing because I knew it could get you in danger."

"You knew I wanted to go to meetings," Devyn responded. "I could have gotten more involved sooner and maybe kept you from doing," she motioned around the room. "This!"

Jim pressed his lips together and crossed his arms. "This was necessary. You don't know what is really going on beyond the walls."

"Oh," Joy cut in. "We saw the video. Crazy. Did you record that?"

Jim nodded. "Paige was there too. Helped a few of the younger kids escape."

The room became silent as Devyn stared at her brother. "Did Dad know?"

He nodded.

"How long ago did it happen?"

Jim shrugged. "The turn happened about a year ago. Some doctors think I could have been infected about a year or so before that during one of the hunts."

"Butcherings," Paige corrected flatly. "Now, do you two want to help with the kitty litter or not?"

Jim shook his head. "Paige, I really don't think we need to cover the smell that much. Let's just cut them up and throw them in the Bayou. A gator might be able to help us out."

Paige shook her head. "Too risky. They will be watching the water. Let them look for the bodies. It will give us more time to get you to safety."

Devyn felt the sides of her eyes begin to burn, and her heart tightened. Joy took a step towards her friend, but Paige stopped her with an arm and shake of her head. Jim pulled his sister in for a hug as the first wave of sobs wracked through his body.

"Just work on the kitty litter," Paige whispered. "There is a bag in the big pantry. We need to move quickly."

Joy nodded and went to work. She knew somewhat of what Devyn was going through. Her mother turned when she was sixteen when the undead were released from the cages. Joy thought she may have seen her mother on the initiation hunt but couldn't be sure. She wanted to believe that her mother had gotten away to the woods. That is what her mother said her father did after he turned. Thank goodness for her grandmother. That old lady was too salty for even the strongest of tastebuds.

"Were y'all going to the RFUPU meeting later?" Paige asked while Joy picked up the kitty litter bag. Joy nodded. "Me too."

"How?" Joy asked while waiting for Paige to grab a bag. "Sorry, no offense, but you would kinda stand out on the street."

"Uhmm—do I look decomposed?" Paige asked, motioning to herself with her free hand. Joy shook her head. "We wear contacts. It is only the eye that gives us away. Blood tests don't really work for us. We just show up as being vaccinated."

Joy dropped her bag on the floor and ripped open the top. "Makes sense. How many of there are y'all in the walls?—wait, how did y'all even get in?"

Paige prepped her bag while watching Joy dump the kitty litter on the body. Devyn's sobs became whimpers as Jim talked softly to his sister.

"Probably best you didn't know those details. The resistance isn't big about letting too many people in. We only let that idiot in so deep because he got red eyes and had connections," Paige grunted out at the end of her sentence as she dumped the kitty litter on top of the man. "Did you know this guy?"

Joy shrugged. "Probably. Don't you think we should burn him?"

Paige considered the body underneath two bags of kitty litter. "We wouldn't be able to get far if they saw the smoke."

"We could rig the fire to start," Joy shrugged. "I read about a serial arsonist who used to do it before the first infection."

"But, would this burn?" Paige asked, picking up the bag of kitty litter to examine it.

"Maybe?" She shrugged. "I'm kinda impressed y'all even got this much."

Paige placed the bag on the ground and walked back towards the pantry. Joy followed a few steps behind.

"We knew it was only a matter of time until this day came," Paige said while grabbing another bag.

Joy nodded. The Council liked to speak about making peace with the undead and partially undead, but the reports on how talks went varied based on the source. Some sectors of the RFUPU thought council members were wasting time before a new push for extermination. Joy had read enough about history to understand the caution. But, she disagreed with some RFUPU members' ideas about violence.

"Do you have this one handled?" Paige asked. "I have one more to handle upstairs."

The red-eyed lady waited for the purple-haired lady to nod before walking away. Joy did not know why she felt at ease in this situation. Maybe it was because she knew that the other side wouldn't do for her. She could not agree with killing other human beings undead, partially undead, or living. Or, maybe, it was because she hoped that her family still hid in the woods and were human enough to talk. Better yet, maybe, this is the moment she started her hero journey. Her manga where her hair would be forever purple, or, perhaps, it would change with her emotions. She would need to change her outfit for this.

Joy smiled and turned her attention back to Devyn. Devyn's arms were crossed as she listened to her brother speak. The body language alone let Joy know that Devyn disagreed with whatever Jim said.

"You aren't being logical," Devyn said, shaking her head, making Joy smirk.

"Is he ever?" Joy asked. "Look at the mess he is having us clean up for him."

Jim narrowed his eyes at Joy. "Don't get started. You are the one that wastes money on hair dye."

Joy shrugged. "I didn't know I needed to invest in dead-body-litter."

Devyn covered the snort that escaped her nose. Jim narrowed his red eyes and opened his mouth, but Joy brought her hand up. She made a similar shushing noise to Jim's from earlier.

"I don't want to hear it from you right now, Mr Red Eyes. We have a lot to get done and not enough time for your excuses. Help us clean up your mess and get us caught up later," Joy motioned him towards the pantry.

Jim snapped his mouth shut and followed Joy's orders.

***

Joy sat in a chair, flipping through a manga with Paige sitting across from her. Her hand pauses. Joy lifts the manga slowly while staring at Paige. Red eyes slowly rise to meet brown in apprehension.

"You have the same eyes as Chibi Moon," Joy whispers. "How cute!"

A forced smile touches the side of Paige's lips. "Thank you?"

"Can I dye your hair pink?" Joy turned the manga around to show Paige a drawing of a little girl with pink hair and red eyes.

"No," Paige responded, getting up from her chair and walking away.

Chapter WC: 1,810

Total WC: 8,017