Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV by Borthwick, Finlay (book recommendations website .TXT) 📗

“Well, well, well…” Gwen shook her head in disgust as she circled the tied-up Donna. “Looks like the rumours are true; The Bandits are back.”

Annabelle remained by the bottom of the stairs, glaring at Donna with nothing but anger and bereavement – for her long-time deceased father – in her eyes.

Although his visual senses may no longer have worked, Elliot was excellent at picking up on the emotions around him. As such, he slipped his hand into Annabelle’s and squeezed it tightly, desperate to keep her there in the moment with him, and not six years prior to when she had multiple other bandits.

Donna said nothing, and instead returned Gwen’s look of disgust back at her.

Gwen only circled the tied-up bandit once before she crouched down in front of her, “Do you know who I am?”

Donna had a strong poker face.

Gwen encroached closely on her personal space, “The name’s Gwen. I’m the woman who killed your martyr.” She declared proudly, putting a conniving smile on Annabelle’s face as well.

Elliot, on the other hand, was listening to this situation with a troubled expression. Whilst he understood why Gwen felt the need to gloat, he also felt as though she wasn’t being cautious enough with regards to her enemy.

Donna didn’t react in the slightest.

“Your little deity, Kyle? I pushed him down a manhole. I listened as he broke every single bone in his back as he plummeted to the floor beneath.” Gwen was, perhaps, taking her boasting too far, “I smiled as he died. I smiled so very, very passionately.”

Then, much to Gwen and Annabelle’s surprise, Donna’s face eased up into delight, as she grimaced at her new enemy, “Thank you… Now Nolan can initiate the final battle in the knowledge that our devil will perish during the shootout.”

“What do you mean?” Elliot called out, “How is he gonna know?”

All of a sudden, Gwen realised what exactly Donna was getting at. “Oh shit!” She cursed with rather wide eyes as she ripped the bandit’s shirt open; there was a mic wired up through Donna’s body.

“Nolan’s heard everything!” She declared with a maniacal smile. “You’re all gonna die!” Now she was laughing psychotically as well. “You specifically,” she addressed Gwen directly now, “Kyle’s gonna torture you and your husband in Hell forever!!” This comment made it clear that The Bandits were very much aware of how evil they were.

As Annabelle reached for her pistol, Elliot was still holding her hand firmly.

“Annie, don’t do it.” He mumbled to her.

“Why not?!” Annabelle screamed back at him. “Can’t you hear what she’s saying?”

“Yes, yes I can.” Elliot replied calmly, leading his sister to become confused. “And so can he!” He shouted towards Donna in the hopes that Nolan was still listening in, “He can still hear us, right?”

“We’re always listening.” Donna grimaced.

“Right, well in that case,” Elliot ignored how cryptic the bandit was being and stepped forward towards her, “I want him to know that the people here have been through and lost so much more than he could possibly ever imagine.”

Donna rolled her eyes as she realised that ‘the blind guy in the room’ – as she thought of him as – Was about to launch into a monologue.

“We’re not gonna lose anything or anyone else,” Elliot proclaimed, “So you’d best prepare yourselves for the fight of your life—You are the ones that will end up face down and dead on the ground.”

Gwen was smirking now, proud that she had adopted such a brave, thoughtful, and willing man as her stepson.

“Catch you later, Nolan.” Elliot left his unseen enemy with those words before grabbing the wired mic and ripping it forcefully off of Donna. He threw it to the ground and then stamped on it with force, destroying it; he had incredible aim despite his lack of vision.

“Get Cora,” Elliot ordered Annabelle, “Tell her to unlock the armoury and gear everybody up immediately.”

Just like her mother, Annabelle too was smirking, proud to see that her stepbrother was taking charge of the situation just as it had turned dire.

Chapter 18: Turf War

With news of the upcoming battle having quickly spread, as well as the fact that Cora had opened up the armoury, the residents were now arming themselves.

Opting to travel lightly but also deadly, Kieran had equipped himself with a Glock 17 and inserted an oversized 9mm magazine into it that stuck rather noticeably out of the butt of the pistol. With this firearm equipped on his left, he kept his personal knife equipped on his right.

“Oh God, be careful with that!” Sandra steadied Kieran as he strapped a bandolier of three grenades across his chest.

“Relax, Sandra. I’ve handled deadlier.” Kieran passed her concerns off.

“I know you have; I remember.” Sandra told him with an endearing smile.

At the other end of the armoury, Rubin had armed himself with the M1 Carbine that he had taken from Nolan, for he quite liked the feel of this firearm.

“The hell kind of a gun is this?” Nikola asked Rubin as she lifted up a pump action shotgun with a long metal tube on the end of it.

“Oh!” Rubin slung his carbine over his shoulder as he answered Nikola’s question, “That’s a suppressed shotgun.”

“A suppressor… On a shotgun?” Nikola had never seen such a weapon before, and actually found it rather baffling, “I thought the point of a shotgun was to scatter the pellets?”

Rubin drew breath to answer her question before halting himself, “Actually,” he realised that he did not know the answer himself, “I’m not sure. Maybe Kieran will know.”

Elsewhere in the armoury, and with rather dark and intrusive thoughts in control of her mind, Marianne was rummaging through a crate of handguns.

Without consciously deciding, she picked