Beast, Part Two (The Church #5)

Like Father

Chapter forty

Summer

U sing the skinny nail I found on the floor, I fiddle with the cuff lock around my ankle. TV makes breaking into locks much easier than it is. I’ve been trying to get this lock open for the last three days.

“Come on, you stupid lock,” I whine.

The squeaking of the basement door has my head turning in that direction. I quickly hide the nail under the covers on my cot. Standing to my feet. I wait for her to appear.

“Your wretched impurity has my basement reeking,” Colleen says as soon as she steps off the bottom step. The god awful tray with the boiling hot water is in her hands.

She places the tray down on the table, then pours the boiling water into the bowl. This is a daily occurrence. Every morning, she comes down those steps with the scalding water, complaining about my impure scent.

“I don’t understand how anyone could stand to be around you.”

“If it’s that bad, then let me and my son go.”

The back of her hand flies across my face. The pain is immediate, but I’ve been struck by her so many times now, I’m kind of used to it.

“It’s obvious I didn’t teach the boy well. He should’ve corrected your mouth long ago. I will not have you sassing me in my own house.”

I take a deep breath. I’ve never had to fight so hard against cursing someone out. I want to tell this psycho ass bitch she’s the one that has me trapped in this fucking house.

Colleen walks over to the shelf to grab the bleach. She pours half the bottle into the boiling water. When she’s done, she places the rag in the bowl.

“Undress,” she states.

I go to pull the nightgown up in order to take it off. At that moment, the squeaking of the basement door has both of our heads swinging in that direction. Then I hear the sweetest voice ever. A voice I haven’t heard in four days.

“Grandma, someone is calling. Can I answer and see if it’s my mama or Hulk?” The desperation in his voice has tears appearing in my eyes.

I go to call his name, but it’s almost like Colleen anticipated it. She swung around with a small gun in her hands aimed at me. I freeze. I haven’t seen the rifle in the last two days, but I should’ve known that she wasn’t completely unarmed. She places a finger to her lips.

“Go on and answer it, Gabriel,” she says in a soft tone. One I didn’t think her rude ass had. “I’ll be up in a second.”

His little feet rushing away from the door had my heart racing.

“What did you tell him?” I snarl at her.

She smiles. “I told him that you and the demon are away for a while and that you need me to watch him. After that one is born,” she says, pointing at my midsection. “I’ll tell him you both tragically died and left me to raise him.”

Suddenly, I feel sick to my stomach. I knew this woman had nefarious plans for me, but I had no idea what they were. Hearing her so casually tell me she had planned to take my children and raise them had alarm bells going off in my head.

“Get cleaned up,” she spits out. “I’ll be back.”

She slowly backs up toward the stairs and then turns and heads up them. I wait for the sound of the door closing before springing into action. Quickly, I go back to the nail under my sheets, and jump into action, trying to pry the lock open. With a new sense of urgency and desperation, I fight with that nail in the lock. At the sound of the soft click, the lock gives and the shackle around my ankle loosens. I gasp as fresh tears nearly spring to my eyes.

However, I fight the tears down. I needed to be focused. This was not the time for tears. I slip my ankle out of the shackles and rush over to the shelf in the basement. There is a hammer hanging against the wall. I pull the hammer down. As soon as I get it off the shelf, the creaking of floorboards near the basement door alerts me that Colleen is coming back. I rush back to my cot, the same spot I was in when she left me. I hold the hammer behind my back.

Colleen slowly walks down the stairs, each one creaking with her steps. When she gets to the bottom and looks over at me, her face scrunches.

“I told you to cleanse yourself.”

Holding my head up, I look her in the face. “I want to see my son.”

“No. Now, get undressed.”

“Let me see my son,” I shout.

She storms over to me. I imagine she’s ready to backhand me and put me in my place again. The moment she’s close enough, I pull the hammer out and swing it, striking her across the face.

She yelps and crashes to the ground near the table. Her head is bleeding, but she’s not dead. I swing the hammer at her again, this time striking the arm she holds up to block me. I managed to swing the hammer twice more, hitting her in the face and chest. She finally goes limp. I toss the bloody hammer to the ground. My heart racing in my chest as I stand over her bloody body.

Seeing the blood causes bile to rise in my throat, I rush over to my piss bucket and empty my stomach. Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I stand on shaky legs.

Colleen has yet to move. I rush up the stairs. I nearly face plant on the steps in my rush to see my baby, but I fight to make it to the top. As soon as I do, I push the door open, walking into a sparse-looking kitchen.

I immediately catch the scent of freshly cooked bacon. A small circular table is in the middle of the kitchen with two chairs. Although the kitchen is small, it is clean.

In the distance, I can hear the sound of voices coming from a room nearby. It’s the soft hum of a television show, something with a laugh track. I make my way toward the sound.

The moment I spot my son sitting on the floor in front of the old television, tears fall from my eyes.

“Gabe,” I whisper his name.

He looks up from the TV and spots me. The smile that fills his face melts me to my core.

“Mama,” he says as he leaps up from the floor and rushes to me. He wraps his arms around my waist.

I step back so that I can get eye level with him.

“Are you okay?” I ask, looking him over.

“I’m fine. Grandma said you and Hulk—”

I shake my head. “Listen to me, that woman was not your grandma.” Technically, she was, but I didn’t feel the need to explain that.

Gabe’s brows furrow. “She’s not? Is she bad?”

Before I could respond, my hair is nearly ripped out of my head, and I’m dragged away from Gabe. I grab at the hand clutched in my hair.

“You filthy whore,” Colleen yells as she continues to pull me across her floor by my hair.

“Let go of my mommy,” Gabe yells.

“It’s okay, Gabe,” I shout, trying to calm him down. “Go sit down.” The last thing I wanted to do was get him worked up and he somehow angers her.

Colleen loosens her grip on my hair. I tug away from her and try to crawl. She quickly grabs me back and flips me over before punching me in the face. My mouth fills with blood.

She kneels on my chest and wraps both hands around my neck. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” Her voice is void of any emotion and her eyes take on a distant look.

I dig my nails into her wrist, breaking the skin.

She blinks as if she’s waking up from a trance. A smile lifts her cheeks.

“I must not harm the baby,” she whispers, climbing up from my chest.

I gasp for air, my lungs burning. She opens the basement door. I had no idea she’d pulled me that far away from Gabe. I fight to get away from her. She yanks me back down and places her boot on my chest.

“The moment that new bastard is out of your belly, I’m going to put a bullet in your head,” she says with a cheerful smile.

“Leave my mama alone!”

Colleen and I both look over to Gabe. He’s standing in the hallway, a small gun in his hands as he aims it at Colleen.

“Gabriel,” I squeal. “Baby, put the gun down.”

He holds the weapon up, his little arms shaking.

“My sweet boy,” Colleen coos in that tone I’ve only heard her use with Gabe. “Put the gun down. God is watching you.”

“You hurt my mama,” Gabe says without lowering the gun.

Colleen looks back at me, before turning to Gabe. “She misbehaved. And remember what I told you about God? He talks to me and tells me when I need to discipline those that are not good. I’m only doing the Lord’s work.”

Colleen takes a step toward Gabriel. “Now, put the gun down, sweet boy.”

“Gabe,” I call out. “Put the gun down.”

He glances down at me before looking back at Colleen.

“No,” he says, breathing hard.

Colleen takes another step toward him. “You’re not listening. The lord said that children should honor and listen to their parents. You are being very naughty right now.”

“Don’t you touch him,” I shout at Colleen as I slowly get to my hands and knees.

“Shut up, whore,” she spits out at me before turning back to Gabe. “Listen to your grandma, sweet boy.”

“No,” Gabe says. “I’d rather listen to my papa.” The gun goes off and I scream.

My entire world seems to come to a screeching halt. Did Colleen have her gun on her? Did the crazy bitch kill my son?

Right before my eyes, Colleen’s body falls to the ground, hitting the floor with a thud. A bullet wound in the center of her forehead. It was a perfect shot.

I rush to Gabe, getting on my knees in front of him. I reach for the gun. He hands it over to me without saying a word. I toss the heavy metal to the floor.

Cupping his face in my hands, I watch his eyes. I look for any sign of trauma. For anything to show me that this will live with him for the rest of his life.

However, instead of seeing fear or disturbance, a slow smile slips over my son’s face.

“I did it,” he cheered. “Just like papa Priest taught me.”

I wrap my arms around him and bring him in for a hug. I can’t even be mad at Priest for teaching him how to shoot. It saved our life. I will forever be thankful to that man.

Pulling away from my embrace with Gabe, I climb to my feet.

“We have to get out of here,” I explain. “Is there a phone somewhere? Ahh,”

I scream when the front door splinters open. I quickly put Gabe behind me. My heart racing in my chest. Standing in the door with his hair hanging in his face, his shirt bloody and torn and a menacing look in his eyes, was Gabriel.

“Daddy,” Gabe shouts as he rushes past me.

Gabriel scoops his son up and hugs him to his chest, yet his gaze never leaves my face. I imagine I look insane with this long ass gown on, my braids tangled on top of my head from where Colleen nearly ripped them out. My face is most likely bruised and bleeding.

Gabriel holds out a hand toward me. “Come here.”

I rush to him. He wraps his arms around me and buries his face at the top of my head.

“I’m sorry,” he repeats over and over.

Suddenly, Sim, Zel, Seth and Many step into the house. They all look as if they’ve been running. The sweaty bodies and panting give them away. They move into the home, their guns up and ready. I lose sight of them.

“I found Colleen,” Seth calls out. “She’s dead.”

Gabriel lowers Gabe to the floor and removes his arm from around me. He walks into the hall where we left Colleen’s body. He stands over his mother without saying a word.

“Nice shot,” Seth says, smiling at me. “You hit her dead center. Haven’t seen a hit that clean since Priest.”

Maksim looks around at the walls. “I don’t see any other bullet holes. Was this your only shot?”

I hold out my hand for Gabe. He places his small one in mine.

“Yes,” I say in answer to Sim’s question. “But I didn’t kill her. Gabe did.”

Everyone, including Gabriel, turns to look at Gabe.

“How?”

“Papa Priest taught me,” Gabe says with a huge smile and his shoulders back.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a room full of prouder men.

“I think that earned you a nickname, kid,” Seth says. “What do you think, Beast?”

Gabriel smiles, as he looks down at his mother and then back at his son. “You take after your grandfather. It’s only right we call you Preacher.”