“After you all turned on me and put that brute Dave in charge. I was going to leave, try and make it on my own someplace, but on my trek through the woods I found this place. Besides, I couldn’t leave Ripley Hall to you peasants. I need to be nearby for when it’s reopened someday. I am its manager after all.”
Annaliese looked around at the greenhouse interior. There were long shelves, three tiers high, which brimmed with tomato plants, cucumbers, and a whole host of other fruit and vegetables. She spotted something else, too. Stacked up in the corner of the building was all of the group’s missing supplies.
“You took the supplies?” she said. “All the shit you gave me, and it was you!”
Shawcross laughed. “Not exactly, but close enough. Like I said, there’s enough here for a small group to survive indefinitely. Our current group, however, is slightly too large.”
Annaliese’s stomach rolled as she absorbed the comment and thought about what he meant. “What are you playing at, Shawcross?” she demanded, rocking back and forth. “Untie me from this goddamn chair.”
Shawcross gazed at her sadly. “I’m afraid I cannot do that, Anna. I’m sorry that things have ended up like this, because I always liked you.”
“I always thought you were a stuck-up prick.”
Shawcross growled. “Well, then I thank you for making this easier for me.”
“You can’t seriously be planning to kill me?”
Shawcross slapped a palm against his forehead. “Have you listened to a word I’ve said? That’s exactly what I plan on doing. The whole group of us won’t make it through with the food we have. We’ll eat ourselves to death in a matter of months. But, with a few less mouths to feed, we’ll be just fine. Nick is locked up with that imbecile, Renee, and you and Mike are here with me, about to be disposed of. To my knowledge that is all of the troublemakers dealt with.”
“Troublemakers?”
Shawcross nodded. “Yes. You and Mike have been quite outspoken in your defiance of me. Today it became unfortunately clear that neither of you were going to come around to my way of thinking. You don’t respect my authority.”
“That’s because you have none.”
Shawcross’s lip turned downwards in a scowl. “Don’t I? Just look at the position you’re in. Look at what happened to Nick after he attacked me. Look what happened to Dave for going up against me.” Shawcross seemed to try and stop himself before he finished the sentence, but it was too late. His scowl turned into a frown and then a smirk. “Oops! Whatever have I said?”
“You killed Dave!” Annaliese spat.
“Of course I didn’t. I was with you the whole time.”
“Then how?”
“Not for you to worry about, Anna. You know, it really is such a pity that you couldn’t respect my authority. If civilisation is over as we know it, then you and I would have made a great match for a repopulation effort.”
Annaliese felt revulsion. “I’d rather fuck a pig.”
Shawcross scowled at her again. The look on his face became almost inhuman; so full of hate and malice, twisted insecurities. He pointed a finger in her face. “What? You think I’m not good enough for you? You pick a pathetic dogsbody like Mike – a man with zero ambition, zero intelligence, zero-”
Mike flew out of his chair, ropes hanging loose around his wrists. He tumbled forwards into Shawcross and tackled the man to the ground.
“I’m intelligent enough to get the drop on you, you greasy-haired motherfucker,” he said, as he straddled Shawcross and let fly with his fists.
While this was going on, Annaliese began struggling with her own bonds. The ropes were strong, but the chair was not. As she pulled and wiggled, she felt the joints of the old wooden chair begin to loosen. The armrests began to rotate back and forth.
Just a little bit more.
Mike continued pummelling Shawcross on the floor. Annaliese shouted for his attention. “Mike! Come help me.”
He looked around and saw her struggling to get free of the chair. He got up off Shawcross and ran over to help her.
“One sec,” he said, grabbing at the ropes around her arms. Annaliese twisted her wrists and started to pull. It hurt badly, but she managed to drag her hands out through the knots inch by inch.