She closes her eyes.She seems to realize something.She shakes her head almost imperceptibly and her chin quivers."He's lying to you.How long have you been down here?"
"I'm not even supposed to talk to you.All your kind does is lie."I don't want to hear what she's saying.She's no different from the others and I know that she'll try to convince me of her lies if I let her.
"Why are you down here?If he's so good, why are you locked in this basement?"
I shout at her, "It isn't a basement!This is an underground bunker, and you know it!It protects us from the gases outside."
"Then why can he leave this place?"
"Stop it.Stop playing stupid and pick up the hammer.I'm going to kill you either way.You might as well go down fighting."
Her voice has changed and it's more conciliatory now."Okay, okay.If you're going to kill me either way, what does it hurt to answer my questions first?"
I glare at her, not saying a word.She's confusing me.No one before her has been this good at deception.They haven't been this well-spoken or so averse to taking the first shot.She must take my silence as an invitation to probe further because she asks again, "Why is he able to leave here if the air outside is dangerous?"
"The air IS dangerous.It's not an if.He can go out because he has a gas mask.It's too large for my face and he only has one.Even if it fit me, I couldn't go alone.I've never been above ground before and I'd get lost in the rubble."
"What's your name?"She asks while she continues to keep her eyes on me.
I don't respond, and instead, I shake my head.
"Okay.That's fine.I'll talk.You don't have to believe me, but I have to tell you the truth.This is a basement.You're living in the basement of a brick home in Austin, Texas.The air here is safe.The air everywhere is safe.No one needs a mask.Have any of the people he's brought down here been wearing a mask?"
Still, I say nothing.I just stare at her as her words seep through the cracks in the walls I erected.She sees it.She sees that she's effecting me, and she continues."Even if they had taken their masks off upstairs, wouldn't there be lines on their faces if they were wearing masks everyday of their lives?Why wouldn't he take one of their masks and give it to you so that you could leave this basement?"
I'm not stupid.I know what she's doing.She continues to use the word basement planting the thought into my head over and over.I've had enough.She's not going to lie to me a moment longer.I raise the whip and strike, wrapping it around her ankles and pulling hard.She's knocked flat on her back as the breath whooshes from her body.Her head makes a loud crack when it connects with the concrete floor and blood seeps out around her.
Suddenly, there's commotion outside.It's above us.Male voices are yelling and loud crashes.There's a loud splash.Wait, water?
There's something outside on the back patio.It takes me a moment to acclimate to my surroundings.I'm home.Adam and I are home in our bed.I heard something outside though.Adam is lying next to me, asleep.The dog.Where is that one eyed marauder?He went to sleep in here with us in his bed.
Carefully, I disentangle myself from Adam's sleeping form and quietly sneak out of the room.I don't see Mulligan anywhere.He isn't in the kitchen or the living room and then I remember...I heard water.It came from the back patio.Shit!Did he get in the pool?I sprint to the back door and flip on the light.There's nothing.How would he even get outside?All of the doors are locked.I continue looking out the glass, noticing that something isn't right.One of our new loungers is in the pool.It's sunk to the bottom of the deep end.How did that happen?I'm reaching for the lock on the door when I see...him.
CHAPTER 44
Adam
