Chapter 16: Cue and the Strangers pt 1

The noise outside the tank lowered to a dull roar, and then pure silence. Cue shifted uncomfortably in the darkness, wondering what had happened. Wondering if they were all dead. Hoping that Barrow and Joker were, or at least got infected. Rat crawled up her chest, his whiskers tickled her cheeks, and he licked the tears off her face as they rolled down unheeded.

“I’m okay, Rat,” Cue whispered as she wrapped her arms around the large rodent and tucked her head into its fur. She couldn’t hear anything outside of the tank at that point, and the desolate fear that she was well and truly alone in the world was sinking into her mind and taking root.

“I can't believe he actually did that, I-I just can't!” Cue sobbed, her shoulders hunched and rolling with emotion.

Can't you, though? Can’t you see exactly how and why he did it?

Her conscience rattled, battering against her mind and making her sick to her stomach.

You knew it was coming, and you still fought it. You knew he’d do it, and yet you slept.

“Stop it, stop it, stop it!” Cue yelled as she smacked her palms into her temples over and over. “Those were his actions; there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. It wasn’t my fault!”

“That’s damn right!”

Cue blinked, thinking her conscience had developed a mouth somehow, and answered her out loud.

“I saw you run out of there, chicka, that dude raped you. Plain as day. Want me to kill him for you? I’d love to kill him.”

Cue looked up as the sound of boots on the ladder made her realize this wasn’t the embodiment of her hateful inner voice but of the fiery redhead with her eyes painted black and her lips redder than anything Cue had ever seen.

“The name’s Trigger, that hunk of muscle out there is Gunner,” Trigger said as she crouched in front of Cue with a brilliant smile on her face. “So, drawn and quartered? The rack?”

“W-what?” Cue mumbled.

“Medieval torture. It’s the best way to go, but if you’re sensitive, I can just slit his throat?” Trigger pulled a knife from her boot and spun it expertly between her fingers.

“I can’t let him die because I—”

“Uh uh! Nope! Zip it! Nothing you did makes what he did acceptable.”

Cue looked up at Trigger and the fiery woman placed her cold hands on either side of the other woman’s face.

“Listen up, buttercup, there’s no time for you to play victim. It’s time to be the vengeful bitch who cuts his balls off, mmk?” Trigger hopped up, hands on her hips. “So put your big girl britches on and come show me how to open that dome so I can rip that fucker out by the balls.”

Weakly, Cue rose to her feet. Rat clung to her clothes and situated himself on her shoulder the moment she was upright.

“Cute…rodent?” Trigger said, her nose wrinkling as she headed up the ladder.

“His name is Rat,” Cue said.

Trigger laughed. “I don’t think I’ll be forgetting his name anytime soon. A rat named Rat. Keepin’ it simple, I like it!”

Cue followed Trigger up, and out of the tank, and when the huge man put his hands around Trigger’s ribcage and helped her down, Cue swallowed her fear. These people just saved her; she could trust them, couldn’t she?

Gunner was holding gloved hands out to her and Cue stepped forward carefully. With gentleness she could never have imagined, the behemoth of a man lifted her off the tank and settled her safely on her feet without an inch of inappropriate action.

“T-thank you,” Cue mumbled.

The big guy nodded and walked back over to Trigger where she stood staring at the dome.

“The fucker came out to gloat at our dead bodies but ran back in his hole when he saw we lived and the zombies didn’t,” Trigger explained.

Cue looked around the park, once brown and dusty, now muddy with blood and guts. There were zombies cleaved in half, burned to a crisp. Some zombies had no heads, and there were no heads nearby to even match the corpse.

“What kind of weapon did you have in that tank?” Cue gasped.

“The very special secret kind. Now, open sesame!” Trigger wiggled her fingers at the dome as if her magic words and hand signs would open the door.

Cue walked in front of her and faced her nervously. “These guys, they’re strong. If I open that door, I won’t be able to stop them and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Trigger smiled so big and bright it made Cue want to shield her eyes. She bent slightly, putting herself at eye level with Cue, and patted her head. “Aren’t you cute, hun? Don’t you worry about little old me; worry about them. You got anyone you like in there, or do I get to just—” She shrugged, drawing her thumb over her neck to mock slitting their throat.

“Please don’t! They are the only people left!” Cue begged.

Trigger raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Gunner, who shrugged and aimed his gun at the dome. “Okay, okay, I won’t kill them. Right away. Now, open the door?”

Cue’s lips thinned, but she nodded and walked towards the dome. She pressed a button, and the door slid open. Gunfire immediately rang out and Cue and the others flattened themselves against the side of the dome.