Chapter 31: Too Far

I became concerned with where this was headed. I hadn't expected their break-up to get so ugly. Let alone that James would have underlying intentions. I was tempted to interfere by how he was touching her. I had to stop myself from jumping down and forcing his slimy hands off of her. I could tell by her face that his grip was becoming hard to bear, but I had to let them do this on their own, or else I would be prosecuted. Molly's anger became stronger with every disgusting truth he spit at her. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Let go of me! I never want to see you again!! I don't want to spend another minute with you, you selfish, hard-headed, cowardly, disgusting, cheating bastard!!"

Yikes. This was getting loud. And a lot worse than I thought it would. Just as I thought it couldn't get any worse than this, James punched her across the face. Blood sprayed from the new cut in her lip and she fell to the concrete below her. Her devastating scream awakened something in me that I didn't know how to handle. 'Kill him.' That was the first time I heard Erin speak seriously, but I didn't care how bloodthirsty he sounded right now. 'Tear his hands off for even daring to touch her!' Mary shouted. 'Make it painful. You know you want to.' John's voice neared the lower octave it had back when he screamed about needles. 

I didn't waste another second, jumping off the roof to land beside them. The street cracked beneath me as I landed, and James jumped at my sudden presence. I grabbed his throat before he could say anything to me and lifted him off of the ground. He choked under my tight grasp and I was about to say nothing as I watched the life drain from his eyes. I was going to let him gasp pathetically until the moment before death took him, and then I would let go just before he could feel its release. I planned to break every bone in his body before tearing his heart out as the finale. 

As if he could hear my thoughts, terror etched James's face as he stared into my murderous gaze. Molly sat up and was now looking at us with shock. Before she could muster the courage to interfere, some army men came into view as they ran toward us. "Break it up!" one of them yelled. Hank then made his way through them and shouted to me. "Kane! Drop him." I could barely hear him from the voices and the hallucinations filling my head. There was so much anger inside me that it took everything I had to loosen my grip enough to drop him. He fell hard to the ground and the men who came with Hank pulled him to his feet. "His eyes! His eyes were glowing! He was going to kill me!" James screamed with horror.

Hank noticed Molly on the ground and walked over to help her to her feet. "What happened?" I continued to stare at James as I attempted to calm myself down. It wasn't working. I still wanted to mutilate him just as badly. I made it clear that I wasn't in the right frame of mind to answer, or even acknowledge that Hank had asked a question, so Molly answered him. "James and I got in a fight and it went too far. Kane must've heard and come to defend me." Hank noticed her bloody lip and turned to James. James avoided looking directly at Hank, which confirmed his suspicion. 

"James. You are demoted to rationing. I don't want you on the same team as Molly. You will not come near her. Do I make myself clear?" He was shocked at Hank's order, but it soon became defeat since he knew he couldn't win this fight. "Yes, Sir," he said with irritation on his face. The army men then escorted him to his new position, and Hank took Molly on his arm. He grabbed my attention with a serious tone as they walked past me. "Kane. You are not a weapon. Stop acting like one." His words brought me out of my rage and back to my senses. 

As much as I hated to admit it, I acted more like a weapon than a human. I didn't even know if I was still a human or not. I definitely didn't want to be a weapon. Erin scoffed at my inner dialogue. 'Yeah. That's coming from the guy who used you as a gun for his scavenging team ever since you got here.' I rolled my eyes. "He always gave me the option not to go on missions, and you know it." I shook my head and went for a walk to calm down. A part of me still wanted to find where they took James and crush his head with my grip before anyone could stop me again. How dare he hurt the only thing I loved? I wanted nothing more than to destroy him. 

For the rest of the day, I walked the streets of the settlement to settle my murderous inclination. By the end of it, I was more focused on the soreness of my feet rather than killing James. At least that was something. The sky was darkening past sunset and as I turned the corner, I saw Molly leaving a building with a suitcase in her hand. I quickly approached her out of response. "Molly! Are you okay?" I asked as I caught her attention. She now had a bandage on her split lip and her chin was purple and bruised. The sight of it made the rage inside me begin to boil up again. 

She smiled a little and shrugged. "Yeah. I've been through worse, though. Trust me." I returned her small smile even though all I wanted to do right now was hear James scream. She seemed a little nervous as she continued speaking to me. "And by the way... I'm sorry I didn't believe you." My smile faded and I moved to walk down the sidewalk next to her. "It's no problem. I understand why you didn't. So, what's with the suitcase?" She looked down at it like she had forgotten that she was carrying it. "Well, I used to share a room with James, but after today, I didn't feel like that was a good idea anymore. Hank offered that I stay in the spare room at his estate since there aren't any available rooms in the housing sector." 

Erin then yelled, 'Now's your chance!' and the sheer volume of it made me wince. "Hey, there's no need for you to live with Hank. I have plenty of room at my place. Why don't you stay with me?" She gave me a suspicious look. "I don't think that's the smartest idea." I tried to hide how desperate I was to get her to live with me as I responded. "Why not?" She turned to look ahead and replied, smugly. "Well, first of all, I know that you were the one who got Vanessa and Gary together." I swallowed hard. "You do?" She laughed a little at my nervousness. "Gary's a talker. He's been bragging about your matchmaking skills all day to anyone within hearing distance." I sighed. "God damn it, Gary."