Free Timothy 01: Timothy by Mark Tufo

he was warring with himself, worry over the fate of the Sister that had sold him out or his own personal safety.
    I looked Anna in the eye. “You know he’s going to come down here and see if he can help.”
    She nodded dejectedly.
    “ You could save him.”
    “ I could?” she asked with a small glimmer of hope.
    “ Yes, warn him not to come down, but I’m still famished; I have to eat someone,” I told her. My blood soaked teeth glistened as I smiled.
    “ I’m coming down, Anna,” Fred cried out. “Just tell me what’s going on.”
    “ Fred, what the hell are you doing?” Zak said. “You can’t go down there. I’ll be alone.”
    “ Then come with me,” Fred said.
    I could hear Fred trying to come down the stairs as quietly as possible, but the creaking stairs were betraying his every movement.
    Zak had made up his mind. I did not hear two sets of feet descending.
    ‘ Divide and conquer.’ Before I stood I tore Merle’s patella free, gelatinous goo hung from it which I greedily slurped up.
    “ Anna, what was that?” Fred asked, stopping his downward movement.
    “ Last chance,” I told Anna as I stood. She turned away. “That’s my good girl. God doesn’t give a shit about those idiots with hero syndrome. He cares about survivors. He cares about those who will do all in their power to preserve the gift of life, the gift that he has given to us all. Not those assholes that would throw it all away by running into a burning building or jumping on a grenade.” I crept quietly over to the bottom of the stairs as Anna cried softly.
    “ Sister… Merle, are you alright?” Fred asked quietly from the first landing. “I’m going to drill a hole in your head, clown!” Fred shouted. I think he was more trying to convince himself that he wasn’t scared than actually feel like he was intimidating me. Maybe next he would start to whistle, although I never knew the logic behind that stupid move. If you were in a building or a home and you weren’t entirely sure if you were alone, why would you announce your damn self? Maybe it was to mask the noise of the boogeyman’s approach as he plunged your own kitchen knife through your kidney.
    I was at the bottom of the stairs hidden by the wall. Anna had walked farther away, not wanting to witness the ensuing action and maybe if Fred did somehow kill me she would now have plausible deniability that she knew where I was.
    ‘ Oh not now!’ I stood bolt upright, my sphincter loosening completely. Feces blew through like a stiff breeze through a tunnel, sure a shit-caked tunnel but you get the idea. I used to think cooking liver and onions was the worst smell this planet had to offer, that wasn’t even close. I can’t imagine flies would even be drawn to what was leaking from my anus.
    Fred was gagging violently from the first landing. It was a good thing too because I was locked in this position, I bet stupid Hugh couldn’t even chew a tongue and walk at the same time. Fred started blasting holes in the wall near where I was standing.
    ‘ Hugh, this might be a good time to wrap up,’ I begged my besieger.
    The speed with which Hugh released control caught me completely off guard. I collapsed to the floor. This saved our lives as Fred shot two huge holes about head high right where I had been.
    “ That was close, Fred!” I yelled, laughing.
    “ You’re a sick clown—let me put you out of your misery!” Fred yelled back. I could hear him placing shells into the rifle. I didn’t think I could get up and make it to him before he was ready to fire again and if I remembered correctly, he was also wearing a sidearm, so that would be a bad move all around.
    “ Killing me, Fred, would put me out of your misery,” I stressed.
    “ What have you done with the Sister? Don’t you have any sanctity for the Cloth?” Fred cried.
    “ Only when it gets stuck in my teeth,” I mocked, crawling away from his firing zone.
    “ Where is Merle?” Fred demanded.
    “