Page 60 of If They Knew

“What’s going on down there? Why is Theo yelling?” she asks, cutting me off.

“Brent attacked Sara, and Theo is taking it into his own hands to fix the problem.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” I say, as I walk past her towards the stairs.

Lost in thought, I suddenly snap back to reality when I hear Theo yelling. “Tyler, where are you?”

The 6th floor is crowded as all the remaining passengers stand back to watch what Theo is about to do with Brent.

“Let this be a reminder to you all. I said we are family. If you put someone else in danger, there will be consequences. We don't have enough resources or energy for any of you to be going against each other. Brent is a traitor to all of us. We’re supposed to be protecting each other, but Brent here…” He kicks Brent with the tip of his shoe. “Go ahead and tell them what you did.”

Brent grunts but doesn’t answer. I'm startled when Theo suddenly kicks him in the stomach full force. “Tell them what you did, asshole.”

“Fuck you, and fuck all of them,” Brent growls, blood and saliva spewing as he forces the words out. Theo slowly kneels, bringing himself face-to-face with Brent.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?” Theo asks with a look in his eyes I haven’t seen since I was a teenager, when he protected me from a school bully.

“Like I told you before, Logan should have killed you when he had the chance,” says Brent, then he headbutts Theo in the nose so hard I can hear something break.

“Fucking asshole!” Theo snaps, grabbing at his bleeding nose. I start charging at Brent, but Kelly grabs my arm, stopping me. Theo looks over at me and holds up his bloodied hand, gesturing that he can handle Brent himself. Theo swipes the blood from his face and flicks it onto Brent’s shirt. Then he swipes a finger through the blood underneath Brent’s nose, jabbing his knuckle into his face. Brent groans, then winces as Theo paints the word ‘TRAITOR’ on the lifebuoy around his neck.

“Brent tossed all the remaining fish into the ocean. Now we have nothing to eat,” he says, eyes on Brent.

Xander, from behind me, shouts, “What? How will we survive?”

“We will do what we have done before—figure out another way,” responds Theo.

“Kill him, kill him,” shouts Karissa so loudly near my right ear that her voice almost bursts my eardrum. Her chanting sets off a chain reaction and the remaining passengers join in, chanting the same words, “kill him, kill him, kill him.” I'm shocked that everyone agrees. But he did throw away our only source of food. I stay silent.

Theo bends down, grabs Brent by the ear, and growls through gritted teeth, “Stand up.”

Brent doesn't move and Theo yanks his ear harder, damn near ripping it from his head. Brent still doesn’t budge, even though Theo is pulling with such force that I can hear cartilage cracking. Right before the ear is torn clean off, Brent stands groaning in pain.

“This is your last chance to say anything,” says Theo, his expression cold and emotionless.

“I'll see you all in Hell,” says Brent, barely able to get the words out.

Theo steps back and stares at Brent. Then he charges at him and shoves him in the chest. My eyes go wide as I watch Brent's body fall backward over the railing. Before the rope catches him, Brent screams. The rope suddenly catches, and all of Brent's weight hangs on it. Dangling from the chandelier, Brent flails like a fish out of water. He kicks his feet frantically and grabs the rope around his neck. Spit and blood fly out of his mouth with gurgling sounds as he struggles to stay alive. The chanting in the room stops, and everyone stares as Brent slowly ceases moving, his arms falling to his sides as he swings back and forth.

A woman’s cry from the back of the room breaks the silence, and I turn to see who it is. It’s Megan, a woman who never said much but was always by Brent’s side. I watch as her bloodshot eyes lock onto Theo, tears rolling down her rosy cheeks. She lets out a loud scream and charges toward Theo. His eyes widen as she quickly approaches him. Within a split second, just before she reaches him, he steps aside and her momentum takes her over the side of the railing. I watch in horror as she flips over the balcony, screaming as she falls. Her scream is silenced a second later by a loud thud. We all rush to the railing to look down. The woman's body lies face up, her lifeless eyes staring directly at us, and I can't shake the feeling that they are locked on mine. The broken wood railing is pierced through her torso. Blood pours from her mouth.

The sound of blood dripping from the tip of the wood hits the white-tile floor, echoing throughout the atrium like a leaky faucet. I turn to look at Theo to make sure he’s okay, and I watch him take a step back from the edge with a blank expression. His face trembles as he looks down at his bloodied hands.

Nobody dares to speak or move. I look around at all the people silently watching my brother and count— one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Then I stop, because there is no one else to count. Only eleven passengers are left alive on the ship.

36

THEO

The remaining passengers huddle together on the 6th floor as the frigid temperature drops even lower with each passing second as the sun sets.

“What are we going to do for food?” asks Kelly.

“I'm not sure yet, but we'll figure something out,” I say, wiping the blood from my face with my sleeve. All at once, everyone starts to panic at the possibility of starvation.

“I have an idea for you, Kelly,” Mary whispers. Kelly and Tyler both look over at her. No one else in the room except Julie and I heard her.