Chapter 394: Bambi’s Revenge ARC

The air in the gym smelled like rubber and old sweat. Heavy bass rattled from a speaker somewhere near the back, but it barely cut through the quiet tension hovering around the mat.

Faye leaned her back against the cool metal frame of a squat rack, her thumbs hooked into the waistband of her track pants. Her lungs pulled in a slow, steady breath. She let it out just as slowly, watching Malo shift his weight from foot to foot in front of her.

Throughout the week, she hadn’t set her eyes on Malo or her other friends. She had been with Princess and her pups, enjoying family time. Even school wasn’t included. They stayed indoors, and even Princess’s friends weren’t allowed in.

Just a family moment. Until Saturday, when both girls had other things to do.

"So, you’re telling me that we should go to those loan sharks and... kill them?" Faye asked.

She kept her voice flat, waiting to see if his face would crack into a joke.

"Yes," Malo said.

"You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Since when do we kill people? And you, of all people, who fear death more than life itself, are trying to go on a suicide mission? Those people have guns, and I’m pretty sure they’re silver bullets."

Malo raised a hand and scratched the back of his neck, his knuckles scraping against skin.

"You have a gun. The golden one your brother’s ex gave you. We can use it," he reminded her..

Faye didn’t answer right away. She looked past his shoulder.

The rest of the gym members weren’t even standing beside him. Haley sat on a folding chair three yards away, her neck bent low over her laptop. Her fingers tapped small, quiet rhythm on the keys, her eyes glued to the screen as if a single glance up would draw fire.

Over by the cardio section, Sasha pushed a rag across the display panel of a treadmill, wiping the same spot over and over until the plastic squeaked.

Near the back wall, Sensei sat cross-legged on a foam mat, his eyes shut tight, his breathing deep and unbothered. Outside the double glass doors, Bambi paced back and forth across the concrete, her shadows cutting long and dark under the afternoon sun, waiting for an answer.

Faye turned her attention back to the boy in front of her.

"Just because I have a gun doesn’t mean I have to use it. And it’s just one gun versus only Goddess knows how many we’re talking about..."

"14 men with guns and 16 men with no guns. The leader, Boar Don, uses two guns," Malo said.

Faye raised an eyebrow.

"So you have already done research?"

"Haley sent her mini drone to his fortress, and we have the house plan. We can move through the backyard which is in the woods."

Faye’s eyes turned to Haley. The screen light caught the rim of Haley’s glasses as she quickly pushed them up her nose with one finger, keeping her head down to ignore the stare.

Faye looked back at Malo.

"If you guys have already planned what you want to do, why are you telling me all this? Are you expecting me to join you?"

"Yes, but I’m not going to force you because it’s up to you. And you told Bambi not to do anything. If not, we wouldn’t have executed our plan,"

"And I would have to attend my friend’s funeral today,"

Malo took a step closer, dropping his voice a notch.

"Come on, Faye. If you were in Bambi’s shoes, what would you have done? Those people get away with murder because they’re influential. I don’t like Kraven, but I imagine if it was one of my siblings. What would I have done? I would also want them dead, not even behind bars, but dead."

Faye crossed her arms over her chest, the fabric of her hoodie pulling tight across her shoulders.

"You guys can go, but don’t include me. I don’t want to do anything that makes Princess go crazy."

She meant it. The thought of Princess looking at her with those hollow, broken eyes made her stomach knot up. She didn’t want Princess spending another night up late, pacing the floor and worrying about her safety, or watching her bleed out on some dirty floor.

Princess hadn’t said anything about Faye unknowingly giving her life to Bambi, but Faye knew she had a lot to say. The silence between them had been heavy all week, thick with things left unsaid just to avoid dropping a spark on fresh gasoline. Princess was holding back to keep from starting another fight, and Faye wasn’t about to give her a reason to explode.

Malo let out a short, harsh breath through his nose.

"But Princess is doing something crazy today. As we speak, the Trios are currently underground, and they’re planning to kill those hundred-plus Walkers," Malo said.

Faye took a deep breath.

Her chest expanded, holding the cold air for a second before letting it drop.

She already knew that was what Princess was doing with her friends. But knowing it didn’t make it make sense. Walkers didn’t drop easy; their hides were tough, their teeth were poison, they are super fast, and a hundred of them in a tight underground space was a mass grave waiting to happen. She couldn’t wrap her head around how three people thought they were coming back up alive.

"I’m still not going, Malo."

Malo stopped pacing. He looked straight into her eyes, his jaw tightening until a tiny muscle twitched along his cheek.

"I didn’t want to do this, but... what if it’s your own brother, Paye? What if somebody killed him in cold blood and they’re living freely like it’s nothing? What are you going to do? Are you just going to sit down and do nothing, or are you going to seek revenge and give him justice?"

Hearing that from Malo made Faye take another deep breath.

The noise of the gym seemed to fade out. A sharp, ugly image flashed behind her eyes.. Paye lying face down on concrete, the dark red pooling around his ribs, his chest open, his heart ripped out and left cold in the middle of the street while whoever did it walked away with clean hands.

Her teeth pressed together until her jaw ached. Her hands curled into fists at her sides, nails digging hard into her palms.

Obviously, she wasn’t going to let it slide.

She would hunt the killer down, step by step, and make them feel the exact same terror and pain her brother felt before everything went black.

Faye dropped her arms to her sides and let out a long breath through her teeth.

"Fine. Let’s go. But we need backup. I’m going to call Peamah, and you call Henry. I just hope this doesn’t get ugly," Faye said.

"It will get ugly," Malo said, already pulling his phone from his pocket and dialing Henry’s number.