Chapter M3: Extermination

Chapter M3: Extermination

Veronica swept the shelf clean in frustration. Hammers, saw, and nails crashed to the floor of the tool shed. She held out her arm, the pale, chubby limb a reminder of the sacrifices she had made over the last three years. All for nothing.

Three years of manipulating the pieces into place, waiting for the perfect time to strike. She had earned Samantha’s trust, enduring three years of that bitch ordering her around and tucking her in at night. At the same time she convinced David to help her overthrow Samantha and assuaged Molly’s fears. She discovered the formula for the Indian potion to erase the children’s memories in Joseph’s bedroom, smuggling the recipe back to Eternity inside one of Molly’s dolls. She and Molly then brewed the formula in secret at night. After Samantha and her friends left for Seabrooke this final time, Veronica and David filled buckets with water from the Fountain of Youth.

Everything orchestrated with the precision of a military campaign and carried out successfully. They spiked the children’s juice at breakfast with the water and memory-altering potion. She had stood at one end of the dining hall, watching those brats Helena and Phyllis shrink into five-year-olds bawling for their mommas. Grabbing them by the ears and tossing them into the pantry cellar gave her a taste of the joy to come when she traveled to Seabrooke.

At the time she thought God must have been rewarding her for all the years of patience. There Samantha lay passed out on the docks, dead to the world. The temptation to grab David’s knife and plunge it into the traitor’s heart paralyzed her for a moment. But she didn’t want to kill the bitch like this, not after thirty-five years of waiting. No, she wanted to break Samantha Young, to make her fat, shy Jackie Fuller again.

It had happened so much easier than she thought possible. Not more than three hours after waking up as a toddler, Samantha’s mind snapped. One glimpse of herself in the mirror in those cutesy-pie clothes and with those ridiculous curls reduced her to a simpering child.

Then with everything going so well, everything all the sudden went wrong. Samantha and her little friends ran off in the night. David tracked them to the fountain cave, where the brats fell into the pool and disappeared. Vanished in a flash of red light, David told her. Along with them her hopes of completing her revenge.

There had to be some way to get rid of the algae. She threw aside rakes, scythes, and hoes in search of something that could dissolve the algae. Nothing in here could bring back Samantha so that Veronica might yet have her ultimate victory, but at least her other plans might come to fruition. She pushed aside a bag of seeds and fertilizer. “Haven’t you people heard of pesticide?” she shouted.

“It’s not in here,” David said from the doorway.

“Then where the hell is it?”

“In the barn, locked up. Samantha didn’t want any of the little ones getting into it.”

“Go get it. As much as you can carry.”

“You think some bug spray is going to kill that?”

“You have a better idea?”

“I was thinking to burn the shit off,” David said.

Veronica crossed the tool shed, getting up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “You always did think big,” she said. “Let’s grab a drum of cooking oil from the pantry. That should be enough to do it.”

As they walked back along the trail into town, he said, “You should be glad. She’s gone, like you wanted.”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” Veronica said.

“What did she do to you that was so bad?” he asked.

“She betrayed me,” Veronica said. “That’s all you need to know.” She kicked at the dirt with one of her stubby hooves. All she had to look forward to now was being trapped in this flabby body, going through puberty over again on this stinking rock with this oaf David, mousy little Molly, and the other brats. She ought to kill them all the first chance she got. But first she had to get rid of the algae.

She opened the door to the pantry cellar, a shaft of light falling onto Helena and Phyllis huddled together on the floor. “Have you come to let us out?” Helena asked.

“No. You two stay here until I need you,” Veronica said.

“But—”

Veronica slapped Helena across her grubby face. The little girl’s eyes welled up with tears. “Don’t question me again.” She turned to David. “Grab one of those barrels and let’s go.”

She left the two girls curled up on the floor, Helena sobbing against Phyllis. Veronica could have listened to the brat cry all day, but she had more important things to do. She followed David up the stairs and into town. Some of children broke off from a game of tag to fall in next to Veronica and David. “What’s that?” a boy asked. “Where are you going?” a girl asked. “Can I go?” another girl asked.

“Out of the way, kids,” Veronica said. “We have important things to do. We’ll be back later.”

“Can’t we come?” one of the girls asked.

“No.” The children continued to follow along, pestering them with questions. “Don’t you brats have chores to do? Get to work before I smack you.”

The children flinched in unison and then scurried away. “Don’t you think you’re being hard on them? They’re too little to know any better,” David said.

“I don’t care. Coddling them is Molly’s job. Let’s hurry up and get this over with.” As they continued towards the cave, Veronica thought of what to do with the children now. Unless they got rid of the algae, she would need them to work the land as they had done under Reverend Crane. At least until she was old enough to return to civilization. The hell with them after that, she thought.

Veronica entered the cave, red light bouncing off the walls, mocking her. The algae still topped the pool; if anything it seemed thicker than she remembered. “You’re going to get yours,” she said. “Dump it in.”

“Here goes nothing,” David said. He opened the barrel of cooking oil and dumped it into the water. The grease coated the surface of the water, mixing in with the algae. David took a box of matches from his pocket. “Stand back,” he said before lighting the match.

Veronica stood against the wall as a wave of flame washed over the fountain. The fire burned for ten seconds and then fizzled. “Well?” she said to David.

He crept over to the edge of the fountain, peering down. “What the hell—” he began, but never finished. A blob of algae leapt from the water, attaching itself to his face. He screamed as the algae began to pulse with angry red light. “Help me!”

“How?” Veronica said. David wiped furiously at the algae, but it only spread across his body, the glow turning brighter. He let out one last horrible wail and then collapsed.

The algae oozed off him, returning to the Fountain of Youth. In its place, David lay unmoving, his body charred from head to toe. Bile rose up in Veronica’s throat. The algae continued to pulse with light in the fountain, sounding a warning to her.

“This isn’t over,” she said. Then she slid along the cave wall and ran.