Yaz coughed. "You're cooking this shit?"

"Imma fry this shit like chicken," I said, nodding. "My body might take it that way. And it'll probably taste better." I turned to Jookie. "Is that allowed?"'

"Yes," Jookie said, waving to his outfit. "That's what you were supposed to do in the beginning."

"Why didn't you tell us that before we started eating the raw human meat?" Yaz asked, eyes sneering.

Jookie shrugged. "Your reactions made good TV."

Yaz looked like she was about to murder him, so I interrupted before she attempted just that.

"Can I have some flour, salt and pepper. Garlic powder, onion powder and seasoning salt. Buttermilk too," I said, thinking of a recipe. "Also a food processor, a spatula and utensils. And two skillets, oil, plates and two big bowls."

This human meat was about to get fried. Never thought I would ever say that.

Yaz nodded. "Me too. I want what she's getting."

"Us too," Aries said, throwing his sticky hoodie on the floor.

"Nah, you get to eat that raw shit." Jookie grinned at Aries, snapping his fingers.

Aries glared. "How's that fair?"

"It's not." Jookie pouted. "Boo hoo. Boooo Hooo. Do you want me to play you a song on the world's smallest piano?"

Aries turned away, going back to his pile of raw flesh.

The guards rushed in with a wheeled cart. It had everything that I asked for and more. Yaz and I split the island in half. We weren't allies, but not enemies either.

Grabbing the skillets, the oil sizzled when it hit the pans. While that heated up, my hands grabbed the brain, placing it on the clear countertop.

Goodbye, angelic friend. You will be missed. I kissed it goodbye.

The chef's knife sliced the brain in half with ease, before I diced it into huge chunks, brain fluid covering my fingers. Then I mixed the flour and all the seasonings into one bowl and put the buttermilk in the other.

Dipping the brain chunks into the buttermilk first and then coating it in the flour batter, the chunk hissed when it hit the skillet. A strong meaty odor basked the stove area, reminding me of beef — or was that lamb or... veal?

After fitting all the brain chunks into the skillet, I went into full-on cooking mode, cutting and dicing up the human meat before throwing it into one of the skillets. But not before removing the cooked pieces and putting them on a plate. And then, I did it all over again.

The hunks that wouldn't fry I put them in the food processor and made burgers.

Yaz did a similar system, moving at a quick pace like me.

Chi and Aries watched us move, faces wrinkling. Sloppy fluid caked their faces as they tried to eat the raw meat, but it didn't work. They kept vomiting it back up.

"Thirty minutes left," Jookie said once I was on my last piece. I plated it and ran all three of my heavy plates to the island, sitting down.

The fried pieces had a crunchy skin, reminding me of the skin of fried chicken. Underneath that fried skin, the meat appeared brown. Dark down.

When my teeth sank into a piece, it tasted nothing like the raw texture from earlier. An almost delicious flavor coated my palette instead. I couldn't pinpoint the exact flavor or compare it to any known meat. It had its own unique flavor that no one would ever be able to replicate. Meaty — extremely meaty was the only thing that came to mind.

Certain body parts were tougher than others. Some melted in my mouth while others were tougher, requiring me to bite harder than normal.

I chomped away, grease spilling down the corners of my mouth. Images of Tiran floated into my mind as I ate the fried human meat. His body was going down my throat, going into my tummy, filling me.

When you buy meat in the store, you never meet the slaughter animals beforehand. You don't know them. You've never seen them or talked to them.

But I knew Tiran. Talked to him. Laughed with him. He was a savage rapist, and now his muscles and organ were getting digested in my body. What a way to end up.

Eating his flesh almost made me feel closer to him. His essence was now giving me fuel.

Yaz dropped down next to me on her stool, downing the meat fast. At this moment, this was an eating contest between me and Yaz. Whoever finished first would win. Luckily, I was in the lead.

My teeth chomped down onto the cooked human meat, eating it like a wild beast. Within minutes, I only had a few pieces left. Yes.

"You do know, my little peach that since you have a partner," Jookie said, looking at Layla on the floor, "you can't win until she eats at least one piece. Or at least tries to eat it."

"What?!" I popped my head up, gulping down a huge chunk.

Yaz smiled, speeding up her pace.

Jookie shrugged. "This is a partner challenge, meaning both partners must participate. Yours didn't. So if you want to win, Layla must swallow at least one piece," he said, looking at the last piece of cooked meat in my hand. "She can throw it up, but she has to at least attempt to participate."

Looking over, Yaz only had about four pieces left.

I rushed over to Layla on the floor. "Eat this."

She jerked away from me, stumbling into the wall. "N-no. I-I c-can't."

"Look, it doesn't taste bad," I said, holding it out to her. "It tastes like meat. It's cooked."

Tears tumbled down her cheeks, her body shuddering. "P-please. I-I can't."

"Eat it!"

"No!" she screamed back, tears falling. "T-that i-is a p-person! T-that's dis-disgusting."

My fingers snatched this bitch by her hair, lifting her off the ground. "Disgusting, huh? What's disgusting is me having to carry your ass through this whole fucking game!"

She screamed in pain, trying to fight me off.

"I saved your ass multiple times, and you can't eat one piece of human meat to save us both?" I hollered in her face, spitting on her cheeks. "Fuck that." My hand pushed the meat at her lips. "Eat it!"

She thrashed around, never opening her lips as she tried to get me off her. But I held on, trying to stuff it down her throat.

"I'm done!" Yaz screamed, standing up. Letting out a loud burp, she fell back into her seat.

Jookie clapped. "Ding, ding, ding! Yaz is our winner!" He walked over to her and held her hand in the air.

In shock, I dropped Layla. She thumped to the ground, sobbing. "I'm sorry," she cried.

Sitting back on my knees, I dropped the piece of human meat on the ground. "Sorry? You're sorry?"

That when everything in me faded to black. Pitch black. Thick tubes of blackness bred with the savage rage bumbling in my tummy, heating to a boiling point. And that's when it surged throughout my body like a vicious poison, consuming every part of my essence.

I attacked her.

My hands latched around her throat, squeezing until she gasped. Eyes widened and mouth agape, her nails scratched and smacked at my arms, trying to get me off.

But the pain from her hits only fueled that blackness within me. Until I saw nothing, losing all will to control myself. The room around me disappeared, and only darkness colored my vision. I saw nothing, but I could feel. Feel my fingers digging into her flesh, cutting off her lifeforce. Feel myself giving into the darkness that I hated so much.

It lasted only a moment before something smashed into my tummy, cutting off my breath. The room reappeared like a blurry dream.

I rested on my ass while Layla coughed up a lung, her leg not far from me. She must've kicked me off her.

That darkness still simmered at the surface, wanting her dead eyes looking up at me.

Layla saw me move, and she scooted away from me into a crawl. She coughed and coughed while crawling away. "I'm s-s-sorry," she said between coughing and sobbing.

Fuck sorry. Sorry doesn't mean shit when I'm dead. Ughhh, I wanted her dead. Crawling after her, I almost grabbed her leg to pull her toward me, but Jookie of all people blocked my path.

"We gotta finish up the competition," Jookie said, blocking me. "Do this on your own time."

I growled at him, fist about to punch him in the dick. But I swear men must have a sixth sense about those things because he tapped his phone just in time, stopping me.

Pure electricity rocketed up my ankle and through my entire body. My body quivered, shaking up and down on the ground like a bouncy ball. I screamed, feeling the shocking pain fire through my insides for endless seconds until it abruptly stopped.

Globs of spit dripped from my mouth as I laid there on the ground, panting like a thirsty dog. That when the blackness faded, Tini left.

"Sorry, my beautiful peach, but I love my male jewels," he said before smiling and looking at Yaz. "And since you're the winner, you get to save someone in the second-place group." He looked at Chi and Aries. "Since you both ate some of it and worked as a team, you get second place. Yaz, who do you want to save?"

Yaz looked at both of them. "Do I have to save one of them? Can't I choose Betinia?"

Jookie sighed, tapping his ear. "No. It's either Chi or Aries."

Yaz shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Fine. Sorry alien boy, but I choose Chi."

"Yes!" Chi cheered, wiping the blood off her face. Her cheeks were smeared with it.

Aries slitted his eyes at her. "May Lord Tyaco curse your ovaries."

Yaz glared. "May he curse your dick and let it fall off so that I can stuff it down your throat and make you gag on it."

"My Lord would never do something so horrible to me," he said. "He loves me. I'm his child."

"No, you're a burden," Yaz said. "To everyone."

Jookie moved away from the counter and went to stand in front of the side camera. "This completes our side challenge, viewers. Our new Bottom Doe Three are Layla, Aries and Betinia. Who do you think will be voted off? Let us know in the comments." Jookie waved at the camera, grinning. "Have a great night."

A tight moan left my lips, the darkness fading within me as aftershocks rumbled through me. "F-fuck that h-hurt."

Layla sobbed far away from me, screaming over and over that she was sorry.

Her apologies didn't help me. They didn't save me from Gmie who was probably going to make it her personal mission to get me voted off.

That darkness returned again, wanting to choke the life out of Layla. To feel her take her last breath under my hands. To feel — Tini. I let her get too deep within me.

This darkness. This rage wasn't Betinia, but all Tini. I closed my eyes, trying to push her back down, but she fought me like a cat in water, pain rocketing through my brain and chest.

She wouldn't completely leave. Some of that darkness remained, a stain on my heart.

Struggling to my feet, I stood tall, all eyes on me.

Layla quivered, eyes leaking. "I'm s-sorry. P-please don't k-kill me."

Her words ignited a memory in my mind. A memory of when I was eight years old, and I was sitting on the couch with Angie.

"Ang," I said, tugging on my floral dress. "What was everyone's last words?"

"Huh?" she asked, confused.

"Before mommy killed everyone, what did they say before she did it?"

She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Do you really want to know?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Asher said 'please don't kill me, mommy'," Angie said before getting off the couch and walking away from me. She didn't talk to me again for three days.

I came back to the present, staring at the frightened Layla. I was like my mother, trying to kill people without a conscience or a single thought. No control.

I shivered, feeling that darkness shift inside me again before it totally consumed me.

Tini was back.

"Jookie," I said, trying to fight the shift. But I lost.

His eyebrows popped up. "Huh?"

I smiled at him. "Take me somewhere. Now." Tini was front and center. She was riding a high and didn't want to come down.

Jookie licked his lips, eyeing me. "Take everyone back to the common area," he said, speaking to the guards. "My peach comes with me."

♟♙♟