[LycanDope]

Chapter 6
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"Wait, did you hear that?" Tim asked. They'd gone up two more floors and were currently digging through the attic, looking through all of the closets and boxes filling the large space. "Maybe we should go look?"

Janet sniffed and then sneezed. "It's just wolves, Tim. We're in the wilderness. It happens. Don't be a fool."

"I know that but it sounded like it was in the house. I want to go check. What if it wasn't wolves? What if someone found Liz and they're calling for us? We could finally get out of here, maybe."

Phoebe looked at both of them. "Well, I-"

Janet frowned. "It was wolves."

Phoebe tried again. "I really-"

"I'm going downstairs, Janet. The least we can do is check to see how the rest of the guys are doing and then, if it was wolves or something else, we can come right back up. I'm going." Tim crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Guys, I-"

"Then you go. I'll be up here, looking for that goddamned lizard while you run off scared."

Tim stared at Janet. "You know, I always wanted to say it but never did. You're a cunt, Janet. You always were a cunt."

Janet's face paled and then burned bright red. "You... You... Who..."

Phoebe ran to stand in front of the other two. "Stop. Just stop it. We're not kids any more so just stop it. Tim, I'll go with you. Are you coming, Janet?"

Janet glared at Tim over Phoebe's shoulder. "No. I'm not. Fuck you, Tim. You run off and do your thing but don't come back up until I'm done."

Phoebe started towards Janet but stopped when the other raised her hand. "Go, Phoebe. Both of you. Go."

They left. Janet stared at them both, feeling the burning of anger in the tips of her ears. She'd climbed to the top in this world by herself. She fucked over everyone in order to make it. She put companies out of business and fired everyone she had to fire, after they nearly killed themselves for her. No way I let an uppity-

"Why am I alive?" Janet screamed, turning towards the voice.

It was impossible but there he stood in front of her. "R... Ralphie?! But... but... but you're dead! You're dead, Ralphie!"

The man was three feet away from her and still dressed in the same clothes from earlier in the evening. They hung loosely on him now. His face was pale. Bloodless. He was examining his own hands slowly. Skeletal hands with pale fingertips. His hair was sparse and oily in the dim overhead light. He was bathed in shadows. Slowly, as if unsure of how his own body worked, he looked up at her. "Who?"

"It's... It's... It's..."

Suddenly he was behind her. She hadn't blinked. There was no movement. One heartbeat, he was standing in front of her and the next, he was behind her.

"Janet. I remember now. Yeah. Janet. The bitch." She wanted to turn and yell at him but she was terrified. Rooted to the spot. He lifted her hair with his fingers and then let it drop. "What year is it, Janet?"

"It's... it's..."

His voice became more of a command. "What year is it, woman? How long have I been dead?"

"Maybe thirty minutes?" She squeaked. Ashamed at herself for her behavior.

"Thirty... minutes. Thirty MINUTES?! It's a lie. It has to be. I was dead. For years. For years, Janet. They fed on me for... Turn around and look at me." She turned. She didn't want to but she turned. His eyes were nearly completely white. White and black. And so large. She lost herself in those eyes. Surrounded by them. Her mouth hung open as she stared. "Tell me the lie again, woman. Tell... Ralphie the lie again."

"It's been just over 30 minutes. I can check my cell phone if you want me to do it. Or I could ask someone. Someone might know better than me. I'm sorry I can't tell you exactly. I'm sor-" His hand caressed her cheek and she shuddered. Cold. So cold. Her mouth snapped shut as he hissed and pulled his hand away.

"Impossible. I was in hell. For decades. They fed on me. Slowly. On my soul. Whispering to me. Sticking needles in me. Feeding me worms and dirt and whispering all of my sins. Telling me who my wife was fucking behind my back. Telling me all the men she was sleeping with. All of the men except for me. Leeching my warmth bit by bit until even the ice felt more warm than I did. The ice they submerged me in. For centuries. Only my head above the frozen water. Alone. Screaming over and over for someone to help me. For someone to save me. And, nobody did. It was dark. They fed my hate. They told me secrets. Secrets of the world I used to live in. They whispered of the dark places and darker things living in them." He walked around her slowly, tracing a cold line along her throat and shoulders.

"But, do you know what hurt the most? The absolute most? When they took the sun and put it in the sky for me. In the dark, cancerous sky. I couldn't take it, Janet. I couldn't handle the glare of the sun. After a millennium in the dark, I couldn't stand the light. It burned. Nothing should be that bright. I wanted to hide away. To hide all of my sins away from that light and I couldn't. I died a thousand deaths. A million deaths. I ate others to survive. Eventually, I enjoyed it. The taste of other flesh."

Ralphie stopped in front of her again. She wanted to scream and run but she couldn't. She stared straight ahead at nothing. "But eating was the only pleasure I had, Janet. They took my dick nearly at the beginning. They flayed me and forced me to eat my own dick. In slices. And now. Now here I am. Alive. Alive again. Is this the true world, Janet? Is this the real world or yet another one of their tortures? Don't answer. You'd lie if it wasn't real and I'd never believe you if it was. I lived so many lives in the dark. All that is, is to survive. You're very warm, Janet. You're alive. And very warm. Your flesh nearly burns me."

He leaned in, close to her cheek. "I remember you, Janet. I remember you. I can hear you when I'm this close to you. Your thoughts. Your secrets. Your terror. I lived a nightmare but you... you made other people's lives into nightmares. Do you want to please me, Janet?"

No, she thought. No. Absolutely not. Anything but that. "Yes," she gasped.

He rested her hand on her shoulder, pushing her down until she was kneeling. She knew what he wanted. He didn't tell her but she knew. She unzipped Ralphie's pants while her mind gibbered at her, pleading with her own body to stop. His pants fell to the ground with a thump. His white underwear was stained from old piss and he smelled liked rotten cheese but her fingers eagerly pulled those yellowed underwear off. He was small. And flaccid. Please, she begged herself. Please don't. Please stop. Please please please please

Janet's tongue nearly covered Ralphie's entire limp penis. He hissed with a sharp intake of breath and grabbed her curly hair, pulling her back. "You burn me!" Tears rolled down Janet's otherwise blank face. Oh thank God. Thank you, Jesus. Thank god. Thank you. Thank you.

He stared at her silently for a long time. Finally, he spoke. "I have nothing. My own heart isn't beating. What blood I have was bled out of me ages ago. I have nothing." His eyes were so big. She could drown in them. "But I hunger, Janet. For life." He pulled her by her hair and she followed willingly. He hugged her, careful to not let her bare flesh touch his own. He had no breath. He wasn't breathing. The logical part of her brain wondered how he could talk without breathing. His lips touched her neck, slowly, it opened and she felt 4 pinpricks against her neck. Ralphie slowly bit into her flesh and then, her neck went mercifully numb. He feasted while she felt her heart slowly die.