Cake and Eat It…

Caroline gave her a look and the temperature dropped again.

A fruity crunch reminded Daisy that Panix was only meters away. He spat the apple from his mouth and began an astonishing tirade which began with You and went on and on.

Daisy considered shooting Panix just to shut him up. Then mused on the possibility of getting Elvis to shut him up instead. This transformed into Elvis just whisking her away somewhere nice…

‘Shoot him,’ yelled Caroline.

Daisy stepped up and held the gun in front of Panix’s eyes. He stopped his diatribe for a moment, focussing on the firearm.

‘You fucking moron,’ he screamed. ‘The safety catch is still on!’

He began another rant and managed to get an arm free of the bonds.

Daisy looked up again, a hopeful expression on her face. Caroline was still there, not far away, standing with arms crossed, tapping a foot .

Daisy flicked the safety catch off and aimed again at Panix; her level of concentration evident by the fact her tongue was sticking slightly out from the corner of her mouth.

‘You’re holding the gun wrong, idiot,’ yelled Panix again, with another arm free.

It would be so tempting to just shoot him, she thought. Once or twice. Just to wipe that look off his face.

Of course, it would mean that she would have to squeeze the trigger.

This posed an additional problem. She didn’t mind a little physical violence, but was firmly of the belief that leaving someone alive to regret the error of their ways was preferable to simply keeping the undertaking industry ticking-over.

Daisy continued to falter. She could now smell the oil of the gun and almost dropped it; it was repulsive.

Caroline stepped forwards, grabbed Daisy’s arm and jabbed her with a hypo full of something probably unpleasant.

‘Ow! What the hell’s that for,’ exclaimed Daisy.

‘Might change your perspective,’ said Caroline cruelly, and stepped back into the shadows. ‘It’s one of the drugs they’ve been experimenting on. Now shoot him!’