Page 100 of So Thirsty

I don’t resist. If she knows them, then it’s okay…right?

She leads me to the tower, to a rickety fire escape that she floats up, her boots hovering just above the steps. I cling to the banister, fearful that the whole thing is about to separate from the building and crash down to earth. Or that the building itself will collapse.

“No one thinks to look up here,” Ms. Alice says, dipping into a window. “Don’t dawdle. Not polite to keep an old lady waiting, and I am very old.”

She laughs this horrifying, soul-demolishing cackle. It singes my eardrums, burns into me like acid, makes me want to crawl out of my skin. I’m tempted to jump from the fire escape, just to get as far away from the sound as possible. But I’m thirsty, and I’m a servant to my thirst. It compels me to follow Ms. Alice into the tower, to follow the promise of blood.

The inside of the tower is mostly open, a crumbling shell full of giant machinery, rusty chains and pipes, rotten wood. There’s a narrow platform, and all that’s beyond it is a three-story fall into industrial guts.

“Over here,” Ms. Alice says, disappearing into the dark. I take a cautious step forward. The clang of metal echoes throughout the tower. “Why ya draggin’ your feet? You want someone to drink or not?”

Not something. Someone.

I walk slowly in the direction Ms. Alice went, toward the clanging.

“Come closer,” she says. “Closer, dear. Closer.”

There’s a click, followed by the fizz of electricity. She holds up a lantern, illuminating the scene.

There are three bodies chained up in a corner. They’re naked, pale, emaciated, but not like the skeletal man. He looked unnatural. These people look like people. They’re human. Or they were.

Two of them are silent and still, but the one in the middle is clearly breathing. I can practically see his lungs pulsing through his skin, which is pulled taut across his rib cage. His mouth is open, jaw slack. He’s missing teeth and his tongue is shriveled and gray.

“The other two are almost empty. Scraps. Unless you want the marrow. You’re welcome to it,” she says. “But this one has plenty left. And as I’m sure you know, they taste better alive.”

I now notice that all of the bodies are missing parts. The one on the left doesn’t have arms. The one on the right has arms, but only one leg. And no foot.

“What’s the matter, dear?” Ms. Alice asks me, bending down and snapping a finger off the body on the right. She presents it to me, holding it out on her open palm. “I’m all alone out here. I can’t afford to be wasteful. I’m offering you something. Being a gracious host.”

“Thank you,” I say, my bottom lip trembling. “But I’m not…I don’t…”

“You don’t what?”

“No…no, thank you. I’m fine.”

“Have you ever tried?” she asks, her eyes sparking red. “The taste of flesh? The crunch of bones between your teeth? Blood is one thing, but over time…well, I developed other appetites.”

She bites into the finger like it’s a stalk of celery.

“I think you should,” she says, chewing with her mouth open. “I think you’ll like it. It’ll quench your thirst. Fill ya right up.”

I shake my head. I’m thirsty—I’m so thirsty—but seeing what’s in front of me, I’d rather starve. I’d rather die. I won’t participate in this.

“Have a taste,” she says, once again offering me the finger, now half-eaten.

“Alice.” Henry appears beside me, his big eyes alert. His expression unmoors me.

“What about you, handsome? So kind of you to join us. Can’t interest you in anything?”

“What are you doing, Alice?” he says, stepping in front of me, putting himself between me and Alice and the bodies. Shielding me.

“Getting your new bird some sustenance.”

“We’re not here for that.”

“Let me guess. Car trouble again,” she says. “And here I thought y’all might have come around to see me. Stopped being so uptight. It’s been so long. You promised you’d come visit.”

She deposits what remains of the finger between her lips, goes on talking with her mouth full. “You’re lucky you weren’t turned any later, birdie. I’m out here all by my lonesome in these woods. Can ya blame me for getting myself some company?” She gestures back to the bodies.