Page 65 of Ashes

“Not necessarily. We could burn them all instead.” Ashes followed Church, leaving me to stare at their backs.

I swallowed hard as I watched my two friends walk out the hospital doors, their heads together.

Everything was fucked.

SETH

Who the fuck am I?

I stared at myself in the mirror, taking in the bruising on my face. I could hold my own in a fight if forced to, but lately I’d been letting my ass get beaten.

Of course, it was hard to fight off people when they were jabbing needles into my flesh and forcing me to my knees.

Forcing me to watch as they hurt Rinny.

Forcing me to comply.

Forcing me to fucking obey.

I breathed in and out deeply as I continued to study my reflection. My blue eyes seemed dull. My bottom lip was swollen slightly. Bruises peppered not only my face but also my body. I worked out. A lot. My body could take an intense beating, but this? This was something else.

We must hold on.

Don’t let go.

For Rinny.

We suffer in silence for our forever girl.

Retribution will come once she’s ours again. . .

I licked my lips.

“And then what?” I whispered. “What will we do once she’s ours?”

Teach them a painful lesson before we kill them all.

“I don’t like killing people. Much. I do like to torture them though. . . like you do.”

We do what we must to protect what’s ours. They’ll be punished. We owe it to her. Say it. Say what we must do.

“We’ll kill them all,” I murmured.

Again. Say it again.

“We will kill them all,” I repeated fiercely, Rinny’s face flashing in my mind’s eye.

No survivors.

“None,” I said softly.

I closed my eyes for a moment, desperate for some peace. I shook my head, willing silence to fall over me and shut out the noise in my head.

When all was quiet, I opened my eyes and pushed away from my sink then dressed quickly.

I had a lot of work to do today and not much time to do it.

There wouldn’t be a repeat of my last time with Rinny. Neither of us would be hurt today. At least not by Sully.

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