Page 68 of Pure Killers

Then his eyes find me. They're wide. He tries to yell, but fails, jarring against the chains around his wrists.

"El?" The voice is small, coming from behind me.

I spin around, gun coming up, then lowering again. "Olivia?" I gasp. Her clothes are torn, there's a bruise on her temple, and white plaster drying on her skinny arms, leaving skin visible, specks caught in the hairs.

"El? Oh thank god, you're here! He got me…" Her chattering peels off as I urgently hold my finger to my lips.

"Shh, shh! You're okay now, but we have to be quiet."

Olivia nods, eyes wide, edging closer to me. "Okay," she says in that small voice again.

Dirk's muffled yell is louder, urgent. He's smashing his hands back against the pole to make the loudest noise he can. The racket sets my teeth on edge. I can only think of the wounds along his arms, of them opening again. Is he trying to bring theattention of whoever else is in this building? He must know I’m not going to leave him.

"You wait here," I'm whispering to Olivia, glancing sharply towards Dirk as the place echoes with his thrashing. "I'll come for you, okay?"

"Oh no, don't leave me alone, please."

"You'll be able to see me. I need to get Dirk."

"Ellll," he's working the tape off his mouth, forcing his mouth open even with it on, yelling. I want to tell him to be quiet, I can help him, just don't tell the Cocooner I'm here. How panicked is he, to not think of that?

Olivia edges closer again, reaching for my arm, my gun still in that hand. "But the Cocooner…"

"They're here, I know." Her hand slides down to my wrist.

"El!"

I glance his way; the tape hanging off one side of his mouth, the other side red where the skin has torn in his effort to break it."El it’sher! It’s her! Get away!"

"What…" I turn back to Olivia.

There’s a dull explosion of pain in the back of my head, then another. I know now as the blackness closes in, the world tumbling, and I’m helpless to stop it. It all slides away.

***

I wake up to a nightmare. My head aches and pounds, thrumming at the inside of my skull. That’s what wakes me up. I groan, trying to roll, only to be rewarded with fire shooting through my hip and down towards my right knee. This time I cry out, eyes coming open. But things can still get worse.

I’m on an old, thin mattress the walkway blurry above me. The walkway, where I was when… Abruptly, against every torturednerve in my body, I sit up, though I can’t do more than that, my right leg refusing to obey.

This time, I’m looking up at Dirk, from the floor a few meters ahead of him, and Olivia is between us, her back to me. But I can still see what she’s doing, see the brush in her hand as she paints the white plaster onto him. She's reached his waist, his skin. She's laying a strip of white bandage over the latest swath of white, across the v that disappears into his pants, into more plaster.

His chest heaves, the tape back over his mouth. His blood has made small puddles on the floor, mingling pink with plaster. I make a noise of pain as I crumple back to the mattress, failing in an attempt to stand. Olivia turns to me. I can see the butt of my gun sticking out of a painter’s belt slung low around her hips.

"You woke up!" she says brightly.

"No," I try to croak out, reaching for Dirk. "Don't…" My throat scratches, voice failing. "…hurt him."

She glances back at Dirk, at his face. His eyes are full of rage, his hands curled into white-knuckled fists. “Oh, that little bit of blood?” She gestures vaguely at his temple, like the rest of the blood doesn’t exist. “That was his doing. He headbutted me!” Her voice, I’ve heard it so many times, joking, asking me about my day. Different now, losing some sweet edge I never realised before was false. “I had to knock him out again before he did anything else foolish.” Now she tilts her head to his bloodied arms, adding, “Had to weaken him, just a little.”

Bile rises in my throat. "Let him go…" I start.

She ignores me, gazing instead at him. "He's going to be a perfect final piece. Black wings, they'll look good on him, don't you think?" As she speaks, she reaches up and strokes a lock of Dirk’s black hair. His head snaps to the side, towards her hand, and if he wasn't gagged, I'm convinced he'd have taken a fingeroff her. She flinches her hand away, looking almost hurt. "He'll see in the end." Then to me; "So will you."

My leg won’t work, that much I ascertain as I try to stand again and fall back down with an involuntary scream. I look up at the walkway, then down at the thin, stained mattress I'm lying on. She pushed me off, I realise, tumbling me onto this thin excuse of a soft landing. Something is broken. My shoulder aches, and a million other little pains make themselves known.

"Olivia please…" My eyes cut to Dirk, back to her, pleading. "Not him."

"Ah, yes,Olivia, what a whore." Then she smiles at me, a bigger smile than I've ever seen. Her gums show, pale pink. “You think help is coming, don't you?”

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