Page 39 of Painless
I signaled my guys to ready their weapons as we approached the burned-out husk of the building. There wasn’t even a smell of smoke or charred anything in the air. We were days, maybe even weeks, too late.
Hades stayed alert and guarded as we parked and dismounted the bikes. My hand drifted over my holster, eyes and ears alert to any movement or sound. But it quickly became clear that no one was around.
“Someone fucked these guys up,” Big G astutely remarked.
Only a pile of ashes and a few structures, like a stone fireplace and a fireproof safe, remained. The safe door swung open, the inside already looted and empty.
“Tash?” Dallas tilted his head at me, an eyebrow lifted.
“Most likely,” I muttered, relaxing my weapon hand. “These boys didn’t play ball with whatever Tash had planned. No one else would waste resources on torching the whole place like this. He did it to make an example of them.”
“What about the club itself?” Slick asked, his face pale. “Did they get out? D’you think…”
Hades’ sniffing through the rubble answered that question soon enough. He dug out a human skull, half-buried in a pile of ash.
“Damn,” Dallas breathed, his forehead creasing at the sight. “Poor bastards.”
“Fuckin’ shame,” I agreed, walking through the ashes with care. “Whatever they did, they get all my respect for standing up to Tash. It’s too fucking bad they lost their lives in the process.”
A dark pit of dread filled my gut. Sheol could be the next ashy ruin if we weren’t careful. That didn’t mean we’d roll over and give into the general’s demands, we just had to think long-term and be smarter, craftier. Tash used MCs because he didn’t think like us. He saw us all as lawless road pirates, who’d turn over their favorite child for the right price.
Sure, we played dirty. We fought in ways no uppity general would ever consider. He thought we didn’t have the same tactics and strategy as he did, but we had Gunner. With his falcon eyes and military school background, we had the means to meet Tash at every corner. I knew we could play at his level and not be doomed to meet the same fate as the Sons of Odin.
“Pack it in, boys.” I turned back toward the bikes, having seen enough. “There’s nothing left for us to do here.”
“Shouldn’t we bury them or something?” Dallas ran a hand over his shaved head. “I dunno if you feel that, man, but this place feels…bad. Not just because they died, but it’s ninety fucking degrees out and I’m fucking shivering.”
I knew exactly what he was referring to, and couldn’t explain it myself. These men were murdered in their home, their safe haven. Probably with their old ladies and children, too. Their deaths were sudden, painful, and unjust. I didn’t know if it was their spirits, souls, or anything else hanging around, but this place was drenched in a cold, creepy atmosphere.
“Let’s just go, this place is freaky,” Big G declared.
“I agree with Dallas. We should pay our respects, somehow,” Slick piped up.
“All of you shut up.” I was busy watching Hades.
The Doberman was sniffing through the ash-covered foundation and appeared to be collecting remains. He picked up the human skull and placed it next to a cactus just to the side of the ruin. Then he went back and picked up another bone fragment, part of a hand from the looks of it, and placed it next to a nearby aloe plant.
Hades went back and forth several times, finding pieces of the former club members and gently laying them next to their own plants. He didn’t just find bones either. One item looked like a charred piece of leather from a cut. Another was a silver ring with a skull on it.
If my guys said anything to me, none of it registered as I watched my dog approach the skull—the first artifact he found, and lay a paw on it.
Rest,he said.
I nearly fell to my knees as Hades walked to the aloe plant and placed his paw on the bone fragment there.
Rest,he said again.
The same voice that boomed at me with the command to reap, now spoke gently to the restless souls taken without warning from this world. One by one, he approached the remnants of their earthly belongings and ordered them to rest. To move beyond the plane of the living.
Slowly, the heaviness and the cold in the air lifted. My guys didn’t hear Hades speak, but they noticed the difference in the atmosphere immediately.
Rest,he commanded the final object, a metal picture frame with two men hugging and smiling behind the warped glass.
The last chill down my spine faded away, and nothing was left but a pile of ashes in the desert.
“All right, boys.” I held my hand out to Hades, who trotted over and let me scratch his ears. “Now we can go home.” With a final glance at the simple memorials over my shoulder, I muttered, “Rest in peace, Sons.”
Flying somewhere over our heads, a raven cawed ominously.
