Page 103 of Seth
Heavy paralysis shackled his limbs as black sand filled his eyes, visible even in the dark. It informed him that the rapacious vortexes turned against their master.No. Go away. I’m still standing, moving; he didn’t cut the abdominal aorta. I have time; if he didn’t catch any organs, a lot of time.
Seth’s hand formed a fist; the remnants of glass crunched under his fingers, breaking further. With his head emptying, he slapped his palm against the man’s face, rubbing tiny shards into his skin.
“Fucker!” The arms disappeared. The man flinched back. Seth swiveled.
A hiss tore from his chest as he grabbed the knife protruding from his side and pulled it out of the wound. Blood splashed on the floor.
“What the hell?” Ernst lost his grin as his eyes fixed on the knife, then on the wound. “How can you even stand?”
The blade caught the dispersed light coming from the cellphone as it entered the man’s chest below the collarbone to withdraw in a heartbeat.
“How?” Ernst shook his head as he looked at his chest bleeding from both sides. He stumbled back. Seth lurched forward. His knee skated over the rough crust of concrete as he cut the tendon on the back of Ernst’s knee.
Blood trickled down his side, but he didn’t care. His desert howled in bloodlust. The blade slashed upward, splitting the man’s stomach in a thin vertical line. With a swipe of his leg, Seth kicked the feet from under the man. Ernst dropped on his ass, arms clasped around his middle.
“No-no-no, wait. Let’s talk,” he blurted.
The hungry vortexes licked the blood from Seth’s blade, the floor, and his oozing wound. He needed to give them something before they consumed his own soul.
“You like to watch people suffer?” His voice was a whisper of a desert. Bright spots bloomed at the corners of his vision as he fisted the collar of the man’s shirt and hauled his prey to the ladder.
Ernst’s back bumped against the metal bars. Seth bent over the duffel bag and grabbed a rope. Light tremors settled in his fingers when he tied the man to the ladder. Another rope entered Ernst’s mouth and fixed his neck in a sharp back bend.
The man moaned and pleaded, but his words didn’t reach Seth. He grabbed the acid canister, fixed it to the ladder, and stabbed it with the tip of the knife twice.
The first drops oozed out and swelled in the dead light of the moon and the flashlight. When they fell, an inhuman howl cut through the night.
Seth lowered to the floor as the vortexes pounced on the man, tearing his soul apart. “Enjoy the front seat.”
* * *
Diego drovefor hourswithout stopping. His weak attempts to start a conversation and lighten the mood crashed against the wall of Gustavo’s heavy thoughts.
The car stopped under a traffic light. Diego rested his forehead against the wheel. “Let’s go home. It’s been a long day. I’ll crash if we drive longer.”
“Let me drive?” Gustavo blinked bleary eyes.
“No. Honestly, I trust you even less than I trust myself.”
Gustavo snorted. “Fine. Let’s go home. Drive past the factory.”
A weak “why” lacked any resistance and made Gustavo feel guilty. Diego looked exhausted. His habitual cocky grin disappeared, and the corners of his lips drooped.
“I don’t know, Diego. Just do it.”
“Fine…”
The cityscape blurred before his eyes. A chain of streetlights flickered with colors. Gustavo’s forehead constantly slipped down the window as he nodded off. When the cityscape morphed into the industrial one, Gustavo perked up.
The car was speeding, obeying Diego’s wish to pass the empty streets as quickly as possible. The familiar silhouette of the white silo rapidly approached when something triggered his instincts.
“Slow down.”
With an annoyed sigh, Diego obeyed. “What?”
“Was this Land Cruiser here before?” He pointed to the black vehicle, parked next to the Jeep.
“I honestly can’t remember.”
