Page 64 of In Darkness and Dank

Blood splashed where the bullet hit Shu’s chest, and Shu’s mouth opened in a silent scream. He grabbed at the wound, and blood poured out from between his fingers. His eyes fluttered, and he whimpered as he fell, “Kitty…”

“Shu?” Kittisak was in shock, momentarily frozen as he watched Shu collapse. He saw Denninger stepping in to fire again, and he snapped. “Fucking bastard!” Roaring furiously, Kittisak grabbed the barrel of the rifle.

“Let go!” Denninger fired again as he tried to pull the weapon back.

“Fuck you! You fucking fucker!” Kittisak barely noticed the bullet whizzing by, and he tore the rifle away from Denninger with an enraged howl. He couldn’t even hear himself with how his ears were ringing, and he swung the weapon high over his shoulder.

“Boy,” Denninger warned. “Put that down or else you’re really going to—”

Kittisak summoned all of his strength and cracked Denninger in the side of the head with the rifle.

Denninger groaned and crumpled to the ground.

Watching Denninger fall gave Kittisak unbridled satisfaction, but the thrill was fleeting.

Shu!

Kittisak dropped the rifle and ran to Shu’s side. “Shu! Oh, baby. Hey, hey, can you hear me?”

Shu was on his back, clutching his chest and staring up at the sky. His eyes moved to Kittisak, but they didn’t seem to focus. His skin was cool, and his breathing was shallow. “Meh almae…”

“That’s right. I’m your almae.” Kittisak tried not to cry even as his heart tore itself apart inside of him. He tried to push his hands on top of Shu’s to stop the flow of blood, but it just kept coming. “Hey, you’re gonna be fine. So fine. The mud! Hey! I just gotta get the mud, okay? I gotta get that stuff to save you.”

Shu smiled sleepily. “Stay…”

“No, you stay, dammit!” Kittisak swallowed a sob. “Stay with me.”

“Bissell! Zimm!” Browning’s voice cut through the panic. “Lower your weapons right this second unless you’d like to be an accessory to attempted murder!”

“Professor?” Bissell was surprised. “You’re alive too?”

“How dare you, of course I am! No thanks to either of you, you belligerent bloated bumpkins!” Browning huffed. “Now, you two mind Denninger. Make sure he doesn’t awaken with any urges to pull triggers.”

Amazingly, Bissell and Zimm complied at once, and Zimm grabbed Denninger’s rifle from the ground so it was safely out of his reach.

“Professor!” Kittisak cried. “Help! Please!”

“My dear boy. I’m here. I came as fast as I could!” Browning kneeled beside Kittisak. He had a shirt in his hands folded up tight, and he shoved it against the wound in Shu’s chest. He applied firm pressure, rising up to put his weight into it. “Go! I’ll help him.”

“Thank you, thank you, fuck!” Kittisak squeezed Shu’s arm. “I’ll be right back. Stay here. Stay here!” He bolted to the water, but he dove in far too early, busting his face on the floor of the pool, but he shook it off and kept swimming. The mud was over in the cove where the bees were, and adrenaline powered every kick and stroke as Kittisak sped through the water.

As soon as he was there, he dropped to his knees to grab big handfuls. Then he realized he didn’t have anything to carry it back with.

Shit!

No, wait, shirt!

Kittisak ripped off his shirt, laid it out on the ground, and scooped the mud in the middle. He had no idea how much he needed, but he added more and more until his pile overflowed. He tied it inside the shirt as best as he could, and now he had to swim back with it.

As soon as he hit the water, Kittisak saw some of the mud was leaking out. He tried to keep the makeshift sack above his head as he swam, but it was impossible to swim with one arm, and he was getting so tired. His arms were on fire, flailing in the water, and he was having trouble keeping his head above the surface, much less the sack of mud.

No, no, no.

Kittisak had to keep going. He couldn’t stop, but he couldn’t lose the mud either.

An unexpected inhalation of water made him cough and sputter, and he nearly dropped the sack. His lungs ignited as they took on another breath of water, and he tried holding the sack against his chest and swimming with his legs. He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t let Shu die.

It could not fucking end like this.

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