AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Harry hadn’t turned off the headlights, and I could see well enough, see the smirk on his face flutter as...I ducked.
Two shots blew into his head from behind then blew out the front of his face in a splatter of brains and blood. Not much in the way of chunks or gore, considering Val must have put two bullets through the cerebral cortex, just enough to make me gag until my memories from the C intervened.
Anyone normal would’ve lost gallons more...stuff.
Done this, seen this, killed people lots. It was nothing. Nothing. And Harry wasn’t precisely human.
Lazy, pink globs of tissue slid off the shattered glass to the dashboard.
Another two shots ruptured the insides of the car with sound, seemingly aimed at the whatever-it-was that lurked in the back. The gun was fired from the driver’s side, and the silhouette of a man established itself. I stared.
Must be Val.
I prayed while struggling to free my neck. The tentacles never loosened, only tightened, slipping deviously under my hands.
Harry had slumped to the steering wheel, but now he sat up. He turned to leer at me then swung to Val. Thank god. His face was a wonderland of blood and damage I preferred not to see, or the truffle burger would be vomiting forth.
My memories were screaming at me in nonsensical, blurred words.
What was that?
As I tuned in, Harry raised the knife, unlocked his door and pushed. Val fired again, lower. The shot to Harry’s chest area did nothing more than deafen me again.
The knife, the knife, the knife!My mind screamed in three languages I didn’t know I knew.
Ahhh.“The knife!” I gurgled as loud as the strangling loops allowed me.
Had Val heard?
The dimming light, the curses, my own darkening vision and straining lungs, these all made it difficult to comprehend what happened next. Fists were raised in blows; there were dull thuds, wet thuds, and a knife rising and falling. The blade flashed in the reflections of the headlights from the trees. The truck rocked with the movement of heavy bodies. Rocked again. More thuds and chittering sounds as if a large cricket was throwing a tantrum in the back.
Harry was slumped again, I noticed, as I wheezed in some air. My nails and the pluck of my fingers on the loops were gaining me nothing. No gun or knife was in reach and heaving with my body only strangled me more. The headrest was solid.
Quiet, except for footsteps on the earth outside and my gasps, and the thud of my pulse at temples and throat.
Then my passenger-side door creaked open, and it was Val.
I’d never been so damn happy to see anyone. My smile faltered when I remembered what Harry had said.It’s with us.
Blood smeared his bared arms and his dark shirt was ripped half open. Where his chest heaved and skin showed, there was red. None appeared to be his.
Such dark eyes, his were, when the light didn’t reach them.
Normal, I scoffed at the thought.
But he wasn’t speaking, only staring.
The knife revolved in his hand where it hung beside his leg; his fingers played idly with the hilt. Forearm and knife were soaked in red, and dark liquid dripped from the pointed tip.
An owl hooted in the distance. The forest nearby was stunned perhaps, as no other bird or creature stirred.
“Val?” I croaked and pointed. “This? My neck?”
“Yes.” At last, he looked into my eyes. “The man-thing is dead.”
I’d gathered that, since Harry was lying half-in and half-out the door, and not moving. The knife had proved more lethal than the gun.
Val leaned in then carefully straddled me while examining my neck. Though his feet were grounded, some of his weight rested on my legs. I frowned.
