Page 355 of Coal Hearts

But I wasn’t aware.

Not really.

I was there but elsewhere.

I was floating and furious, violent and vicious.

No pain as men struck me from behind.

No awareness as my fist closed around someone’s windpipe and twisted.

He went limp.

I went rogue.

I kicked the bastards trying to hurt me.

I attacked with every atom.

I lost all sense of time as I became carnage itself.

A man sobbed as I broke him.

Another bellowed as I tore him apart.

I relished in midnight-black blood.

I fed on their pleas.

Dined on their agony.

I siphoned down and down into darkness until I didn’t remember why I fought.

I didn’t know why I lost myself so completely.

Or how I’d ever stop.

All I knew was they had to die.

Die.

All of them.

Every single one—

Garish sunshine suddenly blinded me.

I hissed and raised a hand as another sun snapped on and another, trapping me in a triangle of blazing light.

“Stop. Immediately!” A voice boomed through the slapping rain, ringing in my teeth.

The only bastard still alive instantly dropped to his knees. Blood smeared his bare chest, his hands trembling as he raised them. “T-This man attacked us. Shoot him! He killed Dax and Roger!”

“Stay still. All of you!”

I stepped toward my final nemesis.

I licked my lips at the thought of feasting—