Four (Their Dead Lives,1) (49 page)

Dylan leaned in, fascinated, pointing at the stub. “
What
is
that?”
 

Bone was moving slightly out of Kale’s stub. His eyebrows raised. “No!”
 

Dylan’s touch ignited the bone-dagger, and the doc grabbed Kale’s arm with both hands, his shocked eyes staring at the blade. “Kale?” He gasped in pain, then slid slowly off the bed, collapsing to the ground. Blood soaked his shirt as he looked at the fresh hole cut into his stomach. Trembling in the exam room’s corner, his eyes closed.
 

“Fuck,” whispered Kale.

“One down, boy. Keep going.”
 

Kale soon found himself in the waiting room of the clinic. Miller was sitting alone, crippled and drunk with the vodka bottle. “Oh, Kale. Howdy.” He stared at the blood soaking Kale’s arm, Dylan’s blood. “Is that from the glass?”
 

“Yes.” Kale plopped onto the seat next to him.
 

“Well, it’s good to see you back. Thought you were a goner. Hell, I thought I was a goner. I mean, what the hell was that thing that attacked us on the yacht? Crazy nut sacks, am I right?”
 

Man when he talks, he really talks.
“So, still want to see the stars, Jimmy?”
 

Miller smiled. “Space, I’ll always crave it.”
 

Imbecile
. “Hey, Jimmy, remember when we gave you five bucks to spread peanut butter on your balls and—”
 

“Kale! Shit. Can we please have one normal conversation? I’m not that guy anymore. We’ve both changed.” His eyes blinked rapidly under the mask of bandages that swathed his face.
 

Kale chuckled, breaking into outright laughter.
 

“Yes, boy, yes. Feel the warmth of evil,”
said the whisper.
 

“What’s so funny, asshole? I do have my cuffs, and last I checked, you’re still guilty.”
 

Kale, still chuckling, glanced at the deputy. “I suppose I’m guilty of sitting next to a R-Tard.”
 

“I’m not retarded!” Miller flinched in pain from the force of the yell. “You’re the same asshole.”
 

“Oh, Jimmy, you’ll always be a bumbling fool. But I have certainly changed.”
 

Miller stirred in the chair next to Kale, his eyes a bit more alert. “What are you talking about?”
 

“Let me show you.” Kale opened himself to evil, and the darkness consumed him. He faced Miller directly, his eyes black with hate and his veins pulsing, corrupted and dark.
 

The quaking Miller rose in his seat. “Kale, what, what, what, what?” He slammed his fist into Kale’s stomach, breaking away and rushing for the clinic exit.
 

But Kale moved faster. He swung Miller to the middle of the waiting room. The deputy’s limbs shook as he pressed to rise. A foot to his back sent him flat on the ground.
 

Miller squealed as Kale stomped again, and again, until blood soaked through bandages. He flipped Miller’s limp body over.
 

Miller slammed the vodka bottle against Kale’s face and he lost his balance, falling over. Squirming on the carpet, bottle in one hand, Miller struggled to arm himself with his gun.
 

On all fours, Kale snarled at him. “Gotta do better than that, Jimmy.” He pounced on the deputy, pinning him to the ground, wrapping a hand around his throat. Miller swung the bottle again, but the bone-dagger emerged and impaled the deputy’s wrist. The bottle tumbled from Miller’s nerveless fingers, clanking on the ground.
 

Miller’s eyes locked to the unnatural blade that had broken from the Embracer’s body. “Holy shit.”
 

“Slice his neck, just like Henry’s.”
 

Kale grinned. “With pleasure.”
 

A sharp pain tore through Kale’s neck. Another at his arm. Another in his abs.
He’s shooting me
, Kale told himself as he fell off Miller. Somehow, the deputy had fired through his holster.
Impossible.
 

Using a chair for balance, Jimmy Miller struggled to his feet. Kale watched, lying in pain, surprised.
 

Miller rushed for the exit but paused. “I’m sorry, Kale.”

Hesitating to kill me was your fatal mistake.
Miller spun, gun raised, and managed two pulls at the trigger before Kale’s dagger launched through his heart. Kale grabbed his neck, twisting the blade deeper. He spun Miller to the ground, straddling him, impaling him. “Let me show you, Jimmy.”
 

A dying breath evaporated.
 

Kale reached into the deputy’s pocket and retrieved his badge. A shiny gold star. And he used it to carve out Jimmy Miller’s staring eyes.

ALEC
 

Too many threats out there.
 

Paper crinkled beneath them. He kissed Nicole’s head, her neck, and her soft shoulder. She turned her head and they locked lips. “I love you,” he whispered.
 

She did the same.
 

Then came the sounds of screams and gunshots.
 

They both sat straight, staring at the teal exam room door.
Kale? No.

Another gunshot.
 

“Alejandro,” stirred Nicole. “I don’t like it here.”
 

“Neither do I.” He rose off the bed and stepped to the door.
 

Another gunshot.
 

“Remember what I said earlier?”
 

She nodded, looking exhausted and scared. “Don’t go.”
 

“I won’t let anyone near this room.” He stepped outside and pressed his back to the door.
 

Chairs were scattered about the crimson-stained waiting room. Blood. Organs. Miller’s hollowed insides stuck to surrounding walls. The broken entrance was wide open, allowing a cold breeze to crawl in the clinic.
 

Jimmy...what happened to you?

Tapping outside brought Alec closer to the broken glass doors. He stepped carefully over Miller. Over blood, guts, and chairs. Outside, the street was clear. An apartment complex stood at the street’s other end. Once again, a yellow fire hydrant caught his eyes.
 

Tapping came from around the clinic’s corner.
 

Forget it. Go back to Nicole.
He flipped inside, just as he heard her scream echo from within the exam room. He was running, his feet slamming into the carpet, splashing blood, kicking chairs, squashing a kidney. “Nicole!” He yelled before even reaching the door. And when he swung it open, his world crashed down around him. Wind blew through the open window. He touched the empty bed. It was still warm. He pressed his hands against the windowsill and looked outside, seeing only a tall line of brush over dry grass. He swung both ways. No sign of her. “Nicole!” He launched out the window, scraping against broken glass. The night blurred as he sprinted from one end of the clinic to the other, screaming her name.
Fuck if anything hears me, where is she?
 

Alec ran back to the entrance. No Nicole.
Why the hell did I just leave her?
He fell to his knees and clenched his hands to his chest, screaming her name.
 

“Alec,” a cold voice said from behind.
 

He twisted on the cement to Kale. “Where is she?”
 

Kale grinned lifelessly. “Who?”
 

He burst to his feet and grabbed Kale’s shirt and spat at him, “
Nicole.
” His lips tremored with rage.
 

“I’ll tell you, but first, get back inside and keep quiet. They come.”
 

Alec tugged Kale harder. “You tell me right now, you piece of shit, or so help me, I’ll peel your stupid face right off your goddamn skull.”
 

Kale was calm.
Too calm.
“Please, get inside. I want you to see something.”
 

Alec shoved him forward toward the waiting room. Kale glanced at Miller’s massacred corpse and laughed. “Poor Jimmy, right?”
 

Alec had no answer for that. “Tell me where she is.”
 

“Soon, you must see something first.”
 

When they reached the hall, he saw the doctor crawling on the ground. Dylan’s shaking hand stretched from his blood-soaked shirt. He moaned, “Kale did this.”
 

Before Alec reacted, Kale threw him into the exam room that once had Nicole and locked the door. Alec twisted on the ground, under the window, feet kicking glass. “What the hell, Kale!”
 

A dark horror consumed Kale’s face. His now lifeless eyes, black like those of a doll, stared down at Alec. Black veins pulsated through his arms and neck. A dark sliver ran up his cheek.
 

Alec gasped in recognition. “You turned. They made you an Embracer?”
 

“No,
you
fucking did.”
 

Anger pushed Alec to his feet. “You better hope you kill me.”
 

“I plan on it.”
 

A blade burst out of Kale’s sawed-off wrist.
He’s a monster.
Alec quickly scanned for a weapon, then remembered the scalpel. He swung it from his pocket.
 

“Mine is bigger,” grinned Kale.
 

Alec’s grip around the blade was sweaty. “Tell me where she is.”
 

“She’s fine. She’s with a friend. Don’t worry.”
 

“You have no friends.”
 

Kale hissed, “I do now.”
 

Alec lunged first, missing entirely. Kale laughed at him then struck. Skin broke over Alec’s arm. A shallow cut. Alec tried another strike, nicking Kale’s shoulder. They sidestepped around one another in the compact room. Kale parried the scalpel on the third attack. He charged. Alec’s lower back crashed into the counter as Kale pinned his wrist next to the sink.
 

They were face to face. Alec clenched his teeth. Kale snarled.
 

“I hate you, Kale,” cursed Alec.
 

“You’ve always hated me.”
 

His once true friend, turned Embracer of Death, lifted the blade over Alec’s head.
No. Nicole. Save her.
Alec roared and threw an elbow to Kale’s temple. He freed himself off the counter.
 

Kale launched his foot into Alec’s gut. The scalpel slid to the door. With dazed eyes, Alec crawled for his weapon until his face was forced to a lift, slamming against a wall. Pinned. Blade wrapped around his neck.
 

“Tell me I was right,” Kale whispered into his ear. His rotten breath made Alec gag.
 

“Tell me where Nicole is.”
 

A bang on the door, followed by another. “Let me in, damn you,” groaned Dr. Dylan on the other side.

They ignored him.

“Jeff will kill you when he returns.” Alec tried to shove away but Kale slammed him harder, his face digging in plaster.
 

“He won’t get the chance, not yet, not here.” Kale spun Alec to the bed. Paper ripped as he shoved off, as a foot snapped his jaw. He tumbled over the windowsill, glass stabbing his chest. He grabbed a shard. His hand dripped blood as he snapped it off. Spinning, he swung.
 

Kale’s dagger dug deep into Alec’s shoulder.
 

“You spare her!” Alec cried as the pain stabbed through his body, as his legs wobbled, as he slid weakly to the floor.
 

Kale retracted the blade. “I want you to see.” He turned his back.
 

“See what?” Alec choked, tasting blood.
 

Quickly turning, Kale held out his cupped hands to Alec, showing two red eyeballs. “I want you to see what you’ve made me.”
 

“Nicole, Nicole! What have you done?” He tried to rise but Kale shoved him back to the floor.
 

“Relax, these are not her eyes.”
 

Jimmy.
Alec wanted to fight but pain and evil locked him in place.
 

“Tell me I was right,” whispered Kale.
 

“Never.” And Alec apologized for failing his love.
 

Kale simply shrugged, saying that wretched word, “Meh,” and his fist crushed Alec’s face. Again. Again. Cheek broken, chin shattered, nose pulverized. Again. Again. All destroyed.
 

The room bled to nothing.

KALE
 

Kill.
 

He remembered Jeff’s smile. How dorky and fat it’d been. He remembered Scot’s smirk. How annoying and selfish it’d been. And he remembered Alec’s stare. How silent and cold it’d been. With his three friends, he had left the hospital a hero that day.
 

Eight years ago, he’d been a hero.
 

Time dwindled into the black void that consumed him now.
I am something else. Something worse than my former self. Something evil.
But he knew there was a chance, a fragment of hope as long as Alec finally realized what needed to be done.
 

So
he tossed Alec to the ground. Dark blue sky chilled across the barren ledge of the cliff they were on.
 

Alec jolted on the ground, lashing out aimlessly. Blood stained his face a dark red. A crook in his nose. Swollen eyes.
I’ve managed to turn this beautiful beefcake ugly.

“Where are we?” he choked, lying on his side, grabbing his gut. “What have you done?”
 

“Relax. It ends soon.”
I wish they’d listened to me from the start.
“Stand up when you find the strength.”
 

Alec’s swollen face lifted an inch off the dirt. “You killed Jimmy Miller.”
 

“Yes.”
 

“Nicole is alive, though?”