“Reaper let Healer do his job. Come on, man. Others still need our help.”
“I don’t care. I can’t leave her.”
“I get it,” Grimm spoke softly to him. Though I don’t know why. He was to blame for all of this. He helped the others. He profited from selling me. I hope I made him a lot of money. I hope he choked on it.
“You love her. I know you do. I saw it every time you looked at her. She will survive this. I know she will. She is strong.”
He doesn’t know love. He knows death. I wondered if Grimm knew that about his President. Did any of them really know who their President really was? The depravity that ran in his veins.
“That’s the most words I’ve ever heard you say,” I heard the devil himself reply.
“I speak, but only when I need to.”
I don’t know when someone closed my eyes, but I never opened them again. I could hear everything, though, and that was enough. I figured not seeing what was going to happen was best. I’d seen enough for many lifetimes.
I just wanted the darkness. I welcomed it.
I was comfortable. Too comfortable and warm.
Where was I? I could hear machines in the background making an annoying beeping sound. I wish they’d turn that off. I was starting to feel again. I didn’t want to because, with feeling, the pain would come back. I still couldn’t move, and I was grateful for that.
Moving meant pain.
I felt someone holding my hand. I wish I could open my eyes and see who it was, but I was so tired, I drifted back into nothing.
Someone was talking. Coming out of the darkness, I tried to listen as they spoke, but I could only hear muffled words. Why wouldn’t they just leave me alone?
“We’re heading back tonight. Phantom and Player already left. They have the computers and hard drives from the chapter. They will gather as much information off them as possible before wiping them clean and destroying them. No one should see that shit.”
“What about the dead?”
I knew that voice. It was him the devil. He was too close. Was he the one holding my hand? I cringed, wanting so much to pull away. I didn’t recognize the other voice, probably another member of the Golden Skulls, just as evil as their leader.
“Bayou’s cousin said he would take care of them properly, making sure each one is identified and their families are notified.”
“Tell the sheriff, those who aren’t claimed, that I will pay for their burial.”
Why would he do that? He killed them all. He was complicit in their demise. He knew about everything and did nothing. He should be in jail, not burying the ones he sent to death. He wasn’t making sense. He sounded remorseful, sad almost, but he was one of them—those who hurt, raped, beat, and killed.
He was their leader.
He was with the others.
“Already did. He said thank you.”
“What about the buildings?”
“Smoke and Viper are going to help the local fire department do a controlled fire. The land was signed back over to the parish to do as they pleased. I suggested maybe a wildlife refuge or a park. Maybe they can make something good come from all of this madness.”
“How is she?”
“She still hasn’t woken up.”
“Talk to her, Reaper. Tell her everything.”
“I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“How about the beginning.”