Whaaaat? I updated twice?
Surpriseeeee!
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Chapter 35
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Ice cracks under my feet. I fist frozen fingers around a dagger.
"It's time you went out again," Butcher says. "You can't hide here forever. Xaro's picking things up, preparing for the Purge."
"You're letting me go alone?"
He snorts. "No, I'm letting you come with me."
Frustration threatens to surmount, but this is an invaluable opportunity. There's a bright side. I need to study the world beyond for a viable escape route. Staying in the cave only thickens my blindness. Butcher may think I'm giving up, but the game just rolled into play.
The hideout lies behind us, slowly disappearing. My weapon sinks heavily into my palm. I know he's given it to me as a test. I try to ignore how easy it would be to drive it under his ribs as he strides next to me. He's waiting for that. I'd be a fool to cross the line right now.
We amble through waist high drifts and test our weight across fields of ice. I bow over during the trek as the temperature to plummets lower than freezing. Icy gales elicit shocked breaths. Four days now, four days of awful cold.
Then I spot it.
A red blur galloping across the plain. The snow's whiteness illuminates the rusty color of a fox's coat and little paws. The hue reminds me of a bright poppy in autumn. I watch in awe as the glorious creature passes us. Then it's gone, just as quickly as a spark of happiness dies.
I flash a lonely smile.
"Beautiful."
Butcher smirks at my awe.
"They taste beautiful too."
My toes curl.
Why am I surprised? It's Butcher, the ruthless murderer.
Thankfully he lets the fox slip away into the evergreens, muttering all the while about wasted meat.
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In the thickest part of the wood Butcher grips my shoulder. The trees seem to lean in as I halt, as if eager to see my imminent pain. I take calming breaths, forcing myself to shake off all the revulsion and rage welling up. I knew this would happen eventually. This cold-hearted creature would want to satisfy himself eventually. He holds me still whilst looking up and carefully analyzing the skies.
I follow his gaze, heart calming to a steady patter. Thank God. He doesn't want anything from me. His interest focuses on the shining blue.
"What is it?" I say.
"Bleach. You don't smell it?"
I do eventually, after focusing intensely. The eggy, eye-watering stench filters in my nostrils. My irises scan the horizon, looking for the source. When a deceptively innocent-looking Grecousian craft zips over the blue, dread crowds my stomach.
"Come," Butcher steers me round. "We're going back."
He doesn't have to say it twice. I willingly follow where he leads. It's almost like he's a yellow canary in a coalmine. I might hate him with all my soul, but, by God, he'll sniff out danger before you even guess what's happening.
"How did you know?" I say at his back. I hop out of a three foot sinkhole of snowy slush.
"Xaro's done this before."
I take an even breath. "Where?"
He turns around. "In the Recreant Nursery."
"Oh." My voice falters. I'm lost in the details, confused by the cruelty. This happened in a nursery with children? Even though I'm not quite sure what this is, it definitely doesn't seem like the clouds promise roses and teddy bears.
I run after Butcher's heels.
As my lungs heave from exertion, suppressed coughs collect in the back of my throat. We're going miles faster than what my legs are accustomed to. Butcher runs full speed ahead ahead, his long legs kicking up a large mounds of fluttery snow. It's like watching a graceful gazelle race across a meadow. I'm nearly mesmerized, taken into his trance. As I watch this powerful being, this warrior made in hell, thick powder smacks me in the face and I lose my already off kilter balance. An unsteady branch finally released the snow weighing down its branches, allowing the weight to smash into the back of my head.
My face hits the snow.
Melting ice burns my cheeks. I struggle to breathe after my fall knocked the air from my lungs. Wheezing, I grip the snow blanket and moan. The fall shows me how far I was pushing myself. I think I've gone over the edge. I need a moment to regroup before I can stand again. I shake my head like a dog emerging from water, attempting to shake off my confusion.
There's silence, except for the rumble of snow and my heavy breaths.
Suddenly, beautiful, genuine mirth fills the crisp air. I lift my head, stunned. Butcher throws his head back, eyes closed while tears created from laughter run freely. Clutching his stomach and letting loose rich, bubbly laughs, he absolutely glows.
"Butcher?" I ask. Have I traveled to an alternate reality? Did the snow hit me so hard that I'm now hallucinating?
He opens his eyes.
"I look back, hearing you fall. And your head, your head is gone, buried! You're just lying there! Like you can't believe it happened!"
He falls to his knees guffawing. Absolutely dying of laughter.
I gape.
Unexpectedly a giggle slips loose. Then an accidental snort. And soon I can't help it. And besides, how many opportunities do we have to laugh out here?
I burst into roaring laughter too, rubbing my cheeks free of snow. I laugh until my stomach muscles burn.
"Well if you weren't running so fast!"
"Are you joking me? I'm running as slow as I can so you'll keep up!"
Tears of hilarity stream down. On Butcher's face lies one of the most beautiful smiles out there. His rich, hilarious laughter envelopes the surroundings, booming out across the wild silence. White teeth sparkle, his sculpted jawline stretches with his grin. My giggles fade watching him. Reality chokes me and I can't help but wonder, is this what things would've been like if he was normal?
If he wasn't the way he is?
Under my scrutiny his laughs fade. Butcher blinks at me, wiping his eyes.
The normalcy and the beauty melt back into the cracks.
The truth's so much uglier now.
"It's gone," I whisper to myself.
The laughter, the carefree joy. We'll never have a moment like that again. We can't ever have a moment like that again. He made the gap between us too big. What he did can't be forgiven.
Butcher rises, his silky mane swirling in the wind. I join him, dusting my hands. The devilish smirk creeps back onto his face; sorrow drips back into my gaze.
And we run, just as the sky darkens. We leave happiness where we found it.
It's not meant for people like us.
Half a mile from the hovel a fierce bang crackles up above, followed by a blinding flash. Snowflakes rain down, the color of cerulean sea. Diamonds. Blue, glistening diamonds fall. Butcher turns white. Struck by the beauty of it all, I gape.
"Shut your mouth!" Butcher says.
I stop, angrily suffocating him in my head. My attention focuses on him, instead of the blue snowflakes landing on my arm.
Suddenly, bloodcurdling screams blacken the air.
I smack off melting hell before it scorches all the way through my arm. The blue slush sprinkles into white snow. My arm sizzles. The remaining sore appears as if someone gouged out a hole in the flesh with a heated spoon. Blistering pink tissue lies naked to whipping gales and froths with blood. The scent of putrid death hits my nose. More blue diamonds rain down.
You can see the white of my bone.
The evil throbbing scorches my limbs.
"Phoenix!" Butcher reaches back for my stiffened form. The sound of my name rolling of his tongue scrambles an already scrambled mind. I hesitate to follow. Pausing for a moment, Butcher becomes the victim of cerulean slush that plummets from an overly-weighted branch hanging above. The mound showers onto the full length of Butcher's forearm.
He shoves it off but it's too late. I watch the seasoned warrior's mouth contort while blood gathers. He grips onto me as I lift my fur to block the rest of the snowfall. He gnashes his teeth, his eyes bulge. And he yells for a full minute, until crimson rushes along his teeth.
The cry of a born killer.
It haunts...
It haunts you forever.
Somehow I escape the hellish torture's hold on my mind long enough to shove us in the direction of the hot spring. Butcher's limb smells as if it came back from the dead. Golden skin falls in pats on the snow, like butter. Except it doesn't melt. Blood curdles to jelly. The decayed, withered tissue belongs in a grave with a skeleton.
And all around hell keeps plummeting.
For the full stretch of our mad dash, Butcher groans miserably. I refuse to look at his wound, knowing if I do I'll faint where I stand. Shivers curl up my spine, writhing to my brain. Blood tingles, my ears buzz. I'm sick, so sick. Vomit threatens to erupt.
We clamber up the stones leading to our hole. Nearby, the hot spring hisses protests as the blue plummets into the boiling pool. The sun is gone, it couldn't bear to take part in the destruction that mutilates us all.
Finally I make it inside.
Butcher staggers in. His hulking form slumps against the back wall and he sinks down, moaning. As he makes his way over a long piece of flesh hits the floor. Adrenaline gives me the stomach to kick it out the entrance, back into hell.
His eyes meet mine. Though they are as clear as faintly colored water, they hold mountains of agony in their dark depths.
I hate him.
He struggles for control, biting down on his lips so hard that they turn white and blood spurts down. A groan still wrenches its way out.
I hate him.
I rush for the bag carrying a limited amount of medical supplies.
I hate myself too.
Because I'm going to help him.
"Don't," he says as I drop next to him. Blood soaks his pants and peeling flesh permeates the dense cave. "Don't waste your time. Just go. Don't pretend like you care. You want me dead too, just like the rest of them."
My brows cluster and rage waterfalls through.
"If I don't get to die, neither do you."
He studies me, lips curling back into a pained smirk. And he laughs. After a moment he stops and a scowl breaches his expression. He clenches my arm before I can jump back and grows even paler. The grip is so tight my arm slumps into numbness.
Then he howls so loud my teeth chatter. My soul hides.
I've never seen anything like this before. Shutting my eyes, shame scorches my cheeks as tears rush. They dribble into dirt.
I'm scared.
So scared.
Against Xaro, what can I do to save him?