Page 15 of Remnants
All we can do now is try to fight and hope to find a weakness.
Charles waits for us to get back on our feet. He could easily attack us when we’re down, but he smiles pleasantly andallows usthe time to try again.
Wearing down our resolve just as much as our bodies.
Dane and I rush at him for another attack. I try my gift. Dane uses his fists.
We run into an invisible barrier a couple feet from him that instantly tosses us back.
Before we get up this time, Charles pulls us toward him, then blasts us with another invisible attack.
And then another with no time to recover.
Pain grips my body in an iron, spiked fist, immobilizing me. The ringing in my ears echoes along with the insistent throbbing of my muscles. There’s a sharp piercing in my chest when I breathe, and I’m forced to take shorter, shallower breaths.
“Oh, you have guests,” a droll male voice speaks. There’s a pause, and then he continues, “Playing with your food, I see.”
“Royce,” Charles greets. “Have I missed the meeting?”
Black edges my vision, oblivion threatening to consume me.
To sleep, or death?
“I pushed it out for you. I knew you’d be busy having fun with my puppet’s Guild.”
“Ah, you’re quite reliable.”
“I strive to be so, sir. If I may,” Royce drawls in his dreary, slow tone. “Doyou have plans for your…her?”
His words give me a boost of willpower to hold on. To cling to consciousness even if it’s only to hear about their plan for me.
“Only to put her down as she should have been after she killed Vera.”
A pain deeper than any physical injury burrows into my chest.
“Of course, sir. I recall you advising Gordon of that and his desperate plea to use her in his pet project.”
“Then take care with what you’re about to request,” Charles warns.
“I have no intention of interfering. However, I can make use of her after death, with her free will limited, of course.”
It’s quiet for a heartbeat. Two. Three.
I blink, and it takes concentrated effort to drag my eyelids open again.
Don’t pass out. Keep fighting.
“I suppose so. Just keep her from my sight.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Stay close. I’ve had my fun and should return to work. You can have her then.”
Fuck.
Time’s up.
I’d hoped their conversation would last longer to give my body more time to recover, but I’m in no better shape now than a few minutes ago. Worse, actually.
