Page 94 of Aftershock
Then again, I don’t want him to torture or kill me.
Don’t be silly, he won’t.
I frown at myself.
Of course he won’t.
My doctor is a vigilante. There’s plenty of proof of that.
And now that I suspect he’s a survivor like me, that he truly understands…I’ve never felt safer.
“Ready, set.” Alaric picks up a new epinephrine pen. “Here we go.”
Bam, it goes into Harold’s other thigh.
This time, he doesn’t just wake up. He’s convulsing. Gasping. Eyes so wide it seems like they’re about to pop out.
“Hmm.” A small, contented smirk stretches across Alaric’s face. He lifts the empty pen, nodding at it. “Not bad at all.”
My brow furrows at that.
Is he doing more than torturing Harold? Is he testing the pen on him?
That doesn’t sound right. Pharmaceutical companies don’t—or at least aren’t supposed to—hire doctors to conduct underground human trials.
Maybe Alaric is just satisfied that whatever’s in the pen wakes Harold up so he can keep hurting him.
Either way, I have to leave and get back to bed. Every second I stay down here is a risk, and besides, I’ve had my fill of stalking Alaric for today.
I get up to leave, then I hear it.
“Nooo!” Harold’s garbled scream jolts me and sends me right back to the peephole.
While I wasn’t watching, Alaric moved to stand behind the chair. He’s wearing gloves now, his hands wrapped around Harold’s throat as he chokes the life out of him.
A part of me hopes this is just another round of torture. This asshole deserves a million rounds.
But I also have Alaric’s best interests in mind.
It’s getting late. And even though he has tomorrow off, he promised he’d walk me home in the morning. At six.
That doesn’t leave him too much time to rest.
“I’d keep you around, except”—Alaric hisses—“I need the space. Hope you understand.”
Harold’s gurgling and wheezing are all the answer he gets.
Soon after, his head drops to the side. His body goes limp.
Is it really the last time?
Though he said he needs the space, meaning he’s getting rid of Harold, it could be another mind game he plays with him.
My curiosity is dangerous. It holds me in place when I should be getting out of here.
I wait, wait, wait, and…
Nothing.
