A Blood of Killers by Gerard Houarner

Author:Gerard Houarner [Houarner, Gerard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Horror
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“You’re back,” Bix said.

Seth looked into the emptiness of the man who had helped set him free, then returned to his coffee and newspaper. “Ellen needed some down time. So did I. You know how it is, the stress of our kind of work. The medications help us both so much. Of course it does, or else I wouldn’t be sitting on this ward, now would I?” Seth giggled. “We’re leaving next week.”

“You’re back.”

“Well, not officially, of course. All is forgiven, and all that. I never said how I got out, and it turns out they really don’t care. It all turned out for the best. You don’t have to worry.”

“I told you what would happen if you came back.” Bix took a step closer. “And we fucking hate your trophies, your stupid mercy killings.”

“Actually, I’m back in the capacity of a military psych technician. You see I come and go as I please. I’m a keeper, now, Bix. A temp keeper in here, yes, but I have the pass card. So why don’t you have a seat.”

Bix ripped the paper out of Seth’s hands and knocked the coffee cup against the wall. Other patients murmured in the background. “Keepers die just as quick as us.”

“Who’s your keeper, Bix?” Seth asked.

Bix grabbed Seth by the shirt, picked him up. Seth’s body twitched as it remembered pressure points and blinding lights of pain.

Bix let him go as his head jerked forward and back, his eyes glazed and a foul stench escaped with his final breath. Bix collapsed to the floor. The other patients withdrew, scattered.

Ellen took the pick out of the base of Bix’s neck. She smiled dreamily at Seth, her meds giving the both of them a temporary reprieve from the rigors of cleansing. Emotional toxins built up, shadows of guilt obscured boundaries, needs merged to form unstable and dangerous combinations. Everyone needed a vacation. She went back to her station in the nurse’s office.

Mr. Black appeared, another vortex of free-floating emptiness, and looked down at Bix. “The gods are fickle,” he said, with a hint of sadness. “We can only perform our sacred duties and abide by what is given to us in return.”

“Mr. Black?” Seth said, daring to put a hand on the man’s fine suit arm. The medications made him feel oblivious to the danger. “Ellen would like to meet my friends on the old ward. Especially Omar and Kasie. Do you think that would be possible?”

Mr. Black considered, then took Seth’s arm gently in his hand. “How else but through sacrifice can priests know what gifts gods will bestow on them?”

They went to get Ellen and visit his old friends, and grant them the mercies they might require.

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