Candela's Revenge by TJ Adams

Author:TJ Adams [Adams, TJ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: k'12
Published: 2018-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

20

The blood trailed from his eye into his mouth, the taste familiar, so very familiar. The pain of the wounds hammered through his skull. It had taken his all to get him as far as he had, which was not far at all. Now he lay propped against a boulder resting his head against the cold stone. The agony of the two wounds, fused as one because the bastard’s accuracy was so good, shooting one bullet straight through the middle of the shattered other, it kept him from falling unconscious. He closed the one eye he had left and inhaled the pain of the wounded.

Every mark he gained was a reminder of where he’d come from and where he was going and what he’d never become again, a victim. In his youth he’d used the inflictions given to him by his father as a way to train his mind to overcome weakness. As a boy he’d remained in the cell chained to the wall, starved and biting back his tears, telling himself this was the greatest gift his father could give him. Strength does not come from love, compassion and nurturing. If his father had treated him differently he wouldn’t be in the position he was in today. Only when you were prepared to do anything and lose everything could you win.

The shot transformed him back into a man and as a man he was vulnerable. He sensed creatures crawling around him. They wanted him of course. They would smell the blood, know he was wounded. This was not a safe place for him to be and transforming back into the beast would be too exhausting for him to try right now.

He pushed to his feet and staggered back to where he’d left his bike. Each step jarred and tugged at the pain. After a few steps it became too great, he was weak. He fell to his knees and uttered a moan from the agony when a fresh wave of torment seared through his head.

For a while he remained on his knees, teeth clenched, as the dizziness settled. Being on his knees was bad enough, but he refused to allow the final sink from grace, which would see him fall onto his face. Never, never, never would he sink to his knees again. He promised himself that when he was a boy and forced by his father to kneel before the whip, which took flesh from his cheeks. But this was too much, losing an eye was not something a man could withstand without some weakness.

His nails bit into his palms as he fisted his hands and held them straight by his side. Baring teeth, he arched his head to the moon and growled, which soon turned to an anguished gulp. At first he mistook the wetness on his cheek for blood, but the sting in his good eye told him the truth. Just this once he would let a few tears fall, but just this once, and only because the agony was too great.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.