Midian Unmade: Tales of Clive Barker's Nightbreed by Edited by Joseph Nassise & Del Howison

Author:Edited by Joseph Nassise & Del Howison
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781466823624
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2015-07-28T00:00:00+00:00

TAMARA

Paul J. Salamoff

I am still haunted by the events that transpired at Midian.

It was never my intention to kill, but that is what I have done.

Baphomet help my soul.

When Boone arrived, it felt like a liberating time for the tribe of the moon. Even though there was immediate dissension in the ranks, he brought a newfound sense of hope. I could see it in Lylesburg’s eyes. The way he looked at the young man. Was this the fruition of our age-old dream?

But our hopes were dashed when the world encroached into our sanctuary and our home was laid to waste in a pile of ash and rubble. Many of my brothers and sisters died that day, but I survived.

But at what cost?

I can still feel his warm blood on my body, a scarlet stain that won’t scrub off no matter how often I wash or how hard I scour. My clawed hands thrust up inside his bowels. The gaping wound that I made led to an effortless evisceration. There was so much blood. It splashed against my naked form, coating my breasts, spikes, and stomach … warm crimson dripping down the cleft between my thighs.

I understood for a moment what Peloquin must have felt during his nightly hunts—the raw animalistic thrill of the slaughter. Face-to-face with my prey, witnessing as the light and life drained from his mortal soul. But that sensation was fleeting; a momentary thrill.

As my senses returned, what I was left with was the corpse of a man crushing me with almost two hundred pounds of dead weight. I am so small, so easily frightened. My lithe form is fragile. But Baphomet blessed me with talons and barbed protrusions to protect my physical self. These however do nothing to protect my soul. Even in self-defense, I cannot remedy my actions.

I am not a killer.

I was not a killer.

For the moment, I was safe. The fighting was long over, having ended in the early hours of the new day. As far as I could tell I was now alone in Midian. Left for dead underneath the carcass of a deceased man.

Using the cave wall for support, I used all my strength to heave the corpse off of me. He toppled over onto the harsh ground, eyes staring up through the blasted-out opening above us. Smoke still wafted on the surface, blotting out the morning sun and protecting me from its harm.

Wiping my bloodied hands on the man’s clothing, I got my first real look at him. He seemed considerably younger than I thought. My first impression of him was that of a vicious old bear as he charged out of the darkness with a rifle leveled directly at me. Being petite makes me fast and I easily avoided the first shot as it whizzed by my torso.

He was moving at such a hasty speed in unfamiliar and uneven ground that he tripped himself up on a large rock and stumbled into me. The rifle was knocked from his grasp when we both hit the ground.

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