The Lost City of Book by Gregory L Norris

Author:Gregory L Norris [Norris, Gregory L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Dystopian Queer New Adult Fiction
Publisher: Van Velzer Press
Published: 2022-01-22T00:00:00+00:00

Sixth

Interlude

The afternoon went dark, the eclipse helped along by the false dusk of the surrounding green space. Bernadette screamed. Pain exploded across her cheek. The bastard’s smack knocked her to the ground. She tasted dirt.

“You miserable little aikalba,” the Nose spat, using an insult from their native tongue. “You think you can talk to me with such disrespect that I won’t punish you? You, a worthless girl?”

Along with the dirt, Bernadette tasted the metallic tang of blood, an indication of just how hard he’d struck her. Tears welled in her eyes, but she ordered them to stop and mostly succeeded.

“You’re the little bitch!” she fired back.

He lunged at her, and this time she was ready. Bernadette pitched a handful of dirt at the monster’s face as he dragged her up from the ground by the strap of her backpack. The Nose stumbled several steps in retreat after releasing her and covered his eyes. He howled in an injured animal’s voice. Bernadette dropped her shoulders and the weight of the books inside eased the backpack down. She swung the makeshift weapon, nailing him in the meat of his paunch. The Nose doubled over clutching at her backpack, his eyes wide and wild.

“I’ll kill you!” he shrieked.

“Like you did Mary?”

That truth, hurled for the first time directly at the criminal, struck the Nose with the same efficiency as her attack to his gut. The monster looked away.

“I didn’t kill Mary!” he said in a voice that had fractured.

“She never arrived! You were supposed to protect her. My situ trusted you! Instead, you broke her heart, you ugly, rotten excuse for a man!”

She tried to retrieve her backpack. The Nose recovered enough from his shock and held onto it and the library books it contained. Then the Nose made another grab at her. Bernadette avoided his fingers with their long, dirty nails.

As he scrambled back to his feet, his shoes no longer so shiny or new looking, it struck Bernadette how much danger she faced. The Nose had dragged her to the river’s edge for a reason. A chill cut through the heat of her anger and satisfaction at having inflicted wounds as part of an overdue defense.

“You are a hateful, evil man,” she lobbed at her attacker. “I’ll tell on you, and you’ll pay for what you did to me—and when you die, you’ll burn in Hell for what you did to Mary!”

The Nose seemed to remember the backpack still in his clutches and tossed it toward the Spigot. Her backpack and the precious library books struck the water. The Nose stepped toward Bernadette.

Bernadette ran.

And ran.

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