Carnage À Trois by Rick Gualtieri

Author:Rick Gualtieri [Gualtieri, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B093YGLSCP
Publisher: Freewill Press
Published: 2021-06-23T00:00:00+00:00

BUILDING BLOCKS

It’s amazing how difficult it is to consider your options when your skin is busy melting off.

I had no idea where I was or what was happening, save that I’d somehow landed outside in full view of the giant ball of angry fire in the sky.

Had Christy somehow zigged when she should have zagged. Or had the sex maybe been less good than I’d hoped?

Goddamn, talk about the harshest Dear John letter in the history of dumpings.

Fortunately, I was far too busy immolating to let that thought wallow.

To your left, the voice in my head screamed.

I think we’re beyond stop, drop, and roll here.

No, you fool! There’s shade to your...

Before I could do much of anything, except turn extra crispy, a half dome of purplish energy winked into existence above me, turning opaque a moment later.

With the fuel to this fire blocked, I rolled over and began to beat the flames out. Then, turning in the direction Dr. Death had mentioned, I saw he was right. There was both shade there next to a building as well as a filthy mud puddle.

Fuck it. Beggars couldn’t be choosers.

I threw myself into it, dousing the last of the flames and making me glad I hadn’t taken the time to shower yet.

“Are ... you okay?”

I pushed myself up, noting my hands and arms were a charbroiled mess. As I opened my mouth to answer, feeling the less than wonderful sensation of my lips cracking, I realized the rest of my upper body probably wasn’t in much better shape.

Oh boy. This was gonna be seriously unpleasant once my nerve endings got the message to start working again.

Glancing down, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the water, the image slightly distorted due to my glasses having warped from the heat. Good thing I sprang for reinforced frames. No doubt about it. I currently looked like Wade Wilson’s uglier cousin. A few more seconds and I’d have been toast.

“I... I’ll live,” I said, turning toward where I’d heard Christy’s voice.

She was sitting on the pavement, a goose egg rising on her forehead from where she’d probably hit the ground, but otherwise she appeared in much better shape than me.

“W-what happened?”

“Wards,” she said, giving voice to what I already suspected. “But how?”

I took a look around, realizing we were in the small parking lot of Sally’s building. We’d reached our intended destination all right, but something had gone horribly wrong in transit.

That’s when I got my first clue as to what had caused our wrong turn. A glyph, a good seven feet high, had been burned into the exposed masonry of the building. It glowed with unearthly silverish light. Turning my head, I spied two more in either direction. Though I couldn’t see past the corner from my vantage point, it wouldn’t have surprised me to learn they ringed the building.

“I’m ... going to ... guess those aren’t yours,” I said, my words slurred thanks to my ruined lips.

“No, they aren’t,” she replied wide-eyed.

Subtle

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