Into the Real by Z Brewer

Author:Z Brewer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Published: 2020-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

15

The streets on the edge of town were empty and quiet. We’d chosen to leave the café behind for fear another Ripper might follow us there. We were too tired to fight anymore. Exhausted, both mentally and physically. It didn’t take us long to find a place to call it a night—a big, dilapidated Victorian with a rusted truck on the front lawn. It looked like the driver had lost control and crashed into the large oak out front. Apparently, he’d been a mechanic or something, because rusted hammers, screwdrivers, and wrenches dotted the lawn, making it look like a toolbox’s graveyard. As we walked, I pulled a bit of sage from my leg pouch and rubbed it on my skin to mask my scent. I handed some to Caleb so he could do the same. Hopefully it was enough.

We agreed to sleep in shifts, just in case the Ripper’s friend came looking for us. After burning more sage, I took first watch. I was supposed to wake Caleb after an hour or two, but I wasn’t tired in the slightest, so I let him sleep and watched the night out the window for any sign of trouble. I wasn’t sure I could kill another Ripper—not tonight. Every time I took one down, a piece of me died. My soul was withering away with every drop of blood spilled. You’d think ridding the world of monsters would feel triumphant and just, but the truth was, it was harder to do every time.

I wasn’t a killer. I wasn’t hard or unbreakable. I wanted to survive, and that meant pushing my feelings down. But the feelings were still there.

The sky outside brightened, and I realized I’d been up all night, staring out the window at nothing. It was dangerous to let my mind wander like this—to imagine a world where it wasn’t kill-or-be-killed. Every moment I spent imagining a world like that was a moment I wasn’t doing what I needed to do to survive in the real world.

I massaged my hands together to warm them. The room we were in had a fireplace, so I slipped outside and gathered some wood and kindling. My arms full, I returned to find Caleb rubbing his eyes into wakefulness. “I could’ve helped with that,” he said.

“It’s no big deal. I was up anyway.” Crouching by the fireplace, I dropped the pieces of wood inside. Caleb joined me in arranging them. Some kindling and a match later, the fire we’d built crackled to life. Retrieving the jerky from my pouch, I opened the bag and held it out to Caleb, who nodded in gratitude and took out a couple pieces.

Caleb fixed his gaze on the dancing flames. After picking up a stick and poking at a few of the coals, he said, “I feel pretty useless.”

“Are you talking about last night, with the Ripper? Because you were anything but useless. That thing would still be alive without you.” I sank my teeth into a piece of jerky and ripped a bite off, chewing.

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.