The Last Virus by Peter Lucas

Author:Peter Lucas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shawline Publishing Group Pty Ltd
Published: 2023-05-01T06:46:30+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Some parts of my time in the city have stayed clear in my mind. Like the hours I spent with Ferret and Carla, combing the dark, forgotten streets – or the moments I was alone with Kim. Others have just drifted away and become a blur, a tangle of memories I think I’d rather forget anyway.

I mostly saw Kim after dark. That was probably how we kept the true nature of our relationship from Marco for as long as we did. Then, one afternoon six or seven weeks in, we were lying together on a mattress. It was a warm day, and we hadn’t put our clothes back on. We just lay there in each other’s arms, talking quietly. Whispering plans. Marco walked in, then straight back out, and I thought that was the end of it. But he must’ve picked up an empty bottle outside. I heard it smash before he came back in, holding what was left of it by the neck. The look on his face was chilling.

Kim knew about the revolver in my bag and pulled it out, pointing it without hesitation at Marco’s stomach. Nobody spoke. He just stood there watching us, as if unsure whether Kim would really pull the trigger. It wasn’t loaded, but Marco couldn’t have known that. Any gun looks threatening when you’re on the wrong end of it.

‘You wouldn’t have the guts,’ he said, still holding out the jagged neck of the bottle. ‘You haven’t got it in you.’

He was deliberately taunting her. I wondered if he was actually hoping she’d shoot him. Maybe he was just sick to death of it all, or he thought she’d have to nurse him back to health again, if she did it. Kim kept the barrel pointed at him and didn’t waver for a moment. Nor did she say a word.

‘Go on, then!’ He pulled up his shirt and jabbed his thumb into his stomach till he left red marks on his skin. ‘There you go. What’ve you got to lose? Make it a whole lot easier for you, wouldn’t it? And for lover boy.’

He waved the broken bottle in my direction, but didn’t get closer, not testing Kim’s resolve. The whole time, he didn’t take his eyes off her. I felt like I shouldn’t have been watching what was going on between them. It was different from the standoff on the river. This time it was private, and hard to explain. All I knew was that Marco had pushed it too far. The look on Kim’s face told me she would’ve pulled the trigger, even if it’d been loaded, then regretted it for the rest of her days. I think Marco finally realised that it was over between them. That it had been for a long time, and no matter what he did, there was nothing he could do to separate us.

I glanced at Kim. Suddenly aware of our nakedness, I grabbed the sheet and pulled it up over us. It broke the deadlock at once.

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.