Before he could finish the sentence, with a speed no human eye could follow, I reached between his teeth and tore out his tongue. Dark red blood spilled from the black opening of his mouth.
A hoarse, strangled cry spilled out of him as he clawed at his throat. Gushing blood filled the gaping hole.He'll be speaking no longer.
"No!" Jason, stumbling from the weight and pain of the hungry ghouls ripping at his back, went to his knees, his attention bouncing from the red muscular tissue of his friend's severed tongue lying on the floor, to Ryan's blood-covered lips. "God save us," Jason whimpered.
Just the mention of God sent my pain and anger over the edge.
I blinked the few feet to Jason and grabbed either side of his head as he gazed up at me with stunned eyes.
"Leave us." I nodded once to the ghouls, who jumped off the boy immediately. Turning my focus back to Jason, I leaned closer. "Do you truly think God will save you?" My fingertips stroked the back of his neck.
"Y-yes." That one word came out in a stuttering whisper. Blood pooled on his shoulder from a bite left by one of the ghouls. He closed his eyes and seemed to calm himself. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear—"
"Fearme," I said as my grip tightened around his head.
His strong pulse fluttered against my hands.
I squeezed his skull like a melon and twisted. A distinctcrackfilled the air. I shoved the jerking corpse away from me and stood up. "See you soon, Jason."
I turned to Ryan, who opened and closed his bloody mouth like a dying fish.
He shook his head and began crawling toward his dead friend's body. A keen wailing started. He tried to speak. "Uh. Uh-uh-uh."
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" I put a boot on his ass and pushed, sending him sprawling on top of Jason.
Who says vengeance doesn't solve anything?I already felt better. They dared to touch what was mine, and now they'd reap what they'd sown.Isn't this what the Bible teaches?
Movement at the end of the hallway caught my eye.
"Jason? Ryan?" asked a female voice.
A voice that haunted me in my plane.
A voice that once soothed the rage within my heart.
A voice I'd never forget.
Immediately, I cloaked my small army. I don't know why—I just couldn't bear for her to see me, to see what I'd done. Which was utter bullshit.She'dbeen the one to betrayme.
"Jason? Ryan?" she whimpered. She stood as still as stone as she took in the gruesome scene in the hallway.
For some reason I didn't sense her presence. Why?
Realization dawned. I'd gifted Anna with protection, which shielded her from evil intentions.
Which is now shielding her from me.
Wrapped in a terrycloth robe the color of a robin's egg, her dark hair and eyes seemed to stand out. She crept closer. "What… I don't understand." Her walk turned into a run. "No, please, no." She encountered Jason's body first. "Oh God," she screamed, smoothing the hair from his head. "No. No no no. You two were supposed to get married next month." Tears streamed down her face and fell on his lifeless face. "Please wake up."
What? Get married?I held a hand to my forehead.The boys were getting married? Like, to each other?
A terrible, sinking feeling tumbled inside my stomach.
She'd mentioned they were her roommates. Had she been telling the truth?
"God, please God, no." Anna leaned forward, bracing herself with one arm and frantically checking Jason for a pulse.
Unfortunately, the place where her hand met the carpet happened to be where Ryan's tongue had fallen.
