“But it should be me who—”
“Why? Because you’re male and playing with power tools is a man’s job?”
A heavy sigh. “No...because it’s—”
“Look, the original plan was for me to use the torch. If you hadn’t gone all‘He-man’on me, they’d be free and halfway to London by now.”
Silence again.
For a while, minutes swept me away, granting that odd sensation of no time passing but hours slipping anyway.
“They’re probably already dead. They haven’t moved since we started this.”
A livid curse littered the rank air. “If they don’t make it, our bargain is over. I promised Nila would be safe if you helped me rescue my brothers. If they die...why should I honour that?”
Nila...
The name...
Like an angel.
Nila...
My heart suddenly woke up. Shedding death, sending lethargic blood through my veins.
Nila.
Mine.
The woman I want but failed.
“Threads is walking out of here—regardless if they don’t.”
“Guess the only way to know for sure is to bust my brothers out of here before it’s too late.”
I sucked in a useless breath—it was like breathing cremated ash.
Before, the void I existed in had no emotion, no feeling to suck me dry. But these two people? Fuck. They had so much to say and no correct words in which to say it. The woman wept with helplessness and despair, hiding it beneath bluster and rage. The man...he was just as helpless and lost; only he wrapped his in confusion and disbelief.
“Alright, alright, I get your point.” Boots thudded on the dirt floor. “How should I do it again?”
A derisive laugh trilled, chasing back ghouls and monsters. “I told you how. Arms under my knees and around my shoulders. You can’t break me.”
“No, but I’ve heard about people like you—”
“People likeme?”
“Shit, I just meant people with your—”
“My disability—is that what you were going to say? People like ‘me’ who can’t feel anything below their waist?”
An awkward cough. “I just meant, I know you can bruise easily and it’s not so simple to heal like a normal—”
“Wow, this just gets better and better. You’re saying I’m not normal?!”
“Whoa, fucking chill—”
“You know what? I don’t have time for this. Pick me up, give me the damn torch, and shut the hell up. When they’re safe in the hospitalthenwe can discuss the politically appropriate ways to discuss my condition. Got it?”
