Then Light is in the doorway going supernova.
We know this is a bad idea, but we don’t have any other ones.
Doug aims the gun at Light and the room explodes.
CHAPTER7
CADENCE
I squint through watering eyes.The room is so bright it hurts. My skin is burning and for a couple of rapid heartbeats, I think I’ve been shot. I’m on the ground and the carpet is wet beneath me. Blood? It’s dark but the wet stuff seems to be green.
“Are you all right?” Thistle reaches toward me with a dark hand. This one is Shadow. In the brightness, he is a welcome man-shaped patch of darkness. Looking at him, I don’t need to squint.
I take his hand. “I think so?”
My cheek is burning, and I swipe at it. My fingers come away green. It’s not blood.
“That made a mess,” Shadow says.
It’s then I notice the green spatter everywhere.
“It was the only way to stop him,” Light counters. The brightness in the room dims until I can see him.
“Are you arguing with yourself?”
They both smile and speak. “We do that sometimes.”
I remind myself they are the same person even though he has two bodies. “Do you have two brains?”
“Yes, but one consciousness. Our thoughts are the same. But our bodies are separate. If one dies, the other can go on,” Light says.
“Though often it is too hard, so they give up. We have seen it,” Shadow finishes. He rubs at his arm. “The goo is starting to burn.”
“What is it?” At least it’s not only my skin burning.
“Doug. When killed, their bodies become acidic gunk. We need to wash it off,” Thistle says.
I stare at my green fingers and wipe them on my dress. “That is so gross.”
I’ve been spat on, and I’ve dealt with vomiting drunks. I’ve seen all kinds of shit but acid alien goo, spread all over a room, that is going to the top of my list.
“What happened to keeping him alive? How the fuck are we going to find the women now?”
“We aren’t going anywhere until we have washed this off. Do you have a bathing room? For actual bathing, not an excrement station.” Light peels off his shirt, revealing abs humans would die for, or perhaps they are a trick of the light.
I take a moment to process his words. “Of course there’s a bathroom.”
“That’s what you called it last time and there was nowhere to bathe,” Light says.
I lead Thistle, both of him, into the bathroom. There is goo in my hair, and all over half of my skin, and it’s burning.
Shadow turns on the shower and steps in without removing any clothing. “Come on, or it will eat through your skin.”
That will be as unpleasant as it sounds. The last thing I want is for Doug to leave me with permanent scars…well, ones that other people can see anyway.
I step in, still wearing my dress.
Shadow moves aside so I can wash the goo off. There are marks on my arm from where it had already burned me.
