Page 431 of Coal Hearts

Whatever went on in here would make even the sickest serial killer blanch.

It looked like a butcher’s workshop—an abattoir to chop up meat.

Swallowing hard, I stepped toward the box. With gritted teeth, I lifted the lid and found things that made my spine shiver.

A bone saw.

A small axe.

Heavy-duty scissors, filleting blades, even a small battery-powered chainsaw.

If I wasn’t so numb, I might’ve done something foolish like throw up.

But the blackness kept me anesthetised.

The darkness kept me shielded.

Running my fingers over the tools of dismemberment, I chose the small axe and continued on my way.

Another crack to the right.

A short, muffled scream echoing down its path.

My hands curled around the torch and axe as I squeezed into the chasm. My toes turned to ice, and the stupid gun slung across my back kept catching on jagged rocks.

I hoped Kyle was up ahead.

I’d teach him a lesson of what it felt like to be sliced and diced.

Ducking beneath a low outcropping of stone, I scowled as my torch flickered and dimmed.

Victor will murder you if you go on a killing spree.

My steps slowed.

The faintest nudges of commonsense acted like shards of light through the dark fog of my mind.

I was a guest and governed by certain laws.

I couldn’t let myself go.

I still had to live here. Still had nowhere else to go—

Another scream.

Followed by a masculine laugh.

My jaw clenched.

The urge to join in the pain almost consumed me again.

The fog grew thicker. My heart turned blacker.

But...reality made me pause.

I could explain away Charles.

I didn’t have to explain anything at all.