Sam screamed as Kade invaded her mind. There were two of them now, raging at each other inside her. Her limbs trembled. Pain shot through her. She was distantly aware of hitting the ground. All was chaos. Thoughts wouldn’t come. She felt like she was being torn apart, her head forced open, her mind ripped in two in horrible agony as her twin invaders tore at her will, clawed at each other through the substrate of her brain.

She screamed again, and no sound left her lungs. Her whole body was shaking now, thrashing wildly, like a seizure. Her arms and legs flailed as the two men fought for control of her. Lightning bolts of pain and confusion and memories of horror shot through her.

The agony increased. The confusion. She was spinning, falling, dropping through the floor. She was burning up – ice cold. Her limbs were being ripped from her body. Her mind was hell, agony lancing through every iota of her being.

Kill them. Kill them. Kill them.

Kevin falling. Bullets from her gun punching into his face. His body pirouetting out into empty space.

The Prophet on top of her, forcing her thighs apart, forcing himself into her, smashing his fist into her face as she resisted.

Her home burning, her sister and her parents and everyone she knew dying, dying because of her.

Mai’s tiny body ripped to pieces by American bullets.

Jake’s mind splintering, fading to nothingness as blood bubbled up through the hole in his chest.

Agony. Agony. Nothing but agony.

Kill me! Please!

She screamed again and for the first time she heard herself. She forced herself up to her knees and screamed again, harder, until she could feel the scream as pain in her throat. The sound was good. It was real. She willed her body to claw at the path beneath her and her fingers responded, clenching until tiles cracked and shattered in her gloved hands.

She forced herself to remember. To remember other things. Not the loss. Not the despair. The overcoming!

The beach beyond Sari, tired, hurt, running for her life, bullets lodged in her body, but still alive! Still alive!

The Prophet, lying on the floor of his office, blood spurting from the bullet she’d put into his belly, forming a pool around him, soaking into his expensive carpet. Standing over him, taking careful aim at his head, the gun huge in her young hands, seeing the fear in his eyes, and then firing again and again and sending that bastard straight to hell.

She could do this. She could do this.

GGGGHHHHH!

And then Shiva was gone, and it was only Kade in her mind.

Sam! he reached out to her, his thoughts laced with concern, with pity.

She raged at him in response, with all the anger and hatred she had inside her.

GET. OUT.

Kade cut the connection to Sam’s mind with an inner groan. What Sam had gone through…