He sat there, naked, reeking, smiling, and watched it all burn until there was nothing left in the bowl but a smear of darkness.

CHAPTER 13

TRSTENIK ISLAND

CROATIA

“Mary mother of God…”

I heard Bunny’s voice behind me, but I didn’t turn. I was afraid of what he’d see in my eyes. The ax was heavy in my hands, the handle slick. The stink of copper was sharp in my nose despite the balaclava I still wore.

Behind me, the people in the beds had all fallen silent. They’d screamed for a while. Awful screams that I’d only been able to hear distantly, as if they were on the other side of a thick curtain. Or in another world.

“Top … is it Rage? Is Outlaw infected?”

I shook my head but could not speak.

“Outlaw…,” said another voice. Top.

I looked down at my hand, which was red to the wrist. My knuckles were tight against my skin, my fingers clutching the ax handle so tightly it hurt. The pain felt good, though.

Footsteps a little closer. Then a hand on my forearm. Strong. Steady. Top’s hand. For some reason, he’d taken off his glove, and I saw his brown fingers curl around mine. Felt the pressure as he coaxed my hand to release the tool. The ax slipped, and Top caught it. He tossed it away. We both watched it hit the concrete, striking sparks before it went slithering and rasping across the floor and vanished under a bed. The inmate of that bed was a man in his forties who lay staring at the ceiling with eyes that appeared to see everything or nothing at all.

Ghost whined softly, the sound as heart-piercing as a troubled child trying to punch his way out of a nightmare.

“It’s not Rage,” murmured Top. “This is…”

He let the rest hang. I still said nothing.

Top took my arm, turning me to face him. He’d removed his goggles and balaclava. His face looked ten years older than it should have. Seamed and sad, his eyes filled with concern.

I looked past him to where Bunny, a big key ring in his hands, was working to unlock the prisoners. Andrea stood in the doorway, goggles and hood still on, but tension written in his body language. Bunny glanced at Top and me, and then his eyes slid away.

I was covered in blood. It was all over my clothes, glistening darkly like oil. It was on my hands and splashed across the lenses of the Scout glasses.

Top stood in front of me, the heel of his hand resting on the butt of his Snellig dart gun. “Do I need to get you out?”

I said, “What? Oh. No.”

His eyes seemed to drill into mine. I saw concern, doubt, something else. My perceptions were so warped. I don’t know what emotions I was really seeing.