I bring both hands to the metal handle as “Psychosocial” starts blasting out of the car and Psyko starts dancing around in circles. The chaos only adds to the electric atmosphere, and when his feet meet the grinder, the handle gets harder to turn. Royce jumps on the other side where an identical one sticks out. We both roll it forward and Skully launches up from his lying position, the whites in his eyes now bloodshot red.

Val forces him back down as we continue to roll him through. I peek over my shoulder to see the remnants of his minced corpse fill the barrel. When we hit the middle, his chest expands and his mouth opens unnaturally wide as blood and minced organs spill out between his lips.

I snicker. “Nowhere to go.”

“Love when that happens.” Psyko leans down near Skully’s face, dipping his finger into the mush exiting his mouth and drawing an upside-down cross over the center of his forehead. Royce and I keep rolling him through until finally we get to the bottom of his chin.

I stop, scanning his face. “Almost wanna take a shot of this and hang it on the wall of fame.”

“Fucking hell.” Val swipes the sweat off his forehead. “You always this messy?”

“No,” I shake my head before unrolling his neck and picking up his head, bringing it up to my face. The skin of his neck flaps against my arms as the tube from his throat dangles farther down. Tossing his head into the barrel, I look back at Val’s man.

“Jesus… you skinned him in that time?” His bare muscles are exposed, no sign of skin or even a recognizable face.

“Yep. It’s my specialty.”

“Same as Royce.” I chuckle. Stepping back, I fall onto the chair that Royce was on. The music still plays loudly, and Val taps my shoulder in passing as he makes his way back to his car.

“It gets better,” Royce says, taking the chair beside mine. “One day at a time.”

“Yeah, I just hope she doesn’t make it too difficult for me.”

“Oh, her?” Royce doesn’t hide his loud bark of laughter. “Hell nah, brother. You’re fucked with that one. I was talking about being president.”

“Asshole.”

“Brothers, though.” Royce taps my fist with his. “Through it fucking all.”

I hit the light off in the bedroom, careful not to wake Ruby. I washed all my shit off before coming upstairs. There ain’t no way she will ever come near that piece of shit again.

“You okay?” Her voice slaps me across the face, and I wince. She rolls out of bed and her little hands come to the front of my stomach.

I move away from her, but she grabs me by the wrist and turns me back around to face her. “Don’t do that.”