Page 374 of Eternal
The model behind the glass, now crying quietly on an old man’s lap. He was touching her. She was whispering, “Please stop.”
So I shot him. Right between the eyes. Red splattered across her face.
That’s when everything snapped.
Damir was already behind me, putting a bullet through another man’s skull. Strangling one who tried to run. Then the screaming started. Panic.Chaos.
They realized this wasn’t part of the show.
Someone ran. Someone begged.
And the next man I saw, some asshole in a gold suit with champagne in his hand, looked at me confused. Like he didn’t understand why I was aiming at him. I shot him too. In the head.
And I felt it. Their eyes on us. The fear. The understanding. They finally saw it. This wasn't a theater. This was aslaughter.
I moved through them like they were nothing. My blade slashed someone's throat as he screamed past me. I shot a man who tried to run toward the exit.
Damir was beside me, silent, methodical. Clean. Efficient.
I reloaded without thinking. My hands were steady. I think I get it now. I understand it clearly.
I was what happens when the weak grow teeth.
Another one tried to crawl behind a table almost naked. I kicked it over, dragged him out by the hair, and emptied a bullet into his screaming mouth.
They begged. They cried. I didn’t care. I didn’t hear them. It didn’t make sense.
Innocent?
Them? Innocent?
Paying to be here. Drinking, laughing, knowing what goes on behind the glass walls.
No.
If that’s innocent, then I’m guilty. So guilty I should make it worth it.
Not enough. Not enough. Not enough.
We reached a hallway behind the lounge, velvet ropes and private access. Damir kicked a door open.
Inside: five of them.
Naked. Watching the stage through a one-way mirror. Laughing. Getting off to it. Old men, heavy-bellied and drunk, one jerking himself off, the others too stunned to move.
I walked in and shot the one standing first. His head snapped back and slammed into the glass.
“No,” I said, stepping over a fallen glass, “You don’t get to finish.”
Another tried to scream. I silenced him with a slash to the mouth. Teeth scattered.
One begged, sobbing, piss running down his thigh. I kicked him in the face. Then lower. Again. Until he crumpled. Until his sobs turned to choking.
Then I stepped on him. “You wanted to see pain?
My heel pressed into his chest, right over the bone. They were soaked in blood, slipping slightly with the pressure. “That’s why you came here tonight, right?”
He tried to crawl backward, smeared in red, gasping like he still had a chance. I stepped down harder, and he shrieked.
