Page 16 of Neon Pestilence
I rise to my feet, pulling her up by the throat, pushing her ass on the chair, so hard that it nearly topples over. Holding her there, I start wrapping the ropes around her body. Her skin reddens, the polyester causing a reaction on her skin immediately. But I don’t loosen them. I pull them tighter.
“You wanted a fucking offering,” I scream into the darkness. We’re a few hundred feet into the woods, past the edge of the festival, but I know he can hear me. He always hears me.
I finish tying off the last rope. Tini is screaming, hoping someone will hear her over the sounds of bass seeping through the forest. Something about me being a‘traitor’and that‘I’m going to die because of this’.Yap, yap, yap.I swear that’s all this chick can do; a true yapper, level five thousand.
I snicker to myself at the inside joke. “Aweee, you poor thing. Not so tough now, are you?” I circle her like a vulture, pulling a switchblade from my back pocket.
“You’re going to be the perfect replacement for Becca,” I whisper into her ear. “You’re going to sit here like a good little offering, and we’re going to wait for The Doctor.Together.”
“Fuck you!” She spits. “You’re no better than that bitch-ass wannabe doctor.” My control snaps one last time.
I bend over her from behind and take her throat in my palm, squeezing. “Funny thing about this whole thing…” I trail off, smiling to myself like a madman. “He never said the offering had to be a warm body.”
“No, Tom-” Her cries are cut short as I slide the knife into her throat, right under my hand. It slices through her skin like butter, blood flowing down her front like a grisly, macabre-as-fuck waterfall. Her pleas become gurgles, quickly fading into silence.
I hear a small gasp and look up. Standing in front of me is the devil himself. A body stands close to him, barely clothed and oh so fucking recognizable.
“Indy,” I drawl, eyes growing dark. “Looks like you made it just in time for the drop.”
And that’s when I rush her, knife pointed in front of me, ready for the kill.
Chapter 15
Indy
My head pounds as I try to take in what’s happening in front of me. Tommy was the one missing. But now everything is fucked, and there’s a dead body sitting in front of me, Tini’s dead body.
A small gasp escapes my lips, and Tommy turns toward us, eyes feral.
“Indy,” he growls, practically drooling as a wide smile spreads across his face. “Looks like you made it just in time for the drop.”
Tommy rushes me, his knife aimed right at my heart. I screech as The Doctor’s body crashes into me from the side, causing me to hit the cold, soft grass with athump.
The air rushes out of my lungs, and my head feels like it’s floating. I watch, eyes wide, as Tommy flings his body toward me, not caring that I’m on the ground.
His body hits the air, but before he can reach me, a large mass stops him. Running into him from the side, both bodies fly across the opening. The contact sounded bad, a crack like a bone breaking. Tommy screams out, a feral, deep groan.
“You wanted this!” He yells at the Doctor. “You told me to kill her and I’m fucking gonna. Her and every other stupid fuck at this festival.”
“No.” A single syllable. A single word. But, fuck me, it holds so much power. Like the sound the earth would make when it opens up. A deep, guttural voice that flows over my body, not just my head. Smooth, yet harsh.His voice.
Not even a second passes before The Doctor’s on top of Tommy. Gloved fists pound into him from above. Blood spurts in all directions, droplets hitting my face as his fists repeat their assault on Tommy, over and over again.
A wet splatter of blood lands on my cheeks, staining my face with crimson. Tears begin to fall again, but not from fear; it’s from something else entirely. Something deep, and true, filled with safety and acceptance.
I realize that The Doctor truly has been my saviour this whole time. Everything becomes clearer, even as my vision blurs around the ruby mess forming in front of me.
The sounds of bass turn into a song of death, each drop matching the sounds of fists hitting bone. A beautiful, yet deadly symphony.
It feels like hours have passed by the time I get to my feet, pulling The Doctor’s solid form from the body under him. Blood coats him, the large red splotches barely visible against his black suit.
“I think you got him,” I whisper, not feeling an ounce of pain for the man who was seconds away from taking my life.
The haze starts to clear as the words Tommy said repeat in my mind, ‘You wanted this.’He wanted this? The Doctor wanted me dead?
Confusion slips into my mind. I don’t know what to believe, who to believe. The tears find my eyes as my body starts to panic. My heart rate picks up as I shake. I can’t seem to catch my breath. Everything is justtoo much.
My hand drops from The Doctor’s shoulder, and without another look, I run. Straight into the trees. Away from the festival, from the madness, from the drugs.
