Page 122 of Depths of Destruction
Naomi stirs. "Andre?"
"Yeah, baby." I stroke her head.
"So much buzzing."
"Where?"
"In my body."
Buzzing in her body?
"What do you mean, sweetheart?"
"From the shock. I... I can't stop it."
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"It felt electric."
"What did?"
"My back. They didn't whip me like the men."
"What men?"
"The dead men." She traces my collarbone with her finger.
"What did they do to you?" I gently repeat.
Tears fall once more. "Jolts. Buzzing. Hot."
The twisting of my gut spins faster.
Those bastards tasered her.
How many times did they do it to her that she is still feeling it?
It's prong sores on her back I've been feeling.
She's going to get an infection if we don't clean her wounds soon.
"Baby, do you know how long you were out there?"
"Light...dark...morning...Santiago," she whispers and tugs at my chest hair.
I should have killed Santiago when I rescued Naomi.
"They tasered you the entire time?"
"Sometimes in the dark...he prayed in the morning."
"Who?"
"The dead guy."
"What dead guy?"
"The men on the tree with me."
