When he saw where I was looking, Martin turned around. His eyes were fixed on Ellie, and Ellie woke up too. "very good."
The more I saw Martin’s teeth, the more nervous I became.
"You stunned me, why didn't you chop off my head?" I asked, hoping that he would turn his attention to me. ""Do you want to tie me to **? Did you learn something from Eve?"
It worked, his eyes stared at mine. "I know everything about people like you. If you die, it will be easier to kill you forever. Decapitation of course.
"Yes, I forgot that you have practiced a lot now. You should know how to do it well." My eyes couldn't open. I must have been hit in the head by that damn shovel and got a concussion**. I hope my brain is okay. I can't save anyone without a brain.
"How much practice?" I asked, trying to stay awake. "Are you responsible for what happened in Atlanta or elsewhere?" Although I suspect that he himself killed more than a thousand people. Genocide is not the job of one person.
"I am a servant of God." He lifted his chin. "I just follow his instructions. All the time, always."
"Now, it's not God who is helping you," I said. "This is my own stupidity."
He likes this answer. He pulled the third chair from the corner and placed it between Ellie and Ryan, closer to me than the other two seats.
"Is that for me?" I asked. "Are you going to shoot us in the head like the firing squad, or are you going to hit more weasels?"
"This is not for you," he said, knocking on the door twice. The door opened, and I knew who it would be. I finally saw those paintings, and I knew who was missing.
The Boston and Swedes hugged Brinkley, put him under their armpits, and put him on the chair without ceremonies.
Brinkley's face was in a terrible shape, bright blood flowing along the side of his chin, and a deeper wound. Obviously, this torture has been going on for several days. Seeing Boston and the Swedes, their smug expressions made my heart boil.
"I can't believe it," I said, hatred in my teeth. "Rebellious bastard. He trusts you."
Martin smiled.
My chest hurts, and I saw Brinkley slumped on a chair, and there was a purple lump that was once swollen on the left side of his face.
Perkins, it's time to put your idiot to work, I thought. Garrison ー anyone ー damn hurry up. We are out of time.
"When he has the opportunity, he should choose our side," Martin said. "But he chose you to see his fate. We tried to show him that there are thousands of people like you, but he doesn't listen. You are not special at all."
The pain in my chest deepened and aroused my anger. "Brinkley is a good man. A loyal man. You don't know anything about it."
Martin shrugged.
"Untie me so I can kick your teeth," I said.
Martin approached, beyond my ability. His eyes were fixed on me. "I will untie you"
I only blindfolded one eye. "Oh, oh, oh. You poke my eyes with your nose, Pinocchio."
He bit his lip. "I want to see how funny you are when I let you go"
"You said you want to chop off my head. Of course, you won't let me go."
He grinned. A crazy maddening smile makes him look like a carnivore.
"Look, I plan to stab your friend and let you choose who to live."
My anger was completely replaced by the shock wave of fear.
His smile doubled. "I will stab them to death. Then I will walk out of this room. From that safe distance, I will like this show. You will run around frantically, trying to decide who will replace. Once you do this, once you die I will come in and chop off your head, and the friend you saved looks at you. I will cut their throat to end."
I don't know what to say, and I don't want to hide my fears. So he got the complete satisfaction of my pain. He can't do this. He can't force me to make a choice. He can't sit there and watch. Son of a bitch. Son of a bitch.
"Cāo your mother," I said. "You can't do this."
The three of them laughed. The Boston and Swedes, these rebellious bastards, picked me up, and Martin knelt down and unlocked my handcuffs. As soon as I let go of my leg, I kicked the Swede in the face, and he gave him a hard blow in the jaw. My hinges creaked and my ears buzzed. I didn't expect that bastard would break it, but if I put a little pressure on him, he would definitely knock out my jaw. This blow really didn't help my brain shock**.
"Don't do this," I said. It was as close to begging as I was about to get.
"Think about it," he said with a smile. Boston and the Swedes threw me to the police, and then stood very close, waiting.
Martin took a knife from the Swede's back pocket, and it was there all the time. If I knew it, I would do some carving myself. As soon as I saw him, I rushed over.
But Boston and the Swedes pushed me to **.
"Don't spoil my fun," Martin said.
This is exactly what I want to do and ruin his fun. He may kill us, but I will not make things easy. But before I planned to attack, Martin stabbed Ryan in the ribs. Ryan screamed, the white of his non-swollen eyes swelled, and he inhaled as much air as possible into his rapidly shrinking lungs.
I rushed forward, and Boston picked me up and lifted me from the floor so that my feet would not touch. For this rebellious SOB, I have many choices of words, but Martin turned to Brinkley after dealing with Ryan's second stabbing. He stabbed Brinkley twice. Brinkley grumbled, but I didn't think he felt anything from the last blow. Then Martin went to find Ally.
He walked from behind her chair, bent down, and pressed his face to hers.
"I know she is your favorite," he said. He took a deep breath and sniffed her hair. He slid the blade off her chest and popped out of a shirt button, then two. Her right room was exposed, and he cut off her collarbone and chest, and a long red line bubbling out of the water. She closed her mouth and refused to cry, her eyes closed tightly. He reached into her shirt and kissed her on the neck.
"If we need you, he will tell us where to go." Martin tapped her collarbone with the tip of a knife as he spoke. "Of course, we must kill your mother."
I'm not sure I heard it right. When I moved from one option to another, I couldn't imagine Ellie, desperately looking for a way to save her.
"Don't you think it is weird? Your mother had an accident during your investigation? We need to separate you from your fortress. When you go, we can divide and conquer." He gestured to Ellie. "When she ran into that door, it was like a gift from heaven."
"Who helped you?" He must be referring to Gloria's old enemy, if she ever had one. No matter who the other player is, he knows that if I leave, Ellie will seize the opportunity to find Nisha. He knew Gloria would tell her where to look. Of course, I will run after Ally.
Gloria is right. He indulges us like a soldier.
"If you want, I can give her the same scar," he said, ignoring my question. "Doing a temporary autopsy here now?"
"Don't fucking touch her!"
He moved his hand down a bit and pulled her room. "Think about it, if you save her, I can have some fun with her before I cut her throat. You think I need to practice sex, don't you?"
"Don't touch her!" I screamed again, more harsh echoes on the wall.
My vision has changed.
At first I thought I was exhausted. It happened, you know, high levels of stress and people fainting. However, I can see that in a strange way of disconnection. This is not the usual aurora of the pre-death color sè wave, but it is more like what Ryan and I saw in the **, just enhanced.
Everything is static, the incarnation of Bombardier particles colliding with each other in the turbulent waves. It's like watching a TV show on a blocked channel. When I was in a panic, my body was still. It was so easy to push this panic far away, penetrate Boston and catch my Swedes.
It happened just like Ryan. The men were yelling from both sides. Although Martin was far away, he twitched and dropped the knife to the ground. I stood up again and ran towards Martin, but one of them grabbed my pants, my face fell off, and my teeth might hit the stone floor. I looked at the stars for a few seconds to give Martin time to regain his footing and pick up the knife.
When I saw him again, Martin's eyes opened wide. "What the hell is that?"
"I don't know," Boston said. This time he clung to me more carefully.
"She shocked me," the Swede added.
I tried to do it again, collecting static electricity, and pushing it out, but all I could do was swallow the blood in my jaw and mouth.
Martin remained motionless. He stared at me as if he had never seen me before.
Then he stabbed Ellie in the internal organs.
There is no fun on his face. His movements are mechanical. He couldn't leave the room soon, leaving me alone with three dying friends. I knelt on the ground and tried to stand up. A vertigo took me away. I climbed onto Ryan’s chair and took the vomit out of my mouth.
"Save Brinkley," Ryan said, and I opened Allie and Brinkley's mouth.
"No one will die except me." I hardly saw them in my tears, and wiped them out of my eyes as quickly as possible. "Jǐng Cha will be here at any time. Hold on. Someone will come." (to be continued) (end of this chapter)