TOXIC BLOODLINES: PARADISE - BOOK 2/4

THE POINT

ELENORE

"Ian, are you there?" Sara radioed in as we drove through the gates of the old amusement park. Static. "Ian, I'm here, can you hear me?" Static.

"Sara—"

"—Don't," she called again. "Riley, are you there?" Static. "Ri-...fuck this." Sara exited the truck into the rain.

"Sara, wait," I got out after her.

"You don't need to come with me for this," Sara checked her gear.

"No, I'm coming with you," I loaded my gun.

Walking through the rusty gate, Sara and I followed what was left of the tracks. "They drove in." Sara shone her flashlight on the way forward. We followed the tracks until we found the trucks. "No signs of struggle," Sara exited the one Ian left with.

"That's a good thing, right?"

"I don't know," Sara radioed in again. Static. She breathed into her palms.

"Maybe the rain jammed the signals or something."

"Or maybe it means exactly what it means," Sara walked on.

I took a deep breath trying to stay positive. "We'll find him. He'll probably ask what we are doing here. And I'm going to say saving you and he's gonna do that thing he does—"

"—Elenore," Sara looked back.

"Fine," I followed her.

Walking through the Park, I tried to remember what it used to look like before. Aside from the rusty Ferris wheel that looked as if it would fall into the lake at any second, everything else was unrecognizable.

Sara stopped.

"What is it?" I caught up to her.

She pointed her light at the ground.

Bullet casings. "Maybe they fought their way in." She pointed her light at the way ahead. And my heart sank. Bodies of Cerberus guards. One of them had been impaled through his head with a golden spear. "That's Riley," Sara sighed. "H-he was the one who drove Ian here," she told me with a shaky voice.

"Sara."

"Don't. Please don't say anything," she pulled off his dog tag. "Help me collect them."

"Okay."

The two of us searched the bodies for what we could bring back for their loved ones. At first, I couldn't stomach it. The brutality, I fought hard to stay positive as we collected the tags. Body parts, broken skulls, exposed organs, and blood splayed out.

I took a few seconds to breathe and collected another tag. Harvey Bishop. He used to go to my high school, we had English Lit together. I wiped the tears from my face. "Sara?" I looked around and saw her walking ahead. "Hey, stay close to me," I caught up with her. "Sara."

"Go back to the car," Sara took the dog tags from my pocket. "You shouldn't be here." From Sara's reddened eyes and choked-up voice, I knew she was at her breaking point.

"Where else can I go?" I asked her. "I left before... I'm not doing it again." I stared at the bodies ahead of us.

Sara walked on.

Any moment now.

God, please don't take him from me too.

I took a few seconds to cry. "Please don't be dead."

Sara and I searched for Ian to no avail. The depressing part was that we might have already passed him... what was left of him.

"God damn it! Fuck!" Sara took a few seconds to catch her breath then began to weep. "What am I going to do without him?" She cried. I didn't have an answer. The reality of it was too much to comprehend. "No. You're not dead. You fucking promised!" She called out.