Mastim's Curse

Chapter 40

Suzie says, "You're bleeding a lot." The shadows created by the flashing light give her a ghouls appearance.

"Yes, I know."

"What can I do?" she asks.

Pain is nothing new to me. Why should I let it stop me now? With an effort I pull myself into a kneeling position. "Help me bandage up as many of these cuts as we can." We use scraps of clothing from the dead to make bandages. By the time Suzie helps me pull my shirt back over them, I have so many warped around me that I feel like a mummy. We managed to stop most of the bleeding, and my head is marginally clearer, although I feel like the ground is moving under my feet when I stand. I'm forced to rely on a nearby tombstone and Suzie for support for a moment.

Once the dizzy spell passes, we help ourselves to the dead bounty hunters weapon belt with all its vicious tools of torture, except for the chainsaw. It's not my style. After Suzie straps a knife sheath to her waist, she looks at me wordlessly with her ghostly pale face. Her eyes drift to the butchered woman hanging behind me. "She has two kids."

"What?"

"I forget her name, but her profile said she has two kids," she says. "One of them is still a toddler."

I glance back at the dead woman and my heard breaks. "Oh my God, that's so sad. Are you sure?"

"I'm kind of a snoop, so I spent a lot of time reading everyone's profile. Hers had a picture of her playing on the beach with her two kids, a small boy and an older girl."

I can't imagine how this will affect them. My insides feel cold and sick thinking about it. Maybe someday, when they're older, I'll go to them and tell them how I killed the bastard that took their mom from them. It might bring them some satisfaction knowing he suffered.

After a quiet moment I break our solemn silence and tell her it's time to go. Reluctantly, we begin to feel our way across the floor toward the doors, careful to look for traps. Our mood is dreadful and the going slow and nerve racking as we find two more snares. Once we do reach the first door, my pulse races and Suze looks like she's ready to jump out of her skin at the slightest sign of trouble.

I ready my knife and motion for Suzie to open it. My breathing stops as the door is yanked open revealing an unlit passageway that extends for about twenty feet before turning to the left. And so, after we catch our breaths, we leave the room of butchering behind us to enter the unknown.

Our steps are slow and our nerves on edge as we continue, expecting to be attacked or fall into a trap at any moment. For me, there are continuous stabs of pain shooting through my wrecked and exhausted body and I'm still having trouble keeping the world around me in focus. The night air has become strangely quiet after the hours of screaming and sounds of battle all around us. In the silence, every sound we make seems loud and exposing. I find myself looking over my shoulder a lot.

After a few more turns, we come to another door. I put my ear to it and listen a few minutes for any sign of what might be on the other side. There is only more silence. We stand anxiously before the door a moment longer and then I motion to Suzie to stand aside. With a quick jerk, I fling open the door, ready to pounce.

My heart sinks when I hear the all too familiar sound of a wall dropping into place behind us. We both swing around to find that our exit has been blocked. Crap. Not again... Suzie lets loose with a few disrespectful words because she knows what that means, another bad room. I don't tell her but I'm convinced it's the darkness inside me that guides our fate to the path of most destruction.

As for the room, it disorients and stuns me. Not because it's horrible. It completely throws me off because it's fantastically beautiful. Smooth, white sand covers the floor while the walls are adorned with sea blue crepe paper. It's all set off by the subtle lighting of decorative lanterns along the walls. It's so completely out of place in this otherwise gothic dungeon. These people sure like to fuck with our minds. I'd like it more if there wasn't a huge man at the far end of the room smiling at us.