And There Was Another✔️

Chapter 31: On the Hunt

Seth opened his eyes.

He was strapped down to a table, and a deathly pale man with glowing blood-red eyes was leaning over him. His face was an impassive mask of vague concentration, perhaps holding a hint of curiosity, and somehow that was worse. Worse than if the face held anger, or even glee at what was to come next. Because Seth knew what was to come next. No matter how many times he had sought to forget, he knew exactly what came next. It was like they were both engaged in an eternal play, always reading from the same script. And somehow, maddened glee would have been better than detached curiosity and mild interest.

"Now," the man said, as he straightened up, "let us begin."

Seth swallowed and closed his eyes. He wanted to be somewhere else. He wanted to be anywhere else but this enclosed space, this damp room that smelled of mold and blood. This next part was one of the worst and-

"Seth."

He opened his eyes and, through a haze of disoriented lethargy, saw Nova looking down at him, her beautiful face twisted in concern.

"What?" he replied softly.

"You were having a nightmare," she said. "Are you okay?"

He tried to say I'm fine, but it didn't come out. He just said "I-" and shuddered violently as the surge of terror and nausea and fury came over him like a wave and he rolled over away from her, hugging himself fiercely.

"Seth?" she asked, now more concerned.

"Need a minute," he replied tightly.

He waited for it to pass, and it did, and he took and released a deep, shuddering breath, then he slowly rolled over and hugged her to him. She hugged him back.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Nightmare."

Several seconds passed. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He almost said No or not right now reflexively, but a part of him thought that it would be unkind to pass her offer out of hand so thoughtlessly. She was offering to listen, to really listen, and he didn't get many offers like that. There were people who asked him that before, but he could tell, or suspected at least, that either it was the vaguely benign attempt at comfort most people would give out of a semi-universal sense of compassion when seeing someone in pain, or, if they were more genuine, they wouldn't be able to handle it.

Not that he dismissed offers of even simple kindness, or tried not to.

But Nova did care, genuinely care, and she could handle it, he thought.

In this instance though, either he didn't feel capable of talking about it yet or he didn't want to unload that on her. Probably a bit of both.

"Not yet," he said finally.

She hesitated, then she rubbed a hand across his broad back. "Okay," she whispered. "If and when you are ready, tell me, I'll listen."

"Okay." He paused. "Thank you. Really."

"You're welcome."

He laid there holding her for a little while longer, then slowly released her, feeling calmer. Having someone in bed who actually cared...that was something he'd forgotten about. And now that he was more awake and less terrified, thoughts began slipping into his skull. Namely, he wondered and worried about the state of the world around him. After getting back to the base, he'd regained some of his stamina and the shot of stimulant hadn't really worn off yet, so he and Nova and Yex had gone back into the outpost to offer some more assistance.