Famine (The Four Horsemen #3) - Laura Thalassa Page 0,15
I’m seeing I’m not going to like it. But it’s impossible to look away. My shoes squish against the mud as I close in on the thing. Eventually I realize I’m staring at a muddy, bloody torso. One that’s been mutilated nearly past the point of recognition.
My breath comes fast, and I nearly drop my basket of jabuticabas, the dark fruit rolling perilously around.
Who could’ve done this to another human?
Get home—now.
Whoever attacked this person, they could still be out here, and this poor soul who’s been left for dead, there’s no sense helping them now. They’re clearly dead.
As I walk past the body, I can’t help it—I slow, my curiosity getting the better of me. That’s when I notice something odd. The skin that rings what must be the person’s neck and chest … it glows.
Is it a necklace? What piece of jewelry glows? I stare at the bare torso, noting absently that it’s a man.
Stop staring and go home. Whoever he is, he’s dead, I’m soaked to the bone, and if I arrive home late again, Aunt Maria will have my hide.
Not to mention that a killer might be hiding in the forest that presses up against the road. He might be watching me at this very moment.
With that spooked thought, I push myself to my feet and reach for my basket, the rain still pelting down on me. Just as I start to walk away, I hear a ragged, broken sound at my back.
I spin around, and now the jabuticabas do spill out of my basket.
My gaze scans the trees around the road, certain the killer is going to spring out at any moment.
That’s when I hear the sound again, only this time, it clearly comes from the bloody carcass in front of me.
Holy shit.
Could the man still be … alive?
The thought is beyond terrifying. He’s been shredded to pieces.
I swallow, taking a step towards the body, dread pooling in my stomach.
Just check to make sure he’s dead …
Still, I hesitate before I touch him. He’s missing an entire arm; it’s just gone. His other arm ends at his elbow, the frayed edges of it a pulpy mess.
My gaze moves down to his chest, which is crisscrossed with lash marks all the way down to his groin. His legs haven’t been amputated, but like his torso, they seem to be flayed open in several spots. Rivulets of watery blood snake away from the naked man, mixing with the rainwater.
The sight of so much pain makes me want to weep.
What happened to you?
The man is so still. Too still. Whatever sound I heard earlier, I must’ve been mistaken.
There’s no way a human could survive these wounds.
My skin is still prickling, instincts telling me to run before whoever did this attacks me too.
Before I get up, I place a hand on the man’s chest, right over his heart—just to be sure he’s well and truly gone.
Beneath my palm, he’s utterly still. There’s no intake of breath, no thump of his heart.
Dead.
I start to withdraw my hand when my attention snags on the soft green light glowing only centimeters away from my fingertips. I squint as I take it in—
What in the hell?
My hand moves of its own accord, my fingers trailing over the glowing markings. This is no piece of jewelry. The markings are a part of the man’s skin.
My eyes flick to the stranger’s face, which is hidden by his matted hair. My pulse begins to quicken.
Could this actually be … ?
But that would mean that the rumors were true. Those ridiculous, frightening rumors.
Surely that can’t be right. Any being strong enough to shake the earth and kill crops couldn’t possibly be contained by humans.
But now I can hear my pulse pounding between my ears and I’m still staring at that face, hidden behind a curtain of wet hair.
On a whim, I reach out and push the dripping locks away from the man’s face, tucking them behind his ear.
At my touch, his eyes snap open, his irises a brilliant green color.
I scream, falling back on my butt.
God and all the saints! What in the actual fuck?
“Help,” he whispers to me, and then his eyes fall shut again.
I’m shivering, staring at the horseman’s unconscious form.
He’s alive. The horseman. The creature sent from God to kill everyone. He’s alive and he’s missing appendages, and now he wants my help.
I hug my arms together. What am I supposed to do?
Tell the town. People need to know the horseman has come.