Sea of Perpetual Agony was a wading pool compared to that muddy river, or maybe just a tributary that fed it. She wasn't sure which as she watched Carlos drowning in it. He went down without breathing, each cement-weighted step a thud as he walked toward the hacienda and saw that the family had witnessed it all. That's when he submerged and lowered his head.
Oh, Lord, this place where she'd tripped to was a bountiful terrain, with trees of knowledge, weeping willows, that dropped the fruit of "girl he's cut to the bone--are you crazy," at your feet. The road back was blocked by boulders, heavy words, pride, wounded ego, the air supercharged by scorching glares and deep hurt. No extraction team possible, once there you were on your own. Steep mountains surrounded this very surreal frontier: Mt. Say You're Sorry Before It's Too Late, Mt. He Ain't Neva-Gonna Be the Same, Mt. Why'd You Go There... while female buzzards circled crushed male bones in the valley... his. Damali cringed.
Oh, shit... This no-man's zone didn't have atmosphere, no air for a woman's lungs, not if she was still in love but just angry. This was no place to be stranded if you still cared. She struggled to inhale slow breaths and began to feel weightless. Heaven help her, she'd gone too far.
This place was a very small speck in the cosmos, but loaded by mines that could nova and terminate a once-fertile world. Damned if she didn't tap dance over all it. Big border breach. Oh, shit... mortal wound. Okay, okay, okay... yeah, he'd had it coming, but why did she feel so awful once he'd dropped his blade in total defeat? Her heart pounded as her mind hollered after him: Fight your way out of it, baby, you know how we do! This one just got a little rough, I was pissed off, that's all.
The sweet taste of verbal victory was bitter and the TKO hollow, just as Marlene had promised. Damah briefly closed her eyes and sheathed her sharpest blade behind her pursed lips.
"All right," she finally shouted at Carlos's retreating back as he loped toward the house. Why did she suddenly want to cry? "My bad. Maybe
I went too far, but you have, too, and you have no right to be getting an attitude about anything I do, after all you've done!"
He didn't turn around. Didn't hold up his hand to stop her words, like old times or old fights. Didn't defend himself or hesitate or stop plodding toward the house. Her legs almost functioned on autopilot from her heart, but her pride kept overriding the bleating command to go to him and apologize on her knees. During the seconds of internal battle, while her wounded ego replayed all that he'd done wrong, her heart cancelled out each offense. But the contest was relentless, his wrongs leapt up, her rights stood to meet the challenge, his offenses versus hers dueled for dominance in her mind. Yet it was a draw. Still this wasn't a practice bout with dull blades, or a sparring match with head gear and mouthpieces. This time somebody got hurt.
Damali watched in quiet panic as Carlos quietly slipped into the house to bleed to death alone.
Stricken team Guardians stood on verandas. Marlene hung her head and closed the shutters to her window. Shabazz solemnly went back into the house. Rider sat down heavily on the steps like he'd been punched. Berkfield and Big Mike simultaneously ran slow palms over their bald scalps. The youngbloods shook their heads and disappeared without a word. Jose just looked at her as though his throat had been cut. Female teammates stood in shock, seeming unsure whether or not they should go toward her or let the mortally wounded rest in peace. The two new females quietly retreated as though they'd seen it all before and were ashamed to witness it here. Juanita's eyes held silent horror as she turned like a zombie, passed Jose without looking at him, and numbly walked back into the house. Sudden knowledge. The family would never be the same.
Marjorie stood like a statue, her wide eyes brimming, her hands twisting the bottom of her blouse. The cornerstones of the family had shifted out of place and crumbled. The entire pyramid was in jeopardy of fatal collapse. There was no mortar left between any of the bricks. The Caduceus was in Nod, but there were bodies all over the beach here that needed healing...