Page 97 - TheRedSon_PrintInterior_430pp_5.5x8.5_9-22-2019_v1

It was a base taunt, to be sure, but one that could not go
unanswered. I rose from the floor and seized the man, lifting
him into the air. I sent him soaring into the wall of the train
car, but not before he managed to touch me once more with
the stun gun. I stumbled backward from what felt like a kiss
from a lightning bolt. I heard the rising din of blades dancing
merrily behind me as Jack and Janus busily conducted their
fatal affairs. Suddenly, Janus was sent staggering toward me.
I grabbed him before he fell to the floor, allowing him to
steady himself. Janus and I took our places in the middle
of the orange-lit passenger car, back-to-back, our would-be
killers closing in from opposite sides. I could feel laughter
growing in my chest.
Janus’s words almost seemed to come from the goat-
faced mask strapped to the back of his head. “Alright, damn
it, I admit it—this is a rather fun game!”
The four of us joined our silences together, and the
resulting void was so fragile, a moth’s shadow could have
shattered it. The train seemed to vanish, leaving nothing but
motion behind. The earth shrank to the size of blades, stun
guns, and masks as eight cold eyes rose like killing moons
above the surface of the diminished world. The shadows
chose their champions and gathered around them, cheering.
I finally achieved a decent look at the killer who’d drawn
my name. He was known as the Mad Merc. A killer of some
repute, he was rumored to have been quite the accomplished
mercenary. His last known act as a sane killer was the paid
investigation of a residential block that had suddenly and
quite mysteriously appeared in the middle of the city of
Nailwood, compliments of the Darkness, naturally. No one
knew precisely what had happened after he entered the
mysterious location, but a good many persons are frightfully
aware of what he did when he left it—he murdered and
mutilated from one side of the country to the other, his
services now free of charge.

100 | Mark Anzalone