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Cat spoke again Molly tried to tell the woy, but the Callite’s hand ca her doith ferocious strength
Molly turned to her; she saw a rin spread across the woman’s pulped face, saw eyes vibrant with lifeMolly leaned in closer, turned her head, concentrated on co to memory the woman’s words, in case they were her last
"I felt that," the woo of Molly’s shirt and srave, Cole had a dream
A final dream, perhaps
A sequence of dreaainst the black He saw his face reflected in a hele fishbowled in another’s visor, his lips black
The persistent burn His flesh on fire, a popping fire as the nuony beneath Cole could feel his individual nerves stretched out across the cos hi Lips black, reflected in a visor Swollen or fishbowled or both
He hung in the vacuu hi amid the fuzzy white all around him and the shady blackness of his drea his final sleep Strings oflike wire Wire and blood everywhere
A twitch A thru, of thawing and cooking, of hell and heaven
A universe of pain, full of aching
An aching
A never waking
ѻѻѻѻ
Cole’s life didn’t flash by--it looe A boy, dark-skinned and poor White teeth, but no sal Bairro de lata Slu forehead, too young to crease like that Black furrows full of the blackest rage Fists clenched, arms throide for balance A boy at his feet, bent in half The i kicked, action without motion A frozen blur, vivid and re a nose back into a brain Silencing it
Cole didn’t need to see it Didn’t need to see the before--the years of life abused and wasted Didn’t need to see the after--the hours of being beat on So e Towering stacks of pain squeezing a sliver of ti
Cole didn’t need to see it He had another life worth flashing by A life of redeet that one Just got the brutality and error--loo else New Guilt and pleasure intertwined and swirling through Cole’sout of the fog Out of uncons-ciousness The world, a world solidifying, congealing into the half-real, half-i hi, over and over
Cole looked up--saasn’t Molly
Red hair Bright The color and flicker of fire, of precious warmth It danced and waved all around hiirl hovering
It felt like--
It felt like forever
Like wholeness and e, like infinite desire and eternal sating, the two racing and endless, like lines stretched out through the unknown,at forever
Pleasure
Lust laced with fear and shaht back, to push her off, but every ainst hiiving in His body worn down Exhausted Dead She was kissing hi her down
Skin sparked with electricity everywhere it touched, where it touched other skin So jolted him alive
Alive
Cole looked at his hands Fiery hair slid between his fingers Ten fingers But he didn’t have two hands Not anys of frozen neurons as he perished in a bank of snow
He pushed the girl away--or tried to
She was strong And thehiroaned He wondered if this would be the last he ever felt A parting gift for a life too soon ended
He longed for Molly
The lips, full and fiery, shut out hisHe felt his body betray hi Cole cried, tears strea down his face Tears that felt incredibly--powerfully--real
Part XIV - Salvation
"To find oneself, you ripped the spigot with the palave the valve a turn, and water gurgled out of the hose, discolored at first, then running clear She offered the stream to Cat, who knelt beside her
Cat pushed the hose away "You first"
Molly held the streaainst her lips and took in ait around before spitting it out, trying to purge the taste of the rag She ranthe burn of the frigid fluid She passed the hose back to Cat, who began splashing soainst the dumpster behind her and looked up at the lone and naked bulb above, which cast a sad pool of light into the alley On the other side of the restaurant, she could hear the blare of horns and the rattle of traffic Occasional shouts frory pedestrians re about its nighttiainst a du world away Her body was literally drained, and she felt lucky to be alive
"We need to get you to a hospital," Molly said She turned to the side and watched Walter pace up and down in the darkness, hissing to himself "And then I need to alert the authorities, tell the on in that place"
Cat swished some water in her mouth, then spit it out in a pale, blue stream She wiped her chin with one of the few clean patches of her shirt "Those probably were the authorities," she said
"They were going to kill me, weren’t they?" Molly inspected thehow many times that needle had been used Her vein seeainst her pale skin She worried she was i the elections, right? They were gonna take it all--every ounce I had, weren’t they?"
Cat nodded and splashed some water on her face She looked up at Molly "Was at least six dead in there"
"But why?" Molly didn’t get it Living people gave blood forever It was as du its host Didn’t politicians need to keep their constituents alive, at the very least? She started to say so to Cat about it, then saw her face as the water washed away the blood Molly leaned forward fro her own "Your face--!"