Page 78 of The Red Moon

“Alexey,” I say and move to the side of the truck. “I need you to send the drone ahead. Natalia can’t be far—” I pause when I take in the soldier fully, still doubled over in the shadow of the truck, his face pinched tight with strain. “What happened to him?”

Dimitri shrugs. “Don’t know. He’s been like that since we leave property.”

“Alexey?” I say again, noticing the way his heart pulses at an irregular rhythm. “Are you okay?”

When he lifts his head, his two bloodshot eyes find mine with hard red lines carved in the whites. He winces and draws in a shallow breath, spit dribbling down his low-hanging mouth. “Uncle Alexey needs a minute.”

Clément Duval shoves his way forward, his glare widening. “Were you bitten?”

Silence fills the air as we all take turns glancing from Clément to a disheveled Alexey struggling to stand. He doesn’t say anything at first, only rolls up the sleeve of his military top one inch at a time.

Gods.

The flesh of his forearm is mangled, practically bitten clean through with horrible black lines spreading under the skin like spiderwebs. I don’t know how I didn’t smell the blood before, not with the amount collecting on his sleeve. The color drains from his face with each passing second, and as a cough rattles out of his lungs, a short hiss follows.

“Bastard surprised me,” he finally says, a slight grin stretching his sunken cheeks.

Clément positions himself in front of me. “Your friend is going to become one of them, Nikolai. He doesn’t have long either. We have to end it now before he turns fully.”

“We need to what?” Dimitri says, his voice rising defensively. “Yesterday, the soulless were a fucking myth. We don’t know anything about them or how they turn.”

Clément’s eyes darken. “I’ve seen it happen. And I know the soulless’s venom is spreading through his body right now like a cancer. Don’t believe me? Ask him,” he says and gestures to me.

Dimitri’s gaze shoots to mine, uncertainty settling on his brow.

I close my eyes and nod, unable to look at anyone. Not even Alexey. I don’t know why I didn’t sense it before. How thick his blood is. The way his heart is struggling to feed it through his veins. The hissing he swallows down with each strangled breath. “He’s right. I fucking hate that he is, but he’s right.”

“What in the fuck are you muttering about?” Alexey asks, his face twisting with pain.

“Alexey,” I start and slam my mouth shut. Guilt spreads throughout my body as aggressively as the heat from a shift, only this sensation leaves bile reaching the back of my tongue. How can I tell him? How can I possibly look my friend in the eyes and say he’s going to turn into one of those things?

“No,” Dimitri says and shakes his head. “There must be another way. A cure.”

“A cure for what?” Alexey screams, his voice hoarse and distorted. “Tell me.”

“You were bitten by a soulless,” Clément blurts out, silencing the rest of us. “And now you will turn into one of them.”

Another wave of quiet plagues the fields, and the only sound filling the air is the truck’s rough idle. Alexey’s gaze falls to the road as if he’s tracing the small cracks in the pavement. He sits this way for minutes. Hours, it seems. Then, he fights his wobbly legs and stands, using the vehicle for leverage.

Alexey nods a few times and clicks his tongue off the roof of his mouth. He pulls the pack of cigarettes from his breast pocket, lights the end of one, and wheezes out smoke to circle above him. “Anyone else?” he asks and holds the pack in our direction.

I shake my head, and Clément does the same. Dimitri doesn’t move, he only stares at Alexey in disbelief.

After a few drags, he drops the cigarette to the road and snuffs it out beneath his heel. “If I’m going to die, I die human. Not some fucking monster. No offense, Nikolai,” Alexey says with a small snort, reaching for his hip and unclipping the holstered handgun. He pulls the slide to chamber a round and dangles it from his trembling finger. “Big man. Will you do me the honor?”

Dimitri balls his fists at his sides, each knuckle flushing. There’s a slight glisten in his eyes, tears he has to tense his entire body to hold back. “No, I will not fucking honor you.”

Alexey continues to look at him, head tilted, and an unusual sense of calm taking over his features. He lifts the uniform top up his stomach, revealing the scar Dimitri sutured and the tattoo beneath it. “Everyone in my unit got the same one. You were right, it is Latin. It means not by them. A pact that no monster would ever kill us. Please, moy brat. Let me fulfill that promise.”

I try and step forward but Dimitri’s large hand falls to my shoulder, giving me pause. He reluctantly takes the gun from Alexey, flips off the safety, and inspects the chambered round. The wolves and even Clément lower their heads in respect. I can’t, though. No, the only thing I do is watch the soldier that stitched me up years ago. The man that never treated me like a monster. The human I call a part of my pack. And Alexey does little else than force a grin when the barrel lifts in his direction.

Dimitri raises his shaking arm, squinting as he lines up the front and rear sights.

Alexey smiles fully now. No fear. No remorse. He only smiles at us and nods. “Do svidaniya, my friends.”

“Do svidaniya,” Dimitri says, his voice cracking. “Moy brat.”

I close my eyes when the gunshot explodes, only catching a small glimpse of the orange and yellow muzzle flash. I don’t need to see it, not when I’m forced to listen to the bullet spiral through his skin and other organs. His body slamming lifelessly against the pavement. The last few beats until his heart finally gives out.