Page 40 of Solivagant

“You’re disgusting.”

No.

“Wrong.”

I’m not wrong.

“You and all the other fucking sinners are going to burn in he⁠—”

A wet crack cut off the rest of Dale’s sentence. His body fell like a sack of shit to the workshop floor. My knuckles were white with how hard I clenched my fist around the handle of the hammer.

Dale wasn’t talking anymore. He wasn’t moving either. He just lay on the floor as a pool of red formed around his head.

Why did I do that?

“Holy shit,” Tash breathed.

I could only stare at the growing red puddle. The hammer slipped from my hand, crashing to the floor.

“Holy shit, Jo!” She spoke louder. “That escalated quickly.”

Is he dead?

Did I kill him?

He deserved it.

Did he?

Tash approached, reaching down to check for a pulse. I remained frozen in place.

“Fuck.” She sighed, standing again as she marched over to the door to lock it, then pulled the curtain over the window. “Alright, this is fine. It’s almost dark, we’ll just… wait a little bit, then we can drag him off into the woods, and with any luck one of those beasties will take care of it for us.”

My hands were shaking.

Why did I do that?

He deserved it.

I’m not wrong.

I’m not a sinner.

He would have done worse to me.

“Jo.” Tash’s fingers brushed against my arm. I jolted away from her. “Hey, it’s fine. We’re going to take care of this, alright? It’s all going to be fine.”

She’d been right, until now at least. I wasn’t sure why no one had ever come looking for Dale at the shop. Maybe he’d just never told anyone he was going there, or maybe the sheriff really was that incompetent, but we’d waited until it were dark out, then dragged Dale’s body deep into the woods and buried him here.

Tash had taken care of the blood in the store. I didn’t know where she’d learned how to do all that. I didn’t ask.

I’d expected her to be different around me afterward. She hadn’t been. She acted like he were just another monster we killed in the woods. The necessary extermination of a problem.

Something was wrong with her, same as it was wrong with me.

The worst part of it all was I didn’t feel bad about it. Not really. In fact, something inside me settled like justice had been served. The beast was quiet for far longer than usual. Appeased by Dale’s blood. But it didn’t last. It was back, angrier than ever. It wanted more blood. More vengeance.

“What’s wrong with me?” I whispered to the woods.