Kiss and Die

Chapter 107

Shrimp lay in the absolute darkness trying to work out where he was and how he had got there. It was so dark he didn’t know whether his eyes were open or not. He tried to move his legs and arms and couldn’t. He was aware that he was naked. The last recollection he had was of being with Nina and now he was here in a place that smelt of death. There was an odour in the room of guts, faeces, carnage. He was lying on plastic. There was only darkness around. Next to him Sheng’s body lay. Shrimp felt its presence but he couldn’t see it. He could hear someone in the room with him.

‘Nina?’ he called. He could hear the sound of someone moving closer. ‘Nina?’ he said again.

The heat in the room was unbearable.

‘Nina?’ He was beginning to feel fear now. Then soft hands reached out to touch him in the darkness. ‘Nina, is that you?’ Someone ran their hand over his body lightly and then he felt the sting as a knife dragged across his thighs. Just once. Shrimp heard movement again, she was gone.

Ruby left Shrimp with a taster of what was to come later. For now she was busy. She went into the other room. She had to get her nurse’s outfit on, ready for the hospital. She took her spare urumi out from the cupboard, She had unfinished business with Mann. She knew which hospital they would take him to. There weren’t many capable of reconstructing a hand. Ruby slipped on her mac over her uniform and left.