Series: Sean Moriarty
Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 113805 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113805 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
The man on my shoulder starts to gag from the cloth shoved in his mouth. Jostling him to be quiet, I slam the tailgate shut.
There’s only one other vehicle in the driveway, and that’s good. This is a small gathering tonight.
The others don’t need to be involved in this.
Walking to the closed door on the side of the building, I turn my body quickly so that the lump of shit on my shoulder slams his head into the door.
For good measure, I slam him two more times.
Simon opens the door and shakes his head with a tight smile. “Let me guess, he didn’t come willingly?”
“Do they ever?”
At that, he laughs a genuine laugh. “No, I don’t believe they do.”
Simon opens the door fully and comes out to hold it as I walk into the dimly lit interior.
Inside the barn, I look at the setup and can’t help but grin.
The little voices that dance inside my skull shout their own laughter.
There, in the middle of the barn, lying down on the floor, is a large wooden Cross of Saint Peter.
Even from here, I can feel the intent and purpose of that cross radiating towards me. Unlike a normal cross, the Cross of Saint Peter is meant to hang upside down.
“Since this barn is pretty fucking isolated, I’ve got Harold about a mile and a half out,” Johnathan says with a nod to me. “How’s the wife doing?”
“Good.” I grin back.
It’s odd that the men have so wholly welcomed me into the most inner of circles now that I’m married. But I suppose it’s not exactly mysterious… It’s more, once you’re married, you’re tied to the family in an inescapable way.
“Little Abel?” asks Gabriel.
“Even better.” I can’t help but feel warmth at the thought of my son. “He said his first word two days ago—Dada.”
All three of the men congratulate me as we move the bound man from my shoulder down to the cross.
“How’d Eden take it?” Johnathan asks with a laugh.
“She’s been trying to get Mama out of him ever since.” I smirk. “All that work she’s been doing with him and he called me out first.”
“She’ll pay you back for that,” Simon says with a chuckle in his voice. “I promise you.”
I move one of the gagged man’s legs as Gabriel moves the other. Shifting together, we place his feet on top of each other.
“John,” Simon says, handing him a sledgehammer and a long railroad spike.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Johnathan carefully lines the railroad spike up with the center of the feet. “Simon, you might want to steady this betrayer.”
Lifting the hammer then slamming it down on the spike, Johnathan repeats the motions over and over.
Driving the spike through the man’s feet until it bites down deep into the wood.
Screams and bellows come from under the man’s hood.
And I start to snicker at the way the body we’ve been holding down jiggles and wiggles around in pain.
Ripping the bag off the man’s head, Simon grins wickedly down at Father Coss. “Hello, Dad.”
Head violently whipping around, Coss screams at us behind the dirty underwear stuffed in his mouth.
I’d chide him for gnawing on his own dirty underwear, but I’m the one who put them there in the first place.
Simon looks at my makeshift gag. “Really, Jude?”
The smirk I’ve been wearing this whole time grows sharper. “It’s fitting for him to taste his own shit.”
Staring long and hard at Coss, Simon says, “This fucking vile man….”
“I had to bearhug you, Simon, at the funeral home,” Gabriel says quietly. “You remember that? You were washing your hands with those scrub pads you found so hard they started bleeding.”
Looking up at Gabriel, Simon nods his head. “This vile fucking man…”
“He cared more about his reputation and looking powerful than my twin sister.” Gabriel stands up from the ground. “She wouldn’t have been like us, either. Miriam would have been pure.”
After going over to a table, Gabriel comes back with a railroad spike and holds his hand out for the sledgehammer.
Johnathan moves over and forces Coss’s right hand down against the wood with his knee. Then he holds Coss’s forearm in a way that leaves his wrist exposed.
Lining up the railroad spike, Gabriel takes one massive swing and drives the railroad spike straight through the wrist and deep into the wood.
When Eden told me about how he picked up James and carried him, she described it as fucking monster strength.
Finally working the gag out of his mouth, Coss bellows a wail full of pain and misery.
Moving to Coss’s free wrist, I wrestle his arm down like Johnathan did.
Holding it perfectly still as Simon grabs the last railroad spike.
“You beat us. You forced us to hate each other.” Simon starts out quietly, but with each word, his voice grows louder, until he’s screaming in Coss’s face, spittle flying everywhere. “To fight each other! To do things no brother should do to each other! You made us this way! You made me so I can’t even think of my children without worrying about every fucking bug known to man!”