What Happened to Lori

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What Happened to Lori Page 53

by J. A. Konrath


 

  Rather than retreat from fire, the terror birds lunged through it, snapping at Fabler with the sounds of beartraps springing. He thrust the weapon’s muzzle into one screeching beak, kicked at another, and almost toppled over because the weight on his back and screwed-up physics annihilated his balance. Fabler managed to avoid a faceplant by dropping to one knee, and one of the birds chomped down on his shoulder.

  Fabler felt tremendous, crushing pressure, and then sprayed the bird in the neck, squeezing the trigger until they both became enveloped by fire.

  The terror bird backed up and retreated with his buddies, and Fabler fell onto his ass, dropping the gun to slap at his hair, making sure it wasn’t ablaze.

  “Minotaur.”

 

  Fabler searched for movement, and found the beast charging toward them.

  A giant covered in red fur, with the body of a man, and the head and legs of a bull.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  “Is Lori even real?”

  The minotaur kicked the front of the Jeep with a cloven hoof, the front bumper flying off into the light.

  Jake screamed.

  Fabler closed his eyes.

 
 
 
 

  KADIR ○ 2:20+pm

 

  Kadir had so many voices in his head he couldn’t tell which belonged to him. To make it even more unbearable, one of the voices came from that Watcher asshole, ordering him to go into the void to fight.

  Part of Kadir wanted to follow that order. Many parts. At least three heads, seven arms, and nine legs all moved to obey.

  But the greater part of Kadir, the Kadir part of Kadir, controlled more limbs, and he fought himself to stay put.

 
 
 
 

  He heard moaning. Felt moaning.

 
 

  On the other side of his body, Doruk flailed around one arm and whimpered. His face still had that mixed-up Picasso vibe, an eye on the tip of his nose.

 
 

  “If my own eye offends me, pluck it out.”

  Kadir forced a hand that wasn’t his but was his to reach up and squeeze Doruk’s exposed eyeball.

  As he tugged, Kadir felt the pain. But pain is necessary for improvement. Kadir’s father taught him that, beating the boy with a belt for spilling honey on the floor.

  When the eye came off, the sight through it, and pain from it, ceased.

  Doruk continued to moan, and Kadir felt a few of his arms reach toward his face.

 
 

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