Chapter 24
My Man
The sky came into view, pitch-dark and foreboding. No, it was my vision that had gone black. When I forced my eyes open, the world around me was a blur. With every blink, my peripheral vision grew hazier.
My hearing was distant, numbed as if I were submerged underwater, my head just beneath the surface. The echoes of shouts, explosions, and screams were muffled and far away. My senses—once sharp—felt severed, their remnants scattered on the bloodied ground. I had no grasp of what was happening around me.
All I knew was that his body felt heavy against mine.
Helpless beneath him, I turned my stiff neck. I saw his face, half-buried in the dirt with his one visible eyelid open. It was terrifyingly strange—his eye was simply open without focus. Vlad’s eye wasn’t supposed to look like this…
A high-pitched ringing invaded my ears like a bullet. I raised my hand, trembling uncontrollably.
“Vl… Vla…”
