After a couple minutes of torture it became clear that Noah wouldn't tell them anything. He had already burned the papers so they were wasting their time. But he still needed to kill Georgie. But the torture wasn't without effect
One of the brilliant green eyes that his mother always told him she loved was gone, sitting on a silver spoon on the ground, beside it was the rest of his fingernails and a bloody hammer.
The problem with torture is that if they don't tell you what you want to know after you pull out the first fingernail then they'll won't tell you after you've pulled out the fifth.
Thankfully, they hadn't kneecapped him yet though, and they only used the hammer on his left hand which was already useless.
Isabel watched the whole time, sobbing and begging despite how many times they hit her. He felt kind of bad for her, considering she was technically his first friend and the person he lost his virginity to.
Hopefully after he killed Georgie she would live, but he doubted it. They both lived lives that profited off people's suffering, so it wasn't really all that sad in the end. He was disappointing Georgie though.
"You're really not going to say a thing, Noah?" Georgie said, trying to hide his disbelief with a smile.
He shrugged at the question, eyes running over the wide front yard. The cars parked in front of the tall white house in the background, and the desolate hill that Perry chose to build a house.
"Just kill me."
Georgie smiled then waved behind him, Isaac dragged Isabel forwards, her knees scraping over the gravel.
"I could, but I still want to make sure you suffer. But I will let you live, if Isabel drinks this."
Georgie held up a vial of purple liquid that sent a chill down Noah's spine.
"Cobra venom. Hemotoxic. Or at least that's what I was told. You've used this before, right Noah? If Isabel drinks this, then I'll let you live, but if you tell me where the deeds are I'll kill you and let her live."
Noah sighed, Georgie always knew how to push people's buttons; he stood over Isabel, a wide smile on his round face. He wanted to die anyway.
"Frankie's car wash. Under the floorboards in the break room," he lied
Georgie nodded, smiling, before he grabbed Isabel's mouth and forced the poison down her throat. Noah felt his heart stop, his eyes widening.
"Get him up," Georgie snarled to his boys, throwing the vial aside. "Take him to that curb, lemme crack his skull."
Noah watched Isabel as they dragged him to the steps. For the first time in years he felt something move in his heart. He let out a guttural snarl, ignoring the pain in his lungs and body as he made his move.
He slammed the back of his head against the face of one of the two people holding him, and jammed his fingers into the other's eyes.
He pulled the man's gun and shot three of the five people in the field instantly. The gunshots echoed against the house behind him, bodies fell to the ground instantly, Isaac and people he had known for years.
Dalton raised the riot shield to protect Georgie, while Noah used one of the bodies of the men holding him as a shield.
He shot the man he headbutted, then tried getting behind one of the cars parked in the yard. But Georgie pulled out a Magnum and shot right through his human shield.
The bullet pierced his belly with an explosion of pain, but Noah had always been a better shot. Before Georgie's head could return under the riot shield, Noah's return shot drilled through his skull.
And just like that the boss of the Ironfield Mob was dead. It was funny in a way. Noah pushed his bleeding human shield to the ground and shot the man in the head.
Dalton tried running after Georgie died, but he wasn't letting that rat bastard get away. He shot the man in the foot the moment the riot shield raised just a little.
"Wait… arghh! Wait! I didn't tell him where Isabel was!" Dalton cried, crawling away. "It was Chino—"
He silenced Dalton with another shot, closing his eyes as the shot rang in his eyes. He swayed slightly, breath shaky. Then he hobbled over to Isabel's body as blood dripped from his wound, kneeling beside her and taking her convulsing body into his arms.
Her eyes red as blood poured from them like tears, her voice rattled from her lungs with torturous labour.
"Live… live a long life, Noah. We'll meet again." She smiled strangely, like she wasn't afraid of dying at all.
She died after she spoke so he couldn't tell her that he was going to join her shortly. The gunshot went through his liver, there was no hope for him.
He smiled bitterly. It was finally over, he didn't know whether to be happy or sad. He did it, put down the people responsible for his parents' death, but the hatred he had for Perry and Georgie faded years ago, all he had now was contempt for himself.
Instead of fighting, he followed them after his parents died. After all, they provided him with a home and some food. This and his fear eventually corroded his desire for revenge, even when he became strong enough to take it.
The world started fading as the warmth drained from his body, and Noah looked one last time at the house he had visited so many times. Fia was standing at the door, shaking at the scene in front of her.
"All hail the new boss of the Ironfield Mob," Noah said before dying.
——
Death was peaceful and comfortable, he should have died a long time ago. He drifted into the quiet darkness, finally at peace, slotting into the darkness like he was meant to alway be there.
"No."
Voices interrupted his peace, a chaotic symphony that made the dark tremble. He had no body to move, simply slotted in the darkness like a peg. But he turned slightly.
"Not yet, not when you can cleanse them from this world. Become our avatar."
His eyes snapped open in a grey, degraded room with a single light swinging over his head.
Why am I so close to the roof?
Then he felt the rope around his neck tightening and his throat burning.
He was being hanged. Or rather… he looked down at the chair below his feet.
I'm hanging myself? There's no way I'm this brave.
He considered letting himself just die again, but memories flashed through his mind. Memories that weren't his but also were.
A life he hadn't lived but was fully his. In this life his father never got addicted, never lost his job, never killed himself.
He kicked against the wall in front of him and grabbed the rope. His eye trembled; there was no way those memories were real.
He told himself this was a dream, that he was already dead. But there was a mad longing surging in his belly, he wanted to see his parents again.
After an agonising climb against the wall with his weak body, he reached up and unhooked the rope from the roof.
This meant he had nothing holding him up so he fell to the ground, back slamming against the wood chair beneath him. The pain blinded him for a couple moments, but for some reason it faded quickly.
Someone burst through the door of the room, it was a short, bald man with a skinny frame and brown teeth, wearing a baggy black jacket and trousers. He knew ratty face and beady black eyes.
Dalton.
"I killed you?" Noah rasped.
"Fucking junkie," Dalton hissed, walking over and dragging Noah's weak body up. "Did you really try to kill yourself?"
Dalton slapped him roughly, insulting him with a breath that reeked of alcohol.
"We'd just pass the debt to your family. Maybe I can have a toss with that sister of yours? Haha."
Strength surged through Noah. He pushed Dalton's scrawny arms away and grabbed his throat, finger digging into Dalton's skin. His face scrunched up, green eyes filled with rage.
"Rat bastard, it's a great pleasure to kill you twice."
Dalton opened his mouth to scream, but Noah's hands were so cold, like a corpse, and he was rapidly losing strength and warmth. He pushed Noah, but his already weak hands grew weaker.
On the other hand, Noah felt more alive than ever, fire pumping through his hands and into his body. His heart kept pounding, the realisation dawning on him.
I'm stealing Dalton's life?
Before he could come to terms with what was happening, his body fell and Dalton was released, stumbling over to the bed as Noah crashed to the ground.
"What the hell," Dalton whispered weakly. "What did he do to me?"
His voice froze as something rose from Noah's body. It was a double of him, wearing the same stained white shirt and trousers, but its head was a bonfire of black flames his voice rumbled from the black flames.
"This is new."