"How do you raise a house full of psychopaths, Dr. Choi?" she asked, looking back through the glass at the small boy.
"Very carefully, Dr. Min. Very carefully."
It was the kind of darkness that was hard to penetrate beyond a few feet. The echoes of the night were drowned out by the storm piercing the sky with thundering booms and white, stabbing streaks of light.
"Come on," the thin figure whispered in a choking voice. "Come on. Wake up."
With shaking hands, he pushed against the prone man's chest. Each push rocked the body on the ground. Beyond that, nothing else moved except for streams of water rushing over the top of the cold, wet ground.
Blood seeped like a red river, winding its way along the wet concrete to be washed away by the rain. What the water didn't drain away, the sewer would. The wet slap of tires on the street not twenty feet from them could have been from another planet.
Pinching the man's nose, he tipped his head back and breathed into the guy's mouth, and then pushed on his chest again.
One, two, three, four...
"Let's fucking go."
The thin figure sank back on his knees and gazed up through the water at the man towering over him. One lone light illuminated a small portion of the alley, and through the pouring rain, the two figures created a dark silhouette in the faint glow.
Nearby, sirens blared and the thin figure was jerked to his feet and pulled to the shadows, hidden from view by the standing man.
The ambulance barreled into the alley, tires splashing, its siren cutting off to leave a deafening silence. EMTs slammed out of the rig and jogged over to the man on the ground.
"Gunshot! No pulse," one EMT said, shouting orders, and another EMT grabbed a defibrillator.
"Clear!"
Lookie-loos filled the alley, braving the rain just to see someone die...or maybe it was to see someone live. Human nature was strange like that.
"We've got a pulse!"
A collective sigh of relief seemed to surge through the wet crowd.
And when the thin figure was tugged away by the other man and shoved down the alley in the pouring rain, he didn't fight.
His relieved breath came in huge gasping sobs.
ओह! यह छवि हमारे सामग्री दिशानिर्देशों का पालन नहीं करती है। प्रकाशन जारी रखने के लिए, कृपया इसे हटा दें या कोई भिन्न छवि अपलोड करें।
