Excerpt from upcoming chapter 5 of The World is Gnawed By Nameless Things!
Dr. Ryland Grace. The last living member of the Hail Mary. Simon approaches the hole in the wall, bracing his hand on the side, trying to look in. All he sees is the bag over Dr. Grace's face, but there's a faint cloud of condensation on the inside.
Alive. He's alive. Simon managed to keep at least one person safe.
Right?
"Mary? Is Dr. Grace okay?" He can't help but ask the ship. He needs a more accurate diagnosis.
"DR. RYLAND GRACE IS IN OPTIMAL CONDITION AND IS SCHEDULED TO BE AWOKEN IN TWO DAYS, TWENTY HOURS, AND THREE MINUTES."
Simon lets out a relieved breath and slumps to the ground, knees suddenly weak. He grips the edge of Dr. Grace's bed to keep himself up, head bowed, and he feels his chest tighten. Heat builds behind his eyes so fast and he feels a sob wrack his body.
He had been tossed around a metal coffin, tormented by voices and blood that burns and changes him. His very cells have been shredding along with his mind, tormented by god and worshiper alike, trapped in a cage of roots and light.
He has awoken on a mysterious ship he suddenly knows far too much about, haunted by voices once more, confused and lost and alone but not. He has brought death and despair to innocent people who are only trying to save a world that seems impossible to Simon.
He has slaughtered innumerable people. Everywhere he walks he tracks blood. He is the Butcher. He is the reaper. He is a monster.
But he managed to save one. Just one. A man with messy, golden hair like a lantern flame, spectacles that move with each flip of a subject, a giddy sort of wonder in the world Simon thought dead. A man with a brilliant, unfathomable mind who, despite his agonizing fear, had chosen to give himself up to save all of humanity in the final hour. A man that is better than Simon.
