Unwelcome Introspection

Blood and bile mixed on his tongue, drying in his open mouthed panting. He had bitten through his lip, his stomach had recoiled and rebelled, but he was still standing. Even more importantly, he was still standing. The boy looked over his shoulder, blue eyes cloudy and not quite there.

The young man standing behind him adjusted his glasses and nodded once, ever so slightly. “Well done.”

A smile curled across that angular visage; pleased and proud and bloody.

“Come with me.”

Schuldig wiped at his face, still grinning through a messy smear of blood and saliva. A prescient twinge reminded Crawford that this child wasn’t going to be easy.

It was Crawford’s turn to smile. He wasn’t interested in easy.

Schuldig was going to be effective.