章節 23: A Special Meeting (2)

"Holy mother of God, these things are heavy." Antonio said as he sat on the floor after lowering the first cage, having released the tied-up individuals.

Dominic looked at his uncle and said, "I told you to use the machine; you're going to wreck your back before you're fifty."

"I'm not using that sissy thing, good nephew. We have the rapists just like I asked you, so what are we going to do now?" Antonio wanted to see the magic his nephew would perform.

Dominic looked at both men now in the metal cages; both had their hands tied around their stomachs, so neither could pose a problem even if they turned into walkers.

One of them had to die; he needed an experimental subject to ensure everything was on track and to gauge how advanced the virus was in people. But truth be told, Dominic wouldn't relish killing a man if it served no purpose.

Staring into those terrified eyes, Dominic drew a black knife from his back and signaled to his uncle to open one of the cage doors. "Tell me, friend, do you believe in any god? It's time to pray; come on."

"Argh!"

"On your knees, you damned rapist. This is what we do to those who are damn abusers. Don't cry, you son of a bitch!" shouted Antonio, kicking the gang member who knew these men would kill him.

Fear of death is what Dominic always sees in those on the brink of it, as if somehow this were more of a curse than a blessing.

For him, whoever dictates death is the one who must deliver it, and Dominic will never order a man's death without getting his hands dirty with blood. This is his command, his hand, and his emotions.

"Blessed is the man who redeems himself before his God and delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever in the hands of man."

Antonio watched as Dominic, without any emotion, stabbed the gang member's lung. That instinctive move is something not just anyone can do. Sergei certainly trained his son in a way he could never have imagined.

"Just close your eyes and let yourself drift into darkness," murmured Dominic as he watched the man struggling to breathe.

When you stab a lung, blood chokes you, and this is the quietest, cleanest, and quickest way to kill a person. In about five seconds, if you stab twice, the person will die.

"Cleanse your sins in the spilled blood, ask for forgiveness in your second life, and remember never to touch without right again." Dominic felt no emotion that would leave him pensive; killing this man was like eradicating an evil in life.

Even killing a pig might make him feel a bit bad, but someone like this gang member isn't even worthy of mention.

After finishing the job, Dominic put a muzzle on the corpse and closed the cell so that when it rose, it wouldn't escape.

Dominic now turned his gaze to the remaining gang member, showing a serene expression, and said, "You must be wondering, what kind of person am I? Well, I'm sure as hell not normal; I have a different perception of life."

"I once knew a father; from your perspective, he could be a grandfather. That old man was my pride; he got up day after day to work as a waiter in a luxury restaurant. He was very clear that he would lift his son out of the misery they lived in, fighting every day so his son could leave that life behind."

Dominic paused, speaking as if committing murder were the most normal thing in the world, and said, "Once I decided to visit him, I brought him lunch. At that moment, I saw with my own eyes how a diner threw a hundred-dollar bill at my father's face as if he were trash. You can't imagine how badly I wanted to stick a knife in his throat, but I wasn't going to be the one to disappoint my father."

"All that anger built up inside me; I memorized the idiot who threw that bill at my father, and after much planning, I burned his damn house down, killing him inside."

Dominic paused, sighed, and said, "What I'm trying to say is, there are worse deaths than this; believe me, you'll know a worse death that's coming up. But it will serve a purpose; your death has meaning."

"Hey, nephew, I don't want to disturb your schizophrenia, but... Is that guy moving?" Antonio cared little for Dominic's lunatic story; what interested him was how the man they had just stabbed in the lungs opened his eyes and began to rise.

"Arghhh!!!"

Dominic watched in amazement; the man's pupils turned white, and his instinct to feed ignited after his death. This indicated that things would spiral out of control from now on.

"By God, is that an infected one?" Antonio couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing, so just to check, he took out his knife and stabbed it into this man's heart.

Crack!

It wasn't easy to pierce through the ribs, but Antonio knew how to do it, and when he knew he had pierced, his heart recoiled. But what he saw surprised him: how could this man keep moving after being stabbed in the heart?

"This makes no sense."

But Dominic wasn't interested in this; he wanted to make some plans for Nelson to follow at tomorrow's conference.'

"Well, I want you to cover everything. Remember, with just one bite that connects with your blood, you'll be dead in a few hours." Dominic was very clear about what couldn't be done.

Antonio nodded. He wanted to keep stabbing that man with his knife, but now he had to focus. "The quality of the products must be mandatory."