Running With The Horde (Book 2): Delusions of Monsters by Joseph K. Richard

though there were an audience around to appreciate his outrage at Eva’s insolence.
    He didn’t stop until all the buttons were gone and she was standing there in her undergarments, her dress hanging on her shoulders like a flimsy open robe. His finger was just above her panty line making tickling circles on her abdomen.
    “Please,” she stammered. Her body was in full revolt mode by this point and she was shaking like a leaf.
    Manny wasn’t the brightest bulb in the room, not even all that cunning for a bad guy. He was interpreting Eva’s pleas and shaking body for someone who was terrified and therefore harmless, hoping someone would come to her rescue.
    He was wrong.
    He leaned forward and took a big whiff of her musk and then she felt the giant hand around her waist relax just a little as he used his free hand to unbuckle his trousers. Perhaps it was the excitement of what was to come but for a moment poor old Manny forgot about Eva as he wrestled with the stubborn clasp on his pants. That was all the time she needed as she jammed the broken end of the bottle top she’d been holding into his exposed neck. There was so much rage and fear directed into that swing, the broken glass sliced through skin and cartilage like it was nothing, severing Manny’s jugular in the process. He bled out on his feet staring into Eva’s hate-filled eyes with an expression of stunned surprise. His knees buckled and he was dead before he hit the floor.
    Guilt, revulsion and relief all flushed through Eva’s mind as she stared down at Manny’s corpse. His eyes were still open, still surprised. She stood there frozen, unable to fully grasp what she’d done. Transported back in time to another terrible memory in the kitchen of her childhood home. Only that time it was her mother who’d done the cutting and her father lying dead on the floor. The words her wild-eyed mother spoke to her that night came flying back to her from across the void , he ain’t nothing but a cold dead pig now, girl. Don’t trouble yourself no more ‘bout him, you hear?
    She did hear. She heard then and she heard it again now as she snapped out of her daze and spit on the lifeless body.
    “Just a cold dead pig,” she said to no one in particular.
    She turned, almost fell again and stumbled toward the rickety wooden stairs. It was then she looked down and remembered her dress and general state of appearance. After a moment of panic she calmed herself with a few deep breaths . I can fix this long enough to walk out of here alive.
    If she pulled it off, she would leave the club and never come back. Maybe head south and start over where it was warmer. But first things first.
    Fetching her lantern where she’d left it by the shelf she did a quick damage assessment. The body, the broken bottle and the absinthe blood stew, all things she had to make disappear. First the body.
    The feeble light wasn’t much but it enabled her to explore the cellar which turned out to be much deeper than she thought. Row after row of shelves filled with wooden casks and glass bottles led to a rear wall with a small but solid looking door. A secondary storage room perhaps? Eva had to admit she was deeply curious, cats be damned. This most likely was where Manny had come from and, if she had her way, where he would be laid to rest at least until he was discovered. She tried the door. The heavy bronze knob wouldn’t budge. Leaning an ear against the wood she tried to discern if there were any sounds coming from the other side. It wouldn’t do to open it up to a room full of wise guys counting money. There were no voices but she thought she could detect running water as though someone were drawing a bath.
    She hurried back to Manny’s body and rifled through his pockets until she found a large iron key. Back at the door she slid it into the hole as slow as possible which wasn’t easy because the locking mechanism was stiff. The bolt finally gave with a satisfying thunk and she