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LOVE IS BLIND

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guylane.com<br />

The shuttle rattles and roars and Charlie clings to the floor, terrified.<br />

He sees the Martian Cat cowering under a Hibernation Pod. He<br />

crawls that way and reaches out his arm, but the vibration is too<br />

intense, and he can’t connect. The terrific rumbling and roaring<br />

overwhelms everything as the shuttle departs the Martian surface. It<br />

goes on and on like this for minutes, seeming to shake the shit out of<br />

everything until, suddenly…<br />

…it becomes completely silent.<br />

The shuttle has departed Mar’s pitiful atmosphere and it now in<br />

Zero G gravity. Charlie become weightless. He drifts away from the<br />

hibernation pod, and starts laughing and crying at the same time –<br />

weightlessness does that to you, apparently – as he sees the Martian<br />

Cat drifts free, as do the nine defrosting cadavers that Maddy pulled<br />

out of their pods.<br />

“I’m free. I’m free,” Charlie sobs, feeling a great wave of euphoria<br />

washing over him. But just then, a shadow moves across his face and<br />

a tremor of fear washes over him.<br />

He turns, and gasps to see that Maddy is an inch away from his<br />

head, floating above him. She is surrounded by a hundred droplets of<br />

dark red blood that glisten under the lights inside the shuttle. They<br />

surround her like fleas around a mangy dog.<br />

She is breathing deeply, and holding out her bloodied hand. In the<br />

other, she holds the sleep wand. With her face smeared with Turner’s<br />

blood, she looks like a grinning psychopath, or like one of those<br />

freaky f**king clowns that keeps you up all night wondering why you<br />

ever went to the circus.<br />

Her fingers curl around the collar of Charlie’s jumpsuit, and she<br />

draws him towards her. Her mouth opens, revealing teeth stained<br />

with blood.<br />

Charlie freezes, unable to move. He starts to hyperventilate. Short<br />

sharp breaths. “I give in” he chants. “I give in.” It is like the last thing<br />

that he will ever say. He manages to raise one hand in submission as<br />

Maddy moves her mouth towards his neck.<br />

When her mouth touches the his skin, Charlie clams-up, unable to<br />

164

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