43. Forty-Two

I stumbled out of Shepherd's apartment, my vision blurred by unshed tears. The crumpled piece of paper with the factory address was a terrible weight in my pocket.

I didn't have a car, so I had to hail a cab. My hands shook as I opened the door and climbed inside, giving the driver the cross-streets near the factory. I couldn't risk him knowing my true destination.

As the cab wove through the city streets, I leaned my forehead against the cool glass of the window, watching the blur of lights and buildings pass by. My mind raced, replaying every moment with Shepherd, every tender touch and whispered promise. Had it all been a lie? A twisted game to lure me in, to fatten me up like a lamb for slaughter?

What if he was no different from Father Ezekiel and the rest of the cult? What if he was just using me?

I didn’t know if I’d survive that.

The cab pulled over at the cross-streets I'd specified and I paid the driver with trembling hands before climbing out. The chilly night air bit at my exposed skin as soon as I stood outside. A massive factory loomed in the distance where my destination was supposed to be, a hulking silhouette against the night sky. I shoved my hands in my pockets and started walking, my heart hammering against my ribs. Cold seeped into my bones, a deep chill that had little to do with the frigid temperature and everything to do with the dread coiling in my gut.

I paused at the perimeter, scanning the area for any signs of security. A high chain-link fence surrounded the property, topped with coils of razor wire. Faded signs warned of danger, the words "KEEP OUT" and "NO TRESPASSING" barely legible beneath layers of grime and graffiti.

My breath fogged in the air as I searched for a way inside, my heart still pounding. There, hidden behind a tangle of dead brambles, I spotted a jagged hole in the fence, just big enough for a small person to squeeze through. Luckily, I was smaller than most.

Glancing around to ensure I was alone, I dropped to my knees and crawled through the opening, the rusted metal snagging at my clothes.

I straightened on the other side and shivered. Up close, the building looked surprisingly intact for an abandoned industrial site. No shattered windows or rusted doors hanging off their hinges. In fact, the exterior seemed almost... maintained.

With a growing sense of unease, I circled around to a side entrance. To my surprise, the door was unlocked. It opened with a soft click, well-oiled hinges swinging silently. I hesitated on the threshold, some primal instinct screaming at me to turn back, to run as far and fast as I could. But I had to know the truth, even if it destroyed me.

I stepped inside, the door closing behind me with a soft snick. The air inside was stale and cold, carrying the faint metallic tang. Dim fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting strange shadows across the walls.

Voices echoed from somewhere deeper within the factory, indistinct but unmistakably human. I froze, heart leaping into my throat. I wasn't alone.

For a moment, I considered turning back, slipping away before anyone discovered my presence. But I'd come too far to retreat now. I had to know the truth.

I crept forward, sticking close to the walls, moving as silently as possible.

As I ventured deeper into the bowels of the factory, the air grew colder, sending a shiver down my spine that had little to do with the temperature. The voices faded behind me, replaced by an oppressive silence broken only by the hum of machinery and the soft scuff of my footsteps.

I turned a corner and found myself in a long, narrow hallway. The walls were lined with doors, each one identical: heavy steel with a small, rectangular window set at eye level. My heart sped up as I approached the first door, some instinct urging me forward even as my mind screamed at me to turn back.

I reached for the handle. It was icy to the touch, the cold metal biting into my skin. I turned it slowly, wincing at the soft click that sounded deafening in the stillness. The door swung open on silent hinges, releasing a gust of frigid air that stole my breath.

I stepped inside, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the dim light. It was a large industrial freezer, the kind used in meat processing plants. Rows of metal shelves lined the walls, most of them empty. But there was one that held a metal tray covered by a thin sheet of white plastic.

With numb fingers, I reached out and grasped the edge of the sheet. I hesitated. Some part of me didn’t want to see. If I didn’t see it, I could pretend I didn’t know. We could go back to the way we were. We could be happy.

But I needed to see.

I yanked back the plastic sheet, the crinkling sound unnaturally loud in the eerie quiet of the freezer. As the sheet fell away, my breath caught in my throat, a strangled gasp escaping my lips.

There, laid out on the metal tray, were the unmistakable remains of a human body. But not whole, not intact. No, this body had been... butchered, dissected with clinical precision into cuts of meat like some macabre display at a butcher shop.

Bile rose in my throat as my eyes took in the gruesome sight. Limbs severed at the joints, muscles and tendons exposed. Chunks of meat, carved from thighs and buttocks, were piled to one side, as if sorted and prepped for some unspeakable feast. And there, sitting atop the gruesome heap, was the head.

A human head.

I stumbled back, tearing my gaze away from the horrific scene. My back hit the freezer wall, and I slid down it, collapsing to the floor as violent shivers wracked my body.

My mind reeled, unable to fully process the horror before me. This stranger was dead, murdered in the most brutal way imaginable. And Shepherd...no, not Shepherd. Keres. Keres had done this. He had killed someone, butchered him like livestock, and was apparently planning to...to eat him.

Just as the cult had been planning to do with me.

I squeezed my eyes shut, tears falling as I struggled to reconcile this grisly revelation with the man I thought I knew. The man I loved. How could he be capable of such monstrous acts? How had I been so blind?

My breath came in short, sharp gasps, each one a knife in my lungs. The frigid air of the freezer seeped into my bones, numbing me from the outside in, but it couldn't touch the anguish burning in my chest. I wanted to scream, to rage, to tear at my hair and clothes. But I couldn't make a sound, couldn't move, frozen in my own personal hell.

Time lost all meaning as I sat there on the freezer floor, huddled against the wall, shivering uncontrollably. Seconds, minutes, hours could have passed. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. My world, my heart, my understanding of reality had shattered into jagged shards, cutting me to ribbons with every breath.

I was so lost in my own despair, I didn't hear the footsteps approaching. The freezer door swung open, and I blinked up through tear-blurred eyes, my heart seizing in my chest as a figure loomed in the doorway, silhouetted against the harsh fluorescent light of the hallway beyond.

For a wild, desperate moment, I thought it might be Shepherd coming to save me. But as the figure stepped into the room, I realized with a sinking sense of dread that it was someone else entirely.

The man was shorter than Shepherd and his face was all sharp angles and cruel lines. He stepped into the freezer, gaze settling on me, huddled against the wall. When he spotted me, his lip slanted into a sharp smirk. He brought the tire iron he was holding down on his palm with a decisive thump. “Found you.”