She lifted him more easily than she’d have lifted a baby. There was a length of chain on the bumper of the truck. It was red-hot. He heard and smelled the flesh of her hands burning as she wrapped it around him, heard her cry out in pain but accept it just so she could hurt him. He screamed in agony as she laid the red-hot steel against him, as it burned through his clothing and seared his flesh.

  “No glorious death for you, Sam.”

  He felt himself floating along above the ground, and then he fell down a long, dark tunnel.

  When he regained consciousness, he first felt the burns from the chain. Then the weight and strength of it, holding his arms tight against his body. He could move his hands, he could still fire his killing light, but he could not aim.

  Floating. Wrapped in chains that stuck to his skin as they slowly cooled.


Light, Chapter 27