Excerpt: Tattooed

He had time to crouch with teeth barred, before two men with no apparent affort grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him against the ground, jarring his shot shoulder badly. Fighting the black spots that threatened to pull him under, Vasil struggled feebly, and ceased abruptly feeling a sharp point of a knife pressed against the side of his neck.

His vision suddenly clearing, the boy looked up into the colourful faces of his capturors, and saw the insect man leaning closer and closer, a short bared blade in one hand.

“The debt is now paid.” the man whispered, his thick accent swallowing the words, and then there was pain. Pain and the comforting beckoning of blackness.

When they were finished, they went away, taking the body with them. The only thing that they left behind was a large puddle of blood, slowly drying in the cool summer breeze.