Hold the Light by Ryan Sherwood Read Free Book Online

his ears. Mural knew he was done breathing soon.

    "Off," Mural spat.

    The men paid no attention as they continued locking him down. Mural gave one last desperate push against their force, yet they still suppressed him. In the haze of near unconsciousness he lost all energy and went limp. The sudden slack tumbled men about and Mural grasped at his only chance. A terrible fire erupted within him and found fuel in all the hatred cursing in his blood. Mural's arms rose with the men still on them. Their concentration broke as Mural flexed his colossal arms and rammed the assailants together, crushing their heads into a bloody fracture. The noose was still primed to constrict his last breath until Mural's head lashed back and connected with a skull.

    Every man shed from Mural. He rose and ran with the noose still fastened about his bruised neck. More blood drained from his nose and ear as he dashed away without coordination. The street was a swirling mass streaked in gray and black that heaved about as he tried to run. His feet hadn't an ounce of weight to them, and Mural fled down the avenues of Boston at incredible speeds. Out of instinct, Mural looked over his shoulder at the lane behind him and saw it ebb away, his senses quaking from the quick change of his head's direction. His body gained its weight back with his disorienting movement and his feet became stone. Mural turned to look forward and crashed against a wall. Heartbeat pounding in his ears and lungs aching, Mural felt sleepy yet fought the urge to fall to the ground and rest. His eyes began to close but he quickly awoke to strange haunting echoes of clapping thunder. Air pushed its way into his nose as the distant roar came closer. Mural pushed himself off the wall and struggled to focus on the cobblestones ahead. The path heaved like a turbulent ocean and he became nauseous as he started to run again. But the galloping thunder was upon him.

    The rope around his neck became taught and jerked away his panting breaths. Mural's loose sweat and blood splattered against the brick as he was launched off balance, and crashed flat onto the street. The top of his head hit the road first and he somersaulted onto his back. Laying flat on his back, another quick wretch stretched his neck and he choked out a scream. The thunder started again. Mural looked up in a daze with his palm to the sky as the rope around his neck snapped tighter as he was dragged into a gallop by the noose around his throat. The fires that lit the streets streaked by like comets.

    Mural struggled in vain to gain control of his body as he was towed through the streets. Scraping along, Mural's face smeared splotchy bloody streaks down the ragged road. The rider whipped the horse, laughing at the end of the taut noose that was tied to the horn of his saddle. They galloped about the boulevards, Mural dangling from behind him like a sack. Mural flailed, pounding off every jagged edge of the road, with only some of the scrapes absorbed by his long black wool coat. Bruises quickly swelled around his ribs and face. Cobblestones rammed into his shoulders and threatened to dislocate his arm.

    The rider began to struggle with Mural's weight and the rope veered off to the side of the horse, rolling Mural up onto the sidewalk. Mural was thrust up onto the curb and the snap of two of his ribs was drowned by the rider's laughter. As the world flew by in streaks, the rider heaved the rope with all his strength and led Mural into a torch post cradling burning logs. The streetlamp exploded on impact, dumping a shower of sparks onto Mural. Searing and blistering for only a short while, the fires soon rolled out as he rolled on. The horse picked up speed again as Mural began to black out.

    Under such great stress that Mural's head, but not his body, was beginning to succumb to, plagued the rope as well. It frayed and smoldered as they rode toward the outskirts of Boston. A small fire spread down the rope towards Mural