INK: Red (INK Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

he pulled the sweatshirt off as carefully as he could, the rips to his stomach from the glass thankfully clean of shards. His forearms were a mess of criss-crossing cuts but the pain faded into the background. He pulled the ripped sock off his foot, undid the Converse on the other, then that sock came off as well.
    Next was the jeans — he wasn't looking forward to that at all.
    Don't think about it, don't think about it. Just do it. That's it, button first, then the zip.
    There was a thick scab-line all the way around his body where the top of the jeans had rubbed his abused flesh raw. Just looking as he unzipped the jeans made him sick. His groin was disgusting: penis like a mangled hot dog, scabbed, swollen, so abraded it was like having cat litter in your pants. He peeled the jeans down slowly, revealing more of his hairless body, more damaged skin, but finally at least they were off.
    What do I do now? What's going to help this all heal?
    Searching through the small bathroom he came up with nothing, so went out to the lockers, padding about naked, the cold welcome — better than the fabric chafing his ruined body. There was nothing, no magic lotion that would soothe his skin, not that he really expected to find much of any use.
    Back in the bathroom he patted carefully at his skin to dry it, rubbed a towel over his face and head — the only part of him that didn't hurt — then stared in the mirror.
    What greeted him was hard to accept as real. The creature that stared back at him was ruined. His blue eyes were sunken, dark bags underneath like he'd cried tears of coal, and he could tell he was so exhausted he would collapse soon. He hadn't slept in days — they'd kept him awake while they marked him, and he hadn't rested since his escape. They were always just behind him, like a pack of hungry dogs.
    His body was stripped of excess flesh as there was never enough food these days, but he was fairly athletic looking, if scrawny. His red body mocked him, a permanent reminder that life had become so far removed from what it once was.
    It was all too strange. The world he lived in didn't seem real, didn't feel like it could be possible. Reality was such an insult to normality that he wondered if his life growing up had actually been anything but a dream. Did he really just go to school and play with his mates? Go to stores, watch TV in his room and surf the Web or play on his Xbox? Gone, all gone. No point thinking about it now, it wouldn't bring back the happy times. Now there was nothing, just death, Eventuals, and the struggle to survive.
    Shit, stop it. Stop thinking about it. Focus.
    The man in the mirror frightened him, so Edsel turned away and carefully patted under his arms. He looked.
    Shouldn't have done that.
    There were crusty bits, oozing bits, and things he didn't want to even think about. It would take ages to heal, and then what? Just red, like the Devil himself, mocking the things he took for granted, the simple comfort of having your own skin color. Now everything was stripped from him.
    Edsel got dressed.
    All that was missing was underwear, so he tore strips off clean cloths from the canteen and made some makeshift protection for his groin. Then he dragged on thankfully loose black cargo pants and thick socks, two pairs, before putting on some sturdy work boots, then a simple dark blue sweater. The less clothes the better, but he didn't want to freeze either. It was summer but the days were often still cold, and the rain was coming down sporadically.
     
    ~~~
     
    The carpet smelled funny, synthetic, full of chemicals.
    Carpet? Uh-oh.
    Edsel got up carefully. How long had he been asleep? He looked around nervously but there was nobody else in the room; the clock on the wall was no help — batteries had probably given up the ghost years ago. Through dusty blinds he could see the sun was still fairly high.
    Probably about six then.
    He'd only been out for a couple of hours, but that was a couple of