As soon as Viking heard the screams, he picked up speed and hurried ahead.

“Is that him?” Ky questioned in disbelief, as we tried to follow.

Viking ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah. Shit!” he replied. The closer we got, the louder the screams became. This time genuine fear seized my breath. I would have been sure, before this night, that mankind was not capable of sounding so feral. But I was in no doubt that the Flame that I knew was not the man uttering these sounds. This Flame was undone. This Flame was in agonized pain.

“My Lord,” I heard Mae murmur under her breath, but I kept my focus on the cabin. I forced my feet to move. If I stopped, I was unsure if I could muster the courage to continue.

We broke through into the clearing with the three small cabins. Outside the cabin at the back, sitting on its own, was AK. The man with long brown hair hunched over a table with his hands in his hair. His clothes were heavily soiled with blood.

“AK,” Viking called. AK lifted his head. His dark eyes were bloodshot and his face was deathly pale.

“He’s getting worse,” AK agonized, as he looked at his friend. “Every time I go in, he gets worse. Fuck, man. I think this is it. I think we’ve fucking lost him to his fucked up head.”

AK’s graveled voice betrayed the depth of his sadness and grief. When a chilling yell came slamming out of the front door of his cabin, AK got to his feet and put a hand on Viking’s huge arm. Viking stilled, and with glassy eyes, AK nodded resolutely at Viking. Viking’s head dropped in defeat.

Their exchange scared me more than anything had in my life. They had not spoken words. But something meaningful had passed between them. Something in their taut bodies and pained expressions was about to tear their worlds apart.

AK looked to Styx and Styx’s jaw clenched. He wrapped Mae into his chest tighter and kissed her on her head. His eyes were closed, and his breathing sounded labored as it blew into Mae’s hair.

I watched each man in great detail, and I could feel the shift in them, feel the thick tension fill this open clearing.

“I gotta see him,” Ky said, and stepped forward. Styx released Mae.

Reluctantly, Viking and AK stepped aside. Styx and Ky proceeded into the cabin. I flinched when the volume of Flame’s anguish reached a deafening level.

Suddenly, Mae’s hand slipped through mine. I raised my eyes to see Mae intently watching the cabin door.

Styx.

She was terrified for the wellbeing of her fiancé.

I wanted to say something. I wanted to reassure her that he would be okay. But the venomous cries of Flame rendered me devoid of speech.

“Why’s she here, Vike?” AK said. I saw him nudge his chin at me.

Viking sighed. “Thought he may respond to her. It was her idea. Not mine.”

AK’s focus drifted deep into the woods. He shook his head. “Won’t work, brother. Nothing will. The way he feels about the bitch ain’t gonna bring him back from this.”

My heart plummeted.

The cabin door opened. Styx and Ky slipped out. Their faces wore expressions of deep anguish as they walked straight to Viking and AK. My eyes stayed glued to the men and their discussion. I edged a little closer, Mae following behind.

“Fuck, I… I have fuck all to say to that shit in there,” Ky said, gruffly.

Styx signed something to AK and Viking. AK shook his head. “Not even then, Prez. He was in a bad way, real fucked up from that fucking institution, but he wasn’t like this. Fuck, I served in the Middle East and never saw anyone get lost in their head like this.”

Viking slumped into a chair. Ky put a hand on his shoulder. “Shit,” Viking rasped. “He asked us to stop him, yeah, AK? This is what he wanted, right?”

AK crossed his arms over his broad chest and nodded. “Yeah, brother. He didn’t ever wanna live like this. You know what he said to do if he ever went nuclear. If at any point he never came back out of his fucked up head.”

Viking threw his head back and released a loud roar. His head forward fell again.

“I’ll do it,” AK announced.

My breathing paused and my hand immediately broke away from Mae’s. No, I thought to myself, my heart racing with a darkness of dread. They could not be speaking of what I thought they were…

“Brother, he’s your best friend,” Ky said.

AK never lifted his haunted eyes from the ground. “That’s why I gotta do it. He trusted me. After everything we’ve been through…” AK shook his head when he could no longer speak. “I found him. I found him as a teen. I fucking got him out of that loony bin, the brother strapped down to that bed with so much shit being pumped into his veins he was the fucking Walking Dead. He’s fucking been beside me ever since. Nah, VP. I gotta do it. We started this shit together, I gotta be the one to end it.”