Chapter 34 Chapter 33

The big clock in the foyer of Sheriff Baker's office stopped at 9:22 and the lights went out. Nick Andros has been reading a paperback novel in which a terrified governess hopes to monopolize the estate of the sons of a handsome master by wishing to teach them.Although Nick hadn't seen half of it, he knew that the ghost was the wife of the handsome hostess, who was probably locked in the attic, mad like a whore. As soon as the lights went out, he felt his chest throbbing, and a voice sounded from the back of his mind.Every time he falls asleep, nightmares always haunt him, as if waiting: He came for you... He is outside now, on the road at night... There is a man in black hidden on the road...

He threw the book on the desk and walked into the street.It was not yet completely dark, and the lights on the street were all dark. There was a whole box of candles in the office cupboard, but the thought of candles didn't reassure Nick more than the fact that the lights were out.He looked to the west, quietly begging the light to leave him, not to leave him in this dark cemetery. But the lights went out anyway, and at 9:10 Nick walked back to the office and groped his way to the cabinet with the candles on it.While fumbling on the shelf of the cabinet on the right, the door behind suddenly opened.Ray Booth wandered in from outside, the ring on his finger gleaming.Since the night of June 22, that is, a week ago, he has been bedridden in the woodland on the outskirts of the city.He was still ill till the morning of the 24th, and to-night hunger and fear had driven him to town, and he had met no one but this damned mute who had got him into trouble, who was wearing Pass the town square and walk in the small town where Ray has lived for most of his life.The sheriff's pistol was slung on his right side, perhaps thinking he really owned the town.Ray fears he's going to die one way or the other, but first he'll have to teach the fucking dumb man without a uniform a lesson.

Nick turned and didn't realize it was in Justice Baker's office until hands were strangled around his neck... and it wasn't just him, the candle box he had just touched fell from his hand, and the candle was in the Rolling all over the ground.He was almost strangled to death, but he finally calmed down, and he suddenly felt with certainty that the man in black in his dream had come to life: the devil from hell was behind him, and as long as he didn't use his strength, it would come to life Wraps its scaly claws around his neck. He instinctively used both hands to break the hand pinching his neck, trying to pull it away.The rapid breathing blows in the right ear, forming a wind current that can be felt but not heard.His hands tightened tighter, and he felt more and more difficult to breathe.

The two of them writhed in the dark, and Ray Booth's strength was getting weaker and weaker. If he didn't kill the mute soon, he would have no chance at all, so he grabbed the scrawny little guy by the neck with all his strength. Nick felt the world disappear.At first I could still feel the pain in my neck, but now it is so numb that I can barely feel anything.He stomped hard on Booth's foot with the heel of his boot, and at the same time slammed the big man hard with his back.Booth was forced to take a step back and put one of his feet on a candle.The candle rolled out, he fell on the floor, Nick's back hit him on the head, and he let go of Nick's neck.

Nick rolled out, out of breath, and everything seemed unreal except for a cracking pain in his neck. The big man bent over and rushed towards him. Nick remembered the gun and grabbed it desperately with his hands. The gun was there, but he couldn't get it out anyway. The gun was stuck in the holster.He struggled to draw the gun, and in a panic, accidentally pulled the trigger. The bullet flew out, scratched his leg, and then got into the floor. The hunched figure loomed over Nick like a ghost. Nick was almost suffocating, and a pair of big hands groped for his face, thumbs digging toward his eyes.In the dim moonlight Nick saw a purple gleam from one of the hands, and when he tensed up, his mouth involuntarily formed a "Booth!" mouth shape.Nick's right hand continued to draw the gun hard, and he felt a searing pain in his thigh.

At this time, Ray Booth's thumb had been inserted into Nick's right eye, and severe pain hit him.He pulled it hard, and the gun finally came out.Booth's hard, sturdy thumb turned clockwise and counterclockwise, tormenting Nick's eyeballs. Nick uttered an indescribable scream, pointed the gun at Booth's body, pulled the trigger, and bang!Nick felt the sharp recoil, the sight of the gun still hooked on Booth's shirt.Nick saw the flash of the muzzle flame and smelled gunpowder and burnt Booth's shirt afterward.Ray Booth fell straight onto Nick. In pain and fear, Nick pushed off the weight on his body, struggled to crawl out from under Booth, and rubbed his injured eye with his free hand.He lay on the floor for a long time with a burning throat and a splitting headache as if there were a pair of giant calipers stuck in his temples.

Finally, searching around, he found a candle, lit it with the lighter on the desk, and by the faint yellow light he saw Ray Booth lying face down on the floor, looking Like a whale stranded on the beach.The hole in the shirt was the size of a compact and had turned black.There was a pool of blood flowing beside him, and under the flickering flickering of the candle, Booth's shadow reflected on the far wall looked huge and strange. Nick moaned and staggered into the tiny bathroom and looked in the mirror.He saw blood seeping between his fingers, and though he couldn't prove it, he thought he might be deaf and dumb and one-eyed by now.

He walked back to his office and kicked Ray Booth's dead body. He said angrily to the dead man, you bastard, you have been staring at me, first my teeth, now my eyes.Are you happy?If you kill me, you will surely gouge out my eyes, gouge out my eyes, and make me deaf, dumb, and blind, and live in a dead world.You like this, right? He kicked Booth again, and the feeling of kicking dead flesh hurt him.He retreated to the bed and sat down with his head in his hands. Outside, it's getting darker, outside, all the lights in the world are out.