Happiness, Love and Guns

Havermouth, The Present

The room stank. Talen knew the smell well. It was one he had smelled long, long before in Beupraxia’s dungeons. Blood, faeces, urine, pain, and despair with a hint of rotting flesh. He swallowed back the bitterness that wanted to stick to his tongue.

Rhett made a gagging noise and covered his mouth and nose with his hand.

Cameron pulled a packet out of a pocket, the plastic crinkling as he dug his fingers into it. “Open up,” he said to Aislen, and popped a small golden lolly into her mouth when she obeyed. “Rhett?”

“Sure, can’t hurt,” Rhett accepted a lolly and pulled a face. “Gah. I take that back.”

“Ginger lolly. They stock them at the hospital gift shop,” Cameron offered one to Rohan who shook his head and took a nasal roller from his pocket, rubbing it under his nose. “What’s that?”

“Eucalyptus,” Rohan offered it around. Rhett accepted it. “Blocks the smell and clears the sinuses at the same time.”

Talen turned his attention back to the room. It was a funct