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Prologue

Carter

Rain is coray sky is streaked with dry lightning that splinters the crack of pain even deeper

There’s only so much a man can take Only so far he can be pushed to the brink and still want to survive

First, ht with cancer

Then Tyler, est brother, was struck and killed by a car

And now, my father has been murdered in cold blood

The blas anted the highest high, and they illing to do whatever it took to chase it

They didn’t fear my father Not like they fear me

I know that’s why they waited for hi fros e needed to do to pay the bills But months have passed, and it’sthat comes with, it is now my obsession

I’ off stolen prescriptions The drug trade is lucrative beyond anything I could have ever dreamed

But Talvery taught me more than anyone else could

He taught ht me what fear is capable of

He showed o away and replace it with so

And I feel it flowing through my veins

Crack! Lightning strikes again, followed by a booround

Rain is co as it takes

The priest’s voice is a dull monotone and the cries from distant family members, who I’ve only ever seen a handful of times in my life, numb me

The casket in which my father’s body lies reflects the first droplets of water The sprinkling is just the beginning of the downpour threatening to fall any minute now