Serpent Lake Eye, tooth, claw, death

what did he expect? to be greeted like an old friend?

stupid. her one remaining eye was burning with hate. soto’s heart sank, and he recoiled like a snake struck by a spade. 

he had no words for what had been done to her. by niño, his brother in arms. and now he’s guilty for the singular crime he’d never dream of committing, by pure association. 

all because at the end of the day a girl is just a girl. and a man is just a man. but the cartel is the all seeing all consuming machine, that grinds each of their bodies to gristle for its own ends. man, girl, willing or not — it did not matter to the great machine that stockpiled bodies like gunpowder. 

and the cartel will always stand. he knows this in his blood. he knows that betrayal is only skin deep; that this girl and other girls deserved better. 

his gaze rests pointedly on the hole in safiya’s face, but he says nothing.