Free DEATHLOOP by G. Brailey Page B

weirdness and there was a time at Cambridge when Zack had become extremely weird, out of his head on LSD of all things, (trust Zack to dig up some fusty old drug like acid to get hooked on), but it fitted in with his super cool image, and the fact that he had got poor old Justin Dunsmore to provide him with a never ending supply only adding to Zack’s kudos.
    Sam told Zack that he had gone too far telling Justin that he was on the verge of turning gay to get him to make the stuff. But Zack found it funny and milked the idea for all it was worth, until out of kindness to Justin, the same day he destroyed Zack’s stash, Sam told Justin that it was just Zack’s idea of a joke, and that he was not about to turn gay any time in the near future, he was a confirmed heterosexual and always would be. Devastated at Zack’s treachery, Justin cried for seven days flat rejecting all attempts by Zack to talk him round, and although Zack had threatened to kill Sam at the time, Sam knew he would thank him for it one day.
    Sam glanced across at his old friend and inwardly smiled. Who would think it now? Who would think this stylish, professional, corporate lawyer could ever have been such a hopeless case? Sam was in no doubt that he had saved Zack’s sanity, if not his life, and although Zack had never said as much, he knew Zack thought so too. Sam often wondered if that was why Zack had remained so loyal to him through the years. And when Sam was feeling particularly fatalistic he wondered if that was why Zack had thrown him a lifeline all those years ago, knowing instinctively that at some point in the future, Sam, in his own way, would do the same for him. Sam prided himself on being the man responsible for Zack’s new found respectability at Nyman’s and on the surface – the boy done good - but deep down Sam knew that Zack was still capable of just about any kind of madness given half a chance.
    Zack too was distracted. As Geoff stood up and welcomed the Wahlbergs, he found himself gazing out of the window at the dreary, but reassuring view. Geoff was speaking, but Zack was not taking in a word of it, it just sounded like a drone. Zack felt he had done a fairly decent job of keeping a lid on things with Veronica but when he saw the look in Sam’s eye just now, it threw him. Sam had picked him up more times that he cared to remember, but Zack knew that Sam was a little weary of it after twenty years, and who could blame him?
    Zack could honestly say that even at the height of his drug dependency, he had never been part of anything so completely bewildering as dying strangers calling out to him and asking him for help. He just could not make head or tail of any of it.
    “Would you agree, Zack?”
    No response.
    “Zack,” said Geoff, “can you help me out with this please?”
    Then there was.
    “No I can’t help you, you demon! KEEP AWAY FROM ME!”
    Grabbing the water jug from the table Zack hurled it at Geoff, catching him on the forehead with a nasty clunk. Geoff staggered a little as water drenched him, then the jug fell and smashed against the corner of the table spraying glass all over the floor. Next came a deadly, crushing silence. Everyone round the table frozen in shock, their eyes fixed on Zack as though they were in the presence of a madman and frightened that if they made a move the same would happen to them.
    “ God, Geoff, I’m so sorry ,” said Zack, breathless and mortified at what he had just done. “I thought you were… I thought… oh God, please forgive me.”
    As the silence persisted, if anything getting louder, the atmosphere unbearable, Sam got up and without saying a word to anyone took Zack by the hand and led him from the room. Sharon Pearce was a little surprised to see Sam leading Zack out of Geoff’s office like this, glancing through the open doorway she stepped inside.
    “Is everything all right, Mr Turner? The sandwiches have arrived…” she said, now noticing water all over the