“Seriously? You’re just going to walk away? You just came here to gloat?” Tim scoffed. “I bet you don’t even know what ‘gloat’ means do you? You’re just some idiot road hagger.”

Essem stopped but didn’t turn around. He stood there reviewing the words. He had to admit he wasn’t completely sure he knew what ‘gloat’ meant. Essem never thought of himself as stupid. There was a lot he knew and a number of skills he had. He’d never felt stupid, but something in the way Tim spoke to him always made him angry. Always made him feel like he wanted to hit something.

Essem turned. He walked back up to the chained ganger. “You know that one way or another, you’re going to die, right?”