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The toe of Benny’s foot rammed him where the
equipment swung free, and a brick smashed into the other man’s face.
He slammed another brick on the head of the first man.
Both collapsed. The woman grabbed the weapons she could find and then his hand,
dragging him away down the alley. A light flashed. She dived in a hole in the
wall, and he was yanked in after her.
The light was gone. She started to move. His hand shot
out, clamping down on her arm.
Jerking at the hand, she hissed. “Leggo.”
“Wait. OK?”
The woman squatted on her heels and tried to pull away
again, but not so hard. After a moment she stopped, settling to glare at him.
The light exploded in the alley, and they ducked down.
After a moment it was gone.
One of the men shouted, then both screamed.
Benny rose up, but she stopped him.
“Too late.”
“Huh? The rats –”
“They’re dead.” Her voice was without emotion,
toneless and flat.
“They’re screaming.”
A cool look on her face, the girl squinted up the
alley.
“Rats start at the groin and eat their way in.
It’s too late to help. They’re already bleeding to death.”
Even before her words stopped, the screams were dying.
Benny nodded.
“Don’t matter,” he said, pulling her up and not
rubbing his crotch that ached with sympathy pain for the men. “Rapists get
what they deserve.”
“And Amen.” She trotted away into the building.
Benny stumbled along behind. She turned to glare at him. “Will you hurry up?
The place is crawling with bulls and boars.”
“I am,” he said, snarling, and limped a little
faster.
With a small groan of exasperation, she grabbed his
arm, throwing it over her shoulders and dragged him out across a narrow street
to another building. A pig squealed and ran from them.
“Wild hogs,” she said, grunting under Benny’s
weight.
Blocks from the trouble, they came up on a campfire.
“Hey, camp?”
A man and woman eased through the shadows.
“Come slow,” the man called.
“Seen the bulls?” Sue shouted. “Big pile-up of
‘em east of here.”
“No cops.”
Just lights and some whumps o’ fire bombs.” That was the woman.
She eased Benny along to the fire, then let him slide
down to sit on the road. In the light of the fire, her face stood out sharp and
angry. Benny gaped at her.
“Sue? My God, I thought you were a dream.”
Scowling, Sue stared back, and then her face opened in
shock.
“I know you. The ghost.”
“Looks alive to me,” the woman said. She grinned.
“Hey, want to sell them guns?”
“Huh?” Sue shook her head. “I mean, well, they
have chips. Homers. I was going to sell them to Lord Penn’s people.”
“Give you a hundred creds,” the man said.
“Ain’t worth more. Not government issue. All them boys got is Chinese-made
junk. Plastic an’ aluminum.”
Sue held up the pistol.
“This is a Smith-&-Wesson. John Wayne his-self
didn’t carry a better .45, and you know it.”
The woman took a deep breath. She gave her man a
hope-filled look. “Li’l Charlie, he’s needing a naming-day present. Be a
cool thing, him having that.”
The man scowled. A boy of about twelve crowded under
his mother’s arms and added a gap-toothed grin, and the man exploded in
laughter.
“Was wanting it myself,” he said, shrugging.
Motioning at a box, he settled on one end, and Sue on
the other. They began with clenched fists, then in total silence, began to make
offers and counter offers with their fingers. More than once, one of them
snapped the bird in the air and stood, as if to walk away, but finally came to
some sort of agreement that left Benny frowning and puzzled.
“OK I leave the price with Mitch Antone?”
“Welcome,” she said, shaking with him. She handed
the .45 over to the man, and he sighed, staring at it, but gave it to the boy.
“Recoilless,” he said. “Mind you treats it right
‘else Ma an’ me will use it to spank you. Never, and I do mean never-ever,
show it ‘less you mean to use it, and never use it except to kill. Understand,
boy?”
Eyes shining, the boy nodded, then said, “Yeah,
sir.”
Huddled under a surprisingly clean blanket, Benny felt
Sue’s arm move around his waist and hold him close. Again, to his surprise, he
felt a hot rush of protectiveness and not simple lust. The lust was there, but
so was her knife. Saddened at her mistrust, Benny sighed.
Stroking the arm, Benny let her presence lull him into
a light sleep that for once held no nightmares.
Two Swords gave Sue’s guardian a wink, and Tiny
giggled. Hearing the giggle, rats cleared out from the building and abandoned
those shivering in traps.
The brat escaped again. Mike didn’t know whether to
laugh or curse. With a snoring, muttering Creel beside him, he did neither. The
directional was pointing deeper into the Dead Zone, and he groaned, setting the
brakes and letting the seat ease back under him. One word and the shielding
closed in around them, the heater a soft purr.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow, he would track down Cindy’s
favorite stallion and cut him off at the balls. For Terry Jo, he had no choice.
For his own sanity, he had to, or Benny would destroy them all.
©2004 StoriesByEmail.com
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