On Tenterhooks (48 page)

“
Okay, here’s the deal,” he said, sitting down on the couch.
“I’ve been thinking about wha
t we’re up against.
Bottom line is
,
we don’t know. Biker couldn’t tell us a whole lot, except that Preacher is
a nasty twisted pit of evil with one purpose only
.
His whole drive is to find us and keep us from fulfilling some good thing or other
.
When Biker drops our shield, we know Preacher is going to come gunning for us.
So even though we don’t know for sure what to expect, we still can’t hang out just waiting.”

“I don’t know about you all,” interrupted Martin
,
“
b
ut I am not gonna sit around and be a pawn in someone else’s game
.
If that sonuvabitch had something to do with my
Maggie
’s death, he’s gonna get the busi
ness end of me before I am done
.”
Pounding a palm into his fist for emphasis, he concluded,

“
Veronica
found some
makeshift weapons in the shed.”

Steve picked up a rusty axe
from a pile of tools at the edge of the couch
.
“I’d suggest we all take one and keep it with us at all times.
Veronica
, you still have the gun Biker gave you
,
right?”

“Always,” she said, patting the butt of the gun that stuck out of the waist of her jeans.

“Good,” Steve replied
.
“How many shots?”

“
There’s
one in the chamber and seven in the clip
.
Might not kill him,
but it’ll do some damage
,
I bet.
”

Martin
rifled through the pile and
picked up a machete in a
cracked-
leather scabbard
.
He pulled on the handle and
revealed
a bright metal blade.
“Ah, bolo!” he said.
The blade glinted in the lamplight as he twisted his wrist to test it.
He
slid
the blad
e
back in
to the scabbard and tied the straps around his belt loop and thigh
.
“This’ll work for me.”

Abby pulled a small hunting knife from her jacket pocket.
“I got mine,” she said. “I found it in that trunk in the attic. It’s perfect for me
.
”

Steve frowned at first
.
It was small, but so was she
.
Besides, he had to remind himself that he had no idea what was or wasn’t going to work against Preacher
.
There was no sense destroying confidence
,
when he didn’t know the truth himself.

“Okay, good.
Don’t let this stuff out of arm’s reach then
.
We don’t know when things are going to go south
.
Which leads me to my next point
: w
e need to sleep in shifts
.
I’d recommend four hours each
.
We all need sleep, but we don’t want
him to catch us
off guard
.
We
also
need to sleep with the bedroom doors open.
This house is small enough that we should be able t
o hear anything from anywhere.”

No one argued, or even spoke
—
just thoughtful nods of agreement.

“And finally, w
hen things start to happen, I’d recommend we hole up here in the den
if we can
.
It’s
defensible
. We’ve only got that one small window to deal with
,” he said, gesturing to the window in the front wall of the house.

“A
nd we can close off
that
door to the hallway and the kitchen and move the furniture over to block it
.
If we have to, we can put our backs to th
is
wall
, so
that
he can’t sneak up on us.”

“Good,” said
Veronica
. “So
,
who’s up first
for guard duty
?”

“I’ll take the first shift.
You guys go get some sleep
,” Steve said swiftly.
He stood up
,
and the others joined him.

“No argument here, I’m beat,” said
Veronica
, yawning
.

“Martin, I’ll help you with the kitchen,” said Abby.

“No girl.
It’ll keep ‘til morning
. You go do like Steve said and get some shut-eye.”

“You sure?”

“
Definitely
.”

“Before you leave,” Steve said. “I was thinkin’
. Should
we do some sort of group prayer
?
I’m not sure I have the words, but
—”

“We don’t need words,” said Abby. She moved close and put her arm around Steve. Martin and
Veronica
stepped forward. For several moments, the four stood close together in a quiet embrace.

“Amen,” Martin whispered.

Steve cleared his throat as he broke the circle.
“Okay
,
then.
G’nite
,
you guys.”

Martin smiled and
sat down in the chair by the window
. Abby and
Veronica
headed down the hallway.

“Goodnight,” Abby called.

“
Veronica
—
you up for the second shift?”
Steve asked.

“Sure.
But make sure you announce it’s you coming to wake me up
,
so I don’t bust a cap in your ass.”

Steve chuckled. He sighed and sat down on the couch across from the fireplace
.
Martin
was peering out
into
the gathering night in the clearing. St
eve
pawed through the rusty tools piled on the couch.

“See anything i
nteresting
out there
?”
he asked.

“Nope.  All quiet.
Hey St
eve, let me ask you something.
Have you thought about what’s going to happen in the future?  I mean, if
—
when
—
we get through
all of
this?”

“No
.
”

“I mean, think about it man.
How am I gonna go back to being a pharmacist? How are you gonna be a computer guy knowing that this kind of evil mess walks the earth with us?”

“I don’t think that far ahead right now
,
Martin.
One day at a time is about a
ll
I can afford to do
at this point
.
I was kinda already operating in that mode after Julie died, so it’s come natural
ly
to me lately
,
I
guess
.
”
  H
e shrugged as he continued
,
“
I do think
that
eventually I’ll be able to look further ahead
.
I don’t intend to wander through the rest of my life one day at a time, but
currently
, that’s working out well for me.”

Martin grunted an agreement
.
The house grew quiet
.
E
very noise was audible
.
Steve
could hear the muffled tones of Abby and
Veronica
whispering in their room
.
He heard the small hiss of the fire in the kitchen. He could hear the chorus of chirping crickets and night
birds outside. Long minutes passed. Martin’s
breathing was shallow and steady
,
and his eyes were closed
.
Steve slid himself to the edge of the couch
.
He was planning to do a perimeter on the house every
20 minutes or so
to check things out and to keep himself awake. As he picked up his axe and headed for the kitchen, Martin’s voice caught him off guard.

“I always knew
that there were angels among us,
y’know?
I
never thought
about the
demons
.
It makes
sense
though
.
But the worst part of this
is that
,
even if we beat this thing, it’s k
i
nd of like a hollow victory. ‘C
ause they still maintain a balance, with us caught in the middle
of
a war that has been raging
since the beginning of time.
How’re we supposed to deal with that one?”

Steve leaned his axe on the couch
.
He walked to Martin’s side and put a hand on Martin’s shoulder.
“We just do
, man
.
We take it one little bit at a time.
”

Martin looked up at him.

“
If we can defeat Preacher, it means that we ourselves and anybody else he’s been after can breathe a sigh of relie
f,” Steve continued. “
Even if it isn’t permanent, at least we’ll know we knocked him down
.
When it comes down to it, we’ll figure out how it’s done
.
And if we can do it once, we’ll do it again
,
if need be.”

Martin was tired
.
He nodded at Steve’s comment
,
but made no response.

“
Look
,
the dishes can wait ‘t
il morning
—
go get some sleep
.”

“Mmhmm,” was Martin’s reply
.
He rocked back in the chair and leaned forward to stand with a groan
, before he
walked
toward
the hallway.
“Have
Veronica
wake me in time to make some breakfast for you people,” he said over his shoulder.

“Will
do.
Goodnight
,
Martin.”

Martin waved over his shoulder without looking back.

Steve retrieved his axe and headed through the kitchen and out onto the back stoop.
T
he faintest trails of purple in the sky behind the house
were the only hint
that the sun had recently been up
.
The night air was already growing cool.
Steve was grateful for it
,
because it would help keep him alert
at guard duty
.

He questioned himself as he walked the perimeter of the house
. Was there
any
point in setting a watch? 
Was the rusty axe in his grip just a prop to make him feel more comfortable?
H
ow would he raise an alarm?  What was he even looking for?  Would Preacher just stroll out of the woods
and announce his arrival?  C
ould
Preacher
make himself invisible?  There were so many things that Steve wished he’d had a chance to ask Biker about before they left
.