Quake (27 page)

    'No,' Clint said. 'Any more predictions, nifty, ooky otherwise, and I'm going to take off and leave everybody behind.'

    'Same here,' Mary said.

    'Those are the ground rules.'

    'Fine by me,' Caspar said. 'Loreen?'

    She pressed a forefinger to her greasy lips. 'Mum's word,' she said.

    Clint got to his feet. 'Let's get moving,' he said. We're almost to the top, so the worst is behind us.'

***

    They had eaten a lunch of barbeque-flavored potato chips and butter and jelly sandwiches. Barbara had tried a beer, given up on it after one taste, and switched to Dr Pepper. The others had seemed to enjoy their beers. Heather went to keep watch out the window, Lee had Earl go into the bedroom for a change of clothes. Barbara and Pete had sat beside each other on the floor while they were gone. Barbara could hear quiet talking from the other room but she couldn't make out the words.

    'huh?' Earl said as he swaggered into the living room. The pin-striped pants had been replaced by a pair of camouflage trousers worn with white socks and faded blue running shoes.

    'All I need's like an M-16, or something, and I'd be all set to roll.' He grinned at Lee. 'Anyway, thanks for the clothes. I'll get 'em back to you, promise.'

    'No hurry,' Lee said.

    'Thanks for feeding us,' Barbara said, getting to her feet. Pete said. 'It sure hit the spot.'

    'Glad to help,' Lee told them.

    'Now, if you really wanta help,' Earl said, 'how about letting us borrow one of your guns?' He said it smiling, as if it were a big joke, but Barbara knew he meant it.

    'No can do.'

    Earl made a mock-pouting face. 'Hey, I thought we were pals.'

    'I don't loan out my weapons.'

    'You don't need both of 'em, do you?'

    'Yes.'

    'Hey, come on. How am I gonna protect Banner if I don't have a gun? Look at her. She's a beauty, isn't she?'

    Lee glanced at Barbara. His eyes darted from her face to the hand that held her blouse shut, then back to Earl. He said nothing.

    'Don't you care what happens to her?'

    'I care.'

    'All we gotta do, you know, is run into the wrong sort guys out there on our way home, and…'

    'Stay here,' Lee said. 'Nobody's pushing you out the door.'

    'I have to get home,' Barbara told him. 'My parents… ‘

    'Same here,' Pete said.

    'But we don't need one of your guns,' she added.

    'Speak for yourself,' Earl said.

    'I just did. I don't want one.'

    'I do.' Earl frowned at Lee. 'Come on, you've got the assault rifle.' He nodded at the carbine that was leaning against the sofa near Heather. 'What do you need the pistol for? It might save our lives. Might save Banner from getting reamed by a gang of drooling maniacs.

    'Barbara scowled. 'Shut up.'

    Heather smirked over her shoulder at Earl. 'You said there isn't any gang of maniacs out there.'

    'Yeah, well, who knows? Just 'cause I didn't see it… I sure saw plenty of poor jerks who'd gotten themselves trashed real good. It ain't exactly a picnic out there.'

    'Then don't leave,' Lee said. He looked at Barbara. 'I know you want to get home. I know you're worried about your parents.'

    'And it has to be killing them, not knowing if I'm okay.'

    'Same here,' Pete said.

    Lee nodded. 'I understand. But you'd be better off playing it safe. Do you think that your parents would want you to risk your lives, just in order to get home a little bit sooner? Not a chance. The National Guard'll be on the streets tomorrow.’

    'The Guard?' Pete asked. 'Really?’

    'How do you know?' Barbara asked.

    'Heard it on my radio,' Lee said.

    'You've got a radio that works?’

    'Down in my car.'

    'Sure!' Pete said. 'Car radios. They'll still work.’

    'What else did you hear?' Barbara asked.

    'Not much. I had to get back into the building. The car was no good as a defensive position, so…'

    'But they said for sure the National Guard will be here tomorrow?' Pete asked. He seemed very excited.'That's right.'

    'Jeez, Barbara. Maybe we should stay here. You know?'

    'Not me. I can't wait till tomorrow. Besides, how do we know the Guard will really show up when it's supposed to? It'd be crazy to wait that long on the chance that things'll be safer. I mean, we're only a few miles from home. An hour or so, that's all it'll take.'

    'On the other hand,' Lee said, 'you might not make it at all.'

    'I'll take my chances,' Barbara told him.

    'See that?' Earl said. 'She's going, with or without a gun.'

    'I don't want a gun,' Barbara repeated.

    'I do,' Earl said. 'Come on, Lee. You afraid won't bring it back?'

    'That's not…'

    'I'll buy one of 'em off you? Okay? I'll give you five hundred bucks for the forty-five.' Lee shook his head. 'Six hundred.'

    'We both know you don't have any money, Earl.’

    'Maybe not on me…'

    'I'm going,' Barbara said. 'Thanks again for the lunch, Lee.'

    'Welcome.'

    'Pete, are you coming?'

    'Just hang on a minute,' Earl said. 'Nobody's going anywhere. We're in the middle of some negotiations here.'

    Barbara smirked. 'Negotiations, my butt. You haven't got any money.'

    'How much have you got?'

    'Not nearly enough. Maybe five bucks.'

    'Pete?'

    'Six or seven, guess.'

    'Heather?'

    'I'm not paying nothing,' Heather told him. 'I'm staying right here.'

    'Okay,' Earl said. 'Okay. So, we don't buy it with money. What'll you take for the forty-five, Lee?'

    Lee was beginning to look annoyed. 'I won't take anything for it. I'm not selling.'

    'What'll you take to let us borrow it just for…, say, three or four days? I mean, we only need it for an hour or two, but I'm not sure when we'll be able to get it back to you.'

    'Forget it,' Lee said.

    'How about an hour with Banner?' Grinning at Barbara, Earl patted her shoulder.

    She swatted his hand away.

    'Hey! Watch the merchandise!'

    'Keep your hands off her!' Pete snapped.

    'Yeah, yeah, sure, don't wet your pants. How about it, Lee? Look at her. A fair trade - you get an hour in the sack with Banner, and we get the loan of your forty-five.' Lee met her eyes. My God, he's thinking it over.

    'No,' she said. Her voice sounded hollow and seemed to ring in her ears.

    'How about it, Lee? A deal?'

    'She said no.'

    'What if she changes her mind?'

    'Cut it out,' Pete warned. 'Shut up.'

    'She isn't gonna do something like that.'

    'Maybe she is and maybe she isn't. Lee's gonna let us have the gun if she comes across.'

    'No.' Lee shook his head. He seemed less sure of himself than before. After a moment, he added, 'Not unless she wants to’

    'Look at him, Barbara. He's a handsome guy, isn't he? A real hunk. Wouldn't you like to have him put it to you?'

    'Stop it,' she said.

    'I'm pretty sure she must be a virgin, Lee. Everything mint condition, if you know what I mean.' He faced Barbara 'Is that the problem? You wanta save it for…?'

    'She asked you to stop,' Lee said. 'So stop. I'm not going for this. I'm not about to have you brow-beat her into doing something against her will.'

    'Ah, don't be such a Boy Scout.'

    'Knock it off, Earl!' Pete yelled.

    'I'll do it,' Heather said.

    The room suddenly went silent.

    Everyone turned to Heather, who was kneeling on the couch looking at them over her shoulder. 'I'll do it,' she said. Then she climbed off the sofa and turned around and looked at Lee. A corner of her mouth trembled. 'How about it.'?'

    Lee looked flustered. 'I'm sorry. This is all…I don't how this got started, exactly, but I don't want any part of Earl's crazy scheme if he thinks I'm going to trade one of my guns for… for sex… with you or anybody else.'

    Heather gaped at him. She blinked. She looked like she couldn't believe her ears. Then she muttered, 'What's wrong with me?'

    'Nothing. Nothing's wrong with you. This is all a mistake.

    'Wasn't a mistake when it was Barbara.' He shook his head. 'I wasn't going to…'

    'She didn't want you, or you would've.’

    'That's not true,' he said.

    The hell it's not, Barbara thought. If I'd said yes…

    'So why not me?' Heather blurted. 'Am I so disgusting…?'

    'You're not. You're very attractive.'

    'Screw it,' Earl said. 'He's just trying to spare your feelings.

    It's Banner or nothing. Right, Lee?'

    'It's nothing,' he said.

    Barbara gripped Pete's arm. 'Let's get out of here. Right now.'

    Whirling around, Earl blurted in her face, 'We need that gun, Banner! You wanta get us killed out there? Fuck the guy and we walk out with a gun! What's your pussy worth, for…!'

    Pete grabbed Earl by the front of his shirt.

    'Stop it!' Lee shouted and reached for Earl.

    The blast of a gunshot slammed through the room.

    Lee's head jerked as if it had been struck in the side by a baseball bat. His lips flopped. Spit flew from his mouth. The bullet came out the left side of his head an inch above his ear, throwing out a heavy red splash. He went sideways as if chasing it, tripped on his own feet, and crashed to the floor. Heather took aim with the rifle and put another shot into him.

    'No!' Barbara yelled.

    'Good job!' shouted Earl. 'Way to go, Heather! Now we get both his guns.'

    'The dirty rotten son of a bitch,' Heather muttered, scowling at Lee's sprawled body.

    Still holding Pete's arm, Barbara staggered backward on flimsy legs. She stopped when her buttocks bumped softly against the wall. Oh God, she thought. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. She gonna shoot me next? 'Got just what he deserved,' Earl said. 'You're terrific, Heather. Not only beautiful, but damn smart!' He knelt beside the body. 'Don't know what we would've done without you,' he said. Nodding and smiling at her, he pulled the forty-five out of the back of Lee's jeans. 'Thanks to you, Heather, we'll have a real fighting chance out in the streets.'

    'Is he dead?' Heather asked. Her voice sounded strangely flat, as if she was speaking from a trance.

    'You killed him deader than hell,' Earl said. 'I couldn't have done better myself.'

    'He was a rotten son of a bitch,' Heather said.

    'Yeah. Sure was. Who else do you think we oughta shoot?’

    'Her.' Heather swung the muzzle toward Barbara.

    'No!' Barbara yelled.

    She heard Pete yell, too, and felt him shove her out of the way. As she stumbled, she watched Earl jab the forty-five at Heather and fire. The noise was low and heavy and didn't stop. He was pulling the trigger very fast. The black pistol jumped in his hands, spitting brass out its side, smoke and fire out its front. Slug after slug punched Heather. They hit her in the chest and breasts, poking holes through her blouse, flinging out gouts of blood, shoving her backward. She dropped the rifle and sat down hard on the sofa. Barbara's ears rang. Shreds of white smoke drifted silently through the air. 'God!' Earl cried out. 'I had to do it! Did you see her? Did you see what she did? I had to do it!' Earl's voice sounded very far away. Barbara could barely hear it through the ringing. He was standing in front of her, looking from her to Pete. 'You're my witnesses, right? You saw what happened. I had to shoot her. She flipped out. No telling who she was gonna shoot next. Right?'

    Pete muttered, 'Guess.'

    Barbara nodded her head.

    'Damn right,' Earl said. Pointing the pistol toward the floor, he pushed a button to release its magazine. His hands started to shake. Badly. Then more than his hands. He stood there with his shoulders hunched, arms tight against his sides, chin jumping up and down - shuddering all over like a wet, naked man standing in a blizzard. Finally, the magazine came sliding down out of the pistol's handle. He fumbled it and it fell to the floor. He stared down at it.

    'Why'd she do it?' he asked. He looked at Barbara. 'She shot him. He was a good guy. He helped us. What the hell did she want to go and shoot him for? Does that make any sense? Was she nuts?'

    'You… said he deserved it,' Barbara muttered.

    'Yeah. That was after. Anyway, I didn't mean it. Had to say something.' He held the pistol toward her. 'You want it?'

    'No. Huh-uh.'

    'I'll take it,' Pete said. Earl handed the pistol to him. 'Better reload,' Earl said, and turned away. Turned toward Heather.

    'Jesus,' he muttered. 'Jesus, look at her.'

    Heather sat slumped against the back cushion, her mouth open, her arms limp by her sides, the rifle across her body, her legs apart and stretched out underneath the coffee table. Her face was spattered with blood. From the shoulders down her dress was sodden. She looked like she'd caught a bucket full to the brim with red paint square in the chest. And that woman's blood is under all that somewhere, Barbara thought. The woman the cat killed. She couldn't think of the woman's name. She couldn't think of the cat's name, either. That's Heather, though, she told herself. I know that's Heather. But what's her last name?

    Doesn't matter, she decided. I don't have to know.

    'I did that to her,' Earl said. 'Can you believe it? Jesus. I did that to her.'

    Pete bent over the table and picked up the full magazine. He shoved it up the handle of the Colt, then jacked a fresh round into the chamber.

    'She flipped out,' he said. 'Maybe we all had something to do with it, don't know.’

    'We did,' Barbara said.

    'Yeah, guess so.’

    'One way or another.’

    'Yeah,' Pete said.

    Earl shook his head. 'I'm the one that blew her out of her socks.'

    'We helped,' Barbara said. 'She was… so jealous… of me.'

    'It's almost like we led her right up to the brink,' Pete said.

    'I think she saw us in the pool.'

    'What'd you do in the pool?' Earl asked.

    'Kissed,' Barbara said, looking him in the eyes. 'That's all?'

    'It was plenty,' Pete said. 'We wouldn't have done it with her watching. Not if we'd known.'