buy yachts with money out of petty cash were no braver in the face of these lethal men than the poorest of ditch diggers would have been. These people who thought they ruled the world because of who they were, as if their money made them more special than anyone else. It was 93 hard to dwell on one’s position in society when that position was on the floor.
Hillary had gotten her distraction. And now there was a great likelihood her baby was going to die before it ever had a chance to live.
She lay on the floor, curled up in a fetal position that would provide as much protection for her child as possible. On some level it was a pointless exercise; if she were killed, it wasn’t as if they could save the infant. It existed as nothing more than a plus sign on a stick and in an extended imaginary life in Hillary’s head.
The behemoth leader of the men who had broken into the party was standing dead center of the room. Hillary had no idea what to make of him. She’d read about horrible creatures like this: Some of them had been transformed by radiation, some of them came from the stars, and still others were actually born that way. “Mutants,” those ones were called. Fearsome, grotesque, corrupted and deformed shadows of human beings. There were rumors that anyone could be a mutant: “The Terror That Could Be Living Next Door,” one newspaper had put it. But she didn’t believe that. Certainly if they looked like the monstrosity terrorizing this group, they wouldn’t be allowed in
any
of the better neighborhoods.
He was looking upward, this monster, as if he could see straight through the ceiling. “Hmmm,” he muttered. “A moth. A single moth would have made more noise touching down.” Then he raised his voice slightly, apparently to make sure his men heard him. “Company’s here.”
“Bring ’em on, baby!” said one of his men. Another stroked his gun like a woman and declared, “We are locked and loaded. Heartbreakers and life takers, am I right?”
94 “Oh, yeah!” shouted one of his pals.
“Bring on the muties!”
“Oh,
yeah!
”
“Are you finished?” asked the monster.
We’re going to die
, Hillary said to herself, losing her final hope.
Everything I read, everything I’ve heard, it’s all true. This monster is a mutant and other mutants are going to show up, and they’re going to kill us all, my baby…I should have told Rosa Lee. I should have shared it with someone…
Her gaze shifted toward Rosa Lee, the woman whose curiosity had caused Hillary to wish, however inadvertently, for this nightmare that had descended upon them.
Rosa Lee wasn’t there.
That was the damnedest thing.
Hillary could have sworn that Rosa Lee was lying directly across from her. There was no way she could have gotten out. Even the slightest movement would have been noticed, much less an all-out escape. Yet she was gone. How could that possibly—?
The sudden chatter of gunfire caused Hillary to cry out and cover her ears, drawing her knees up even more tightly toward her stomach. No one heard her because everyone else was screaming as well, and combined with all of that were the howls of the masked man who was emptying his gun into the nearby windows. Glass shattered and fell everywhere. He was bellowing,
“Thought I didn’t see you, huh! Thought you’d sneak by!”
“Soldier!”
shouted the strange, monstrous leader. Amazingly his voice soared above all of the shrieking and even the sounds of the bullets. 95 The man in black stopped shooting. Hillary dared to peek out from under her arm and saw there was still a crazed look on his face, his blue eyes wide with fury, and…
Wait a minute. What the hell—?
Leon Brisbane was gone. And Candy Hardacy. And Rachel McClaren, and Hubert Perkins, and Walter himself. She wasn’t imagining it. The guests were disappearing.
And the leader hadn’t noticed, distracted as he was by the crazed soldier who stood there with smoke wafting out the muzzle of the
Hillary had gotten her distraction. And now there was a great likelihood her baby was going to die before it ever had a chance to live.
She lay on the floor, curled up in a fetal position that would provide as much protection for her child as possible. On some level it was a pointless exercise; if she were killed, it wasn’t as if they could save the infant. It existed as nothing more than a plus sign on a stick and in an extended imaginary life in Hillary’s head.
The behemoth leader of the men who had broken into the party was standing dead center of the room. Hillary had no idea what to make of him. She’d read about horrible creatures like this: Some of them had been transformed by radiation, some of them came from the stars, and still others were actually born that way. “Mutants,” those ones were called. Fearsome, grotesque, corrupted and deformed shadows of human beings. There were rumors that anyone could be a mutant: “The Terror That Could Be Living Next Door,” one newspaper had put it. But she didn’t believe that. Certainly if they looked like the monstrosity terrorizing this group, they wouldn’t be allowed in
any
of the better neighborhoods.
He was looking upward, this monster, as if he could see straight through the ceiling. “Hmmm,” he muttered. “A moth. A single moth would have made more noise touching down.” Then he raised his voice slightly, apparently to make sure his men heard him. “Company’s here.”
“Bring ’em on, baby!” said one of his men. Another stroked his gun like a woman and declared, “We are locked and loaded. Heartbreakers and life takers, am I right?”
94 “Oh, yeah!” shouted one of his pals.
“Bring on the muties!”
“Oh,
yeah!
”
“Are you finished?” asked the monster.
We’re going to die
, Hillary said to herself, losing her final hope.
Everything I read, everything I’ve heard, it’s all true. This monster is a mutant and other mutants are going to show up, and they’re going to kill us all, my baby…I should have told Rosa Lee. I should have shared it with someone…
Her gaze shifted toward Rosa Lee, the woman whose curiosity had caused Hillary to wish, however inadvertently, for this nightmare that had descended upon them.
Rosa Lee wasn’t there.
That was the damnedest thing.
Hillary could have sworn that Rosa Lee was lying directly across from her. There was no way she could have gotten out. Even the slightest movement would have been noticed, much less an all-out escape. Yet she was gone. How could that possibly—?
The sudden chatter of gunfire caused Hillary to cry out and cover her ears, drawing her knees up even more tightly toward her stomach. No one heard her because everyone else was screaming as well, and combined with all of that were the howls of the masked man who was emptying his gun into the nearby windows. Glass shattered and fell everywhere. He was bellowing,
“Thought I didn’t see you, huh! Thought you’d sneak by!”
“Soldier!”
shouted the strange, monstrous leader. Amazingly his voice soared above all of the shrieking and even the sounds of the bullets. 95 The man in black stopped shooting. Hillary dared to peek out from under her arm and saw there was still a crazed look on his face, his blue eyes wide with fury, and…
Wait a minute. What the hell—?
Leon Brisbane was gone. And Candy Hardacy. And Rachel McClaren, and Hubert Perkins, and Walter himself. She wasn’t imagining it. The guests were disappearing.
And the leader hadn’t noticed, distracted as he was by the crazed soldier who stood there with smoke wafting out the muzzle of the
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