him as the boy used his knife to jimmy open the hood, cut the cables and wrench out the plugs. Then he bent low, and slashed the tires. If by some miracle the old man managed to make a run for the car, he wouldn't get very far now. Luke stood, brushed dirt from his knees and rejoined his father.
Aaron appeared at the front door, face grim. In his hand he held a bloodstained ghost. With a flick of a wrist he tossed the sheet out into the night. It settled at the doctor's feet.
"She were here all right," Aaron told them. "But she ain't now."
Something else was knocked over inside the house—the twins, having their fun, high on adrenaline and compensating for the absence of their intended victim.
Papa-in-Gray stepped close to the old man. Aaron remained in the doorway, the gleam of excitement returned to his eyes now that he was watching his father at work.
"I'm gonna ask you one more time, Doc, and then I reckon I'm gonna have to start cutting itty-bitty pieces of you off until you tell what needs to be told."
Wellman backed away, toward the side of the house opposite the disabled Volkswagen where the darkness was heaviest. From there he had all of them in his sights. He stopped, swallowed. "She was here for a time. I didn't know what had happened to her. The man who brought her here—"
"Lowell," Papa told him, and Wellman's shoulders dropped a notch, the light in his eyes dimming. "We took his head as a souvenir. Wanna see it?"
Wellman paled, and shook his head. "No...I don't. I—"
"Clock's tickin'," Papa said.
"They brought her here, but I didn't know she was...yours. I thought she'd been in an accident or something. Jack didn't know nothing either. I did what I could for her, but she was too badly off...needed more help than I could give, so..."
Papa closed the distance between them. "So?"
The old man seemed rooted to the spot with fear. "So I sent her on her way."
Papa smiled. It was a predatory look and though Luke wasn't sure if the doctor knew it, it was also the telltale sign that the man's time had just run out. "With Lowell's 'lil nigger pup, right?"
Wellman said nothing.
Aaron let loose a frustrated sigh and stepped out into the yard but not before leaning back and calling out to the twins that it was time to go.
This was where it was all going to end, Luke realized. They had wasted too much time at home, with Momma's little speech, then Papa's display with the severed head for the boys' amusement, then again at the farmer's house, fucking around with the animals when he could have been in the truck, trying to make it here before the Lowell kid took off with the girl. If he hadn't known any better, Luke might have thought Papa had delayed on purpose, might have come to the conclusion that his father didn't give a rat's ass about the girl and had done all this simply to get rid of the family's one remaining rotten egg. To dispose of the kid he didn't love. After all, why punish Luke for a mistake Matt had made? None of this would have happened if that simple-minded fool hadn't fallen for the girl's tricks.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt a terrible, repulsive affinity for the people they had hunted and killed over the years. For the first time in his life, he felt the sensation of the trap closing in on him, the jagged teeth descending to rend his flesh and snap the bone.
He was no longer kin.
He was prey.
His father's voice jarred him from his thoughts. "Aaron."
"Pa?"
"Scalp him."
For one dazzlingly horrific moment, Luke thought his father meant him, that the execution of the mutinous plan had already begun, but then he saw the doctor back away as Aaron moved in on him, knife held with the point aimed skyward, and he let out a small inaudible sigh of relief.
"Make it fast, boy. We've got some catchin' up to do." Papa turned and headed for the truck, apparently uninterested in the torture that was about to be visited upon the old doctor.
He had one hand on the door when Aaron
Aaron appeared at the front door, face grim. In his hand he held a bloodstained ghost. With a flick of a wrist he tossed the sheet out into the night. It settled at the doctor's feet.
"She were here all right," Aaron told them. "But she ain't now."
Something else was knocked over inside the house—the twins, having their fun, high on adrenaline and compensating for the absence of their intended victim.
Papa-in-Gray stepped close to the old man. Aaron remained in the doorway, the gleam of excitement returned to his eyes now that he was watching his father at work.
"I'm gonna ask you one more time, Doc, and then I reckon I'm gonna have to start cutting itty-bitty pieces of you off until you tell what needs to be told."
Wellman backed away, toward the side of the house opposite the disabled Volkswagen where the darkness was heaviest. From there he had all of them in his sights. He stopped, swallowed. "She was here for a time. I didn't know what had happened to her. The man who brought her here—"
"Lowell," Papa told him, and Wellman's shoulders dropped a notch, the light in his eyes dimming. "We took his head as a souvenir. Wanna see it?"
Wellman paled, and shook his head. "No...I don't. I—"
"Clock's tickin'," Papa said.
"They brought her here, but I didn't know she was...yours. I thought she'd been in an accident or something. Jack didn't know nothing either. I did what I could for her, but she was too badly off...needed more help than I could give, so..."
Papa closed the distance between them. "So?"
The old man seemed rooted to the spot with fear. "So I sent her on her way."
Papa smiled. It was a predatory look and though Luke wasn't sure if the doctor knew it, it was also the telltale sign that the man's time had just run out. "With Lowell's 'lil nigger pup, right?"
Wellman said nothing.
Aaron let loose a frustrated sigh and stepped out into the yard but not before leaning back and calling out to the twins that it was time to go.
This was where it was all going to end, Luke realized. They had wasted too much time at home, with Momma's little speech, then Papa's display with the severed head for the boys' amusement, then again at the farmer's house, fucking around with the animals when he could have been in the truck, trying to make it here before the Lowell kid took off with the girl. If he hadn't known any better, Luke might have thought Papa had delayed on purpose, might have come to the conclusion that his father didn't give a rat's ass about the girl and had done all this simply to get rid of the family's one remaining rotten egg. To dispose of the kid he didn't love. After all, why punish Luke for a mistake Matt had made? None of this would have happened if that simple-minded fool hadn't fallen for the girl's tricks.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt a terrible, repulsive affinity for the people they had hunted and killed over the years. For the first time in his life, he felt the sensation of the trap closing in on him, the jagged teeth descending to rend his flesh and snap the bone.
He was no longer kin.
He was prey.
His father's voice jarred him from his thoughts. "Aaron."
"Pa?"
"Scalp him."
For one dazzlingly horrific moment, Luke thought his father meant him, that the execution of the mutinous plan had already begun, but then he saw the doctor back away as Aaron moved in on him, knife held with the point aimed skyward, and he let out a small inaudible sigh of relief.
"Make it fast, boy. We've got some catchin' up to do." Papa turned and headed for the truck, apparently uninterested in the torture that was about to be visited upon the old doctor.
He had one hand on the door when Aaron
Similar Books
