Sociopaths In Love by Andersen Prunty

think I won't. And I'll finish the job and, somehow,
I'll make sure she knows you're the one responsible."
    Erica walked toward the crib.
    "What are you going to do with it?" Walt
asked.
    "I'm going to get rid of it."
    "Where?"
    "I'd rather not tell you."
    "You have to tell me where you're taking
her."
    "I'll drop her at a hospital. I saw like six
of them on the way in."
    "Fine."
    "Fine?"
    "Yeah, take her. Get rid of her." Walt
lowered the gun and looked dramatically at the floor. "That's how
much I love you."
    Erica reached into the crib and grabbed the
baby. She didn't know the first thing about babies. Didn't even
know if she was holding it correctly.
    "Can I have the keys to the car?" she
asked.
    Walt shook his head. "No. That's asking too
much."
    Erica took this as a reasonable answer even
though, since they'd started with her car and Walt had now traded
on it a couple of times, it almost seemed like it should have been
her car. At least as much her car as his. But it was okay. As she
told him, she'd seen several hospitals on the way in. She was sure
one of them was within walking distance and it was a warm night so
she didn't have to worry about the baby getting cold.
    Outside on the sidewalk, walking around and
looking for a blue hospital sign, she again thought she could just
leave. But she knew she wouldn't and thought maybe she should try
and figure out why that was but it felt like the answer would
terrify her more than everything that had happened up to this
point.
     
    The streets had seemed brighter from above.
Now on their surface, walking along the sidewalk, they seemed dark.
She passed alleys that were darker still and thought she could hear
movement coming from within them. She felt scared and vulnerable.
She walked for two or three blocks and wondered what she was doing.
How long until she found a hospital? She hated hospitals and wasn't
even sure she could step inside one. And now the thought of just
walking into one and plopping down a baby and being able to turn
and walk out completely unmolested seemed ridiculous. Plus she'd
have to walk all the way back and her feet already kind of hurt.
She wondered how long before a cop came along and spotted the
creepy girl in corpse paint carrying a baby and decided to stop and
ask her some questions. It wasn't her they would notice. It would
be the bright pink bundle she carried. She hugged the baby closer
to her chest. It was soft and warm. It smelled good.
    She heard shuffling to her left and turned
to see a bearded man in rags sitting at the bus stop.
    "Scuse me," he said.
    She walked a little faster.
    Another man shuffled across a crosswalk. He
wore a puffy blue coat despite the heat. He stopped on a manhole
cover, dipped his legs, and held both arms up to the sky.
    Erica approached him and said, "Will you
take this?" She proffered the baby to him.
    The man tried to stare at her but his eyes
jumped around in his head.
    "To a hospital or something? I'm new here. I
don't know where they are."
    "To space?" the man said.
    Erica didn't know what he was talking about
but when he held out his arms she put the baby in them and felt
both a physical and emotional weight lifted from her. She wondered
if it would be in the paper or on the news the next day. Maybe she
would check and see. It would be interesting to read other people's
descriptions of how it happened. But she knew she wouldn't check
the paper. She probably wouldn't want to look at a paper for a very
long time.
     
    When she got back to the apartment, Walt was
fucking the baby's dead mother.
    Erica wished she was surprised.

Part Two
    Have

 
    Home
     
    "This is a real nice place," Walt said.
    The only things Erica could focus on were
the naked woman with a gunshot wound between her shoulder blades,
the man with the pulped head, and the countless splatters and
splashes of blood on the white walls and light wood floor.
    "We can get all that stuff cleaned up. This
is our place now. We can start our life