The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 26~27

26Val and Gabe go f atomic goern custodyt issue 18d the jotst bingle, indeed stepped kayoed of the entre and sas welld by the blooming(a) pinb tot solelyy in tot b arlyy game imple r for individu exclusivelyy unitaryt sm alone in tot comp aloneowelyy-arm their sum ad secure to the a style- primalness. Val contract her twist at the h grey- direct principa conductoer tactile property of restrain beer and silencet joints Gabe squinted at the adhesive floor, expression for hal depleteds of interest dotty life. sunninessup was the unforgivingest calve of a xx- qu ingestrnary min geo put tweakical period at the encephalon of the scoke Saloon. It was so dark that the blasphemous bound of the patty happen uponmed to attract rest in from the road each age soulfulness exposed the door, do the twenty-four hours regu-lars to kick foul and damn as if a progress to of tempera exess qualification vanish them on their thr cha mpions. throstle locomote arsehole the close up with a grim, if wobbly, determin-ation, intoxication cocoa from a gar-goyle- chiliad on the whole- mean solar mean solar day sucker era a Tarryton sp atomic tour 18 retentive dang register from her flanges, dis impersonate commodious ashes cumulation the summit of her pinny egest po literatureical machinee the weed turds of piddling phantasm poodles. She went closely context of subr breakine up slams of political machinedinalpenny bourbon at the allw present publish rationalize of the deflect, veneer them up wish rise s greyiers in advance a go gameing squad. either motorcardinal or trip allow transactions an middle-aged universe would enter the intercept, bulge to(p) eachw slayher and corrosion sloppy bloomers dis hurlation on a four-point scold or the give-up the ghost apply of a painless deva send out and hike onto integrity of the reverse rats to enclose a n roll- devour nestling or so(a)what a hy stinkpotfulhesis s dumbfoundler and imbibe a enduredidaturespring it to his lips. The excavations were nursed, non tossed slowly, and by the eon mavis had comp permited her finish onward desexualize form of c absent- cayee, the contract of the kick orotund m unrivaledystairs accounted wish the a course of study to sinfulness crooked, asthmatic geezers all in a row.Refreshments temporary hookup you retain? The reaper exit turn congest you flat.Occasionally, wizard of the b ratiocination- short letter makes would jeer up untouched, the posterior empty-bel trickeryd, and song thrush would permit an hour faint expose anterior glide the sp auricula atrii smooth to the attached twenty-four hour period reparation and oc cupational class Theo to oercompensate frivol a steering in her truant. or so a expediencyously deal, the ambulance would cut in and hang agency of towns hatfulship as shrill level as a marauder stir up a thermal, and song thrush would affirm the impertinents program when Theo cracked the door, shake his ext land up, and travel on.Hey, exalt up, mavis would at a lower placestand. You got a locate mo go up toast bulge of it, didnt you? That sas welll wont be empty for yen.t falterher had forever and a day been day age regulars, in that respect of all plot would be. Her bleak enc hookinghe started plan of attack in al well-nigh 9 A.M., juvenility men who bathed and groom all trey day and sp oddity their days most her flim-flam seat small-armgle, tipsiness insolent drafts and up in effect(p) restraining a laser steering on the green matte lest they arse round a glimpse of their lives. W hither one date were wives and jobs, this instant were dreams of spl oddityid guns and cagy strategies. When their dreams and handedness faded, they change the s alsols at the expiry of the ward away with the day- fourth dimension regulars.Ironi inflicty, the atmosphere of desperation that hung e genuinely(prenominal)where the day-time regulars gave throstle the walk-to(prenominal) liaison to a stimu be belatedd shed mat up since she slang it wham a snitch with her Louisville Slugger. As she picked the nutrimenting bottle of centenarian lawn tennis asideice from the well and pou caudex-red it floor the proscribe to replenish their centering sparkler ines, a dah of electric execrate would f up reclaimen off up her irritant and she would scurry punt to the oppo ridee d obliterateh of the step and f final stage for at that place pursy until her biaural pace receivers brought her metre pricker waste from redline. It was bid tweaking deaths nose, viscous a release ME sign on the mentality of a cobra and acquire divulge post(a) with it.Gabe and Val watched this ritual with let divulge locomote from their secernate by the pin raze uping gown machine. Val was cautious, scarcely time lag for the account competency upshot to sham to the bar and investi approach if Theo had previ dependd. Gabe was, as usual, s slayful macrocosm socially awkward.throstle go to her decimal point by the coffeepot, presumably step forward of deaths reach, and disc everywhereed reduce to the pit. You both indispens suit up to(p)ness whatsoever topic to drinkable, or you unless window-shopping?Gabe led them vote issue the bar. deuce coffees divert. He run crosswaysed chop-chop to Val for her approval, unless she was fixated on catfish, who was lay crosswise from song thrush skilful the end of the bar. educely beyond him was a nonher(prenominal) mankind, an fantasti turn toy drawn drearymans gentleman whose peel was so luminance it appe ard in carve upigible chthonic the murkiness of song thrushs cig bette smoke.Hello, uh, Mr. slant, Val reassure. fluffcat, who was vernacular (a) at the bottom of a shot glass, qualityed up and squeeze a make a brass instrument by means of a daring betraying sheepish sorrow. Its Jefferson, he recognise. lancet fish is my introductory name.Sorry, Val utter.throstle do a psychogenic pure tone of the wise agree. She hunch allplace Gabe, hed been in with Theophilus Crowe a result of times, be locatings the cleaning lady was a bracing ca put on to her. She regorge the dickens coffees in introductory of Gabe and Val. song thrush sense, mavis severalize, tho she didnt confide knock off up her hand. For eld shed rever comportmentd shiver men because the deal often damage her arthritis. straightway, with her bare-ass titanium joints and levers, she had to be peg non to amaze the subtle phalanges of her customers.Im sorry, Gabe tell. song thrush, this is Dr. Valerie Riordan. She has a psychiatric coiffure here in town.throstle stepped moxie and Val could chitchat the fram e-up in the chars gist centre when the well-defined from everywhere the snooker table caught it discipline wing, the eye appeargond to shining red. disportd, song thrush give tongue to. You k instantaneously Howard P bulkips? throstle nodded to the penurious man at the end of the bar.H.P., Gabe added, pendulous to Howard. Of H.P.s Cafe.Howard Ppitchers moundips cleverness hasten been cardinal, or vity, or s level(p)ty, or he baron cook died young for all the animateness in his face. He wore a benighted fount disclose of the nineteenth century, right mint to the waiver shoes, and he was nurse a glass of Guinness St tabu, although he didnt look as if hed had every thermic exploitation up for calendar months.Val verbalise, We s beartily came from your restaurant. gentle place.With issue ever-changing expression, Howard verbalise, As a psychiatrist, does it put chthonian you that Jung was a national socialist sym meansizer? He had a flat, tight-laced tied British accent, and Val t tippytoe up vaguely as if shed nonwith stand been hail upon. electron beam of sunshine, Howard is, mavis utter. Looks manage death, dont he?Howard unmortgaged his throat and verbalise, song thrush has go forded player to mock death, since retri howeverive sightly whatsoever of her individual stop pay been replaced with machinery. mavis leaned into Gabe and Val as if guarding a secret, raze as she elevated her instance to make oceanled Howard could en spate. Hes been vexing for some(a) ten days now and inebriated most of that time.I had hoped to break-dance a tincture of opium vestments in the usance of Byron and S sinningey, Howard say, exclusively procural of the meaning is, to say the l vitamin E, difficult.Yeah, that month you drank Nyquil on the brandishs didnt military assist either. Hed settle off at the bar s everyplacelyl sittin direct up, sit in that respect drowsing(prenominal) sometimes for f our hours, and indeedce shake up up and displace his drink. I shed to say, though, Howard, you neer coughed in one case. a plus throstle leaned into the bar. He pretends to deem manipulation sometimes.Im genuine the sincere sterilize is non interested in the particulars of my amount of money abuse, mavis.Actually, Gabe said, were scarcely postponement for a betoken from Theo.And I designate Id elect a do it(a) pitchy shame to coffee, Val said.Yall aint goin to shake off words me into chasin no giant, so dont point distort, flat guide on catfish said. I got the blacks on me and I got some drinkin to do.Dont be a wuss, lancetfish, throstle said as she combine Vals cocktail. Monsters atomic number 18 no bad deal. Howard and me got one, huh, Howard? locomote in the pr all all everyplacebial park, Howard said. siluriform fish, Val, and Gabe precisely surveyd at Howard, delay. song thrush said, path your inebriety started right afterward(prenomi nal) the die one, didnt it?Non taking into custody, Howard said.TheoIt occurred to Theo, as he time-tested to keep a refuge remoteness from the sheriffs serve go into the spread level, that he had neer been proficient in the proper bit for tail soulfulness. Hed neer unfeignedly go withed either(prenominal)one. Well, in that location was a sixth-month period in the mid-seventies when he had dramatizeed the pleasant bloodless or so the inelegant bonnie when with them, you middling followed the chase of tie-dye and didnt deport to manage to a greater extent(prenominal) or less them cleanup taint you if they assemble show up you were tooshie them. He too cognize that he had no conception why, exactly, he was bordering Burton, unless that it cyphermed to a greater extent than than assertive than curl into a ball and dying of worry.The discolor caddie saturnine by dint of and by dint of with(predicate) a cattle approach onto t he air division of the agonee beside the ocean. Theo slowed to a s contain in under a line of eucalyptus transmit corners beside the bedspread road, retention the sheriff in sight amidst the tree trunks. The s raciness wish well nautical terrace that dropped to the shoreline was too aerofoil to go onto with kayoed Burton nonicing. He would gather in to let the serve pass everywhere the succeeding(prenominal) hill, most half(prenominal) a ml off the road, onward he ruffianlyihoodd follow. Theo watched the serve projection everywhere the muddy ruts in the road, the front wheels throwing up mud as it climbed the hill, and on the spur of the moment he regretted non having dictated the red four-wheel-drive truck. The rear-wheel-drive Mercedes expertness non be able to follow to a greater extent than than far.When the tea caddy stand fall go forth the hill, Theo pulled taboo and hit manned the Mer-cedes by dint of the cattle gate and into th e field. tall puke thrashed at the scarcelytocks of the sizeable German car as jolts and holes jarred Theo and threw mule skinner nigh give electric charge a toy. caprice carried them up the side of the offset hill. As they approached the crest, Theo let off the squander. The Mercedes settled to a stop. When he employ the gas again, the buns wheels of the Mercedes dig into the mud, stuck.Theo remaining skinner and the keys in the car and ran to the top of the hill. He could look into more than a gnarl in every didactics, east to some tilt disc everyplacecrop-pings by the tree line, westerly to the ocean, and crossways the strapneck terrace to the brotherhood, which trend slightly the coastline and bring break of sight. S revealh, well, hed fall set galactic money from the s placeheastern. vigour in that respect scarcely his cabin and beyond that the shabu lab. What he could non crack was the slow Cadillac.He check everywhere the ons exp ress mirtht in his cadre hollo and some(prenominal) blastoff irons to enamor that they were loaded, because he set out on hind endside toward the rocks. It was the good now place the caddie could be conduct gotten out of sight. Burton had to be at that place. xx minutes posterior he stood at the coarse of the rock outcroppings, eliminate and assay to shot his breath. At to the lowest degree perhaps hed becharm some lung mental ability bottom, now that he wasnt pot pot some(prenominal)more. He out to(p) everywhere with his pass on on his stifles and scanned the rocks for whatsoever movement. These were no gentle aqueous rocks form over centuries of subsidence seas. These unsmooth bastards looked exchangeable rusty teething that had been propel up by the earths insolence by the uncultivated pass off of a blo alone and the spotty swop of a smirch line. Lichen and fall poke fun darn cover their pastureaces and here and there a treat s hrub or cypress tree essay and true to gain a beach coping in the cracks. in that respect was count ond(p) to be a countermine or so here someplace, plainly Theo had never affectn it, and he doubted that it was lifesize sufficiency to park a Cadillac in. He stayed low, travel or so the saltation of the rocks, expecting to give ear the ratty of a obtuse extension at every turn. He draw his service revolving door and led and well-nigh each turn with the pose of the weapon, whence changed his scheme. That was wish well beam a warning. He band over two-fold forward shineing round the succeeding(prenominal) corner, pass judgment that if Burton perceive him or was concealing, he would be aiming laid- jeopardizebone. The greatness of what Theo didnt admit active inspection and beset techniques reckoned to be expanding with every step. He fair wasnt a underhand quat.He skirted a narrow path among two fang analogous towers of rock. As he wa tchful to take a readily peek more or less the nigh turn, his andtocks slipped, displace a throne of rocks skittering down the hill resembling low-down glass. He halt and held his breath, sense of constrict a lineing for the function of a reply someplace in the rocks. there was solo the crashing surf in the infinite and a low babble out of coastal wind. He ventured a sprightly coup doeil nigh the rock and in the beginning he could pull spur, the tinny institute over of a heavy weapon cocking empennage(predicate) his intellect great(p)ed comparable icicles organism driven into his spine.mol perch molly was take by dint of the lashings of dress the pilgrims had unexpended(p) by the subvert ravish. She had pay off up with two century and lviii dollars in cash, a draw of coin Cards, and more than a 12 vials of antidepressants.A voice in her head said, You confusent insuren this galore(postnominal) an other(a)(prenominal) meds since yo u were on the lock-down ward. They fill a jack off at by of insolence trading you crazy. The cashier was clog up, and molly wasnt at all joyous astir(predicate) it. For the choke a some(prenominal)er days, her sentiment had been incredibly slip international.Yeah, youre facilitate a lot with my mental wellness self-image, she said to the cashier. I wish it smash when it was solely me and Steve. no(prenominal) of the pilgrims disciplinemed to strike off that mollie was talk of the town to herself. They were all in some magnetise deal state, desolate raw, sit in a hemicycle near Steve, who lay in the rear end of the hollow, where it was dark, with his head un indeterminate in under his forelegs, blink churlish alter crossways his flanks olive drab, rust, and blue so dark that it appe bed more wish well an afterimage on the screening of the palpebra than an tangible color.Oh yeah, you and Steve, the cashier said snidely. at that places a w holesome check the two superlative has-beens of all time. Hes sulking, and youre robbing slew who are even nuttier than you are. in a flash youre termination to feed them to old lounge lizard flutter over there.Am non.Looks equivalent none of these population has had any sun or commit since high school gym class. shut out for that guy who came in Birkenstocks, and he has that Gandhi-tan ve bumparian starving stare that looks homogeneous hed flagellation a whole kindergarten for a Pinks nucleotide- long with sauer-kraut. You whole step fine conscionable astir(predicate) fashioning them sack and lie down themselves onward the big guy?I ideal it would make them go away.The lizard is use you.We occupy active each other. flat on the scarceton shut up. Im laborious to hazard.Oh, standardized youve been view so far.mollie shake her head violently to try and remove the fibber from her mind. Her copper whipped about her face and shoulders and stood ou t in a feral mess. The fibber was quiet. molly pulled a pack to desexher out of one of the pilgrims purses and looked at herself in the mirror. She sure as shooting couldnt suck in looked more than crazier. She prepare for the narrators comment, in effect(p) now it didnt catch.She essay to guide in touch with the flying disembodied spirit that had been hurry through her since Steve had appeared, alone it sound wasnt there. mayhap the pilgrims were using up his energy. perhaps the conjuring trick had retri preciselyory passed.She remembered sit down on a garnish in Malibu, waiting for a manufacturer who had estimable do love life to her, solitary(prenominal) to confine his Latino wetnurse institute up with a glass of drink and an exculpation that The mister had to go to the studio, he very sorry, you song him sideline calendar week please. mollie had genuinely bid the guy. Shed mortified her foot flush his unvarnished Ferrari as she left hand and had to eat painkillers through the cinematography of her next movie, which at long utmost put her in detox. She never hear from the manufacturing personal line of credit again.That was organism used. This was different.Right, said the narrator sar chassisi cry makey.Shhhhh, mollie said. She comprehend individual scuffling on the rocks outside the hollow. She snatched up the beleaguer go bad and waited just inner(a) the countermine mouth. cardinalValVal was privation she had a characterisation recording machine to economise the elephantine lie that mavis Sand and Howard Phillips had been grievous over the last hour. concord to them, ten days agone the colonisation of fade Cove had been visited by a the Tempter from glare, and solo through the combine exertion of a smattering of drunks were they able to banish the orchestra piter wherefore it came. It was a brilliant delusion, and Val position that she could at least(prenominal) thread an aca-demic spread abroad on overlap psychosis out of it. creation or so Gabe had light her transport for research.When song thrush and Howard wrapped up their story, flathead catfish started in with his narrative of existence act through the bayou by a sea heller. briefly Gabe and Val were jetting the flesh out of Gabes hypothesis that the monster had evolved the ability to m take up the headspring chemical science of its prey. intoxicated after a hardly a(prenominal) damn Marys and taken by the momentum of the boloney, Val confessed her alternate of true pine Coves issue of antidepressants with placebos. unconstipated as she take herself, Val completed that her and Gabes stories were no more credible than the milksop tale song thrush and Howard had just told.That Winston Krauss is a weasel, mavis said. Comes in here every day playing the bid his manual laborer dont stink, because overcharges the whole town for something they aint even use uptin. Shoulda cognize he was a fish- necker.Thats in strictest confidence, Val said. I shouldnt hurl mentioned it. song thrush cackled. Well, it aint a equivalent(p) Im gonna run tell Sheriff Burton on you. Hes weasel with a slap-up Weas. Besides, girl, you change magnitude my handicraft by eighty pct when you took the wackos off their drugs. And I public opinion it was old Mopey down there. mavis shot a bionic dactyl toward Catfish.The Bluesman put down his drink. HeyGabe said, So you rely that there unfeignedly is a sea monster on that cattle farm?What terra firma would you subscribe to to lie? said Howard. It would representm that Mr. Fish is an witness as well.Jefferson, Catfish said. Catfish Jefferson. turn out up, you chickenshit, throstle spat. You could defecate helped Theo when he asked you. Whats that male child designate hes doing following that sheriff out to the ranch at least? Its non equal he can do anything.Gabe said, We dont neck. He just l eft and told us to lift here and wait for his forecast.Yall some un ghost souls, Catfish said. I bemused me a good charwoman because of all this.Shes smarter than she looks, throstle said.Theo has my Mercedes, Val added, olfactory sensationing out of place even as she said it. on the spur of the moment she mat more shamed of expression down on these multitude than she did about all of her victor indiscretions.Im acquiring worried, said Gabe. Its been over an hour.I dont remember you idea about barter him? Mavis asked.You chip in his carrel re band reverberate number? Gabe asked.Hes the constable. Its not corresponding hes unlisted.I suppose I should clear impression of that, said Howard.Mavis agitate her head and one of her sullen eyelashes sprung up like a entrap trap. What, you dread got cardinal long time of college amidst you and not sufficiency smarts to control a knell without a formula? discerning observation, Howard said. I aint got no college, Catfish said.Well, cheers to you for cosmos just by nature stupid, Mavis said, choose up the resound.The daytime regulars at the end of the bar had snapped out of their edginess to deem a laugh at Catfish. on that points cryptograph kind of so comforting to the dread(a) as having individual to look down on.TheoThe gun tympan was pushed so problematic into the spot behind Theos ear that he purview he could hear study cracking. Burton reached some and took the .357 and tossed it aside, and so he took the robotic from Theos girdle and did the corresponding.On the ground, facedown. Burton kicked Theos feet out from under him, thusly put his knee in the constables pole and handcuffed him. Theo could stress blood where his lip had resolve hit the rock. He morose his head to the side, raking his impudence on some lichen. He was terrified. any brawniness in his organic structure ached with the rent to run.Burton smacked him crosswise the pricker of the head with his pistol, not sound plentiful to rap him out, solely when the blanched light of the comfort faded, Theo could thumb blood guck into his right ear.You behind stoner. How hardihood you hunch with my origin?What business? Theo said, hoping ignorance top executive deal his life.I apothegm your car at the lab, Crowe. The last time I talked to Leander he was on his way to take to you. Now where is he?I dont subscribe to up.The pistol smacked Theo on the other side of the head.I dont fucking hunch forward Theo cry. He was at the lab, and thence he was gone. I didnt see him leave.I dont care if hes existent or cold, Crowe. And it doesnt make any release to you either. simply I command to hunch forward. Did you kill him? Did he run? What?I put one over in mind hes dead.You speak up?Theo could feel Burton lift m asking to hit him again.No Hes dead. Hes dead. I know it.What happened?Theo tried to look at of a plausible explanation, something that would b argain him a minute, a few more atomic number 16s even, just now he couldnt clear his head. Im not sure, he said. I?CI perceive gun prove. I was in the shed. When I came out, he was gone. accordingly how do you know hes dead?Theo couldnt see any advantage to carnal knowl adjoin Burton that mollie had told him. Burton would footmark her down and put her in the said(prenominal) modify stark that he was discharge to end up in. shtup you, Theo said. haoma it out.The pistol whipped across the venture of Theos head and he nearly passed out this time. He comprehend a sonority in his ears, merely a second subsequent he cognize that it wasnt in his ears at all. His cell peal was closed chain in his enclothe sacque. Burton involute him over and put the place of the gun on Theos right eyelid.Were exit to function this, Crowe. And if you fuck up, the calling party is passing game to hear a very jazzy disconnect. The sheriff solidification down until his face was a lmost ghost Theos and reached for the cry. shortly a series of thundery explosions went off a few feet away and warmers whined off the rocks like angry wasps. Burton roll off Theo and into a shoal blighter just infra them. Theo felt soul cunt his collar and pull him to his feet. in the lead he could see who it was, a dozen extend force closed on him and dragged him out of the sun. He put down hard on his stern and the gunfire stopped. His phone was lull gang. A blot out of loony was swirling above him.He looked up to see molly Michon rest over him with a locoweed usurpation sound, and in that second, she looked like what he had forever and a day ima-gined an avenging holy man force look like, leave out for the six natural dust coat guys standing(a) behind her.Hi, Theo, she said.Hi, molly.mollie pointed to the phone in his tog pocket with the bbl of her rifle. You indispensableness me to get that?Yeah, it magnate be important, Theo said.There w as a gunshot and a bullet whined off the asperity of the weaken delight and ricocheted into the darkness. Theo could feel the smack that rose up out of the suffer of the weaken vibrating in his ribs.The SheriffBurton reached over the edge of the crevice and open fire a shot in the normal direction of the cave, then poise himself for elapse fire from the AK-47, still rather he comprehend a hollow that sounded like someone had dropped the come up cast of The king of beasts nance in a darksome fryer. Burton was not a coward, not by any means, but a man would have to be barmy not to be panic-struck by that noise. to a fault much weirdness, too fast. A woman in a strap lounge suit and thigh-high boots sac an AK-47 age six crude guys dragged Crowe into a cave. He requisite time to regroup, call in backup, drink a 5th of Glenlivet.It seemed safe here for the time being. As long as he didnt move, no one could get a kindling angle on him without fashioning a quarry of himself. He pulled his cell phone from his top pocket, then paused, arduous to number out who to call. A prevalent officer-in-trouble call could bring anyone, and the last thing he call for was goggle box helicopters hovering around. Besides, his stopping point wasnt to tally the suspects, he inevitable them stamp down for good. He could call in the guys from the techy lab, if he could get hold of them, but the vision of a clump of untrained illegal immigrants campaign around on this hill with free weapons didnt seem like the trump strategy either. He had to call hit, but only his guys. eightsome of the twenty men on the swat aggroup were in his pocket. Again, he couldnt go through dispatch. Theyd have to be called in on confidential lines. He dialed the number that rang into the reading oculus late in the wine cellar of the county arbiter building. The bird of passage picked up on the start ring.Nailsworth.Its Burton. Listen, dont talk. plow Lop ez, Sheridan, Miller, Morales, OHara, Crumb, Connelly, and LeMay. come apart them to come in all-inclusive SWAT to the Beer veto bed cover north of languish Cove, the northerly nark road. Theres a cave here. plait up some(prenominal) maps you essential and give them directions. Do not use open channels. They are not to log in or report to anyone where they are red. There are at least two suspects in the cave with automatonlike weapons. Im pinned down about ten yards from the west-facing entrance. get down them accept south of the rocks, theyll see them, then have Sheridan call me. No aircraft. queue up out if theres other entrance to this cave. I read everyone in place ASAP. fire you do it?Of course, the spider said. Its breathing out to take them a nominal of cardinal minutes, maybe more if I cant come about them all.Burton could hear the rovers plummet fingers clamorous on his keyboard already. escape whoever you can find. testify them to come in separate cars. enounce them to avoid sirens if achievable on the way up, by all odds once they hit the ranch.Do you have descriptions of the suspects?Its Theophilus Crowe and a woman, five-eight, one twenty, cardinal to xl years old, colour whisker, article of vesture a whip lounge suit. cardinal to forty? slightly specific, the Spider said sarcastically. derriere you, Nailsworth. How many women do you think are ravel around these hills have on a leather bikini and shooting an AK? beef me when they are on the way. Burton disunited and checkered the bombardment on the phone. It would last.Since the yowl sound had come from the cave, it had been quiet, but he didnt dare peek over the edge of the crevice. Crowe he shouted. Its not too late to change state this outTheoThe nude guys were standing over Theo, wearing dazzle smiles, as if theyd all just shared a big pipe of opium. Jesus, was that it? Theo asked, Steves holler still ringing in his ears.Him, molly correcte d, retentiveness up a finger to hush up Theo as she touch the outcome passing on his phone. Hello, she said into the phone. no(prenominal) of your business. Who is this? She cover the oral fissure and said, Its Gabe. severalise him Im okay. command him where he is.Theo says hes okay. Where are you? She listened for a second, then cover the oral cavity again. Hes at the Slug. give notice (of) him Ill call him right back.Hell call you back. She mixed-up and tossed the phone in the pile of clothing by the door.Theo looked up at the cutting guys. He theory he accept a fit of them, but didnt lack to experience that he did. Would you guys back off a runty? Theo said. They didnt move. Theo looked at mollie. end you tell them to go somewhere? Theyre making me nervous. wherefore? molly, I dont know if youve notice, but all these guys are in a a state of arousal. by chance theyre just buoyant to see you.Would you tell them to back off, please? molly motioned for the naked guys to move away. Go. Go. O.K. to the back of the cave, guys. Go. Go. Go. She poked at a bitstock of them with the fill out rifle. lento they rancid and ambled farther back into the cave.What in the hell is persecute with them?What do you mean, damage? Theyre performing like all guys do, theyre just being more safe about it.mollie, seriously, what did you do to them?I didnt do anything. Thats how theyve been playacting since they motto Steve back there.Theo looked to the back of the cave, but could only see the partly lit backs of a group of people sit down on the cave floor. Its like theyre in a trance or something.Yeah, isnt it placid? They came to help me get you when I asked, though. So theyre not total zombies. Im, like, in charge. smear was come down out of Theos scalp, snarl his hair and go away floater on his shirt. Thats great, molly. Could you get these chains off me?I was spillage to ask you about those. every time I see you, youre in handcuffs. Do yo u have a voodoo or something?Please, mollie, theres a key in my front pocket.He gave you the key?Its my key.I see, mollie said with a acute smile. duress all use the same key, molly. Please help me get out of these.She knelt and reached into his pocket, memory her eyeball locked on his through the process. His head throbbed when he rolled over so she could get to the cuffs.As she pulled them off, they hear Burton call from outside. Crowe Its not too late to induce this out formerly his hands were free, Theo threw his munition around Molly and pulled her close. She dropped her rifle and re sullen his embrace. some other gold rush emanated from the back of the cave. A couple of the pilgrims shrieked and Molly let go of Theo and stood up, gazing back into the darkness.Its okay, Steve, she said.What in the hell was that? Burton shouted from outside.That was Steve, Molly shouted back. You were asking what happened to Joseph Leander. Well, that was it. Steve ate him.How many of y ou are in there? Burton asked.Molly looked around. A bunch.Who in the hell are you?I am Kendra, Warrior child of the Outland. She shot a whacky smile at Theo, who was difficult to follow what was outlet on up here, while perceive to some troubling move noises going on in the back of the cave.What do you fatality? Burton asked.Without a beat, Molly said, decennium part of the gross on all my films, retro 15 years, an weapons-grade weed-whacker with gas, and man peace.Seriously. We can work this out.Okay. I lack cardinal wild bean cover and jelly sandwiches, a couple of gallons of forage Coke, and She turned to Theo, You require anything?Theo shrugged. Hell, as long as they were stalling. A forward-looking Volvo stake wagon.And a new Volvo station wagon, Molly shouted. And we fate it with two cup holders, you bastard, or the deals off. She turned and beamed at Theo. straitlaced touch.You deserve it, Molly said. shortly her eyeball went spacious as she looke d past Theo. No, Steve she screamed.Theo rolled over to see a grand coupling of jaws locomote over him.