Adaptation: book I (28 page)

Carmella curled into a protective ball around Raj, covering her head and protecting her baby as Earl began raining down blows with his fists.

“You ruined it all! Look at what you made me do!” Earl gripped her by the back of her shirt and heaved her toward a stump, Raj spilling from her arms.

She reached for Raj, but Earl dragged her a few feet away. She stared at her baby. He wasn’t wearing a coat, and it was far too cold for him.

Earl pinned her arms to the ground and covered her with his body. His face was swollen and bloody, his nose flat and obviously broken, one eye swollen and already turning purple.

Carmella wiggled and squirmed beneath him and Earl tried to force himself between her legs. She thrust her knee into his groin, Earl cried out and rolled over, and she scrambled to her feet dragging her right leg toward Raj.

Earl lurched to his feet and pointed the gun at Raj. “You touch him,” Earl wheezed, “he dies.”

Carmella’s life seemed as if it would crash to a halt. There would be no reason to continue if Raj got shot. “No!” she screamed. “Don’t!
Don’t!
I’ll do whatever you want.”

He turned and wiped blood from his lips. In a voice devoid of all emotion except his lust, he said, “Take off your clothes.”

~***~

Bilal grabbed a
pile of keys from the drawer of a desk, each key attached to a black fob with buttons. He pressed random buttons, but nothing happened. He read through the small tags attached to the fobs and found several marked “Tundra.” He walked as fast as his body would allow to the truck outside, inserting each key into the lock.

The third key worked.

He opened the door, put the key in the ignition, and turned the key.

Nothing happened.

He looked at the floorboards and saw a third pedal.
Carmella’s truck only had two, one for going fast, and one for stopping.
He pushed the third pedal toward the floorboard with his hand and turned the key.

The engine sputtered once and died.

He climbed in and pressed the third pedal all the way to the floor with his left foot. He turned the key.

The engine growled to life, and Bilal smiled. He lifted his foot from the pedal.

The engine cut off.

He pressed the pedal down and restarted the truck. He looked to his right and pulled the gearshift until it wiggled back and forth. He slowly released the pedal.

The engine kept running.

He turned up the heat, and while the engine idled, he opened the door, stepped out, and stared into the night. He opened his mouth and concentrated on the feel of Carmella and Raj. He reached for the buttons on his jumpsuit and opened the front. Gray snake-like tentacles pushed past his skin, and long and powerful filaments emerged from the tip. They moved to the left, reaching in that direction, stretching toward something invisible to the human eye but clear to the Centaurian eye.

Bilal climbed into the truck, hesitating before closing the door and looking behind him at the darkened, ruined building.

The wolf appeared amid the broken glass and twisted metal of the entrance.

Bilal got out of the truck and pointed inside.

The wolf did as he was bid and scurried up into the unfamiliar interior. He shivered in fear-laced anticipation as Bilal gunned the engine, shifted into first gear, and raced toward Carmella and Raj.

Carmella’s terror nearly
numbed her as much as the cold did. She peeled away several layers of clothing as Earl watched and Raj wailed. When she was only in her bra and jeans, her trembling became fierce.
If he walks behind me, he’ll see the knife. I have to keep his attention on my front.

“Take it off …” Earl whispered.

Carmella unhooked the bra, shrugged out of it, and let it drop to the ground. She stood straighter and made no effort to cover her breasts with her arms. “It’s cold. Please, can we go inside? My son isn’t wearing a coat.”

Several expressions passed across Earl’s face before it turned to stone. He gestured with the gun. “The sooner you suck it, the quicker you and your boy can get where it’s
warm. Not back to that house; a different one. You, me, and the kid.”

Carmella nodded, sliding one hand behind her to grip the wooden hilt of the knife. She dropped to her knees and suppressed a gag.
I will stab the shit out of him before I suck his dick, but I have to keep myself between the gun and Raj in case he fires.
Pain flared to life in her right thigh, and she did her best to ignore it. The longer she prolonged this, the longer she and Raj would be cold. She put both hands behind her back to fully expose her swollen breasts.

Earl groaned huskily. He fumbled at his waistband and dropped his pants where they pooled around his knees. His penis strained toward Carmella’s face, thick, hard, and throbbing.

Carmella stopped shaking. She had to do this right or it would be the end of her. She pictured her hand shoving the knife blade through his ball sack and impaling his cock. She pictured slicing it off and stabbing him repeatedly in his groin as he bled to death.

A shot cracked from the porch, the ground near Earl’s feet exploding in a puff of dust.

Earl dropped to the ground and covered his head.

Carmella saw Ma ambling across the yard carrying a rifle.

“Linda!” Earl screamed, cowering.

Ma shuffled toward Earl. “You killed my Sonny.” She fired another shot, and it whizzed wide and struck the stump.

Carmella grabbed her bra and remaining clothes and scrambled toward the truck. She scooped up Raj, who had managed to crawl her way. He was still squirming and crying, but he wasn’t making a sound.
Shoot his ass!
Carmella thought.
What are you waiting for?

Ma limped closer and drew a bead on Earl’s head. “Why’d you kill my boy?”

“I didn’t have a choice, Linda!” Earl shouted. “Look what he did to me! He was trying to kill
me!
”

Linda fired another shot, and this one hit its target.

Earl screamed like a baby. “Linda, no!” Earl begged as he held his belly. “Linda,
please!
”

Carmella tried to back away, but her leg felt like it was on fire. She could feel the hot blood wetting the back of her pants. She stared at the house. She had to get there …

“Don’t you move,” Ma said, and she swung the barrel of the rifle in her direction. “William’s all I got now cuz my Sonny’s gone!” Her eyes narrowed, and she returned her attention to Earl, who was moaning in pain on the ground.

Raj’s body became rigid. “
Daaadaaadaa!!” he cried. He kicked his little fat legs and clutched at her as if he was trying to get away from something.

Oh my God, is he hurt?
Frantically she felt inside his clothes. Dear God, he was burning hot! “Ma, something’s wrong with the baby! He’s hurt!”

Ma’s head swiveled back to Carmella and the hysterical baby. She dropped her right hand from the gunstock, and the rifle butt dropped to the ground. She reached out her right arm. “Give him to me!”

Carmella saw Earl crawling toward Ma.
He’s going to grab for the rifle!
“Look out!”

Ma snapped up the rifle and pointed it at Earl’s face. “I see him. He’s done for anyway. He’s gut shot. Critters will be eating his intestines all night. Now give the boy to me.”

“No, Ma,” Carmella said. “We need to get him into the house where it’s warm.”

Linda frowned. “Where you think I’m going? It’s cold as shit out here.”

“But you’re still not strong enough to hold him
and
that rifle,” Carmella said. “Let’s go inside, okay? You don’t want the baby to die, too, right?”

Ma blinked and swallowed back a sob. She shook her head. “Just shut up, will you!
Just shut up!
”

“Linda!” Earl wailed in pain.

“You shut up, too, Earl.” Ma sighed. “And don’t you ever say my name again.” She fired the rifle, and Earl’s head snapped back, a neat, black hole blooming in his forehead. Ma pointed the rifle at Carmella. “Get my son out of this cold, will you?”

Carmella took a step but fell in a heap to the ground.

“Hurry up, you stupid bitch!” Ma screamed. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“Earl shot me,” Carmella moaned. She squeezed her eyes closed, and the pain subsided. She crawled and pulled herself across the dirt, her breasts throbbing with the need to feed her baby and leaking milk. Raj hiccupped and reached past Carmella, trying desperately to get out of her arms. She was alarmed to see that he was reaching in Ma’s direction, little fat hands clutching at the air as he cried repeatedly,
“Blaaa! Blaaadaadaaa! Dadadada!”

Was he calling
Bilal?
Not much could have broken her heart more. Her baby was crying for his dead daddy.

Ma followed behind Carmella as she crawled. “Yes, baby boy. Mommy will get you all warmed up.”

Yes,
Carmella thought.
I will make you warm and safe …

When Carmella reached the porch, the harsh light from inside allowed her to see what was causing her baby to cry out.

Snakes seemed to be coming out of his shirt.

Carmella pulled off his shirt to expose Raj’s tan and pink chest and abdomen and found two gray and tan tentacles whipping around in the air. They seemed to be reaching behind them.

“What’s wrong now?” Ma yelled.

Carmella couldn’t let Ma see the tentacles because she was a crazy bitch with a loaded rifle. “Uh, he had a spider under his shirt.” She dragged herself into the house and fumbled with Raj’s shirt, pulling it back onto his body and swaddling him in one of her shirts.

She struggled to the couch where she offered Raj her breast, praying that he would take it by the time Linda entered the house, but Raj kept turning his head away.

“
Blaaa, no!” Raj cried. “Blaaadaadaaa, Dadadada,  no!”

No?
Carmella thought.
He’s saying “no”?
Carmella looked into the hallway and what was left of Sonny’s face.
Two down, and the one I thought was down to go.

Ma entered the house and hobbled to the couch, reaching for Raj with a shaking right hand while holding the rifle with her left. “Give him to me.”

Carmella pressed her nipple into Raj’s mouth.

He latched onto her nipple with an angry whimper and was soon feeding hungrily.

“I need to hold him,” Ma said. “He can eat later.”

Carmella shook her head. “He’s hungry, Ma. He needs a warm bath, and then we need to put him to sleep.”
And when you go to sleep, I’m planting my butcher knife in your skull.

Ma’s eyes glazed over. “You know, I don’t need you anymore.” She raised the rifle.

Oh my God, this bad-shooting bitch is going to fire at me while I’m nursing a baby!
“Ma,
no!
” Carmella screamed.

A low growl sounded behind Ma, and the old woman swung around.

Directly behind her in the doorway stood a wolf and a man.

Raj released Carmella’s nipple. “Dada,” he said calmly.

Ma recognized Bilal instantly. “But you’re dead!” she howled. “You can’t be here!”

Bilal blinked, and two tentacles squirmed into the air from his chest.

Ma backed away, her lips quivering. “Unless you’re the Angel of Death come to take me!” She raised the rifle with shaking hands.

The wolf leaped, gripping her right wrist in his massive jaws and dragging her to the floor. The rifle flew for her hands and banged into a wall. The wolf released her wrist and stood on Ma’s shoulders and hips, growling and snapping at her face as drool dripped onto her shirt.

Bilal stepped over Ma’s legs and took in everything at once. He saw a dead man lying in the hallway with his face half blown away, Carmella sitting on the floor stunned and topless, and Raj, who had worked his way out of the swaddling of his mother’s shirt and clutched at the air with pudgy fists crying “Bla Dadada!” as little tentacles reached for Bilal from his abdomen.

Bilal collected his son in one arm and Carmella in the other. His arm held her firmly, soothing her hysteria until she reached up and touched his face, assuring herself that he was really there.

“Bilal …”

Raj’s tentacles intertwined with Bilal’s while his hands held his father. The two sets of tentacles moved in a strange rhythm, the son’s mimicking the intricate twirls of his father’s.

Bilal looked into Carmella’s bewildered eyes. “I smell your blood. You’re hurt.”

“I saw you,” Carmella whispered. “They shot you.” Carmella wrapped her arms around his strong body and hugged him. “I thought you were dead.”