'Til Death Do Us Part (17 page)

Wings didn
’
t move except to get his hands up.

“I’ll kill your little bitch boyfriends,” Shortie said, looking back to Mrs. Deneaux.

“
See if I care,
”
Deneaux
said coolly.

“
Are you for real?
”
Shortie asked.

“
Help me
, Shortie,
”
Wings said as his sweat began to come in contact with the barrel of the
pistol
.

“
Yes
,
help him
, Shortie,
”
Deneaux
said.
“
This gun is getting dreadfully heavy. Maybe if I just shot a round it would be that much lighter.

“
No, no, no,
”
Wings stuttered.

Shortie pulled the hammer back on his 9 mm.
“
I ain
’
t fucking around
,
bitch, get that piece off my boy
’
s head or I
’
ll kill this white boy.
”

“
I also
ain
’
t
fucking around
, homeboy.
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
smiled, it was difficult
to
tell if she was making fun of Shortie or truly did
not know the appropriate slang;
the former seemed more in her character.
“
Shoot him, he
’
s the brother of the idiot that
’
s wa
nted me dead for the last month.
How
much do you think I
’
m going to miss him?
”

“
Yo
,
this bitch is crazy!
”
Shortie said to the world, Gary nodded in agreement.

“
But before you do shoot him, I just want you to know, I will kill, what was your name? Wings...how quaint.
Gary will not have hit the ground by the time I put one in your friends head.
”

“
Is this bitch for real?
”
Shortie asked BT.

“
Unfortunately she is,
”
BT said.
“
Let us get our gas and we
’
ll get out of here.
”

“
I can
’
t now,
”
Shortie said.
“
You
’
ve made me look bad. Blood has to spill here.
”

Shortie was covered in brain matter before he heard the report. Gary pushed up on Shortie
’
s arm and grabbed the pistol as Mrs.
Deneaux
leveled her revolver on Shortie.

“
Oops,
”
s
he said
,
bringing her free hand to her mouth.
“
I told you it was getting heavy.
”

Shortie was shaking with fear and rage.
“
You don
’
t know who you just fucked with!
”

BT stood up.
“
What the fuck did you do that for
,
woman?
”
h
e asked.

“
As much as I think Gary is a twit, I do believe he will play a pivotal role in ensuring my safety. Wings was an impediment.
”

“
What now?
”
BT asked.

“
We kill him,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said evenly.

“
Yo
,
I didn
’
t do nothing. You can
’
t just kill me
.
”

“
You did
nothing
because we d
id not allow you to do anything,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said.
“
Otherwise
,
I think that you would have done just as you pleased.
”

“
We can
’
t just shoot him,
”
BT said.

“
Sure we can. What do you think will happen if we let him go? He
will
just go quietly into the night
,
thankful f
or the lesson we taught him? No…
either he
’
ll follow us and we
’
ll have to deal with him later after maybe he gets a lucky shot off and kills one of us
,
or this thug has like-minded idiots that will pursue us and finish what they tried.
”

“
She
’
s right,
”
Gary said.

“
Don
’
t listen to the crazy bitch,
”
Shortie said.
“
We was just trying to bust your balls, see if we could get some food or something.
”

“
Self-defense is one thing, but this is cold-blooded murder,
”
BT said.
Although,
it could be argued that Wing
’
s death was cold-
blooded also.
“
I won
’
t allow you to shoot him.
”

“
Allow? It seems that I have t
he gun and I can do as I please,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said.

BT stepped in front of her barrel.
“
Am I just another impediment?
”
BT asked, looking down at the woman
who
appeared to be calculating her risk factors if she just planted him in the ground also. She finally withdrew her gun.

“
You
’
re almost as big a twit as Gary,
”
s
he said. BT relaxed.

“
Gary
, keep an eye on him.
We’ll let him go
when we get our
car filled up,
”
BT said.

Gary had Shortie sit up against the Camry as BT made a couple of trips with
gas.

“
Nice ride,
”
Shortie said sarcastically.
“
Me and my boys are going to hunt you down for killing Wings.
”

Gary paled.
“
You left us no choice.
”

“
I
’
m go
ing to kill you with a knife,
”
Shortie said looking up at Gary.
“
One stab t
o the guts,
then I
’
m going to twist the blade back and forth.
”

Gary sub
consciously placed his left hand over his stomach. Shortie smiled sickly.

“
Oh this is ridiculous,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
huffed
as her shot broke the silence of the day. The round caught Shortie high in the neck.

“
What the fuck are you d
oing?
”
BT said
,
dropping the gas container and coming back to Shortie who now had both hands pressed up against his
spewing wound
.

“
Bad shot. I should get my eyes checked. You
’
ll die soon enough,
”
She said to Shortie.
“
Bleeding out is a relatively easy way to go. Don
’
t worry the panic flows away with the blood.
”
She smiled.

BT physically removed her from her spot.
“
Why?
”
h
e screamed.

“
Becaus
e it was the right thing to do,
”
s
he replied as he set her down.

“
We
’
ve got to get out of here
,
”
BT said looking around.

“
They
’
re dead
. W
hat
’
s the rush?
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
asked as she opened her cylinder to drop the two expended cartridges and replace them.

“
Th
ey were gang bangers,
”
BT said.
“
And either they
’
ll eventually come
looking for these two
,
or zombies will smell the meat.
”

“
Fair enough,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said as she headed over to the Pinto.

“
Do you want to get more gas?
”
Gary asked, still looking as if he was trying to process all that had just transpired in the last few moments.

“
No…
well
, yes…but not here.
We
need to get gone. Last time I checked
,
we had a good solid half a tank that should
get us far away from this place,
”
BT said
,
heading over to the car.

“
She
’
s a stone cold killer
, BT,
”
Gary said
,
looking straight into BT
’
s eyes.
“
She showed absolutely no
emotion when she killed Shortie.
I mean
,
not that he wasn
’
t an asshole and probably deserved it for something he had done
, but shit…
she might as well have been pulling lint from her belly button.
”

“
To have a b
elly
button would mean she was human.
I
’
m not quite convinced of that. Let
’
s get out of here
,
but we need to keep an eye on her.
She
wasn
’
t
lying
when she
said she
would kill wh
atever threatened her existence…
and that includes you and me.
”

“
And probably, Brian and Paul,
”
Gary added.

“
Probably, the devil we know
..
.
”
BT said.

“
I
’
d rather deal with the one we don
’
t know.
”

After a sluggish churning of the starter, the c
ar caught and purred like a one-
lunged kitty. The smoke hadn
’
t cleared from the group
’
s departure when a
gang
of men came upon the bodies of their two fallen comrades.

“
Get the bikes,
”
t
he leader said as his long
,
black leather jacket flapped in the
light
breeze.

“
Cyrus
,
you know the noise from the bikes draws the zombies.
”

Cyrus merely looked over at his second in command.

“
I
’
ll be right back,
”
he answered.