Battle Royale Maine---Chapter 07

An Unlikely Alliance

Sue Snell

Sue froze in terror at the sight of the Garson brothers. They had a sinister reputation at best---there were terrifying rumors about the things they had done over the years. Girls they had taken up with often turned up with mysterious bruises, and occasionally broken bones; guys they didn't like tended to have "accidents" of various sorts, and although their parents were dirt-poor, they were, somehow, always flush with cash---and seemed richest right after some poor soul's car had disappeared, or his house had been broken into.

And now they were loose, in the Program, and apparently drunk as lords and out to make the most of what they had to see as a heaven-sent opportunity. Sue's hand moved toward the butt of her pistol, and Kenny Garson's eyes narrowed. "Not so fast, rich bitch." He gestured with the muzzle of his pistol. "Keep your hands away from your belt, or you'll get a .45-caliber stomachache! An' that goes for you too, baseball boy!"

Sue risked a glance at Tommy. He was pale, but composed, and made no sudden moves. She could see that the Garsons were out of range of his ball bat, so she didn't blame him; all the useless heroics in the world would still leave him dead and at least one, if not both, of the Garsons alive and in a mood for revenge.

Lou Garson giggled insanely. "Hey, Kenny---what d'you think it'd look like, if I punched the rich bitch's belly-button out with my crossbow?"

Kenny whacked his brother alongside the head, Three-Stooges style. "Idiot! We need to have our fun first. What's the use of her if she's dead?" Then he smiled ominously. "There'll be plenty of time for that---later!"

"Yeah-yeah…later!" Lou leered evilly. "We don't need baseball boy, though, do we?" He gestured wildly with his crossbow. "Remember how the teachers always used to favor him over us?"

"Yeahhhh…" Kenny sneered. "Bastard! All the time, the teachers were nice to him, while they treated us like something they'd stepped in on the street! Well, baseball boy, it's payback time!"

"Why?" Tommy sounded honestly puzzled, and Sue couldn't blame him. "What did I, or Sue, ever do to you? I don't think we've ever exchanged five words in all the time we've been in school!"

"What about all the times we got thrown in detention, while you skipped away, free as a fuckin' bird?" shouted Kenny. "What about the times we got hauled in by the pigs, while they never bothered you? What about us gettin' in trouble when you never do?"

"Yeah! The damn cops hate us, while everybody loves you!" yelled Lou.

"Uh---might it be because you're always getting up to things that land you in trouble?" Tommy was trying to reason with them. While Sue wished him all the best of luck, she didn't think much of his chances. Reasoning with people like the Garson brothers, she privately felt, was like trying to teach a pig to sing: you wasted your time and annoyed the pig. And when the pig was covering you with a .45 and his brother was holding a crossbow...she tried to signal Tommy to shut up, but he didn't get the signal.

"What do you mean?" To hear him, Kenny Garson had never, no never, done anything in his life that any reasonable person would expect to land him in the soup. "We never do anythin' wrong!"

"Yeah---just a couple of fun-lovin' good old boys, that's us!" giggled Lou. "We just wanna have fun!"

Sue felt rage blaze up inside her. "Oh? What about that girl who came back from 'a little ride' with you, with her eyes blacked and three teeth missing? She'd have a few things to say about you, and your ideas of 'fun!'" Sue sneered. "Of course, you had fun, didn't you---you raping scumbags!"

Tommy drew in his breath in a horrified hiss. "I heard about that, but couldn't believe it! Are you shitting me, Sue?"

"I saw her in the girls' room, the Monday after her little 'date' with these bastards," Sue said bitterly. "She'd pretty obviously been raped, but just because she was from a poor family---'trailer trash'---the cops didn't listen to her; they thought she'd been asking for it by going out with these two!"

She had managed to focus the Garson brothers' attention on her, and Tommy took advantage of it, throwing his baseball bat overhand with every ounce of strength he had. It hit Kenny Garson full in the face and he fell back, reflexively pulling the trigger of his .45 as Tommy leaped on him.

Both boys rolled around, snarling inarticulate curses, as they fought for control of the pistol. Lou Garson tried to aim for Tommy with the crossbow, but couldn't do it---Kenny and Tommy were moving too fast, and there was too much of a chance of hitting his brother by mistake. However, he'd taken his eyes off Sue, which was all the chance Sue needed.

Sue yanked out her pistol, thumbed back the hammer and aimed for Lou, squeezing the trigger. The .357 round smashed into the side of his head, splattering his brains across the ground, as he crumpled; he was dead before he hit the ground. The sound of the shot paralyzed Kenny and Tommy both, and Sue ran up, jammed the muzzle of the pistol into Kenny's side, and squeezed the trigger hard. Firing double-action was a lot harder than doing it single-action, but she managed. The revolver barked, and Kenny slumped off to one side, a huge gush of blood coming from his mouth. His eyes still flickered around, but Sue could see---and smell---that he'd lost control of his bladder and bowels; she had severed his spine with that shot.

Shaking, Tommy got back to his feet, taking the .45 from Kenny's unresisting hand. "Thanks, Sue," he muttered, wiping sweat and blood from his face; he had cut himself in several places in the fight. He looked down coldly at Kenny Garson, who was still alive, but in no shape to fight any more. Reflectively, he hefted the .45---then lowered it, aiming it right between the hood's eyes.

"Good day, Kenny---or should I say goodbye?" He pulled the trigger, and the back of Kenny Garson's head seemed to explode as a neat red circle appeared between his eyes. The hoodlum's body bucked in a massive spasm before slumping in final death. Tommy looked at Sue, his face turning pale.

"I can't believe I did that---that you did that," murmured Sue. Then she looked at the two corpses, and felt her stomach rebel. She didn't have much to throw up, but what there was, she spewed on the ground, bent over at the waist as her stomach tried to expel everything she had ever eaten. The lingering side-effects of whatever they had been drugged with to bring them to Matinicus Island weren't helping; she had felt slightly sick from the moment she had awakened.

"I know what you mean," Tommy whispered. He looked at the corpses like he'd never seen anything like them---and he probably hadn't; as far as Sue knew, none of them had ever done anything like this before the Program.

A voice from behind them startled both of them, and they whirled, to find themselves facing Billy Nolan---the leader of Chamberlain's hood squad. "Very nice job, you two," he drawled, cradling a pump-action shotgun. "I couldn't have done it better myself!"

Tommy and Sue drew their pistols, and Billy held up a hand. "Cool it---cool it!" He cracked a lopsided grin. "I'm not interested in playing!" Then he gave them a penetrating look. "Are you?"

"Us? Hell, no!" Tommy's voice rang with sincerity. "If those two assholes had left us in peace, we'd have left 'em be...but they tried it on with us, and we got the better of them!"

"That's a pity. That's a real pity," Billy mused, shifting the shotgun so that it didn't---quite---point at Tommy and Sue. "I'd been trailing those two assholes for a while. They didn't know I was there. If you hadn't shown up, I had a little surprise planned for them."

"But---aren't you and them friends?" Tommy was suspicious, and Sue couldn't blame him. Billy Nolan was the acknowledged alpha-male of the "greaser" or "machine-shop Chuck" crowd in Chamberlain. He set the tune they all danced to, and, as far as Sue knew, none of the greasers would willingly go against his wishes.

"I put up with them because I had to," Billy explained. "Even so, I never forgot---or forgave---the time they stole and ruined my new bicycle, back when I was twelve years old." A shadow passed across his face. "The only nice thing I ever had, and it was gone two weeks after I got it. By the time I figured out who'd taken it, those shitheels had absolutely ruined it. There were two of them, and only one of me, so I couldn't do nothin'---but I didn't forget."

"We have something in common, then," offered Tommy. "I'm pretty sure those bastards were the ones that took my ten-speed bicycle a year ago. I had it parked and locked at the swimming pool, but when I came out, the chain had been cut and the bicycle was gone. Those useless bastards at the cop-shop never did find it."

"You weren't wrong. The Garsons did take it, and sold it in the next town over." Billy scowled. "Those two would have stolen the shit from under a squatting dog."

"Hey, Billy---do you want to team up?" Sue had been struck with an idea. "With three of us, there's a better chance of surviving, and if we survive long enough, we maybe can find a way off this island."

Billy looked at them consideringly. Finally, he nodded, and stuck out his hand. "It's a deal," he said. "I saw how you took the Garsons down, and anybody who can do that is all right in my book." Sue could hardly believe that she was willing to team up with the likes of Billy Nolan, but the Program had already changed her. After all, before the Program, she had no more thought she could kill anybody at all than she could grow wings and fly.

"Come on---those shots might have attracted attention. Let's get under cover!" Billy moved toward the trees, and Tommy and Sue followed along, leaving the Garson brothers lying dead in the sun.