"What the fuck do you know about this?"
I looked up and the boys turned around to see Ace standing there. Eyeball and and Reaper were behind him, they bother cussed and yelled, "Son of a bitch! My little brother/sister!"
Ace, "You wasn't plannin' on takin' the body from us, was you, boys?"
Chris, "Get away man. We found him – we got dibs."
Ace, "Aw, we better start runnin' Eyeball, Reaper, they got dibs!"
Chris, "We earned him, man. You guys came in a car. That's not fair. He's ours!"
Eyeball mimicked his brother, "That's not fair. He's ours. Well, not anymore."
Teddy showed up, "There's five of us, Eyeball. You just make your move."
Ace, "Oh, we will. Don't you worry."
Billy, Charlie and the other Cobras arrived behind Ace, Eyeball and Reaper. Bill saw Vern and Charlie yelled, "Vern! You little sonofawhore! You was under the porch!"
Vern, "No, no I swear, it wasn't me!"
Billy, "You little keyhole-peepin' bung-wipe. I oughta beat the livin' shit outta you!"
Billy started taking his belt off, "Like hell your gonna touch him, Billy." I said evenly.
Billy turned his direction to me, but Ace stopped him and I heard Vern run off.
Ace, "Now, you guys have two choices. You either leave quietly and we take the body, or you stay, and we beat the shit out of you – and we take the body."
Charlie, "Besides, me 'n' Billy found him first."
Teddy, "Yeah, Vern told us how you found him." He started mimicking Charlie, "Oh, Billy! I wish we never boosted that car! Oh, Billy! I think I just turned my Fruit of the Looms into a fudge factory!"
Charlie, "That's it! Your ass is grass!"
Ace, "Hold it. Okay, Chambers, you little faggot! This is your last chance What do you say, kid?"
Chris "Why don't you go home and fuck your mother some more."
Ace took out his switchblade and opened it and started advancing towards Chris, "You're dead."
I stepped in front of Chris. Teddy yelled, "Come on, Chris, Mel. Let's split."
Chris, "They're not takin' him."
"Come on, Ace, I can hear your mamma screaming your name now. Now tell me, does your dad watch? Or maybe he fucks you from behind while you go down on your mom."
Eyeball looked afraid at what Ace might do, my brother had a smirk on his face, about what I didn't know.
As Ace kept coming his eyes set on me, "You're not takin him Ace, you'll have to kill me first."
He rushed me, "No problem." The knife was brought to the skin between my neck and collar bone, and he started following it around. Just then we heard the gunshot.
Ace pulled away, blood dripping from his knife. My hand went to my neck, blood was running down, staining my shirt. Gordie, "You're not taking him! And your not killing her!" He pointed the gun at Ace, "Nobody is taking him."
Ace, "Come on, Kid. Just give me the gun before you take your food off." He paused and looked at Gordie sizing him up, "You ain't got the sack to shoot a woodchuck."
Gordie, "Don't move, Ace. I'll kill you, I swear to God."
Ace, "Come on Lachance, gimme the gun. You must have at least some of your brother's good sense."
Gordie cocked the gun and aimed it at Ace's face, "Suck my fat one, you cheap dime-store hood."
Ace, "What are you gonna do – shoot us all?"
Gordie, "No, Ace. Just you."
Ace paused, and started backing away, "We're gonna get you for this."
Chris, "Maybe you will and maybe you won't."
Ace, "Oh, we will. We're not gonna forget this, if that's what you're thinking. This is big-time, baby."
I glared at Ace, "We'll be waiting."
When Ace and his gang finally left we turned to Ray Brower once again. Chris looked at Gordie, "Suck my fat one?' - Who ever told you you had a fat one, Lachance?"
Gordie, "Mel told me."
I laughed, "Yeah, biggest one in four counties."
Chris laughed, "Yeah."
Just then Vern and Teddy came back. Vern, "Are we gonna take him?"
Gordie, "No."
Teddy, "But, we came all this way. We were suppose to be heroes."
Gordie, "Not this way, Teddy. Chris, gimme a hand."
The boys covered Ray Brower with a blanket. When Chris looked up he noticed my white, turning red shirt. "He got you!"
The boys turned and looked at me, "Don't worry about it, it's just a scratch."
Chris came over, "No scratch makes that much blood," he gently moved my hand away, and noticed the four inch gash that started from the top of my collar bone and followed it to the little indent in your throat. "Your lucky he got jumped on the last part, if he'd had been cutting as deep as he was. he would have killed you."
I shrugged and pulled my shirt off and held it to my throat, "We all die at one point, and nothing can stop it."
Chris pulled the shirt away and he took the super glue from his back pocket, quickly and effortlessly he apply a line and closed the cut. "It'll hold tell you can get your mom to do something with it."
On our way back we'd decided that we'd make an anonymous phone call when we got back to town, to tell them where Ray Brower's body was. By the time the second night rolled by I was tired, but we didn't want to stop, so we walked through the night and made it hope a little past five o'clock on Sunday morning, the day before Labor day. We'd only been gone two days but the town seemed smaller.
We entered town and stopped in the street where we'd all eventually go our own ways. Vern, "Well, see you in school."
Chris nodded, "Yeah."
Teddy, "See ya in Junior High."
Gordie, "Yeah."
Vern looked at me, "Are you still mad at me?"
I smiled, "No Vern it's okay."
He nodded and walked away, he stopped and bent down to pick something up and then he shouted, "Penny!"
We all shook our heads. Teddy, "Well, guys – I better get home before my mom puts me on the Ten Most Wanted list." Teddy started walking away, but then stopped and turned around, "Hey, Chris. No hard feelings okay?"
Chris, "No way, man."
He then looked at me, "Mel?"
"Never."
Teddy turned and started walking again, "Have Gun, Will Travel' reads the card of a man. A knight with out armor in a savage land. His fast gun for hire..."
His voice faded away as he got further along.
The last of us climbed up to the tree house and were standing looking out at Castle Rock. Chris sadly said, "I'm never gonna get out of this town, am I, Gordie?"
Gordie, "You can do anything you want, man."
I nodded, "Plus, I'm taking you all over the world with me remember?"
Chris, "Yeah, sure." Chris held his hand out, "Gimme some skin."
Gordie did so, "I'll see you."
Chris, "Not if I see you first."
"Come on, Chris. I wanna get home, I haven't slept in two days and Sarah and James are probably freaking out."
I turned and said bye to Gordie and Chris and I took off racing towards my house. We split up when we got to our separate roads, deciding that we'd meet at the tree house at noon.
