71

Panic wasn't strong enough a word for what Billy felt. That had been the sound of potential danger. What he just heard was the sound of someone trying to kill his Uncle.

His legs didn't want to work, and he had to will himself to drop the garden hose. But then some sort of automatic impulse took over. He grabbed the nine-millimeter off the buggy and pulled the action back, cocking it as he ran toward Hope's location.

He shined his light frantically up and down the aisle where the lights and charcoal were. Then he heard more yelling further down toward the pharmacy.

He was close enough now that he had to keep his cool. He had to make sure he was ready to shoot but cautious enough he didn't shoot his sister or uncle by accident.

He moved closer and heard the sounds of footsteps and heavy breathing.

A voice shouted, "I'm the king! Come back here."

"Hope, where are you?" Billy yelled.

"Over here," Hope said, sounding like she was in the next aisle over.

Billy jumped around the corner and shined his light to see Sean sprinting toward him. A large man wearing white ran ten paces behind him.

"You're not king of the mountain!" shouted the man in white.

"Shoot him," Sean yelled as he spun past Billy and kept on going.

Billy swallowed hard and tried not to think, not to second guess himself. This would be hard enough as it was.

Two rounds peeled off. Billy could see the man get hit, but it didn't look like he felt it. He kept coming, yelling, "Only the king gets on top!"

Billy backed up and fired. Backed up again and fired.

The man was coming for him despite the obvious kinetic damage he was causing. Billy backed into something. Realizing he had nowhere to go, he unloaded his magazine into the now staggering aggressor.

Before all his rounds were spent, Billy had the, presence of mind to raise his aim. The effects from the shots to the crazy's neck and forehead were enough to spin the man sideways. He tottered, losing his balance, but still tried to run. He then fell sideways, made one final flop on the floor, and went silent, still.

Billy stood there, unsure what had just happened. A practical impulse had him pull out his second magazine from his pocket and exchange it with the empty. He racked it, and the snap made a surprisingly loud sound in the now quiet market.

Footsteps to his right. Billy shifted with his light under his pistol and spotted the source: it was Hope.

"Don't shoot me," she said.

"Why did you just watch that?" Billy pointed the gun down and aimed his light back at the white and red blob in the floor. "Where'd he come from?"

"He had Uncle out back in a room … I don't know if he was gonna eat him or mate with him. Uncle? Can you mate like Taddy and Daddy can?" Hope was curious "I was not needed. You had a gun, I didn't want to taste him. Something is rotten in him."

"What's that smell?" Billy demanded.

"You really don't want to know," was the response from Sean.

Soon Billy realized the source of the stench came from behind the counter somewhere. Billy opened the door beside the counter and walked into a small hallway.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Sean said behind him.

Billy turned and opened the first door on the left, the one that went behind the pharmacy counter. When he did, he almost fell down from the nauseating wave of stink that enveloped him. But he persisted in trying to open the door.

It was stuck like something behind it was blocking his way.

Billy pushed, and he heard a dull thump. The door opened three-fourths of the way.

What he saw in front of him caused his jaw to drop, except the smell hit him again, forcing him to cover his mouth and nostrils with his shirt sleeve.

"I said you didn't want to know," Sean said. It wasn't a taunt but a sincere, regrettable tone.

Stacked systematically like the beginnings of a new Great Pyramid were more than twenty decomposing bodies.

They walked back toward Hope's buggy. An unstacked body slid from behind the door, helping to close it. It made Billy shudder, the heebie-jeebies all over him. He'd had enough for one day. Heck, for one life-time.

"What were you doing over here?" Billy asked Sean when they reached the buggy again.

"Just seeing what we might have forgotten."

"Forgotten?"

"Yeah, you know, stuff like instant coffee or paper towels." He pointed at those items in his buggy.

"That wasn't the plan," Billy said. "We were supposed to keep out of this place. Tad and Dad put a red X here years ago saying another people had it … Fallback own this for recons, we agreed as part of the breakaway from Holdfast! This is serious."

"I know. I thought I could handle it. I didn't think anyone else was around."

"And why didn't you shoot that crazy idiot?" Billy looked at him.

"I just got scared and ran," Sean said unconvincingly.

"No, that's not it. You didn't even have your shotgun up. What were you really doing?"

Billy's mind searched for all the possible explanations, and then it hit him.

"Empty your pockets."

"What?" Sean's voice rose.

"Empty them. Right now."

Sean flinched as if Billy was going to hit him.

"Aw, come on," Billy said. "Stop being a pansy and hiding from what you were really doing. Empty your pockets."

Sean slowly pulled out a bottle of pills. Billy snatched them out of his hand and shined his light on them so he could read. It was labelled HYDROCODONE.

"I knew it," Billy said. "I know what these are. These are on Uncle Owen's list. You were going check out, weren't you?"

Sean didn't answer.

"I asked you a question. You were going to disappear on us, weren't you? Take these, get high, and check out?"

"You were going to overdose," Hope asked when it hit her.

"Probably not," Sean said more quickly.

Billy gave the gesture with his face and hands that said what is that supposed to mean? and I give up all at once.

"I didn't plan on taking them. Well, I was going to take them to get to sleep. But I wasn't going to overdose unless I felt like there was no alternative." Sean sighed as Hope looked at him in silent anger. He took the bottle, squeezed it tight and chucked it as hard as he could toward the outer aisle.

"Come on. Let's get our stuff and get out of here."

Hope nodded as she looked at her uncle again then said the dreaded words "I'm telling Taddy!"