The Dead Woman

Matt opened the drawer and grabbed the knife. The smell of decay hung in the room like an invisible fog. Abbey must really be rotting, he thought. I can still smell her in here. He knelt beside the bed and sawed through the rope on Annie's right wrist. Then he went to cut the one at her feet. As he moved, he caught another whiff of the decay. It smelled strong. Too strong.

Annie shifted in the bed and Matt caught a glimpse of the girl's skin beneath her torn pants. He stopped sawing through the rope and stared at the greenish, oozing skin hidden under Annie's clothes. No wonder the smell had been so strong.

'I should have known,' he said, just before the gun barrel poked him in the side of the head.

'Finish cutting,' Annie instructed, punctuating her words by jabbing the barrel into Matt's temple. Matt resumed sawing the knife through the rope, trying to think of a way to dodge a bullet from point-blank range.

'I got him, Abbey!' Annie yelled.

From somewhere deep in the house, Abbey's voice floated into the bedroom. 'I'm coming.'

'How long?' Matt asked, still sawing through the rope. 'How long have you and Abbey been working together?'

'Since the beginning,' she said. 'Right after she came down from Kentucky.'

'Abbey's not even her real name, is it?'

'Fuck if I know. Fuck if I care. That pussy's so good, she could call herself Fred Flintstone if she wanted. You just get back to cuttin' that rope before I spray your brains all over the wall behind you.'

Matt cut through the rope on her right leg and moved to the one tied to her left. 'Bitch sure can tie a knot,' he muttered.

Annie smiled and ran her tongue across her upper lip. 'That ain't all she can do.'

Too true, Matt thought.

Abbey stepped into the room carrying Matt's ax. Her face was half eaten away with rot, and Matt could see her lower teeth and part of her jawbone though the dead tissue on her cheek. The smell was overpowering, and he swallowed the urge to vomit. He didn't want to look at her. How had she hidden the decay from him while they were... He couldn't even finish the thought.

'I knew you'd come to save her' Abbey said, pointing at Annie.

'What do you mean?' Matt asked.

'We watched that spineless husband of mine drop you off at the store,' she said. 'I knew you were there. But I needed you here, out in the country, where no one would hear anything.'

So the whole conversation back at Abbey's Antiques was for his benefit. Another trap. 'And I fell right into it,' he said.

'You sure did,' Annie giggled. 'She told me you would.'

Abbey smiled. 'Toss the knife aside, Matt,' she said.

'Tell her not to shoot me.' Matt glanced at Annie, who was still pointing the gun at Matt's head.

Abbey set the ax in the corner of the room, then walked around the bed, giving Matt a wide berth. She stopped on the other side of the bed and held out her hand to Annie. 'Give it to me,' she said.

Annie looked disappointed. 'But I wanted to do this one.'

'He's mine,' Abbey said, her face stern. 'You can finish off my sorry-ass excuse for a husband. Give me the gun.'

Annie handed the pistol over. Abbey took it and pointed it at Matt's chest. 'Don't worry, hon,' she said to Annie. 'You'll get to decide head or gut. I'm just gonna be the one to pull the trigger.'

That made Annie smile, and she was about to open her mouth, but Abbey cut her off. 'Not yet,' she said. 'Think about it for a minute.'

She nodded and smiled at Matt. Head or gut. If Matt had to choose, he'd rather get shot in the head. It would take less time to die. But one look at Annie's subtle smirk told him the girl from McDonald's had already made up her mind, and it didn't jibe with Matt's preference.

Abbey walked back around to the front of the room, keeping the gun pointed at Matt the whole way. 'The knife?' she asked.

Matt tossed the knife to the side of the room, thus relinquishing his only weapon. He eyed the blade as it lay on the carpet, glinting red in the light of Abbey's bedroom.

She stepped in front of him and squatted down, bringing her face level to his, and poked the pistol into his chest. Her shoulder where he'd shot her was wrapped with a bandage that had started to bleed through already. She wouldn't be using that arm for a while. From this vantage point, he could see that the rotten green patch had spread all the way to her chest. It disappeared under her shirt, leaving Matt to wonder how far it went. If she took off her shirt, would he see her ribs? He decided he didn't want to know, but it did bring up an interesting question.

'How did you hide them?' he asked.

'The sores?' Abbey replied. 'It's easy. Live long enough and you'll figure it out,' she finished with a mischievous wink. Matt knew what it meant. He wouldn't live long enough to figure out what to have for breakfast tomorrow, let alone how a person could hide sores.

Abby reached up and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look her in the face. 'So, did you miss me, baby?' she asked.

'Doesn't look like it,' Matt replied, nodding towards her shoulder.

Abbey smiled, revealing a mouth full of blackened gums and rotting teeth. 'Clever,' she said. Then she leaned in close so she could whisper in his ear. 'But you shouldn't have done that. I was going to let you live.'

'Bullshit.'

Abbey pulled away, a wounded expression on her face. 'It's true. I thought we were kindred spirits. Soul mates, even. Even though you went running after Brad like some goddamn knight in shining armor. Why? To save that whore wife of his? She deserved it. She's been fucking everything that moves for years. But even then I thought I could change your outlook, given enough time. Then you shot me. I could have dealt with you being a white hat, but I draw the line at letting you get away with shooting me.'

'I don't believe you.'

'Who gives a fuck what you believe?' she said. Then she turned to Annie. 'Okay, sweetheart, did you choose? Head or gut?'

'Gut,' Annie said without a moment's hesitation.

Matt groaned.

'Gut it is,' Abbey said. She lifted the revolver and pointed it at Annie, who stared back in shock and fear.

'What are you—'

The sound of two shots fired in rapid succession cut her off, and her question turned into a howl of pain as two slugs tore into her abdomen. Her left arm and leg were still tied to the bedposts, preventing her from curling into a fetal position, but she slapped her right hand on to her belly in a vain attempt to hold her life's blood inside her ruptured gut. She stared at Abbey, her face a mixture of pain and confusion, and started to babble incoherently. The words were too garbled for Matt to make them out, but the meaning was clear.

'Hey, don't blame me.' Abbey shrugged. 'You're the one who picked gut.' Then she pointed the gun back at Matt. 'I've got two bullets left,' she said. 'Before I kill you, I think I owe you one.'

She pointed the gun at Matt's shoulder and fired. The sound rang through the small room like thunder, and Matt screamed as fire punched him in the shoulder and stayed there to burn. He brought his hand up to stem the flow of blood and gasped in pain.

Being shot fucking hurt!

'Smarts a bit, doesn't it?' Abbey said, chuckling.

'Fuck off.'

'You deserve it. You shot me first.'

Matt wanted to point out that she'd almost blasted him to bloody bits outside long before he'd shot her but didn't figure it would do any good.

Abbey squatted down in front of him again and shook her head. 'Such a waste,' she said. 'We've been waiting for you, you know.'

'Why me?'

'Not you specifically. A drifter. Someone who doesn't belong. Someone no one would trust. Why do you think