But it was too late for that, of course.
She watched as he grasped at his throat, then as his legs collapsed under him, then as he clutched at the air for help.
All the time he was making gagging noises; all the time his chest was becoming soaked with his own blood.
In less than a minute he was dead.
The woman folded the razor, slid it back into her pocket, and started walking away.
In moments she was out of the blue glow of the neon above the back door. Then there was just the hard clear winter light of distant stars.
Her feet crunched ice as she walked down the alley.
Kathleen wanted to make some sense of it, of course, but there was no sense to be made. She had just killed a man and would like to kill others.
In her stomach, the snake shifted position once more, and again she thought of what it had been like carrying a baby to term.
But this was a far different thing she was giving birth to now. A far different thing.
She walked through the night to a bus stop where a bus that reminded her of a huge glowing insect picked her up and took her home.
