Taylor that Bernie was dead. Maybe Sheriff Streng killed him. And maybe Sheriff Streng would come back and kill Taylor, too.
Duncan closed his eyes and hoped with all of his might that he would.
The flame touched Josh’s cheek and made a crackling/singeing sound as it evaporated the sweat.
Then the pain hit.
Josh had been burned before, but never seriously. Stepping on a sparkler when he was a kid. Grabbing the handle of a cast-iron skillet that had been on the stove for too long. Getting accidentally touched by a cigarette by some idiot at a rock concert. And in each case, his reaction had been the same: to flinch away from the heat.
But Josh couldn’t flinch. Bernie had his arm around his throat, and Josh’s head was wedged up against the bars of the cell. Bernie held the lighter—just an ordinary disposable Bic—to Josh’s face, and Josh couldn’t even turn his head. He flailed his arms and kicked his legs and couldn’t break the killer’s steel grip.
The pain started bad, then quickly went to unbearable. Josh howled, and Woof hopped around, barking like mad, and Bernie held it there and held it there and
“Too deep, hehehe, too deep,” Bernie said. “Nerves are dead. Have to find a new spot, new spot.”
Bernie waved the flame in front of his eyes. Josh tried to blow it out, but the hand danced away.
“Where next, where next, how about … here.”
Josh tried to blow, missed, and Bernie held the lighter right under Josh’s nose.
Then Bernie screamed and Josh was miraculously released. The firefighter fell to his hands and knees and turned to see Woof, his head between the bars of the cell, biting and tugging at the pants of Bernie’s bad leg. Bernie went down, his mashed knee bending in a way it shouldn’t bend. He beat on the dog’s head, but Woof refused to let go.
“Woof! Come!” Josh yelled.
But Woof wasn’t finished with Bernie. He shook his head side to side, making Bernie’s knee flex like a rubber hose. Bernie yelled louder than Josh though humanly possible, and then the pyro managed to snag Woof’s neck with one hand. The other brought up the lighter.
Josh tugged on Woof’s leg to pull him away, but Bernie’s grip was solid. Josh frantically looked around for something, anything, saw the pillowcase on the floor, reached for it, and yanked out the can of aerosol antiseptic spray.
When Bernie flicked on the lighter, Josh pointed the can and let him have it.
The results were spectacular. A two-foot blast of fire erupted from the can, hitting Bernie squarely in the face. Josh kept it on him, brought it closer, until the killer released Woof.
The dog pounced away and resumed barking. Josh killed the flame, but Bernie’s didn’t go out. His hair had caught, and Bernie slapped at the sides of his head, which only fanned the fire, making it larger.
Josh ran out of the drunk tank to the janitor’s supply closet, grabbed the mop bucket, took it to the bathroom, and scooped up some toilet water, ran back to Bernie’s cell to find him on his knees, beating his burning, blistering, broken face against the bars.
He threw the water, and the fire went out, the smoke and steam rising up from Bernie’s head smelling like burnt hair and fried sausage patties.
Bernie fell over, onto his side, his breathing shallow and rapid. Josh focused the Maglite on him, saw that his lips were gone and his eyes were dripping goo. Woof came over.
“Aaaaaaaad. Aaaaaaaad. Oooyyyy. Aaaad oooyyy …”
Josh listened to the wheezes, and after a minute thought he understood what Bernie was trying to say.
He hugged the dog tight, stroking his fur, and together they watched the killer take a few more pathetic gasps and then die.
Josh found the can of antiseptic and the fallen syringe full of lidocaine. He sprayed the needle and gently stuck it into his cheek, near the burn. The pain ebbed, and then there was no feeling at all. Next, Josh checked Woof for injury. Woof mistook it for affection and wagged his tail, furiously licking Josh’s face.
“From now on, every time I see you, I’m bringing you a steak,” Josh promised.
Josh put the syringe and antiseptic back into the pillowcase, and he and Woof left the Water Department building, heading for the junior high.
• • •
Ajax hunts. He creeps through the woods, squinting at shadows, ready to rip apart anything that moves. But he finds nothing. Only trees. The trees are familiar. They remind him of something. Something long ago.
He remembers. A house, with trees in the back. Ajax likes to climb the trees. He’s safe in the trees. Safe from the man and the woman. They’re mean to him. Hate him. Because he’s
Ajax gets a lot of practice blocking out the hurt. He may be fucking stupid, but he learns how to control the pain. The kids hit him. The woman uses a belt on him. The man breaks his teeth with a beer bottle. But Ajax doesn’t cry. This makes everyone afraid.
Ajax likes making people afraid.
Ajax remembers going into the man and woman’s bedroom. They drank beer and hit him for a long time, but now they are sleeping. He has a knife, the one that plugs into the wall that the man uses to cut turkey on turkey day. Ajax is never allowed to have turkey, because he’s fucking stupid. But he is smart enough to plug the knife in the outlet, and press the big red button, and cut them cut them cut them while they scream scream scream.
Then Ajax met Doctor. Doctor never called him fucking stupid. Doctor helped Ajax. He gave him special shots, to make him big and strong. He put something in Ajax’s head to make him smart.
Ajax likes Doctor.
And Ajax still likes making people afraid.
He remembers going somewhere strange where people talked funny. They finished the mission, and it was Fun Time. Taylor and Bernie were cooking someone, eating parts. Logan and Santiago had a man tied to a tree and were cutting off parts and betting which cut would kill him. Ajax was playing with a woman. He would break her leg, then watch her try to crawl away, then bring her back and break her leg in another spot.
She was very afraid.
Then Taylor showed Ajax how to make her even more afraid. He took off her clothes, used his private part.
Ajax tried it, too.
He liked it.
Ajax wants to try it with the woman from the car. He wants to break her arms and legs and make her afraid and then take off all her clothes and …
The giant twitches, the Chip in his head reloading the current objective.
Ajax searches the woods. Hunting. He wants to find Warren Streng. Wants to find him very bad.
Then he can have Fun Time with the woman.
• • •
The junior high was two blocks away. They ran. For a plump dog Woof kept up easily, even going on ahead and marking his territory on assorted curbs and trees. The school parking lot was full, and, surprisingly, the lights were on. Josh turned the Maglite off but kept it in his hand; its weight reassured him.
