That was my first thought. I’d been through some bad ones. They nearly always hit while you’re asleep, roaring and shaking you furiously and scaring the crap out of you.
Falling sideways, I was halfway to the floor when I figured out this wasn’t any quake.
This was Steve.
My right shoulder hit the floor, and I rolled. Rolled and tumbled as fast as I could, hanging on to the saber. The chair toppled over. Part of it pounded my back, but not very hard.
Clear of Steve and the chair, I scrambled to my feet.
He was already sitting up, but still trying to free his feet from the electrical cord.
“Stop!” I shouted.
He looked up and saw me coming at him.
Even though the kitchen was dim with the gloom of dusk, I must’ve been quite a sight charging across the kitchen in nothing but my panties, my breasts leaping, my saber high.
One glimpse of me, and Steve let out a yelp.
He quit fooling with the cord and stuck up his hands. “I give!” he yelled. “Don’t do it! Please!”
I slid to a halt beside him. Still holding the saber overhead with both hands, I said, “Lie down and don’t move.”
He sank backward until he was stretched out flat.
Never turning away from him, I sidestepped to the nearest light switch. I flicked it up and brightness filled the kitchen.
As I approached Steve, he lifted his head off the floor. He winced and flinched, but didn’t take his eyes off me. Fingering the dish towel that I’d taped to the top of his head, he asked, “What’s…going on?”
“I won, that’s what.”
“I don’t remember.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“What happened to my head?”
I shook the saber.
“You chopped my head open? Oh, my God!”
“Don’t blow a gasket,” I said. “I just gave you a few raps with the handle, that’s all. If I’d used the blade, you wouldn’t be asking me questions about it. Lie still, and I’ll take care of your feet.”
“Okay,” he muttered.
“I’m not even gonna warn you about trying something.”
He eased his head down against the floor.
With the saber in my right hand ready to strike him, I squatted near his feet and used my left hand to unwind the cord. “As long as you cooperate with me, you’ll be fine.”
“I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Good. I went ahead and ate, by the way. I couldn’t wait for you.”
“That’s okay.”
“But I saved you some.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
When his feet were no longer bound together, I stood up and backed away, the end of the cord in my left hand.
He pushed himself up to his elbows, looked, and saw how I’d fashioned a tether for his left ankle. “Cute,” he said.
“It’ll let you get around.”
“I guess so.” Meeting my eyes, he said, “I can’t say that I blame you for not trusting me.”
I laughed at him. Then I said, “Get up and come over here.”
He made it to his feet, and I led him over to the counter where his plate was waiting. I was careful not to let him get close to me.
“Where do you want me to eat it?” he asked.
“Right there.”
“What about a fork?”
“So you can stab me with it? Use your fingers.”
He started to pick up the plate.
“Put it down,” I said. “Leave it on the counter.”
He set it down. Then, bending over, he started picking up pieces of steak one at a time. He got a couple into his mouth before he really started chewing. “Mmm,” he said. He shoved more in. “Good.”
“I know it’s not
“That was Milo’s gig,” he said. The words came out mushy because of the meat in his mouth. “Not mine.”
“You don’t eat people?”
Grinning over his shoulder, he said, “Not that way.”
“Very funny.”
“He was nuts. Milo.”
“He was your mentor.”
“Yeah, but he was a fuckin’ cannibal. I’m no cannibal. Shit, he did all kinds of weird stuff. Not me.”
“Not you. Sure.”
“This is really good steak. Really delicious.”
“You should’ve had it when it was still hot.”
“Well. Can’t have everything.” He shoved more into his mouth.
“I want to hear the rest of your story,” I told him.
“What do you want to know?”
“You said you watched me in your camp last night. When I took care of Milo and stuff. And then, after I left, you killed Judy. Then what?”
“Did I say that?” He gave me another grin. His lips were shiny with steak juice. “I don’t
“Yeah, you did.”
“If I said that, I must’ve been mistaken.”
I felt a strange, fluttery tightness inside. I don’t know quite what it was. Hope? Fear? Excitement? In some ways, I wanted Judy to be dead. She was a loose end. She could get me in big trouble. But in other ways…Hell, I liked her.
“You
“No, no, absolutely not.”
“Bad choice of words, pal.”
“Huh?”
“‘Absolutely not.’ Makes me you think you’re lying.”
“Oh. Jeez. I see what you mean. Protesting too much, huh?”
“What
He shoved a couple more chunks of steak into his mouth, chewed for a minute, and said, “How about something to drink?”
“The sink’s right there,” I said.
“A glass?”
“Use your hand.”
So he sidestepped to the sink, ran some water, cupped his hand under the faucet and took a few drinks.
“What about Judy?” I asked.
He slurped some more water out of his hand, and said, “What about her?”
“If you didn’t kill her, what happened to her after I left?”
Steve sighed, wiped his wet hand across his lips, then shut off the faucet and turned around and grinned at
