She stayed on Scotty, not done with him yet.
Stryker ran into the cage. “THAT’S ENOUGH, VALERIA! STOP IT.”
She didn’t stop.
“NEED ANOTHER TASTE OF THE SPUR?”
She clung to Scotty for a few seconds more, then raised her head and rolled off him. She flopped on her back, gasping for air. Her lips and cheeks and chin—even the tip of her nose—were crimson with Scotty’s blood. The rest of her body gleamed with sweat.
As the crew rushed into the cage, Stryker announced, “SCOT’S TIME WITH VALERIA, THREE MINUTES AND TWENTY SECONDS.”
He hadn’t lasted nearly as long as the frail Chester, but the audience showed lots of appreciation. Maybe because he’d gotten Valeria to remove her top.
The crew lifted Scotty onto a gurney and hurried away with him.
There was a lot of blood on the dirt floor where he’d been sprawled.
The audience cheered Valeria as she rose to her feet. Her body gleaming with blood and sweat, she thrust both arms toward the sky in triumph and pranced around in a circle as if doing some sort of victory dance. The way she looked—beautiful and shiny, hair blowing in the hot wind, breasts bouncing and swinging—drove the audience to a frenzy. All around us, people stood up.
My view was blocked, so I stood up, too. As did Lee and Rusty.
Apparently enjoying her ovation, Valeria danced around even more wildly.
As she leaped and twirled, lightning in the shape of an upside-down tree turned the sky brilliant. Every detail of Val-Richard Laymon eria trembled in stark relief—the wild look on her face, the curves of her muscles and ribcage, the jutting tips of her breasts....
I felt hard and achy. Without underwear on, I was pushing tight against the inside of my jeans. I started to worry about having another accident so I sat down. This not only relieved the pressure, but it took Valeria out of sight.
Thunder roared, shaking the night.
Lee sat down beside me. “You okay?” she asked.
I nodded.
“We’d probably better get going,” she said.
“I guess so.”
“Before something else happens.”
“Guess so,” I said.
She patted my leg, then turned her head the other way. Toward Rusty.
But he wasn’t there.
Chapter Fifty-five
All I could figure was that Rusty must’ve had an accident, himself, and hurried away to prevent Lee or anyone else from noticing it.
“Come on,” Lee said. She started to stand up.
“No, wait.”
“What?”
“Why don’t we wait here for him? He probably just went...”
Lee shook her head. “He knows we’re about to leave. Maybe he just went on ahead.”
We were both wrong.
In front of us, the spectators sat down and we saw Rusty halfway down the bleacher stairs, waving both hands overhead. Shiftless and bandaged, he almost looked as if he’d already been in the cage with Valeria. Racing toward the bottom, he shouted, “
The audience cheered him.
Lightning ripped through the sky.
“Oh, my God,” Lee muttered.
I couldn’t believe my eyes—oh. yes I could. Though stunned, I wasn’t very surprised. Of course Rusty wanted to get into the cage with Valeria. He probably saw this as the opportunity of a lifetime.
And maybe he was right.
The thunder came ... a long, rumbling noise. I could feel its vibrations in my chest like the drums of a parade band.
The storm was coming closer.
But wasn’t here yet.
Valeria stood in the cage, breathing hard, slowly rubbing her body with the towel. She hadn’t put her top back on. It was probably still inside the casket.
“Rusty!” I shouted. The crowd was clapping and yelling, so maybe he couldn’t hear me.
