Wormwood

“Shit,” Keith swore, slapping a hand against his knee. “I should have thought of that this afternoon! My pickup’s practically running on fumes!”

Rudy shook his head. “We all thought we’d have more time,” he sighed. “For now, it’s probably best to focus on the things we can do and accept those we have no control over. If the pumps at 7- Eleven look calm and serviceable, we’ll get as many cars down there as we can tonight.”

The road dipped briefly. Kennedy was approaching the bottom of the hill, falling and then leveling off as it came to the four-way stop on Valley View. The houses they passed looked comfortable and warm, as if their owners were all settling in for the night, the blue flicker of televisions eerily in synch with one another, as if they were all tuned to the same program, mesmerized by the grim face of mortality.

Good, Rudy nodded, thinking of Frank Sinatra trailing his guts down a Philadelphia street while their own remained relatively clear. The panic, he knew, would come soon enough; hand in hand, most likely, with the first volley of gunshots.

Mike commented on it himself. “Reminds me of early Christmas morning, but without all the snow,” he said, shaking his head at the windshield. “Where is everybody?”

“Watching television,” Rudy answered, gazing down the length of Valley View Boulevard. It stretched for over ten blocks: five lanes usually steady with traffic at this hour; now dwindled to a handful of cars. 7-Eleven was a block away, on the northeast corner of 10^th and Valley View, the brightest thing on the planet, so far as they could see. Mike pulled the Cherokee into the lot and slowed to a stop alongside the gas pumps, letting the engine idle as the three of them surveyed the store’s interior.

“Christ,” Keith whispered, his voice chill against the glass. “Someone’s broken out the windows.”

Rudy had been looking past the counter, at a dark and ominous smear on the wall above the Slurpee machine. His eyes shifted to the twinkling hoarfrost of broken glass lying on the walkway in front of the store. A step further, the wide tiers of the magazine rack appeared unmolested, though there were a few yellow bottles of motor oil lying face-down in the aisle, a few boxes of green detergent.

“Looks like someone got here ahead of us,” Mike said, his eyes moving across the front of the store. “Someone with a lot of need and not much cash to pay for it.”

“Let’s go check it out,” Keith said, one hand on the door latch while the other picked up his rifle.

Mike put a hand on his shoulder. “Wait a minute. You can’t go in there toting that.”

Keith frowned. “Why not? The place is empty.”

“Because if the police show up, they’re gonna think you’re the one who did it!”

“So you can tell them it wasn’t me.” Keith glanced back at Rudy. “Both of you can.”

“Yeah, right,” Mike said, laughing dryly. “Two more guys with guns.” He leaned across the gearshift and unlatched the glove compartment. The 9mm Colt fell into his hand. “Here,” he said, turning it and offering the grip to Keith, “take this instead. Keep it out of sight and leave the rifle here with me. The handgun’s better for close quarters anyway; besides, you won’t be able to carry anything with the rifle.”

Keith considered the points, still frowning as he gazed into the older man’s eyes, then accepted the logic as well as the pistol. A moment later the car door was open and he was walking toward the convenience store.

“Wait!” Rudy called, clawing at the unfamiliar recession of the door latch. “I’m coming with you!”

3

There lingered about the place a smell of scorched rubber, of adrenaline and spent gunshots, as if they’d just missed whatever happened. Fresh black tire tracks tore out of the lot, arcing north onto 10^th. Rudy left his shotgun in the back seat, trusting that Keith would be able to handle anything inside the tiny store with the Colt. Mike laid the rifle across the driver’s seat and started pumping gasoline into the Cherokee’s thirsty tank.

Broken glass crunched and bit lightly into their shoes as Keith and Rudy stepped up to the door and pushed the empty frame inward. They paused and looked at one another, like two hunters who catch the same heavy scent. Despite the open windows, there was a dangerous mixture of odors still trapped beneath the glaring fluorescents. The first was sharp, black: gunpowder fired against a souring rush of sweat and adrenaline. Beneath that lay a broken coffee pot and a sticky pool of blood, then finally the queasy smell of leathery hot dogs and heated cheese, all above a thinning rime of cold mopwater and industrial disinfectant.

Behind the bulkhead of the cashier’s counter, a console linked to the gas pumps began tallying up gallons of unleaded supreme. Keith pulled the pistol from the pocket of his fatigues and pointed it at the empty space where the cashier should have been standing. Rudy looked up and saw a black and white video image of the two of them looking like they were robbing the place. He could also see that there was no one sprawled on the floor back there, just a spill of cigarette cartons. He pointed this out to Keith and his television image pointed back at him.

They found the clerk a few steps further, tumbled in the same direction as the smear over the Slurpee machine, his neck and the right side of his jaw turned to a dark, pulpy substance peppered with jagged flecks of bone. The name on his bloodied smock read: “JAVIAR”.

Javiar wasn’t the first or last dead man Keith or Rudy would ever see, but he was one of the last to remain contentedly on the ground after he died; at least with his head still attached. In that respect, Javiar was a very fortunate man.

Outside, a car sped by along 10^th, blaring its horn at Mike. It broke the spell.

“Hurry,” Rudy said, stepping over the dead clerk. “Let’s get what we need and get out of here.” He began to scoop up boxes of dried fruit and cereal.

Keith stood where he was, gun dangling slackly at his side. He tore his eyes reluctantly from Javiar’s. “I won’t loot this store,” he said stubbornly.

“In a week or two it won’t be looting,” Rudy pointed out, continuing to fill his arms from the shelves. “It will be surviving.”

“We’re still a week or two from that distinction,” Keith argued. “Besides, we’re on videotape.”

“In two weeks this store will be an empty shell. You’ll be lucky to find a packet of salt or a dead rat.” Rudy stumbled past on his way to the counter and emptied his arms unceremoniously. He dug out his wallet and extracted his MasterCard. “My name is Rudy Cheng,” he said, holding the card up so the security camera could see. “Javiar is dead. I’m taking” — he quickly sorted through his items — “two boxes of raisins, four Grape Nuts, five Cream of Wheat and? four boxes of Instant Breakfast bars.” He dropped the card on the cash register and started to gather up his groceries. At the same time the gas register behind the counter finished clicking. He had to stand on tiptoes to see the final tally.

“And twenty-one forty-five in gasoline,” he added, moving toward the door.

Keith watched all this with the undisguised expression of a man who suspects he’s walking through the landscape of a dream, and very possibly not even his own. He looked down at Javiar (now certain of the fact) and began to pick random items off the shelves — a jar of grape jelly, a tin of sardines, a family-sized box of Cracker Jack. When he got to the counter he faced the camera and began counting out his cash, frowning as if it had all turned to drachma or lira in his pocket.

“Put it all on my tab,” Rudy told him, back for his second trip. “If that cash is still worth anything when the bill comes due, you can pay me then.”

Rudy noticed the holes in the store’s inventory on his second walk though. Aside from the cigarettes ripped from the hood above the counter, there was no beer left to speak of in the cold case; just a few 40-ounce bottles way in the back and a lonely six-pack of O’Doul’s, which really didn’t count as beer anyway.

Rudy shook his head as he passed on his way to the canned goods, hoping whoever murdered Javiar would be reduced to cannibalism once the party was over.