Read Beneath Ceaseless Skies #172 for Free Online Page A

nothing! I did it!”
            “You—” Eldred raced out and grabbed Junior by his arm, dragging him out.
            “See? You don’t need to leave me alone anymore. I can run—”
            Eldred wheeled back and hit Junior full across the face. Halpern made to step in, then realized if Eldred hit him that hard he wouldn’t be able to get back up. Junior stumbled but stood, sullen.
            “If you’re going to run with us, you gotta learn to listen,” Eldred said. “I told you to stay home, boy.”
            Junior nursed the side of his face. “I just wanted to show you I—”
            “There’s no excuse for disobeying.” He brought his hand up again.
            “We can’t send him home. It’s not safe,” Halpern said, interrupting. Junior heard him and nodded.
            Eldred whirled on Halpern. Halpern thought he could see fresh teeth, straining out. “There’s nothing here—”
            A horse screamed in the distance. Then again—nearer.
            “You sure?” Halpern asked, unholstering his revolver.
            Eldred looked to Halpern. “Stay here.” He ran away, leaving both nephew and uncle behind.
    * * *
            Halpern put himself in front of Junior, following Eldred up the road. “Keep close.” There were no more sounds of horses, humans, or wolves.
            “Can I have a gun?”
            “No.”
            Hoofbeats neared, then the nag bolted down the road at them. Halpern shoved Junior out of the way, felt the whip of her tail as she passed. She jumped sideways, and then around the next bend he heard her fall.
            He ran back after her, saw one leg crippled, another bent wrong. There was a raw wound on her haunch, the still-running muscles twitching inside. It matched the gouges he had seen near the wagon’s remains.
            “Shit. Junior!”
            The nag screamed.
            “Junior!”
            “I’m here!” Junior pulled himself out of the rocks Halpern’d shoved him into and trotted down. “Aren’tcha gonna shoot her?”
            “I suppose so.” Halpern drew his gun again.
            “Can I do it?”
            Halpern looked from the gun to Junior. Devil or not, his nephew was almost a man.
            “Please Uncle Hal, please.”
            “All right. Don’t miss.” He handed the revolver over and watched the boy. Junior took three shots, and all of them went wide.
            “Come here,” Halpern said, and reached out to correct Junior’s hold on the gun. “You gotta kill her to be kind.” Aiming together, a fourth shot put the nag to rest. Her blood spilled out around their boots like it was coming from a spring.
            Merrill loped down the road towards them, still wolf-formed and black. Eldred followed him, buttoning up his shirt. He spotted Junior with the gun.
            “Put that down!” He left his top button undone and reached for the gun. “That’s what men do—”
            “But I’m a man!” Junior said.
            Eldred growled. Merrill’s wolf paced around Eldred, scenting the horse’s meat. Then it jumped backwards with a yelp, revealing one of Junior’s misplaced slugs on the ground.
            “Watch it. Silver.” Halpern leaned over and pocketed the slug. When he rose again, the devil men and his nephew were staring at him. “You seen what that thing done to the nag.” He shrugged. “I’d throw Bible pages at it, if I thought it would care.”
            Junior looked in horror at the gun in his hand, grabbed the barrel, and gingerly offered Halpern its grip. Halpern took it.
            But he didn’t reholster. The monster was nearby.
    * * *
            They dismembered the horse. Merrill, content to stay in wolf-form, dragged the front half of the carcass behind him in a harness