Read Republic of the Living (Novella): Vengeance for Free Online Page B

answering, she tightened her pack
straps across her shoulders and twitched her head around the shop.  She
tried to move past him, but he settled his weight onto his heels.
    “ Fuck that,” she hissed.
 “They stole people.  Lots of people.  Before we know it,
they’ll move them somewhere else.”
    He dropped his hand onto her shoulder and she
flinched.
    “ Okay, mi hermana.”  He
spoke slowly and she raised her eyes to meet his.  “We go get ‘em.
 But, you listen to me.”  He gripped her shoulder gently.  “We
do it my way.  I’ve met these assholes before.”
    He felt her body tense and then relax.  She
dropped her eyes to the floor.  Chewy raised his hand but she reached for
it and gripped it between her palms.  She turned her head away from him
then shifted her eyes to a place just below his chin.
    “ I loved her,” she whispered,
her hands tightening around his fingers.  “That girl.  The one in
Arcata.”  She took a deep ragged breath.  “Her name was Connie.
 I never loved anyone before.   Not like that.”
    She raised her glistening eyes.
    “ Mira, mira,” he said,
wrapping his arm across her shoulders and pulling her against his shirt.
 “Esta bien, m’hija.”
    She shuddered and a sharp sob exploded against his
chest.
    “ It’s okay, Mai,” he
whispered.  “It’s good you loved her.  Esta bien. It’s okay.”
    She released his hand and pushed away from him.
 
    “ I won’t let them do it
again,” she gasped, raising her hands to rub her eyes.  “Not again.”
    He nodded slowly. “Let’s get the kids squared
away.  Then, we go get ‘em.”
    “ Okay,” she mumbled.
 Her dark eyes pierced his and something trembled deep in his chest.
    “Good,” he continued, still nodding.  “Let’s
take care of the kids.”
    He left her standing behind the shop counter and
plodded down the dark corridor. Beyond the rectangle of light at the end of the
hall, a high-pitched chorus of voices burbled and chirped.

6. Friday Noon

 
 
    They trotted through the golf course.  Hanrahan
swept his eyes from side to side along the narrow path.  It was clear that
somebody had once laid claim to this place.  Within the dense thickets of
brush and grass, he could discern the ghostly outlines of fields and, every
once in a while, mounds of sticks and rubble where there had once been huts.
 
    Deep into the walled grounds, they came across the
first of its previous inhabitants.  Yellow bones protruded from a matted
pile of rags; the body was curled onto its side.  A few yards ahead, a
neighbor lay next to the path.  This one was stretched out on its stomach.
 A foot away from the body, a smooth, white skull tilted its jaws up at
them as they rode past.
    Pearly and Ace moved quietly ahead of him.  The
other man hadn’t uttered a word since they’d passed through the gates.  He
kept his rifle balanced across his saddle with one hand while he guided the
horse with the other.  Hanrahan brushed a bug off his cheek and patted
Bama.
    “ Whoaaaa,” Pearly muttered
softly to his horse.  “Hold on there.”
    Hanrahan drew up behind him.
    “ What’s up?”
    Pearly pushed Ace into the brush at the side of
the path and pointed forward with his left hand.  He raised himself in the
saddle and whistled under his breath.
    A dozen yards off the path, two large poles had
been planted into a hillock of bare dirt.  On each was a naked skeleton.
 Arms and legs had been lashed tight to the pole.  Their heads hung
down over their chests.  They’d been up there a long time.
    “ Whaddya think, boss?”
 Pearly asked.
    Hanrahan scanned the green jungle surrounding the
hill.  Everything was quiet and still.  He peered behind him and
turned to Pearly.
    “ Whatever it was.”  He
pushed Bama past Ace.  “Happened quite some time ago.”
    Pearly hawked something from his throat into the
bushes.  “Fucking savages.”  He tapped his reins and followed
Hanrahan.
    By mid-morning,