Page 61
“I don’t care.”
“Please.”
She gets hold of the gun hard enough that I’d have to fight her off to shoot. Besides, Tigger makes the choice for me. It takes a couple of low, slinky steps in my direction, then bounds at me like a black and orange Mack truck. The truth is that as much as I don’t want to lose an arm, I also like the thing. It doesn’t want to be here with these jacked-up thrill seekers. It wants to be in a mangrove swamp somewhere, eating whatever the hell it is tigers eat out there. So, when it leaps, I don’t bark a killing hex. I just blast it over us. But not too far. I don’t want to crack Tigger’s spine. Only maybe I should have. The bastard is so fast, it swings a big paw at me and hooks a claw into my right arm, ripping me from wrist to elbow. My blood hits the ground, and that just drives Tigger crazier.
A few yards past the cat a blindfolded guy is waving his hands like he’s trying to guide a jet to the passenger gangway.
“What’s going on?” he yells. “Is someone having fun without me?”
I suppose there are worse last words.
“Charlie! Run!” yells Janet.
It’s over before I can do anything to stop it. Funtime Charlie is down on his back and Tigger is dancing in his guts. He doesn’t even have time to scream.
“Do something,” shouts Allegra.
I bark more hoodoo and knock Tigger into one of the empty animal enclosures.
Then I yank the Colt away from Allegra. When I grab Janet they stare at me like I have eight eyes and a donkey tail.
“Stark?”
I drag them both into a shadow I spot near one of the overhead lights.
We come out in front of Existential Healing. While Allegra fumbles with her keys, I mumble some hoodoo, but the medicinal stuff has never been my specialty. The bleeding slows, but I’m cursing and more than a little pissed. Finally, Allegra gets the door open and we all pile into the exam room.
She bustles around getting her medical gear. I get on the exam table as Janet stands at the end looking like a scared kid who got caught shoplifting—and got someone they knew mauled by a fucking tiger.
Janet says, “Is he going to be all right?”
Allegra speaks in a clipped tone that lets everyone know she’s angry.
“He will be if you stay out of my way. Go stand in the corner over there.”
Janet does as they’re told, now looking embarrassed and anxious for me.
Allegra cleans the rip in my arm with Betadine, then moves on to one of Doc Kinski’s tricks: a blue-green salve that stops the bleeding quickly.
She says, “If this was a straight cut, the salve would close it completely. But that tiger really ripped you open. You’re going to need stitches.”
“So stitch me.”
“I could use Myrmecoleon jaws. They’re a medicinal arthropod Kinski kept. The jaws will hold the wound together. They hurt a lot more than regular stitches, but they have one advantage.”
“What’s that?”
She smiles at me.
“They don’t leave a scar.”
The rip is really starting to burn now.
“You’re fucking hilarious. You should be on TV,” I say. “Just sew me up.”
“Regular stitches it is then.”
Allegra goes to get the equipment, but she has to move Janet out of the way, scowling the whole time. When she’s back, she shoots me up with painkiller and starts sewing my arm. Janet is still in the corner, now looking equal parts guilty and queasy.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61 (Reading here)
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169