Page 30

CHAPTER 30

REDLEY

Later that afternoon, after I’ve scrubbed off the sex and the slimy feeling of Bobby’s lips on mine, I go outside to collect some eggs. I’m slightly worried that my chickens have been avoiding their feed since the bucket is full, but I’ll worry about them later.

It’s getting warmer, and I don’t have the woodstove running, so I fry up some eggs on my gas range. Once I’ve eaten, I feel nearly human again and decide I have the strength to deal with Porter’s corpse, though I’m going to need to make some adjustments to my plans.

Putting him in his car and pushing them both off the cliff together has been reduced to rolling him off a cliff on his own. We all have to go somehow. I shrug as I head out to the truck and pick my path back down the mountain. If I’m feeling up to it after I’m done, I might even hit the diesel station and buy myself a soda pop.

I use my tire tracks from yesterday to find my way to his body. It’s a bit easier than the first time, but I still move slowly, not wanting to pop him and make the task that much harder on myself.

The tire tracks end abruptly about twenty feet up, and I slow to a crawl. I park about five feet from him, and as I step out of the cab, I do my very best not to look at him.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t see…

He’s turning purple and yellow in spots, his skin and organs already decomposing beneath the sun. My stomach turns, and I think I might be sick. Studying the incline and the terrain, I carefully pick the best path to roll him since there’s no way I can lift him.

The nearer cliff side is uphill. It’s only about forty feet to the edge, and the drop would leave him spread across the rocks and trees and washed away in the next rain. The downhill one is quite a bit farther, maybe a half a mile, but there’s a lake at the bottom where he could sink and rest peacefully.

One solid try at rolling him uphill, and I realize I really only have the one option. It will be a nicer resting spot for him, but this will take a while.

“Shit, I am so sorry, James,” I tell the corpse, truly regretting the unnecessary abuse. The arrow is still sticking out of his head, and I pray the wooden edges snap off quickly since I don’t have it in me to do it myself.

I’m too tired to bend over and use my arms to push him, and my legs are far stronger anyway. Feeling like a world-class villain, I use my feet to roll him over, flipping his corpse slowly but surely downhill.

“This is fucked up, even for you, Red.”

For once, I don’t feel like Wolf is watching me, and that alone provides a certain freedom. I’ve started dropping “the” and just calling him Wolf because it seems so stupid to title a human man like an inhuman beast. I roll my eyes and Porter in unison.

The day is beautiful, sunny, and hot for spring. I would normally kill for this kind of day, but today, I resent it. Sweat pouring, corpse stinking, I’m not sure how this became my life. When I used to run and play in these fields, I surely never imagined this.

Because there are some small mercies in life, the arrow snaps off at both ends by the fifth rotation. While there’s still a wooden shaft running through his brain rather than thoughts, at least he’s rolling more smoothly. When did I become so terribly jaded?

As time and Porter roll on, I grow more and more irate that Wolf isn’t watching me. He could help clean up the mess he goddamn made. I may be partially responsible, but Wolf shot the damn arrow through his brain.

I’m pissed off at everything and everyone, but maybe Bobby was right about one thing. The old Red would have cleaned the blood off the floor. Maybe Wolf killed the old Red too.

My breath is so short as I push, my exhaustion painful, but I owe it to Porter not to let him sit in a sun-soaked field while the birds pick him over. Maybe someday, someone will even show me the same kindness.

It feels like hours later when I find the spot I’m looking for. We’re still a few feet shy when I sit on the ground next to his corpse, but I can’t go any farther until I catch my breath. The scavengers are already hovering, and a few carrion birds circle above.

The stream that supplies most of the town's water runs through here, and I leave Porter behind for a moment to dip my fingers in and drink. Another cliff face sits just a few feet beyond the stream, and at the bottom rests a small but deep mountain lake.

Porter will sink to the bottom and never be seen again. He won’t even affect the water quality since the lake is an outlet only, not an inlet.

I just need to get him to the right spot and push hard enough. I can do it. It’s better than rotting in the sun and being eaten by the animals. I splash water on my face, hot and needing something to make me feel like the world around me is real and not some horrible nightmare.

Just a few more pushes, I promise myself, as I return to his side and starkly ignore the damage I’ve done to his corpse during this trip. My heart pounds nearly out of my chest as we finally reach the edge.

I don’t take anything off him, even if some of it might be valuable. It feels in poor taste when I’m already dumping his body. There’s nothing left but one long drop and a sink to the bottom. I just need to give him one last hard push. I tell myself to do it four times before I can force my body to act. One last kick, and he slips over the edge.

He spins through the air as he falls, not bouncing or smearing as he would have on the other side. When he hits the water, there’s an immense splash and then utter silence as he sinks.

After the ripples in the water settle, I sit down and breathe. I’m so tired I really might just curl up and sleep here. Just an hour or two of rest. What does it really matter?

As I’m staring into the forest, thinking absolutely nothing for once, my eyes focus on something strange in the distance. That’s definitely still my property way over there. I know what parts of this mountain belong to me, but I’ve never seen this before. I think it’s a cave…though a very small one.

Is that a little footpath leading to it? It looks like people have been going in and out, but it's just a split in the side of the mountain. How strange.

I stand eventually, seeing if I can get a better look, but that's not happening unless I jump off the cliff after Porter. I don’t feel like a cold, wet swim, and as curious as I am, I decide that I’ll find it another way, another time that doesn’t involve a freezing swim with a corpse.

The sun sits low in the sky now. Three o'clock, if I had to guess, and I’d rather die than get stuck in these woods in the dark again. So I don’t take that nap I want so badly. I force myself to my feet, and then, because I deserve a little bit of pain for everything I’ve done, I run.

When I get back to my truck, I puke my guts up from the overexertion and absolutely nothing else.