His lips peeled back, baring red teeth that pinched the tube.
He dropped the body.
The spike popped out of its chest and swayed at the end of the tubing.
‘Glad you’re here,’ he said. ‘Got me an awful thirst.’
Wrapping his thick fingers around the spike, he stepped over the body.
Byron spun around, ran, and leaped. He wrapped his arms around his head an instant before hitting the window. It exploded around him and he fell until he crashed against the pavement of a sidewalk.
He scurried up and ran.
He ran for a long time.
Finally, exhausted, he leaned against a store front. Panting for air, he looked where he had been.
Now that’s a trail of blood, he thought.
Too weak to go on, he let his knees unlock. He slumped down on the sidewalk and stretched out his legs.
His clothes, he saw, were shredded from the window glass.
So am I, he thought.
But that thing didn’t get me.
Smiling, he shut his eyes.
When he opened them again, he saw a woman crouching beside him. A young, slim blonde. Really cute. She looked a lot like the one he’d hoped to find at the end of the trail. ‘You’ll be all right,’ she said. ‘My partner’s calling for an ambulance.’
She nodded toward the patrol car idling by the curb.
Desert pickup
‘All right!’ He felt lucky about his one. Walking backward along the roadside, he stared at the oncoming car and offered his thumb. Sunlight glared on the windshield. Only at the last moment did he manage to get a look at the driver. A woman. That was that. So much for feeling lucky.
When he saw the brake lights flash on, he figured the woman was slowing down to be safe. When he saw the car stop, he figured this would be the ‘big tease.’ He was used to it. The car stops, you run to it, then off it shoots, throwing dust in your face. He wouldn’t fall for it this time. He’d walk casually toward the car.
When he saw the backup lights come on, he couldn’t believe his luck.
The car rolled backward to him. The woman inside leaned across the front seat and opened the door.
‘Can I give you a ride?’
‘Sure can.’ He jumped in and threw his seabag onto the rear seat. When he closed the door, cold air struck him. It seemed to freeze the sweat on his T-shirt. It felt fine. ‘I’m mighty glad to see you,’ he said. ‘You’re a real lifesaver.’
‘How on earth did you get way out here?’ she asked, starting again up the road.
‘You wouldn’t believe it.’
‘Go ahead and try me.’
He enjoyed her cheerfulness and felt guilty about the slight nervous tremor he heard in her voice. ‘Well, this fella gives me a lift. Just this side of Blythe. And he’s driving along through this… this desert… when suddenly he stops and tells me to get out and take a look at one of the tires. I get out - and off he goes! Tosses my seabag out a ways up the road. Don’t know why a fella wants to do something like that. You understand what I mean?’
‘I certainly do. These days you don’t know who to trust.’
‘If that ain’t the truth.’
He looked at her. She wore boots and jeans and a faded blue shirt, but she had class. It was written all over her. The way she talked, the way her skin was tanned just so, the way she wore her hair. Even her figure showed class. Nothing overdone.
‘What I don’t get,’ he went on, ‘is why the fella picked me up in the first place.’
‘He might have been lonely.’
‘Then why’d he dump me?’
‘Maybe he decided not to trust you. Or maybe he just wanted to be alone again.’
‘Any way you slice it, it was a rotten thing to do. You understand what I mean?’
‘I think so. Where are you headed?’
‘Tucson.’
‘Fine. I’m going in that direction.’
‘How come you’re not on the main highway? What are you doing out here?’
‘Well…’ She laughed nervously. ‘What I’m intending to do is not… well, not exactly legal.’
‘Yeah?’
‘I’m going to steal cacti.’
‘What!’ He laughed. ‘Wow! You mean you’re out to lift some cactuses?’
‘That’s what I mean.’
‘Well, I sure hope you don’t get caught!’
The woman forced a smile. ‘There is a fine.’
‘Gol-ly.’
‘A sizable fine.’
‘Well, I’d be glad to give you a hand.’
‘I’ve only got one shovel.’
‘Yeah. I saw it when I stowed my bag. I was wondering what you had a shovel for.’ He looked at her, laughing, and felt good that this woman with all her class was going to steal a few plants from the desert. ‘I’ve seen a lot of things, you understand. But never a cactus-napper.’ He laughed at his joke.
She didn’t. ‘You’ve seen one now,’ she said.
They remained silent for a while. The young man thought about this classy woman driving down a lonely road in the desert just to swipe cactus, and every now and then he chuckled about it. He wondered why anybody would want such a thing in the first place. Why take the desert home with you? He wanted nothing more than to get away from this desolate place, and for the life of him he couldn’t understand a person wanting to take part of it home. He concluded that the woman must be crazy.
‘Would you care for some lunch?’ the crazy woman asked. She still sounded nervous.
‘Sure, I guess so.’
‘There should be a paper bag on the floor behind you. It has a couple of sandwiches in it, and some beer. Do you like beer?’
‘Are you kidding?’ He reached over the back of the seat and picked up the bag. The sandwiches smelled good. ‘Why don’t you pull off the road up there?’ he suggested. ‘We can go over by those rocks and have a picnic.’
‘That sounds like a fine idea.’ She stopped on a wide shoulder.
‘Better take us a bit farther back. We don’t wanta park this close to the road. Not if you want me to help you heist some cactus when we get done with lunch.’
She glanced at him uneasily, then smiled. ‘Okay, fine. We’ll do just that.’
The car bumped forward, weaving around large balls of cactus, crashing through undergrowth. It finally stopped behind a cluster of rocks.
‘Do you think they can still see us from the road?’ the woman asked. Her voice was shaking.
‘I don’t think so.’
When they opened the doors, heat blasted in on them. They got out, the young man carrying the bag of sandwiches and beer. He sat down on a large rock. The woman sat beside him.
‘I hope you like the sandwiches. They’re corned beef with Swiss cheese.’
‘Sounds good.’ He handed one of them to her and opened the beer. The cans were only cool, but he decided that cool beer was better than no beer at all. As he picked at the cellophane covering his sandwich, he asked, ‘Where’s your husband?’
‘What do you mean?’
He smiled. It had really put her on the spot. ‘Well, I just happened to see that you aren’t wearing a ring, you understand what I mean?’
She looked down at the band of pale skin on her third finger. ‘We’re separated.’