In front of the door, facin’ that thing on the other side, Old Mongrel stood stone still. His hackles was raised, a growl rumblin’ in his throat. He wasn’t keenin’ no more. That old dog was ready to attack; his fangs was bared and I seen the saliva drippin’ off of ’em. That growl kept buildin’ up, risin’ into the room and fillin’ the cabin, almost like it was alive.
I hadn’t never seen that old dog look like that, not in all the years we’d been acquainted. He was tellin’ me how bad it was, and I believed him. I looked over at the bed one last time, makin’ sure they was okay. Corinne hugged Jessie close and cocked the rifle, noddin’ at me, tellin’ me by her posture she was ready. Her eyes was steady on mine.
I stood back from the door, back near the stove, shotgun against my shoulder, heart poundin’, and we waited. It didn’t take long. There was dead calm, and then all of a sudden the whole world exploded. The door come crashin’ in, breakin’ free from its hinges and slammin’ into the wall...
... and Old Mongrel flew forward, airborne...
... and I could see only Roy Campbell’s face, leerin’, laughin’ at me, cursin’ me as that old dog knocked him off balance, knockin’ his rifle to the side...
...but he come up fast, swingin’ the rifle towards me, tryin’ to get his aim, and in the middle of the explosion the world stood still for just one second...
... and I seen his face; it was so clear to me at that moment, so in focus that I could see the tobacco particles stuck between his two rotted front teeth, could see, too, the drops of brown spit that sprayed out of his mouth while he cursed me, could see the yellow crust in the corners of his pale blue eyes, the angry blackheads on his temples...
... and suddenly I was fourteen years old again, lyin’ in the bottom of that culvert, naked and hurtin’, freezin’ in the rushin’ rainwater while them men destroyed me from the inside out...
... and I had known I was goin’ to die that night, maybe had even wanted to die, but I didn’t, I did not, and I wasn’t goin’ to now, no way in hell was I goin’ to die now, and I realized then that they had not destroyed me after all....
I squeezed the trigger and it was a deafenin’ noise, bouncin’ around them cabin walls. I watched in slow motion as Roy’s chest caved in, suckin’ his huntin’ coat in with it, knockin’ the rifle out of his hands where it clattered to the floor and discharged into the woodbox...
...and there was Jimmy Williamson, the front of his coat spattered with the chunks of red that come out the backside of Roy Campbell...
...but Jimmy was still comin’ even as Roy fell down; Jimmy was pointin’ a rifle at me and I wasn’t ready, there wasn’t no time to get ready, but maybe Corinne...
...Jimmy was linin’ up level with my face and dear God I could not pump that shotgun fast enough...
... and then Jimmy’s head exploded from his right, just blew clean off, leavin’ one eye, his left one, and I remember it was open wide in surprise, and only half a mouth, open but without no sound comin’ out, and he fell sideways onto the porch, and then...
“Goddamned son of a bitch left me to die. Goddamned son-of-a-mother-fuckin’ bitch.” And there was...who was it? Sue Ann Leary? Comin’ around the side of the porch, leanin’ heavy on the rail, holdin’ onto her left shoulder with slick red fingers, blood soakin’ through the front of a big ol’ huntin’ coat that must be Jimmy’s...or must have been Jimmy’s, since I was fairly certain nothin’ would ever be Jimmy’s again, because there appeared to be a part of his skull layin’ on my front step...
... and then Sue Ann was draggin’ herself up the steps, kickin’ Jimmy’s skull aside as if it weren’t nothin’ more than a withered up leaf, and I seen the hair on that skull blowin’ in the wind, I swear I did, and then Sue Ann was sayin’ somethin’, but I could not hear her over the roarin’ in my ears...
... and then Jessie was there, face buried into my chest, and suddenly I could hear again and the world stopped spinnin’ me around. Jessie was cryin’.
Pushin’ Jessie behind me, usin’ my body as a shield, I held tight to the shotgun, eyes on the open doorway where Corinne was supportin’ Sue Ann, leadin’ her into the cabin.
“Who else is out there?” I demanded of Sue Ann, and my voice was hoarse, like I had just woke up from a long sleep. “Are there any more?”
Sue Ann shook her head, wincin’ as Corinne led her to one of the wooden chairs at the table, lowerin’ her down careful-like. “Just them,” said Sue Ann. “Mr. Smith and I both heard ’em talkin’ and I tried to get up here to warn you but they overtook me...shot me...left me for dead, the no good sons of bitches.” She focused then on Corinne, really seein’ her for the first time. “What in the world are you doin’ up here? Lord, it’s busy up here tonight.”
“Mr. Smith came lookin’ for John Paul, told him what was goin’ on, and while they was talkin’ I left to come warn Billy May. Speakin’ of which, Billy May, John Paul may be out there, too. Oh, my God, I hope they didn’t kill John Paul! He was comin’, too, but I didn’t wait on him to get ready; I just left without him. I knew the way up here and I wanted to hurry and get to you. Sue Ann, did you see him?”
Sue Ann shook her head, groanin’ softly as Corinne tried to work the huntin’ coat away from her wounded shoulder. “I didn’t see nobody else, just them two.” She jerked her head towards the open doorway.
Followin’ her movement, I seen Old Mongrel standin’ in the splintered frame, leanin’ over the dead bodies of them men. He wasn’t no longer growlin’ but sniffin’ still, his nose raised up in the wind, that keenin’ sound comin’ from his throat again.
I led Jessie away from the busted door, shieldin’ her from the terrible sight of them men. She did not need to see that. Settlin’ her back onto the bed, I sat beside her and held her hand. My knees felt like they was too weak for me to stand.
“If Old Mongrel is communicatin’ as well right now as he has been all night, it sounds like John Paul is on his way,” I told the women. They looked over at the dog, with his head lifted up at the dark sky, that cryin’ sound risin’ up in the wind. “He ain’t angry now,” I said, “he’s just lettin’ us know someone is comin’.”
I hadn’t no sooner said that then we heard a voice. “Corinne? Honey, are you okay? We heard shots...oh, Lord, honey please let me know you’re okay.”
Corinne and me both stepped up to the doorway in time to see John Paul break through the heavy woods in front of the cabin. Just when he cleared the tree line and Corinne run down the steps to meet him, three other forms come out of the darkness behind him, and I raised my shotgun again, finger on the trigger.
“Goddamn, Billy May. We got here as fast as we could, but it looks like you’re still faster’n me.” Squintin’ in the light spillin’ out from the open doorway, I could not believe what I was seein’. A head of red hair, not as bright red as it had used to be, but red nonetheless.
“Raymond? Raymond O’Brien? What are you doin’ here?” All of a sudden it seemed to me like half the town was wanderin’ around on my mountain that night, and I could not wrap my head around exactly what was goin’ on. Was there no end to this confusion?
“It’s me, Billy May, and Darryl Lane and Eugene Cooper, too, so put your gun down, little lady. We’re on your side.” Raymond stopped when he got up to that bloody scene on my front porch. He whistled a low sound. “Although by the look of things, you didn’t need no help. Damn, woman.”
Behind him, Darryl and Eugene stepped forward for a better look, Darryl rubbin’ the back of his neck, lookin’ worried. Darryl always was a worrier. “Is it true, Billy May?” he asked me. “Them rumors about what they done to you?” He looked up at me, and his face was all screwed up with askin’ the question. His hand kept on rubbin’ at them muscles in the back of his neck, and I remember thinkin’ he was goin’ to rub the skin plumb off if he didn’t ease up.
I looked at him straight. I was too tired to get into that question, and too out of sorts to come up with words. I didn’t have no idea why Darryl was even there, on my mountain in the dark with a snowstorm comin’, but there he was. Thirty years after I had last seen Darryl, I reckoned he had come to help me, and that touched me. I nodded at him. “It’s true,” I said, and I left it at that. There wasn’t no need to say more.
Darryl’s eyes flickered toward the busted up door. “Is it also true what they done to that girl?” He motioned towards the cabin, the rifle still in his hand. I nodded at him again, my eyes steady on him until he looked down first. We had come a long way from racin’ across playgrounds and ringin’ church bells.
“Well,” he said after a minute, lookin’ down at the bloody scene on the porch again. “I reckon they deserved what they just got.”
Beside him, Eugene pushed his hat back on his head and nodded his agreement.
“Justice, Billy May,” he said to me. “This here ain’t nothin’ but justice.” He spat on the ground near Jimmy’s remains. “And it’s about damn time.”
“Don’t give her all the credit,” yelled Sue Ann from her seat at the table inside the cabin, startlin’ everyone in the yard. None of the men had even known she was in there. “Jimmy was mine. I killed him, and I enjoyed ever’ minute of it.”
While Darryl and Eugene looked at each other, their eyebrows raised up high, Corinne started to laugh, not the kind you laugh when you’re amused by somethin’, but the kind you laugh when you’ve been just about shocked out of your sensibilities. There was a cry buried down in that laugh.
John Paul tightened his arm around her shoulders and then peered up at me, a questionin’ look on his face. What the hell has happened here? What the hell is goin’ on? His face was askin’ me them questions, but he didn’t say a word. Them men had at one time been his friends, and I felt a little bit sorry for him, havin’ to see all that, and havin’ to learn what they’d turned into. That could not be an easy thing for a good man to know. I couldn’t explain it all to him, so I just held up my hands and shrugged. While we stood there over that mess, the first snowflakes drifted their way down, landin’ in puddles of blood that was still steamin’ in the cold night air. I was not sorry about them men, and, Lord help me, that is the truth.
Down the mountain, in the quiet little valley below, Mr. Smith remained on the couch in the Johnson’s living room where John Paul had ordered him to stay several hours before. John Paul had refused to let him come along, had insisted he stay and rest, and had even ordered him to call Dr. Hayden. Mr. Smith had refused to call the doctor, though, insisting he would be fine as soon as he rested.
Waiting in the darkness, Mr. Smith lapsed in and out of consciousness. He had to get up, had to get to Billy May, needed to save the girl. Agitated, he thrashed his head from side to side, moaning in his confused state as the pain ravaged his chest.
Then suddenly Marla was there, sitting beside him and shimmering in the darkness, telling him it was all okay; Billy May was safe, and so was the girl. She held his hand—oh, how he had missed the feel of her soft hand in his, the fingers so long and fine!—and smoothed his wrinkled brow, her touch a cool and refreshing breeze.
“You did good, Gerry,” she said. “You saved ’em all.” She smiled at him, that sweet smile he had loved so much, her freckled nose wrinkling the way he adored, her cowlick curling up over her right ear as it always had. She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the mouth, teasing him, and it was the sweetest kiss he’d ever had. She stood then, and tugged at his hand so that he stood with her. Holding her hand, he followed her into the soft light, his heart no longer hurting, but bursting with happiness.