AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Well, I was coming for the SK with an extrakaboom. With practice maybe I’d graduate to lightning coming out my fingers? Eat your heart out X-Men.
Maybe my imaginary red wolf would turn up?
If not, the Ruger would do. I’d made my decision. Time to reclaim my life.
“I’m not much on small-talk either. I’m better at big talk.” Harry chuckled and threw me a glance. “Always thought conversation was the way most hitchers paid for their ride. Not you, hey?”
I shrugged. The day was warm and sweat dampened my shirt. The air-conditioning wasn’t doing well.
“You won’t need that gun in your pack. I’m harmless...to humans.” Another chuckle.
How’d he seen it? With everything that’d happened lately, I found the remark odd.
“Humans?” I asked warily.I’m human still, aren’t I?
“Yeah. With all the toing and froing I used to do with my job, I ran over a few critters on the road. Poor thangs. Where you off to then? Home? Moving towns? Cheap holiday?”
I shifted my shoulder on the window. He seemed honest. I went with the flow. “I’m going to find a man who made my childhood miserable.”
“Then?”
A bird flew past the windshield, so close that for a frozen second I could see each individual black feather. A crow? Or was it a raven? Too much reading had mixed those up.
“Then I aim to kill him. Not meaning to sound threatening, but it’s the truth.”
“Isn’t that a little illegal, honey?”
“Not if no one sees. Not if he’s a murderer. An eye for an eye.” Justice.
I stared past the outside scenery—trees, shrubs, the tar on the oncoming road—were incoherent streaks beyond the dust on the window glass.
Today it was my solemn duty to rid the world of men with who did bad things. This was what superheroes did. They made promises that meant something. Fuck yeah.
“Okay. But you be careful. You’re young. Even if you do get rid of this guy, is that all you want to do in this life of yours?”
“Huh?” I frowned at him for spoiling my vision.
“Though it might be a worthy aim, killing someone will taint a mind. Killing is evil.” He smiled toothily. “Evil is as evil does. Why not aim to make the world better by doing positive things?”
Jeez.“Philosophy according to tree loppers?”
“Heh-heh.You could say that.” The road hummed under the tires. The engine coughed as if throwing up a few gears and bolts, but the truck kept going. The noise lessened as he decelerated, turned the wheel, grated down the gears, and exited. In the rear view, I noticed a car exiting behind us. Its lights went out.
Now that was strange.
And where was Harry going?
“Gas station further down.” He pointed ahead along the tree-shadowed road with one finger jutting from his steering-wheel grip. “Detour up ahead so I can’t use the normal exit. We can stretch our legs, grab a coffee. We should reach where you’re going in about two hours.”
My stomach was empty. The sun was fading to the west. Most of the burger, from the previous stop, had stayed on my plate.
His last bit of imparted knowledge had stuck with me, and I drawled out my answer. “Positive is putting a bullet in the head of a man who kidnaps and rapes women.”
“Was he caught? Ever?”
The bangs and rattles as the vehicle found more road bumps made his words harder to catch.
“No. Only I saw him, and the friend he took. Nobody believed me.”
