Carrion Crew

29

Kourtney stomped the brake. Ulysses swore, and Scout and Hobo grunted protestation from the back seat. Kourtney ignored the complaints and questions of the passengers. The road ahead held the shapes of three figures, and a familiar vehicle. 

“That's them,” Ulysses said, and Kourtney shut down the hauler.  “We'll go in on foot.” He looked directly at Kourtney as he spoke. “Stay quiet, stay low, and don't make any sudden movements.”

They followed Ulysses down the shoulder of the road and didn't speak, though Kourtney was prone to the occasional dramatic sigh. He loved her, but the woman really had no talent for stealth or subtlety. At least the forest growth was thick enough that sound wouldn't echo and carry for long distances. Ulysses diverted their path further into the cover of the forest and crept as close as he dared. He could feel the tension in Kourtney and prayed she wouldn't do anything stupid. 

The voices were hard to distinguish, but by Ash's stance, she was being stubborn about something. Probably that package in her left hand. 

“Where's Twist?” Hobo whispered. “Ash said he was being held for that package, but I don't see him.”

“They probably need to verify the contents of the package,” said Ulysses. “I'm guessing they're keeping Twist in the ship.”

Ash's voice drifted to their position. “I wan't to see my friend, first!”

 A short man was holding his hand out for the package. Ash was holding it above her head. Two men beside Ash exchanged glances. 

“Where is he?” Ash demanded.

The short man said something that dismissed the two men with Ash. They hesitated until the short man shouted, “Go!” then doggedly trudged down the road. 

The short man returned his attention to Ash and gave a small shake of his head. The kind of shake that said, I don't know where your friend is, and it's not my problem, then he held out both hands and Ash stumbled two steps backwards. “Give it to me now!” The man ordered. One hand was held palm up. The other held a pistol. 

Kourtney spun to Ulysses. “Where's your gun?”

“I'm not giving you my gun,” Ulysses said, in a hard, flat voice that was drowned out by a loud report.

Every head snapped toward Ash. The short held the package the package, and Ash lay on the ground. Suddenly Ulysses was running, sprinting along side of Kourtney, Hobo and Scout. They stopped beside a figure that lay sprawled on the broken pavement, the cracks drinking in an advancing darkness. 

The girl looked familiar, and somehow alien. Ulysses though of Kourtney, but she hadn't been that young in many years. Even the woman he had married had never been as young as that frail form on the asphalt.

He didn't bother to kneel and feel for a pulse. The futility of that act was painfully obvious. Even Kourtney couldn't do it. She reached a hand down to her sister, but did not bend her knees. She stood like that for several seconds. One arm stretched and the other feeling toward Ulysses. He stepped in to hold her, to keep the trembling woman from falling beside her sister. 

A strangely high voice returned sound to the world. “Terrible,” it said. “And too bad.”

Ulysses looked up to see the short man still there. The man blinked at him, then turned to walk away. 

Kourtney tightened her grip on Ulysses. “You killed her!” she accused through grief-clenched teeth. “There wasn't any need for it, and you killed her!” Kourtney ripped herself away from Ulysses in a single, forward jerk. Her arm was stretched out toward the man, Ulysses' gun in her fist. The weapon erupted and the short man fell. 

Kourtney's face dripped with tears and her whole body trembled. All except the hand with the pistol. Then the hand jerked up again as four more figures appeared, running up a dirt road toward the highway.

“Stay back!” Kourtney shouted.

Three of the figures, larger men in blue uniforms, stopped and held out their hands. The other, thinner and darker figure kept running. Then, in a blur of motion, Hobo ran forward to meet the thin man and the two slammed together. 

Ulysses put a hand on Kourtney's shoulder and she allowed him to take the gun from her. And in the same motion, she burrowed into his embrace.  

The other three men approached slowly. One stooped and picked up the package from the ground. He looked from the bodies to Ulysses.

“For this?” The guard held up the package. 

Ulysses nodded.

The man looked down at the bodies again. His gaze lingered on Ash, and he blew a hard breath and shook his head. He handed the package off to his two companions. “Take this to the captain,” he said to them. “Tell him that this was an arrowhead situation.” Then to Ulysses he said, “you've got about a minute to clear out.”

“Arrowhead?” Ulysses couldn't help himself from asking.