Dog Days of Summer (Damned of the 2/19th Book Four) - Finished

A Cup of Tea

Back Roads

Lewis County, Washington

United States of America

09 August, 1986

0730 Hours   

        "Where are we going?" Briana asked me as I headed down the back road, the dawn a crimson beauty on our left. Briana looked shook up, she kept rubbing her upper arms or hugging herself. After effects from seeing her mother completely unveiled, and freed to do as she willed within that glade. Oh, and seeing her mother eat Reggie Doutree.

        "You said not to bother dropping you off anywhere, that you wanted to go with me." I told her, reaching over to the ashtray to stub out the butt. "I need rest, need time to heal up. My cousin might have popped my rib, and I've been fighting all day."

        I could feel my body working on the bruising in the muscle along my rib cage. Capillaries and small veins had bled into the muscle when the blunt force trauma had impacted. Muscle tissue had been torn by the blunt force. I could feel the blood being moved out of the tissues, the dull itching throb of the muscle tissue healing. Tadhg may have gone to seed, but he'd still been able to hit like a tank, the muscle beneath the marbling of fat still solid and thick.

        "Where's that?" She asked, looking out the window again. "Do you know someone out here?"

       "No." I told her, pulling in front of the gate. She asked something but I ignored her and got out of the truck, moving over to the gate to unlock it, pull the gate open, and walk back into the truck. She asked me again who lived in the run down house we could see. I didn't bother answering her as I pulled through the gate, threw the truck in neutral again, and shut the gate so I could lock it again.

        "You're staying there?" Briana asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

        "You use what assets you have, Bree, you don't worry about what your assets look like, you worry about their function." I told her. "Look at the Soviets. They worry about function first, appearance last. Function over form." I braked the truck and slid to a stop, dust rising from the dirt.

        "You don't have to stay here, I can take you to one of the farms." I told her, shrugging. "With any luck it'll be boring while I sleep."

        "I'll stick with you, Annie." She told me, brushing hair out of her face as she got out of the truck. The doors thumped loudly in the morning silence as they closed. When she saw the Ka-Bar in my hand she flinched. "Why did you take that?"

        "I'm armed now." I smiled at her, hefting the knife. It felt comfortable in my hand. Not as streamlined as my Gerber, but still a solid, dependable weapon. She shuddered at the sight. "I took it through blood and strife, that gives it power to your mother and the matrons."

        The house smelled of age, mold, and parties long ago. She followed me onto the rotting porch and we both stepped over the spot where the Sheriff had been murdered decades before. She shuddered again, probably in response to the old spilled blood. We took about six steps in before I held up my hand.

        "Stop." I barked. "Don't move. Not another step."

        "What?" Why?" Briana asked.

        "Because someone has been here." I told her. I knelt down to look at the track in the dirt on the floor. The distinctive tread of a newer Nike running shoe. Reggie had worn Nike.

        "What are you looking at, Annie?" Briana stepped up and put her shoe right on the print I was looking at. When I looked up at her she flinched. "Annie, what?"