A Rage for Revenge

50 Orrie

There was one last thing to do.

It was a three-hour drive. Not as long as I'd thought.

The old dude ranch was a burned out ruin. Some of the trees and shrubs in the area had also burned, but the fire hadn't spread.

I pulled into the big dirt clearing that served as a parking lot and killed the engine.

I switched the PA system on.

"Prrrt?" I said into the microphone. "Prrt?" The day was silent.

I opened the door of the van and climbed down out of it. I went mound to the back and got my torch. I came back toward the front of the vehicle.

Orrie was just coming up past the ruins of the barn. I knew it.

He'd come back here because he knew this place.

He was looking for his babies. He was looking for his family, his tribe.

"Orrie!" I shouted. "It's Jim! Come here!" I had to get him in range.

He stopped and looked at me. He cocked his eyes suspiciously. They swiveled independently of each other. They were large and black.

"Come on, Orrie-I'll take you to Jason!"

"Prrrt?" He asked.

"Prrt," I answered. I went down on one knee. "Come on, baby. Come to Jimmy."

It worked. Orrie slid toward me.

At the last moment, he hesitated. "Prr-rrrt?"

"It's all right, baby. I know. They all went away and left you alone. You're hungry, aren't you?"

He started to half-raise himself off the ground. A challenge? No, it was more of a question.

He lowered himself again. He decided he could trust me. He slid forward.

For half a moment, I was tempted-to put the torch down and go over and hug him and skritch him behind the eyes. For half a moment, I loved him again.

And then I brought the torch up anyway-and sent him straight to hell.

He gasped. He screeched in surprise and anger and betrayal. The flames enveloped him. They roared. He screamed. He writhed and rolled and shrieked and died. For a moment, his cries were almost human. For a moment, I almost regretted what I'd done.

But the feeling passed. The debt was paid.

I still hadn't found out what had happened to Tommy. I didn't think I ever would.

I put the torch in the back, and got back in the van. I backed away from Orrie's burning body.

I was on the main highway in twenty minutes.

I drove for two hundred miles before I finally pulled off to the side and stopped and let the tears come to my eyes.

I sat there and cried and was sorry I didn't have the courage to blow my own brains out.

After a while, I stopped crying. There were still more tears to come, a lot more, but there would be time.

It didn't matter. I knew what I was going to do for a while. I was going to drive and kill worms, drive and kill worms-until one of them killed me first.

It was something to do.