World's End

Page 67

I don't remember clearly what happened after that;

except that somehow I found myself naked and reeking of alcohol, bleeding from a hundred tiny, smarting gouges all over my body. Ang stood in front of me, holding a bottle of Spadrin's liquor. He shoved the bottle into my mouth and forced me to take a drink. I coughed and spat it out, struggling to get away from him. I leaned down, groping for my clothes, furious with humiliation.

My clothing was soaked and caked with alcoholic mud;

more bottles--empty ones--lay scattered in the dirt. The beetles were gone. I struggled with my underwear.

"Don't hurry on my account," Ang said sardonically.

"I'd shake everything twice, if I was you."

I turned my back on him and shook everything out again with clumsy hands. I picked an opalescent blue green beetle out of my shirt pocket. After that my body did most of the shaking for me.

"Relax," Ang said. "It's over. At least you got the shower you've been bitching about." I stared at him, incredulous. He was smiling, but I couldn't tell what he meant by it.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Spadrin climbed down out of the rover's cab. He looked sullenly at the ring of bottles, at me, and at Ang.

"That's half of what I had left."

84

WORLD S END

Ang shrugged. "Only way to get rid of the bugs.

You're the one who . . . tripped." His voice was flat.

Spadrin didn't answer him. "Got all the cooties out, Gedda?" He looked at me instead, and I knew exactly what lay behind his smile.

"You did that intentionally--"

"Me? How did I know they'd come out of there like that?"

"You knew!"

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"You want to make something of it?" His smile stretched taut. He flexed his hands almost casually.

"Gedda--?"