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The dogs were getting closer Vic quickly gathered up the ee the last few spiders and roaches, then carried the rags to his truck and tossed them carelessly into the bed of the pickup

Then he went back to the porch and examined the two bundles They were backpacks, both of the with bags of white powder and bundle after bundle of bloodstained money A fortune Vic’s mouth went dry as he looked at it

"Well, fuck me" He hefted the backpacks; each was a considerable burden, and a great avaricious smile carved itself onto Vic’s face as he realized what this unexpected treasure trove was He had heard the news stories all night "Well, fuck me blind and move the furniture"

He put the backpacks on the front seat, hu out of not being able to visit Dark Hollow Maybe he’d swing back around later

Vic lingered at the house just long enough to take a considering look at the forest, the stretch of denser brush that led off into the woods at the foot of Dark Hollow

"I’ll put this to good use," he said to the woods "Trust ot in his truck and left By the time the first of the bloodhounds reached the spot, there was nothing left to find but a fractured jack-​o’-lantern that still wore part of its twisted grin

7

Iron Mike Sweeney lay on his bed and stared at the water stains on the ceiling There was one stain that looked like a TIE fighter frohter, not the bombers or Darth Vader’s personal ship Mike looked at it and tried to think about that rather than the pain So he’d triedback the hurt, to force the pain back into its dark little box, to shoo the shaue, did the alphabet based on the first letters of the titles of science fiction novels, cast fantasy remakes of classic sci-​fi flicks with his favorite current actors Usually he could get lost in those games, but not today Today none of it worked The ht was too fresh, too sharply painful in every way And too strange

His revelation about Vic’s humanity was still with him, but as the aches and pains asserted the, the wonder and delight of the epiphany dirandeur Yes, he’d outlast Vic Sure, but how s would there be between then and now?

Mike wasn’t sure how s like that he could take There was no part of hiainst his one to the bathroom his pee had been bloody, which really scared him

He could outlast Vic if he wanted to, but would he want to live through the years between now and then? Mike really wasn’t sure

On the other hand…

The one thing that kept Mike froe hat had happened at the end of the beating The look in Vic’s face It had only been there for a split second, but it had been there Mike could not understand it, but for that second Vic had looked scared Of hie He’d beaten Mike to a pulp and Mike hadn’t been able to do so much as block a punch It had all been Vic

So, why had he stepped back like that at the end? What had happened? What had he seen, or had he thought he’d seen? Mike re, but it had been involuntary He had no idea why he had even done it

And yet…it had stopped Vic cold

Why?

With a hiss of pain he et out of the house, to be out in the sunlight, to be away from here He tottered into the bathroo outand die, he thought, and the idea comforted him He opened the medicine chest and took down the oversized bottle of Advil He went through a bottle that size every elcaps into his palm, slapped thelasses of water

It took hi time to put on a sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers His ribs hurt, but not nearly as much as his face When he looked in the nized were the blue eyes staring hopelessly out of the ht had settled do, thanks to ice packs, but there was a splash of yellow and dark brown bruising ringing both eyes

He lowered his head Vic’s face swaht soun

The iun case popped into his head and he spent severalinto that case wouldn’t be difficult, not as long as it didn’t matter if Vic found out Only stealth was difficult, but to slass and take a haun, but TV was a pretty good teacher, and he figured he could load one, find the safety, point it, and shoot