Page 50 (1/2)

On the outskirts of caldwell, in the teether under a fat, heavenlyon As the Escalade pulled up next to their tight group, John was aot out as Rhage shut the SUV down Blay and Qhuinn fell in side by side, and together, the three of them walked over to the Brothers

The meadow up ahead stretched out between a collar of pine trees, the grass oldenrod and the occasional frothy-mopped milkweed

Vishous lit one of his hand-rolls, the scent of Turkish tobacco drifting over "Fucker is late"

"Easy, V," Wrath said under his breath "I will relieve your ass if you can&039;t stay tight"

"Fucker Not you, him"

"Butch, chain your boy, would you? Before I low cahter, then growing big as the sun As it gathered in the forest, the light was filtered by trunks and branches, and John thought of the nuclear bomb test films he&039;d seen in school, the ones where the trees and everything were leveled flat after the great burst of illumination

"Please tell me that shit isn&039;t radioactive," Qhuinn said

"Nah," Rhage replied "But we&039;re all going to have tans in the "

Butch put his arm up to shield his eyes "And me without my Coppertone"

Except none of their weapons were drawn, John noted Although they were tense as cats

Suddenly, frodraped over his ar or¡ª

"Son of a bitch," Wrath breathed as the figure stopped twenty yards away

The glowingWrath and his band of merry-merry happy-happy I swear you boys should do kiddie shows, you&039;re so fucking cheery"

"Great," Rhage muttered, "his sense of humor&039;s still intact"

Vishous exhaled "Maybe I can try to beat it out of him"

"Use his own arlared at the two of them, who shot hi shook his head and addressed the lit figure "Been a while Thank God How the hell are you?"

Before the man could answer, V cursed "If I have to hear all that Keanu Reeves, Matrix, &039;I a to explode"

"Don&039;t you mean Neon?" Butch shot back " &039;Cause he ren"

Wrath&039;s head turned "Shut the fuck up All of you"

The glowing figure laughed "So do you want your early Christ my shit until I decide to take off"

"Christmas? I believe that&039;s your tradition, not ours," Wrath said

"So, is that a no? Because it&039;s so for a while" With that, the glow dissipated, like so in the clearing noas a iven that he was draped in gold chains There was someone in his arh his dark hair

John&039;s whole body tingled

"Don&039;t recognize your brother?" the figure said, then looked down at the et"

John was the one who broke ranks and ran through the long grass So for anyone or anything He ran as fast as his legs would carry hih his veins

The ht slapped at his cheeks, and the straining fists his hands had cranked into beat at the air

Father, he mouthed Father!

John bounced to a halt and then covered his mouth with his palm It was Tohrment, but it was a shrunken version of the Brother, as if he had been left out in the sun forloose from the bones, the eyes sunk deep into the skull The beard was long and dark, the shaggy hair nothing but a black tangled nest except for the brilliant, snohite stripe at the front His clothes were the exact saht he had disappeared fro center, all tattered and filthy

John jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder

"Easy, son," Wrath said "Jesus Christ¡ª"