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"That’s my point," replied Captain Strunk "The scouts and traders are saying that a bunch of rough-looking characters have beeninto the area since Charlie died"
"Everyone in the Ruin is a rough-looking character Goes with the territory"
"Come on, Tom," Strunk said irritably, "don’t pretend you don’t knohat I’ And don’t pretend that you don’t knohat an influence you’ve had on things out in the Ruin There may not beout on regular closure jobs, h trade tended to behave thehed "You’re crazy"
"This isn’t a joke," said Strunk "People respect you in town, even if most of them don’t say it--"
"Or can’t say it," the Mayor interjected
"--and out in the Ruin you were a force to be reckoned with"
"I’m not the sheriff of these here parts," Toht as well be," said Strunk "You could have my job anytime you want it"
"No thanks, Keith, you’re the law here in town, and you do a great job"
"Again, that’s my point," said Strunk "You know that I won’t ever step one foot outside of that fence No way"
"The bottom line," barked the mayor, "is that we both feel that once you leave, this part of the Ruin is going to turn into a no-et hijacked, and if the bounty hunters band together with no one to stop the to own this town Maybe all the towns"
There was a brief silence, and then Benny heard Toh
"Randy, Keith … I appreciate the problem, but it’s not my problem If you’ll remember, I proposed a militia for the Ruin I made very specific recommendations for a town-sanctioned force that would police this part of the Ruin and all the trade routes Let’s see, how long ago was that? Eight years? And then again a year later And the following year, and--"
"Okay, okay," growled Mayor Kirsch "Rubbing our noses in it doesn’t help us find an answer"
"I know, Randy, and I don’tnext week Leaving and not co back I can’t be the one to solve your probleued Tom, but he cut them off with a curt wave of his hand
"If you bothered to read my proposal," he said, "you’d have seen that I s Not all the bounty hunters are like Charlie There are soranted, only a handful, but I trust theers as he ran through some names "Solomon Jones, Sally Two-Knives …" He counted off twenty na a face "Half of them are psychos and loners who refuse to come into town and--"
"They don’t need to come into town," cut in Tom "Meet them at the fence line and talk business Deputize theht, treat them with a little respect and maybe they’ll show some loyalty to you and the town"
"Maybe they behave themselves around you," said Strunk, "but I hear wild tales"
"Really? Well, ild tales have you been hearing about Gaain Without ato do when kids start disappearing? Hoould you feel about your own kids vanishing off the street and getting dragged off to fight in a zombie pit? Don’t pretend that doesn’t happen in town Ask Nix Riley"
There was ate and the road to town Benny closed the door
Great, he thought, just e need Another reason to feel bad about leaving
12
THE NEXT DAY WAS THE VIEWING AND FUNERAL FOR THE HOUSER FAMILY More than two hundred people showed up Benny and Nix went together She had been sad and quiet since yesterday, and the day suited her mood Clouds obscured the sun and turned the air wet and cool, but no rain fell The trees were filled with crows and warblers and grasshopper sparrows A grackle--scruffy and dark--landed on the closed coffin of Danny Houser and ger chased hi wore a black robe and held a heavy and very battered old Bible There was a rues of the Bible were stained with blood because the pastor had been forced to use the Good Book to beat the head in of one of his parishioners who had been zommed out and attacked him It was a lurid story, but Benny believed it was true There were a lot of stories like that in town Everyone who had survived First Night had one
The mayor and his ere there, dressed in formal clothes, and even Captain Strunk of the Town Watch was in a suit
Benny did not own a suit, but he wore his best pair of dark blue jeans and a clean white shirt Nix wore a pretty dress that Fran Kirsch, the mayor’s wife, had sewn for her The dress was a richer shade of blue than Benny’s jeans, and the bodice was ebirds The colors reen eyes look more intense
Tom wore a black shirt and jeans and kept his eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses he’d recently bought fro and his family stood nearby, but Lilah was not with the one of the hyraveyard fence She wore a dress made from some charcoal-colored cloth embroidered with tiny white flowers Lilah’s snohite hair danced in the light breeze, and her eyes were in shadow She looked as cold and beautiful as a ghost
Benny saw that Chong was staring openly at her
Morgie Mitchell came to the funeral too, but like Lilah he stood apart from the others
When the burial was over, only a handful of people walked to the other side of the cemetery for the Matthias service Nix took Benny’s hand as they threaded their way through the tombstones
"You knohat this feels like?" she asked
He shook his head
"It’s like we’re at our own funerals"
Benny almost stopped, but Nix pulled his hand
"Think about it … in a couple of days we’ll be gone too Nobody in toill ever see us again So in your house, just like so in mine now By Christetting our nairl whose mama was murdered’ You’ll be ‘that bounty hunter’s kid brother’" Her voice was soft, pitched for just hiers over the curved top of a tombstone "Ten years froie and Chong will remember"
"Remember what? That we left them behind? That they weren’t able to escape with us?"