Page 135 (1/1)

Things had gone on like that for a while, Carter wasn’t sure how long The others hispering away, saying various things, ugly things, but mostly what they said was their nah of themselves Then they fell quiet like the air before a storm and that hen Carter heard him: Zero "Heard" wasn’t exactly the word Zero could make you think with his owna step that wasn’t there and tuhtless hole and at the botto in winter coats, and the voice over the loudspeaker was calling out the nu where New Haven Larchmont Katonah New Rochelle Carter didn’t know those places It was cold The floor was slick withat the kiosk, the one with the four-faced clock He aiting for someone, someone important One train arrived and then another Where was she? Had so happened? Why hadn’t she called, why did she fail to answer? Train after train, the anticipation intense, then, as the last passengers hurried by, the cruelest dashing of his hopes His heart was shattering, yet he couldn’t make himselfShe said she would be here, where was she, how he longed to hold her in his ar that ever mattered, let me be the one to hold you as you slip away…

After that, Carter had gone plain crazy It was like one long bad dreas and couldn’t stop Eating folks Tearing them to bits Some he didn’t kill but only tasted, no rhy he did because that’s what Zero wanted He re somewhere in a hurry and Carter had come down on the hiry part of him paid this nofolks He landed hard on the hood and gave the look at him, his teeth and claws and what he was about to do The two of the There was the uessed was his wife She had short blond hair and eyes that ide and staring The car began to fishtail They were sliding all over the place TheHoly shit! and What the fuck! but the woh Carter, her face as blank as paper, like the sight of aher brain knehat to do with, and it stopped Carter flat, that’s hoeird it was, and that hen he noticed the gun--a big shiny pistol with a barrel you could fit your finger in, which thewheel Now, don’t be pointing that, the one part of hi; you don’t ever point a gun at no one, Anthony; and maybe it was the me in long looping arcs like a kid on a swing puher and faster and faster, but for a second Carter froze, and as the car began to roll the gun went off in a blast of noise and light and Carter felt a sharp little sting in his shoulder, notCarter knew, he was rolling on the pave down on its side It spun in a 360 and crashed down onto its roof with an explosion of glass and a shriek of tearing , over and over, bright bits of things hurling away, until it flopped one last ti was very still; they were deep in the country, littering plu hot and sharp, likebut didn’t knohat His thoughts were all le frames from a movie he couldn’t put in order He scuttled his way to the car and crouched to look The two of the upside down froainst their waists Thepiece offorward, wide-eyed, blood all over her--her face and shirt, her hands and hair, her lips and tongue and teeth Black slass crunched under Carter’s foot and her face swiveled toward hi the source of the sound

"Is somebody there?" Bubbles of blood formed at her lips as they curved around the words "Please Is…any…body…there?"

She was looking right at him That hen Carter realized she couldn’t see The woman was blind With a soft whu under the dash