Damage & Decay

Chapter 52

Part Four: Family Business

"Fear is only as deep as the mind allows."

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"Well, I'll be a one-eyed skunk," yelled Charlie Pink-eye so loud that Eren could hear him through the rain, the laughter, and the noise of the fistfight. All of the men who were clustered around the burning tent stopped and turned to see their bus standing by the pig pen, pointing a gun at the red-haired girl who had escaped the day before. They laughed as if this was some new form of entertainment, and the whole mass of them broke into a run to go share in the fun. Vin pushed Joey away from him, and the pair, bruised and bloody, got to their feet and staggered along as well.

Eren came out of hiding and ran low and fast to the shadowy cleft between two of the wagons. There was a big bonfire that had been sheltered from the rain by a thick stand of tall pines. He craned his neck to see what was happening.

"Move one muscle, little darlin'," said Charlie, "and I'll cut my losses nd leave you for zom meat. Don't think I won't."

Eren's heart froze in his chest at those words. He climbed onto the side of the wagon for a better view. Despite the rain, his mouth went dry at what he saw. Nix, covered in mud, stood inside the pen, and Charlie stood on the other side of the rail, his pistol held in one rock-steady hand. Stark terror and raw hatred commingled on Nix's face, transforming her beauty into a mask equally as feral as Mikasa's, but in some indefinable way, more savage. Perhaps it was because Mikasa had never been civilized, and any thought she felt was immediately and unthinkingly displayed on her face, whereas Nix had always been controlled and self-aware. What Eren saw now was her unguarded, naked emotion.

Two of the men climbed over the fence and closed in on Nix from either side. It was clear they did not consider her a major threat, but they were nonetheless cautious of the big-bladed hunting knife she held. Charlie used the barrel of the gun to gesture to he knife Nix held clutched in her fist.

"Drop that pig sticker, little darlin'."

Nix did not drop the knife. She clutched it to her chest, cutting desperate looks to her left and right for some way out.

Charlie swung the barrel of the pistol away from her and aimed it at the twelve-year-old. "Drop the knife, girl, or I'll put a hole in this little cutie."

The girl, seeing her death, straightened and held her head high. She spat into the mud at Charlie's feet.

Charlie thumbed the hammer back.

Nix dropped the knife. It struck point-first into the mud and stopped there, standing straight out form the ground like Kind Arthur's sword. Nix looked down at it with regret. One of the men laid a heavy hand on her shoulder.

Eren darted through the shadows until he could see the big bonfire on the other side of the wagon. Working quickly, he opened the satchel and removed a few items that he hoped he'd live long enough to use, and then he tossed the bag with a slow underhand pitch, straight into the fire. It struck the center of the blaze and kicked up a huge tower of sparks, but when the men in the crowd turned to see what had happened. Eren was already back into the darkest corner of shadows, totally invisible.

"What the hell was that?" demanded Charlie.

"Nothing, boss," said one of the bounty hunters. "Log shifted in the fire."

Nix took that moment. She suddenly bent forward and grabbed the handle of her knife. She pivoted as fast as she could, and Eren saw a flash of steel and then the guard to her left suddenly bent double and let loose with a terrible cry of pain. The other one had been looking at the bonfire and turned at the sound, but Nix spun toward him and then he was falling, the knife buried in his chest.

Charlie bellowed in surprise and fury, and swung the gun back toward Nix and pulled the trigger.

His shot sounded like an entire barrage of artillery, because at the same second that he pulled the trigger, all of the firecrackers in Joey Duk's satchel exploded. The sudden sound made Charlie jump, and his shot tore through Nix's hair rather than her head.

The night was filled with a thousand sharp cracks, and all of the men ducked and dove for cover, thinking they were under armed attack. They whirled and fired in every direction, filling the air with louder bangs as shotguns and heavy pistols spat fire and hot lead. A dozen of the bullets ripped jagged holes in the sheet-metal sides of the wagon beside which Eren crouched, and he bent and rolled beneath the wagon, feeling the shudder as the barrage continued to tear at the wood and metal.

Nix tore her knife free, rushed at the pen rail, and tried to lean over it, blade high, to stab Charlie, but the big man swatted her out of the air. The blow caught her on the shoulder, and it was so shockingly powerful that Nix went flying. She hit the ground and slid five feet. Her knife went spinning out of her hands.

Eren saw this from where he lay, and the sight of Nix falling made something snap in his mind. He rolled out from under the wagon and ran around behind it, circling the camp at a dead run to come up on Charlie from the shadows.

The bounty hunters were still firing, and someone's shotgun pellets struck the clanks of a massive Clydesdale in the corral. The huge draft horse screamed and reared up, throwing all of its two thousand pounds of muscle and bone against a tethering line that snapped like cotton twine. The Clydesdale's flailing hooves struck another horse, and soon the whole pack of draft animals were screaming and kicking and tearing loose. They charged across the camp, spooled by pain and the continual popping of firecrackers, scattering bounty hunters who dove for sudden cover. One man was caught in a moment of indecision, shifting right and left half a dozen times before his last moment of choice ran out. The herd of horses ran him down and ground him into the mud. Eren saw the Hammer trying to make a grab for them, but one of the animals rammed him and sent  hi flying into Joey Duk's burning tent. The Hammer landed hard, but instantly began screaming and thrashing as he rolled out of the fire. The mud and the rain put out the flames, but he lay there, smoking and dazed.

The twelve-year-old was pushing the children over the rail. She was the last one over, and they raced together into the darkened woods, but as they fled, Eren realized he was on the very path that Nix told them to take. He tried to dodge behind a tree, but the whole pack of kids saw him at once . . . and screamed.

Charlie whirled, thinking that one of his men had circled to block the kids.

He stared straight into Eren Jaeger eyes, all nineteen of his captives fleeing past him into the shadows.

Charlie Pink-eye's face darkened with a brutal rage, and he raised his pistol.

And Eren Jaeger raised his own.