Damage & Decay

Chapter 53

Part Four: Family Business

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

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"Life just keeps getting more and more fun," growled Charlie Matthias.

"EREN!" Nix screamed, but the Hammer moved behind her and wrapped and iron arm around her throat. The other bounty hunters laughed, knowing that a bad night was suddenly about to become more entertaining.

"If you think getting shot is fun," Eren said, "then you're going to die happy."

Charlie laughed. "Boy, maybe your brother might have pulled off that kind of banter, but it doesn't carry the same pop if your voice cracks while you're talking trash."

The gun was heavy, but Eren forced his hand to stay firm. Charlie appeared to be unimpressed. The rain was thinning, and the last of the firecrackers banged and then went silent. Eren licked his lips, tasting mud and cold sweat.

"If you're going to pull that trigger, pup, do it while you still have some balls."

"I'll pull it," said Eren, stepping forward in what he hoped was an aggressive move. Charlie merely looked amused. "But I want to know something first."

Charlie grinned and looked around at the other bounty hunters. Most of them were trying to round up the horses, but a handful had stood to watch the fun. Now they were pointing guns at Eren too. "Kid wants to have a fireside chat, boys. Ain't that cute?"

"Maybe he wants to know how to grow a set!" yelled one man.

"Maybe he wants to join," suggested Vin Trang.

"Maybe he wants to cry about what happened to Armin," offered the Hammer, who was scuffed and blackened, but did not look much worse for wear. He gave Eren a truly murderous look, and Eren knew that if the Hammer got his hands on him, he'd make him pay very dearly for what had just happened.

Eren could have taken his shot when Charlie was turned away, but he kept hoping that Mikasa would show up. One more diversion was all he needed to rescue Nix. But all he heard in the woods behind him was the diminishing splat of raindrops on leaves and the moan of the wind through the trees.

Showing no trace of concern that a gun was pointed at him, Charlie turned back to Eren. "Sure, kid. . . . You got some burning question you want to ask, then ol' Charlie'd be happy to oblige. Charlie's everybody's friend."

The bounty hunters all laughed at that.

"Why do you do this?" Eren demanded. "I mean, how can you live with yourself after everything you've done?"

The big bounty hunter chuckled. "Grow up, boy. You think I'm evil? Sure, you want to hang that word on me, because I use muscle to take what I want, but you don't have a clue about how the world works. It's the same now as it was before First Night. Anyone says different is a fool or a liar."

He took a step closer, and Eren reflexively backed away. Charlie looked please, and he bent forward and leered at Eren.

"You look at me and you see the Big Bad Wolf. You think I'm some kind of monster. Well, there's a lot worse than ol' Charlie out here in the Ruins, and I ain't talkin' about zoms. You got no idea what evil  is."

"I'm looking at it."

"Hell, boy, I ain't evil. I'm just the guy that's in power. I'm a conqueror, like all them great kings and generals in history. You want to call me evil because of Gameland? You think that's the height of evil? Boy, there are people who have conquered half the world, slaughtered whole populations, wiped cultures off the face of the planet, and you know what history calls them? Heroes! Kings, presidents, champions, explorers. You think America was settled by white men because the Indians invited  us here? No, we took  this land because we were stronger, and that's how every page of human history is written. It's just our nature. We're a predator species, top of the food chain. Survival of the fittest is written in our  blood, it's stenciled on every gene of our DNA. The strong take  and the strong make,  and the weak are there only to help them do it. End of story."