The Dope Thief

Ray moved inside, pointing the gun into the hallway ahead of him. He called Da

He went to the front door and shrugged at Ma

He forced himself to look again. An old woman was in the tub. There was blood and vomit on her chin and down the front of her robe. One eye stared, a milky blue. There was a hole in her chest and her throat was open. There were flies walking in the blood on her mouth and a terrible buzzing noise that filled the small room. Ray used the sleeve of his coat to grab the door handle and pulled it closed, wiping it again after it was shut. He didn’t want to see what might be in the other rooms and ran down the stairs and out the front door. He heard Ma

He moved cautiously around the house, the gun out and pointing down. He came around the corner into a junk- strewn backyard. Ma

Ray heard the car starting and looked around the yard, rubbing his own right arm. He looked everywhere but at Da

Ma

“Sherry? Yeah, hon, it’s me. How you doing?”

Ray looked in the glove compartment, thinking there must be something to drink in this fucking car.

“Good. That’s good.” Ma

“Will she go?”

“She’ll go. She’s a pain in the ass, but she’s not stupid.”

Ray looked back at the house. His hands were shaking, and he watched Ma

“Who knows?”

“I mean, you know he gave us up the second they walked through the door.”

“I know.”

“So why do that?”

“They’re animals.”

The windshield shattered with the first gunshot, then a man stepped from the trees with a shotgun raised and the glass went white and blew in. Ray felt shards of glass hit his face and upraised arms. Ma

There was a loud pop and more glass breaking. He flattened himself in the bed of the trunk, yanking the pistol out of his waistband and shooting wildly toward the front of the car at nothing he could see. The SUV smacked into a thin tree trunk and stopped moving, and he cracked his head against the wall. Ray heard the heavy bang of Ma

He could hear Ma

Ray pulled himself out from under the car as it lowered on the flattening tire. He pointed the gun to his left, waiting for the other one to come out into view. The barrel of a long gun appeared at the left, and Ray tried not to breathe, wondering how many shots were left in the pistol. He held himself rigid and watched more of the gun barrel appear as the shooter slowly made his way down the side of the Toyota. Finally the guy made a quick move into the open, raising the shotgun and swiveling to put the front sight on Ray. He was wearing black leather, like the big man down in the driveway, and wraparound sunglasses. Ray could see tattoos on his hands and spiking up his neck from inside his shirt. There was a bang that Ray felt in his chest, and the guy folded up, blood haloing his head. Ray pulled the trigger involuntarily, and the shot pushed the biker onto his back, his eyes open. Ray could hear the other, bigger guy down in the driveway moaning and calling them motherfuckers.

Ma

Ma