Primal Threat - Earl Emerson [55]
“Hey! Give me a break here. I’m still trying to get this whole thing organized in my own head.”
“So why didn’t those guys push you off, too?” Kasey asked. “I mean, if that’s what they were doing, pushing people off?”
“Maybe they noticed you watching.”
“I don’t think they saw us until after. If they even saw us at all.”
“Oh, they saw you. They saw you watching right after Chuck went off.”
“I just watched those fuckers kill my brother,” muttered Fred. “I’m going up there and—”
“Hold on,” said Kasey. “Let’s not do anything rash.” Fred was obviously in shock over his brother’s death, and Kasey didn’t see any point in reminding him that he hadn’t actually witnessed the event.
“Those fuckers killed my brother. I’m going up.” Fred started to move, but all five of them jumped in front of him, and then Jennifer, still crying, hugged him, pasting herself to his body. After a few moments of trying to pry her off, he relented and began patting the back of her head in an attempt to quiet her tears.
Fred was the more introverted of the two brothers and not as handsome, though he had the same blond Prince Valiant bangs and the same pale blue eyes as Chuck, eyes that stood out on his sunburned face like Christmas tree lights. Kasey watched Fred as his jaws clenched and unclenched. From behind the trucks, where he was still tied to a tree, Dozer barked steadily.
“They might have a weapon,” said Kasey.
“They have a whole camp set up,” said Scooter. “Sleeping bags and even a small tent. You’re right. Who’s to say they don’t have guns?”
“How’d the other guys in the camp react?” asked Ryan Perry.
“I didn’t have time to stop and take a poll. What are you doing?”
Perry had a cell phone to his ear. “I’m calling the cops.”
“Right. Sure. Go ahead. That’s okay with me. But you guys are with me on this. Right?”
“It doesn’t work,” Perry said, closing his phone. “Anybody have a phone that’s working?”
Kasey looked at all the pale, shocked faces surrounding him, then saw his own eyes in the reflection of a truck window and was startled at how haggard he looked. They were in a mental fog. Jennifer was bawling. Fred had gone white and looked as if he was going to pass out. Perry, the smallest of them all, was flitting about like a bird. Bloomquist was squirming. They were all in shock.
“Eventually those guys up the hill are going to come down and want to talk about this,” said Kasey, thinking aloud. “What do we do then?”
“I know what I’m going to do,” Fred said, marching through their makeshift camp and pulling a second rifle out of his brother’s truck.
“Hey, hey, hey,” said Kasey. “There’s no need for that.”
“You’ve got one.”
Scooter spoke up. “Fred’s right. There’s no point in getting caught flat-footed when we have guns and ammunition just sitting here. It’s only a precaution. Besides, who knows what they might have done to me if you hadn’t fired those shots?”
“I’m scared,” said Jennifer, mopping her face with the shoulder of her blouse.
“Somebody should go down to see if Chuck’s alive,” said Bloomquist. “I read about a guy who fell in the mountains once, and his friends thought he was dead, but he was still alive two days later.”
“No way he’s alive,” said Scooter.
“Somebody needs to check,” said Bloomquist. “What if he’s down there calling for help?”
“I’m going,” said Jennifer.
“I know how we can get down,” said Fred, leading Jennifer through the woods toward the lookout point. “But it might be dangerous. You stay here. I’ll go by myself.”
“Like hell.”
Fred handed his rifle to Scooter. “Here. Cover us. I don’t want those guys doing anything when we’re down there.”
“My pleasure.”
In their extremity Jennifer and her dead boyfriend’s brother should have been closer than ever, yet they walked like awkward teenagers on a first date, making sure to keep some distance between them at all times as if they hadn’t just been hugging, or perhaps because they’d just been hugging. Everybody remembered how jealous Chuck was, and that jealousy was still lingering around the camp as if he