Dog Soldiers (53 page)

“
Why are
you
staying, Ray? What is it you
’
re going to do?
”

“
We could call the cops,
”
Hicks said.
“
That would fake them out.
”

“
That
’
s all right with me,
”
Marge said.
“
Letting them have it is all right too.
”
She turned her back to the open door and buttoned her jacket.
“
It was my goddamn thing. Mine and his. We ought to pay our own way.
”

“
What are you talking about?
”
Hicks said to her.
“
Who you gonna pay?
”

“
I
’
ve had it,
”
she told him.
“
I
’
m through — it isn
’
t worth it
”

“
I guess it depends on how you think,
”
Hicks said.

Marge wept.

“
As far as I
’
m concerned,
”
she said softly,
“
they
’
ve earned it. They can have the dope and me with it.
”

“
That
’
s stupid.
”

“
Look,
”
she shouted,
“
there are a million people down there. They can
’
t kill us all in front of all those people. I can bring it down there and hand it over.
”

“
You
’
d never make it.
”

He went into the room in which he had slept. It was a narrow room like a monk
’
s cell; the single window was small and square, set in a brick casement. At one time it had been blue with flowering trees in each corner but Dieter had whitewashed the walls since then.

His seabag and the backpack lay on the bare mattress. From one he took the cellophane bag in which he kept his toothbrush and razor and shook the contents out onto the floor. From the other, he took the packet in which the drug was wrapped and rem
oved its outer covering of news
paper. Then, he went quietly across the corridor and out 287 the back door into fadin
g twilight. It was a clear tran
quil evening, squirrels chattered in the pines, sparrows chanted.

“
I
’
m bringing it down,
”
Marge shouted from the front door.
“
I
’
m bringing it!
”

He could not understand what they shouted back.

Kneeling beside the pool where the stream was dammed, he took fistfuls of the fine dry sand between the stones and flung them into the cellophane bag. Finally, he set the bag down and held its end open and shoveled earth in, sand, small stones and all. He took the bag of sand inside and wrapped the newspaper and oil cloth around it and put it in the backpack where the dope had been. Before he tucked the heroin under his mattress he took a pinch of it and sprinkled it in the layer between the newspaper and the oil cloth on the package of sand. He dragged the backpack and seabag into the front room.

“
I
’
m taking it down,
”
Marge declared.
“
I told them.
”

“
The minute they get it in their hands, they
’
ll blow your head off.
”

“
Not in front of all those people they won
’
t. I
’
ll give it to them in the village. I can get down the way we came up.
”
Hicks took the trigger housing and the stock of his M-16 from the seabag and started to assemble it.

“
Do we have to have more of this stuff with guns?
”

“
Talk to them about that.
”

Dieter came in from th
e tower and watched Hicks assem
ble his weapon.
“
What are you doing?
”
Hicks rummaged through the bag for clips.

“
Look at your friend,
”
Dieter said to Marge.
“
The Furor Americanus.
”

“
She wants to take it to them,
”
Hicks said.

“
She can try it,
”
Dieter said.

“
That
’
s our buddy John they got over there,
”
Hicks said with a blank smile.
“
We want to help him out.
”

“
Now it
’
s guns and sacrifices,
”
Dieter told them.
“
The whole number.
”

“
Well,
”
Hicks said,
“
it can
’
t all be trout fishing and funny lights. We got some old dues coming up.
”

“
We
’
re already dead,
”
Dieter said.
“
It
’
s all manifesta
tion.
”

“
Speak for yourself, Dieter. I
’
m not dead.
”

“
Go ahead and play it out with each other then,
”
Dieter said. He went to the refrigerator for another jar of wine.
“
You
’
re all one.
”

Hicks took the jar from him and drank with a grimace.

“
Some of us are more one than others.
”

“
I
’
m taking it down,
”
Marge said. She opened the flap of the backpack and looked inside; then snapped it closed, and held it against her body. The denim jacket she wore was slack over her shoulders, damp hair was pasted against her temples. She looked pale and sickly, fatal.

“
We did this—John and I. I won
’
t have anybody else fucked up over it.
”

“
Since when do you give junk away? You need it.
”

She slung the pack over her shoulder and went quickly through the front door. Hicks made no move to stop her.

She took the pack toward the cliff edge. Twenty yards from the house, she set it down in front of her and shouted into the valley.

“
Here it is! Meet us in the village and we
’
ll let you have it!
”

“
Say again
,
”
someone called.

“
I have it here. Meet us in the village and let him go.
”

When she turned in the direction of their voices, she saw the horse.

Converse, with Smitty clos
e beside him, stared at the fig
ure of Marge on the opposite hill.
“
Look at her,
”
Smitty said to him.
“
I could put a shell through that stuff.
”

“
Tell her it
’
s agreeable,
”
Antheil said.

“
It
’
s agreeable!
”
Danskin called amiably. He turned back toward Antheil.
“
It
’
s agreeable?
”

“
Sure,
”
Antheil said.

Danskin looked at him sullenly.

“
Where
’
s Hicks?
”
He shook his head.
“
They
’
re getting foxy. It
’
s getting dark and they
’
re getting foxy.
”

“
She
’
s not being foxy,
”
Converse said.
“
She means it.
”

“
This is one of those times when you have to be optimistic,
”
Antheil told them. He pulled
up his transmitter an
tenna and told Angel to move the truck up.

“
Better be careful,
”
Danskin said.
“
That Hicks
’
ll
kill you … Hey,
”
he called across to Marge,
“
where
’
s your buddy?
”

“
He
’
s hiding.
”

“
Hurry up,
”
Danskin shouted.
“
Carry a light.
”

When she went back inside, he was sitting on the altar steps fitting the M-70 attachment to his rifle. Beside him were a few of the little five-inch cartridges.

“
You handle it any way you want to,
”
he told her.
“
I
’
ll cover you.
”

“
I don
’
t want you to cover me,
”
she said.
“
I need a light,
”
she told Dieter. Dieter turned to Hicks.

“
Give her a light,
”
Hicks said.

Dieter took a hurricane lamp from beneath his console and tried it and handed it to Marge.

“
Keep it on while you
’
re going down. When you reach even ground turn it out.
”

Marge was trembling. He avoided her eye.

“
Just one bad flash after another,
”
she said.
“
It has to stop.
”

“
Do what you feel the need of.
”

“
What are you laughing at?
”
she demanded of him.

“
What are you always laughing at?
”

“
I
’
m not laughing.
”

“
When you get to the dirt road,
”
Dieter told her,
“
run. Make sure the light
’
s out.
”

Going out the door, she looked back at Hicks. He was securing the M-70 grenade launcher to his weapon.

Hicks and Dieter moved to the doorway and watched her walk to the top of the trail.

“
She didn
’
t even say goodbye,
”
Hicks said.
“
How about her?
”

“
It
’
s the right thing to do.
”

Hicks laughed at him.

“
You think so, do you?
”

He looked out into the gathering shadows.

“
Man, are they ever out there. Their ears were picking up. You can feel the spit on their teeth.
”
He turned to Dieter, smiling bitterly.
“
You just don
’
t care, do you? You just want her out of here.
”

“
I do care,
”
Dieter said.
“
What she says is right.
”

“
She
’
s hysterical. She
’
s tired of living.
”