'Stop it, stop it, stop hitting himV The voice was coming from a great distance, but Barbie was pretty sure it belonged to Rusty's wife. 'He's down, don't you see he's down?'
Feet shuffled around him in a complicated dance. Someone stepped on his ass, stumbled, cried 'OhfuckV and then he was kicked in the hip. It was all happening far away. It might hurt later, but right now it wasn't too bad.
Hands grabbed him and hauled him upright. Barbie tried to raise his head, but it was easier, on the whole, just to let it hang. He was propelled down the hall toward the final cell, the green lino sliding between his feet. What had Denton said upstairs? Your suite awaits.
But I doubt if there's pillow mints or turndown serf ice, Barbie thought. Nor did he care. All he wanted was to be left alone to lick his wounds.
Outside the cell someone put a shoe in his ass to hurry him along even more. He flew forward, raising his right arm to stop himself from crashing face-first into the green cinderblock wall. He tried to raise his left arm as well, but it was still dead from the elbow down. He managed to protect his head, though, and that was good. He rebounded, staggered, then went to his knees again, this time beside the cot, as if about to say a prayer prior to turning in. Behind him, the cell door rumbled shut along its track.
Barbie braced his hands on the bunk and pushed himself up, the left arm working a little now. He turned around just in time to see Randolph walking away in a pugnacious strut - fists clenched, head lowered. Beyond him, Denton was unwinding what remained of Searles's bandage while Searles glared (the power of the glare somewhat vitiated by the sunglasses, now sitting askew on his nose). Beyond the male officers, at the foot of the stairs, were the women. They wore identical expressions of dismay and confusion. Linda Everett's face was paler than ever, and Barbie thought he saw the gleam of tears in her lashes.
Barbie summoned all his will and called out to her. 'Officer Everett!'
She jumped a little, startled. Had anyone ever called her Officer Everett before? Perhaps schoolchildren, when she pulled crossing-guard duty, which had probably been her heaviest responsibility as a part-time cop. Up until this week.
'Officer Everett! Ma'am! Please, ma'am!'
'Shut up!' Freddy Denton said.
Barbie paid him no mind. He thought he was going to pass out, or at least gray out, but for the time being he held on grimly.
'Tell your husband to examine the bodies! Mrs Perkins's in particular! Ma'am, he must examine the bodies! They won't be at the hospital! Rennie won't allow them to - '
Peter Randolph strode forward. Barbie saw what he had taken' off Freddy Denton's belt and tried to raise his arms across his face, but they were just too heavy.
'That's enough out of you, son,' Randolph said. He shoved the Mace dispenser between the bars and squeezed the pistol grip.
13
Halfway over the rust-eaten Black Ridge Bridge, Norrie stopped her bike and stood looking at the far side of the cut.
'We better keep going,'Joe said. 'Use the daylight while we've got it.'
'I know, but look,' Norrie said, pointing.
On the other bank, below a steep drop and sprawled on the drying mud where the Prestile had run full before the Dome began to choke its flow, were the bodies of four deer: a buck, two does, and a yearling. All were of good size; it had been a fine summer in The Mill, and they had fed well. Joe could see clouds of flies swarming above the carcasses, could even hear their somnolent buzz. It was a sound that would have been covered by running water on an ordinary day.
'What happened to them?' Benny asked. 'Do you think it has anything 1:0 do with what we're looking for?'
'If you're talking about radiation,'Joe said,'I don't think it works that fast.'
'Unless it's really high radiation,' Norrie said uneasily.
Joe pointed at the Geiger counter's needle. 'Maybe, but this still isn't very high. Even if it was all the way in the red, I don't think it would kill animals as big as deer in only three days.'
Benny said, 'That buck's got a broken leg, you can see it from here.'
'I'm pretty sure one of the does has got two,' Norrie said. She was shading her eyes. 'The front ones. See how they're bent?'
Joe thought the doe looked as if she had died while trying to do some strenuous gymnastic stunt.
'I think they jumped,' Norrie sa;id. Jumped off the bank like those little rat-guys are supposed to.'
'Lemons,' Benny said.
'Lem-mings, birdbrain,'Joe said.
'Trying to get away from something?' Norrie asked.'Is that what they were doing?'
Neither boy answered. Both looked younger than they had the week before, like children forced to listen to a campfire story that's much too scary. The three of them stood by their bikes, looking at the dead deer and listening to the somnolent hum of the flies.
'Go on?'Joe asked.
'I think we have to,' Norrie said. She swung a leg over the fork of her bike and stood astride it.
'Right,' Joe said, and mounted his own bike.
'Ollie,' Benny said, 'this is another fine mess you've gotten me into.'
'Huh?'
'Never mind,' Benny said. 'Ride, my soul brother, ride.'
On the far side of the bridge, they could see that all the deer had broken legs. One of the yearlings also had a crushed skull, probably suffered when it came down on a large boulder that would have been covered by water on an ordinary day.
'Try the Geiger counter again,'Joe said.
Norrie turned it on. This time the needle danced just below +75.
14
Pete Randolph exhumed an old cassette recorder from one of Duke Perkins's desk drawers, tested it, and found the batteries still good. When Junior Rennie came in, Randolph pressed REC and set the little Sony on the corner of the desk where the young man could see it.
Junior's latest migraine was down to a dull mutter on the left side of his head, and he felt calm enough; he and his father had been over this, and Junior knew what to say.