Crucifax (34 page)

Mallory led the other girls to a table at the edge of the dance floor, they ordered soft drinks and waited for the song to end.

Earlier that evening, Mallory had been sitting at the edge of the pool with Mace, his legs straddling her, his arms around her waist and his hands on her stomach.

"Do me a favor?" he'd whispered into her ear.

"What?"

"Tonight, take three of the girls with you to Mickey D.'s. Go in at ten-thirty. Larry Caine and three of his friends will be there. Get their attention, flirt with them awhile, but not for long. Get them out of there by ten forty-five. Take them to the alley behind the restaurant. Then just step aside and watch."

"What are you going to do to them?"

"I'm not going to do anything. But I think Kevin has a little score to settle with them."

"Is Kevin coming?" she'd asked excitedly, turning around to face him.

"I'm going to get him. And maybe a few of his friends."

"What if Kevin hurts them?"

"What if he does?"

"I thought you wanted to take as many people with you as you could."

"I do, but Larry: and his friends don't want to come. They're too happy here. We have no use for them."

The song ended, and another video began on the big-screen television, but Larry and his friends started off the dance floor, leaving the four girls behind them, still dancing.

Larry spotted her.

Mallory smiled and tilted her head back slightly, then turned away.

They were at the table in seconds.

"Hey, Mal," Larry said, pressing both palms to the table and leaning close to her, "haven't seen you in a while. Thought you'd disappeared. You give up on school, or what?"

"Something like that," she said with a smirk, looking over his shoulder at the dance floor, feigning disinterest.

"Mind if we sit with you?" Larry asked, already pulling a chair from the next table and seating himself across from Mallory. His friends did the same, smiling at the girls.

"I don't care," Mallory said with a shrug. The waitress brought their soft drinks, and when Mallory opened her change purse, Larry quickly pulled out his wallet.

"On me," he said with a wink, paying the waitress. She made change, and Larry handed her three one-dollar bills. "This is for you."

"We're not staying long," Dena said with a secretive glance at Mallory.

"Oh? Where you going?"

"A party."

Mallory could tell the other girls were enjoying themselves; they seemed to be having trouble keeping straight faces.

"Yeah?" Larry said, turning to Mallory. "So, is this a private party, or can anybody come?"

"You going to school tomorrow?" Mallory asked.

"Yeah."

"Then you don't want to come. The party hasn't started yet. Doesn't quit till dawn. If then."

"Fuck," Larry laughed, looking at his friends. "Screw school, then. Where's the party?"

The girls laughed, but not at Larry's remark. They were laughing at the ease with which he and his friends were snagged.

"Unless your little boyfriend is gonna be there," Larry said to Mallory.

"Kevin? Who said he was my boyfriend?"

"I figured. Jesus, you spend so much time with him."

"So? That doesn't mean anything. Besides, Kevin's gone."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. I heard. Got into a little trouble." Larry let out a deep laugh, glancing knowingly at his buddies. "Well, since leather boy's gone, you don't wanna go to your party alone, do you? And look at this, the numbers are right, huh? Four girls, four guys."

Mallory looked at Paula, Dena, and Lynn, and the four of them stifled laughs.

Larry rose from his chair and leaned over the table toward Mallory, saying, "Y'know, you look like you've been doing some partying already. Those're pretty red eyes."

"We had a few tokes," Paula said quietly, her voice nearly buried by the music.

"Yeah? You got any on you?"

"A little," Mallory said.

Larry sat in his chair again and shrugged, saying, "Well, didn't your momma teach you to share?" His friends guffawed.

"Not here," Mallory said with a shake of her head. "Wait till we get outside."

"Who's driving?" Larry asked.

"We can walk. It's really close. Just behind this place, really. A couple houses over."

"Walk? In this rain?"

"Haven't you ever walked in the rain?" Lynn asked. "It's romantic."

"It's stupid," the guy with the earring said.

Dena sighed. "Fine. Don't come."

"Whoa, hold on," Larry blurted. "I guess a good party's worth getting wet for. Let's go."

"Not yet." Mallory glanced at her watch; they needed another five minutes. "Let us finish our drinks."

Five minutes later, they were on their way out of Mickey D.'s. Once outside, the guy with the earring groaned, "Jesus Christ, we're gonna walk through this?"

"Shut up, Gregg," Larry snapped, putting his arm around Mallory as they turned left on the sidewalk and hurried through the rain. He put his mouth to her ear and said, "Lead the way, babe."

Mallory smiled as Larry slipped his hand beneath her arm and pressed it to the side of her breast, not minding that he was getting a good feel through her heavy coat. She almost laughed as they neared the alley, anticipation fluttering in her chest. She knew she was going to enjoy this.

"What're we going down here for?" Larry shouted, trying to be heard above the wind and rain as she steered them into the alley.

"Back way," she replied.

A gutter ran down the center of the alley and was gushing with dirty water. The tall lamps that lined the alley cast reflective pools of light in the water. Mallory heard the others splashing behind them.

"How far is this party?" Larry asked.

Two yards ahead of them, the flowing water gurgled into the holes in a manhole cover.

"Not far."

A voice cut through the noise, clear and powerful; Mallory recognized it immediately.

"Now!" Mace shouted from below.

The manhole cover shot upward, then fell to the ground with a splash and a clang. Two hands rose from the hole and gripped the edges, and Kevin pulled himself up. One of Mace's pets was perched on his left shoulder and he held a heavy chain in his right hand. He was on his feet in an instant, raised his left hand, flicked his wrist, and a switchblade clicked open, glinting in the hazy light as raindrops spattered loudly onto his black leather jacket. He smiled, and his laugh sounded like thick ice being cut.

Larry's arm dropped away from Mallory, and he stuttered, "Who the—I thought—what the fuck's going on?"

Kevin moved toward him and asked, "Hey, Larry, how's it hangin'?"

Two more hands reached out of the manhole behind Kevin, and another figure rose up through the rain.

Another manhole cover clattered off behind them, and Larry's three friends spun around, stepping away from the girls, who were moving to the side of the alley, laughing.

Larry turned to Mallory, his smile gone, his eyes narrow with sudden realization as he growled, "You cunt."

The creature on Kevin's shoulder dove with a piercing shriek toward Larry, but he threw himself to the left, out of its way, moving straight into the chain as Kevin swung it through the air like a whip. It caught Larry on the shoulder, and he splashed to the ground with a cry of surprise.

Footsteps splattered over the wet pavement; chains whistled through the air, and switchblades clicked; fists met flesh, and skulls cracked. In the dim light, Mallory could make out little more than shuffling forms and glistening metal, but the sounds were vivid enough.

A bone broke with a thick, moist smack, and Mace's laugh rose from below as the water in the gutter darkened with blood…

When Kevin returned to the dark basement of the old health club, there was still blood in his hair, and his hands were cold and numb. The others were laughing, smoking grass, drinking. He'd never seen the basement so crowded and noisy. He peeled off his wet jacket and settled onto one of the cushions in a corner. Mallory hurried over to him, leaned down, and kissed his forehead.

"Welcome back," she said, curling up on his lap. She was still out of breath and laughed with each exhalation. "Hey, c'mon, cheer up," she said, giving him a big kiss, slipping her tongue into his mouth, sloppily nibbling on his lower lip.

Kevin felt nothing but a pounding in his skull and a gnawing ache in his stomach.

The events of the last two hours were already beginning to fade, as if he'd dreamed them; he began to feel uncertain if the fight had actually happened, if he'd felt the crack of Larry Caine's skull through the chain he'd held, if he'd actually heard bones breaking around him and the final raspy breaths of four boys his own age….

"I didn't want to kill them," he whispered as Mallory pulled away from him. "I just… just wanted to… beat the shit out of 'em. But we… we killed 'em."

"You don't know that. Did you check? No. They were just… beat up. Like you wanted." She laughed as she wriggled out of her coat.

"They're all dead. I know it."

"They'll be okay. We won't be here much longer, anyway. Excited about the concert?"

A girl with dark circles under her eyes wearing a bathrobe came over and handed Mallory a joint. She took a long drag and offered it to Kevin; he shook his head.

"C'mon, Kev," she said. "You've been stuck in that place for—"

"No,"
he snapped. "Get up."

"But I wanted to—"

He pushed her crumpled coat away, took her arm, and started to move her aside, but he stopped when he saw the bruise.

It looked like a bruise in the flickering lantern light, but when he lifted her arm closer to his eyes, he saw the tiny marks on her inner elbow—three of them, each surrounded by discolored flesh.

"The fuck is this?"

"What? Oh, those. Needle marks."

"Needle… What the hell have you been doing here?"

"I just did a little. A few times is all. I wanted to try it. One of the girls—Geneva, I think—her mother is a diabetic, and Geneva steals her syringes." She took another drag, held it, blew it out slowly. "Just wanted to try it, that's all."

"Jesus Christ! What're you, stupid? I mean, that's major fuckin' stupid!" He backed away from her, suddenly not wanting to touch her anymore, and pressed himself against the wall. "You think you just do that stuff a few times, then no more? That stuff 11 fuck you
up,
Mallory, I
mean
it!"

Her eyes widened, and she stared at him openmouthed. "Well, listen to
you.
Mr. Cleancut Goodboy!"

"Hey, I don't do
that
shit!"

"Glad to be back, Kevin?"

He looked up to see Mace towering over them, smiling, his hands behind his back, his narrow frame backlit by the lanterns, his face dark.

"Something wrong?" Mace asked when Kevin said nothing.

"Mace," Kevin said, getting to his feet. "What's this?" He pulled Mallory up beside him and held out her arm.

"Needle marks."

"I know, but…" Kevin stared at the marks, then looked up at Mace again, confused. He'd thought Mace cared, thought he'd wanted to watch out for them, protect them from those who didn't care. That no longer seemed the case. "How could you do this?"

"I didn't do it. She wanted to try it."

"But you… I thought…"

"There are no rules here, Kevin. You know that. You can do whatever you want."

"But this is dangerous!"

Mace shrugged one shoulder, said, "Everything's dangerous," and went back to the pool.

Mallory offered the joint again. "Sure you don't want some?"

Sitting on the cushion again, hugging his knees, Kevin shook his head.

"Fine." Mallory joined the others.

Kevin put his head in his hands and groaned. At least he'd felt safe in the center, as much as he'd hated it. Somehow, he didn't feel safe now that he was out.

He'd been so excited to see Mace, so relieved, so eager to get back to Mallory and the others, the band. Now it all seemed different. Wrong. He'd been gone only a few days, but it seemed like a year. Everyone, everything, seemed different, especially Mace.

Kevin had wanted to make Larry Caine and his friends hurt, that was all, blacken an eye, loosen a few teeth. Mace had thought that was a fine idea and had given him and Trevor and Mark some chains from the sub-basement.

It was just going to be a fight, that was all.

But Kevin had not counted on getting so carried away. He'd not counted on his parents' faces flashing so vividly in his head as he swung the chain, or on the rush of hatred that had been building up in him during those days in the center.

He looked at the crowd in the basement and wondered how many others had needle marks in their arms.

Kevin stayed in the corner for hours, watching them come and go, familiar faces from school, from his neighborhood, and from the center. A few police officers came in wearing their rain slickers; they used the door upstairs instead of the sewer and seemed to enjoy making a lot of noise when they entered, stomping their feet, laughing loudly, then coming down to the pool and choosing companions for the next few hours. That was how Mace kept them happy and quiet.

As he watched the others Kevin kept an eye on Mallory. She stayed close to Mace, followed him around the room, in and out of the pool. Mace paid no more attention to her than he did to any of the others, but she did not stray far from his side. She touched him frequently—an arm, his hair, his ass—and sometimes tilted her face up when she had his attention, offering her lips.

I
could leave,
Kevin thought, turning away from her as she pressed herself against Mace's side,
get out of here and away from Mace, away from all of them.

Then:
And go where?

Everyone he knew and was closest to was here, and after what had happened at the Laurel Teen Center there were going to be a lot of people looking for him and everyone else who'd left the center that night.

And I made him a promise,
he thought with a tremor of dread. He was still not sure what that promise meant, but thinking about it brought a tense, smothering feeling to his chest.
This is your key….