Rot by Gary Brandner Read Free Book Online

into Bischoff much. When they do I can stay out of their way.” Awkwardly she rose to her feet. “Take me home now. I’ll have to sneak into the house and get cleaned up before my parents see me.”
    “Jesus, Marianne, this is wrong.” Underneath his rage at the Gerstner brothers and his compassion for Marianne grew another, even more powerful emotion. Shame. Shame for the girl, and shame for himself that he had failed to protect her. Rationally he knew that he had no chance, taken by surprise as he was, against the three of them. But he should have done something. And he did not. He searched Marianne’s face for some hint of reproach, but her expression told him nothing. In time, he was sure, she would come to blame him and hate him for what he had failed to do.
    “Just take me home,” she said.
    “If that’s what you want. Let’s go.”
    Marianne ignored his offered hand and walked shakily to the car. She got in without assistance. He climbed into the driver’s seat, the pain of his beating overridden by rage and humiliation. He buckled the seat belt and fired the engine. The rain picked up again. With the windshield wipers smacking the water aside, he drove out of the parking lot.
    The Ferris wheel and the Octopus were dark. The carnival stands were closed and shuttered. The music and lights were long gone from the armory. The carnival was ended. Kyle found the road out of town and headed for Bischoff. Neither he nor Marianne spoke. There was nothing to be said.
    The rain came back in heavy bursts, alternating with periods of light drizzle. The windshield wipers left curving streaks where the aging rubber blades failed to clear the glass. A rising wind whipped the trees that crowded the highway into a frenzied dance.
    Kyle’s thoughts were black. His manhood cried out for revenge, but his brain told him it was foolish. He was in the Gerstner’s home territory, any attempt to get even could only cost him. To his chagrin, what he wanted most right now was to get this girl home, drop her off, and escape. Tonight’s terror would haunt him for a while, and the bruises would hurt, but he was young and resilient. He would get over it and get on with his life once he was far away from Marianne.
    “Look out!”
    Her cry startled him. They were the first words she had spoken since they left the parking lot in Elkhorn City. He looked at her in alarm, saw her staring straight ahead. He looked back to see a wind-fallen tree across the road. Reflexively he stomped the brake pedal. The brakes grabbed, the car slewed sideways on the wet pavement, teetered and rolled.
    The Wisconsin countryside turned upside down. A rush of wind blasted through the car as both doors flew open. Screeching metal, breaking glass. A shower of small loose objects tumbled about the interior of the car. Rightside up again, bouncing on the springs, a last forward lunge and the nose of the car dipped into the roadside ditch, stopping short of the rivulet of rainwater in the bottom. Remarkably the headlights were still on, beaming down into the water. The right-hand door swung wide. The passenger seat was empty.
    The engine labored and died. Instinctively Kyle reached down and turned off the ignition. Windows were spidered on both sides, but the safety glass had not shattered. The roof was caved in above his head.
    Moving gingerly, Kyle unlocked the seat belt at his waist. Had Marianne buckled hers? He could not remember. He ran a hand over his body. He hurt in a dozen places, but he was hurting before the crash. Carefully he tried moving his arms and legs. All his limbs responded. No sudden sharp pains meant no broken bones. His lucky night. He shoved past the partly open door and got out.
    The night was black as his mood, with the only illumination a reflection from the Plymouth’s headlights. The rain had stopped for the moment. The silence of the night was broken only by the steady rustle from the dripping roadside trees. It took him a moment to