Shut The Fuck Up And Die! by William Todd Rose Read Free Book Online

thin, mustached man who
leaned out the passenger window of a battered truck. For a moment,
Matt simply crouched there as he blinked his eyes. Part of him was
certain that it was nothing more than a trick of his mind; that if
he were to run up to the truck it would dissipate like a mirage in
the desert.
    “ That your woman, buddy? Looks like
she’s ‘bout to freeze her tits off. C’mon . . . get your asses in
here. We’ll give ya a lift.”
    Matt threw up his hand to indicate that he’d
heard the man and whispered to Mona as they struggled up from the
snow.
    “ We’re gonna be okay, sweetie. See?
Didn’t I tell you?”
     
     
    The cab of the truck was cramped and had the
lingering stench of urine for some reason. The driver, whose name
they’d learned was Earl, took up most of the seat with his wide
girth and the smaller one was wedged between him and Matt like
mortar between bricks. Mona sat on her husband’s lap with her legs
slightly off to the side and her head resting on his shoulder.
Despite the warm air that had gusted over her face for the past ten
minutes, she was just now beginning to regain feeling on the tip of
her nose and earlobes.
    “ You folks are lucky we came along when
we did. Highway patrol done closed down the road down near the
bottom of the hill. You musta passed through just a short piece
before, I reckon. Where you headin’ anyway?”
    The one named Daryl seemed to do most of the
talking with his brother only grunting a reply every now and
then.
    “ Hunting cabin up near Slater’s Pass.
Used to be my dad’s place back in the day.”
    Earl glanced away from the road and studied
the new passengers with a quick sweep of the eyes.
    “ Don’t look like no hunters to
me.”
    Mona giggled and hid her face in Matt’s hair
as she shook her head. Patting his wife’s thigh, Matt grinned and a
private joke seemed to pass between the two before he replied to
the driver’s statement.
    “ You’d be surprised.”
    “ We’re on our honeymoon.” Mona finally
chirped in. “Just got married the day before yesterday.”
    “ Hope your husband there fucks better
‘n he can drive.”
    Earl’s words hung in the air for a moment and
dissolved the smile from Matt’s face. His jaw clenched and Mona
felt him stiffen beneath her as he took a slow breath through his
nostrils.
    “ Now you wait just one minute, Mister,
that’s my wife you’re talking . . . .”
    Daryl slapped him on the back and laughed as
easily as if they were old friends sharing a joke over beers.
    “ Earl’s just ribbin’ ya, mister. Don’t
pay him no mind.”
    For a moment, the four of them sat in silence
and listened to Dolly Parton beg Jolene not to take her man. The
radio crackled and popped as the music struggled to maintain its
dominance over static. Within moments, the song faded and was
replaced by the deep baritone of the DJ.
    “ Comin’ right up, we’ve got some Waylon
Jennings on tap followed by a shot of Patsy Cline. But first, the
news . . . .”
    “ How much farther did you say it
was?”
    “ About eight, nine miles I reckon.
‘Course five of ‘em are off the hard road. Be in for bit of a bumpy
ride before we get to the house.”
    “ You sure she won’t mind? Your mother,
I mean?” Mona asked.
    When they’d first gotten in the truck, Daryl
had said that a whore had a better chance of keeping her virginity
than they had of finding a tow this time of night. The nearest town
was Chester and, apparently, the sidewalk was rolled up right
around the same time the sun went down. So the offer had been made
for Matt and Mona to spend the night at their place and then,
providing the coming storm didn’t knock the lines down, they could
call for help in the morning. The newlyweds had balked at first,
arguing that they couldn’t impose upon their kindness any further,
but the brothers had insisted, countering that the only other
alternative was dropping the two off alongside the road where
they’d be in no