Dust & Decay by Jonathan Maberry Read Free Book Online Page A

person he was becoming, could Benny admit the truth to himself.
    “I don’t want to do this,” he said.
    His mirror image and his inner voice repeated that truth, word for word. They were all in total agreement.
    He got dressed and went downstairs and stood for a long time looking at the map of Mariposa County and Yosemite National Park. He heard voices and went to the back door and listened. Tom was in the yard, talking across the rail fence to Mayor Kirsch and Captain Strunk. Benny cracked the door so he could hear what they were saying.
     
    “It’s not just a few people, Tom,” said the mayor. “Everyone’s talking about it.”
    “It’s not a secret, Randy,” Tom said. “People have known I was leaving since Christmas.”
    “That’s my point,” replied Captain Strunk. “The scouts and traders are saying that a bunch of rough-looking characters have been moving into the area since Charlie died.”
    “Everyone in the Ruin is a rough-looking character. Goes with the territory.”
    “Come on, Tom,” Strunk said irritably, “don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m saying. And don’t pretend that you don’t know what an influence you’ve had on things out in the Ruin. There may not be much in the way of law out there, but while you were going out on regular closure jobs, most of the rough trade tended to behave themselves.”
    Tom laughed. “You’re crazy.”
    “This isn’t a joke,” said Strunk. “People respect you in town, even if most of them don’t say it—”
    “Or can’t say it,” the Mayor interjected.
    “—and out in the Ruin you were a force to be reckoned with.”
    “I’m not the sheriff of these here parts,” Tom said in a comical Old West accent.
    “Might as well be,” said Strunk. “You could have my job anytime you want it.”
    “No thanks, Keith, you’re the law here in town, and you do a great job.”
    “Again, that’s my point,” said Strunk. “You know that I won’t ever step one foot outside of that fence. No way.”
    “The bottom line,” barked the mayor, “is that we both feel that once you leave, this part of the Ruin is going to turn into a no-man’s-land. Traders are going to get hijacked, and if the bounty hunters band together with no one to stop them, then they are going to own this town. Maybe all the towns.”
    There was a brief silence, and then Benny heard Tom sigh.
    “Randy, Keith … I appreciate the problem, but it’s not my problem. If you’ll remember, I proposed a militia for the Ruin.I made very specific recommendations for a town-sanctioned force that would police this part of the Ruin and all the trade routes. Let’s see, how long ago was that? Eight years? And then again a year later. And the following year, and—”
    “Okay, okay,” growled Mayor Kirsch. “Rubbing our noses in it doesn’t help us find an answer.”
    “I know, Randy, and I don’t mean to be a jerk about this … but I’m leaving next week. Leaving and not coming back. I can’t be the one to solve your problems. Not this time.”
    Both men harangued Tom, but he cut them off with a curt wave of his hand.
    “If you bothered to read my proposal,” he said, “you’d have seen that I made several recommendations for how to handle things. Not all the bounty hunters are like Charlie. There are some people you can trust—granted, only a handful, but I trust them completely.” He began counting on his fingers as he ran through some names. “Solomon Jones, Sally Two-Knives …” He counted off twenty names.
    “Oh, please,” said Mayor Kirsch, making a face. “Half of them are psychos and loners who refuse to come into town and—”
    “They don’t need to come into town,” cut in Tom. “Meet them at the fence line and talk business. Deputize them. Pay them. And, here’s a thought, treat them with a little respect and maybe they’ll show some loyalty to you and the town.”
    “Maybe they behave themselves around you,” said Strunk, “but I hear