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

better shape than when they were first picked
up.
    “ Oh, Mama won’t care. She just loves
company. ‘Specially a pretty young thing like you.”
    “ . . . unconfirmed reports that
evidence was found at the dump site that may shed light on the
identity of the murderer . .”
    Mona shifted on Matt’s lap as if the cab of
the truck had suddenly become too cramped and she glanced at her
husband with eyes that seemed to be clouded with nervousness. He
glanced at the two men and then gave her hand a gentle, reassuring
squeeze.
    “ You fellas mind turning this crap off?
Stuff like this tends to make my wife a little
skittish.”
    Earl glanced at the woman with the corners of
his mouth turned up into something that was halfway between a smile
and a sneer. His eyes sparkled in the light of the dashboard and
his words seemed to spill out of his mouth in a mocking
sing-song.
    “ Poor little girl scared of the big,
bad wolf? That it, darlin’? Afraid it might hop outta these here
trees and gobble you right up?”
    “ I . . . I’d just rather not hear about
it, if it’s all the same to you.”
    “ Be over before ya know it. I ain’t
missin’ out on Waylon.”
    The rest of the trip passed in relative
silence with only the soft strains of country music to combat the
rumbling of the engine. True to Daryl’s word, they turned off the
main road onto what was nothing more than a winding, dirt path
buried beneath mounds of snow. The truck rattled and bounced
through ruts so frequently that it almost felt as if the road was
nothing more than a series of ruts and ridges; pine trees gradually
overtook all other species and, after what seemed to be an eternity
of jostling, the headlights finally revealed an old farmhouse in a
clearing. The walls were gray with paint peeling from the faded
boards and smoke curled from a chimney that jutted up from a tin
roof pile high with snow. Only a single window had light spilling
from it and, off to the side of the house, Matt could just make out
the silhouette of some sort of shed.
    “ You folks wait here.” Earl ordered as
he eased his bulk out of the truck. “Mama loves company, but she
hates surprises. Won’t be more than a minute or two, I
reckon.”
    Daryl slid across the seat and followed his
brother’s lead, winking at the couple just before he slammed the
door shut.
    “ Y’all sit tight now. Don’t you go
nowhere.”
    The pair stomped the snow from their boots,
opened a screen door so rusty that the creak of the hinges could be
heard even from within the truck, and then disappeared into the
house. Mona looked Matt in the eye as he curled his hair around her
index finger.
    “ You sure about this, baby? I mean, we
really should get that car off the road as soon as
possible.”
    Closing his eyes, Matt leaned in toward his
wife’s touch like a cat enjoying the soft stroke of a hand.
    “ I don’t see that we have much choice,
honey. You heard what he said. Even if we could find someone this
time of night to come get the car, I don’t think they’d be able to.
Not if the road’s been closed.”
    “ Still, I don’t like it. We shouldn’t
be around . . . .”
    “ Look, we’ll make a couple minutes of
small talk with the old lady, tell them how tired we are, and then
go to sleep, okay? First thing in the morning, we’ll get the car
and figure out what our next move is.”
    Mona’s gaze dropped to the keys dangling from
the ignition of the truck and she bit her bottom lip.
    “ Maybe . . . maybe we should just take
this one. We’d probably be gone before they even know and . . .
.”
    “ Mona, these people have been nothing
but nice to us! Are you really suggesting we just steal their
truck? After all they’ve done?”
    “ I don’t like it, Mattie. That’s all. I
want it to be just you and me again. Like it’s always been, you
know?”
    “ And it will be, sweetie. Soon. It’ll
be morning before you know it. Besides . . . they’re already coming
back. See?”
    Daryl