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The door to the bus opened and a corpulent man with
small, dark eyes called out to me. “Excuse me, pal, but I was
wondering if you knew where I could find a decent garage?
My jalopy’s on its last legs, wouldn’t you know. This is a new
route to me and I’m not quite up on the lay of the land.” The
man’s eyes studied me, an intense calculus burning between
his ears, fast and lethal. He tried too hard not to stare at my
father, who protruded from my back, sealed away in rags.
I withheld a response until my stare entered his blood
and coursed through his body. My voice came out low and
full of gravel—it’d been ages since I’d cause to use it. I
placed my gaze within him, severing his concentration. “I
can take a look if you’d be willing to bring me closer to my
destination. I’m heading north.”
He tried to match my stare, but my eyes only devoured
him whole. He winced and pretended to shield his eyes from
the sun. After he regained himself, he accepted my offer.
“You got yerself a deal, mister. While you’re working on
the engine, I can stretch my legs a bit. I’ve been wandering
these back roads forever. I could use a walk and a cigarette.
By the way, the name’s Grimes.”
Mr. Grimes committed to his ruse, which was perfectly
fine. Should he attempt my murder, the innards of the dying
bus would make a fine gallery. The area I traveled was a
notorious feeding ground for bandits and killers. The law
was thin where the shadows of the Great Darkness were
thick. The shunned locale was pleasant enough, and the
murderer was a pleasant if predictable distraction.
The bus had nothing specifically wrong with it—just a
few plugs and wires that needed adjusting. It was simply a
part of the man’s story to lure in victims—though I could
tell it wasn’t an altogether normal piece of machinery either,
which was a delightful surprise. But as for its more mundane,
mechanical aspect, it was rather sound. It had certainly seen
better days, but the gurgle and roar of its straining engine
were to be expected, given its age. I played along with the
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