Read Online Ashton Memorial by Kody Boye, Robert R. Best, Laura Best, Deedee Davies - Free Book Online Page B

sole of her sneaker
against his skull. He blinked and moaned. She grumbled and slammed
down again, harder. This time she heard a “crack.” Chuck slowed a
little but kept writhing and moaning.
    “Fucker!” she yelled and stomped down a third time,
so hard the impact jarred her spine. There was a loud “pop” and
thick globs of red shot out from behind Chuck's head, spreading
across the asphalt. Chuck's arms went limp.
    Park let go. Chuck's arms fell to the
ground. Chuck was still. Park stood, nodding to Angie.
    “I got him ready for you,”
he said.
    “Sure you did,” she
said.
    They both looked over at Norman. He was
staring, mouth open, at them. The crowbar hung loose in his
hand.
    Angie dragged the bottom of her sneaker
across the road, wiping blood and bits of flesh onto the pavement.
She looked at Norman. He stared at her.
    “What?” she
asked.
    He dropped the crowbar, turned and ran. He
ran past the wreck, past Martha's corpse and his chewing mother. He
ran up the freeway, farther and farther away from Angie and
Park.
    “Now where's he going?”
said Angie.
    “Fuck knows,” said Park,
shrugging. He scratched at his beard. “Back to the car?”
    Angie nodded. “Yeah. I'll
drive.”

Three
     
    Ella watched a tapir wander back and forth
in its exhibit. The red-brown animal shuffled its feet and sniffed
the air nervously with its snout.
    “Gary's upset,” said Ella,
leaning on the railing that separated the public from the exhibit.
Beyond that was a deep concrete ditch to keep the tapirs from
escaping. Beyond that was a fairly convincing re-creation of the
creature's South American habitat. “He can tell what's going on
outside.”
    Tom stepped up next to her,
pulling his Keeper vest around himself in an attempt to block the
fall wind. “How the hell can you even tell them apart?”
    Ella rolled her eyes at
him, pointing at the different tapirs in order. “That's Gary,
that's Ricky, that's Bella, and that's Steve.”
    “Steve?” said Shelley. She
stood next to Tom, her arms crossed. “The same Steve as the chair
in the breakroom?” She nodded to the tapir Ella had last indicated.
“Is that his chair?”
    “Yes.” Ella nodded. “But he
can't sit in it because he's a tapir.”
    Shelley shook her head, looking flustered,
and walked away. Ella smiled. She liked flustering Shelley.
    “Where's my sister, Gary?”
said Ella to the first tapir.
    “I doubt he knows, Ella,”
said Caleb from behind her.
    “I know,” said Ella,
turning. Caleb adjusted a rifle on his shoulder. Several other
Keepers stood behind him. The closest, a young man just out of high
school, nodded at the rifle.
    “Do you think we'll need
that?” he said, looking nervous. He pushed his greasy black hair
back and rubbed his hand across his face.
    “It's just tranquilizer
darts, Lee,” said Caleb. “In case one of the animals got out during
the confusion yesterday.”
    Ella shuddered, remembering the day before.
It had been late afternoon and she and Lori had told the bus driver
to let them off at the zoo. They wanted to visit Mom. Lori
complained about having to still take the bus.
    “Another year,” Lori said,
“and I'll have a car.”
    “Nope.” Ella shook her head
as they walked across the zoo's parking lot. “Just me. Mom said.
She also said I could paint it to look like a
spaceship.”
    “She said no such thing,”
said Lori, sticking her hands in the pockets of her denim jacket
and drawing in her arms to block the cold.
    “Don't worry,” said Ella.
“I'll give you rides. But you'll have to wear an astronaut
helmet.”
    Lori rolled her eyes and Ella chuckled. It
would be the last good thing that day.
    They made their way into
the zoo and to the Communications Office. “Hey girls,” Mom said,
stepping over and hugging both of them in turn as they entered. “I
gotta run back home real quick. Your dad's...”
    “Stepdad's,” Ella said,
quietly.
    “...car is acting up. I
need to give him a ride back