Read Online Double Exposure by Michael Lister - Free Book Online Page A

lodges in a maple tree behind him.
    Blood.
    Spreading.
    Falling.
    Death.
    Dark crimson flows out of the hole. Jackson collapses. Dead in seconds.
    —Jackson? Did you get him? Jackson?
    Flashlight beam. Bright light washing out his face. Eyes open. Ghostly.
    Remington shivers.
    The lifeless man looks eerie in the small circle of smoky light, surrounded on all sides by darkness. The disquieting image disturbs him deeply, and he rushes to get away.
    He doesn’t make it far before he drops to his knees. Retching. Coughing. Vomiting.
    S hock.
    Numbness.
    Headache.
    Everything around him seems a great distance away.
    Like a bad drug trip, he feels detached from his body, sick, lethargic.
    Trembly.
    Clammy.
    Dry mouth.
    Shallow breaths.
    Dizzy.
    Did I really just kill a man?
    I had to. He was going to kill me. I had no choice.
    Would you rather be dead? Is that what you want? Would that make you feel better? You dead and him alive—the man, who with his buddies, was out here hunting you like a goddam animal?
    Why’re you so upset? He was one of the bad guys. A killer. You just killed a killer. You had to. He was about to kill you.
    I killed a man.
    You had no choice.
    He dealt that hand, not you. You were here to take pictures. These men are killers. He intended to kill you. The others still do. But—
    They’ll probably still kill you, so you won’t have to feel bad for long.
    — J ackson?
    —Come in, Jackson.
    —Where are you? What happened?
    —You think he got Jackson?
    —No way.
    —Somebody shot something.
    —Probably just lost his fuckin’ radio again.
    —Get over there and find out.
    —Almost there.
    H e needs to go back and hide the body, but he’s not sure he can. You can do it.
    I can’t.
    You’ve got to.
    I can’t. I can’t go back there. Besides, they’ll see the blood.
    You’ve got to cover it up.
    I just can’t.
    — G oddam. Oh Jesus.
    —What is it?
    —Jackson. He’s dead.
    —You sure?
    —I’m looking at his dead goddam body.
    —He fuckin’ killed Jackson.
    —Gauge, did you hear me?
    —I heard you, the calm, laconic voice says.
    —He’s dead.
    —Get his guns, radio, and supplies, then hide the body. We’ll get it later.
    —Jesus, we can’t leave him. It’s Jackson.
    —We’ll come back for him. Right now I need you to figure out which way he went. We’ve got to find him. Get this over with. Then we’ll take care of Jackson.
    —Oh God, his kids. His wife and kids. What will we tell them?
    —We’ll figure that out later. I’ll take care of it. Just find the fucker that did it.
    H e had killed a man.
    A man with a wife and children.
    His life would forever be divided by the before and after line of ending someone else’s.
    He’d never even killed an animal like his dad had wanted, not in all his years of walking through these woods with a shotgun, but he had just taken the life of another human being. Just like that.
    Killer.
    — I f you don’t put that camera away and start carrying your rifle, you’ll never get anything, son.
    —I know.
    —You know?
    —Yes, sir.
    —You know, you just don’t care? his dad says, a hint of hurt in his voice.
    —It’s not that I don’t care.
    —You here to hunt or take pictures?
    Nearly fifteen, Remington had been taking pictures for almost a year. A lot of pictures, especially on hunting trips with his dad.
    —Honestly?
    —’Course.
    —I’d rather shoot pictures than animals.
    —Really?
    —I thought you knew.
    —It’s because you’ve never gotten anything. If you ever downed a big deer …
    —I don’t think so.
    —But how do you know?
    —It’s just … I don’t even want to.
    —At all? You got no desire at all?
    —None.
    If the admission hurt or angered Cole, he didn’t show it. But, of course, it had to. At a minimum it had to be a disappointment. His dad loved hunting far too much for it not to be.
    —Okay. Okay … well, I appreciate you coming out here with me.
    —I love it. I really do. Being with you.