Read Online The Zed Files Trilogy (Book 1): The Hanging Tree by David Andrew Wright - Free Book Online

the shoot’n up the road?  We already know a little about them guys.”
    “I know a lot.  Not about those guys, though.  More about what’s coming.  And when.”
    “Yeah, well… hell.   We’ll feed ya regardless.  We brought some stuff, found some stuff.  I think the girls are make’n some kind of soup.  Tyler managed to kill a groundhog or someth’n in some kinda… Wile E Coyote live trap he made.  But yeah man, we’ll eat.” 
    I look over the side of the wall an exhale.  “Think you could do me one more favor?”
    Kevin laughs and looks out over the road leading into the compound.  “You can sort that psycho bitch out yourself.”
    “Fair enough,” I smile and pass him back the pipe.  “As long as I’m not stepping on anyone else’s toes.”
    “ Sheeeit,” Kevin says as we climb off the scaffold, “I’m surprised my old lady hasn’t knocked the shit out of her yet.  You just don’t fuck with Betty.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind too.”
    The long haired guy I saw earlier, presumably Tyler, is standing at the door to the house smiling as Kevin and I approach.  He’s holding another long arrow fashioned on to some kind of short wooden handle.  “It was your lucky day,” he says as we enter the house.  “I was hitting targets all day yesterday with this atlatl.  You must have protection from high up.”
    I let Kevin move up in front of me.  “If I do have an angel,” I tell Tyler.  “ Ten bucks says she’s red with black wings and talons.”
    Karen emerges from behind Tyler and fixes me with a stare that could punch holes through leather.  She pushes past us without saying a word.
    “But what could you do with ten dollars now?” Tyler asks.  “Money is worthless.  I mean, if you’re going to bet, we could bet like, a million dollars.  And it’d be worth the same as ten dollars.  In fact, a good roll of double-layered, quilted toilet paper would be worth as much as a million dollars.  Unless of course, the million was in small denomination bills in which case you’d technically have more to wipe your ass with than you would a single roll of toilet paper.  Although, there again, I’m not sure how well money would work on ass wiping.  The double-layered quilted stuff…”
    “Tyler,” Kevin snaps and holds up his hand.  “Jesus Harold Christ, man.”  Tyler stops talking and smiles broadly.  His glasses are thick and his beard is spotty and uneven.  He’s wearing a Ramones t-shirt and a wristwatch with a dozen different knobs and buttons.  “This is Billy.  Billy… Tyler.”
    I watch Karen cross the courtyard to one of the outbuildings.  She walks without looking back but knows that I am watching.  Her head is held ever so slightly too high and her shoulders look uncomfortably thrown back.  Her hips sway from side to side slightly as she moves. 
    “Butter,” Tyler says.
    “Butter?” I ask.
    “Yeah,” Tyler giggles, “you butter you brought’er.”  He laughs at his own joke with a bobbing head and short gasping snorts.
    I look at Kevin.  Kevin shrugs.  “I don’t know man.  All I know is… Let’s go smoke some more.”
    Karen disappears into an outbuilding.  A soaking rain begins to fall as another Zed bangs on the thin metal covering the front gate.  In the distance, the occasional shot still rings out.  The smell of soup and weed and warmth and life comes from the house.  As I enter the house, I see a small spider building his web in the corner of the door frame.  I stop and watch it busily building his trap.  “Hello, my little friend,” I say aloud.  I make my thumb and index finger into a gun and point it at the spider.  The spider stops.  “Bang,” I say softly and smile.  The spider leaves a single strand of silk behind him as he drops from the web to escape.  I enter the house to have dinner with my new acquaintances.

 
    Chapter 8:  Pray After You Eat
     
    “You want seconds?” Kevin asks from across the