He thought that then, and knew it now.
The girls all smiled at him, grinning to show white teeth. Then they broke into a run to meet Burl. Arms outstretched, like children running to the safety of their daddy’s arms.
Except that wasn’t what it was.
Of course it wasn’t.
Even with fractured logic, even if things weren’t what they were, that wouldn’t have been the way it was.
Maybe Burl knew it, too, Jake thought. Knew it a step too late, because as he got close to them his own pace faltered, and his voice trailed away, ending on a rising note of question.
The girls answered that question by leaping at him.
Driving him backward.
Driving him down to the ground.
Climbing all over Burl.
Bending toward him.
In a damaged guy’s fantasy world that would have been a Penthouse letters page three-on-one. But this was the real world and naked teenage girls didn’t walk out of the rain to bang a fat construction worker.
That’s not what they did.
For a moment, though, Jake didn’t understand what they were doing. From a distance it really did look like they were kissing him. His face, his throat. Their hands were all over him.
And then the screaming started.
So high.
Jake would never have guessed that a man as big as Burl could scream so loud, so high, so shrill. Like a whistle blowing at the end of a shift. A long, sustained blast that went on and on as the girls’ mouths bent to him over and over again.
Everyone started screaming then.
All four of the other guys—and Jake—screamed as they started running toward the tangle of white limbs that were now streaked with bright, bright red.
The first one there was Richie, another bulldozer jockey. He ran up like he was going to handle this shit right there, right then. But when he was twenty feet out his nothing-can-stop-me run slowed to a walk as he saw what was actually happening.
His screams went up a notch. From man yell to something younger, higher, and more frightened.
The three girls raised their heads and snarled at him.
Like lionesses around a zebra.
Jake was fifty yards back and he could see strings of meat caught between their teeth, swaying as they looked at Richie.
Then two of them came off the ground and rushed him. It was so unexpected.
Not really fast.
It was awkward and even a little slow.
But there was absolutely no hesitation. One moment they were looking at Richie and the next minute they were at him. Just like that.
Richie skidded to a stop and tried to backpedal, but the mud was too wet. He went down hard and the girls were on him. Once more the screams changed.
Changed into something raw and filled with denial.