“No way, man … no way in hell. ” Vin’s voice was filled with doubt now. And fear. “You gotta believe me here, Tom. ”
“Why should I believe you about anything? You’re trying to feed me and my brother to the zoms. That doesn’t build a good case for innocence. ”
“Almost two hundred feet, Tom. ”
The closest zoms were a mix of ordinary people in everyday clothes and soldiers in the burned remains of their uniforms. One wore the black slicker and helmet of a firefighter.
“That’s your brother?” Vin called. “That’s little Benny. Oh … hell, man. ”
“Yeah, you’re really racking up the points, Vin. Beating on women, kidnapping little girls, and now you’re thinking about murdering a teenager. Yeah, you’re innocent, Vin. You’re a real saint. ”
“You got it wrong, Tom. This stuff out here … This is just business. You, me, Joey—we’re pros. We know the risks, we know how it works out in the Ruin. No rules, no slack. It’s all part of the job. ”
“Is murder part of the job?”
“Out here? Hell, you know it is. ”
“Tom,” Benny said urgently. Tom turned and saw more zoms emerging from the forest. The terrified horses nickered and tossed their heads, pulling at the tethers that held them to the axle.
“Okay, Vin, but how’s the girl fit into all of this?”
“She’s Charlie’s niece. Or cousin. Something like that. He said so. ”
“And you believed him?”
No answer. Even Benny knew that Vin probably didn’t believe that story, but like most people, Vin Trang was not in the habit of calling Charlie Matthias a liar.
“Didn’t you think it was strange that he should take his niece away from her mom by force and in the middle of the night?”
No answer.
“The coin, Vin … what about the coin?”
“Someone must have put it there. ”
“Why?”
“To frame me. ”
Tom smiled and winked at Benny. “And why would they do that, Vin? Who would want to go those lengths to throw suspicion on you?”
It was a long and ugly silence. The zoms were almost at the hundred-foot line. Benny counted sixteen of them in the first wave. Cold sweat ran down his face and back, and pooled like slush at the base of his spine. He had his bokken in his hands, but the hard wood felt like a toothpick against what was coming for them.
“Charlie wouldn’t do that,” Vin protested. “He’d know that we’d clear our names once we got back. ”
“You mean if you got back. You said it yourself, Vin. No rules out here in the Ruin. ”
“Hundred feet,” Benny said, and edged backward, raising the sword in both hands. “We have to go!”
“Vin,” called Tom. “I have to get Benny out of here. You let us walk, and I promise to help you with Captain Strunk and the court. ”
“How do I know you’ll keep your word?” Vin said after a pause.
“Because you know what my word’s worth,” said Tom.
The moans of the dead were as loud as the shouting men. Tom whirled and saw that the firefighter and one other zom were out in front of the pack. With a snarl he leaped toward them, and the silver blade of his katana flashed in the sunlight. Tom backpedaled as the zoms fell one way and their heads crunched and rolled the other.
“Clock’s ticking on that offer, Vin. ”