The Kill Society (Sandman Slim 9)

“I will,” says the rider.

I put the rifle back to my shoulder. “Reasonable? Call me that again and you’ll do it without a head.”

The rider turns to me, pushes up his goggles, and pulls down his bandanna.

I almost call out to him, but catch myself in time.

The man riding the hellhound is Father Traven.

I lower the rifle.

“Ah. So, you do know the father,” says Charger Man. “What’s your name, friend?”

I look at him.

“ZaSu Pitts.”

That gets some laughs. Traven doesn’t laugh, but he doesn’t give me away either.

I look back at Charger Man.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“He’s the Magistrate,” says Traven. “He leads the havoc.”

“Havoc? You assholes sound like more fun every minute.”

“Are there others with you?” says the Magistrate. “Back on the mountain from where you came down?”

So they could see me. They knew I was here all along. That makes them more than a pack of Hellion one-percenters. And then there’s Father Traven. He wouldn’t throw in with a useless group no matter how bad things were.

I shake my head.

“No one I know about.”

The Magistrate nods.

“Then that is where we will camp.”

“You can’t be serious,” says the woman on the Harley. “He’s killed two of us and burned another.”

“Yet Father Traven says he’s reasonable and I’m inclined to believe him.” The Magistrate glances off in the directing of the mountain. “A lone traveler out here, confronted and attacked. What would you have done, Daja? Personally, I’d like to talk to Mr. Pitts.”

Daja. Got to remember her. She backs down, but I can see it in her body language and hear it in her voice. No matter what the Magistrate says, she’s not done with me.

“Just talk?” says Daja.

“Of course. And he will be judged just like anybody else,” says the Magistrate.

“And if he’s found guilty?”

“Then his fate will be that of all the ignobles.”

Cheers. Fists pumps. It’s a goddamn pep rally. All we need are cheerleaders.

The group around the burned Hellion steps back as he dies and his body pops out of existence. They all look in my direction. That’s me. Making friends wherever I go.

The Magistrate points.