Dog Days of Summer (Damned of the 2/19th Book Four) - Finished

Twenty Years Gone By

Doutree Family Farm
Independence Valley
Thurston County
United States of America
12 August, 1986
1055

Reggie stared at me, his face pale. A cravat was jammed in his mouth and another one held the wadded up cloth in place. I recognized the way it was done as John's handiwork. Reggie's eyes were wide and his face was dirty with tear streaks down it.

John started to raise the rifle then dropped it. I glanced behind me and saw that Missy had picked up the shotgun again.

"Drag him outside, Missy," I said, staring down at Reggie, who's face was getting even more pale, "Ya shoot him on the floor, yer gonna ruin the floor when the double-ought buck blows through him."

"Girls, grab his arms, drag him out back to the hog-pen," Mamma Doutree said. "He can join his pa." She looked at me. "I'll leave you to this fer a bit, Stillwater," She said.

"Got someone out front, just in case," I threatened/warned/reassured her.

She just nodded.

The two oldest grabbed Mark's arms while the youngest, holding the shotgun, opened the door, and they drug Mark out the door. Missy smiled at me, hefting the shotgun, before the door closed.

They were country girls, they'd been hunting. They'd dressed deer, slaughtered cows and pigs, and I wasn't worried about whether or not a mortally injured Mark would give the four of them any trouble.

I bent down, grabbing Reggie's greasy black hair and pulling him up. He got his feet under him and tried to stand up, but I hauled him over to the kitchen table, slamming him down on it and flipping him over before I held up the knife.

"Reggie, Reggie, Reggie," I said softly, waving the knife in front of his face.

He shook his head in denial as I sliced down his shirt. He tried to grab my arm and I pulled the knife back, slicing his arm pretty deeply. He let go of my arm and grabbed his own.

I sliced open his cheek bad enough that for a second I could see teeth when I sliced off the gag.

Reggie screamed, holding onto my arm with one hand to keep me from stabbing, while his other hand pressed tight to his face.

"Got a few questions about what happened to my sister," I said when he fell back to just sobbing.

"Bastard, cut my face," He sobbed as John walked around the table.

"Gonna cut out one of yer fuckin' eyes you don't answer me," I growled.

"Nancy ain't gonna come in," John said, grabbing Reggie's wrists and slamming them down on the table. "She's with the other women dragging that sack of shit out back to the hog pens."

I smiled down at Reggie, feeling that nerve on my face spasm, pulling the left side of my face out of synch with the rest.

"You got no call to do this," Reggie sobbed.

"My sister gives me call to do this," I told him. "You know, Niamh, your wife, who is in ICU. My sister."

Reggie just stared. The tears had stopped and I could see in his eyes that it was slowly dawning on him that he was in trouble.

"Mah family leaves, ya think ya can brutalize mah sister," I said, knowing I was slurring my words. I didn't care, I could barely hold on to myself, barely keep back the pounding rage that filled my veins and flooded my brain.

All that mattered was Reggie.

"Ya think ya can lay yer hands on a Stillwater gurl and not get it ripped off?" I growled.