Handicaps-that’s what they were. Earlier, he had jokingly called his
amputations “peculiarities” and had told Rachael that he refused to use
the word “handicaps.” In the current situation, however, there was no
room for self-delusion, the painful truth had to be faced.
Handicaps.
He was furious with himself for his limitations, furious with the
long-ago war and the Vietcong and life in general, and for a moment he
was almost overcome by tears.
But being angry did no good, and Whit Gavis did not waste time and
energy on either fruitless activities or self-pity. “Put a lid on it,
Whit,” he said aloud. He turned away from the garage and began to haul
himself laboriously along the muddy ground toward the paved alley,
intending to crawl all the way out to Tropicana and into the middle of
that boulevard, where the sight of him would surely stop even the most
unsympathetic motorist.
He had gone only six or eight yards when his face, which had been numbed
by a blow from the beast’s club-hard hand, suddenly began to burn and
sting. He flopped on his back, face turned up into the cold rain,
raised his good hand, and felt his disfigured cheek. He found deep
lacerations cutting through the scar tissue that was part of his Vietnam
legacy.
He was sure that Leben had not clawed him, that the blow that knocked
him down was delivered with the back of the immense, bony hand. But he
was undeniably cut in four or five places, and he was bleeding freely,
especially from one laceration that extended up into his left temple.
Did that damn fugitive from a Halloween party have spurs on its knuckles
or something? His probing fingers set off little detonations of pain in
his face, and he immediately dropped his hand.
Rolling onto his belly again, he continued dragging himself toward the
street.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “That side of your face is never going to
win you any beauty contests, anyway.
Ben’s soggy Adidas running shoes were so thoroughly saturated that they
began to slip on his feet. He felt the mild irritation of an incipient
blister on his left heel.
When at last he came within sight of the Golden Sand Inn, where lights
shone in the office windows, he slowed down long enough to shove one
hand under his rain-soaked shirt and pull the Combat Magnum out of the
waistband at the hollow of his back.
He wished he had the Remington shotgun that he had left behind in the
disabled Merkur.
As he reached the motel’s entrance drive, he saw a man crawling away
from the place, toward Tropicana.
An instant later he realized it was Whit Gavis without the artificial
leg and, apparently, injured.
He had become something that loved the dark. He did not know what he
was, did not clearly remember whator whhe had once been, did not know
where he was ultimately bound or for what purpose he existed, but he
knew that his rightful place was now in darkness, where he not only
thrived but ruled.
Ahead, the prey made her way cautiously through the blackness,
effectively blinded and moving too slowly to stay out of his reach much
longer. Unlike her, he was not hampered by the lack of light. He could
see her clearly, and he could see most details of the place through
which they crept.
He was, however, slightly confused as to his whereabouts. He knew that
he had climbed up into this long tunnel, and from the smell of it he
also knew its walls were made of wood, yet he felt as if he should be
deep under the earth. The place was similar to moist dark burrows which
he vaguely remembered from another age and which he found appealing for
reasons he did not entirely comprehend.
Around him, shadowfires sprang to life, flourished for a moment, then
faded away. He knew that he had once been afraid of them, but he could
not recall the reason for his fear. Now the phantom flames seemed of no
consequence to him, harmless as long as he ignored them.
The prey’s female scent was pungent, and it inflamed him. Lust made him