all god's orphans

Wes awoke to Millie kicking him in the stomach. His hands had been bound behind his back somehow and the stood around him, all looking down at him. As Millie reared her foot back, Brian stepped forward to stop her. She took this opportunity to fetch her machine.

“You motherfucking piece of shit.” She informed him. Sarah sat on the ground nearby hugging her knees and crying.

“What is happening?” She wailed.

“This piece of shit just knocked me out and tried to leave me here.” Millie said. The others seem to take this news in stride and she wondered why they weren’t more upset. “Wait.” She finally said. “What are you guys doing here?” None of them answered her. They were all focused on Wes.

“Did you kill her?” Brian asked as Wes panted on the ground.

“What’s going on?” Millie took a step back. Brian knelt down and picked Wes up so he could lean against the RV.

“Don’t I get a cigarette?” He asked. Brian was not amused.

“Did you kill her?”

“You’re outta your fucking head, man.” Said Wes, looking around at the group to find a friend, but the eyes that met his held no comfort.

“It’s weird.” Brian began. “How fucked up things are. I didn’t really consider it. Never even crossed my mind until this morning. So many fucked up things happening day in and day out. You lose track. You really do.” He shifted his weight as though he were uncomfortable talking about this. “Then when I actually thought about it, everything fell into place.” He took a deep breath. “Why didn’t the doors of your van open from the inside, Wes?”

“What?” Wes laughed, but not convincingly. “What the fuck are you talking about my van for?”

“Just one of those things that you don’t think about until its too late, I guess.” Brian said, his voice low and sad. “I wondered if maybe your company made them like that, but then, that wouldn’t make any damn sense. If one of their guys went back there to get a tool and the door shut, they’d be trapped. That would be stupid. I thought that little girl had just found that out the hard way, but then Kite found something strange in your van.” Brian looked Wes directly in the eye, but Wes looked away. “Can you guess what it was?” Wes didn’t answer. “Why did you have handcuffs in the back of your van?” Wes stared off into the distance. “That van, that you were always so jealously guarding. Why?”

“I didn’t kill anybody.” He finally said to everyone else. “I didn’t kill that little girl, either. She must have run away…”

“She didn’t run away, Wes.” Brian corrected him. “A girl that age doesn’t wander into the forest unless someone leads her away. It just doesn’t happen.” Brian was still trying to look into Wes’ eyes, but he wasn’t allowing it. “Tell me the truth, Wes. Did you kill her?”

“No!” He shouted. “I didn’t kill her. I didn’t want to hurt her.”

“So what were you doing?” Kite asked. Wes saw that he wasn’t going to be able to evade them.

“Do you know what it’s like for me?” He asked them, finally looking them in the eyes. “Do you? Living with this…this disease. Nobody understands it. I can’t control it. Can any of you? Do any of you have control over what you find attractive?” No one answered him. “No, I thought not.” He paused for a long while before continuing. “I didn’t want to hurt her. I didn’t hurt her.” Millie kicked him again.

“She died asshole.”

“That was an accident!” Wes protested. “She wasn’t supposed to!”

“What was your plan, Wes?” Brian asked placidly. “What did you think you were gonna do?”

“I don’t know, man.” Wes began to crack. “I didn’t have a plan. Everything’s gone to shit. The world has ended. I figured, fuck it. Biblical apocalypse. Biblical rules.”

“The Bible doesn’t say you can rape little girls.” Sarah shot at him.

“Have you ever read it?” Brian asked calmly. “You might be surprised what it says.” Sarah stepped back. She didn’t believe he was right but she didn’t know enough to argue. Brian hoisted Wes to his feet.

“Let’s go.” He said and pointed to the field behind the truck stop. Wes looked out at the emptiness.

“C’mon, man.” Wes pleaded. “Not like this.” Brian raised his pistol to Wes’ face.

“Walk.” He said and Wes did as he was ordered.

“Are we letting this happen?” Asked Grey of no one in particular.

“You’re goddamn right we’re letting it happen.” Wallace said, staring after the doomed man and the executioner.

“We need him.” Grey implored.

“No we don’t.” Millie glared. Grey could see no quarter in their blazing gaze and turned instead to follow Brian and Wes. This prompted Millie and Sarah to start after him.

“Stay here with Kite.” Millie told Sarah.

“You’re not my mom!” Sarah sputtered. Millie huffed.

“I’m trying to protect you.” She told her. “Stay here.” She could see defiance in Sarah’s eyes and changed her tack. ”Please stay here.” She said. Sarah glared for a moment and then turned back, making her way to the RV, brushing past Kite and Carla who tried to comfort her.

Brian marched Wes into the field and only stopped when they had gone about four hundred feet. Out here on the plains, it didn’t matter how far you went, it always seemed like you had barely moved.

“That’s far enough.” Brian said. Wes turned to face him.

“Come on, man.” Wes pleaded. “Just let me go. I know I’m sick. I know I fucked up, but I’m not all bad. Who helped you look for Daniel?” He asked. “Who watched your back, huh? Who helped protect Carla?” He could see his arguments were having an effect. As he pondered this, Grey and Millie finally caught up to them.

“Don’t do this.” Said Grey. “We need him.” Millie wanted to scream.

“Do it.” She typed. “He’s a fucking animal.”

“He’s a human being.” Grey corrected her.

“No.” Said Millie. “He used to be a human being. He killed a little girl. Now he’s a dog that needs to be put down. Do it, Brian.” Grey stepped forward but didn’t dare touch Brian. He seemed lost in his own head.

“If you do this,” Grey began. “Then you’re no better than the ones we’re fighting against.”

“Bullshit.” Replied Millie. “And let me remind you that you’re not a fighter. You were running away.”

“Don’t kill him.” Grey said. Millie had heard enough.

“Fuck you, Grey.” She turned to face him full on, her face all angles and sharp, downturned edges. “Have you ever been raped? You’re not on this guy’s list. I am.”

“Please.” Said Wes. “Just let me go. Just get back in the RV and keep going. Leave me here.” Brian took in the panorama. Flat fields stretched out in all directions to the horizon. They hadn’t seen a building or service station except for this one for hours and it was entirely likely that if they left Wes here, he would die of hunger, thirst, or exposure if the weather turned.

“Think about what you’re doing.” Said Grey and Brian let his hand drop ever so slightly. Wes exhaled a sigh of relief. He could see in Brian’s face that he wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger. Brian was a good person. Not a killer. He wasn’t going to die.

Suddenly, there was a sound like a zipper being closed quickly, followed by a small ‘pop’, like someone dropping a cantaloupe to the floor in a supermarket. An instant later, the report of a single rifle shot sailed past them, sprinting towards the horizon. Wes looked down at his chest in confusion as blood began seeping through his shirt. He had enough life left in him to glance at Brian in dumbfounded terror before he collapsed to the ground, dead from the single bullet. In shock, they turned back to the camp but they could see nothing. Kite, Carla, and Wallace were still standing outside the RV, also confused.

At last, Sarah stood up from her shooting position, her rifle in her hands. She stayed still for a moment, assessing her shot, then went into the RV and shut the door. No one quite knew what to make of that. Millie considered it poetic and made her way back to the camp without glancing at Wes’ corpse. Grey stared at the body in disbelief for a few minutes longer, but there was nothing else to do, so he followed suit, leaving Brian alone. After several minutes of trying and failing to think of something to say over his dead former friend, Brian made his way back to the camp, the image of Wes’ empty eyes staring up at the sky fresh in his mind. He realized he had still not had a cigarette. Now he wanted a strong drink, too. Neither seemed in any danger of happening.