As part of my participation in My 500 words, I am posting what I write each day. Today is part of a draft of one of the last scenes in my novel, Sidewinder. Spoilers to follow.
The
bunker was cool and dark on the inside. Men stood at the windows with weapons
ready, most looked like locals. Mundy sat tied to a chair while there was quiet
conversation around him. He tried to pick up on what Ash was saying to Nottage.
Yeah, these two would get along just fine. They weren’t using names, but Mundy
thought he knew what the general gist of things was. Dean had picked up and
left Channel to come out to this tiny little planet out in the sticks for
little more reason than to exact revenge on a kid who had turned traitor on him
a little bit ago. Nottage seemed incredulous, but Ash was cool about it.
“…
already known as the biggest boss on a core world,” Mundy heard Ash say. “He’s
going to expand his empire. A little world like this is a good start. The local
gangs may not have heard of him, but he can offer them a cut of the big deals
off world. Eventually, they’ll be working for him, another world under his
control. And it starts with him coming after someone who did him dirty.”
It
got quiet and Mundy dared to look in their direction. Nottage was looking
straight at Mundy with a blank look, as if he was reading a menu card but not
hungry. Then he turned away and walked toward Reetow. Maybe these two were new
lieutenants. Maybe they would run the operations on Indus IV.
Mundy
tried to remember the other time he saw this building here at the old
spaceport. Roy had pointed it out as a relic of the war, the only one left
around here, just a fortified bunker. Had he really been that happy then? Why?
What had been so good? He was out for a ride, what was so splendid about that?
It didn’t take much thought to know why it had been such a good day. Mundy
knew. It wasn’t just that he was spending the day riding and exploring. It was
everything, especially what was waiting for him back at Sidewinder. He had
friends, real friends who were looking out for him. It was almost like a
family. In his mind, the image of Jerusha smiled. Mundy’s stomach knotted and
the urge to cry shuddered up his windpipe. Mundy took a deep breath and got it
under control.
They
wouldn’t come for him. He had turned them in. He was a sidewinder just like
Jarlath Ivanpah, a traitor, worth nothing more than a bargaining tool. And what
if they did come for him? What if? Things would never be the same after this,
not after what he did. But no, they wouldn’t come. And when they didn’t come,
Mundy knew what would happen.
He
counted 19 men around the room, most at the alert.
“Time,”
Dean called out.
Ash
nodded. “Time’s up.”
Spelunk
walked over to Mundy’s chair and pulled a huge sidearm. Mundy felt his every
muscle tense up. The big man paused, probably enjoying the sight of him
cringing.
“No
sign of anything?” Deal asked.
Ash
walked to the window and raised his power binoculars.
“I
don’t see anything out there,” he said.
Spelunk’s
stepped closer and Mundy closed his eyes, not before he saw the man’s arm move
in a fast arc. The next thing Mundy knew, he felt like his left knee was ripped
off. The world turned purple with pain. He fell forward, bringing his chair
down with him and landed face down on the dirty floor. He couldn’t hear
himself, but he knew he was crying in pain. Spelunk hadn’t shot him. He had
brought his pistol down across Mundy’s knee. But this must hurt worse than a
bullet. His leg wouldn’t move and he blinked through tears and dirt to see
blood soaking through his trousers.
“Take
it easy on him still,” Dean said calmly.
“Can
I do the other one?” Spelunk asked.
“Just
wait. I don’t want him passing out from the pain just yet.”
Spelunk
pushed the chair back upright. Mundy gasped and tried to get his breathing
under control. If his knee wasn’t broken, he didn’t want to know what a real
break felt like.
Mundy
couldn’t tell how much time passed after that. The throbbing seemed to keep the
time, but he kept losing count.
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