Everyone was emerging from their campers and RVs to see what the matter was, but they stopped when they saw Rose the Hat standing in the brilliant yellow-white glare of the security lights surrounding the Overlook Lodge. Her eyes were wild. She was pulling at her hair like an Old Testament prophet in the throes of a violent vision.
“That f**king little bitch killed my Crow!” she shrieked. “I’ll kill her! I’LL KILL HER AND EAT HER HEART!”
At last she sank to her knees, sobbing into her hands.
The True Knot stood, stunned. No one knew what to say or do. At last Silent Sarey went to her. Rose shoved her violently away. Sarey landed on her back, got up, and returned to Rose without hesitation. This time Rose looked up and saw her would-be comforter, a woman who had also lost someone dear on this unbelievable night. She embraced Sarey, hugging so hard that the watching True heard bones crack. But Sarey didn’t struggle, and after a few moments, the two women helped each other to their feet. Rose looked from Silent Sarey to Big Mo, then to Heavy Mary and Token Charlie. It was as if she had never seen any of them.
“Come on, Rosie,” Mo said. “You’ve had a shock. You need to lie d—”
“NO!”
She stepped away from Silent Sarey and clapped her hands to the sides of her face in a huge double slap that knocked off her hat. She bent down to pick it up, and when she looked around at the gathered True again, some sanity had come back into her eyes. She was thinking of Diesel Doug and the crew she had sent to meet Daddy and the girl.
“I need to get hold of Deez. Tell him and Phil and Annie to turn around. We need to be together. We need to take steam. A lot of it. Once we’re loaded, we’re going to get that bitch.”
They only looked at her, their faces worried and unsure. The sight of those frightened eyes and stupid gaping mouths infuriated her.
“Do you doubt me?” Silent Sarey had crept back to her side. Rose pushed her away from her so hard Sarey almost fell down again. “Whoever doubts me, let him step forward.”
“No one doubts you, Rose,” Steamhead Steve said, “but maybe we ought to let her alone.” He spoke carefully, and couldn’t quite meet Rose’s eyes. “If Crow’s really gone, that’s five dead. We’ve never lost five in one day. We’ve never even lost t—”
Rose stepped forward and Steve immediately stepped back, hunching his shoulders up around his ears like a child expecting a blow. “You want to run away from one little steamhead girl? After all these years, you want to turn tail and run from a rube?”
No one answered her, least of all Steve, but Rose saw the truth in their eyes. They did. They actually did. They’d had a lot of good years. Fat years. Easy-hunting years. Now they had run across someone who not only had extraordinary steam but knew them for who they were and what they did. Instead of avenging Crow Daddy—who had, along with Rose, seen them through good times and bad—they wanted to put their tails between their legs and go yipping away. In that moment she wanted to kill them all. They felt it and shuffled further back, giving her room.
All but Silent Sarey, who was staring at Rose as if hypnotized, her mouth hung on a hinge. Rose seized her by her scrawny shoulders.
“No, Rosie!” Mo squealed. “Don’t hurt her!”
“What about you, Sarey? That little girl was responsible for murdering the woman you loved. Do you want to run away?”
“Nup,” Sarey said. Her eyes looked up into Rose’s. Even now, with everyone looking at her, Sarey seemed little more than a shadow.
“Do you want payback?”
“Lup,” Sarey said. Then: “Levenge.”
She had a low voice (almost a no-voice) and a speech impediment, but they all heard her, and they all knew what she was saying.
Rose looked around at the others. “For those of you who don’t want what Sarey wants, who just want to get down on your bellies and squirm away . . .”
She turned to Big Mo and seized the woman’s flabby arm. Mo screeched in fear and surprise and tried to draw away. Rose held her in place and lifted her arm so the others could see it. It was covered with red spots. “Can you squirm away from this?”
They muttered and took another step or two back.
Rose said, “It’s in us.”
“Most of us are fine!” Sweet Terri Pickford shouted. “I’m fine! Not a mark on me!” She held her smooth arms out for inspection.
Rose turned her burning, tear-filled eyes on Terri. “Now. But for how long?” Sweet Terri made no reply, but turned her face away.
Rose put her arm around Silent Sarey and surveyed the others. “Nut said that girl may be our only chance of getting rid of the sickness before it infects us all. Does anyone here know better? If you do, speak up.”
No one did.
“We’re going to wait until Deez, Annie, and Dirty Phil get back, then we’ll take steam. Biggest steam ever. We’re going to empty the canisters.”