Bleu let go of the leg and the climber fell to the ground rather than let her prize go. She curled around the meat, protecting it from interlopers with her body.
Dick leaned over the edge of the roof and fired five shots into her head and neck. Powder burns darkened his pant leg but he didn't care. He was too busy coughing and snorting, getting ready to be sick. When he was done he sat down hard on the roof and breathed heavily, washing out his mouth with stale coffee. 'That's it, then,' he said. 'You got three of them. At the mine. Then the one we killed in the house. This poor sucker. And the girl I saw. On the road.' He nodded. 'That's six.'
'I said there might been seven when we found 'em,' Bleu clucked.
'But you don't know. You couldn't count them so well in the mine. You said they were crawling all over each other. So you don't know.'
'I sure don't.' She stared out at the trees as if by peering hard enough into the murk she could see right through it. Come on, Dick thought. Come on, come on, come on. Any euphoria he had felt earlier was long gone. He just wanted to go home, to get somewhere safe. He studied Bleu's face like a kid waiting for a teacher to dismiss class on the last day of school. Finally she nodded and helped him lower the ladder over the side.
They climbed down as quietly as they could, the pine needles muffling their footfalls. The moon laid down sharp-edged shadows as they made their way between the tree trunks, Dick putting out one hand to slide along the smooth or rugged or rough bark. After the noise and light of the gunshots the world seemed wrapped up in cotton and hidden away somewhere dark. His muscles were jumpy under his skin. He didn't know if there had six or seven either. He just had to get out, all of his excitement turning to cold dread sweat on his back, making the shoulders of his shirt cling to him.
Where the valley turned to hillside and then to the thrust of the ridge Bleu crouched low and put her guns in her belt. The slope came up pretty suddenly and they had to climb their way up instead of walking. It had been easy to get down the track'gravity had helped there'but going up proved far more difficult. Halfway to the top Bleu leaned forward and grabbed at a tree root to steady herself on the broken rock. 'I don't know we should leave yet. What if the police want to'' She stopped and looked down.
'What's wrong?' he asked.
'I just stepped in something sticky.' Dick looked down to see a moldy hand reach up and grab at her ankle. She screamed as the last climber yanked her downward on top of him. She rocked back and forth trying to get free but he got one near-skeletal arm around her throat and pinned her down. 'Walters!' she shrieked.
'Bleu!' He pulled out the ice axe and readied himself to strike but he couldn't see any way to hit the dead man without impaling Bleu too. He danced back and forth looking for an opening'and suddenly his feet were sliding on loose shale. Thin sheets of rocks skittered down the slope, pebbles bouncing and flying as he tried to keep his balance.
'Walters!'