Then, a shadow passed in front of it. I heard a metallic clink in the back of the truck and a scraping sound.
And suddenly something dark and heavy swept past my vision and with a CRACK! Daniel went flying backwards off of me. I was dumbfounded.
“Perry!” I heard a disembodied voice cry. It was familiar.
I felt a hand touch my cheek and I looked to my right. Dex’s head was there, poking over me.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice high and tight.
I tried to shake my head but it barely registered.
I felt him pick me up underneath the arms until I was up. I could barely hold myself up, so Dex turned me around and I fell straight into him. I clawed at his arms and back like I would never hold another person again. I whimpered, unable to express any of the millions of things I was feeling. He held me with one arm, his other holding onto a shovel that he apparently just pounded into Daniel’s face.
“I got you,” he whispered. “Was it just this guy?”
No, I thought. It wasn’t. There was Hank. There was an animal. I tried to speak but no words came out. I lifted my head with all my might just in time to see Hank coming around from the side of the truck.
Dex was fast. He spun around and saw him. In that instance he let go of me and I held onto the truck for support. Dex took the shovel and wielded it in the air like a baseball bat towards Hank.
I saw the back of the shovel hit Hank square in the face. I saw his face contort, then crumple with the blow. A splash of red and white flew out from the corner of his mouth. He flew backward and disappeared beneath the truck.
I looked at Dex. Something manic had taken over his eyes. He was almost grinning while his eyes remained the most determined beams of pure hatred I had ever seen. He raised his shovel in the air, prepared to bring it down on Hank’s face.
“No!” I managed to finally scream. “Dex!”
Then I hunched over on the truck, barely able to keep upright. My eyes averted from the violence. I didn’t know what happened next, but after a grunt and a long pause, I heard the shovel drop to the ground.
I felt him run over to me, his arms taking me in his, his hand propping my face up.
“Perry,” he yelled. “Hang in there.”
My vision started to fuzz out, along with the last few working components of my brain. My consciousness was in and out after that.
I remember a flashlight.
Some screams.
Doors slamming.
Bird’s voice.
I remembered being in a car. The lights on the console. People driving. Lying on the backseat.
I remember being lifted in someone’s arms. Smelling sweet tobacco.
The lights of the Lancaster’s porch.
People fussing and touching me.
I remember being carried up the stairs, seeing them rise and fall beneath me.
The bathroom. The toilet bowl. Puking. My hair being held back. Thinking about what I ate that day.
Then I was in the bathtub, naked. The water was pink and warm. I wasn’t alone and I didn’t care.
And then I was suddenly in the room, in my pajama pants and tee shirt, being lowered onto my side of the bed by Dex.
“You’re safe now, Perry,” said Bird’s voice. I gingerly rolled my head to the side, the coolness of the pillow pressing against my cheek and looked at the door. Bird was standing in the doorway, one hand on the knob, about to leave the room. “I’ll be just outside your door all night. With this.”
He raised his shotgun in the air for emphasis and then stepped out into the hall, closing the door behind him. I looked around the room, my eyes aching as they rolled in their sockets. It was just Dex.
He was sitting beside me and pulling the blanket up to my neck, tucking me in. He looked terrible, like he had lost twenty pounds in the last few hours. His eyes were melancholic and wired all at the same time. He smiled at me, sweetly, sadly, and brushed the hair off my forehead.
“How are you feeling?” he asked gently.
I wasn’t sure, so shook my head slowly. Bad idea. The room began to spin.
“Hey,” he pressed my forehead with his hand. “Take it easy. It’s OK.”
“I don’t remember much,” I managed to say, surprised by the weakness of my voice.
“That’s OK. That might be better.”
“You saved my life,” I said. He looked away, embarrassed, and began to pull back.
“No,” I cried out while pulling my hands out of the blanket and grabbing his arms. “Please don’t go.”
He chuckled. “Perry, I am not going anywhere.”
He straightened up and I let go. He kicked off his boots, walked around to his side of the bed and lay on top of the covers, rolling on his side to face me.
“I’m going to be here all night, remember?” he reassured me.
It was silly for him to be above the covers.
“Get under the covers then,” I said. He looked uneasy. I guess he felt it would be too inappropriate considering what just happened but I couldn’t explain how I just wanted him as near me as possible.
He hesitantly got under the covers, still fully clothed.
I rolled over on my side and stared at him. The room spun with the movement. Despite everything that had happened, and the things my mind didn’t want me dwelling on, I was too afraid to ask him for what I really needed.
“So what happened?” I asked instead.
“We should probably talk about this in-”
“I want to talk about it now.”
He nodded and sucked on his lip for a few beats.
“Do you remember being with those two guys?” he asked slowly.
“Yes. Bird had told me they may have been the guys who were attacked by the fox at-”
“I’m going to fucking kill Bird,” Dex muttered angrily. “He shouldn’t have told you that.”
I was too sick to argue. “So I talked to them. I don’t remember what they said but there was something off.”
“Did they buy you a drink?” Dex asked.
“Yes. A Coors Light.”
“Was it already opened?”
I tried to think. “Maybe,” I said. “I felt sick soon after. They took me outside. I tried to tell you but I couldn’t. Then he…he attacked me.”
I started feeling a rush of emotions building up inside of me. It felt so cliché, to start crying while explaining this but I knew it would happen.
“He didn’t…rape me,” I said, trying to brave, trying not to blink. “But he would have if you hadn’t shown up. Or worse.”
Dex’s eyes were a bit moist too and dancing between extreme empathy and absolute anger.
“I am so sorry I wasn’t there earlier,” he said softly, his voice cracking. I inched closer to him and put my hand on his face. It was cold, his stubble rough.
“I’m OK, Dex,” I said.
“You’re not OK,” he murmured. “You were hurt.”
I remembered the clawing. I felt down at my stomach. There was a bandaged pad there. If I ever got out of Red Fox, I was going out as a mummy made of gauze.
“Oh jeez,” I said feeling sick. “How bad is it?”
“Rudy fixed you up,” Dex said. “You’re OK. He gave you some shots, some antibiotics to be safe. It just the wounds…I can’t even talk about without wanting to kill someone, I’m sorry.” He looked disgusted.
“What about them?”
He reached up for my hand which was still at his cheek and took it in his.
“I think he may have had a knife,” Dex said.
A knife. Or claws. But I didn’t want to mention that now. In fact, I didn’t want to know anymore. Except for one thing.
“Did you undress me?” I asked, squinting at him.
He turned a bit pink in the cheeks, a color I rarely saw on him.
“Yes,” he said wryly. “But I didn’t look, I swear.”
“Right,” I rolled my eyes. The fact that Dex saw me naked, and in a totally incompetent state, was just another mortifying thing to deal with. Yeah, I had bigger things to worry about but apparently I was still going to embarrass easily over something as vain as that. That was actually kind of a good sign.
“Hey,” he said, squeezing my hand again. “It’s all good. Don’t worry about it, kiddo. Just get some sleep now. We both need it.”
I smiled knowing he was right and dared to close my eyes again. The room slowly stopped swimming and I fell asleep holding his hand, my heart swollen with gratitude.