Edmund had been surprised by Zach’s move, and did not have time to pull his knife back before Zach’s left hand clamped down on his wrist, holding his hand and the knife in place. He then moved his left foot to the outside of Edmund’s right foot, and then rolled to the left while striking Edmund’s side hard with his right hand. Zach pushed Edmund’s hand off of him as he flipped him onto his back, then stood up and quickly pulled the knife out of his shoulder just as Edmund was starting to rise from the ground.
Zach charged Edmund, but he rolled to the side, scooping up a handful of loose gravel and dirt as he did and throwing it at Zach. Zach instinctively brought his hands up to protect his eyes, and in that moment Edmund was able to knock the knife out of his hand. Both men were now disarmed, and the duel devolved into a brutal brawl.
Both men were as equally matched in unarmed combat as they were in combat with an edged-weapon, going tit for tat and each giving as much as they were getting. They threw punches and kicks, elbows and knees, hurting each other badly. It seemed like these two warriors could keep on fighting forever.
Finally both men locked together, clutching each other’s necks and arms, their foreheads touching as they both heaved against each other. They were both breathing heavily exhausted from the duration of their fight. They were locked in a stalemate at first, but Zach was stronger than Edmund and he slowly began to push him back. He then thrust out his leg and kicked Edmund’s foot out from underneath him, throwing him with his arms as he did. Edmund fell to the ground hard, giving Zach time to scoop up the KA-BAR he had dropped earlier. Edmund tried to stand but Zach kicked his head like a punter would a football and then wasted no time in mounting him and pressing the knife to his throat.
The fight was over and Edmund’s men, clearly valuing strength over loyalty, clamored for Zach to execute their leader, making Zach feel like a gladiator in the Coliseum.
“Well, you hear those motherfuckers,” Edmund said sullenly.
Zach almost killed him, but something stayed his hand. Looking down at Edmund’s helpless form, resigned to death, a familiar voice came into his head.
“Give him a second chance, Dad. Please. Don’t be like him.”
Zach sighed. Abby had wanted him to spare Henry’s life, and he had. But then Henry came back and created some serious trouble for them, almost getting Zach killed. If he spared Edmund, would the same thing not surely happen? Perhaps not. Edmund had no personal vendetta against Zach or Abby. Nor was he a bad man in the same way that Henry was. Henry was (is) evil through and through. Edmund, on the other hand, seemed to be merely…insane. He was a renegade, the type of person who just wanted to watch the world burn, not caring whether it was good guys or bad guys he hurt. He was not a good person, but neither was he wholly evil.
Regardless, Zach knew that Abby would not approve of him killing Edmund like this. If he had been able to kill him in the heat of battle, that would be one thing. But it was over and Edmund was no longer fighting. He just could not bear to disappoint Abby. Even from one hundred miles away, her hold on his heart was just as strong as if she was standing right next to him.
Zach stood up and sheathed his knife and then offered his hand to Edmund. Edmund took it, but he looked confused as Zach helped him to his feet.
“Why would you do this?” Edmund asked.
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Zach answered, using Abby’s line. “I have the right to take your life, but I choose to let you keep it. It’s what Abby would want. Now my men and I are going to go free.”
Edmund stared at Zach for a long moment then slowly sauntered back towards his men. He picked up his butterfly knife and stuck it back in his boot then took his revolver back from the man who had been holding it.
“I don’t know about that,” he said slowly.
“I beat you, Edmund. That means we go free.”
“You have a poor memory, Zach Davidson. I agreed to a fight to the death, and I’m still alive.”
Edmund smiled and leveled his revolver at Zach, cocking the hammer back as he did. “You should have killed me when you had the chance, dumbarse.”
Ross and the others in Zach’s group began to protest loudly, yelling that this was not fair and that Zach had won. But Zach remained quiet. He glared angrily at Edmund, not wholly surprised by his behavior but still disgusted. But he did not beg for his life. If this was his time to die, then he was at least going to die like a man.
Edmund did not fire yet. He was meeting Zach’s gaze with a look of amusement, as if he enjoyed holding people’s lives in his hands like this. Suddenly, he smiled wide and lowered his gun. He opened up the revolver and began to pull the six rounds out as he talked.
“I like you, Zach Davidson. You don’t plead for your life like a fucking pussy. You fight well and you die well. I like that. So I’m not going to make the decision to take your life. Instead, I will leave your life in the hands of Fate, and God will decide if you live or die.”
Edmund rummaged through his pocket and produced a black, six-sided die. He held it up for everyone to see and then said, “Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to roll this little die, and whatever number it lands on, that’s how many bullets I’ll put into my gun. Then I will give the cylinder a spin and see what happens when I point it at your fucking head and pull the trigger.”
He handed the die to Zach and told him to look at it. Zach did and saw that it was a fair die: all six numbers were present and the edges were not filed down. He then handed it back to Edmund.
The Lost Boys were chanting as Edmund rolled the die around in his closed hand. “Six! Six! Six! Six!” Edmund pulled his hand back and then tossed the die against the ground with a theatric flick of his wrist. All eyes followed the black cube as it tumbled erratically across the pavement. Zach watched intently, holding his breath and praying for a one. The die began to slow. It hit a sliver of wood on the ground and twirled on one of its corners. It then came to a stop and fell onto one of its faces with a light tap, though it sounded like the blast of an atomic bomb to Zach.
Facing the sky was the number six.
Edmund’s men cheered wildly while Zach and his men remained deathly quiet. Zach exhaled quietly, already wondering how the news would be broken to Abby. He wondered how Amber would feel when she learned that Zach would never be coming back. He wondered if they would even accept that he had died, or if they would be so foolish as to come looking for him. He prayed that they would not.
Edmund laughed as he slid the six heavy lead slugs back into his revolver. He spun the cylinder and then flicked it into place. He cocked the hammer back, aimed at Zach’s head, and, without hesitating, almost anti-climactically, pulled the trigger.
***
Abby and Amber were having dinner together in Abby’s apartment. It was two days before Abby’s birthday and her dance performance, and she was very excited. She had been telling Amber all about the upcoming dance and what she could expect to see.
“It’ll be a great show! Luke and I have practiced together a lot, and we’ll even have a few surprises for Mrs. Wilkes,” Abby said.
“Who’s Luke?” Amber asked. She had never been home when Abby invited Luke and the others over, so she was not familiar with the name.
“The other captain. He and I have a lot of parts in the performance where we dance together.”
“Oh, okay. Is he your friend then?”
“Yup. I like him. He’s really nice and super funny.”
Amber smiled and said, “So does that make him more than a friend?”
“Maybe,” Abby answered with a slight grin. “We’re not rushing into anything, so nothing is official.”
“So after all the grief you give Zach and I…” Amber said with a laugh.
“Hey, we’re only teenagers! We couldn’t get married even if we wanted to. Besides, I only like Luke right now; I can’t say that I love him. You and Zach obviously love each other. I can see it in your eyes whenever you look at him or sa
y his name, and vice versa. Watch, when he gets back he’ll be as giddy as a school boy when he sees you.”
“Well, I’ll be pretty giddy when I see him too,” Amber admitted.
“And then you guys can talk about your future together,” Abby said with a wink.
“Maybe. I still think it’s a little early to-”
“Ugh! Why does everything have to be about time with you guys?” Abby interrupted. “Who cares if you’ve only known each other for a couple months? Since when does true love have a time requirement?”
“Abby dear, love isn’t so simple.”
“It’s entirely simple! You love him, he loves you. What’s so complicated about that? You two were a classic case of ‘love at first sight’, anyone can see that.”
“I don’t think that ‘love at first sight’ happens in real life. Feelings really do take some time to grow into love.”
“But not every time. Look, I know you think that I’m just a kid and that I don’t understand love, but hear me out. ‘Love at first sight’ can happen if you can just see it for what it is: a connection of true love. And true love, like what you and Zach have, is a force to be reckoned with.”
“How so?”
“Well, think about this: when your life is threatened, your first instinct is to run and hide, to save yourself. With training, you can learn to suppress that instinct and fight back to protect yourself and those around you. But even then you’re being mindful of your safety. With love, however, you completely forego that. Love is what drives a man to step in front of a bullet meant for his wife. Love is what makes a mother give birth to her child even if the doctors say it will probably kill her. No other feeling but love makes us do such things. See? Love is the strongest emotion that we have.”
“And that’s what makes it so powerful. It allows us to make self-sacrificing decisions that we would never make if not for love. So true love between two people…it’s unstoppable. Their love will move mountains and reshape the world, if necessary. But this power isn’t always a good thing. When such a strong feeling is betrayed or snatched away, it can leave a hole impossible to fill. Losing that love can hurt so much that it might even make you regret having known love itself in the first place.”
“You and Zach loved each other from the very first day you met, but you won’t admit it, not even to yourselves, because both of you are afraid. You’ve both had traumatizing experiences in love and you are trying to not get hurt again. It’s a type of self-preservation, really. But if you’ll just let your love flow between the two of you and stop trying to bottle it up or slow it down, you’ll see how happy you both could really be with each other.”
Amber did not answer right away. She was thinking about what Abby was saying, considering her point of view. In a way, what she said made perfect sense. She had always felt very strongly for Zach. She had never called it ‘love’, but maybe she really was just in denial. She had genuinely loved her husband too, and he had hurt her worse than she could ever have imagined. So she became afraid of falling in love again, and maybe that was why she was trying to slow things down with Zach, even though she knew that she loved him and that he loved her.
Abby was right: what she was doing was a type of self-preservation. But she was trying so hard to not get hurt again that she was preventing herself from being happy. She had scolded Al for being over-protective of her, but she was even worse than he was.
“You’re right,” Amber said. “I’ve never heard it put like that, but you’re exactly right.”
“So what are you gonna do?”
“Well, I suppose I’ll have to have a long talk with Zach as soon as he gets home.”
“Hopefully in time for my birthday,” Abby said.
“He will be,” Amber said, smiling again. “You’re a very special young lady, you know. Zach’s lucky to have a daughter like you.”
“Well, you could have me as a daughter too, you know,” Abby said with a smile.
Amber laughed and said, “Maybe someday. Maybe someday soon.”
***
Edmund’s revolver made a loud snapping sound, but nothing else happened. He cocked his head and gave the gun a curious look, as did everyone else around him. He pushed the cylinder out, pulled the round out of the chamber, and observed it closely. The primer was dented, so the gun had not malfunctioned, which meant that the round was simply a dud.
There was a long silence as Edmund stared at the round. A slow smile spread across his face as he held it up, and he then started to laugh hysterically.
“What are the fucking odds!” he yelled as he hurled the round as far as he could, still laughing. “A dud! I put six fucking rounds into a six-shooter, and you still came out alive!” Edmund held his revolver up to his mouth and began to talk into the barrel like it was a microphone as he paced around the small circle.
“It’s the bottom of the ninth, bitches and gentlemen. The home team is down by three runs, they’ve got the bases loaded with two outs, and it’s a full count. Here comes the pitch!” Edmund mimicked swinging a baseball bat. “Oh my fucking God, Zach Davidson nails it! He hits that fucker right out of the motherfucking park! A grand-goddamn-slam! Zach Davidson saves the day as the crowd goes fucking wild!”
Edmund pumped his arms into the air, and his men obeyed and began to cheer wildly. Zach looked about uncertainly, not sure if what was to follow would be good for him or bad. Edmund walked up to him, punched him in the shoulder, and said, “You’re the man, arsehole! You’re the fucking man! You couldn’t script shit like that! Fate smiles on you, Zach Davidson, and that means that God has a plan for you. I, for one, can’t wait to see it. You’re all free to go. Wait, take your guns back. Just you, Zach the Great, Zach the Fate-Favored. I’m keeping the rest. I’ve gotta give the Boss something. Now go, get the fuck out of here.”
Zach took his guns back as he and his men grabbed their packs and made a hasty retreat, though with many a look over their shoulders. As they walked away, Zach heard Edmund call his name again, so he stopped and turned around.
“Tell Abby her friend Edmund says ‘hello’.”
Zach nodded and then hurried to catch up to his guys. They left the parking lot and began to head back in the direction they had come from, still fearing a surprise attack, but nothing happened. They could see the Lost Boys load up in their trucks and then drive off towards the north.
Zach and his group continued moving at a breakneck pace. Edmund was a fiery spirit, practically bipolar, and even though he had let them off the hook, Zach still did not trust him. He wanted to put as much distance between them and Edmund’s gang as possible, so for the first day the moved swiftly, making only one short stop. This was only so that Zach’s wounds could be treated by the medic that had come along. The cuts on his body were mostly superficial, he had not broken any bones in his fistfight with Edmund, and the stab wounds were not deep. He was in rough shape, but it could have been much worse.
Still, wounded as he was, Zach pushed the group relentlessly for the rest of the day, continuing even after night had fallen. There was a full moon out, so they could jog comfortably without worrying about taking a nasty fall or being ambushed. Zach had also altered their course, taking a more direct route back than the one they had originally chosen. He estimated that this shortcut would take a good three hours off of their trip.
They had no guns except for Zach’s, supplies were beginning to run low, and Zach wanted the Mayor to learn about this super-gang and the man that Edmund called ‘the Boss’ as soon as possible, so he continued to push his group quickly for the next several days. But, as before, his underlying motive was still to be there for Abby on her birthday and dance performance. He needed to be there, but they would have to cover a lot of ground every day to be back in time.
They had made great progress on their first day, but not so much on the following days. The terrain became unfriendly and Zach was soon reminded that a straight line was not always the fastest way to get from po
int A to point B. Some members of the group were also hurting themselves while they moved, further slowing them down. Zach began to fear that he would not be back in time.
***
It was a quarter to six in the evening on Abby’s birthday. Zach had not made it back in time. Abby was crushed, but she refused to let it show as she and her friends waited behind the closed curtain of the stage that had been built for them in the school’s auditorium. Abby peeked out of the curtain and looked over the audience. The front row had been reserved for the parents of the performers and every seat was filled…except for one. Amber, Al, and Diane were in the audience to watch and support Abby, but she still wished that Zach had gotten home in time. She fidgeted with the clothes she had worn for the dance, her pink wind-pants and a plain black, sleeveless shirt.
“Sorry that your dad couldn’t make it,” Luke said. He alone had noticed Abby’s slightly depressed mood today. She had maintained a cheery façade, but Luke could tell that she was actually hurting.
“It’s okay,” she said, turning to face him. “He’s just busy out there and will probably be back in a day or two. Thanks though.”
“No problem,” Luke replied. He stayed standing in front of Abby, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the other.
“Are you okay?” Abby asked, noticing a worried look on Luke’s face.
“Yeah, I just, uh…” he stammered. “I…here. Happy birthday.”
He held out a small envelope with the words ‘Happy Birthday Abby’ written in bold, elegant cursive.
Abby took the envelope and opened it, pulling out a bright red hair ribbon. Her face lit up and she smiled wide at Luke. “Silly! You didn’t have to get me a present!”
“I know, I just wanted to, I suppose,” he mumbled.
“You’re sweet,” Abby said as she undid her ponytail and then put it back up with the ribbon, tying it into a bow. “How’s it look?”
“Well, I thought it was impossible, but you look even prettier,” Luke replied.
Abby giggled and, before even she herself realized it, stood up on her toes and kissed Luke. It was only a brief brushing together of their lips, but it had still caught Luke off-guard (and Abby, too). When she pulled away, they were both blushing and looking a little surprised. She smiled and said, “Thanks.”
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