Дэвид Уоллес - Island of Fog and Death

“Dyed blonde?” suggested Peri. “Carpet burns on both knees?”

Amanda gave a snort of amusement. “Dead shot with a ping-pong ball, I bet,” she laughed.

“Can open beer bottles with her pussy?” Peri giggled back at her.

“Cracks walnuts with her sphincter?” Amanda suggested, laughing harder.

“Sucks harder than a Henry?”

“Bounces harder than a Tigger?”

“Licks like a grooming cat?”

“More shag than an Axminster?”

“Whoa, sister,” laughed Peri. “You’ve been giving this sex notion just a bit too much thought! Now, my excuse is wishful thinking, so what’s yours?”

“Stop, stop,” laughed Amanda. “We shouldn’t. We don’t know the girl that well, we may be doing her a grave disservice.”

“All I can say,” said Peri with a straight face, “is that I am now looking forward very much to meeting this lady.”

“Lady? Did anyone mention a lady?”

“Okay, okay. Well, what about the grad students?” asked Peri. “What are they like?”

Amanda looked glad to move the subject on. “They’re students. They don’t take life too seriously, well, not as seriously as they take their beer. I like Owain, he’s got a dry sense of humour, but Gilda – well she’s okay but she can be a bit catty about Tori. Those two definitely don’t like each other.”

“Don’t tell me Gilda is a jealous History Man groupie?”

“Oh no, quite the opposite,” replied Amanda. “I get the impression that she’s a bit disappointed by the Great Man’s naivety when it comes to pushy women. And anyway, I’m pretty sure she’s gay.”

As the party walked inland up Harbour Way, the fog had thickened and visibility diminished. Peri smelled a slightly odd tang in the air, but she could not place it. She paused, and sniffed audibly.

“What’s that funny smell?” she asked.

“What smell?” said Steve. He and Troy also stopped and sniffed.

Gus heard Tash’s voice inside his head. “Well I can smell it too,” the dog said. “What’s more, I know what it is.”

“What?” Gus said without speaking.

“Now that would spoil the surprise,” replied Tash. “There’s no fun in that.”

“All right,” Gus answered in his head. “I deduce from that comment that it will not be pleasant.”

“It depends on your idea of fun. Never mind, you’ll smell it too, and quite soon.”

The party resumed its advance. Troy had, almost absent-mindedly, drawn his gun. Amanda noticed, and stopped.

“Er, I don’t want to sound alarmist,” she said, and pointed at Troy. “But that’s a gun. Why do you have a gun? What’s going on?”

“Yeah, it’s a gun,” said Troy. “Steve, mate, I can smell something… off . Can’t you?”

Everyone had stopped now, and peered into the mist.

“Blood and shit,” said Steve.

“Are you swearing, or identifying the smell?” asked Peri.

“The second. Someone or something came to a bad end, just up ahead.”

“WHAT?” Amanda’s exclamation came out as a high-pitched squeak. She controlled her voice with an effort. “A bad end ? What the hell does that mean?” She looked, accusingly, at Steve and Troy. “Who are you? What have you got me into?”

“Someone dead or dying,” said Peri. She turned to face Gus. “Have you ever done military service? Ever fired a gun?”

“Yes,” said Gus. “I have had some experience.” He and Tash exchanged amused looks, for some reason nobody else could fathom.

“Steve, Troy, do either of you have a backup piece?”

Steve nodded. “Naturally. I suppose you want give Gus a – what did you call it? A ‘piece’? Hey, Gus, have you ever fired a Sig P230?”

“Not that specific weapon, no,” said Gus, “but I am sure I can manage.”

Steve pulled a gun from an ankle holster and handed it over. “Work the slide to cock it. After that there’s no safety, just pull the trigger.” He turned to Peri. “What about you?”

“Me? I know nothing about guns! I’m not field trained.”

“You’re about to get a crash course, then. Troy?”

Troy ejected the magazine from his spare Sig and handed the pistol to Peri. “Hold the pistol grip with your dominant hand. Lay your forefinger along the side, keeping it outside the trigger guard. Now remember that, it’s important. You only slip your finger into the trigger guard when the gun is pointing at something you really, really want to shoot. Now, cup your other hand under your right. Your right hand aims and fires, the left is there to balance the weight and stop your hand from wobbling. That’s it. Now lean forward slightly from the waist and bend your knees just a little. The idea is that the gun’s recoil is absorbed by your body, not just your wrists. Good, that’s a good posture. Now stretch out and up so the pistol is just above your eye level. To aim, you turn your whole body – move your feet, Peri – turn so your target is right in front of you. Then gently bring both arms down so the gun is at eye level. The gun’s sights are the white dot at the front of the gun, and the white rectangle at the rear. As soon as you see the dot touching the rectangle, and they are both in front of the middle of the target, you slip your finger into trigger guard and squeeze gently. The pistol will fire, and the recoil will push the muzzle up a little. Repeat the process, bring it down to eye level, align the sights and target, and squeeze again. Got that?”

Peri ran through the actions several times, until Troy inserted the magazine for her. “Right. You have seven shots. Please be careful where you point it, and don’t waste any of them on me.”

She gave a nervous laugh.

“I mean it,” said Troy. “Now please, take your forefinger out of the trigger guard and lay it alongside.” He held up his own hand. “Like this, all right?”

“Sorry.”

They started moving forward once more. Peri was sure the unpleasant smell was getting stronger, and was about to say so when Steve held up a hand and said, “Stop.”

“What’s that in the road ahead?” said Troy, peering into the fog and aiming his pistol.

Steve said, “It’s an animal.”

Gus added, “Goat.”

Peri chuckled and glanced at Gus. “Is that your idea of swearing? Well, goat me!” Her face reddened as she realised her voice was quavering on the edge of hysteria. “Sorry,” she added quickly.

“Take deep breaths for a minute,” said Gus. “Focus yourself on the road ahead. I’m covering your back. It will be all right.”

Steve and Troy were slowly advancing, and moving apart as they did so. Peri noted that they were swinging their pistols from side to side, and looking to the sides as well as ahead. She glanced back at Gus, and saw that he too, was sweeping his gaze, and his pistol, from side to side, alert for any movement.

“It’s a goat all right,” Steve said. “Or at least it used to be. Ladies, if you’re even slightly squeamish, I suggest you hang back there and don’t look.”

Naturally, that made Peri and Amanda both look.

“Oh my GOD!” said Amanda, and she promptly turned, bent over, and vomited.

Peri looked at the animal on the road. She surprised herself by not throwing up, because it was truly horrible. The goat lay on one side, its legs splayed out. Its skin seemed to be wrinkled and tattered. Strands of its viscera trailed out of a gaping hole where its underbelly used to be, and it stank of excrement where its bowel had been torn. Her nose also picked up the strong coppery smell of blood, and the stench of rotting meat. Peri realised that the wrinkling of the skin was due to the absence of muscle beneath it. Its chest had been ripped apart, and blood and bone fragments formed a ghastly splash around it. Tash was taking a close interest in it, and Peri was a little surprised to see the dog wrinkle its nose and back away. She would have expected it to react as if it had been presented with a meal, but the dog simply looked back towards Gus and she could almost swear it shrugged.