Chapter 64

Gabriel sat on his knees as a strange man stood in front of him, shotgun on his shoulder, staring placidly back at him. Gabriel couldn’t take his eyes off the man’s mouth, which steadily moved up and down like he was a cow chewing cud.

“You know,” Gabriel said, “prolonged use of chew tends to lead to very disgusting sores and abscesses in the mouth and there aren’t really any doctors around anymore to help with the pain.”

The man did not skip a beat in his chewing motion, but his eyes narrowed into a look of confusion. He stepped forward and kicked Gabriel straight in the gut hard enough to double the young man over and leave him gasping for air.

“Shut the hell up,” he snarled, eloquently. He spat a streak of thick, red saliva down near Gabriel ’s knees as if in defiance. He turned and continued down the line to Jake. He looked her up and down, a smile spreading across his lips. Her face, inversely, was a mask of sheer disgust. She look ready to punch the man in the face, and prob