Days of Love and Blood

glad we did.” Willie’s mouth cocked open and his tongue prodded the inside of his cheek as he looked me up and down.
    “ You - blondie,” said Anand as he lifted his head in Tasha’s direction. “How old are you?”
    “What the fuck?” spit Cooper.
    “What?” yelled Willie. His smirk changed into a straight face.
    “Tasha, get in the car,” Cooper ordered. Tasha stumbled backwards a few steps before turning to lunge for the passenger side door. Anand’s eyes didn’t leave her for one second. He was smiling with his head bent down, looking up through possessed eyes.
    “Aw, come on. We just want to have a little fun. It looks like there’s enough to go around to me.” Willie brazenly stepped toward me. Cooper pushed me behind him and drew his gun. Johnson did the same. Both men froze but they didn’t reach for their weapons nor did they put their hands up. “You selfish sons-of-bitches.”
    “We’re done here. Get in the car, Carson.”
    “We’ll remember this.”
    “You follow us, I’ll fuckin’ kill ya.”
    “You can’t hide them forever.”
    “Jesus Christ. Get in the fuckin’ car Carson!” Cooper screamed. But I was frozen. My eyes were fixed on Willie’s face. He had that look. I knew that look. I knew that hunger. I felt the bruise on my neck that faded years ago but still hurt. “Carson!”
    I snapped out of it and stole away into the R.V., instinctively taking the driver’s seat. When Cooper was inside, I slowly drove away. He remained just inside the open door, keeping his gun trained on the men. Johnson pulled behind us and we veered away; the darkness swallowed their figures in my side-view mirror.
    “What the hell was that?” Johnson squawked on the two-way.
    “Just keep lookin’ behind ya. If ya see any lights, tell me.”

Death Penalty
    “So, you’re completely against th e death penalty, no matter the crime?”
    “Yup,” I answered.
    “What about serial killers?”
    “Rotting in jail forever without a chance of parole is way worse than death. Don’t you think?”
    “No. What abo ut cop killers?” It was obvious this was about to turn into one of our long, uneventful debates where neither one of us would concede but Ritchie would do his best to demonstrate his intellectual superiority. I was up for it - decided and steadfast. Our playful bickering was one of my favorite pastimes. It made me feel like we were one of those cute old couples who would yell at each other while holding hands.
    “Life.”
    “Child killers?”
    “I don’t believe in the death penalty at all. For any reason. I think it’s barbaric.”
    “ Barbaric? Okay, so what if someone molested and murdered Ronan.”
    “Oh my God, don’t say that.”
    “It’s hypothetical. Humor me. What if someone did something that horrible to our son and we knew who the killer was for sure.”
    “Okay. Well, I know what I would do. But that’s why we ha ve the judicial system. So people won’t run around, acting on emotion and dealing out revenge deaths. I mean if you leave the punishment in the hands of the victim’s family, you might as well stick the accused in the middle of an arena and hand the family stones. Old testament style.”
    “What would you do?”
    “If someone hurt Ronan? I would definitely go to jail for a very long time.”
    “You don’t believe there is any allowable reason for the death penalty, but you would kill someone yourself?”
    “Anyone w ould want to do it if their kid was killed. They would at least think about it. It would be a normal emotional response.”
    “What about rape?”
    “What about it?”
    “You might feel different a bout the death penalty if you’d ever been raped.” I caught my breath and felt my throat swell with sudden dryness. I tried to say something but it was garbled and cut short. “Carson?” I averted my telling eyes to the sweaty hands in my lap and fidgeted with them to hide the trembling. “Oh my God.” Ritchie stood up. “Baby,” he said while giving me that look. I hated that look. “Carson. Car-” But I was already gone.

    We pulled into Ivy’s yard just before two in the morning. Cooper left to find out who was pulling watch that night and came back a half-hour later. Johnson and Tasha had already gone into the house to get some sleep.
    “Who’s on tonight?” I asked. I sat on the edge of the bed with my head in my hands, weary from the late hour.
    “Brigham. I want you to stay here for tonight.”
    “I was