Chapter 20: The Thing In The Hall

Wolf walked through the wasteland that used to be the downtown. Like an ancient willow the city looked healthy from the outside, but its heart decayed. Wolf felt eyes on his back. He didn't slow his pace or turn his head, but his ears sorted out the sounds around him. Three sets of footsteps paralleled his course. They were uneven, uncertain; no risk to him.

Wolf came to a spot where the road widened. People scurried away from him. He stopped and turned around. He spotted two of his followers immediately, young and nervous, hands on their guns. Dangerous because they might make a mistake and squeeze a trigger a little too tightly. Wolf held his empty hands away from his side and waited. The boys relaxed and let their hands move away from their weapons. The footsteps of the last one stopped a little way behind him.

"I've come to see Rolph," Wolf said.

"Have you now?" the man behind him said, "and who would you be, to be seeing Rolph?"

"I'm Wolf," Wolf turned slowly with his hands still held away from his side. "I hear that Rolph has a problem that needs fixing."

"What makes you think he needs your help with the fixing?" The man hadn't unholstered his gun. The lines and scars on his face suggested he'd learned wisdom the hard way.

"How many have you lost," Wolf asked, "that you must arm children and set them to guarding your territory?"

"I'm no child!" a voice shouted behind him, the break in the voice betrayed the boy's fear.

"Easy, Mark," said the man facing Wolf, "I'm Ed," he continued. "You want to meet with Rolph, it's your funeral." He turned and walked away. Wolf followed.

"I could kill you right here," Mark said. His gun poked into Wolf's ribs.

"You could," Wolf said, "but a man would not. He would realize how it would humiliate his boss." The gun retreated, but not very far. It didn't bother him. Wolf had lived on the edge of death for too long for him to worry much about details, like at whose hands he would die.

Ed led them into a derelict building and along a reeking, decrepit corridor. They exited through into another square. The first electric lights since he'd entered this territory shone from an old hotel. Glass remained in some of the windows. Ed led him through the revolving door, its panels filled with boards so he couldn't see into the lobby. Clever, it would slow any attacker down enough to kill them easily.

Mark clicked the safety on his gun as he stepped through the door. Wolf looked in a mirror hung on the wall and saw that the other follower wasn't a boy as he had first thought, but a young woman. She let her gun drop so it hung on its strap. Her look made Wolf nervous. He could deal with death and guns without a thought, but that smoldering look in a woman's eyes only meant trouble. Gwythin looking at him like that got him run out of the Gats. His Chief hadn't liked that his woman still desired Wolf.

He followed Ed through a set of double doors into a large ballroom. The chandeliers were ablaze with light. Sconces set into the walls pushed the shadows back. Mark stayed behind him while the girl vanished into the crowd.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Ed said. Wolf paused and took a long look around. He saw bullet holes in the walls and stains under the feet of the men and women who stared at him with a mix of curiosity and hunger. A deep breath brought the scent of blood and fear. He didn't reply, but he nodded noncommittally. These people were ripe for a hero. Being a hero got people killed. Wolf didn't want the job, but how else could he test himself?

Ed shrugged and led him through the crowd to the far end where a big man lounged on what was once an elegant chair playing with a cup. A smaller man stood behind with the only unholstered weapon in the room. His frown was the reverse of the big man's smile.

"So, Wolf, do you come to spy us out for your old man?" The man in the chair said.

"If you know that I am Wolf, you also know that my old man has a price on my head."

"Right, something about him taking your girl for his own."

Wolf shrugged.

"So, why are you here?" the man behind the chair asked. His weapon pointed at the ceiling, but he was the deadliest man in the room. He watched Wolf with hard eyes. Wolf had heard stories of Igor's battles.

"I heard you have a small problem with your new digs," Wolf looked around the room, "I was bored and thought I would drop in and check it out."

The man in the chair laughed and waved to his right. The young woman who had looked at Wolf with such burning need sauntered over to sit on the arm.

"So, Cherry," Rolph said, "What do you think?"

"It could be ... interesting," she said and looked at Wolf again. "Let him stick around for a while, Dad." She winked at Wolf while Mark behind him ground his teeth. The minx knew it too and her smile made Wolf want to leap out a window and flee into the night.

"Very well," Rolph said, "Mark, show our guest to a room. Make sure he is comfortable." Wolf fought to keep his face straight as Cherry glared at her old man.