Friday Flash Fiction – Into the Heart of Will

You can protest all you want, but it won’t do you any good…

I’ll show her. Charlie flipped then brought the Bowie butt end down. “Won’t do you any good,” he repeated aloud, the slight comment burning his already dry tongue. Three hammers and a couple twists crushed the tablets into fine powder. “I’ll be damned if that bitch thinks she can stop me.”

The pen’s guts emptied out easy enough. Charlie let them fall to the floor as he lowered the  casing, burying it in white powder. Nostril over the open end, one finger over the other nostril, and… Oh yeah.

***

“Found him yet, Lou? Over.”

“Negative, Will. Bunkhouse’s clean, not in the stables either. Over.”

Son of a bitch. Will spurred the gelding, dragging the reins to the left. “Gotta be on the property, keep lookin’. Over.” Flashlight in hand, he urged the three-year-old Chestnut Bay into full gallop. “When I get my hands on him, I’ll wring that shit-eatin’ grin right off his face!”

“Whoa, Siren!” Will leapt from the saddle, threw the reins over the post, and barreled toward the infirmary. Wooden planks bowed under his heavy stride. He nearly took out Lou at the front entrance. “Sorry!” He snagged one of her arms, spinning her around to keep both of them upright.

Jangling keys, Lou relocated the correct one and thrust it into the tumbler. “No sweat. Only place I haven’t checked…Haven’t had anyone break inside these walls in years.”

“Yeah? Well, I hope you’re right,” Will said, following her down the hall. “Cause if you aren’t…” Pushing open the pharmacy’s metal door, he froze.

“What the hell, Barker!” Lou cursed, shoving him out of her way. Her eyes widened, and for a second she stared at the convulsing body then hustled to Charlie, sprawled and writhing on the cold tile. “Don’t just stand there! Help me!”

Her bark rattled Will from his trance and he was knees down, at Charlie’s side in a heartbeat. “What first?”

“Straddle him, palm on his forehead, two fingers,” she held up her hand to illustrate, “press them on the middle of his tongue. Keep it as flat as possible. You might try hooking your thumb under his chin if you don’t want them bit off.”

Shocked, palm pressed firmly against Charlie’s forehead, Will watched in horror, as the whites of Charlie’s eyes strained to roll further upward. His lurching lower body nearly uprooted Will’s steadying form…

“Damn you! What the fuck’s wrong with you?” He lifted one foot at a time, hooking a boot toe over each of Charlie’s scrawny thighs.

Lou returned. Readying a syringe, she crouched beside them.“Screaming at him isn’t going to help. Hold him steady.”

Easy for her to say…