Connie Danielson stood before Rex's bathroom mirror
and dabbed gloss on the sensuous lips of a pretty face. The tremble of
her fingers warned against self-deception. She was nervous for good
reason, thinking that her good looks wouldn’t hold out forever. How
important, she wondered, had they ever been?
She stepped back from the mirror and studied her
reflection, telling herself as she had told herself a thousand times that
she wasn't the long-legged, high-breasted, eighteen-year-old beauty of a
Caitlin Biggs, but she had a brain to go with the equipment she did have,
and a more mature imagination to put it to its best use.
That, too, no longer washed. She had never met Rex
Logan's modest expectations for a mate. They were like drunks trying to
make love, reaching for one another, always missing their targets and
needing an embarrassing moment to recover and try again.
Where had she gotten the notion that she could
control him? When had she first harbored the illusion that she was
somehow better than the lowly deputy without any ambition in life? That
had taken place in the civilized world where she could sell a car at the
Orange City dealership with more grace, suavity and expertise than any of
the men pulling in twice her salary, and that had all fallen apart the
night the green meteors fell and turned the world into a living hell.
Things were different now. Her inaccessible bank
account was of no value to her. Her broken home was less secure than a
hole dug into a hillside, or an old mine shaft where she had heard the
entire population of nearby Redrock Junction had taken refuge. And her
birth control pills had run out. It seemed to her that the caveman
mentality ruled once again. Women had been relegated to the status of
playthings that would survive and breed in the background as best they
could. Without Rex at her side, even if she survived the caterpillars,
she'd be raped, pregnant, and starving to death by the end of the year.
Connie slipped on a pair of lacy underwear and a robe
and went in search of her man to attempt some damage control. Rex was out
back, cutting boards to cover the downstairs windows below the apartment. He hadn't wanted to play in recent days, but with Brighton Hollow so quiet
on this pleasant and warm Friday afternoon, maybe he'd go for the novelty
of some fun and games in the great outdoors. Even if he wanted to close
his eyes and pretend she was Caitlin, at least it would keep him home and
safe for the day.
She raced cheerfully down the stairs, swung around
the corner of the building and stopped dead in her tracks, her way blocked
by a veritable Amazon wearing a black, jewel-encrusted evening gown.
Connie screamed. She screamed again when she
recognized the apparition, and a third time when Caitlin wrinkled her nose
and growled at her in disgust.
Rex came charging from around the back of the
building. He skidded to a stop, wiped his hands on his pants leg
nervously, and took a step back. Connie dropped to her knees and wet
herself, certain in that moment that she was about to die.
"You wanted me to talk with Doc Kaufman," Caitlin
said in a voice that had dropped in tone a note or two.
Rex looked about for the caterpillar. "Now?"
"Not after all the noise your stupid girlfriend just
made. Meet me out by the bus in the woods."
Rex nodded eager agreement.
"Just you and Doc. Nobody else."
Rex gave her another quick nod.
Caitlin's eyes fell upon her. Connie felt the girl's
cold and empty disdain. How in God's name had she gotten so big? She had
turned into a monster, but never in a million years would Connie have
imagined that anything so terrifying could be so beautiful at the same
time.
She bowed her head so that Caitlin would not mistake
an upward glance as defiance. Neither did she want Rex to see the fear in
her eyes.
"She's gone," Rex said.
Connie glanced about fearfully. She braced a hand
against the side of the building and managed to put her legs beneath her.
"Wait upstairs," he told her.
And now she avoided eye contact with even him. "Don't go to her," she said, her voice a low monotone of terror.
"She doesn't want to hurt you. Doc has questions to
ask. I'm just riding shotgun."
"Don't leave me here alone. You did the last time
she was here. Don't leave me here alone ever again."
"I can't stand guard over you twenty-four hours a
day."
"She's going to kill me!"
"If you think so, then stay at the community center
with the other women."
And leave him to her? That was what Caitlin wanted. That was why she visited so often, to catch Rex alone at the apartment, or
to try to intimidate her and scare her away.
She had nothing more to say. It would never happen
again. The next time she came face to face with Caitlin, she would have a
gun in her hands, and two bullets to ruin that pretty face.
Rex walked on by. He went upstairs for a rifle and
left the front gate banging on his way into town.
Novels by
William G. Tedford