The Mountain and The City: A Post-Apocalyptic Tale by Brian Martinez Page A

one who touches me. I'd do anything to stop that.
    “Run! Go away,” I shout.
    He puts his hand around my Neck again. “Sshhhh. Now that's not nice. I would love to meet your monster and you're ruining it for me.” I feel my Neck close up and the Air with it. Bastard Air, never wanted it in my Lungs, now I burn for it.
    “Tom!”
    He lets go with another laugh. Child runs toward us but stops when she sees the Hole in the Ground. I tell her to stay back and she does, crouched and picking out sounds from the Dark.
    The smaller one wipes his Mask face. “Well, I'll be goddamned. I think the monster listens to her.”
    “Yeah? Listen to this.” Tom raises the Gun next to my Face and points it at Child. I bite my Teeth hard into his hand and taste his blood. The Gun explodes but the Bullet misses. He shoves me into the Fence, screaming, but I don't look back to see him. I hold the Fence and watch Child run into the Wood, and it calms me to see it.
    When she can't be seen anymore, I turn to Tom. Now he has two bad hands. His Gun is on the Ground and he's screaming in his Mask.
    “Shoot her!”
    The smaller one looks at me, then at Tom, then back at me.
    “What are you waiting for? She bit me, you dumb-ass, shoot her!”
    “Let me think about this.”
    “What's there to think about? Goddamn it, do I have to do everything?” He swings his bandaged hand and hits me across the Face. I bounce off the Fence and fall to the Ground on my Knees with my Ears buzzing and my Eyes confused.
    He kicks me in the Stomach and I crumple. “When I catch your little monster friend out there she'll be begging me to be this nice to her. Man hasn't made words for the kind of stuff I'll be doing to her. But don't worry, you won't miss any of it. I'll let you watch the whole thing.”
    “I really don't think we should be doing this.”
    “Would you stop with that? Jesus Christ, always telling me what I can't do. I can't take from people who've been dead ten years. I can't use monsters for target practice. I can't do anything fun without asking Graham. And shut your mouth about getting disinfected, you can't catch the goddamn virus that way, or did you forget?”
    “Of course I didn't forget, but you still-”
    He stops talking. It's because he sees my Eyes, and what he sees in them makes him take a step back.
    As Tom turns his body to me, I land on it with everything I am. He shouts and falls to the Ground. The back of his head hits the Concrete, but I don't give him Time to feel it. I rip at him with my Hands in ways I didn't know I could.
    The Mask comes off his face easily under my Nails.
    So does the skin.
     
     
    **
     
     
    When I'm done, Tom isn't screaming anymore.
    I've done a terrible thing, something my mother and father wouldn't want to see, but I know because I've done it Child has one less danger to worry about, and that's something they would do.
    That's what life is. I just don't know what I am.
    The smaller one hasn't moved. The Gun in his hand is pointed at me but like him it hasn't spoken yet. His eyes stay on my Hands as I wipe them on the Suit.
    “Are you giving me the Death?”
    He looks over his shoulder to the Giant Mouth in the Mountain. “I...I can't.”
    “Then let me leave.”
    “The others will never believe me. They won't believe a monster got past the moat. They'll think...they'll think I killed him. I didn't like him but I would never kill him.”
    I stand.
    “Stay away from me,” he says. “I have to think.” He looks at what I've done and his breathing is faster and shorter. I can hear the heart in his chest and it sounds wounded and weak.
    He points the Gun to the Giant Mouth. “Walk. Right now.”
    “If you're giving me the Death, give it here.”
    “They'll decide what to do with you, it's not up to me. I just know I'm not dying for this. Not for you, and not for him.”
    He keeps the Gun pointed at me. We go away from the Fence and past the Building to the Mouth, where he turns on a Hand