The Road Sharks by Clint Hollingsworth

behind!”
    Shell closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose. When he opened them again, Axyl was leaning over Porter shaking his head. “Porter,” Shell said, “you were supposed to just recon the compound, why in the hell were you exchanging valuable bullets with a bunch of farm boys for no damn reason?”
    “Uh, well, sir, you know Pid?”
    “Pid. He’s the guy that always has that vague smell of urine about him, right?”
    “Yep. That’s Pid. Well, he.. um.. kinda let himself be seen.”
    “Exactly what we told you not to do.”
    “Yeah, well, ol’ Pid wasn’t really too bright and he couldn’t seem to shut up. Anyway, the farmers started shooting at us, then we had to shoot back and—”
    Shell interrupted in a fury. “The one thing we wanted you to do, to bring back information on their set up, you didn’t manage to accomplish, but you did manage to do the one thing we least wanted, which was to get them more alert to possible attack. Does that about sum it up, Porter? Do I have the lay of the land correct here?”
    Axyl watched his employer start to reach for the gun in his shoulder holster and calmly stepped between Porter and Shell.
    “Whoa, boss,” he said, looking Shell directly in the eye, “you’re trying to build an army here, let’s not be offing the troops less’n we have to. Ol’ Port here is one of our smarter guys, let’s not waste him.”
    “God help us if he’s one of the smarter ones.” Shell dropped his hand, then his expression became perplexed. “Porter, you say it was Eli who nailed you? And he just beat the crap out of you?”
    Porter nodded miserably.
    “Did he kill any of you, this time?”
    Porter shook his head.
    “Then how, if you don’t mind my polite inquiry, did you lose two of my men?”
    Porter looked down at the carpeting.
    “Porter,” Axyl said, a warning in his voice, “you’d best answer the man.”
    “Well, y’see… like I tol’ ya, Pid let ‘em know we was there, and on the way back to the bikes we was all in some pain. Pid kept moanin’ and all he had was a few bruises, far as I could see.” Porter hesitated for a moment. “Well, I was already purty damn pissed at him anyway, and finally all that moanin’… well… I just hauled off and shot him in the head. Stanley, on the other hand, wasn’t even gonna make it back on his own, and I kilt him as a mercy.”  
    Now it was Axyl’s turn to massage the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
    “Get him out of my sight, Axyl, before I shoot the stupid ass.”
    “C’mon, Port. You and me are gonna step outside and see if we can figure out how to make this right.”
    ****
    “Oh, damn, Axe,” Porter turned to him, a relieved grin on his face, “I got to thank you for…”
    The Axe Man’s right hand struck as quick as a rattlesnake, grabbing Porter’s crotch, getting his subordinate’s testicles in a death grip.
    “Porter?” he said softly, “do I have your complete fucking attention?”
    “Yeeeggg!”
    “Good. Now, as you and I know, you are an incredibly useless piece of shit, and it was just luck and me that have kept you alive to this point. Is that a fair assessment?”
    “Y-Yeeeesss?”
    “All right then, you had better not EVER fuck up this badly again, or you are going in the ground. Am I clear?”
    “Y-y-yyeesss.” Axyl let go and Porter collapsed to his knees.  
    “Porter, when you can walk again,” Axyl’s voice had turned conversationally friendly, “go get Durpee and bring him up here to me. I want him to show the boss something. Don’t take too long, okay?”
    “Okayaaayyyy.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Local Hospitality
****
    The stew must have been very tasty to one who had been living on dried meat and foraged plants for the previous several weeks. Eli was amazed and impressed to watch Ghost Wind pack it away. She ate with a gusto that he found refreshing.
    The women of New Hope tended to flock around Eli when he came to visit, and knowing their