Spare Parts
Part Six
The ax with its sawed-off handle and the sharp knife were tucked in the pail men’s daily pail, the palsied girl carried it down only a few steps behind Garrett and as they set to emptying, he stooped down long enough to grip both, coated in all manner of waste.
The first overseer barely registered how quick and purposeful Garrett began to move after all those months of slowly plodding along with the rest of the unfortunates. The knife went into his neck and he didn’t reach for his own knife or try and push away at the filthy handed man who just killed him. The overseer only looked confused and suddenly sad as his life came spilling out around the blade.
Another overseer, farther away pointed and called out, he managed to raise the cudgel he had with him before an empty pail landed across the back of his head. One of the pail men landed the blow and laughed, and then raised the pail over his head, driving it down again, and again, and again, laughing all the while.
Of the remaining two overseers, one turned tail and ran, howling something about a riot. The last only shrugged, looking at Garrett and the man he had just murdered. “I told them not to let you live.”
Garrett nodded, “You were right.”
The overseer didn’t charge blindly but he swaggered arrogantly, Garrett was one of them, one of the pail men. Maybe just an outsider and not disabled, but still just a pail man. The first swing with the machete was a test, one Garrett played clumsy in barely getting out of the way of. He wanted to toy with this one, one of the ones who would come by at night, one of the torturers, the rapists. Garrett wanted to cut at him and leave him lame and offer the palsied girl his blade.
No time for that. The running overseer would be back up the hill soon and laundry day would be on hold while the rest of them all came down to deal with the trouble making pail men. The overseer went on the offensive and slashed out with his machete, leaving his leading knee open and Garrett swept under and drove the filthy ax into the open target. The man went down but didn’t drop his blade or stop long to consider his next move. The overseer brought the machete back over his shoulder and swung out wildly at Garrett and found only air where the wiry, black skinned man should have been.
A full pail of night soil upended over the man’s head and left him choking, gagging, and further enraged. The palsied girl took a chance and came in to dump a pail over him. He tried to turn, the ax still stuck in his knee be damned, but Garrett and the girl didn’t need to consider their next steps. Several of the other pail men descended on the cruel man, throwing pails of waste at him and punching and kicking as he swung wildly with his machete.
Garrett reached out and took the girl by one bent wrist. They would be a while shuffling over to the bunker entrance as it was but she stopped as he pulled at her. No doubt she wondered what the outcome for the other pail men would be when found by the Believers but she didn’t wait long on those thoughts. The girl turned and looked at Garrett. “If you think you can carry me, I won’t argue.”