Starcatchers 01 - Peter and the Starcatchers

  Rafe appeared surprised by the show of defiance, but pleased at the prospect of having some sport with his prey. He rose to his feet, smiling.

  “So,” he said, moving slowly toward Peter. “You want to tussle with Rafe, do you?”

  Peter continued to edge along the wall, looking frantically around the cell. He saw he’d get no help from the drunks, who were sleeping, and none from the other boys, who were watching with the expressions of spectators at an execution: their overriding emotion was clearly gratitude that somebody else was the victim.

  Rafe advanced toward Peter. Peter slid sideways along the cell wall. He reached the corner; there was nowhere to go. Rafe was a yard away, smiling broadly, bringing his fists up, ready to begin the pummeling.

  Peter felt his foot hit something. He looked down and saw it: the toilet bucket.

  He reached down and grabbed the handle with his right hand, swinging the bucket up to waist level. The stench was almost overpowering, but Peter was driven by desperation now. He put his left hand on the bottom of the bucket and drew it back, ready to hurl its repulsive contents at Rafe.

  Rafe stopped, his smug expression replaced by one of surprise, and—Peter was relieved to see—an undercurrent of fear.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” he said.

  “Yes, I would,” replied Peter, softly but quite believably.

  They stood facing each other in the silent cell, staring into each other’s eyes for the better part of a very long minute. It was Rafe who blinked first.

  “All right,” he said, backing away. “You stand there in the stink.” He settled down on the other side of the cell. “But soon enough you’ll get tired. Soon enough you’ll fall asleep. And then I’ll have that thing around your neck.” He hurled a hate-filled glare at Peter. “And I’ll have your neck, too,” he added.

  Peter didn’t answer. He stood in the corner, holding the bucket, enveloped in foul fumes. He would not allow his face to betray his feelings. But he knew that Rafe was right: time was against him.

  He could not hold out forever….

  DAVE BARRY is a Pulitzer Prize-winning nationally syndicated humor columnist for the Miami Herald. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Dave Barry’s Complete Guide to Guys, Dave Barry Slept Here, Big Trouble, and Dave Barry Hits Below the Beltway.

  RIDLEY PEARSON is the best-selling author of eighteen novels, including Cut and Run, The Body of David Hayes, The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, The Middle of Nowhere, The Pied Piper, Beyond Recognition, No Witnesses, The First Victim, Undercurrents, and Parallel Lies. He was the first American to be awarded the Raymond Chandler/Fulbright Fellowship in Detective Fiction at Oxford University.

  Source: Baileyd @ Demonoid.me