Page 160 of Wrench
¡°Idiot Rebel,¡± he said with a patronizing voice as he towered above me. ¡°Sitting with
your back turned, staring at nothing. Didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be so easy, but¡ª¡±
I cut him off by shooting all my body weight into his knees, tackling him to the sand.
Swinging his limbs around, the knife nearly slicing off my ears, I held his elbows down
with my knees and smashed his nose with my fists. Blood poured out his nose, but he
continued flailing maniacally, and I yelled, ¡°Fucking junkie!¡±
My fist connected again but he hardly even flinched. Instead, he wiggled out of my
grasp and rolled away. He was on his feet again so fast, ripping around me as I bled,
asking, ¡°When will you idiots learn how to fight smart? You had us all on the ground and
didn¡¯t even finish the job.¡±
¡°We aren¡¯t as low as you.¡±
¡°You¡¯re right,¡± he said, slowing down to step closer as I stumbled to stand to my feet.
¡°You¡¯re lower.¡±
Pretending that I was still in the process of standing up, I grabbed him by the knees
and pulled him back down to the dirt with me. Flailing around, trying to escape my grasp,
he hollered, ¡°Little Wrench! Out in the desert crying alone! Are you sad your little
boyfriend Archer is gone?¡±
¡°You fucking asshole!¡± Finally, I was able to control him enough to connect my fist to
his face again. Victory soared inside me as his eyes rolled around in his head. There was
no way I would let this rat pull one over on me like this. Just as I was winding up to
punch him again, sure to knock him unconscious, I felt the swipe of the knife against the
back of my neck.
The knife didn¡¯t puncture me, but it sliced enough to make me flinch back.
In that second of lowered defense, Slink wriggled his elbows from underneath me and
¡ª
I cried in agony, looking down to see the handle of the knife sticking out from my
chest.
Slink cackled and slithered from underneath me, shouting, ¡°And that¡¯s for screwing up
my face,¡± as I toppled to the ground.
Using my elbows to attempt to prop myself off the ground, I tried to get up. Slowly, he
