(Knacker Wagon Chronicles - XV)
Lenny escorted Baye back to the barracks. Quietly, Lenny spoke to Baye, "After the witching hour, there's no more talking and no more lights in the barracks. Speak and you will made made speechless. That includes crying to your mommy. Light anything up and you will be blinded. You defecate in the bathroom, you will eat it. Clear?"
"Crystal," replied Baye. Bug was still outside the front door. Instead of greeting them, Bug was transfixed by his finger. With a confounded expression creased in his forehead, he was staring at his index finger, pointing straight up out of his fist and mere inches in front of his face. Baye hesitated before entering the barracks and looked at Bug, trying to discern this weird fascination.
"If you survive the night, I'll see you tomorrow in the kitchen." Lenny leaned toward Baye, "Remember, stay on Sarge's good side and getting through the night gets a lot easier - got it?"
"Got it."
Baye entered the barracks. The building was dimly lit from the inside and not at all from the outside, as the sun had dropped well below the horizon. He could barely see. He trudged forward, counting the cots until he reached the one where Rev had left the nice picture of his dead predecessor. He was relieved to see it unoccupied and hoped he would be left alone throughout the night. Reaching down, he rummaged across the cot and located a pillow and blanket. He tugged them off and bundled them up. He knelt down and scooted himself under the cot. There was enough clearance for his body, as well as some extra clearance in case the cot sagged with a body on top of it. Better to sleep with potential rats and roaches than face getting assaulted, he thought. Besides, with clean bathrooms, and no food around, he figured the only varmints around would be the human variety.
He lay on the ground, tired but not relaxed. Baye could hear breathing, deep and rhythmic, so he was not alone but probably was the only conscious person in the room. The day had been one of the weirdest he ever experienced. He thought of Sarge, truly as Lenny said, and as he experienced firsthand, a man not to mess with. Sarge wanted him around, for who knows what purpose, but as long as the man everyone else seemed to fear was not an enemy, that was good. He didn't know what to make of Rev or Lenny. Either one could turn out to be the true 'first-mate' of the crew. Baye knew he could not afford to make the wrong guess on this fact. Both were sadistic, and given they were knackers, both had violent histories. Pudgi was in a category all his own. Baye had never met someone who dined on roadkill - and enjoyed it.
The interior lights shut off. A dimness remained and Baye could see small shafts of lights stream inside near the ceiling of the barracks. He hadn't noticed them before, but there were small rectangular windows high above the cots. Perhaps the witching hour had come.
Baye's mind was drifting. In time with the breathing, he envisioned a swarm of rats, advancing with each exhale. Pudgi was standing in the middle of them, gleefully picking them up and biting off their heads. More rats poured in. Lenny appeared in full chef regalia with a large bowl of food in one arm as he stirred its contents with the other. Pudgi steadily plopped the headless corpses into the bowl. Rev entered and glared at Baye. "Will you EAT it?", he demanded. The entire scene exploded as he heard the cot creak under a strain. He could see boots by his head and a glimmer of metal as it receeded up through the bottom of the mattress, the cot springs groaning under released pressure.
