Hard Rain Falling (Walking in the Rain Book 3) Read Free Page B

pool.”
    With that, she wiped her eyes and tried to smile at me.
    “And, that goes back to what Luke said before… cut him some slack. He’s only sixteen, which on the maturity scale for boys puts him slightly behind you, Summer. Even though we can take care of ourselves, he’s just worried about us, and rightly so.”
    Leaning over, I gave her a little kiss on the cheek. I think we both managed without blushing.
    “Honey, I know you can take care of yourself. But if the three of you stick together, none of you may have to use those pistols. I’d like to spare you—any of you—the pain of taking a human life for as long as I can.”
    Lori looked at me curiously, but also with another expression I couldn’t place.
    “When it comes time, I won’t hesitate, but I appreciate the concern.”
    “What… does it feel like?” Summer asked; her question out almost before her sister’s words hit my ear. “Killing somebody, I mean?”
    I just shook my head; not in refusal, but because I didn’t want to admit I couldn’t remember exactly how it felt the first time. I don’t mean the emotions, those remained crystal clear. If I closed my eyes I could still feel the clenching fear and disgust, all bound up with a nearly overpowering rage. My life changed forever in that rest-stop and I still could see the bodies.
    But, how did it physically feel to slash a throat that first time? To ram nearly two feet of steel into someone’s gut and brace your foot against their chest to pull the blade free? Hell, I still couldn’t remember how many I killed in the frenzy to win my freedom. What I don’t remember, ever, was feeling any remorse or regret for what I had done. Plus, I feared that part of my soul had become too calloused to the act since then. Finally, I decided Summer deserved some kind of answer, a reward for mustering up her courage to ask the question.
    “I just don’t want killing to become too easy for any of you. Don’t confuse that with your willingness to defend yourselves. In the moment, with your life on the line, do not hesitate. Do. Not. Hesitate.”
    “I’m not sure I understand the difference,” Summer replied meekly.
    “Fair enough. Someone is pulling a weapon on you. What do you do?”
    “Draw and fire,” she said immediately.
    “Someone is pointing a weapon at your sister. Is it okay to shoot?”
    “Yes,” she replied instantly.
    “Someone calls your sister fat and ugly. Shoot?”
    “What? What the heck? No, of course not.” Summer gave me a little glare and I had to fight laughing because this wasn’t a joke.
    “There was a gunfighter in Texas, made a name for himself back in the late 1880s. Guy’s name was John Wesley Hardin. He killed a bunch of people. I think the total most agreed to was forty-four men. Some might have had it coming, others probably didn’t. All I have to go on is what I read in the history books. The thing is… he was infamous for shooting a man who was staying at the same hotel he was in. I don’t remember the details but the bottom line was that someone accused him of shooting the man for snoring.”
    “And what…?” I could see the confusion in Summer’s eyes and caught a curious glance from Lori as well, wondering where I was going.
    “When he killed his first man, Summer, I’ll bet John Wesley Hardin never thought in a million years he might be capable of killing a man for snoring. For what it’s worth, I think his father was a preacher, too, and by all accounts he was well educated for the times. But trust me; after you do it enough times, pulling the trigger gets to be a lot easier. You just have to make sure killing never becomes too easy or becomes a reflex. And most importantly, not something you do for fun.”
    Amy nodded. “Anybody who gets to that stage is not really human anymore.”
    We’d had this discussion already. I’d confided in Amy a little about what happened to me sometimes. The berserker. The conversation was uncomfortable on