A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

Author:Brian Evenson
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
ISBN: 9781566894142
Publisher: Coffee House Press
Published: 2015-11-24T16:00:00+00:00

VI.

He awoke feeling he had heard something but was not quite sure what. His head ached, flaring a bright line of pain. Some of the others were stirring as well. Gordon’s bed was empty.

He sat up and pulled his boots on.

“What is it?” asked one of the dark shapes around him. Jansen, probably.

“I don’t know,” said Orvar. “I thought I heard something.”

“Wait,” said Lewis, a little panicked. “We’ll come with you.”

But he was already in the hall. A noise, a loud one: that was what had woken him up. Unless he’d dreamed it.

Out in the hall, he began to faintly smell cordite. So, not a dream. He made his way down the hall in one direction until he realized the smell seemed to be growing fainter, then he backtracked. The others were now clustered in the doorway.

“What is it?” Jansen asked again.

“Gunshot,” he said simply, then kept going.

Gordon or Yaeger, he thought. Those were the only options. All the others had been in the bunkroom. Either Yaeger shooting Gordon or Gordon killing Yaeger. Or one or the other of them killing Grimur.

He took a turn and threaded his way through a stack of boxes. Had they been arranged like that before? He was already past when he realized what he’d glimpsed and went back. There, stuffed upright in the middle, was a body. Its face was pushed against the wall; he couldn’t see clearly who it was.

“Hello?” he heard a voice call from down the hall. “Who’s there?”

He pulled himself back behind a box, heart pounding. “Gordon?” he called out. “Is that you?”

“Orvar?” said the voice. “Is that you?”

He heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He tensed, waiting.

“I thought I heard a shot,” said the voice, closer now. “Where are you? It’s me. Grimur.”

And yes, he realized, it was Grimur—he should have recognized the voice right away. He stepped out to meet him.

“Did you fire a shot?” asked Grimur.

“Somebody did,” said Orvar.

“It wasn’t you? You’re the only one with a gun.”

Orvar shook his head. “My gun’s gone missing,” he said.

Grimur frowned. “Some security officer you are,” he said. “Who has it?”

“I don’t know,” Orvar admitted. “Yaeger, probably. Unless that’s Yaeger there.” He gestured between the boxes where the body was. “If so, then it’d be Gordon.”

Grimur came closer, squinted. “Shit,” he said. “Is that a corpse?”

Instead of answering, Orvar started moving boxes. For a moment the corpse balanced there, leaning against the wall, then it slowly spun and toppled, fell to the floor. There was no gun in the gap, despite the blood spatter against the wall. Definitely not a suicide.

“That’s Gordon,” said Grimur.

“Then Yaeger has my gun,” said Orvar.

“How the hell did you let Yaeger get hold of your gun?”

“He took it, somehow. Without me realizing,” said Orvar.

“Why are you brushing your arms like that?” asked Grimur.

“What?” said Orvar. Surprised, he looked down at his moving hands. “It’s this goddamn dust. It sticks to everything,” he said. “It’s like it’s alive.”

Grimur shook his head. “It’s just dust,” he said.

“How do you know?” asked Orvar.

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