The Third Antichrist by Mario Reading

Author:Mario Reading
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

51

Between them, they hauled and dragged Andrassy’s carcass to the house. Lemma stopped every now and then to clutch at her stomach, but it was beyond Radu’s power to spare her the discomfort. What they were doing was brutally necessary, and he did not have the strength to manage the job alone. Each time Lemma moaned, it cut his heart to the quick.

They settled Andrassy in a corner of the ruined entrance hall. Radu went through Andrassy’s pockets and put the contents to one side. Then he covered Andrassy with stones, broken furniture, and pieces of fallen masonry - it wouldn’t hide him forever, but it would fool the casual observer.

Radu kneeled down and sifted through Andrassy’s things. ‘Look. We’re in luck. Car keys.’ Radu held up the keys and stared at them. Then he lit a match and looked closer. ‘It says Simca. And a number.’ He pocketed Andrassy’s wallet, cell phone, and a penknife, and covered the remaining articles with a brick.

‘What is Simca?’

Lemma was sheet pale and her expression was strained. Her face seemed smaller to Radu, as if he were looking at her through the wrong end of a pair of binoculars. She had a livid bruise on one cheek, and there was dried blood by the side of her mouth. Radu cupped her face in one hand and rubbed the blood off with a moistened finger. ‘Simca is a kind of car. They haven’t made them for years. It will be easy enough to spot.’

‘How so?’

‘There is only one usable road out of here when there is snow. This man will have parked up near the highway - somewhere it is easy to get out again - and then walked on in. That is what I would have done in his place.’

‘But I cannot walk, Radu. Back there. In the tent. My waters broke.’

‘What? Why did you not tell me?’

‘How could I? The man was trying to kill us. And then you needed my help dragging him. It would not have been right to burden you.’

Radu dropped his face into his hands. He took a few deep breaths and then looked up at his wife. He held out one hand and Lemma crept into the circle of his arms. ‘I am sorry, Luludja. Sorry that I have brought you into this. Sorry that you have had to help me kill and bury this man.’

Lemma looked up. ‘I am not sorry. You are my husband. I will follow you anywhere. I will do anything. You have only to ask me.’

Radu crushed her to him and kissed her many times on the forehead. ‘We must collect all we can from the tent. Then we must walk as far as this man’s car. We can manage it. Sometimes the waters break before labour, do they not? If there has been a shock. Or an emergency. There may be much time before the baby comes.’

Lemma braved a laugh. ‘Radu, are you now an expert in pregnancy? Where did you

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