They wuz working on putting in the new tower for them dirigibles what the Big owners on the docks bought and wanted to start using. A rival party had started putting in an airfield for them biplanes up in Fallow Fields and these lugs decided air freight wuz the New, Great idea. But all this new construction on the waterfront wuz making Spiney nervous.
I wuz back at Vlad’s tavern later that week, after I got over the fight at French Fort. My nerves wuz taking quite a beating. I still couldn’t believe Timmy Colt might be the Scarecrow but them boys at the bar wanted to hear about it so I finally come back and told them and then they commenced to jawing about the Scarecrow something fierce. I sat at the table and nursed a few beers and a snack while they grilled me and chewed up every bit of information till there wuzn’t any meat left to the bones. But Spiney wuz nervous ‘bout something else. He wuzn’t joining in like usual. He wuz bothered. I could tell. So I ask him what wuz bothering him.
“What’s bugging you, Spiney? Yer all nervous.”
“All this building on the water,” he says his tone all serious like, “might bring bad luck. Water folk like their privacy. Might take offense.”
“Holy Wha? Bet City Hall never even thought of that!” Tally says. All the regulars wuz enjoying a beer today. There wuzn’t any customers. Finn, Tally, Vlad, Spiney, we wuz sitting around the big round table near the window philosophizing. Junior Davis just left to run some errands. He wuz pretty tight with the fuel fer his car so he saved up all his chores for one day.
“Sometimes sleeping things is best left sleeping,” Spiney added. “Where I come from we don’t go into the Deep Dark. They’s building right next to it.” You could tell he wuz nervous cuz his skin had tuned yellowish instead of his normal dark green.
“You thinking of anything particular?” Finn asked.
“No, just rumors about the Deep, my people gossiping,” he answered.
“You wanna maybe go back home, check on yer family?” Vlad asked. “I can give you time off.”
Spiney thought about it for a bit then nodded. “If you don’t mind. I go home,” he says. Vlad nodded so Spiney went through the kitchen and started packing up his stuff. He had a room back there Vlad let him keep.
Vlad wuz without a cook. He looked at Finn. “You sling a mighty mean hash. You wanna work the kitchen for a while? I’ll limit the menu.”
Finn knocked back his beer and says, “Sure, why not. I could use the dough since the roads are closed.” Weight restrictions went on the side roads and loggers were outta work for the season.
“Tomorrow: six in the morning?”
“Sounds good.” Finn leaned back in his chair and it creaked beneath his weight.
“I can help out too, if it gets busy, eh?” Tally added. “I got fired from the tower job. Asked the bosses too many questions. Sum bitches’ve got no respect fer the help over there. Safety’s fer shit.”
“I’d help but my shift starts up again tomorrow,” I says. Docks were always jumpin’ and a roustabout like me wuz in high demand.
The freight we wuz taking in wuz a good ten times as much as normal. With the Tower going up and the air field being built we were kept jumping all week long. Only reason we didn’t work weekends wuz we had some boys what had Connections and dock bosses didn’t wanna upset any o’ the powers that be. I unloaded some pretty interesting crates too. Some even had airplane parts in ‘em. We had some big wigs from across town looking over our shoulders all the time, shouting orders, breathing down our necks, and being a real pain in the keesters but we got the crates loaded onto their trucks and then they wuz outta our hair.
Where we wuz working on the docks we could see the work on the Tower and every now and then a siren would scream through the bustle on the piers and another ambulance would race up to the workers and cart another off to the hospital. Tally wuz right. They wuzn’t being too careful over there. I wuz glad I didn’t sign on any o’ those work crews.
Work’ll make one day blur inta the next when yer days’re busy and time flies when you only count it by two days; the weekends. The Tower wuz soon up, poking into the misty skies and the day wuz set for the first docking with the upper deck and the dirigibles. We wuzn’t gonna have the wind problems what they had with the blimps and the Empire State Building in New York. We wuz much lower to the ground and the surrounding woods kept the wind from where they built the Tower.
The whole town of Misty Harbor wuz excited about the event. Two blimps from New York were supposed to fly along the St. Lawrence Seaway to our little port in the U. P. for the christening ceremony. One wuz fulla cargo, the other fulla passengers. Speeches were lined up. All the important city politicians wanted to have their say. Me and Junior Davis had planned a party and Vlad had even closed the pub for the night and the whole crew met us at Junior’s and we headed down to ferries and eventually made it to the piers to watch the spectacle.
“Jesus to Jesus and seven hands around!” Lorraine De Marie blurted out. She and her sister Louise wuz holding a place for us lugs and Lorraine wuz cussing out a dock worker holding a ribbon for her. Lorraine and Louise wuz regulars at Vlad’s now and then and when they heard about the party they took right over. Her and Louise had the idea of roping off a section with ribbon and holding it open for us. Vlad said that the idea had merit. I wuzn’t so sure they could pull it off. I forgot how much like a pit bull them ladies could worry a thought oncest they put their minds to something.
Lorraine wuz getting fed up with the dock worker. She grabbed the ribbon from his hand and walloped him on the head with her umbrella. “Dummass! Get outta my way. I’ll do it myself!” Louise had gotten the giggles and wuz on the other end of the opening and had her legs crossed.
“Tally,” she calls. “Come grab this ribbon. I’m laughing so hard I’m gonna wet myself! Hurry! I swear I’m gonna piss my panties!” Tally did as he wuz told and Louise disappeared in a rustle of frills. Them old gals wore their Sunday finest for every outing and this one wuz no different.
“Where the hell is she going?” Lorraine asked. “She’s useless!”
“Had to visit the ladies,” Vlad replied.
“Useless as tits on a bull!” Lorraine repeated.
“You ladies bring any of the Brew?” Junior Davis asked.
“Of course!” The disgust over such a question showed plainly on her face. “Keg’s in the middle of our spot.” I looked and sure enough dead center wuz a huge wooden keg. Its golden elixir wuz what these two old crackpots wuz best known and loved for.
“Bless you, my dear lady!” Junior said and flourished a sweeping bow that impressed the old lady.
Louise wuz back and Lorraine called to her, “Louise, dear, be a sweetie and tap the keg for these lads.” Lorraine wuz once again all sugar and spice. Her earlier anger had disappeared.
“’T would be my pleasure,” Louise all apple pie and sugar plum. Us lugs took up their positions and kept the opening while these ladies moved to see to their precious cargo. Their ruffles and lace rustled in the night. They looked like they wuz two high society dames stepped right outta the last century.
“That bustle is all them, I’m afraid,” Vlad murmured to lugs. He meant that their backsides filled out their elegant dresses fuller than any hoop skirt petticoat.
“Hush!” Finn said. “Don’t wanna piss them off, eh. They’ll stop bringing the Brew!”
“Quite right,” Vlad agreed and moved forward. “You young ladies need any help?”
“We got it!” Lorraine snapped.
“You can play bartender in your tavern, Vladislav Putenskiy,” Louise added. “Tonight is our show.”
Mugs wuz handed round and the frothy brew slid over the lips easy and sweet. These two old ladies, though half in the nut house and more often than not on the run from the law, still brewed a mean keg of beer. The crowd on the edge of our clearing looked on in envy.
“Ah, Miss De Maries, if I were a younger man…!” Junior Davis extolled to the night, “I’d be chasing you round all of Misty Harbor pursuing your hand in marriage.”
They both giggled and Lorraine asked, sounding suspicious, “Which one?”
“Why, the both of you! You come as a set. I’d no sooner separate you two than cut off my left leg! I’d marry you both. One for every other night of the week and then we’d all three take the Sabbath off.”
“Oh, you!” Louise giggled and broke into laughter.
“Shush, you rake!” Lorraine scolded Junior and tried to pretend to be insulted but there wuz a twinkle in her eye and she had to grin in spite of herself. Ol’ Junior wuz the first to get his mug refilled. He’s too smart for his own good sometimes.
By now the mayor of Misty Harbor had arrived. His limousine sedan pulled up in front of the entrance to the tower building. There wuz much speechifying and one politician would hand off the microphone to another and the ceremony begun to stretch into an hour.
“Wind bags!” Tally growled into the night.
“You should change and give them a chase!” Louise giggled. She wuz feeling her cups.
“HAH!” Tally barked. He wuz feeling the beer too. So wuz I. I thought it wuz a super idea.
“Tally!” Vlad cautioned.
“Ah, I wuzn’t gonna!” Tally answered. “Holy Wha, but it would be funny, wouldn’t it?” This brought guffaws from alla us lugs, Vlad included. The ladies were bent over and Lorraine ended up on her back side sitting on the docks and Louise had tears streaming down her cheeks she wuz laughing so hard at her sister.
I’m afraid the Mayor heard our whooping it up. He nodded to his bully boys and they headed in our direction. We wuz gearing up for a fight. Tally grabbed a gate pole and popped it outta the brackets. Vlad motioned for the De Marie sisters to get behind us. We had already emptied the keg they had brung so Junior Davis smashed it and grabbed the broken metal rings and begun swishing them through the air all threatening. Then the bully boys got closer and we knew we wuz in for a battle. They wuz five of the meanest mob zombies I’ve ever seen. The cops what are honest keep trying to find where these zombies keep getting made but with people like the mayor behind them the Mob gets away with everything.
These five come at us and we knew we wuzn’t gonna walk away from this one. Tally barks once and then transformed into a werewolf. His shirt shredded as he grew to twice his normal size and he snapped the air to try and scare the zombies. They just come walking at us and one of them cracked his knuckles and punched one fist into another. I heard a pistol cock behind me and looked quick. We wuzn’t surrounded, it wuz Louise. She pulled a big old heater outta her hand bag and wuz covering the zombies. Lorraine pulled the handle free from her umbrella and it wuz a disguised shotgun! Them ladies wuz fulla surprises! Lorraine pumped a shell into the chamber and then the bully boys stopped still.
“So in conclusion, and to christen this new tower,” the mayor said. He held up a bottle of champagne and then smashed it against the rounded bricks. As he said this the sound of propellers and gas engines came out of the cloudy sky. We all turned and looked and this huge grey sausage comes outta the night. It wuz metallic and ponderous and we all wondered how it could float like that.
“Shit! I can walk faster than that!” Lorraine said.
“How’s it stay up?” Louise asked.
“It is filled with gas that is lighter than air so it rises.” Junior told her. “Those propellers on the side is how they steer it.”
“Seems awful silly to make such a fuss over it all,” Finn said to no one in particular.
“I hear they’s putting one up in Marquette so when Lake Superior freezes they can still ship freight. That’s why this one is here, for refills.” I told them. Over their heads I could see a shadow across the pier. Its slouch hat shadow reminded me of someone but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“What’s wrong with the railroads?” Finn persisted interrupting my train of thought. I glanced up again but the shadow wuz gone.
“Too many highjackings,” Vlad answered. “That and lake effect snow blocks the tracks during winter. These mob boys like to keep their profits.” This last bit wuz almost a whisper.
We wuz still watching the dirigible appear out of the cloud cover and spotlights shot up turning it into mirrored silver. Its shadow appeared above it like it wuz some gigantic vulture waiting to pounce on the little metal egg. Another grey turtle crawled through the clouds and waited behind the first. A gantry extended out from the top of the tower and the blimp coasted to a slow stop until its nose gently touched the finger of metal. Men ran out and grabbed lines and tackle and secured the monster against the tower. A colorful flag wuz waved by a man high up on the scaffolding and a cheer went up from the crowd. This wuz the signal for a successful docking. Even though we thought the whole effort wuz a waste we cheered too. Caught up in the mood of the crowd and feeling our cups we cheered with the rest. The captain came down in the tower’s elevator and he wuz the next dignitary to speak. I can’t recall what he said but it wuz all about how the world just got smaller and how Misty Harbor wuz now ushering in a new age of prosperity.
The passengers all left the first dirigible and it wuz moved around to the other side of the tower and wuz tied to. Then the second dirigible docked and the crane took over, unloading cargo. There wuzn’t much. It wuz just a token load to christen the tower. But most folk watched spellbound like they never seed a cargo unloaded before.
After this the official spectacle wuz over and so the party pretty much wuz over. The crowd thinned as everyone went home or headed for the ferries to get across the river. We stuck around to make sure the broken keg wuz cleaned up and the De Marie sisters got off safely. Tally had to crank their Model T a couple times to get it going but once the windy puff of the cylinders started up the engine purred into life and they got turned around and headed to the uptown ferry before they could head homeward. Only the uptown ferry could handle automobiles.
“The Mayor don’t take kindly to his speechifying being interrupted,” a voice told us. We turned to look down the opening of an alley and the bully boys wuz waiting. It wuz Dunphy O’Toole. He wuz warning us of the ambush. He came from another alleyway, a two by four gripped in his hand. “I hate uneven numbers!” he said and came to stand at our sides. The bully zombies moved out into the light and I wuz surprised to see they had doubled their number.
They shuffled forward and the streetlight lit their faces. Decayed flesh wuz preserved beneath a paint of clear wax. Blank eyes started wide at us. Mouths were sewed shut with whatever made these things come alive. Some had chicken or other bird feathers stuck into pockets or under collars. There wuz graveyard dust all over them and I didn’t relish the thought of laying hands on them. They wuz shambling toward us with fists menacing. Some o’ them had busted through the wax and black oozed from jaws torn open. Still they stumbled at us and we wuz forced to hold our ground. They had backed us along the pier and we stood with our backs to the open water. At least we didn’t hafta worry about attack from the rear.
There wuz a short bark and then a roar and next thing we knew Tally wuz in the middle of the Bully Boys, clawing left and right at them in his wolf form. Dunphy wuz quick to follow. His two by four had nails in the end of it and he laid about himself quite successfully, popping a zombie here in the eyes, dropping another by snapping a spine or perforating his brain pan. I think I heard tell once Dunphy had studied sword fighting somewheres. Well, at least it looked that way to me. The rest of us charged ahead and the next few minutes wuz a blur of fists and knives and broken bottles and damaged flesh.
Junior Davis wuz swinging the metal bands from the broken keg like they wuz swords. He snapped out his right hand and a head flew from dead shoulders. He stabbed forward with his left and another dropped, its spine snapped clean through, the band sticking through his chest and out his back. Then the mob wuz too close and I couldn’t watch the others much anymore. I wuz too busy punching and jabbing and tossing bodies into others. I got surrounded at one point but Vlad jumped to my rescue flailing about with the bung hammer like it wuz Thor’s magic hammer Muh joll nur.
Tally had ripped an arm loose from one zombie and now used it like it wuz a club. He pounded into the Bully Boys with that limb and they dropped like flies but still they kept coming. The mayor musta emptied his warehouse o’ zombies that night. Finn had retrieved a table leg from somewheres and wuz beating about with it keeping the press o’ bodies from him until Vlad moved to join his defense. Dunphy wailed about him with that piece of lumber like a man possessed and he wuz a sight to behold. I can believe he had training somewhere. There wuzn’t much we knowed about his past but he wuz a good one to have on your side in a pinch! We kinda formed a circle with our backs to one another and laid to with gusto. Junior’s got massive fists and he let fly with one and the Bully Boy’s face disappeared in a puff of dust. We got to giggling over that and the battle took on a different tone when we fully realized we didn’t hafta be careful about hurting anyone. (Not like we wuz ever really concerned ‘bout that before.) The zombies paused a moment as if they realized we meant business; realized we wuzn’t gonna be easy prey.
At that point I wuz able to look about. There wuz a shadow in an alley across the way looked like the Scarecrow. I wondered why he didn’t jump in and join us. The shadow didn’t move. It just stood there watching us. Then the press wuz back and I wuz up to my elbows in zombies. Sometimes all you can do is drop your head and keep punching. I seen it in the ring now and then when some local bum wuz up against some national tough. That’s what I did; dropped my head and kept swinging. I got some pretty hard fists from working the docks and I could feel them connect with brittle jawbone breaking the dead bone in two. Or it would meet rib case and I could feel the chest pulp beneath my knuckles. It wuzn’t pretty or what they call the “sweet science” but I flailed about and kept myself from any real harm. A bottle glanced off o’ my head and blood dripped, blinding my left eye. One o’ them dead bastards bit into my ear but I wuz able to ripe his head off and he let go. Another grabbed me about the middle but I twisted my hips and I could feel his arms pop free. Head down, I kept swinging until I finally met nothing but air.
But it wuzn’t until Tally grabbed an arm, stopping my swinging fists, his wolf muzzle poked into my face and he said, “Murph! Enough, eh! We done it,” that I knowed we won. I looked about and alla them zombies wuz laying in piles of torn limbs and crushed heads in a nasty mess. The mayor wuzn’t gonna be happy but at least we kept our hides intact. Sure we had some nasty bumps and bruises but ain’t none of us wuz headed to the sawbones for any treating. Catching my breath in gasps my eyes went back to the ally where I spied the Scarecrow and I wondered again what kept him from the fight.
“Wuzn’t that the Scarecrow?” Finn asked. He could see where I wuz looking.
“I dunno. I thought so.” I wuz disappointed but I didn’t know in who: Timmy Colt or the Scarecrow. I still wuzn’t sure who wuz who. And I still wuzn’t sure how I felt about the whole Scarecrow thing, regardless if it wuz or wuzn’t Tim.
“Why wuz he carrying that broom?” Finn wouldn’t let it drop.
“I didn’t see no broom,” I replied. I moved away. I didn’t wanna talk about it. The others gathered together and moved off in a group. I didn’t hear what wuz said. I wanted to go home.
Instead Gretchen Kildridge bumped into me outside Flanagan’s and we went inside for a couple beers. She had come for the christening of the tower and hung around talking with friends. It wuz pure chance we bumped into each other. Her pretty red curls and beaming face always brightened up my spirits and we musta had four or five before Paddy Flanagan decided to close up and kick us out. I walked her to the downtown ferry and then to her flat in Kaiserberg. She let me kiss her on the cheek before she went in and I wuz feeling pretty plum for myself. I even felt up to heading into Vlad’s tomorrow since it wuz Sunday. Let them mugs talk about Timmy or the Scarecrow. I wuz getting in good with Gretchen and that tickled me something fierce.
The next day wuz one o’ them golden moments when we could see the sun. The boys all gathered at Vlad’s and bragged about the fight. I sat back and listened. Boasts and egos aside most told the tale as it really happened. The hero of the fight by unanimous decision wuz Dunphy O’Toole. He sat at the head of the table, blushing, but accepting his accolades with grace. There wuz some speculating why the Scarecrow didn’t jump in. Finn still insisted he had a broom with him. No one had answers so we let it drop. Vlad had closed the place since everyone but us wuz down watching the dirigibles come and go. We decided to head over to the De Maries with a basket of sausages and cheeses, pay ‘em back for the keg o’ beer, and Junior Davis surprised us all by agreeing to drive there. Tight as he wuz with the petrol this bit of generosity put us all in a party kinda mood. It wuz like a parade wuz heading out to see the old ladies. We wuz singing and being loud and happy and I swear the ladies could hear us blocks away. As it wuz, they met us at the door of their big brownstone wondering what all the ruckus wuz.
“What the hell you going on about?” Lorraine asked.
“Shoosh, Lorraine! They’ve come visiting!” Louise scolded but there wuz huge grins on both faces.
“We wanted to pay you back for the keg!” Vlad said. The blush on his face made me think he might o’ been sweet on one o’ them ladies, or maybe both of ‘em. Or he could be heated from all the singing we wuz doing.
“What you bring?” Louise asked.
“Some o’ Vlad’s homemade sausages and Guiseppe Grimaldi’s cheeses,” Junior blurted out and Vlad gave him the stink eye.
“Ooh! Bring it in!” Lorraine commanded and our party made our way inside. The inside of their house wuz something to see. All lace and polished and oiled furniture, rich dark browns with splashes of snow white frills. I wuz afraid to touch anything fer fear of getting it dirty. I wuzn’t the only one. Lorraine saw us being all timid and chuckled.
“Go ahead, make yourselves at home,” she said. “Don’t worry about the furnishings. We got nothing to do but clean and tidy up. You boys make a mess we’ll see to it later.” She motioned to the settee and the sofa. Finn sat down as if he wuz at home. The rest of us followed suit. This pleased the old girls.
“We wuz just sitting down to listen to the wireless,” Louise said as she brought in a tray of the sausage and cheese already sliced. Next to it wuz stacked crackers and homemade buns. “Turn it on, Lorraine.”
“Oh, just you wait! It is on! It’s still warming up,” her sister chided.
We watched the glow on the dial as it warmed up, a hiss of static, a crackle as electricity pulsed through the box. Finally we could hear the announcer. He wuz already into his news broadcast.
“…igibles seem to be a big hit with the populous. Kingston, of Kingston Wood Products told this reporter he wuz considering charging admission for the citizens of Misty Harbor to watch.
“The mayor told the business magnate he wouldn’t condone this practice and would stand behind the people should they protest this practice.”
“I wouldn’t pay fer that shit!” Lorraine hissed
“Shh,” her sister scolded. “He’s still talking!”
“The Mayor’s Office has announced that they would like any information they can get on the individual known as ‘the Scarecrow.’ Apparently there wuz a confrontation between this individual and some of the mayor’s zombie enforcers. The amount of straw and hay found at the scene of the struggle led the authorities to conclude that the Scarecrow has once again taken vigilante action against members of Misty Harbor. No reward has been mentions for any information leading to the apprehension of this individual and people should consider their civic duty to…”
“Well! For criley-eye’s Christ! Bastards!” Louise hissed as she switched off the radio. This wuz an unusual display of anger by Miss De Marie. Louise wuz usually the even tempered one. “That sum bitch needs to be ousted! Boot his ass outta office!”
“We wuz the ones what beat up the Mayor’s Bully Boys!” I blurted out. Many heads nodded in agreement. “The Scarecrow wuzn’t even there!”
“Someone’s gotta be setting him up then,” Lorraine said back. “No one would turn on him anyway. He’s beating up on the Mob’s dead meat!” We all sat back in our seats as this sunk in on us.
There wuz a creak on the floor boards of the brownstone and Tally leapt to the door and flung it open. A single strand of straw dropped to the boards in the stillness. We all seen it. No one else moved, no one said anything. Then a hollow crack shattered the stillness and a bullet whizzed by Tally!
He dropped to the boards and crawled backwards into the house. “Shi…!” he started. “They’s a whole mob o’ Bully Boys out there!” he shouted as he slammed the door. They got the front surrounded.
“Quick!” Louise snapped. She dropped to her fours and scuttled to the kitchen. We all dropped to the floor when she yelled and waited fer her to return. She wuz back in a flash.
“Back’s surrounded too!” she bit through clenched teeth. “And they’s got the car trashed!”
“We could wait ‘em out in the speakeasy!” Lorraine suggested. “’Cept them bastards would set fire to the place!”More cracking pops could be heard from outside and the bullets began to chip away at the windows and brick. Now and then a window wuz hit showering us with glass. Where we wuz sitting we wuz pretty safe.
“Put up a fight, then” both De Marie sisters said together. They seemed like they wuz in similar straits before. “C’mon boys,” Lorraine ordered and crawled over to a pillow and doily covered chest. She flipped the lid, sending the coverings flying. Inside wuz a stack of weapons of all calibers and sizes. “Take a hold, fellas!”
We each grabbed a heater what suited us and before another volley could come through the windows we wuz returning fire. These Bully Boys wuz mostly living which made our job easier. They didn’t wanna get offed and turned into more zombified Bully Boys so they wuz timid and didn’t try to rush us or anything.
We commenced to strafe the line of cars they pulled up in and now hid behind. Metal puckered and shattered glass flew all over. I don’t think they expected anyone else to be with the sisters. I heard one o’ them cuss and shout, “They’s got someone in there with ‘em!” and then they wuz blasting at us more hot and fierce.
Half of our gang followed Louise through the kitchen and returned fire to those what wuz out back. It’s amazing that with the amount of hot lead that screamed through the air none of us inside wuz hurt. We dropped a couple of the mayor’s boys outside but they hunkered down behind their wheels and kept good cover after that. We only had so much ammunition and all they had to do wuz wait us out. We wuz clearly on the defensive. I could see shutters being closed and bolted in the apartments across the way and knew we couldn’t expect help from anyone else.
“Out!” Vlad called and he slid from his window and found a secure spot out of the line of fire. He looked miffed that he wuz outta the game. “Holy, Wha! I’m out too!” Tally calls from the kitchen and he returned to the front room and sat dejected next to Vlad.
My pump shotgun had emptied itself twice and the box of shells next to me wuz running low. I heard Dunphy cry out. I glanced his way and saw he wuz hit in his left hand. He handed his Tommy gun to Tally and Lorraine moved over to see to him. She tore a strip off of them hem of her dress and wrapped his hand in one quick move. Tally changed the drum on the automatic and wuz pouring red hot death outta the window but by his expression I could see he wuzn’t doing any damage.
“Out!” Junior Davis called and then “Shit!” He crawled into the room, blood oozing from a gash on his forehead from a shattered piece o’ glass. Lorraine moved over to see to him.
“Dammit!” Finn spat and I heard him grunt as he threw his scatter gun at someone out the window. Only Tally and I wuz firing now and my box had run out. I only had 5 shots left in my 12 gauge. Tally’s Thompson sputtered and then jammed, slowing to a stop. I pumped the last round into my shotgun and let fly with the final shot. I aimed into a vehicle at the only unshattered window. It blasted into shrapnel and I could hear by the cries it scored on three or four Bully Boys. Then we wuz empty and an eerie stillness settled over us. The Boys outside had stopped firing too and it wuz as if both sides wuz waiting for the other to make a move.
Tally did that for us. With a roar he changed into his half-wolf form and shot through the door. Bullets tore into him making him roar in pain again but since they couldn’t kill him they only made him madder. He attacked the closest car, grabbing its running board and flipping it over on top of those behind it.
We watched spellbound through the shattered windows. He wuz like a monster possessed. Then we heard a noise from above. The huge collie hat shaped metal chimney cover from the apartment building wuz hurtling down toward the cars. On top riding it like he wuz skiing wuz the Scarecrow. His familiar laugh chilled my spine. The metal met with a crash and two cars wuz totaled. Shots screamed out and only puffs of straw showed where they hit him. He vaulted over the mess of metal and kicked out with his foot. It caught a Bully Boy in the face, sending his lower jaw into his spine, because he dropped like a rag doll. Two more leapt to close with him but Tally caught one with a swipe of his claws and the mug went flying, his chest torn open. The other caught the Scarecrow’s sickle and flopped to the street.
Bully Boys rose from their cover to flee but Tally tossed a car at some of them, crushing them beneath, and by now Finn had the Thompson’s breech cleared and he began picking off the retreating mugs. Lorraine rushed to the swords that wuz on the wall above her mantle. She grabbed one, tossed the other to Dunphy and then she ran to the back of the house. Dunphy followed quickly and soon there wuz the sound of metal on metal back there.
I wuz torn. I didn’t know which fight to watch but the two came back from the kitchen, swords red and dripping. “Bastards tried to rush us from the rear!” Lorraine spat then looked at Dunphy. “You always wuz my best student,” she told him and he dipped his head and blushed.
Out front the rest of the Bully Boys had been dealt with. Tally and the Scarecrow finished them all off. I rocked back on my knees and my eyes fell upon the skyline of the neighboring rooftop. Leaning far out, watching the battle wuz a shadowy figure that looked similar to the Scarecrow but this one had a longer, pointier hat and held a broom in one hand. As I watched the shadow turned and vanished behind the edge of the roof. I looked at the street but Tally wuz the only one standing there. The Scarecrow had vanished but not before rounding up and dumping all the Bully Boys’ effects on the front step. We opened the door and the pile of gleaming metal and the green bursting from the wallets would be more than enough to repair the damages to the De Maries’ brownstone.
I stooped but didn’t touch any of it. The rest had followed me out of the house. Junior Davis looked about. “Lot of car’s untouched,” he mused. “Looks like you fellows got yerself’s some sweet rides!”
Only Junior would come through all what we did today and be thinking of a new automobile.
