the counter.
“ Who’s paying?” the cashier asks.
“ He is,” Kid Rider gestures toward Shell. “I’m not nearly old enough to buy whiskey.”
“ Okay. Get back here,” the cashier says.
“ Excuse me?” Shell asks.
“ Come on. You have to fuck me. That’s the payment.”
“ That’s the payment,” Kid Rider echoes. “I’ll leave you two alone.” He exits the store. Shell watches him to make sure he doesn’t drive off.
“ Come on. It’ll be quick,” she says.
“ I’m not even hard,” Shell says. “And I don’t feel very well.”
“ Just get back here.”
Shell walks around the counter until he’s standing behind it. He’s never been behind the counter of a convenient store before. He finds it kind of exciting. The girl wears a short black skirt, fishnet stockings and combat boots, which he also finds kind of exciting. She leans against the counter, her back to him, and lifts her skirt up over red underwear. She slides those down and rubs her ass.
“ I’ll need a condom,” Shell says, suddenly hard.
“ There’s plenty right back there.” She throws a hand over her shoulder.
He opens the box, takes the gun from the back of his pants, places it on the counter behind him, unbuttons and unzips his pants, slides them down, tears the condom from its foil wrapper and unrolls it onto his cock, the sterile smell of latex and spermicide hitting his nostrils. He probes her sex with a finger, making sure she’s wet. She is.
“ I’m always wet,” she says.
“ Um... good?” Shell says.
“ Better for everyone.”
He slides into her slowly and comes almost immediately. It feels like the walls of her vagina are quivering, pulsing around his spurting penis.
“ Told you it wouldn’t take long.”
He pulls out and hears a sickeningly familiar plop. Three slags are writhing on the floor between the cashier’s boots.
“ Oh God,” he says. He loses it. Vomits on the back of the cashier.
“ What the fuck?!” she says. She reaches down and pulls a slag from her inner thigh. “Oh shit,” she says, vomiting onto the floor.
“ I gotta go.” Shell hitches up his pants, grabs the gun and heads out into the parking lot.
Kid Rider stands in front of the open bucket of repellant, covering himself in the powder. This, apparently, is what makes him luminescent.
“ Want some before I close it up?” he asks.
“ Why not,” Shell says, still shaken. He covers himself with the glowing powder, dropping a little down his pants for good measure.
Then he faces Kid Rider and says, “You’re not gonna like this.”
“ What?” Kid Rider is slightly shocked, expecting the worst.
Shell levels the gun at him. “I’m taking this.” He holds the gun up. “And I’m taking the bike.”
“ You fuckin cranksucker. I saved your fuckin life.”
“ I know. And I do apologize. I just can’t be held responsible for a minor. If I ever see you again, I’ll give it all back.”
10.
He slams the Glock down the back of his pants and mounts the bike. He wants to look cool driving away but he’s almost too large to control it and tips it over, skidding across the parking lot. He hears Kid Rider running for it and pulls the gun back out. “Stay away!” he shouts. “I’m okay.” Kid Rider freezes. Shell puts the gun back, uprights the bike, mounts it and speeds away into the night. Smoother this time.
He isn’t on the road for long until he reaches what has to be the House of Mikes. He checks his watch. It’s nearly two o’clock in the morning. The whole night has been a blur and he doesn’t think he’s any closer to finding Pearl than when he first started. Behind the House of Mikes are a couple banks of floodlights. Shell dismounts and hears cheering and shouting coming from back