He picks up his knife and dashes toward Edgar and the Fiend. His haste makes him careless. The Fiend lifts both feet off the ground and, supported by Edgar, kicks with all his might. Jesse takes the blow in the stomach and falls backward.

The Fiend turns his attention to Edgar, stabbing blindly over his shoulder. Edgar bellows in pain but keeps choking him. The biker weakens, can’t keep his knife up. The blade slips from his fingers, and he sags in Edgar’s arms.

Jesse runs at him again. His thrust is deflected by a rib, though, and with a final, desperate spasm, the Fiend snaps his head back and slams his skull into Edgar’s face. Edgar releases the biker and presses his hands to his broken, gushing nose.

The Fiend pauses—panting, thinking—then says, “You know you’re a dead man, don’t you? Wherever you go, we’ll find you.” He turns and bolts for the edge of the overlook. Running full speed, he hurls himself off the precipice.

Jesse, right behind, pulls up short. The Fiend soars briefly out into the night, a black angel bound for the stars, before falling. He slams into the mountain two hundred feet below and tumbles another hundred before finally skidding to a stop, a bloody sack of broken bones and ruptured guts.

There’s no easy way down to where he is to finish him off, so Jesse decides to flee. Edgar moans when he crouches beside him.

“You all right?”

“I got blood all on my shirt.”

“I’ll get you a new one.”

“Mickey Mouse?”

“Whatever you want. You did good, buddy.”

Johona watches wide-eyed from the thicket where the Grand Prix is hidden. The baby, freed from the sack, sucks one of her fingers.

“Get in the car,” Jesse calls to her, but she doesn’t move.

He tells Edgar to come with him. They walk to the Fiends’ motorcycles. He takes hold of one and has Edgar grab the other. They roll them to the edge of the overlook and push them off, sending them crashing down the side of the mountain. Edgar whoops and pounds his chest like a gorilla. Jesse hurries him to the car.

Johona backs away as they approach. She’s just watched Jesse cut off a man’s head and seen that man disappear. “Please don’t hurt me,” she says.

“I’m trying to save your life,” Jesse replies.

“I want to get out of here.”

“So do I. And I want to get the baby out of here, too. So let’s go.”

Johona moves cautiously to the Grand Prix, keeping plenty of distance between her and the brothers. She slides into the back seat, and Jesse gets behind the wheel. Edgar climbs in on the passenger side. Checking constantly for more Fiends, Jesse backs out of the thicket, squeals onto the road, and races down the mountain.

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