Page 67 of Zeus

I keep my eyes on Ricky, grateful that he's too distracted looking over his shoulder to have heard.

"Glad you guys made it before the sun came up," he says, pointing toward the horizon. "But just barely."

I take a moment to appreciate the pink beginning to light up the sky.

"You gonna let us in, or do we have to sit here all fucking day?" Zeus growls.

Ricky grins, as if he holds all the power in the world, and a snarly bastard like Zeus isn't going to speed him up unless he wants to move faster.

"You must be Lyle," Ricky says, shaking his finger at him. "I heard you were a surly bastard."

I don't have to look back at my partner to know the man is glaring in this direction.

"Do us a solid, man," I plead. "Don't want to get on the boss's bad side on day one."

He dips his head in agreement. "Not a good place to be... ever."

"Thanks, man," I tell him, managing only a flat-lipped smile.

"I'll grab the gate," he says.

"You have anything for us?" I ask before he can get too far from the truck.

Much to my disappointment, he walks right back, leaning in the same way he did before. I do my best not to gag on the body odor rolling from him.

"Oh shit. Yeah." He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a crinkled piece of paper.

I take it from him, unfolding it to reveal a roughly hand-drawn map that has clearly been photocopied so many fucking times it's almost illegible.

"Your bunks are here," he says, pointing to an area of the map that has tiny squares drawn on it, the lift of his arm bringing a whole new wave of stench.

I swallow against my gag reflex, knowing I won't make any friends if I insult the first guy we come into contact with on our first day here. Besides, you never know who people are within the organization. We learned that from the jump with Bobby.

"You'll head here first," he says, his finger tapping another location on the map. "That's where you'll unload your rations."

I nod, understanding from experience that this is expected. These sorts of situations are not unlike any cult. What you have is no longer yours, but belongs to the organization as a whole.

"The fuck?" Zeus growls. "You expect us to give up our shit?"

I don't take my eyes off Ricky, gauging his reaction.

Instead of getting angry, another smile crosses his lips as if he's the one who created the rule and takes great pleasure in relieving people of their belongings.

"You know, I think I like you," he tells Zeus.

"After you drop rations," he continues, "you'll--"

"I went to fucking jail for six months for stealing the money to get my goddamn shotgun," Zeus interrupts.

Ricky pulls in a deep breath, his smile faltering for the first time since we made contact with him.

"Those are the rules. Don't like 'em? Take it up with Bobby, just let me know when you plan to do that so I can witness him cutting you down at your fucking knees."

"After?" I prod.

"This is the store," he says, pointing to the map once again. "They'll have everything you need to get comfortable."

"We'd be comfortable if we got to keep the shit we came with," Zeus says, his tone a little distant as if his fight is over and he's accepted what's going to happen inside.