Page 112 of So Wild

“I told your father to leave my family alone,” his father interrupted. “You knew exactly what you were doing, all of you. I tried to be fair, tried to buy your fucking house, make you move, get you lot out of my hair, but you didn’t listen. I’m done taking your shit.”

“You don’t even live here, anymore,” Sam screamed. “What the fuck is your problem? Just leave us alone!”

His father flicked the lighter open and exposed a small reddish flame. “I’m done talking to you, missy. Get out of my way and let me finish what I started.”

“No!” Sam screamed. She tried to get around him, but Scott gripped her wrists and held her fast. “You can’t, Samantha, he’ll hurt you.”

“I don’t care!”

As Sam struggled against him, he heard his father cackle and knew they were running out of options. He was going to have to push Sam down and rush his old man—hope he wouldn’t light the rag in the process. He pushed forward, trying to bend Sam over without hurting her, when the back door to the house slammed open. “Oi, is that the bottle rocket guy?”

Tabby of all people was making her way down the verandah steps, holding what looked like a microphone. She looked bizarrely out of place with her blue hair and dirty pink dress. A 2D Pokémon dropped into reality.

“Get out of here!” he and Sam shouted as one.

“Yeah, nah, I’m here to help.” Her gaze fell on his father. “Oh shit, it was Scottison’s dad. Fuckin’ plot twist!”

“Tabby, get the fuck out of here!” Sam screamed, still flailing her hands and trying to break Scott’s grip. “He’s dangerous!”

“So am I,” Tabby said, holding up the microphone. Now that she was closer, Scott saw it looked more like an electric razor and wondered what the hell it was.

His father, apparently startled by Tabby’s arrival, lowered the Molotov bottle. “How the hell did you get inside my house, missy?”

“Yeah, sure, as if I’m telling you, cunt,” Tabby said with a laugh. “Hey, are those shoes rubber?”

His father’s face contorted with anger. “The fuck are—”

Tabby ran toward him, holding the microphone/razor like a baton. Before anyone could do or say anything, she pressed it into his back and there was a loud snapping sound, like a box-worth of matches being struck at once. His father grunted like a wounded gorilla, his face twisting into a fleshy mask. He dropped face-forward into the grass. The Molotov bottle thudded onto the ground, the contents glugging onto the grass.

That’s going to fuck up the soil.Jesus fucking Christ.

“Fuck yeah!” Tabby said, raising her implement to the sky and making it crackle once more. “That was for the puppies, you ballbag.”

“What the fuck!” Sam gasped. “Tabby, whatisthat?”

“A Taser. Oh man, I’ve always wanted to do that!”

“Oh my god, they’re fucking illegal in Australia, youidiot!”

“So what? I just saved our lives. Besides, what were we supposed to do without a Taser? Beat him up Charlie’s Angels style? I can’t do that. I don’t know high kicks.”

Sam finally tore her hands from his and pressed her fingers to her temples. “What about calling the fucking police?”

“We did that and, hello, Scott’s dad was still going to burn us all to death?”

The sound of his name brought Scott to his feet. He walked over to his father and knelt on his back before pressing two fingers to the side of his neck. He could feel the flicker beneath meaty flesh.

“He’s alive,” he said, but neither sister acknowledged him.

“He could have set you on fire,” Sam said, striding toward her sister and trying to take the Taser from her. “He could have killed you!”

“But he didn’t, did he? Instead, he got Tased and fell down like a little bitch. God, why are you freaking out? I just redeemed myself for letting Nicole save me and the pups before.”

“That’sinsane.You are insane!”

Scott listened without hearing. He wasn’t feeling a great deal and he wondered if this was shock, this jamming of all your emotional faculties. Still kneeling on his unconscious father’s back, he closed his eyes and saw the lighter flicking open, the tiny flame licking at the air.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” Nicole was standing at the back gate, soot darkening both her cheeks.

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