Then, from out of nowhere, the pain stopped. Relieved, Abe shuffled to his side and caught his breath.
“Dad? Are you okay, now?”
Abe lowered his eyelids, trying to fight off his impending unconsciousness. “We… we spend all our time fending for ourselves. Protecting our family. Hunting those that want to kill us.”
“Yeah, dad,” Dolph whispered. “I hear you.”
“And we shoot the things we don’t like, right?”
“Right.”
Abe’s voice withered through the phone as he drifted to sleep. “Well, what if what we don’t like is inside us?”
“How do you mean?”
Abe fell asleep and offered his parting punchline. “If it’s inside us, how are we going to kill it?”
The moment his father finished his sentence, the snoring began. Hell, at least he was asleep, now. An undeniable hit of the fast-forward button
