I DON'T CARE WHAT IT SAYS, said the tall biker in the helmet, I NEVER LAID A FINGER ON HIM.
The three people at the table turned as one. Red spoke. “When did you get here?” she asked.
The tall man walked over to the table, leaving the astonished bikers, and his winnings, behind him. I NEVER WENT AWAY, he said, and his voice was a dark echo from the night places, a cold slab of sound, gray, and dead. If that voice was a stone it would have had words chiseled on it a long time ago: a name, and two dates.
“Your tea's getting cold, lord,” said Famine.
“It's been a long time,” said War.
There was a flash of lightning, almost immediately followed by a low rumble of thunder.
“Lovely weather for it,” said Pollution.
YES.
The bikers around the game were getting progressively baffled by this exchange. Led by Big Ted, they shambled over to the table and stared at the four strangers.
It did not escape their notice that all four strangers had HELL'S ANGELS on their jackets. And they looked dead dodgy as far as the Angels were concerned: too clean for a start; and none of the four looked like they'd ever broken anyone's arm just because it was Sunday afternoon and there wasn't anything good on the telly. And one was a woman, too, only not ridin' around on the back of someone's bike but actually allowed one of her own, like she had any right to it.
“You're Hell's Angels, then?” asked Big Ted, sarcastically. If there's one thing real Hell's Angels can't abide, it's weekend bikers. [There are a number of other things real Hell's Angels can't abide. These include the police, soap, Ford Cortinas, and, in Big Ted's case, anchovies and olives.]
The four strangers nodded.
“What chapter are you from, then?”
The Tall Stranger looked at Big Ted. Then he stood up. It was a complicated motion; if the shores of the seas of night had deckchairs, they'd open up something like that.
He seemed to be unfolding himself forever.
He wore a dark helmet, completely hiding his features. And it was made of that weird plastic, Big Ted noted. Like, you looked in it, and all you could see was your own face.
REVELATIONS, he said. CHAPTER SIX.
“Verses two to eight,” added the boy in white, helpfully.
Big Ted glared at the four of them. His lower jaw began to protrude, and a little blue vein in his temple started to throb. “Wossat mean then?” he demanded.
There was a tug at his sleeve. It was Pigbog. He had gone a peculiar shade of gray, under the dirt.
“It means we're in trouble,” said Pigbog.
And then the tall stranger reached up a pale motorbike gauntlet, and raised the visor of his helmet, and Big Ted found himself wishing, for the first time in his existence, that he'd lived a better life.
“Jesus Christ!” he moaned.
“I think He may be along in a minute,” said Pigbog urgently. “He's probably looking for somewhere to park his bike. Let's go and, and join a youf club or somethin' ...”
But Big Ted's invincible ignorance was his shield and armor. He didn't move.
“Cor,” he said. “Hell's Angels.”
War flipped him a lazy salute.
“That's us, Big Ted,” she said. “The real McCoy.”
Famine nodded. “The Old Firm,” he said.
Pollution removed his helmet and shook out his long white hair. He had taken over when Pestilence, muttering about penicillin, had retired in 1936. If only the old boy had known what opportunities the future had held ...
“Others promise,” he said, “we deliver.”
Big Ted looked at the fourth Horseman. “ 'Ere, I seen you before,” he said. “You was on the cover of that Blue Oyster Cult album. An' I got a ring wif your ... your ... your head on it.”
I GET EVERYWHERE.
“Cor.” Big Ted's big face screwed up with the effort of thought.
“Wot kind of bike you ridin'?” he said.
* * *
The storm raged around the quarry. The rope with the old car tire on it danced in the gale. Sometimes a sheet of iron, relic of an attempt at a tree house, would shake loose from its insubstantial moorings and sail away.
The Them huddled together, staring at Adam. He seemed bigger, somehow. Dog sat and growled. He was thinking of all the smells he would lose. There were no smells in Hell, apart from the sulphur. While some of them here, were, were ... well, the fact was, there were no bitches in hell either.
Adam was marching about excitedly, waving his hands in the air. “There'll be no end to the fun we can have,” he said. “There'll be exploring and everything. I 'spect I can soon get the ole jungles to grow again.”
“But.. but who.. who'll do the, you know, all the cooking and washing and suchlike?” quavered Brian.
“No one'll have to do any of that stuff,” said Adam. “You can have all the food you like, loads of chips, fried onion rings, anything you like. An' never have to wear any new clothes or have a bath if you don't want to or anything. Or go to school or anything. Or do anything you don't want to do, ever again. It'll be wicked!”