Hood County lived beneath the raised hood of a dead military transport.
Nobody remembered who first crawled inside and decided the place could be home. Over time, scrap became architecture. Matchboxes became coaches. Bent shell casings became water towers. Bottle caps became tables. A saloon called The Nest became the center of everything worth knowing.
Main Street looked like an Old West town designed by somebody who had discovered hip-hop halfway through construction and refused to choose between the two.
Roach coaches bounced down the road on spinner rims. Spiders wore dusters over designer gear. Graffiti climbed the walls of the sheriff’s station. Bass rolled through the boardwalk hard enough to shake dust from the awnings.
A banner hung above the street:
SECOND ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL HIP-HOP CHAMPIONSHIP — TONIGHT AT THE NEST.
Marshal Orb watched the arrivals through his office window.
He was broad, aging and respected, a lawman who had survived Hood County when it was much rougher than it was now. His deputy had survived the same years and learned all the wrong lessons from them.
Hip Hoppity paced behind him.
“I counted twenty roach coaches.”
“You told me.”
“Twenty.”
“I heard you the first two times.”
Hoppity adjusted his gun belt. He was thin, restless and permanently disappointed whenever the town went more than an hour without giving him an excuse to hurt somebody.
Outside, the Dumb Slug Gang came riding down Main Street on horseflies, firing pistols into the air.
Hoppity brightened. “Now we got something.”
Orb sighed.
The Slugs landed, strutted for thirty seconds, then one of them yawned.
“That big one is Lethargic Bill,” Orb said. “They’ll eat, drink and fall asleep before sunset.”
Hoppity looked offended by the possibility.
Orb pointed toward the door. “Walk the street. Keep the peace.”
Hoppity opened the weapons cabinet.
“No.”
“I didn’t even—”
“No riot helmet. No Uzi. No tear gas.”
Hoppity slowly put down the ammo belt.
“Can I take the taser?”
Orb considered him.
That was his mistake.
“Take the taser.”
Hoppity grinned like Christmas had come early.