do now?” Liza’s hands were shaking, more from nerves than the cold. She appeared sober, miserably so. Chantal had insisted she stay as clean as possible for the task. No use making stupid mistakes because she was loaded.
“See that framework on the underside of the bridge? I’ll climb up the side and toss the rope through, then you wrap it around his neck. I read that hanging causes the angel lust more than anything else.” Chantal held up the noose and Liza looked at it in admiration.
“Where’d you learn to tie a knot like that?”
“My Dad taught me.”
“Didn’t your old man used to fuck you, too?”
“Yeah. He taught me a lot of things. Now get ready to put it over his head.” Chantal started to step away, but Liza gripped her elbow.
“Hold on!” She whispered. “Why do I have to do the noosing? How about I do the climbing.”
Chantal rolled her eyes. “Okay, whatever. But you have to be ready to jump down and pull on that sucker with all of your weight if he wakes up. We’re only going to get one shot at this.”
“Okay, but wait!” Liza grabbed her arm a second time, the vibration from her high-strung body making Chantal feel like her teeth were rattling. “What if someone sees us?”
“Look, Liza. We’ve been over this a hundred times. Nobody comes around here this late at night. And if someone was driving by, they can’t see shit that’s happening under the bridge from the road, anyway. Now put on your gloves and let’s do this.”
Liza grabbed her one more time and it took all of Chantal’s control not to punch her square in the nose. Though she wouldn’t admit it, her own nerves weren’t exactly steady, and planning a murder was a whole lot easier than committing one.
“What, Liza?”
“We aren’t gonna—I mean, we won’t actually fuck him under the bridge, will we?”
“I don’t know. I guess we’ll figure that out if it works. Now get your skinny ass up there and pass me the rope.”
Liza scrambled up the side of the embankment, her feet skidding more than once on the loose dirt and gravel. When she reached the top, she lost her footing and slid back down on her ass, shredding the dish gloves she wore and cutting her palms in the process. When she reached the top again, she grabbed the metal beam. She hoped there was enough glove left to keep her from leaving a palm print, but the metal gave off a shower of rust flakes and she doubted it was smooth enough, anyway. Feeding the rope over the beam, she held on for dear life, not wanting to slide back down before the noose was around the bum’s neck.
Chantal grabbed the dangling rope and pulled gently, freeing up enough slack to crawl over to where the guy slept in the dirt. She could smell him before she even got close, and pulled her shirt up over her nose. As she made to slip it over his head, he grumbled and rolled over, muttering gibberish in his sleep before resuming his loud and uneven snoring.
Gently easing the noose over his neck, she started when he farted in his sleep and an involuntary giggle erupted from her mouth. The wino flinched and sat up abruptly, then grabbed her sleeve in his dirty hand.
“What the fuck you doin? You robbin me, bitch?” Chantal pulled back hard, trying to break free of his grip.
“Liza, now!” She scrambled backwards, struggling with the man, who was much stronger than his slender, malnourished body made him appear. He lay on the ground, his filthy hand refusing to relinquish its grip on her shirt.
Liza wrapped the rope around her hand and jumped down, sliding on her ass again and nearly jerking her arm out of its socket when the slack on the rope ended. The noose tightened, and the wino let go of Chantal, his hands flying up to his throat. Wasting no time, Chantal scrambled to her feet and ran to where Liza struggled, gripping the rope in both hands and heaving with all of her might. Both women tugged with all of their weight, lifting the bum until his feet dangled several inches above the ground, kicking and spasming as he made the choking sound over and again.
Chantal lost her grip and fell on her ass, causing Liza to also let go. The man dropped to the ground, still kicking and trying to loosen the rope around his neck.
“Aw