The afternoon was wearing down when Robert pulled into a large gas station. As he unscrewed the cap he scanned the parking lot and street and saw the Camaro from earlier in the day driving by slowly from the direction they’d just come. It pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store across the street. The driver parked by the entrance, but the engine was still running. By the time the gas tank was full the occupants had still not gotten out. Robert replaced the cap and slid back behind the wheel, watching the rear view mirror.
“What? You
see something, Robert?”
“That
Camaro that passed us earlier. Somehow they got
behind us again and just parked
across the street.”
“How many
were in the car?”
“Two.”
“Ok. Just
take off like nothing’s wrong. It might just be
a coincidence.”
“Right.”
Bad Penny
had dozed off, but opened her eyes as the engine restarted.
“Mmmm-where
are we?”
“South
Carolina.”
“Yikes.
How much farther should we go?”
“I was
going to stop here, but I think we’ve got a tail.”
“Oh shit,
for real? Robert what the fuck are you going to do?”
“He’s going
to drive and we’re all going to stay calm. If there’s trouble, I’m a good
shot.”
Robert put
the car in drive and pulled out onto the street, passing the Camaro. About half
a block
past and the Camaro pulled out too.
“Damn.”
Robert put
the pedal to the floor, whipping into the oncoming lane past a pick up truck
and then
a hard right up a small hill. The street lead into a neighborhood and
Robert started taking rights
and lefts, but he never lost the Camaro that were
just behind them at every turn.
Robert
bounced the Charger out onto a four-lane highway keeping it floored, but the
Camaro was
driving right up his ass.
“We need
to find a crowded shopping center or something…”
“Not if
there’s going to be shooting. Look, pull into that church. I’m gonna stop this
shit right now.”
Ann had
the gun in her hand and turned the safety off. Robert took a hard left,
skidding a bit and
nearly hitting the brick sign. The Camaro had to swerve,
bouncing into the shallow ditch and into
the parking lot. By the time they were
able to stop Ann was already out of the car leveling the gun
at them.
The
passenger jumped out first with a sawed off shotgun. Ann pumped a single slug
through his throat.
As that was happening, the driver was getting out, but the
sight of his partner’s blood splashing across
the windshield gave him
pause-time enough for Ann to shoot out the front left tire.
Robert had
gotten out and was moving low behind her.
“Stay
back, Robert. You! Get out of the car or I’ll put a bullet between your eyes!”
The driver
got out, hands raised.
“Whoa,
whoa! I don’t know what’s goin’ on, lady! I was just told to follow you!”
“Yea, and
I guess you didn’t know your buddy had a shotgun? Put your hands on the hood
and spread
your legs. Robert, check him. And get ready to get messy, because if
he moves, I’m blowing his
brains out.”
Robert
patted him down and took a .38 from his waistband and his wallet. Robert looked
in the
back and saw more guns, a machete, a chainsaw, baseball bats, rope, and
chains.
Robert
turned to Ann, “They’re boy scouts.”
“Huh?”
“They’ve
got enough hardware back here, they’ve prepared for everything.”
Ann stood
behind the driver, reaching around to hold the pistol under his chin.
“You kill
those people yourself? Huh? Or are there more of you?”
“I didn’t kill
anyone.”
“Then who
told you to follow us?”
“You ain’t
gonna live long enough to find out, bitch.”
“Oh, did
you find your balls?”
Robert was
going through the car, “I found his cell phone! …Damn, there’re only initials
by the
numbers.”
“Don’t
worry, Porter will figure it out.”
“Nooooo
heeee woooooon’t.”
“No?”
“Shit, I
bet he’s already dead.”
Ann took a
step back and put a bullet through the back of his left knee. He dropped to the
ground
screaming profanity. Bad Penny was slack jawed and got a chill when Ann
turned her head to the
side admiring her own handy work.
“I lost my
son two years ago. I also lost my ability to give a shit about, well, almost
anyone. Except
my husband. He’s not dead. In fact,”
She shot
his other knee.
“He’s
going to kill whoever sent you after us and anyone else connected to you all.
Robert, get his
keys and then help me dump him in his car.”
Robert
pulled the keys out of the ignition and pocketed them. Then he pulled the
driver up by the
armpits, while Ann grabbed him by the belt keeping the gun
pointing at his face. They stuffed him
behind the wheel and closed the door.
Ann turned toward the Charger stumbling a bit, shaking so
bad she almost
dropped the gun.
“J-Jesus!”
“Are you
ok, Ann?”
She
grabbed Robert’s shoulder.
“That was crazy,
huh?!”
He
chuckled, “Uh, yea.”
Ann got
out her cell phone and hit Porter’s number. She smiled at Bad Penny mouthing
‘holy shit!’
to Robert.
Porter’s
phone rang almost until the voice mail would have picked up.
“Hi, cunt.
Where you at?”
Robert
caught Ann as her legs gave out. She stared at the phone in disbelief. Robert
took it from
her and hit speaker. There was a gravelly voice calling out to
her.
“Are you
there, you dried up bitch?”
“Who is
this?!”
“Would you
believe the Terrible Head? Now who are you, homie?”
Ann
screamed into the phone, “Where’s Porter?!”
“He’s
right here, mama! Relax. Tell me where you are and we’ll come get you and you
can see him.
Where’s my boys? I know they were on you just a little bit ago.”
“Bleeding,
mother fucker! One’s already dead!”
“Awwww!
That’s so unfriendly.”
Ann tore
away from Robert with the phone and ran to the Camaro. She jerked the door open
and put
a bullet into the driver’s crotch.
“Who’s on
this phone, asshole?! Who has my husband?!”
He just
screamed and shook his head.
She shot
him in the belly next.
“WHO, god
dammit?!”
On the
phone the Terrible Head was whooping and hollering. “Kill’em, bitch! Go on! You
ain’t
seeing yer old man in one piece ever again any way!”
Ann shot
the driver in the face and started walking toward the Charger. She said into
the phone,
“I’ll see you soon,” and hung up.
“Ann…”
“We’re
going home. Pop the trunk.”
Robert hit
the button on the key fob and he and Bad Penny followed Ann to the rear of the
car.
Bad Penny
slapped Robert in the chest, “Holy shit, dude!”
The trunk
was full of shotguns, semi-automatic assault rifles, and handguns. Ann started
popping
rounds into the chambers and handing them to Robert.
“Put them
up front.”
“Are
expecting the zombie apocalypse, Mrs. Gray?”
She glanced
back at Bad Penny.
“We expect
everything.”
“Ann, what
about Porter? Should we call Ray or Sam?”
She
thought about it for a second.
“I don’t
know who we can really trust at the department. I can’t think of anything Ray
could do.
Daily. I’ll call Sergeant Daily with the highway patrol. Porter
liked…likes him.”
They all
got back into the car. Ann looked back at Bad Penny.
“What to
do with you?”
“What do
you mean?”
“This is
going to get ugly. We need to drop you off somewhere safe.”
“I would
really feel safest with you!”
“Ann,
someone else could be following us. If we drop her off they might take her.”
“Yea…you
ever shoot a gun before?”
“No.”
“Then take
the shotgun. You don’t need to be a good shot with it.”
Robert
found the fastest way back to Maupins with the GPS and headed for the
interstate.
Ann went
through her contacts and found Sergeant Daily’s name and hit ‘call’.
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