All Hallow's Dead, page 8
In a few moments, though, he relaxed his grip and said, “Nowhere that matters.”
Gabriella laughed. “That’s a strange answer.”
He glanced at her for the first time since pulling into traffic. “I’m a strange person.”
Gabriella laughed again, but this time there was a nervous quality to it. “We’re all a little strange, I guess.”
He nodded. “Some more than others.”
Another awkward silence ensued.
Gabriella decided she was done prodding him. She slumped down in her seat, getting comfortable as she stretched her legs out beneath the dash. When she did this, she glanced again at Steve. She had good legs and was wearing a very small party dress. Though she wasn’t at all attracted to him, she nonetheless felt a mild pang of disappointment when he didn’t sneak a look at them. She wondered if maybe he just didn’t like girls, but quickly decided that probably wasn’t the case. Otherwise that nervousness she’d sensed when she was close to him wouldn’t have been there.
She was still stewing over this when she happened to look at the tray beneath the radio. A strange device with a blipping red dot in front was plugged into the cigarette lighter slot. “Hey, Steve?”
He sighed. “Yeah?”
She pointed at the device. “What’s that thing? Some kind of radar detector?”
He didn’t look at it, but somehow he knew what she was talking about. “That’s a cell phone jammer.”
She frowned at the matter-of-fact tone he used when telling her this. A full minute passed in silence as she stared at the device and thought about the strange revelation. She remembered seeing the words “no service” in the corner of her phone’s screen. At the time, it hadn’t struck her as sinister. Outages were a pain in the ass, but they happened. But here was this guy who, frankly, was a weirdo, and he was driving around with a cell phone jammer.
Who did that?
And why?
Gabriella shifted in her seat again, sitting up straighter. The Civic’s headlights picked out a green exit sign just ahead. She glanced to her right and saw a cluster of lights nearby. There would probably be gas stations and fast food restaurants just off the exit. And people, even at this late hour. People and lights meant a greater likelihood of safety.
She looked at Steve. “Can we pull off here? I have to pee.”
Steve hit the blinker switch.
Per usual, he didn’t say anything.
But Gabriella didn’t care this time. All that mattered now was getting out of this deeply strange man’s car as soon as possible. She had no intention of ever getting back inside it. Wherever they stopped, she would beg the clerk to let her use the store phone. The only question was who would she call first—her friends or the police? The latter option seemed the wisest way to go. She no longer had any doubts about this guy being some kind of creep. She didn’t know what he was up to, but it couldn’t be anything good. As the realization hit her full force, she cursed her trusting nature. She tried hard not to tremble or otherwise let her deepening anxiety become obvious.
Steve pulled off the highway and guided the Civic down the curving exit ramp at a leisurely pace, showing no signs of having sensed the change in her mood. He remained silent as he came to a stop where the end of the ramp met a two-lane road. There were cars coming from either direction, two from the left and one from the right. The other vehicles were too close to risk pulling out onto the road. The cluster of lights Gabriella had glimpsed from the highway were off to the left. She glanced that way and saw the brightly-lit parking lots of two convenience stores and a Wendy’s restaurant. To her right was a winding stretch of road that curved away into darkness. Under ordinary circumstances, a turn to the left would be the obvious choice, but she didn’t trust Steve not to go the other way, carrying her off into the dark unknown.
The converging vehicles had almost reached the ramp. They would pass by within seconds and then Steve would be able to pull out onto the road. Acting on impulse, Gabriella grabbed the door handle on her side and yanked on it, popping the door open. Before she could shove it fully open and climb out of the car, though, Steve seized her by a wrist and twisted in his seat. She screamed as the three oncoming cars reached the interstate junction and zipped by the ramp. Something slammed into her jaw in the next instant, stunning her and rendering her instantly woozy. As Steve leaned over her to pull the door shut, she belatedly realized he’d punched her in the face as hard as he could. Her earlier impression of him as sweetly shy and chivalrous now seemed like a sick joke. He was actually some kind of psycho who’d been putting on an act.
With the door shut again, Steve hit the gas and turned right. The Civic’s engine revved as he kept his foot down on the gas pedal for several seconds. The lights of the stores in the other direction fell away as the car disappeared down that dark stretch of road. After a few moments, some of the initial wooziness faded and Gabriella took a look around at the dark trees zipping by on either side.
Then she looked at Steve and said, “You hurt me.”
He didn’t say anything.
Stealing a glance at the speedometer, Gabriella weighed the advisability of opening the door again and rolling out of the speeding vehicle. They were currently going well in excess of 60 MPH, which she was pretty sure was way above the posted speed limit for this kind of secondary road. Then again, Steve didn’t strike her as a guy with much respect for the rule of law.
She sniffled, her terror level suddenly spiking. “Let me out. Please. You don’t need to hurt me.”
There was a loud, ear-piercing squeal as Steve stomped down on the brake pedal and the Civic skidded to a stop at the side of the road. He turned his sharply angular profile in her direction. His face looked ghostly pale in the moonlight shining through the windshield. “Oh, you’re getting out, don’t you worry about that.”
Before she could say anything or otherwise react, he threw his door open, got out of the car, and hurried around to the other side. He was almost to the passenger side door when she noticed the keys still dangling from the ignition. The engine was still running, too.
Again acting on impulse and fueled by a burst of panic-driven adrenaline, Gabriella surged out of her seat and into the driver’s seat. She felt a short-lived thrill of triumph. In another second, she’d be on her way, leaving the strange creep standing bewildered in the middle of the road while his intended victim sped away in his car. In her haste, however, her knee bumped the gearshift lever. The car was already rolling before she could settle in behind the wheel. She shrieked in panic as the Civic left the shoulder of the road and slid into a deep ditch clogged with fallen autumn leaves, where it stalled out.
She wrenched the gearshift over to park and cranked the key in the ignition. Nothing happened, which made her think of her poor dead Caprice. She wondered if Steve had something to do with its demise. She’d stopped at a gas station to refuel several miles ahead of where she’d first started experiencing engine trouble. Maybe Steve had spotted her there and done something to the engine while she was in the store using the bathroom. She didn’t remember seeing him or his Civic there, but that didn’t mean anything. He had jammed her cell phone, hadn’t he? And he’d shown he was a violent predator. It stood to reason he was behind everything else that had happened.
These thoughts flashed through her head within seconds. She kept cranking the key in the ignition the whole time. On the third try, the engine sputtered to life and she reached for the gearshift again. But before she could put the car in reverse, Steve pulled the door open and hauled her out of it, throwing her down into a pile of wet leaves.
She shrieked and spluttered as she twice tried to get to her feet and start running, but she fell each time. Before she could make a third attempt, Steve seized her by an arm, jerked her upright, and slugged her in the face again. Once again, everything turned fuzzy. She was dimly aware of being dragged away from the road and into the woods. By the time the world swam back into focus, they had emerged into a small open space, where Steve threw her down on the ground.
Gabriella cried out in pain as he planted a booted foot on her stomach and pinned her there. She stared up at his lean, tall form. He looked like a ghoul limned in the moonlight. As she began to beg for her life, Steve opened his trench coat, reached inside, and took a meat cleaver from an inner pocket. Its sharp blade was coated in dried blood.
She shook her head. “No. No, no, no.”
Steve lowered himself to her, straddling her body and pinning her arms beneath his legs. He raised the meat cleaver high above his head.
“Steve, please, you don’t have to do this. I’ll do anything.”
He nodded. “I know you would, Susan. That’s why you deserve this.”
His use of another girl’s name momentarily distracted Gabriella from her terror. “What? Who’s Susan? That’s not my name. Please, you’ve mistaken me for somebody else.”
He shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I know exactly who you are. You’re number four.”
Gabriella opened her mouth to scream again as the cleaver began its merciless descent. The blade punched into her neck. The scream gave way to a low, desperate burble as her throat filled with blood. Her killer held the blade there a moment, watching the contortions of her face. Then he yanked it out and a spray of blood leaped from the wound, spattering his trench coat and the front of his shirt. Her consciousness started to fade as she watched him raise the cleaver again, adjust his aim, and bring it down again. This time the blade chopped deep into the center of her face.
The killer got up and walked away as Gabriella died.
In a few moments, he returned carrying a pumpkin.
13.
Five days until Halloween
Nashville, TN
Alysha Cummings peeled off her slinky black dress as she came out of the bathroom. She tossed the scrap of shimmery fabric on her bed and reached for her bra clasp. Before she could unhook it, she sucked in a breath as she felt someone press something hard against the back of her head. The person behind her had slipped into the room with impressive stealth, making nary a sound.
She trembled. “Please don’t hurt me.”
The hard object pressed a little more firmly against the back of her head. “Stop your sniveling, whore. Take off that bra.”
Alysha’s fingers were still on the clasp. They continued to tremble as she unhooked the bra and tossed it on the bed, where it landed atop the shimmery black dress.
“Good girl. Keep doing as you’re told and maybe I won’t have to hurt you.” A cruel-sounding laugh followed this statement. “Now turn around and get down on your fucking knees.”
Shaking harder now, Alysha crossed her arms over her bare breasts and turned around until she saw the black barrel pointing straight at her face.
“Drop your arms. I want to see those sweet titties.”
Alysha did as instructed.
“Nice. I told you to get down on your knees. Don’t make me say it again, bitch.”
Alysha dropped to her knees. “Why are you doing this?” she asked, a slight quaver coming into her voice. “I thought we were friends.”
“That’s what you get for thinking, whore. Open your mouth.”
Alysha obeyed and the hard black cylinder slid between her lips, which were still painted with the cherry red lipstick she’d applied in anticipation of a night of clubbing. But things hadn’t gone as planned and now this was happening. She felt weird about it, but only a little, not nearly as much as the first few times.
“Now close those pretty lips and suck that barrel like a cock.”
Alysha closed her mouth and felt the plastic sight of the toy gun scrape the roof of her mouth while she mimed fellatio. She made some orgasmic noises that were only partly faked. The bizarre scenario was having the usual effect. Despite the underlying weirdness, she was getting turned on.
Jodi McIntyre took the toy gun from Alysha’s mouth. They’d purchased the cheap children’s toy during a recent excursion to a chintzy flea market. Its original color had been bright green, but Jodi had painted it black to heighten the realism factor in their roleplaying.
She pressed the plastic barrel against Alysha’s forehead. “Up on the bed, bitch. And be quick about it or I’ll blow your fucking brains out.”
Alysha felt a smile tremble at the edges of her mouth, but she quickly suppressed it and tried hard to maintain her look of fake terror as she got to her feet and did as Jodi said. She pushed pillows out of the way and stretched out flat on her back, trembling and pleading for mercy. Her friend, currently playing the role of Psychotic Lesbian Home Invader, nodded in leering approval.
Jodi was wearing only a blue men’s button-down shirt, unbuttoned. It was long on her, the shirttail hitting at mid-thigh. She shrugged it off and let it fall to the floor. Alysha’s arousal increased at the sight of her friend’s bare breasts, which were larger than hers with wide pink areolas and thick, jutting nipples. Her excitement level continued to increase as Jodi climbed up on the bed and again aimed the toy gun at Alysha’s face.
“You’re gonna do whatever I want, you hear me? Nod if you understand.”
Alysha nodded. “Please don’t hurt me.”
Jodi smirked. “I promise nothing.”
She positioned herself over Alysha, planting her feet to either side of her head. The she lowered herself to her, pressing her clit against her mouth. She tossed her head back and started moaning as Alysha began to flick her tongue. Alysha gripped her friend’s smooth thighs and lifted her head a little to probe at her pussy more effectively. She’d never performed oral sex on another woman until just over a month ago, when these twisted roleplaying sessions began after a long night of rolling on X and downing a massive amount of vodka. But she’d gotten good at it quickly and had come to enjoy it far more than going down on men.
Just as they were really getting into it, a loud crash from elsewhere in the room startled them. Jodi rolled away from Alysha, both of them screaming as the closet’s accordion-style door exploded outward. A man clad all in black and wearing a ski mask came charging out of that dark space, trailing an array of colorful garments. He nearly tripped over the clothes multiple times before kicking free of them to stand panting in the middle of the room.
A long-handled axe was clutched in his gloved right hand. The girls screamed again as he brandished it at them. “Shut up. Just…shut up, you, uh…you fucking…”
The women stared at the masked man as he lapsed into awkward silence.
Jodi groaned in disgust. “The word you’re looking for is ‘whores’. How many times did we go over this?” She got up off the bed and snatched the foam prop axe from the man’s hand. He cringed away from her as she swatted him upside the head with it several times, chasing him toward the open bedroom door, where she abruptly ceased the assault. “Jesus, you suck at this. You know that?”
The man pulled off the ski mask, revealing a handsome face and a mop of bushy brown hair. “I’m sorry. Jesus. This playacting stuff just isn’t my thing. Can’t we just have a good old uncomplicated threesome?”
Alysha giggled.
Jodi rolled her eyes. “Like there’s any such thing as that, you unimaginative asshole. Go get us some beers, Tod. Hurry your ass or we won’t let you play with us anymore.”
Tod disappeared back down the hallway without another word.
Alysha laughed as Jodi rejoined her on the bed. “Did you see how fast he moved? You’ve sure got him trained well.”
Jodi smirked. “It’s easy when they’re stupid.”
Alysha glanced at the open door and saw that it was still empty. Tod was probably still out in the kitchen, well out of hearing range. “He really is stupid, isn’t he?”
Jodi plucked at one of Alysha’s nipples with her thumb and forefinger, eliciting a pained gasp. “They’re all stupid. The only reason men run so many things is because we let them. They’re our slaves without even realizing it.”
Alysha winced as Jodi plucked at the same nipple again. “That hurts.”
“Good.”
Jodi did it again, pinching harder than before.
Alysha frowned. “Jodi, seriously. You’re really hurting me.”
Jodi smiled. “I know I’m hurting you, bitch. I’m taking you against your will, remember? I can do whatever I want to you.”
Alysha gripped Jodi’s wrist and pried her hand away from her breast. “When I tell you you’re hurting me and I’m clearly not playing along, you need to stop.”
Jodi smirked. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Drawing a line, are you?”
Alysha started to pull away from Jodi. “Fuck it. I’m not in the mood anymore.”
Jodi grabbed her by a wrist, stopping her. “This is about Gabriella, isn’t it? You’re usually up for getting as wild as possible. But you’re distracted.”
Alysha sighed, speaking softly as she said, “Yeah. I’m really worried about her.”
Jodi let go of her wrist. “Sorry for getting rough. I’m worried about her, too.”
Much of the day had been spent in anticipation of their friend’s arrival from out of town. Gabby lived about an hour out of the city and came out to visit only a couple times a month. The three had been friends for years, dating back to an initial fresh-out-of-high school stint at a local university, where they met while living in the same dormitory. The three remained close and still hung out whenever possible. Alysha and Jodi had been trying to talk Gabby into moving in with them for the longest time. Gabby had resisted because of family and money issues, but just lately it’d started to seem like she was coming around to the idea, probably because they had offered to cut her a deal on the rent. It would be worth it just to have their friend around all the time again.
Gabby hadn’t said yes yet, but Alysha and Jodi were cautiously optimistic. They’d been prepared to seal the deal once and for all by showing her the time of her life tonight. In anticipation of being up until at least the break of dawn, they’d done some cocaine. Jodi had snorted up considerably more of it than Alysha, who liked coke but didn’t want to get too carried away too early.
