Fran didn’t answer, didn’t look up, just kept waddling backward, her breasts hanging toward the floor and swinging from side to side as she towed Brenda by the ankle.
“Let go, you idiot!”
“Fuck you,” Fran grunted.
“What’s the matter with you?”
“You. You’re the matter.”
Carpet no longer under her body, Brenda slid along on the cool marble floor.
“He’s gonna wake up!”
“Good.” Fran flung Brenda’s foot straight down at the floor. Her shoe absorbed some of the impact, but pain exploded from her wound. Wracked with agony, she flinched rigid, arching her back, shoving her belly into the air.
Fran straddled her and dropped, buttocks slapping against her belly, driving her down, mashing her.
Brenda felt as if she’d been caved in. She fought for a breath but made squeaking sounds and seemed to get no air.
“How ya like it?” Fran asked. Cords of wet hair clung to her bloody, sweaty face.
Brenda had no breath for answering.
“Who’s the loser now, huh? Huh?” Her open hand smacked Brenda hard across the face. “How about a quip? How about a snappy rejoinder?” She slapped Brenda again. “Who’s on top, now?”
She clutched Brenda’s breasts.
“What d’ya call these, huh? They’re nothing! You got tits like a guy. A skinny guy. You got no tits at all, you emaciated fucking twerp! And everybody calls me fat! I’m fat and ugly and worthless and you’re some sorta stunning beauty for godsake but you look like a fucking guy! But all the guys want you and I’m some sort of ugly fucking cow they don’t wanta touch with a ten-foot pole. They don’t wanta kiss me and nobody’s ever gonna fall in love with a cow like me and the one time I get lucky maybe for the only time in my whole stinking life, you go and kill him.”
She pinched Brenda’s nipples and twisted them hard.
Brenda jerked stiff and cried out and was surprised to find that she could cry out.
Could breathe again, though not very well.
“Stop it,” she gasped. “Please.”
“You killed him.”
“He raped you!”
“So what!” She let go of Brenda’s left nipple and smacked her across the face again. “You killed him and you were gonna let Jack kill me so you could keep the fucking knife.”
“He’s out cold, Fran. We can take him! We can survive this but you’ve gotta get off me.”
“Who wants to survive?” asked Fran.
“I do.”
“Well, you aren’t gonna!”
“She happens to be right,” said Jack.
Brenda went cold inside. “Now you’ve done it,” she muttered.
Fran’s bloody face grinned down at her. “Good,” she said.
“Don’t let me stop the fun and games,” said Jack. “Both of you stay where you are. Fran, let’s see you hurt her some more.”
Chapter Sixty-one
“It has to be around here someplace,” Sherry said, slowing as they neared the Speed-D-Mart. “This is where Duane’s van was parked last night. Toby switched over to it, so he must’ve parked his car fairly close to here.”
“What kind of car?” Pete asked.
“A blue Mustang.”
Sherry turned right onto Airdrome.
“Like that one?” Jeff asked.
“Where?”
“Other side of the street. Near the corner.”
Sherry leaned closer to the steering wheel and turned her head to the left. “Looks like it,” she said. She drove past the Mustang, then made a U-turn and pulled to the curb behind it. She shut off the engine. Bending down, shoulder against the wheel, she reached to the floor. She came up with the Club. “Mind if I borrow this for a minute?” she asked.
“Help yourself.”
She pulled at the steering wheel locking device, lengthening it until the two steel bars came apart in the middle. She set the smaller piece down on the floor and kept the other. “Both of you wait here, okay? Pete, why don’t you get behind the wheel? Pull on ahead of Toby’s car and wait. And keep your eyes open. If any cops come along, just drive on as if you don’t have anything to do with me.”
“Sure,” Pete said. “Just leave you.”
“I mean it. I don’t want you guys getting busted for any of this.”
“We aren’t gonna ditch you,” Jeff said.
“For all I know,” Sherry explained, “the car isn’t even locked. But it probably is, and Toby said it has an alarm. If it does, busting the window’ll trigger it. Might get real noisy around here. But nobody pays much attention to car alarms. And cops…the only way they’ll show up is if they happen to be passing by. So I don’t think there will be any trouble. If there is, though, take off without me. Maybe drive around