quiet, to channel the cat-like silence of the Havoc Boys.
If you don’t get him, Bernie, he’ll get you. Be proactive, not reactive.
“Ready or not, here I come!” Neil calls out as I close my eyes to block out the graveyard, focusing on his footsteps and the clinking of the keys at his belt. “Bernadette …” he oozes, working his way toward the woods.
I imagine he’ll keep a close eye on the exit and the fence, assuming that I’ll try to make a run for it. Instead, I’m going to do the opposite and head into the thick of the graveyard, using the tombstones to hide.
“You know how good your sister’s pussy felt?” he asks, causing my eyes to fly open with angry tears. I grit my teeth to keep from crying out. Hearing him say that … it’s like torture, pure torture. He knows it, too, and like a hunter with a dog, he’s trying to flush me out. “The last night that I fucked her was the last night she was alive. Did you know that, Bernie? Did you?”
A gunshot explodes into the quiet, sending a flock of songbirds into the sky, their voices high with fear. I use the moment to peek around the corner of the mausoleum, spotting Neil just forty feet from me. He’s just knocked the head off of another statue, leaving destruction and disrespect in his wake.
I exhale and then duck low, struggling to crawl with my arms bound by the cuffs. I don’t make it nearly as far as I want, rolling over and sitting up with my back against another tombstone.
“Does it bother you that she killed herself?” he asks, moving slowly across the grass, gun held ready, clasped in both of his hairy hands. I close my eyes. “Left you here to suffer the way she did? What sort of big sister does something like that?”
Count to three and then keep going. You can do this. You’ve got this.
I open my eyes again and roll onto my belly, crawling closer to Neil. He’s just in front of and to the right of me, and I know I only have a few precious seconds to find a new hiding spot before he turns and sees me.
There’s a large tomb on my left that I head for, putting my back up against it just before I hear Neil pause. He’s listening for any sound, any clue.
“When I find you,” he tells me, his voice thick with lust. I can hear him smacking his lips in anticipation. “I’m going to shoot you in the leg, and then play with you until you stop screaming. If you’re a real good girl then I’ll take you to the hospital and you can tell them how your boyfriend’s gang jumped and killed your vice principal and then turned their sights on you. This doesn’t have to end in your death, Bernie. It could be fun for both of us.”
Fuck you, I think, feeling my eyes sting with angry tears. The next chance I get, I’m going to kill you, consequences be damned. Neil Pence’s expiration date has come and gone.
I hear him start to walk away and get ready to move again.
“Boo,” Neil growls, appearing from the opposite side of the mausoleum. Luckily, I have quick fucking reactionary commands. Turning, I lean back and then kick up as hard as I can with both feet, nailing Neil in the balls. He fires the gun into the air as he howls with pain and I struggle to my feet.
I barely make it three steps before he’s on me, grabbing me by the hair and shoving my head as hard as he can into the side of an obelisk. Stars fill my vision as my knees buckle and Neil follows me down to the grassy ground.
He’s struggling to control me with one hand and fire the gun with the other, so I take advantage of him being off-balance to turn over. Better to be on my back than my belly. I bend my knees, keeping my legs together so that when I use them to push at him, I have more power.
My boots hit the arm holding the gun, sending the pistol flying.
“Fucking cunt,” Neil snarls, grabbing my legs with one arm and swinging at my face with the other. He manages to crack me across the cheek, but I shove him off of me, scooting back to put space between us. He chooses to go for his gun