I finish circling around the jeep. When the son of a bitch turns to go to the driver’s side door, I come up behind him, wrap my arm around his neck, and cap a hand over his mouth. I pull him away from the jeep and behind another car, wrestling. It costs me because he cuts into my hand with that fucking knife. I don’t stop until I have him completely pulled away.
Suddenly, he breaks away, spins, then comes at me with the knife. I deflect it, but I’m losing blood from my arm, and if I don’t hurry and put an end to this, I’m going to get weak fast. I dance around him for a minute, then ram at him. I grab his arm, trying to keep the knife away from me as my other hand wraps around his neck and I slam him against a nearby pickup. I choke him, determined to keep him from getting air. The arm holding his shakes, and he slowly wins that battle as the knife gets closer and closer to me. He gets away from the truck and I back up a few steps, allowing it. I need to regroup. My fucking arm is losing blood pretty damn quick. This fight may get dirty.
I’m just about to junk-punch him with my knee, since my hands are a little busy, when the guy falls to the fucking ground like a piece of lead. Standing behind him is Shaft, who holds a big ass rock he just swung into the man’s head.
Once he makes sure the motherfucker’s unconscious, he drops the rock on the man’s gut. The guy’s body jerks, but shows no other signs of consciousness.
“About damn time,” I growl, pissed off that I couldn’t finish the motherfucker myself.
“If a son of a bitch had let me leak my lizard earlier, I would have been here, so shut it. What do we do with the son of a bitch?”
“Kill him.”
“Wouldn’t it be, y’know, smarter if we just tie him up and deliver him to the cops?”
“Not as much fun.”
“Whatever, man. I’m not the son of a bitch who’s leaking blood all over the place and starting to look like I haven’t seen sun in a couple of years.”
“Fine. Tie him up and we’ll call 911 anonymously. There’s a first aid kit in the car. I’ll see about fixing my arm up.”
“Got it. You going to get your woman?”
“Skull told me not to, so no, but we sure ain’t letting her out of our sight.”
“Joy,” Shaft grumbles. “I’ll be back. Gonna get some rope out of the truck.”
I follow him after making sure that the asshole hasn’t come around. He’s still out cold, so I start walking back to the truck. I stop mere feet away from Katie’s jeep. She’s still sound asleep. She better be glad Skull forbade me to grab her tonight, because if he hadn’t… fuck. I was already pissed. After seeing how close she got to some pervert raping her—or worse—I’m not sure how gentle I’d have been with her. I give her one more glance through the window of her jeep, then walk back down to my vehicle.
It’s gonna be a long night.
Sleeping in my car was a lot more fun when I was younger. I think I’m sorer now than I was before I took my nap. I didn’t mean to stay out quite so long. Apparently, Mississippi rest areas are safer than the ones I’m used to because no one bothered me.
I’m back on the road, headed to my sisters. I should be there any moment, which is good. Up ahead, I see a road sign that reads “HWY 3209” and take a small breath of relief.
Finally, I’ll be with Beth and Gabby again. I go across a small, low-water bridge, take the right turn like Bethie explained, and start watching the odometer. She said the hotel was on the left about two miles. I cringe when I see it. It was probably a great hotel—back in the early eighties. I pull into the parking lot and take a breath. I can do this, I tell myself. Nothing to it. I’ll just collect my sister and niece, then we have to get the fuck out of here before Norman Freaking Bates shows up. Simple.
I look around and it seems clear. I don’t know why, but I’ve had this feeling all morning that someone’s been following me. I could’ve sworn I saw the same truck a few times, but each time it would get lost in traffic or pass me. It’s the interstate, and that shit happens, but I’m just being paranoid. I blame Torch. He got me to let my guard down and now I see enemies everywhere.
I go to the right door, then knock. It takes a couple of minutes before Bethie opens the door. When she does, she wraps her arms around me so tight I can’t breathe.
“Let’s get out of the open,” I tell her, still unable to shake that feeling.
We retreat back into the room. She closes the door behind me. “Are you okay?” she asks at once, sitting down on one of the double beds in the room.
“I’ll be better when we get on the road,” I admit. “You got all your stuff packed?”
“All but Gabby’s. She’s still sleeping. She barely closed her eyes last night.”
“Isn’t she getting any better?”
“Yeah. You know I wouldn’t put Gabby’s health in jeopardy. She’s just got her days and nights mixed up.”
I walk over to the far bed that Bethie and her slept in. Little Gabby’s curled up against a pillow, her thick black curls laying over her face. She looks like an angel.