Life Rage

by L. L. Soares

  She did feel the tension. The pins and needles in the back of her neck. But that was as far as it went. She was able to resist the rage that emanated from him, and it was clear that Grif could, too. Maybe if they hadn’t succumbed to the wave of rage back at the hotel, it wasn’t going to take control of them now.

  “What’s wrong with his face?” Grif asked, as they got closer.

  His face was odd. To Viv, it was blurred. Like the molecules couldn’t stay still long enough to form his features, like they were constantly moving.

  “I don’t know,” she said.

  “So that’s definitely him?” Grif said and raised the shotgun.

  “It has to be,” Viv said. She thought back to Wayne’s house, the one where Maggie had lived, too. His face had been blurry that time too, when he’d pummeled her. It was only in photographs that she’d seen him normally. He hadn’t looked all that impressive. A mildly attractive man, but not extraordinary in any way.

  From what Colleen said, only she could see his face clearly when he was like this.Sam was looking around, distracted, trying to find Colleen. She was close, standing very still. He clearly could not see her.

  “So, if we stop him, then everything will go back to normal?” Grif asked, and it struck Viv that he was stalling.

  “Shoot him,” she said.

  * * *

  Grif aimed and fired. The hollow-point bullet buried itself in Sam’s chest. He barely moved. The bullet seemed to have no effect. Grif fired again.

  It was then that Sam Wayne leapt forward and grabbed Grif. It was amazing how quickly he moved. He closed the gap between them in seconds. The shotgun dropped to the grass, and Grif’s legs gave out from under him. He was down on the ground, with Sam on top of him. He could smell the man’s breath; it smelled of blood and decay. But even up close he couldn’t get any better view of his face. It was even more blurred.

  Sam slammed his head into Grif’s. Hard. Somehow, Grif stayed conscious and struggled, trying to push Sam off him, trying to fight back, but Sam overpowered him. Grif had never felt so helpless before. He had always thought he was stronger than normal men. There had never been a fight when he hadn’t had the upper hand. But now, there was no way he could break Sam’s grip. No way to get free.

  Sam’s hands grabbed Grif’s biceps and pulled outwards, ripping his arms free. Grif could feel them tear away from him; he heard the sickening sounds of his body being torn apart. Grif began to scream, and Sam put his hands on both sides of his head, and there was intense pressure and pain.

  * * *

  Sam tore Grif’s head from his body, flinging it out into the tall grass.

  It had all happened so fast. Like a spider that stays very still in one part of its web, and then suddenly pounces and eliminates its prey.

  Viv didn’t have much time to react. By the time she realized what was happening, Grif was already dead. She grabbed his shotgun up from the ground and began pounding Sam in the back of the head with it. But he didn’t seem to notice.

  She looked up for a second, and saw Colleen a few yards from them, just standing there. She looked horrified, staring at what was left of Grif.

  Viv turned the shotgun around and aimed it at Sam’s head.

  If Grif died so easily, Viv thought, staring down. What chance do I have?

  This seemed much worse than the last time, in Sam’s house. He had at least seemed somewhat human then, even if he was totally psychotic. But now, he didn’t anymore. There were strange growths on his limbs, bizarre tumors that made him look sick and diseased. And his movements, they were no longer the movements of a man.

  “Viv,” Colleen cried. “Look out!”

  Sam was up from the ground in a flash and had pounced on Viv, knocking the gun aside and wrestling her to the ground. Grif’s shotgun went flying out her hands, and her own guns seemed a million miles away.

  She could feel his fists pummeling her again. Could feel him tearing at her clothes. She tried with all her might to stay conscious beneath the barrage.

  And then his blurred face was pressed beside hers, cheek to cheek, and he was forcing her legs apart. She could feel him forcing his way inside her. It all happened so fast. She struggled, but she wasn’t strong enough to push him away.

  She could see Colleen just over his shoulder, in the background, moving from foot to foot, almost dancing, looking terrified and helpless.

  With his cheek so close, Viv knew his ear had to be as well, and she tried so hard to speak. She almost choked on the word. “Maggie.”

  He didn’t stop what he was doing to her, but he made an odd sound. A questioning sound. So she forced herself to say it again, even though she could feel that he had injured her jaw. Blood filled her eyes and mouth.

  “What about Maggie?” she asked him.

  And then, as he raped her on the grass, she could feel her own mind reaching out to his, trying to find a way in. And the way in was Maggie, beckoning her, showing her the secret entrance into a mind long ravaged by madness. He let his guard down enough so that she could work her way inside, penetrating his mind as he penetrated her body. It was mostly chaos and pain, like she had taken a journey into hell, but there was a tiny sliver of Sam Wayne left inside there still; a human fragment that still mourned for Maggie. Viv used this opening to insinuate her mind into his, and then she could feel what he felt, could feel his rage, even as he was on the verge of orgasm. And she went along for the ride, letting his sensations flood her, letting a rhythm coexist between them.

  And then, she found what was left of his soul and wrapped herself around it, pulling at it, trying to absorb it into herself.

  The sliver of Sam Wayne was scared and wanted to die. It was lost in the creature he had become and didn’t want to continue being. Viv embraced that part of him and pulled him to her.

  From the corner of her eye, she could faintly see Colleen. She had grabbed the shotgun where it had fallen on the ground and lifted it up. She tried to aim it at Sam, but she clearly didn’t want to hurt Viv. She stood there aiming the gun, hesitating.

  Viv squirmed to get her arms free. She’d been enhancing his sensations as he raped her, and he was just preoccupied enough so that she could get her arms free and grab his head. She lifted it up.

  Colleen had fired a shotgun a few times before. On the way out here, Grif had given her lessons. She didn’t have very good aim. But now, with Sam right in front of her, she didn’t have to. She could practically press the gun against his skull before she fired.

  But she was just standing there.

  “Do it!” Viv said.

  And at that moment, Sam came, and Viv swallowed the essence of who he was. Who Sam was, the human part of his psyche. She sucked it clear out of his head, but she was afraid that it was not enough, that it wasn’t all that was inside his mind, now that he was something different.

  But it must have been enough, because the violent creature that raped her suddenly went limp, just for a moment, and in that moment, Colleen fired the gun, splitting its skull in two and splattering Viv with blood. The bullet tore through the beast’s bone and brain matter, and then buried itself in the ground mere inches from Viv’s own head. The sound was thunderous.

  “Oh my God,” Colleen shouted. “Viv, are you okay?”

  She only heard the words faintly, but she saw Colleen’s mouth moving.

  Sam had collapsed on top of Viv and it took all her effort to push him off her. She couldn’t help but think of her father. But she wasn’t a little girl anymore. He rolled to one side. His cock had still been inside her. He’d ripped her up down there; and she was bleeding. There was a lot that would need healing. But somehow she had made it through alive.

  Colleen went to her and knelt beside her.

  “He’s not moving anymore,” she said. “I think we killed him.”

  Viv could barely hear her. It was like Colleen was talking at the end of a long tunnel. Her ears were still ringing from the shotgun blast.

  We k
illed him, Colleen had said. As if she was well aware that Viv was doing her best to kill him her own way. From the inside.

  Viv was sore and bloody as she sat up. Colleen was embracing her, but she got a clear view of Grif, or at least some pieces of him, and she started to cry. All his life, Grif had felt angry and confused. Even when he’d figured out what he was, what they were, and learned to accept it. He never really had any sense of peace.

  This sure was an awful way to find peace.

  I guess we weren’t totally alike after all, Viv thought. Somehow I made it through this alive, and you didn’t.

  Viv hadn’t cried in a very long time and it felt strange to her. Unnatural.

  Colleen was crying, too, and held her close.

  “Grif’s dead,” Colleen said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

  Viv gently pushed her away and somehow got to her feet.

  “We have to bury him somehow,” she said.

  But there weren’t any tools around, and the ground was hard here. She tried to dig up dirt with her hands, but her hands started bleeding and Colleen stopped her.

  “We have to get out of here,” she said. “You’re hurt and bleeding.”

  “I’ll live.”

  Viv stopped digging and got to her feet.

  “Let’s go back.”

  “We need his keys,” Colleen said.

  “They should be there,” she said. The lower half of Grif’s body was nearby, caked in gore. “In his pocket.”

  Colleen stared at the pants that held half of Grif. She didn’t move.

  “I’ll do it,’ Viv said. She got down on her knees and crawled over to them. She searched his pockets. There was a tinkling sound as she pulled out the ring of keys. “Here.”

  Colleen came over and helped her back up to her feet. Viv leaned on her for support. She considered trying to lift Grif and bringing him back with them, but she knew she would never make it. She felt all used up.

  They walked slowly over the bridge again. This time, Colleen did not run away from her, but stayed beside her, helping her. Despite her injuries, Viv was strong.

  It seemed to take forever to get to the end of the bridge, walking over the tops of abandoned cars. Then they had to find Grif’s car. Viv recognized it.

  When they reached it, Viv slid into the driver’s side seat and put the key in the ignition.

  “Where are we going?” Colleen asked.

  “Anywhere, away from here,” Viv said slowly.

  She noticed the gas tank. “We’ll have to find more gas.”

  There was another car nearby, with almost a full tank of gas and keys in the ignition. Instead of trying to siphon the gas out, it was easier just to take it. Luckily, it wasn’t blocked in completely. Viv slid behind the wheel and started the engine. She tried her best to avoid the scattered bodies and body parts as she headed toward the highway that would take them away from all this, but it was futile. Body parts were everywhere. At least they couldn’t feel it as they crunched beneath the tires.

  At one point, as she navigated her way past an obstacle course of bodies and abandoned cars, Viv heard a buzzing from above and looked out her window to see a plane in the sky above them.

  EPILOGUE

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

  The television was on, and they were watching the morning news. Whatever had happened in the city was still a mystery, but at least now it was over. The body count was still undetermined, but speculation was that it was going to be in the millions. Nobody offered any answers. The entire world was still in shock.

  The pictures on the television screen looked like footage from the Holocaust. Piles of bodies for as far as the eye could see.

  “It’s horrible,” Colleen was saying. “If we hadn’t killed him, it would have spread. It would have killed everybody.”

  “I know.”

  They didn’t think of themselves as heroes. They had been scared and knew the source of the violence, and either they did something about it or they didn’t. It wasn’t much of a choice.

  There had been a time back there, when Grif died in front of her, when Sam first pounced on her, when Viv was sure she would die that day. There did not seem to be the slightest chance that she wouldn’t. To be alive now seemed hollow, unreal.

  I died back there, Viv thought. I know I did. One of those bodies on the TV screen is mine. I’m just too stupid to realize it.

  Colleen was on the bed beside her. She was wrapped in a towel, having just come out of the shower. Her skin was warm.

  Viv rubbed up against her.

  “You feel so good.”

  Colleen laughed. It wasn’t really a giggle, but it was close. She was holding back slightly. They hadn’t gotten far enough from the carnage for her to really giggle.

  Colleen leaned forward and kissed her.

  “I wanted to thank you,” Colleen said. “For everything.”

  “You did just as much as I did. There’s no reason to thank me.”

  “I feel like I should,” Colleen said. “There’s no way I could have done anything myself. As it is, I’m not sure how much help I was.”

  “You helped plenty.”

  “We really don’t have to talk about this. I made him vulnerable, but you pulled the trigger. We couldn’t have done it without each other.”

  “When I pulled the trigger, he was already dead. I saw it. He was limp. I knew you’d done it to him. I just pulled the trigger to make sure.”

  Viv kissed her again. “Don’t talk anymore. Please.”

  Viv hugged her close.

  “I better take a shower myself,” Viv said. “Do you want to get my back?”

  “Sure.”

  * * *

  After Viv’s shower, they made love. It was something they both were anticipating for a long time. Since Jeremy’s death, in fact. Colleen had felt such a strong attraction to Viv; it had taken her almost all her willpower to resist acting on it. What she didn’t know at the time was that it had been much the same for Viv.

  Unlike Viv, Colleen hadn’t been worried about killing someone else with her intimacy, though. She’d simply been afraid. There had been some drunken threesomes in her past, but Colleen had never been with another woman who she really cared about before. And Viv had sometimes seemed so distant in Jeremy’s house, she hadn’t wanted to pursue anything and risk pushing her away completely. For a while there, they were all each other had.

  Viv told her that when Grif had been able to make love to Colleen, and didn’t kill her, it had filled her with a hidden sense of joy. But, even then, she had been too scared to act on it. Even if it had worked for Grif, what was to say it would be the same for her? She wanted Colleen badly, but would never forgive herself if something horrible were to happen.

  But that was before Viv had seen the green aura around Colleen’s face, back at the bridge. There was a reason why she had survived sex with Grif. A reason why she had been able to stay alive when she was near Sam Wayne. There was something different about Colleen, too. She was one of them. When Viv told Colleen that she had an aura, too, she was incredibly happy.

  * * *

  And now, in the bed, Viv did not hold back. The wounds Sam Wayne had given her were mostly healed now, even the psychological ones seemed far away, and she was able to make love with total abandon, giving of herself as she never had before, not even with Grif. Finally, she had met someone she could seriously consider a soul mate, and it felt wonderful.

  She gently massaged Colleen’s mind, as they got deeper into pleasing one another. Grif had done it and had made Colleen feel wonderful. Viv was determined to surpass it, to make Colleen feel more pleasure than she ever had in her life.

  She had her fingers inside Colleen and was kissing her hungrily. Colleen was moaning softly beneath her, her mind tingling from Viv’s abilities.

  “Oh my God,” Colleen said when they stopped kissing for a moment. “This is so wonderful.”

  Viv smiled and kissed her again. Then she slid down a
nd used her mouth on Colleen.

  As her tongue explored Colleen’s sex, her mind penetrated deeper into Colleen’s mind, to the pleasure centers of the human brain, and Viv started to trigger waves of sensation that started to overwhelm Colleen. Her body was becoming like an instrument, and Viv was the virtuoso who knew every string to pluck, every note to hit.

  * * *

  For a moment, Colleen hovered outside of consciousness, and she could see Jeremy there. He was laughing at some joke, and it was like he was alive again.

  Then Colleen’s voice, in her own head, cried out Oh my God, he’s dead!

  The image of Jeremy’s death flashed through Colleen’s mind, and with it came anger and sadness. It had been locked away in there, and Viv’s prodding had opened it up again. It hadn’t been easy to find. She was sure that Grif wouldn’t have known where to look.

  Colleen came back to consciousness and found herself engulfed in sensations. “Ohhhh,” she cried out. The pleasure was getting too strong.

  * * *

  I’d better pull back a little, Viv thought, and tried to remove herself from Colleen’s mind, but it was too late. She was too deep inside, and something was happening. Viv could feel Colleen’s soul, and felt herself wrapping around it.

  No!

  There was still a sad, vulnerable part of Colleen that was filled with pain. That wanted to die. It had healed over for a time, but now it was open again. Raw. Viv tried, but could not resist it. It was her addiction, her need. It overpowered everything else.

  And, combined with her need, there was something new. A growing anger.

  She used every ounce of willpower to force herself out of Colleen’s brain, but it wouldn’t work. The more noise Colleen made, the more Viv knew they were getting into very dangerous territory.

  She could feel herself absorbing Colleen’s essence. Who she was. Her very soul.