by Miller, Tim
“Why? It’ll all be bullshit. Besides, we lived it,” she said as she turned the radio off.
As they blended into traffic, Melissa looked over and saw Amy was crying. She reached over and took her hand keeping the other on the wheel. Amy looked up at her and smiled through the tears. After a few hours of driving, Melissa saw she had less than a quarter tank of gas. Plus she was exhausted. Amy was sound asleep in the passenger’s seat. She couldn’t help but glancing at Amy to watch her sleeping. She imagined this was how she normally looked before all the terrors of the last night.
Melissa pulled off an exit near Dallas and into a small motel parking lot. Once she stopped Amy woke up and looked around.
“Where are we?” Amy asked.
“At some motel, a few hundred miles from Peace. I need some sleep.”
“How will we get a room? We don’t have any money?”
Melissa got out of the truck and walked around. She was still covered in blood. They both need a change of clothes, some food and sleep. The motel was far from a five star establishment. It didn’t take long for her idea to kick in. A man in a Chrysler 300 pulled up. He stepped out and immediately locked eyes with Melissa who was leaning on the truck.
“Well hello there,” he said. He was at least in his late forties. He had gray hair, a stud earring and was wearing a TapOut t-shirt.
“Hi cutie,” Melissa said exaggerating her accent. “You here all alone?”
“I am for now.” He looked her up and down, noticing the blood. “What happened to you?”
She looked at her bloody shirt.
“Oh that? I cut my thumb last night making a sandwich. Blood everywhere. Haven’t had time to change yet,” she said. It was a stupid story and in no way believable, but by the time she finished, the man was focusing on her legs and the rest of her body.
“Well, maybe you should clean up. You and your friend can clean up in my room if you’d like,” he said.
“Well that sounds real nice,” she took his hand as Amy followed behind them into his room.
As they stepped inside, Melissa took the bloody vest off and threw it on the floor. Amy stood behind her as the man looked Melissa up and down. He walked into the bathroom and turned the shower on. As he walked out, he removed his shirt.
“It’s a small shower, but I think we’ll all three fit,” he said smiling.
Melissa peeled off the bloody t-shirt and stood with her hand on her hip, posing for the man.
“Mmm,” he said. “Very nice.” He walked over and put his hands on her breasts, squeezing them. Amy stood looking on.
“Ok,” he said to Amy. “How about you? Can I see what you got?”
She looked at Melissa who nodded. Amy removed her shirt as well, and brushed her hair back over her shoulder. Melissa felt a little jealous that Amy had a much bigger rack than hers. Not that hers were tiny by any stretch. Amy’s were just something to behold.
“Wow, really nice!” he said walking over to Amy and began feeling her up.
Melissa went over to her vest and pulled out the knife she’d taken off Colt. Amy looked uncomfortable as the man was rubbing his hands all over her and kissing her neck and shoulders. Melissa walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He ignored her, but she tapped him again until he turned around, irritated.
“What? It’ll be your turn soon e—” She didn’t let him finish and she thrust the knife into his throat and pulled it back out. He grabbed his throat as air wheezed through it. With blood squirting around the room, he stumbled over a table and fell face down onto the floor and stopped moving.
“Why did you do that?” Amy asked. “He wasn’t going to hurt us!”
“Did you want to wait and see what he did? I sure wasn’t. Besides, he’s gross.”
“That was no reason to kill him. Hasn’t there been enough death?”
Melissa dropped the knife and walked over to Amy. She put her hand on Amy’s face as they looked at each other. She leaned in and began kissing Amy, who returned her kiss. Melissa had never been with a girl and had never been attracted to girls, but being with Amy felt right, it was perfect. They removed each other’s clothes and made love there in the bed, with the dead man on the floor just feet from them. After they had pleased each other several times, they fell asleep in each other’s arms. Melissa had feared having nightmares, but they never came. She only saw visions of the new life ahead of her.
Chapter 28
Eighteen Months Later
There were only two known survivors in Peace, Texas that night, Colt Stillman and Chad Carter. Melissa and Amy were just assumed dead along with several others unaccounted for. Colt was instantly sent back to prison for violating his parole. He also underwent a new trial for the events of that night. He had no trouble telling police everything that happened. If he was going to get the needle, he at least wanted the world to know who he was.
Colt lost part of his leg below the knee. Being a death row inmate, he was given the equivalent of a peg leg and a cane. Several TV networks even visited him for interviews. He’d become one of the biggest mass murderers in American history. It wasn’t a title he was particularly proud of, but it was better than vanishing into obscurity. The world now knew the name of Colt Stillman.
He sat in his cell looking up at the ceiling. His execution wasn’t for at least ten years. Not that he cared. He’d already done twenty years, what was ten more? The thought was interrupted by his cell door sliding open. A large inmate stepped inside, the man was much taller than Colt and didn’t appear to have an ounce of fat on him. One of the guards stepped in with him.
“What’s going on here?” Colt said. “We don’t get cell mates on The Row.”
“He’s not your cell mate. He wanted to pay you a visit. You see, a few of us had family in Peace, Texas. This is Bert. His mom and sister were killed in Peace. I had a cousin there. We’re not too happy about that. And well, Bert wanted to have a little talk with you about that,” the guard said as he stepped out and closed the door.
Colt sat up on his bunk and tried to scoot further into the corner. Bert just stood expressionless glaring at him.
“Look man, it was nothing personal ok?”
“It’s personal to me,” Bert said. “Now it’s gonna be personal for you.”
Colt leaned up on the bed, and felt his prosthetic against the small of his back. He reached back, grabbed it and launched himself at Bert. The fiberglass leg connected with the side of Bert’s head. Bert grabbed Colt and slammed him into the steel door, knocking the prosthetic from his hand.
Bert leaned down to grab Colt, but Colt kicked him in the face with his good foot, but the kick had little effect. He grabbed Colt’s shirt and pulled him to his feet as he punched him in the face. Colt tumbled down the center of the cell and rolled underneath the bunk. He curled up as much as he could in the corner. Bert knelt down to reach for him, but Colt kicked and flailed at Bert’s hands.
“Come on, don’t make this any harder,” Bert said. “You’re a dead man anyway so you may as well get it over with.”
“I want to go out with the needle, not some prison asshole.”
“Guess we don’t always get what we want,” Bert said as he grabbed Colt’s pant leg and dragged him from beneath the bunk. Colt’s cane was leaning up against the wall by the bed. Colt grabbed it and swung it, connecting with the side of Bert’s head. The side of his head split open, spraying Colt’s face with blood. Bert cried out as Colt swung again. This time Bert caught the cane mid swing and wrestled it from Colt’s hand.
Bert lifted the cane and brought it down, but Colt raised his arm to block the blow. The cane struck his forearm sending sharp pain though his arm. Bert struck again, and again, hitting Colt’s arm each time until the arm went limp.
“No!” Colt yelled. “Wait!”
But there was no more waiting. Bert brought the cane down into Colt’s skull. The first blow cracked the top of his skull. Colt started talking gibberish as his eyes glaz
ed over. Bert struck him again, and again until Colt’s head busted wide open. His brains and bits of skull oozed onto the floor as his body fell limp. Bert threw the cane down as he stood over Colt’s body, admiring his handiwork.
Bert walked over and banged on the cell door. It slid open as the guard stepped back inside.
“Nice work. Did you have to make such a mess?” the guard said.
“Sorry. Guy put up a pretty good fight.”
“Oh well. We’ll leave him until meal time and then I’ll act like I just found him.”
“How will you explain him being all fucked up like that?” Bert asked.
“I dunno. I won’t I guess. Maybe they’ll think he bashed his own head in.” The two men laughed as they walked out of the cell. The door slid closed as Colt’s body lie on the cell floor. His one eye stared lifelessly at the ceiling as flies already found their way to his open skull. His death would later be big headlines on the news, but only for a day or two. He had no family to claim his body, so the state had him cremated and his ashes scattered. Colt Stillman had become nothing more than a footnote.
Chapter 29
Chad sat on the bus looking out the window. The inmate next to him hadn’t stopped talking the entire trip. He wanted to tell him to shut up, but couldn’t find the words to even speak. Just over a year ago, he had his whole life ahead of him. Now he was headed to death row. Somehow he had gotten associated with Colt and his thugs and he tried to explain he hadn’t done anything wrong. However with almost five thousand people dead or missing, several of which were mutilated badly or burned alive, no one believed him.
When he saw the footage on the news, it all looked much worse than it had as it was happening. Maybe it was the daylight. There were dead bodies all over, people with their heads smashed open or limbs ripped off. It all looked so horrible. He thought of the woman in the apartment, but pushed the memory to the back of his mind. That wasn’t him that did that. It couldn’t have been him. He was no monster. Only Colt or Clay or their men were capable of such things. The bad things he did do were only because Clay forced him to.
Like what they did to Melissa, the poor girl. After she taped them up and left the warehouse, she was never seen again. She probably was killed, but her body was never found. Though he couldn’t believe she’d tape him up, then cut into his chest like she did, after all he’d done for her. Granted, the gang rape situation wasn’t a high point in their relationship, but it wasn’t like he had any control over that. If anything he saved both of their lives.
The bus pulled into the prison and came to a stop. One of the guards stood at the front and began barking out orders.
“Ok ladies! Here we are. Everyone get off the bus and line up single file there by the door. I don’t want to hear any talking, so let’s move!” he shouted.
They stood and filed off the bus. It was awkward trying to walk in the leg shackles and belly chains. His execution was scheduled almost ten years away. He was only twenty-one, he couldn’t die at thirty-one. Chad had plans for his life! He didn’t want to spend the rest of that life in prison either. They walked single file into a holding area where the guards walked through and removed the shackles. They were given orange prison uniforms, towels and hygiene kits.
Chad walked through the line with his items in his arms. They reached a large shower area where the guard banged his baton against the wall.
“Ok ladies! Set yer shit in one of these here lockers, take your soap and wash your nasty asses. We don’t want you all contaminating the rest of the prison with your stink! When you’re done, get dressed in your uniforms and come back outside with your clothes! Now move!”
The rest of the inmates began undressing and heading into the large shower. Chad stood and looked around. One of the guards began screaming at him.
“What’s your problem sunshine? Get undressed and get in that shower! This ain’t the PE locker room in high school! Get a move on!”
The rest of the prisoners were now looking right at him as he got undressed, he crossed his arms over his chest as he headed into the shower area. The guards stepped outside once he was in the shower. One of the prisoners began laughing as Chad walked in.
“Hey guys! Looky! We got a bashful one!” he said as they all laughed. “What’s wrong? Don’t want us to see your boobies?” The men laughed again as Chad stood under one of the showers, letting it wet his hair, but making no attempt to wash himself.
“Oh hell no man,” a tall black inmate said. “You ain’t going up in there without washing your nasty ass. Get some soap on you kid!”
“Just leave me alone,” Chad said.
“Leave me alone!” another prisoner mocked. “Why are your arms crossed? Are those scars?” He walked over as Chad tried to pull away. “Come on man, move your arms, what are those scars?”
“Nothing, just go away.”
The tall black prisoner came up behind him and grabbed his arms, pulling them away from his chest, revealing the scars Melissa had made. They formed a sentence in large letters in the center of his chest.
I LOVE DICK
“Well well, looky here!” the tall black one said. “We got us a lover boy!”
“He’ll go far here, that’s for sure!” one inmate said who had more hair than Clay had.
“I didn’t put it there. I was attacked,” Chad said.
“Oh I’m sure you were, buddy,” another prisoner said. He noticed they were all moving in on him as they talked and laughed. Finally one of them pushed him, sending him sliding across the wet floor into one of the large, naked prisoners. The man caught him and pushed him back the other way into another group of inmates. One of them grabbed him by the back of his neck and forced him onto the ground. Water rushed into his nose and mouth from the dirty floor as he felt several hands on him holding him down. The tall black inmate stood over him, his penis was fully erect and was the largest thing Chad had ever seen.
“Don’t worry kid,” the tall black man said. “I’ll loosen you up for the rest of them,” he said as he stepped behind Chad and mounted him. Chad let out a scream that either went unheard or ignored by the guards. As he screamed, another inmate shoved his penis into Chad’s mouth. By the time they were finished with him, he had to be taken to the medical unit. His colon had ruptured and he couldn’t stop vomiting semen.
Chapter 30
South Beach, Miami Florida
Melissa stood on the corner watching cars go by. It wasn’t the greatest neighborhood in the world, but she liked it that way. She was always on the move, always looking for her next score. The events of Peace, Texas were like a distant memory to her, almost like a dream. She didn’t even go by Melissa anymore. The girl named Melissa died that night. Since then, Cherri was born. Cherri was nothing like the sweet, naïve girl who started out that night in Peace.
A car pulled up and the window went down. The car was an expensive sports car. She didn’t know what kind it was, and didn’t care. The driver was an older man, who was so fat he could barely fit behind the steering wheel.
“Hey baby,” she said to him. “You lonely tonight?”
“I sure am sweet thing,” he said. “How much for your company?”
“Five hundred an hour with a two hour minimum.”
“I can do that. Hop on in.”
She got into the car and they sped away, over the Biscayne Bridge. The man kept looking Cherri up and down. What he didn’t notice was Amy following close behind them.
“You from out of town?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m here on business. I’m staying at a nice hotel downtown.”
They reached a stoplight on a dark street. Amy pulled up alongside them in the left lane.
“I think that girl is trying to get your attention,” Cherri said, pointing at Amy’s car. The man turned his head just long enough for Cherri to pull the garrote out of her purse and cinch it around his neck. She had made it herself out of some piano wire and a few clasps. All she had to do was put it aro
und the neck, pull it tight, and it would lock in place like a zip tie. She did this with quick, calm efficiency.
The man flopped around as he grasped at his throat, fighting for air. He started to hit the horn, but Cherri pulled him away, pushing his head into her lap and holding his arms as if she were hugging him.
“Shhhh,” she said. “It’s ok. It’ll be over soon.”
He struggled and twitched for another minute before falling limp in her lap. Once he stopped moving. She grabbed his wallet, pulled out his cash. Next she removed his watch, gold necklace and rings. She hurried from the car and hopped into the other car with Amy.
“Good job baby,” she said as Amy leaned over and kissed her. “That was perfect.”
“How much did we get?” Amy asked as they drove away.
“In cash, there’s around four grand here. The jewelry is probably worth even more, but we’ll have to hold it for a bit.”
“Yeah, I know. Where to next?”
“I don’t know. How about Tampa? I hear it’s nice this time of year,” Cherri said.
“Works for me. You hear about that Colt guy from Peace?”
Cherri’s smile faded as she looked away.
“No, why would I give a shit?”
“Some inmate beat his brains out in prison, right in his own cell. They think a guard set it up, but no one is investigating it. I heard it on the radio.”
“Good. Piece of shit.”
“They said Chad got the death penalty, he went off to prison a few weeks ago.”
“Good,” Cherri said.
“Do you wish you’d have killed him?”
“Sometimes. Then I could have seen his suffering. But he’s quite the bitch, so I’m sure he’ll deal with plenty in prison.”
Cherri noticed she was shaking and crossed her arms, trying to calm herself. Amy must have noticed, and reached out to take Cherri’s hand. They held hands as they drove into the night. Cherri looked at Amy and decided she would never think of Chad, Colt or Peace, Texas again. Those things were in the past. Amy, Cherri and this night were right now and her future. Never again would she be a victim. She was no longer the sheep, but was now the lion looking to devour all who stood in her way.
