Escape from Happytown (April Almighty Book 3)

by Tim Miller

  “Daddy, don’t let them kill me, please!”

  “I’m trying pumpkin, please believe me. These guys don’t answer to anyone. Not even the president. They are scary as shit and afraid of no one. I’ll do my best, I promise.”

  “Daddy, they’re about to cut me open. They’re going to remove my brain and study it.”

  “I know honey, I won’t let them. I promise.”

  “Please?”

  “Come on Bobby, it’s time,” Grant said.

  “You can’t do this. I can’t let you kill my daughter.”

  “I reached out to you as a courtesy. So you could tell her goodbye. Most don’t even get that. I promise you she’ll go peacefully.”

  “No. This can’t be happening. This is my daughter!” Bobby reached out and began to undo April’s straps. Grant grabbed him as several other security guards also grabbed him, picked him up and carried him out the door. He kicked and screamed reaching his hand out to her. “April!” he cried as the door slammed shut in his face. She cried and sobbed as the hopelessness of what was about to happen sank in.

  In just a few minutes, April Kennedy would be dead, gone, cease to exist. And there was nothing she could do about it. She didn’t even struggle when they inserted the first needle. She just closed her eyes as the burn of the medicine pumped into her veins.

  Chapter 15

  Isis looked out the window of the truck’s cab as they sped down the highway. The driver, who said his name was Hal, hadn’t stopped smiling since they left the hotel. She was starting to think he’d fallen in love. That was ok for the moment. Better the odds of him doing what she said.

  “We need to get gas,” he said. “Before we get on the freeway and out of town.”

  “Fine, just pick a place.”

  He pulled off an exit ramp and drove along the access road until they were at a twenty-four hour convenience store. He pulled the truck up to the diesel pump as Isis jumped out.

  “I’m gonna get some cigarettes,” she said.

  He nodded as she ran inside. Once inside, she was shocked at how many people were in the store. It was just past four-thirty in the morning and it wasn’t full, but there were far more than she expected. As she went to the cooler to remove a diet soda, a woman shoved her out of the way and grabbed one. She looked at Isis and shrugged.

  “Sorry,” the woman said and walked to the counter. Isis’ blood boiled at the stupid cunt thinking she was just going to walk up and push her out of the way over a fucking soda. Isis grabbed her soda and walked to the counter. There the woman was in front of her talking to a man, she assumed was the woman’s boyfriend. Each of the glanced back at her as the woman snickered. Keep it together. You already got cops on your ass and got a good head start. No need to stir shit up even more. But this fucking bitch and her boyfriend.

  “You got a problem?” the snickering woman said.

  “Maybe,” Isis replied.

  “Well take it somewhere else, and quit staring at me unless you want to fuck or something.”

  Her boyfriend, a chubby guy with a shaved head and hoop earring laughed.

  “Aw damn baby! She couldn’t handle you! Haha.” He looked at Isis. “Sorry girl. My girl’s pussy is gold!” He laughed again, exposing a cheap grille on his teeth.

  Isis looked away and took a deep breath.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought bitch, you better look away,” the woman said. Isis wasn’t even sure what happened then. It was as if something took over her body, something out of her control. Not unlike when she ended her boyfriend the other day. The rage hit and became a force unto its own. She wondered if that was what it was like to be possessed.

  While everything probably only took a few seconds, it all went in slow motion as it was occurring. Isis pulled the gun out of her waistband and stuck it in the woman’s face. The woman just froze as her eyes widened and she began to scream. Isis pulled the trigger firing the bullet into the woman’s mouth and out the back of her head. The round exited her skull and also struck the old man behind her.

  She then turned the gun onto the boyfriend and shot him in between the eyes. The top of his head exploded as his body collapsed on top of his dead girlfriend. The other customers finally began to realize what was happening. Isis turned and shot the clerk twice, then spun and killed the old couple at the counter. There was a man at the ATM in the corner. He turned and put his hands up with tears in his eyes as he cowered on his knees.

  “Please, don’t hurt me! I didn’t see anything! I won’t say anything! I can’t die! Please?” he pleaded, but she shot him twice in the chest and he buckled over. Two more people, a couple, had run out the door into the parking lot. Isis ran after them, one was already in a car while the other was trying to open the door. She quickly reloaded the gun and chambered a round, ran in front of the car and opened fire, shooting the man in the driver’s seat six or seven times. Blood splatted onto the broken windshield as his body twitched with each shot. The women on the passenger’s side turned and ran again. Isis ran up behind her and shot her in the back. The woman fell to her face as Isis stood over her and shot her four times in the back of the head. The fourth shot split the woman’s head wide open, spilling its gooey gray contents onto the pavement.

  Looking up, Hal was standing just a few feet away, his mouth gaping open.

  “You fill up?” she asked, but he stood there looking lost. “I said did you get filled up?”

  “Uh, yeah. I guess.”

  “Get in the truck. We gotta go!”

  Hal stood in the parking lot staring at the carnage. If he didn’t snap out of it, she’d need to shoot him too and she wasn’t ready to do that just yet.

  “Let’s go!” she screamed as he turned and ran to the truck and climbed into the cab. He gunned it as they pulled out of the parking lot and back onto the access road and onto the highway as sirens wailed in the distance.

  “Jesus fuck! You killed those people!” he screamed

  “I know. Never did get my cigarettes.”

  “What? Cigarettes? What the fuck? Why did you do that? Why did you kill them?”

  “Some bitch pissed me off and her boyfriend was talking shit, so I shot them. Then I couldn’t hardly just walk out of there, so I shot everyone else.”

  “Holy shit. I had sex with a serial killer. Fuck! You killed anyone else?”

  “Yeah right before I met you. I killed some kid and her mom and stuffed them in my trunk.”

  “Jesus. Are you going to kill me?”

  She reached up and touched the side of his face and smiled.

  “Of course not Hal. I like you. Consider this a totally badass first date.”

  Chapter 16

  April was asleep, but dreaming. In her dream, she was running through a field as a giant saw blade chased after her. No matter how fast she ran the blade got closer and closer. There was a barn just up ahead, but no matter how many more steps she took, it seemed further away. The saw buzzed louder and louder behind her as she strained to run away.

  She tripped over a rock, landing on her face. Rolling over, she looked up to see the saw getting closer and closer. The huge blade screaming as it buzzed toward her, the smell of metal and oil burning her nostrils. Holding out her hand she screamed as loud as she could.

  “No!”

  Her eyes shot open and she was back in the dentists’ chair from hell surrounded by the surgical team. One masked surgical tech stood inches from her with the bone saw just above her forehead. The women was motionless as the saw buzzed away. The woman’s eyes darted from April, to the doctor and other team members who looked on, confused. It took April a moment to realize what was happening.

  April’s gazed burned into the woman’s eyes. The woman’s eyes went wide as a tear began running down her cheek, the reality of what was happening finally hitting her.

  “Kill them,” April said.

  Immediately the woman spun around and cut through the surgeon’s throat with the saw, blood and tissue g
lopped into all directions. The other staff screamed as the woman spun and sliced through one of her colleague’s skulls. Another woman on the team ran to the door when April got her. Still stuck to the chair, April reached out with her mind, causing the woman to freeze. Just like with men, this one buckled over, moaning, and panting until she was in the throes of orgasm. Once she finished she stood and walked back over to the woman with the saw. She was also crying.

  “Please don’t do this,” her new victim pleaded. “We were only doing our jobs. I have a little girl at home.”

  “So your life is worth more than mine? I’m special and have no kids so I’m just a lab rat?” April said.

  “It wasn’t my decision, I just do what I’m told.”

  “Yes you do, and so does she,” April said as the woman with the saw began slicing into the woman’s skull. She screamed as the saw cut through her skull, the smell of burning hair, flesh and bone filled the room. Once the saw reached her brain, she twitched and gyrated in a weird seizure before collapsing to the ground.

  The woman with the saw looked over at April.

  “Let me out of this thing,” April ordered.

  The woman dropped the saw, walked over to April and began working her straps around her hands, feet, chest and head until she was free.

  “You made me kill all those people,” the woman whimpered.

  “Yep. You were inches from killing me, so we are just getting started sweetie,” April said.

  “Are you going to kill me too?”

  “Yes, when I’m done with you. You’re going to take me out of here. Let’s go.”

  They walked out of the room and down the hall. The woman walked along side April as they wound through.

  “Which way to get out of here. Lie to me and I will make you rip your own eyes out of your head. Do you understand?”

  “Yes. Right this way. There’s an elevator.” They walked until they were at the elevator. A couple security guards were in front of the elevator wearing their black BDU’s. One of them saw April, but she had seen them first. Both men doubled over, grunting as they ejaculated. Once they were done, April pushed the “down” button on the elevator.

  “Rip your own throats out,” April said. Her prisoner watched in horror as each man dug his fingers into his neck, screaming and thrashing as they fought against themselves, shrieking in pain as their fingernails tore through their own skin and muscle. He wrapped his fingers around his windpipe and pulled, tearing it away from his neck. There was a wheezing sound of the air escaping as his body kicked and thrashed for almost a minute then lie still.

  The other guard was still digging at his neck, but April got onto the elevator and pulled the woman on with her and hit the button for the ground floor. Looking at the elevator numbers, she saw they were on the eighteenth floor. The woman looked at April as the elevator went downward.

  “How do you do that?” She asked.

  “Do what?”

  “That thing. Control people’s minds, make them come. What the hell is that?”

  “I don’t know. You didn’t come did you?”

  “No. I guess not.”

  “I have no idea. I just think about it and it happens. Never worked on girls before until now.”

  “I’m really scared. I don’t want to die.”

  “Neither do I. Don’t worry. Don’t give me any shit, and I’ll make it quick.”

  The doors popped open and April stepped into the lobby of some kind of corporation. She thought they were in some kind of hospital. There was a huge logo that said “Jericho Systems” with a huge desk at the front with a young, attractive blonde sitting behind. People were milling about and there was a huge fountain along the far wall.

  “What the fuck is this place?”

  “Jericho Systems. We’re a research and development firm.”

  “I thought this was some hospital.”

  “You were on one of our medical floors where we do...” her voice trailed off.

  “Do what?”

  “Animal testing.”

  “God, you people are unfucking believable. Who was that guy that brought me here? And where did my dad go?” April asked.

  “He’s Grant Storm, one of our trackers. He goes after people like you...neuros. Normally they don’t bring them in, they just kill them. They brought you in because you’re special. Stronger. Guess you’re stronger than any of us thought.”

  “Guess so.”

  A man in a suit wearing a security badge walked over to them. The girl was still in her surgical scrubs while April was only wearing a torn up t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

  “Is there a problem ladies? Everything ok?” the man asked. He was tall and muscular with a shaved head. He was looking to the girl since she obviously worked there. Her eyes darted to April and then back at the man.

  “We’re fine thank you. Everything is fine,” the woman said. He nodded and began to walk away when the walkie-talkie in his hand chirped.

  “All departments. 1270 in research level. Repeat 1270 on research level. Lock down all areas.”

  The man turned, looked at April then shouted.

  “Emergency lockdown now! Lock it down!” People began screaming as he pulled his gun and trained it onto April, she was too quick though using her mind to make the woman jump in front of him as he opened fire. The rounds struck the girl several times in the chest as April dove out of the way and seized onto him causing him to double over as he grabbed his crotch, moaning and grunting. Other’s came at her, not taking any chances in seconds everyone on the lobby was lying on the ground writhing in the throes of orgasm.

  April bent down and dug through the security man’s jacket until she came up with a set of keys. She stood and ran toward the door. Gunshots rang out around her. Turning around she saw Grant Storm standing by the elevator with his gun out shooting at her. Her father wasn’t with him, so no telling where he may have gone. She used her mind to force the downed security guard to his feet and jump on Storm. She tried to reach into his mind, but it was like something was blocking her.

  As the two men tussled she ran out of the building and into the parking garage. Using the keyless remote she ran in between the cars until she heard the doors chirp. The car was a black sedan. She climbed in, started it and peeled out of the garage and onto the city street. She recognized that she was in downtown San Antonio.

  For some reason, she figured she was once again in the middle of nowhere. She had no idea where to go and calling her dad was out. Her first priority was to disappear into the early morning traffic. She’d have to come back later and destroy this evil place.

  Chapter 17

  Grant ran to the door way, and watched as April drove off. Looking around the lobby, people were just recovering from their April-inflicted orgasms. He wasn’t sure what happened, but the girl got stronger all of a sudden. Funny thing was, as much as he killed neuros over the years, he had to admit he was pissed he went to all that trouble just so they could cut her open and study her. Once again, despite all their precautions, it hadn’t been enough.

  Jesus, they had her under anesthesia and she still took over, and had graduated to controlling women on top of it. The surgical room was a complete bloodbath. Seems once she learned a new aspect of her ability the girl didn’t waste any time. She had to be put down though, the little beauty was a killing machine pure and simple. He’d never seen anyone like her. Fortunately he got to the lobby just in time. Had he been sooner, she’d have had him.

  He walked out to his truck and climbed inside. As he fired up the truck, he turned on the police scanner. Grant had no idea where April would be headed, but had no doubt she’d be generating some kind of police radio traffic real soon. After a few minutes, his phone began to ring.

  “Storm,” he answered.

  “What the hell happened?” Bobby Kennedy, April’s father asked from the other end.

  “She got away. I guess she snapped awake before they operated. Weren’t you trying to k
eep her alive?”

  “Yes, but not to kill the entire surgical team and take off.”

  “Well, she’s your kid. Any idea where she’d go?” Grant asked.

  “I know she won’t be calling me. She’s totally on her own, no telling what she will do. I’ve seen her in action when cornered. It’s scary.”

  “I know Bobby, isn’t that why you came to me to begin with?”

  “I wanted to protect her and others. What happened to your fucking inhibitor?”

  “It didn’t work as well on her as we’d hoped. It did at first, but she overpowered it. Your little girl is no joke Bobby, she’s a tough chick, and scary.”

  “Can you get her back?”

  “I think so.”

  “Alive?”

  “No promises. I’m not going to put myself at risk over some fuckin’ neuro. Not even your daughter.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah I know. I’m going to keep an ear out. She’ll turn up soon. I don’t doubt that.”

  Grant hung up the phone as a tone went out over the scanner. It was a call about a mass homicide at a local convenience store, at least seven dead, maybe more. Well that sure didn’t take long. He pulled out of the garage and headed to the address listed. It took him about twenty minutes to arrive. The place already had police cars swarmed around it with crime scene tape stretched around the outside and the parking lot. He climbed out of the truck and approached, holding up his badge.

  “Texas Rangers,” he said as he ducked the tape and walked in, surveying the scene. There were several bodies outside lying on the ground and covered with sheets. Inside there were several more but uncovered. One officer approached him.

  “Fucking mess isn’t it?” the officer said.

  “So what happened here? Any idea?” Grant asked.