Hummingbird

by Nathan L. Flamank

  Dan must have been thinking similar thoughts, ‘There’s a lot we don’t know about each other Chloe, everything has been moving so fast, and I’m finding it hard to understand what’s going on between us.’ He looked at her closely, her eyes a perfect tropical-sea blue, and said, ‘Are you sure you really want to be involved in this?’

  Chloe reached up on her tiptoes and kissed him. He could taste the cherry flavour of her lipstick.

  ‘You’re not on your own in this; besides I couldn’t be apart from you now, and if you were to be honest you wouldn’t want to be on your own, separate to me.’

  ‘That’s true,’ Dan said.

  This is unbelievable. What had made him run? Fate? He could have taken that psycho back at the club, and probably with ease, there were things he needed to tell her, about him, his past. Why had he run? Had fate really meant for them to meet? Crazy! So many thoughts fighting to be heard, he opened his mouth to voice some of those thoughts but he was stopped from doing so by what happened next.

  The beer bottle dropped to the wooden floor and shattered making them both jump. They turned to the door and saw that the brass knob was turning left and right; someone was trying to get in.

  ‘Concerned neighbour?’ Dan said, not even convincing himself.

  Chloe offered him a sardonic smile, ‘No, it’s him.’

  She grabbed her bag and started for the bedroom.

  ‘Are you sure?’ Dan asked but he knew the answer.

  Chloe laughed, ‘Who else would it be? Let’s go.’

  Dan followed Chloe into the bedroom and she pushed the window up on its runners. Dan poked his head out the window; to his left was a metal ladder secured to the side of the building, it was about a foot along from the window. He turned his face upwards and he could see that the ladder appeared to go all the way to the roof, just like Chloe had said it would. Dan turned back to Chloe; she had slipped her bag over her shoulders, the string cords tight against her chest, the canvas bag low on her back.

  ‘You first,’ he said.

  ‘Perhaps you should go first,’ Chloe replied; she looked a little sheepish but there was no time for Dan to think about it. A loud thud came from the front door as it was hit hard from the outside.

  ‘No Chloe, you’re going first so go, go, go!’

  ‘Okay, alright,’ she cried. Dan held her hips as she climbed out of the window and onto the ladder, she started to climb and Dan quickly followed her. His hands were on the metal rungs of the ladder as another tremendous crash came from the front, the noise echoed through the small flat. Pinging noises followed a split second later as the security chains were ripped from their fastenings.

  Dan swung out onto the ladder and he started to climb as fast as he could, Chloe was about six feet up from him.

  From within the flat he heard the psycho shout out, ‘Dan? Chloe? Where are you?’ The last word was stretched out for several seconds making Dan think of a child playing hide-and-seek.

  Dan’s insides turned to ice, how did the psycho know Chloe’s name? He couldn’t have known, there were no post boxes on the ground floor, no markers, how did he know about Chloe?

  Dan was breathing hard as he quickly caught up with Chloe. He glanced down; expecting to see the psycho in hot pursuit, but there was no sign of him.

  The day was brightening, dawn almost on them and Dan looked up; straight up Chloe’s short skirt and her glistening wet cunt was only a few feet from his face. He lost his footing and yelled out; he hadn’t expected to see that. He quickly regained his footing. Chloe stopped climbing and looked down at him.

  ‘I told you to go first!’

  ‘Christ Chloe; don’t you believe in knickers?’

  ‘Sorry, I thought I’d surprise you later, I wasn’t anticipating climbing any damn ladders.’ Chloe continued to climb towards the roof. Dan shook his head and followed her.

  Dan cast another glance back down the building; they’d easily climbed a good 150 feet. Chloe as if confirming this said, ‘We’re almost at the roof.’ Her voice sounded relaxed and not at all out of breath.

  Dan looked back up at her and said, ‘Good, because he’s just climbed out on to the ladder,’ and unlike Chloe he did sound out of breath; he hadn’t exercised properly for months and he was regretting it now.

  Despite everything Dan couldn’t help but admire the view beneath Chloe’s zip-skirt; the early morning light made the wetness of her pussy shimmer and he could see the faint outline of her lips, and the curve of her buttocks as she climbed and he felt stirrings in his groin. Ashamed he averted his eyes and kept them focused on the rungs directly in front of him.

  ‘Six feet,’ Chloe told him.

  ‘Great.’

  A spark flew from the ladder just to his left and he realised that he’d just been shot at. Then a piece of concrete splintered just to the right side of Chloe and she yelped as a small piece of masonry ricocheted off her skin.

  ‘Why can’t I hear any shots?’ she shouted as she climbed faster.

  ‘Silencer. Keep going!’

  Chloe disappeared over the lip of the roof and out of the line of fire.

  ‘Thank fuck for that,’ Dan said. Two seconds later and he was also on the roof. Dan took one last glance back down the side of the tower block. The psycho was about 100 feet below them working his way up the ladder. Even in the poor light Dan could see that the man was grinning viciously up at him.

  Chloe pulled Dan back by his collar; it proved to be a life-saving gesture as a bullet buzzed by Dan’s face with only inches to spare.

  ‘Christ Dan! Come on.’

  ‘Where to?’ he replied panting.

  Chloe grabbed his hand and together they sprinted across the flat surface of the roof.

  ‘We’ll jump across to the next building.’

  ‘Jump?’ Dan yelled, ‘Are you nuts?’

  ‘We can’t stay here.’

  Dan could see the end of the roof; there was a slightly raised lip running the perimeter of the roof, he could see the next building and there was a gap between the tenement buildings. It was a long way down to the concrete pavement; but mercifully it appeared to be level with this roof.

  ‘Can we make that?’ Dan shouted

  Chloe grinned, ‘Let’s see.’

  Hand-in-hand they jumped out over the gap; for a split second Dan feared they wouldn’t make it, and then they were across and landing safely on to the next roof. Chloe hand landed perfectly but Dan landed a little heavy and he let out a grunt of discomfort.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Chloe asked.

  ‘Yeah, go, don’t stop.’

  Chloe ran on and Dan was right behind her; across the flatness of the roof they raced. Chloe was slightly in front and she reached the next edge first; she launched herself out over the expanse between buildings, her skirt flapped about her; her ass momentarily revealed to Dan.

  He quickly cast a glance over his shoulder; there was no sign of the psycho against the rapidly brightening eastern skyline.

  Chloe landed safely on the next roof and Dan told her to keep running. Dan jumped the gap safely and landed securely; he was soon on Chloe’s heels as they sprinted across the flat roof.

  ‘How many more?’

  ‘Three,’ Chloe said, ‘and then we’ll climb down to the street, you’ve got the car keys right?’

  Dan felt his keys in the front left pocket of his jeans and nodded at her. They quickly moved on to the next roof and then the next; it was scary but exhilarating too and Dan could feel the adrenalin coursing through his bloodstream.

  Dan looked back the way they’d come and this time he did see the outline of the psycho; he was moving across the first roof. The psycho must have spotted them because Dan could see the man raise his gun-hand.

  ‘Chloe; start zigzagging.’

  Immediately they began to run in a zigzag fashion across the third roof and Dan heard a round whizz by his ear like an angry bee; this was followed by a second. Their zigzagging would make it nigh on
impossible for the psycho to hit them. The psycho must have come to the same conclusion because Dan didn’t hear any more bees.

  Chloe jumped the final gap and stumbled on her landing; Dan landed with her and he was able to grab her right arm thus preventing her from falling flat on to her face.

  ‘Thanks honey,’ she breathed, ‘this way.’

  They moved quickly across the roof to the fire escape that Chloe knew to be there and Dan grinned at her, ‘This time you go first.’

  Chloe climbed down on to the ladder; before starting her descent she smiled at him and said, ‘I love you.’

  ‘Ah fuck it; I love you too, now go!’

  Crazy!

  Chloe laughed and Dan couldn’t believe it when he found himself laughing too; this really wasn’t the place to be laughing but he was just glad to still be alive.

  ‘Go!’ Dan said again and Chloe started down the ladder and Dan followed her as fast as he could. As Dan’s head disappeared below the level of the roof he saw the psycho again; fate had to be smiling down at them as it looked to Dan like the psycho was limping across the rooftop.

  ‘As fast as you can Chloe; we may just get out of this yet.’

  They climbed down the ladder as fast as they could. Five minutes later; and with no more incidents Chloe said, ‘We’re at the bottom, there’s a six foot drop to the ground so be careful.’

  She dropped to the tarmac; bending her knees as she landed. Dan dropped after her and landed safely beside her.

  ‘What a rush,’ Chloe said with a huge grin on her face, her eyes were alight and Dan laughed.

  ‘That’s one way of putting it,’ Dan replied; resting his hands on his knees, bent over he took several deep breaths.

  ‘Aren’t you out of breath?’ Dan had noticed that Chloe didn’t appear to be suffering like him after their rooftop sprint.

  ‘I run eight miles every morning; that was a breeze.’

  ‘Where are we?’ Dan asked as he straightened up, ‘which way to the car, we don’t have much of a head start.’

  ‘We’re at the car,’ Chloe pointed over his shoulder. Dan turned to see the Astin Martin parked at the curb ten feet away.

  ‘Brilliant, you’re a genius.’

  ‘I know.’

  They walked over to the car and Chloe said, ‘Ah shit, look.’

  Dan followed her lead and saw that the front right tyre had been blown out. He crouched by the wheel and then noticed the same thing had been done to the right rear tyre, ‘Ah fuck it,’ he said….

  Second Chance excerpt:

  Sheriff McClellen looked through the one way observation window at the man sat in the interview room. McClellen opened the manila file in his hands and quickly flicked through the first reports that had been compiled.

  He rubbed one large calloused hand over the bridge of his nose and read the report right through; it wasn’t the first time he had read the contents of the file and once again he cast a glance at the unimposing white man sat calmly on a red plastic chair; the man was relaxed and to look at him you wouldn’t for one minute think that he was capable of doing the things in the report that McClellen held in his trembling hands.

  The door opened and one of his deputies stepped in to the room.

  ‘Have you read this Buster?’ McClellen asked.

  The deputy nodded his head and peered in at the man in the interview room.

  ‘Hard to imagine the man in there is the same one as in the report,’ Buster said.

  The Sheriff only nodded. ‘Gee-Zus-Christ-on-a-stubborn-mule; thirty two dead!’

  ‘They’re still combing the site, there may be more,’ Buster responded, he watched the unimposing figure of the man through the one way mirror and then turned back to McClellen, ‘I can’t imagine how he must be feeling, all that death, he doesn’t look like much of a killer does he?’

  McClellen closed the folder and tapped it against the meat of his left thigh.

  ‘Buster; I want the media black-out on this thing maintained until I have a better understanding of just what the fuck went on up there, anyone talks to the press and they’re fired; no review board hearings; they’re out on their ear.’

  ‘Yes sir,’ Buster said, ‘I’ll tell everyone to keep it all under wraps.’

  ‘I can’t believe something like this was going on right under our noses and we never picked up on it; never suspected a goddamn thing; those poor women.’ McClellen opened the file again, he looked at the report but he wasn’t seeing it; he was seeing the clearing with the first of the bodies; all that blood, it was like something out of a war film. ‘Fuck me,’ he said softly before clearing his throat.

  ‘Well, I best get this moving along, come get me if anything else breaks.’

  ‘Okay sheriff,’ Buster said.

  McClellen opened the door to the interview room and the man looked up from the table.

  ‘Hi George,’ the man said and McClellen pulled out the chair on his side of the table and sat down. He adjusted his gun-belt and placed the folder down on the table.

  ‘Okay Mike, what the fuck happened?’

  *****

  Hertfordshire, ENGLAND.

  Michael Simms awoke like he always did: before the alarm clock went off. The sunlight streaming through the bedroom window and on to his face felt nice; the warmth of the sun on his closed eyelids making him smile.

  He stretched his legs and his foot touched the leg of another person, he sucked in a breath and held it deep in his lungs as his toes slid up the calf muscle of his unknown bed companion. The skin felt smooth beneath his exploring digits and a murmur came from his companion followed by a muttered: ‘Just a couple more minutes.’

  Michael’s eyes flew open and he saw who was next to him in the double bed and the breath that he had been holding exploded from his lungs and he let out a yelp; the sound of someone who has just been bitten or startled and he felt like both. He jumped involuntarily and his ass came down off the side of the bed and momentum took over and he was spilled on to the floor. His left elbow cracked against the bedside cabinet and he cursed. The summer duvet was tangled around his feet and he pulled that from the bed too which received a groan from his companion and then he was looking up in to beautiful green eyes as her face appeared over the side of the bed.

  ‘Morning sexy-pants, what startled you so bad?’ She was smiling at him and he couldn’t swallow, let alone answer, his mouth was dry and his tongue was glued to the roof of his mouth and his eyes were wide in shock and his bed-mate picked up on this and a concerned expression crossed her delicate features, a look he remembered all too well but hadn’t seen in many years. His heart was thundering away so fast that he could physically hear it beating against his ribcage.

  Michael scanned the bedroom, a room he had loved but again hadn’t seen for years and then he was looking at her again as she sat up and he saw her naked breasts; her perfect breasts, and it was all too much for him. He screamed and half crawled, half scuttled across the bedroom floor and through the open doorway and into the en-suite bathroom. He kicked the door shut with the heel of his foot and engaged the lock. Michael leant back against the door, his breathing heavy. He could see his reflection in the floor to ceiling-wall to wall mirror on the wall opposite him. He looked back at himself and could see how pale he looked. He was also stark naked and he noticed that he had an erection.

  He rubbed at his eyes with the heels of hands and took a couple of deep breaths.

  A knock on the door made him cry out once more and then she was asking him if he was alright, to open up, that she was worried about him.

  He yelped again and worked his tongue around his mouth and finally croaked, ‘I’m okay, I-I-I had a bad dream, that’s all.’

  Instinctively he knew this answer would suffice as she was well aware that he suffered with nightmares.

  She seemed to accept this explanation but caused him even more worry when she said: ‘Well open up, I need to pee chicken.’

  Chicken, he hadn
’t heard that term of affection for a long time and it brought a tear to his eye.

  ‘S-sure, just give me a sec.’

  Michael padded across to the sink and twisted the cold water tap on and cupped his hands beneath the ice cold water and splashed it over his face. He repeated this three more times and then reached for a towel and dried his face.

  ‘I’m gonna wet myself out here.’

  ‘Right, sorry.’

  Michael looked at his reflection and shook his head. He took a deep breath and then opened the door and his wife Beth came in, she was as naked as he was. She crossed to the toilet, lifted the lid and squatted down to pee. Michael was transfixed by her beauty and she looked up at him through the twisted strands of her black hair and smiled at him as she let go a stream of urine.

  ‘Baby you scared the shit out of me in there; you looked like you’d seen a ghost or something.’

  Michael nodded his head and whispered, ‘Something.’

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘Nothing,’ he replied. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was even more beautiful than he had remembered and he was embarrassed by the fact that his erection was now even firmer than before and she noticed it and smiled mischievously and said: ‘Never knew me peeing turned you on so much.’

  Michael laughed, it sounded manic and Beth must have heard something similar in his voice because she cocked her head to one side and said, ‘Michael, are you sure it was just a dream, you look scared out of your mind.’

  ‘No, no, it’s nothing, I’m fine, I’ll leave you to finish up.’

  ‘Okay, get back in the bed mister, I’m not in work ‘til ten and it’s only now coming up for seven.’ Beth watched as Michael stumbled from the bathroom and she said to his back. ‘I had a dream last night too and it’s made me horny.’

  Michael let out a strangled laugh and staggered to the bed. He sat down and rested his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands and tried to think about what this all meant.