See Tom Run

by Scott Wittenburg

  Tom turned to see a gun staring him in the face. A man in his late twenties or early thirties was standing outside the Jeep poking a gun through the open door, glaring at him with malice.

  “Who are you?” Tom said, his heart racing.

  “Don’t you worry about who I am, motherfucker. You just need to worry about how you’re going to do as I say so I don’t pop you with this piece. Got it?”

  Tom had never had a gun in his face before in his life. Nor had he ever been as scared as he was that moment.

  “I got it.”

  “Now, get out of the car, slowly. Don’t make one false move or I’ll blow you away. I may just blow you away for the fun of it if it moves me. Hell, who knows?”

  “I’ll move slowly. Please, don’t shoot me!” Tom cried.

  The man roared with laughter. “What a pussy! You sound like an old lady, you know it?”

  Tom was not concerned with what this guy thought about him. All he wanted to do was stay alive.

  “Turn it off. You’re not going anywhere,” he said as Tom started to get out.

  Tom turned off the ignition and stepped out slowly from behind the wheel. The man backed away, keeping the gun pointed at his chest as Tom stood up.

  “Now, let’s go see where my Erin girl is. I believe you shacked up with her last night in there, didn’t you? Did she give you a good blowjob? Or maybe she let you bang her from the rear-she really likes that.”

  Tom, despite his fear, wanted to punch the bastard’s smug face. What in god’s name was this guy’s problem?

  “She didn’t do anything but sleep here.”

  “Right! And I’m the president of the United States!” the stranger laughed.

  It was then that Tom realized this must be the infamous Kyle.

  And he was even worse than Erin had described him.

  Much worse.

  “Come on, shithead, lead the way. Slowly. And don’t make a sound or I’ll waste you.”

  Tom led the way to the door. He considered spinning around and trying to knock the gun out of Kyle’s hand, but knew that only worked in the movies. This was no movie and he was no James Bond.

  Tom reached the door.

  “Open it-slow and easy. Don’t try to be a hero.”

  Tom opened the door and entered, Kyle following closely behind.

  They went through the laundry room and into the kitchen. Erin was washing the dishes.

  “Well looky there! It’s my little girl-whore playing housewife! How goddamn cozy!”

  Erin dropped the plate and spun around, the look of shock, dread and terror on her face.

  “ Kyle! What are you doing here?” she cried.

  “Why, I’m coming to take what is mine, honey. And you know you’re mine, now don’t you?”

  “God, Kyle-let Tom go! He doesn’t have anything to do with this!” Erin pleaded, staring past Tom toward his captor.

  “What do you mean, ‘he doesn’t have anything to do with this?’ He has a lot to do with this! He took you in and banged you last night! Now that wasn’t a nice thing to do at all, taking another man’s woman and dissing me like that. No, I’m afraid that Mr. Tom here is gonna have to pay for that.”

  “I told you-” Tom said.

  “Shut your goddamn mouth! Or I’m gonna make it so you can’t ever talk again!”

  “Kyle, please don’t hurt him! I’ll go with you-I’ll do anything you say! Just don’t hurt him!”

  “Why, it sounds like you’ve really taken a liking to Tom here. You must have had a real good time screwing him last night. Jesus, girl-don’t you think he’s a little old for you? Not that that has ever stopped you before. But then, that’s a different situation altogether, now isn’t it?”

  “Kyle, please don’t-”

  Kyle laughed hideously. “I think I got a pretty good idea what’s going on here. I have a feeling that you haven’t quite told this guy everything about our special relationship, have you? I can tell by the look in your eyes.”

  Erin started weeping. She convulsed so violently that Tom ran over to her side, forgetting the gun pointed at him.

  Suddenly, the gun fired. The sound was so loud that Tom’s ears rang. He saw a hole in the shattered ceramic tile to the right of his sink.

  “The next one is for you, asshole. Now go over and sit down at that table before I get tempted to quit wasting any more time on you.”

  “Are you all right?” he said to Erin.

  “Now, motherfucker!” Kyle roared.

  “Go Tom!” Erin pleaded.

  Tom went over to one of the chairs at the kitchen table and sat down. He realized that he could be dead now and knew that he was going to have to cool it if he was going to have any chance of getting out of this alive.

  “Now, Erin girl, I want you to sit down next to your friend. And if you cry like that one more time, I’m going to kill him. You know what I think about those crocodile tears, don’t you? And I’m not gonna put up with any of that bullshit, I can tell you that right now!”

  “I won’t cry, Kyle. I promise.” Erin declared warily as she sat down beside Tom at the table.

  “I know you won’t, you ho! Now, you two sit there while I figure out what I’m going to do. I’m so goddamn tired I can hardly think straight. And that’s your fault, you cheating slut! Keeping me out all night trying to find you after you sneaked out on me. I liked to never caught up to you, but luckily there weren’t exactly a helluva lot of tire tracks in the snow out on the roads.”

  Kyle kept his gun trained on Tom as he walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door. He pulled out a bottle of Chardonnay, popped off the cork and took a long swig.

  “Jesus, I needed that! I don’t suppose you have any decent road food around here, do you old man? Some chips or peanuts-something like that?”

  “There are some chips in the pantry.”

  “That’s real hospitable of you,” he said. He went over to the pantry and rifled through the shelves, keeping a close eye on Tom. He took out a bag of potato chips, a box of Ritz crackers and a jar of salsa dip.

  “This is a start. Well, I think we should be shoving off now, dear. We’ve got a long way to go. Kiss your old buddy here goodbye, but only on the cheek, now! I wouldn’t want you to get all excited and want to screw him again!”

  “What are you going to do to him, Kyle?” Erin asked suspiciously.

  “Not sure yet. Probably shoot him.”

  “Kyle, you can’t! He hasn’t done anything wrong! Just take me and leave him here-”

  “Quiet, bitch! We’ve already been through this. He has done plenty wrong and I am going to make him pay for it. Just not sure how much he owes me, but I’m thinking his miserable yuppie life ought to make us about even.”

  “Kyle, if you kill him, you might as well kill me, too.”

  Kyle feigned a chuckle. “What a laugh! That’s just about the funniest thing I’ve heard all day! But your supreme sacrifice isn’t going to do me any damn good at all, so you might as well forget that offer. I’m going to give you a break though, darling, just because I’m such a sweet guy and all. I’ll let your buddy live if he really means that much to you.”

  “Thank-you Kyle! You won’t regret this!”

  “You’re gonna owe me big time! You hear me?”

  “Yes, I know. I will make it worth your while.”

  “You bet your sweet ass, you will! Now, Mr. Yup-shit, maybe you can tell me where you keep your duct tape. And if you tell me you don’t have any, the deal’s off. I’ll just blow your head off.”

  Tom thought for a moment. “I think there’s a roll in one of the cabinets in the laundry room.”

  “You better pray it’s there or you’re out of luck. I want to get the hell out of this place and I don’t have time to be looking around for a roll of goddamn duct tape. Go get the tape, Erin. And hurry before I change my mind.”

  Erin nodded and ran to the laundry room. Tom heard some shuffling around and a moment later, she re
turned with a roll of duct tape.

  “What took you so long? Now, you’re going to have to pull out that chair a little, old man, so I can get this tape around you.”

  Tom scooted out a foot or so from the table. Kyle pulled out a length of tape and starting at Tom’s elbow, began wrapping it around his chest and the back of the chair. He wrapped it around no less than a dozen times. Tom could hardly breathe it was so tight.

  “Now, your feet.”

  He bound Tom’s feet together several times then continued wrapping the tape around the front legs of the chair.

  “And now, just in case you get a notion to try chewing…”

  Kyle proceeded to slap a four-inch strip over his mouth.

  “There, now. Sorry you can’t say goodbye, old man, but that’s just the way it goes. Come on, wench. Lead the way out of this place.”

  Erin stood up and faced Tom. “Thanks for your help, Tom. I hope you find your family. And don’t worry about me. I’ll be okay.”

  “Let’s fucking go! ” Kyle shouted.

  “My coat, I left it-”

  “I’m losing patience here. You have thirty seconds to get it or I blow him away!”

  Erin ran into the living room and returned a few seconds later with her coat.

  “Grab that stuff and let’s blow this Popsicle stand.”

  Erin gathered up the food, glanced at Tom with a look of sadness and regret, and then ran out the door.

  The moment she was out of sight, Kyle stared directly into Tom’s eyes.

  “And this is for humping my girl!”

  He brought the handle of the gun down cleanly into Tom’s skull.

  CHAPTER 6

  When Tom came to, he started to bring his hand to the aching lump on his head and realized that he couldn’t move either of his arms. In his dazed state, he couldn’t immediately recall why he suddenly found himself bound and gagged in his kitchen or what had led up to it.

  Then the events began to unfold.

  Erin! She had been taken away by her old boyfriend, Kyle!

  He wondered how long ago they had left. He glanced down at his wristwatch and realized that it must have been an hour or so ago. Too much time for him to catch up with them Even if he knew where they were headed…

  He had to get out of this chair. He tried to force his arms out of the duct tape but it was hopeless-he could hardly move them even the slightest bit. He looked around the kitchen and wondered if he could somehow scoot himself over to the drawer where the kitchen knives were stored. He decided to give it a try.

  He started rocking back and forth in an effort to get the chair to move forward. It took all he had to get it to budge. But at least it was possible. He continued rocking until he had moved a few inches, then stopped to rest. At this rate, he estimated it would take him three hours to get to the other side of the kitchen. If he didn’t have a coronary first.

  Got to be a better way There was a possibility that he could get his hand into his pants pocket if he was able to get into the right position. He recalled that he still had the keys from the CRV he had borrowed the night before. With some luck, he might be able to use them to cut off the duct tape.

  He squirmed to his right in the chair and at the same time dug his right shoulder into the back of the chair in an effort to guide his hand into his pants pocket. After several attempts, he managed to get his index finger inside. He squirmed and groped around until he finally had his finger inside the key ring.

  Withdrawing his finger from the pocket along with the key ring was a grueling process. But finally, after a lot of squirming, stretching and grunting, he managed to get the keys out.

  The car key was a computer type with several vertical grooves cut into it and lacked any sharp edges. The other key, which looked like it might be the owner’s house key, was a standard brass variety with several sharply cut ridges running the length of it.

  Tom managed to position the key between his thumb and index finger with the ridges facing upward. He brought the key against the outermost wrapping of duct tape and began cutting into it with a back and forth sawing motion. It was like trying to cut a thick steak with a butter knife, but at least it was working.

  Fifteen minutes later, Tom had managed to cut most of the duct tape away from his chest and arms. When he was down to the last wrapping, he brought his arms out from his sides with all his strength and tore through the remaining strip.

  He tore off the strip from his mouth in a swift single motion, grimacing at the pain. A moment or two later he had removed all of the tape from around his ankles.

  He was free at last!

  With his head throbbing, Tom stood up too quickly and nearly passed out. Moving slowly, he made his way to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. There was a thick matting of blood in his hair where Kyle’s gun handle had slammed into his skull and a golf ball sized lump beneath it. The bleeding had already stopped, he was pleased to discover, and with a little luck he just might survive his first ever brush with a gun-wielding lunatic.

  And he hoped that it would be his last.

  He took out three ibuprofens from the medicine cabinet, returned to the kitchen and chased them down with a slug of cold coffee. Recalling the deplorable way Kyle had treated Erin-as though she were no more than a common possession expected to be at his beck and call-left Tom outraged. The man’s total lack of respect for her and his humiliating accusations made Tom livid and wanting nothing more than to get Erin away from the miserable prick before he hurt her any more.

  His anger and hatred toward Kyle notwithstanding, Tom also found himself curious about some of things the man had said and what had prompted him to say them. Things like immediately assuming that he and Erin had slept together-mentioning blowjobs and doing it from the rear. Why such damning, graphic accusations, given the unusual circumstances by which they had gotten together?

  And what about his comment that Tom was too old for Erin, but that that had “never stopped her before?” What had he meant by that?

  But the real stopper was what Kyle had said next-that he had a feeling Erin hadn’t explained their “special relationship” to Tom.

  What special relationship would that be?

  And why had he incessantly referred to her as a whore?

  These questions left Tom uneasy about Erin and wondering what had gone on prior to her coming to Columbus. Why had she ever had a relationship with such a lowlife scumbag like this Kyle character in the first place? It just didn’t make any sense.

  He had to find Erin and get her away from the violent, unstable asshole before it was too late.

  Tom suddenly laughed out loud. He had to laugh to keep from crying. In less than twenty-four hours he had lost his wife, his children, his best friends and their kids. And, as it turns out, everyone else in this town had suddenly mysteriously disappeared. Now, after finding the one person he thought was the only other living soul in town, she gets taken away by the other only living soul in town.

  Leaving him right smack dab where he had begun: alone, clueless and utterly directionless.

  When will this nightmare end?

  He could only do what he had to do. He had to track down Erin-that was a given. If he could find her, he would somehow get her away from Kyle the madman.

  Then, hopefully, they could move on from there. Find out what in the hell was happening in this ghost town.

  He went into the living room to get his coat, still draped over the chair. He was putting it on when he noticed a small piece of paper on top of the sofa. He walked over and picked it up. Hastily scrawled on the paper were three letters: nyc.

  New York City. That must be where Erin and Kyle were heading-Erin had somehow managed to jot this down while getting her coat!

  But why New York? She had mentioned that Kyle had driven ‘all the way here’ to find her. Is that where he had come from?

  He had no idea. But it was clear that she wanted him to know where they were going. And that she w
anted him to follow.

  So follow he would.

  Tom spent the next few minutes hastily packing a few clothes, some food and a few other items into a duffel bag. He took a moment to wash up in the bathroom, grabbed his laptop and headed back downstairs.

  Two minutes later, he was backing the Jeep out of his driveway.

  Erin and Kyle’s footprints headed south toward Meadow Street, which meant that Kyle had most likely parked around the corner from Tom’s house to avoid detection. Coasting near the curb, Tom kept his eyes peeled on the couple’s tracks until they suddenly disappeared near the corner of Kenton and Meadow-where they had apparently boarded Kyle’s car.

  Tom could clearly see where Kyle had backed into a driveway to turn around before heading east toward the freeway.

  As Tom sped up and began following the tire tracks, it dawned on him that he had no idea what kind of car Erin and Kyle were traveling in. All he knew for sure was they were heading in the direction of I-71, which meant they would head north on the interstate toward Cleveland and probably pick up either I-80 East or the turnpike through Pennsylvania en route to New York City.

  And unless he saw other cars along the way, it wouldn’t really make any difference what kind of car Kyle was driving It would be the only one on the road.

  Tom drove to where Morse Road and the access road to I-71 intersected then pulled over to the curb. It was time to do some serious thinking. New York City was a ten-hour drive in good weather. Should he risk spending that kind of time on what may well be a wild goose chase?

  Two thoughts nagged at him in equal measures. On one hand, he knew that Erin was in serious trouble and that he needed to try to find her before it was too late. Not only was it more than obvious that Kyle was a maniacal control freak but he also had a gun and had already proven that he wasn’t afraid to use it when things don’t go his way.

  On the other hand, he had to continue trying to locate his family and find out what in the holy hell had happened to everyone else in this town. He was so overwhelmed by the absurdity of all of this that he had to keep pinching himself to make sure it wasn’t all just a horrible nightmare.