"Oh, crap," she muttered. "Forgot all about you," she said, slamming the door. Now she had to drive by the plant again and drop off the robot — probably tomorrow.
The drugstore was just a mile away.
She came out of the drugstore within minutes, grasping a bottle of Double Strength Motrin. Walking toward her car, she became aware of another set of footstep noises behind her. As she turned to see whom it was, a stranger grabbed her arm in a painful grip.
"Hey, there, pretty face, what are you doing out so late? Looking for me?"
She tried to free her arm, but the man's grip just grew tighter and more painful. She whimpered, trying to set herself free. The man was leading her away from her car, toward the back of the building, where a residential construction site was deserted at that late hour and almost completely dark. With half-built houses cloaked in darkness, it resembled a ghost town.
She turned to look at his face. Eyes of steel on a bony face, partly covered by long hair, huge Adam's apple, pulsating with his heartbeat. Somehow this face seemed familiar, but Alex couldn't place him at all.
"I can give you what you need," she started negotiating, hoping he would settle for some cash and let her be.
"Oh, I know you can, and you will," he said, continuing to drag her toward the unfinished houses. "I'm not going anywhere until I get everything I want." He tightened his grip even more, and shoved her over a small ditch at the edge of the construction site.
She gasped. "I can scream, you know." She could try, but chances were no one would hear her in this deserted construction site. She remembered clearly how the night pharmacist had a TV on, watching the game reruns at high volume.
"Go right ahead, scream, knock yourself out." The man was unperturbed.
"What do you want from me? I have money, lots of money," she said, thinking hard.
"I don't need your money, although I might clean out your cash after we're done. We're just going to have some serious fun together," he said, in a coarse voice filled with lust," before I finish you off."
Finish me off? Alex thought desperately. Oh, God… She kicked her shoes off and lunged in a desperate attempt to make a run for it. He didn't loosen the grip on her arm, and grasped her hair with his other hand, bringing her down to her knees.
"Nowhere to go, bitch."
Alex started whimpering and sobbing, unable to control herself. I need to think, she kept repeating to herself, but she was unable to stop crying. Oh, God, please don't let this happen!
The man dragged her into one of the houses, shoving her on the floor.
"Have you ever been fucked by a real man? Real hard? You'll die screaming tonight, I promise you that." He unzipped his pants and undid his belt, removing it completely. He used it to tie her hands above her head and secured them against a two-by-four structure that was going to become someone's kitchen wall.
She whimpered, feeling the cold belt cut into her flesh.
"I have lots of money, more than you'd think. You can get plenty of women, and better looking than me, for the kind of money I could give you," she pleaded, trying to get him interested in anything else.
"You think you're so smart, trying to talk your way out of everything, huh? This should be a lesson for not minding your own business. Too bad you won't live long enough to apply what you learn here tonight."
He ripped off her blouse and bra, with little effort. She gasped.
He grabbed her throat and started suffocating her. "Why aren't you crying anymore, huh? That turned me on," he said, gripping her throat and squeezing tighter.
She choked, started coughing and blacking out.
"Oh, no, not yet," the man said, releasing his grip. "I told you it's gonna be fun. We got all night. And we haven't even started yet." He started pulling at her pants. She desperately kicked and screamed, hoping someone would hear her and come to rescue her.
"'S'cuse me," a slurred, coarse voice came from the dark.
The man turned to face the intruder. Alex breathed with more ease, as hope filled her heart.
"D'ya need help with that broad?"
What? Oh, no…
"Get lost before I knock your lights out," her attacker said, visibly annoyed.
The man approached them, and as the dim light shone on his body, Alex's heart sunk even further. He was one of those street bums, covered in layers of shredded clothing and stinking of crud and booze. His hair was a tangled mess of filth — yellowed gray hairs and street debris.
"Don't ya' kick me out, this where I live. Y'all are in my house." He slurred something incredible, and he could barely stand up. "Here's wha' I'm thinkin'. I'll help you fuck her, and then you help me fuck her, so we both have a piece of that fine ass. What'd ya' say, huh? Got ourselves a little deal, huh?"
Oh God… No! Alex thought desperately. There was no way out.
"Don't need your help, you fucking moron. Fuck off!" Her attacker was standing now, ready to punch the bum in the face.
The bum grabbed the man by his shirt, in a pleading gesture. "D'ya know how many years since I've seen me a fine piece of ass like that? D'ya know? Huh? 'Cause I don't even know it, eh?" His stench was unbearable, turning Alex's stomach. She wriggled some more, trying to set herself free.
"Please, man," the bum continued, "You'll have at her first, how many times you like, I can wait… and watch," he said, with an aroused chuckle that made Alex whimper again.
The attacker grabbed the bum and slammed him against a partial wall. "You fucking moron, you got two seconds to disappear, or I will kill you. You can count on that."
"Ah, ah, you see, that's rude," the bum said, in a disapproving, yet unperturbed tone, fueled by alcohol-induced courage. "You come into my house, and you wanna throw me out? I take offense at that, man… There's more of us here, ya' know, all I gotta do is whistle. You just a mean, selfish mothe'fucker, who won't share the goodies with his host."
The bum approached again, grabbed the man once more and continued his plea. "C'mon, how hard can it be to let me have a piece? I can go first if you don't mind waitin', then give y'all the privacy you need. I'm thinking, maybe you wanna do stuff to this fine lookin' broad ya' don't wanna let me watch… still rude, but…"
The bum stopped his begging, as he tried to control his gagging, leaning his dirty forehead on the other's shoulder. He was about to throw up on the other man's chest. The man stepped back, made a disgusted gesture with his hand, zipped up his pants and abruptly walked away with a brisk pace.
"The hell with it," Alex heard him muttering as he departed, "some other time."
"I have money," she started pleading with the bum, hoping it would go better this time. "I have lots of cash with me; you can buy yourself plenty of booze."
"Where's the green stuff you're so kindly offering?"
Think, think!
"At my car, right there," she pointed with her head, although her wallet was in her back pocket. "You can come with me, and I'll give you all I've got."
"I guess that'll work… let's go." The bum freed her. She covered herself up as best as she could with her torn blouse and headed for the car in a hurry, not caring about the construction site debris hurting her bare feet.
Seconds later, they were at her car. She opened the door and sat behind the wheel. From here, she knew she could easily push that lowlife away and make a run for it. He was barely standing, too drunk to pose a real challenge. She put her key in the ignition, as discreetly as she could. The man didn't react. She slammed the door shut and reversed as fast as she could, leaving the man in a cloud of dust. He stood there, immobile, just watching her leave.