“Fuck you, you assfucking fuckface! I hope some big, black bubba made you his fuck bitch in prison! Come and get me, you fucking pussy! You don’t have the fucking balls to take me out!”
Across the hallway, she heard pounding on Ellis’ bedroom door, accompanied by wordless, enraged screams. All the while, Sachi kept up the taunts. “Bet you learned to love sucking cocks in prison, huh? Bet you loved bending over and spreading your cheeks for them to slide it right up your pooper, didn’t ya? Bet some gang spit-roasted your bubba ass every night and you begged for it!”
“I’m gonna get you, you fucking cunt!” More pounding, like he was trying to beat the door down. “I’m gonna kill you like I should have killed you that day! Soon as I saw you on TV I knew that was you!” More pounding. “Been watching you for days. You ain’t as smart as you think you are, and you ain’t leaving here ’til yer dead as my boy!”
“You’re already eager to get back in prison, aren’t you? Bet you miss those nightly gang rapes, huh?”
“I don’t fuckin’ care about prison, you cunt! I’m dead in a few months anyway, and I’m takin’ you with me!”
Mandaline’s hands clenched into tight fists. Except that the right one wouldn’t.
She realized she still held the Maglite.
Before she could reconsider, she quietly unlocked the bathroom door.
The man had dropped his night vision light on the floor. It had rolled away, the beam shining down the hallway away from Mandaline. He wasn’t much taller than her, his body looking thin and wasted, and he was now slamming his left shoulder into the door.
In his right hand, he held a gun.
Astarte, Hecate, Nokomis, Cerridwen, Nodens! she chanted in her brain as she rushed up behind him, her arm upraised. She swung, hard, catching him squarely in the back of the head, the shock driving up her arm and hurting like crazy. He let out a startled grunt, but before he could turn she quickly hit him three more times, driving him to the floor.
“Sachi! Come on! Run!” As the bedroom door unlocked and flew open, Mandaline grabbed the gun with her left hand from where he’d dropped it.
“What the…Mandaline, run!” Sachi shoved her toward the stairs. Now the beer won out, her legs tangling under her. They both went sprawling, the gun flying from her hand into the darkness.
The man groaned, followed by the sound of him rolling over. “Fucking bitch! Yer gonna get it!”
Mandaline screamed as his hand closed on her ankle. Her towel fell free as she kicked and struggled and blindly struck out at him with the flashlight. She managed to connect with him again, but he got another hand on her leg.
She didn’t know where Sachi had ended up, but she prayed her friend got free and ran for help. A sudden calm engulfed her as she struggled. She kicked out again with her free foot, this time hitting him squarely in the nose.
He let out a roar of pain as she felt hands grabbing her under the arms and pulling her toward the stairs. Sachi won the tug-of-war when he lost his grip on her. The women once again went tumbling backward. This time, Mandaline lost her grip on the flashlight. She heard it bounce down the stairs and into the darkness of the living room below.
“Gonna kill you both now!” he roared.
Mandaline flipped over and got her feet beneath her. She made out Sachi’s lithe and also naked body in the darkness.
Sachi grabbed her, shoved her toward the stair railing, and whispered, “Run!”
Mandaline caught her arm and pulled at her. “Not without you!” she screamed, no longer caring if the guy heard.
They would get out of this. She knew it.
She didn’t know how she knew it, but the calm and peace flooding her system wouldn’t let go of her. It felt like the light in the room grew brighter. She glanced back and saw the guy reaching for the gun.
Time slowed as he raised it, pointing it straight at her. Sachi screamed and threw herself in front of Mandaline.
They both let out a shriek as he fired.
Brad ran through the rain and the darkness down the driveway. He struggled to ignore phantom images now clouding his mind, imaginary Taliban fighters behind every tree pointing weapons at him.
They’re not real! They’re not real! He kept silently chanting this even as the shotgun shells stuffed into his pockets uncomfortably jammed into his hips. He kept his hands tightly clenched around the shotgun. With the dim light mounted in the trunk lid, he’d broke the gun open, removed the snap caps, and jammed two shells into the barrels.
He just prayed he’d picked right when he flipped the safety switch.
The side door stood open as he took the steps two at a time. Just as he ran through the kitchen, he heard the explosion of a gunshot, a brief muzzle flash illuminating the living room as Mandaline screamed and Sachi let out a bloodcurdling cry.
His wet feet slid on the floor as he skidded through the doorway to the stairs. Mounting the gun to his shoulder, he aimed up the stairs where he made out three figures struggling near the top.
Blood thundered in his ears, drowning out all other sounds. A deadly calm filled him. He heard himself yell, “Mandaline! Sachi! Down!”
Mandaline turned. She grabbed Sachi and threw herself down the stairs, her arm around the other woman. They landed four steps from the top.
He pulled the trigger twice, the first round peppering the wall by the stairs with lead shot, the second catching the man in the chest and driving him back and off his feet.
As the shots roared in his ears and took away all other sounds, he edged toward the stairs. “Mandaline! Sachi! Run!”
He saw Mandaline trying to pull Sachi to her feet. Both women were naked, but he didn’t take the time to try to figure that one out. With shaking hands, he fumbled the shotgun open and dumped the spent shells. He dropped two shells from his pocket in an attempt to jam them into the barrels while Mandaline pulled Sachi to her feet.
He thought he heard Mandaline scream, “She’s shot!” but between the temporary deafness from the gunshots and his own frantic heartbeat he wasn’t sure.
He couldn’t get the gun to close again. He broke it open, accidentally ejecting one of the shells in the process. He threw it to the side and raced up the stairs to grab Sachi from Mandaline. He shoved Mandaline down the stairs. “Go!” he yelled. He scooped Sachi into his arms.
Ahead of him, Mandaline had hit the base of the stairs and turned. She screamed something and pointed, but he couldn’t understand her. As he looked back, he saw the man sit up and point a gun at them.
He started down the stairs, praying Mandaline got the fuck out as a dark figure materialized behind her and shoved her toward the kitchen.
He dimly heard what he thought was a man’s voice yell, “Get the fuck down!”
He launched himself toward the bottom of the stairs, his arms tightly wrapped around Sachi. From the base of the stairs in front of him, six shots exploded in quick succession, further ruining his hearing.
The dark form he recognized as Ellis rushed up the stairs past him.
He felt arms pulling at him, trying to take Sachi from him. He almost struck out against them until he realized it was Mandaline.
She was screaming at him, but he wasn’t sure what. He rolled to his feet, grabbed Sachi, and headed toward the kitchen.
Ellis felt his heart seize in his chest when he pulled up short behind Sachi’s car blocking the driveway, parked behind another, strange vehicle. No way his car could go off-road through the brush around them.
He shoved the spare clip and box of shells into the pocket of his jacket and ran past Sachi’s car.