DARK FALL(7)

Kaity turned the key again and the engine sputtered to life. She threw the car in reverse. It seemed like the entire bottom of the car scraped the curb as she cut the wheel. The traffic light was red. Kaity bit her lip and took her chances. She stepped on the gas pedal and locked her elbows straight. The car took off and Kaity made it through the intersection without getting hit or killed. She sped along the roads until she connected to a highway.

Every few seconds she looked back and expected to see someone chasing her. But there was nobody else. Nobody followed her.

It took Kaity ten minutes to finally calm down and take a deep breath. The morning was still very fresh, the early sunset scattering across the highway in a brilliant shade of yellow. Kaity wanted to go back to bed. She was sweating. Her heart was racing. Her nerves shaking. She swore to herself she wouldn’t be like this everyday of her life, but it looked as though she had no choice right now.

Alone in the right lane of the highway, Kaity heard a metal clink sound. The car started to bounce, even on the smooth road. The dashboard lit up like a strand of Christmas lights. Kaity tried to ignore the damaged vehicle, but the more she drove the worse it got. The car soon lost power and she was just coasting down the highway now.

“Shit,” she said.

The next exit was just a quarter of a mile away, so Kaity put on her blinker. She needed to get the car looked at. If something big was wrong with it, she would either trade it in at some small lot or she would find a way to hide it and ditch it. Leaving the car on the side of the highway would be stupid. She knew how investigations worked. They’d find the car and connect it to Kaity. Then they’d hunt down Kaity and take her back.

Back for what?

It didn’t matter.

Kaity took the exit and read the sign as she passed under it.

“Frelen,” she said.

The car suddenly came back to life but Kaity knew it probably wouldn’t last long. Driving down the streets of what looked like a small beach town, she rolled down the window. The touch of salt from the ocean, the call of the seagulls, and the warm air were completely refreshing. Kaity smiled, appreciating the way her luck had taken her here. This seemed like the kind of place she could hide out for a little while.

She continued on the main strip and finally picked a random street to turn down. As luck would have it there was a two bay garage in front of a large junkyard. If she couldn't get it fixed, she could at least have them put it in the junkyard. That would hide it from investigators for now.

Large letters hung loose from the building, an outline of the letter ‘E’ was missing, so the sign read WOOL Y’S. Kaity pulled into the lot and crept up to one of the open bays. She saw two men inside the garage, cigarettes hanging from each of their mouths. She felt uneasy the second she saw the two men, but then they started moving toward her and she really had no choice but to wait. Driving the car wasn’t an option anymore. This was the perfect spot to try to get it fixed or just dump it and run.

As the men got closer, Kaity rolled the window up until there was only a crack open and locked the doors.

“Hey there,” one of the men said with the cigarette still hanging from his mouth.

He put his hands on the roof of the car. Kaity saw his shirt had a faded patch that read Jack.

“There’s something wrong with my car,” Kaity said. “It’s not really mine, but a friend let me borrow it. Not sure if it’s worth fixing.”

“Anything is worth fixing,” the other man said.

His name tag read Willy.

“Why don’t you come on out and let us have a look?” Jack asked. “What’s the problem?”

“Noise,” Kaity said. “I may have had a situation with it earlier this morning. Sounds like some metal is bouncing around. And it has no acceleration.”

“Okay,” Jack said. He reached for the door handle and pulled. The door didn’t open and he stepped back. “Can you unlock the door?”

Kaity froze. She shook her head.

“What is this?” Willy asked. “This a joke?”

“I’m sorry,” Kaity said. “It’s…”

Out of nowhere came the thunder of a motorcycle. Kaity looked to her left and saw two motorcycles barreling into the lot. The men wore leather and black sunglasses. They each had helmets on and wore a shit ton of rings. They parked the motorcycles and Kaity could instantly sense tension between the bikers and these two mechanics.

“Boys,” one of the men yelled as he took off his helmet and glasses.

Kaity noticed his eyes. They were dark and scary. His half smile like that of a killer.

“What do you want?” Jack asked.

“I’m here for a blowjob,” the man said. He reached down and unzipped his jeans. “Who’s sucking?”