Oh, Lord, Carmella thought. Here we go.
Earl stepped over to her, grabbed her arm, and snatched her up from her chair. “Come on.”
Raj awoke and started to whimper, his pudgy hands reaching for Carmella. When he began to cry, Ma stirred and tried to sit up.
Sonny stood. “Earl?”
“Sit the fuck down, Sonny, and take care of your mother.” Adrenaline and need coursed through Earl’s body. He hadn’t planned on doing it this way, but as he watched the girl sitting there, he fantasized about shoving his cock into her, into her mouth, into her pussy, maybe even into her ass. She would have full firm titties instead of flaccid sacks like Linda. And maybe she would like it. Yes, he would make her like it. He had to have her, and he had to have her now.
Sonny moved toward Earl. “What are you doing, Earl?”
Earl ignored Sonny and dragged Carmella out of the room and into the hallway. He had almost reached the living room despite Carmella’s kicking and clawing when Sonny jumped on his back, knocking Earl to the floor and sending Carmella flying into the couch.
“Mine!” Sonny screamed, his face filled with rage as he pummeled the back of Earl’s head with his fists. “She’s mine!”
Earl was surprised that soft, stubby Sonny had jumped him, and some of the blows were starting to hurt. “Get off me, Sonny, or I’m going to hurt you!”
“No!” Sonny shouted. “Ma said she’s mine! You got Ma and she’s mine!”
Earl couldn’t let the fucker beat the shit out of him, so he worked his arm free until the gun was pressed into Sonny’s hip. “Get off or I shoot, Sonny.”
“No!” Sonny screamed, ignoring the weapon while his fists landed on the other man more painfully than Sonny could have imagined possible.
Carmella ignored the pain in her neck and shoulders, dug out the butcher’s knife from under a cushion, and scrambled off the couch. While Sonny continued to pound on Earl’s back, she darted into the bedroom for her screaming son.
Ma was trying to pull herself out of the bed and had one foot on the floor but froze when she saw Carmella waving the knife.
“Don’t move, bitch.” Carmella snatched the car seat.
“No!” Ma screamed. “Don’t take my baby!”
“This boy is mine,” Carmella hissed, throwing up the window beside Ma’s bed. She maneuvered the car seat out and reached her arm out as far as she could. “Hold on, Raj.” She dropped the car seat to the ground below.
“Earl!” Ma yelled. “Sonny! Come quick! She’s getting away!”
Carmella climbed out of the window and landed near the car seat. As she grabbed the handle and started to run, she heard the loud crack of a gunshot.
~***~
Bilal’s violent shivers pulled him out of unconsciousness. Dull pain engulfed him, but it wasn’t as bad as the ripping pain that had coursed through him earlier.
He tried to sit up and felt the warmth of the wolf next to him. He braced himself and looked at the unfamiliar animal, vaguely remembering hurting it and than healing it. The wolf merely thumped his tail once and allowed his ears to fall back in submission.
A frown creased Bilal’s brow at the vague memory of a new set of tentacles and how he had repaired both himself and the wolf. He pulled up his shirt. It was stiff and cold with blood, but he felt his chest and abdomen as well as the new patches of roughened skin. He saw what his son had on his side, only his holes were the size of bullets.
He pulled himself to his feet, and the wolf stood. Bilal watched him warily, but the wolf waited with his tail tucked between his legs. Bilal turned to examine the dark night. The tentacles in his tongue pushed their way from his mouth, and Bilal followed the scent near the dried pool of blood. It smelled like Carmella.
Bilal turned to the dealership building and pictured the woman and man who had exited it. He relived the surprise of being shot and stared at his feet. Something had happened to Carmella right here on this spot of ground.
His heartbeat quickened in anguish. She had fallen to the ground right here. He didn’t see blood. She hadn’t been shot. He hurried to the entrance of the building and pulled the door open. The wolf scampered in behind him.
He crossed his arms in front of himself and tucked his hands beneath his armpits. He scanned the large showroom, his body shivering. The wolf began to sniff and investigate. Bilal moved to a bright red convertible sports car and saw a key in the ignition. Carmella said regular gas didn’t work, but maybe it would since this car had been sitting inside for all these years. He got in and turned the key.
The rumble of the engine startled the wolf, who backed away from the offending vehicle and raised his hackles, thick smoke filling the showroom. Bilal fumbled for the heat controls and turned them on full blast. When his stiff fingers had warmed up enough to be useful, the engine sputtered and the car died. He climbed out of it while the wolf growled at the vehicle.
Bilal spotted a large black Toyota Tundra that reminded him of Carmella’s truck. Her truck was diesel, he thought. Is this a diesel truck? Anxiously he climbed inside and started the engine. It sputtered to life but quickly died. Not a diesel.
But there’s one outside. We were coming inside to find the key.
He checked several offices in the showroom and found no keys. He did find a vending machine in a waiting room outside the service area. The machine contained chips and snacks old enough to have become new life forms, but he didn’t care. He needed sustenance. He pushed the machine over, the loud crash of the shattering glass and metal causing Wolf to scamper away and hide behind a desk.
The wolf looked out at the pack master, who stood fearlessly over the destruction. The human reached down and lifted the broken machine onto its side where several small packages fell out and landed among the glass. The wolf watched the man pick up one of the packages and tear it open. He greedily ate the contents and picked up a second package and did the same. The wolf watched from his hiding place, and then the pack master tossed him one of the packages. The wolf eased toward it and sniffed but didn’t find anything about it particularly interesting. But following the example of the human, he ripped the bag open and found something tasty. He ate greedily and eyed the other packages.
The human tossed him a few more, and they ate. While he munched on the stalest of pretzels, Bilal found a mechanic’s jumpsuit. He shed his bloody clothes and pulled on the jumpsuit, “Mike” written on the breast. Without the blood stiffened clothes he didn’t feel as cold. He looked around at the service area then ransacked desks in the sales area, yanking drawers and searching, always searching—
And then he smiled for the first time.
~***~
There were a series of shouts behind Carmella, both male and female, Ma screaming “No! No! No!” and “Why?” repeatedly and Earl cursing up a storm.
Carmella ran around the house to her truck with Raj in his car seat. She ripped open the driver’s side door.
No key.
For a moment shock froze her. Earl has to have it! She looked toward the front door of the house and saw Earl crouched and aiming the nine-millimeter out into the night.
“Don’t move or I’ll shoot!” Earl shouted.
With trembling fingers, Carmella unstrapped her son from his car seat and held him tightly against her. Moving low to the ground, she darted around the truck to the opposite side and began sprinting into the darkness.
“Stop!” Earl yelled, and a shot rang out.
Pain flared in Carmella’s right thigh, and she stumbled. Please God, no …
Carmella didn’t feel a lot of pain, but when she tried to put weight on her leg it crumbled beneath her. She rolled before she hit the ground to keep Raj from hitting the ground. She tried crawling on her knees through the dirt, but there was nowhere to go.
She had no place to hide.
She felt a kick on her side, and her breath colored the cold air.
“You stupid bitch!” Earl growled.
Carmella curled in
to a protective ball around Raj, covering her head and protecting her baby as Earl began raining down blows with his fists.
“You ruined it all! Look at what you made me do!” Earl gripped her by the back of her shirt and heaved her toward a stump, Raj spilling from her arms.
She reached for Raj, but Earl dragged her a few feet away. She stared at her baby. He wasn’t wearing a coat, and it was far too cold for him.
Earl pinned her arms to the ground and covered her with his body. His face was swollen and bloody, his nose flat and obviously broken, one eye swollen and already turning purple.
Carmella wiggled and squirmed beneath him and Earl tried to force himself between her legs. She thrust her knee into his groin, Earl cried out and rolled over, and she scrambled to her feet dragging her right leg toward Raj.
Earl lurched to his feet and pointed the gun at Raj. “You touch him,” Earl wheezed, “he dies.”
Carmella’s life seemed as if it would crash to a halt. There would be no reason to continue if Raj got shot. “No!” she screamed. “Don’t! Don’t! I’ll do whatever you want.”
He turned and wiped blood from his lips. In a voice devoid of all emotion except his lust, he said, “Take off your clothes.”
~***~
Bilal grabbed a pile of keys from the drawer of a desk, each key attached to a black fob with buttons. He pressed random buttons, but nothing happened. He read through the small tags attached to the fobs and found several marked “Tundra.” He walked as fast as his body would allow to the truck outside, inserting each key into the lock.
The third key worked.
He opened the door, put the key in the ignition, and turned the key.
Nothing happened.
He looked at the floorboards and saw a third pedal. Carmella’s truck only had two, one for going fast, and one for stopping. He pushed the third pedal toward the floorboard with his hand and turned the key.
The engine sputtered once and died.
He climbed in and pressed the third pedal all the way to the floor with his left foot. He turned the key.
The engine growled to life, and Bilal smiled. He lifted his foot from the pedal.
The engine cut off.
He pressed the pedal down and restarted the truck. He looked to his right and pulled the gearshift until it wiggled back and forth. He slowly released the pedal.
The engine kept running.
He turned up the heat, and while the engine idled, he opened the door, stepped out, and stared into the night. He opened his mouth and concentrated on the feel of Carmella and Raj. He reached for the buttons on his jumpsuit and opened the front. Gray snake-like tentacles pushed past his skin, and long and powerful filaments emerged from the tip. They moved to the left, reaching in that direction, stretching toward something invisible to the human eye but clear to the Centaurian eye.
Bilal climbed into the truck, hesitating before closing the door and looking behind him at the darkened, ruined building.
The wolf appeared amid the broken glass and twisted metal of the entrance.
Bilal got out of the truck and pointed inside.
The wolf did as he was bid and scurried up into the unfamiliar interior. He shivered in fear-laced anticipation as Bilal gunned the engine, shifted into first gear, and raced toward Carmella and Raj.
Chapter 30
~Endings~
Carmella’s terror nearly numbed her as much as the cold did. She peeled away several layers of clothing as Earl watched and Raj wailed. When she was only in her bra and jeans, her trembling became fierce. If he walks behind me, he’ll see the knife. I have to keep his attention on my front.
“Take it off …” Earl whispered.
Carmella unhooked the bra, shrugged out of it, and let it drop to the ground. She stood straighter and made no effort to cover her breasts with her arms. “It’s cold. Please, can we go inside? My son isn’t wearing a coat.”
Several expressions passed across Earl’s face before it turned to stone. He gestured with the gun. “The sooner you suck it, the quicker you and your boy can get where it’s warm. Not back to that house; a different one. You, me, and the kid.”
Carmella nodded, sliding one hand behind her to grip the wooden hilt of the knife. She dropped to her knees and suppressed a gag. I will stab the shit out of him before I suck his dick, but I have to keep myself between the gun and Raj in case he fires. Pain flared to life in her right thigh, and she did her best to ignore it. The longer she prolonged this, the longer she and Raj would be cold. She put both hands behind her back to fully expose her swollen breasts.
Earl groaned huskily. He fumbled at his waistband and dropped his pants where they pooled around his knees. His penis strained toward Carmella’s face, thick, hard, and throbbing.
Carmella stopped shaking. She had to do this right or it would be the end of her. She pictured her hand shoving the knife blade through his ball sack and impaling his cock. She pictured slicing it off and stabbing him repeatedly in his groin as he bled to death.
A shot cracked from the porch, the ground near Earl’s feet exploding in a puff of dust.
Earl dropped to the ground and covered his head.
Carmella saw Ma ambling across the yard carrying a rifle.
“Linda!” Earl screamed, cowering.
Ma shuffled toward Earl. “You killed my Sonny.” She fired another shot, and it whizzed wide and struck the stump.
Carmella grabbed her bra and remaining clothes and scrambled toward the truck. She scooped up Raj, who had managed to crawl her way. He was still squirming and crying, but he wasn’t making a sound. Shoot his ass! Carmella thought. What are you waiting for?
Ma limped closer and drew a bead on Earl’s head. “Why’d you kill my boy?”
“I didn’t have a choice, Linda!” Earl shouted. “Look what he did to me! He was trying to kill me!”
Linda fired another shot, and this one hit its target.
Earl screamed like a baby. “Linda, no!” Earl begged as he held his belly. “Linda, please!”
Carmella tried to back away, but her leg felt like it was on fire. She could feel the hot blood wetting the back of her pants. She stared at the house. She had to get there …
“Don’t you move,” Ma said, and she swung the barrel of the rifle in her direction. “William’s all I got now cuz my Sonny’s gone!” Her eyes narrowed, and she returned her attention to Earl, who was moaning in pain on the ground.
Raj’s body became rigid. “Daaadaaadaa!!” he cried. He kicked his little fat legs and clutched at her as if he was trying to get away from something.
Oh my God, is he hurt? Frantically she felt inside his clothes. Dear God, he was burning hot! “Ma, something’s wrong with the baby! He’s hurt!”
Ma’s head swiveled back to Carmella and the hysterical baby. She dropped her right hand from the gunstock, and the rifle butt dropped to the ground. She reached out her right arm. “Give him to me!”
Carmella saw Earl crawling toward Ma. He’s going to grab for the rifle! “Look out!”
Ma snapped up the rifle and pointed it at Earl’s face. “I see him. He’s done for anyway. He’s gut shot. Critters will be eating his intestines all night. Now give the boy to me.”
“No, Ma,” Carmella said. “We need to get him into the house where it’s warm.”
Linda frowned. “Where you think I’m going? It’s cold as shit out here.”
“But you’re still not strong enough to hold him and that rifle,” Carmella said. “Let’s go inside, okay? You don’t want the baby to die, too, right?”
Ma blinked and swallowed back a sob. She shook her head. “Just shut up, will you! Just shut up!”
“Linda!” Earl wailed in pain.
“You shut up, too, Earl.” Ma sighed. “And don’t you ever say my name again.” She fired the rifle, and Earl’s head snapped back, a neat, black hole blooming in his forehead. Ma pointed the rifle at Carmella. “Get my son out of this cold, will you?”
Carmella took a step but fell in a heap to the ground.
“Hurry up, you stupid bitch!” Ma screamed. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
“Earl shot me,” Carmella moaned. She squeezed her eyes closed, and the pain subsided. She crawled and pulled herself across the dirt, her breasts throbbing with the need to feed her baby and leaking milk. Raj hiccupped and reached past Carmella, trying desperately to get out of her arms. She was alarmed to see that he was reaching in Ma’s direction, little fat hands clutching at the air as he cried repeatedly, “Blaaa! Blaaadaadaaa! Dadadada!”
Was he calling Bilal? Not much could have broken her heart more. Her baby was crying for his dead daddy.
Ma followed behind Carmella as she crawled. “Yes, baby boy. Mommy will get you all warmed up.”
Yes, Carmella thought. I will make you warm and safe …
When Carmella reached the porch, the harsh light from inside allowed her to see what was causing her baby to cry out.
Snakes seemed to be coming out of his shirt.
Carmella pulled off his shirt to expose Raj’s tan and pink chest and abdomen and found two gray and tan tentacles whipping around in the air. They seemed to be reaching behind them.
“What’s wrong now?” Ma yelled.
Carmella couldn’t let Ma see the tentacles because she was a crazy bitch with a loaded rifle. “Uh, he had a spider under his shirt.” She dragged herself into the house and fumbled with Raj’s shirt, pulling it back onto his body and swaddling him in one of her shirts.
She struggled to the couch where she offered Raj her breast, praying that he would take it by the time Linda entered the house, but Raj kept turning his head away.
“Blaaa, no!” Raj cried. “Blaaadaadaaa, Dadadada, no!”
No? Carmella thought. He’s saying “no”? Carmella looked into the hallway and what was left of Sonny’s face. Two down, and the one I thought was down to go.
Ma entered the house and hobbled to the couch, reaching for Raj with a shaking right hand while holding the rifle with her left. “Give him to me.”