Josh Stallings - Out There Bad

“Then it’s decided,” he said. “She wants you to have her precious cherry, to save her whore sister. How fucking sweet, no?”

Nika’s eyes locked on mine, they begged me to do this thing. I was a dead man. But if they saw her comply, she would live. Dead whores earn no cash. That was the only hope I could find in this ugly mess.

“Bring him,” Kolya snapped. Pockmark walked me, crawling like a dog on a tight leash until I was almost on top of the girl.

Something has gone wrong in the hacienda. A man, a flashlight, searches from above. A light beam cuts through the surrounding brush. It’s been thirty-four minutes since they took the big American. I doubt he is still alive. The hunter from below still stalks my moves. I have doubled back twice and not lost or caught him. Whoever he is, he is good enough to kill me. Dead, I do no good. Trapped between the two. I crawl up the hill. I stay on my belly. I move towards the moving light. He is overweight. He has a child’s face. He has a machine pistol in his hand. When he turns away from me, I move. Springing out, I stand. I swing the razor. He turns. Instead of jugular I slice chunk of neck meat, severing his tendon. His head flops to the left. He lets out a scream. I swing again. He uses the gun as a shield, blocking the blade. My left hand pulls the hunting knife from my belt. I bury it in his back. His scream becomes a death wail. He drops the gun. The razor slices through his throat, quieting his scream to a gurgle.

Somewhere beyond the walls I hear an inhuman scream. “No rescue coming. That will be your boy dying. Now get to the fucking before I get bored and shoot you both.”

Fumbling, I unzipped my pants. My eyes stayed locked on the girl’s. She opened her legs as I climbed on top of her. Her eyes dilated when she felt the tip of my penis brush against her pubic hair. Pockmark had his boot on my ass, and he was starting to laugh and chatter in Russian. I wanted to tell her nothing real could ever be taken from her. But I know that was a lie. Pockmark pushed down, forcing me into her. The girl let out a stifled cry. As I felt myself entering this dry unprepared child, something snapped deep inside my soul.

Driving my fist down, I arched my back and swung up. The motion knocked the boot off me, as Pockmark stumbled I grabbed the chain around my neck and yanked him toward me. Rolling to the left, I pulled him down onto me. His pistol clattered from his hand. Grabbing his ears, I twisted and turned over, landing on top of him. With his ears firmly held, I drove his head down onto the cold tiles. He screamed. I screamed. I slammed his head down again, his skull made a sickening wet crunch. I couldn’t stop. Down went his head, he stopped screaming. His body twitched wildly. Blood and brains slopped from his skull as I continued to pound him into the floor. Somewhere in a distant world, I heard a gun cock. Dropping the ruined man’s head, I glanced up. Kolya was aiming a small automatic at my face.

A roar and flash filled the dim room. Kolya looked down, amazed at the blood draining from his chest. The second shot took him in the gut. His face went from surprise to rage. Then the third shot clipped his shoulder. He fell against the wall. Sliding down, he left a slick trail of blood. He looked down at the oozing blood, surprised, the possibility of being shot had never crossed his mind.

“You bitch, who do you think you are?”

Nika answered by emptying the pistol into his chest. He was dead before the gun clicked onto an empty chamber. She kept squeezing the trigger, clicking on spent shells. Taking the gun from her hand, I tossed it away. She didn’t see me, she was focused on something much farther than the small room could hold. Lifting the automatic that the dead man had dropped, I pulled the girl to her feet. She swayed weakly, her knees buckled. Slipping my arm under hers, I kept her standing. Adrenaline was doing a fair job of countering the booze. The room was still swimming, but I could navigate it. I closed one eye to keep my vision from doubling up on me.

“Where… are the others?” She looked at me, without comprehension. Her eyes rolled up and she went slack. Lifting her over my good shoulder, I dragged my gun hand along the wall for balance. I pushed into the hall. The house was still, in the living room I laid the girl down on a leather sofa. Slumping down beside her, I wanted to sleep, drift off and wake in my bed with Angel. Like a shark, I knew I had to keep moving or die. I didn’t know how many thugs were still alive in the hacienda.

Stumbling from room to room, I opened doors, but found no one waiting to kill me. In the back of the hacienda stood a thick oak door, it was locked, when I rattled the knob I could hear soft voices. Leaning back, I kicked the door, it bowed and cracked but held tight. I bounced backward. Hitting the far wall, I stumbled down onto the tile.

From inside, a girl cried out. Squinting, I pulled the door into focus. A large key jutted from the lock. Dumb fuck. I turned the lock and opened the door. A plump older woman stood in front of three frightened girls, she looked like a tarted up mother hen.

“Kak dala?” The mother hen moved towards me.

“English.” I leveled the small pistol at her.

“Kolya will kill you.” Her eyes were flaming mad.

“He’s dead.” Her face dropped its anger as she started to panic.

“Oh, thank god. You have come to save us,” she said, her eyes darting around, looking for escape at the same moment she was trying to convince me she was happy about this new turn of events.

From the canyon beyond the house, a large caliber gun rumbled, one, two, three shots, then it was quiet. “Time to roll.” I pushed off from the jamb, motioning with the pistol for them to follow.

The mother hen led the girls after me. Picking Nika up off the sofa, her eyes drifted open. She looked around the room with a vacant dreamy gaze. I lifted her up over my shoulder. The floor buckled. I wanted to puke, but kept moving.

Passing through the kitchen, I stepped out into the courtyard. Nika’s body went stiff. Something behind us had scared her. I swung around to find the older woman running at me; she had a butcher knife up over her head. I fired without thinking. A small hole appeared between her eyes. She dropped like a sack of round soft rocks. The three girls stepped over her body without even looking down. Apparently none of them would shed a tear for the old bitch.

Headlights bounced up over the front gate and I could hear the throaty rumble of the Scout as it skidded to a stop.

Peter’s pupils were pinned. “Who the fuck are they?” he asked, looking at the small tribe of girls following me. Noticing my damage, he let out a small gasp. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Bad things.” Setting Nika in the back seat, I almost tumbled in on her. Righting myself I motioned the other girls into the back.

Peter looked at the still rock hard erection outlined in my jeans.

“They fucking doped me — Viagra… let’s roll.” The ground was pitching causing me to sway.

“You can’t drive.”

“Fuck you.” I slid in behind the wheel, turning the key, I ground the already running engine. “Where’s Mikayla?”

“Not with you?”

“I heard shots.”

“There were some flashes near the foot of the mountain, but I didn’t stop to check it out or anything. You said if I heard shots I should come to the house and that’s exactly what I did.” He was speaking so fast, I was amazed he didn’t pass out from lack of oxygen. Whoever had been firing was most likely still down there. I mashed the gas pedal, spinning the Scout into a dusty 360; we almost hit the front gate.

“I can’t drive.” Moving into the passenger seat, I let Peter take the wheel. We caught air flying off the ridge. Slamming down, he fought for control and almost took us off the road. The xenon lit a bright path down the dirt road. Slamming around a rutted curve, we sprayed dirt and rocks out behind us. Hitting the door, my shoulder screamed red pain.