Psycho? : Run

Just a heads up, this is a short one and not every question is answered.

Rob rolled over and checked his phone. Carrie was in the bathroom crying but he really didn't care. After all he didn't force her into the car this Friday, she willingly left her husband with their autistic child and rode with him up to the cabin. She had proved a hard nut to crack, but after about 4 months of working he knew he would get her. It only took another 30 days before he had her convinced, she needed a little break from her unemployed husband and chronically ill brat. Hence the weekend "conference". Whether it was guilt or pain she was crying from didn't really matter either. She should have figured that vanilla sex wasn't going to cut it. He could have given her a little more warning before he shoved his dick up her ass but where was the fun of that? The surprise and moaning got him off faster. He could talk her into doing it a few more times this weekend and she would be fine. If she wasn't okay with it, she really couldn't say anything could she? The dumb bitch knew what she was getting into and if she filed a complaint with work, well he wasn't a supervisor so there were no fraternization policies being broken. She wasn't going to tell her husband because if he found out and divorced her she would be left with a special needs child to care for all alone while probably paying spousal support since he had been laid off for the last six months. Nope, all in all he had it pretty good, a married slut for the weekend who could not say no was his favorite pastime. He would drop her off humiliated, used, and broken then never talk to her again. His phone beeped that he had a message, he grabbed his glasses and looked at it.

RUN Was all it said.

He frowned. The number was anonymous, what did it mean?

RUN Came the next message.

What the hell?

As he went to respond he heard glass break, and something slam into the headboard about two inches above his head. He barely registered the sound of a gun.

He rolled out of bed and hit the ground as another bullet smashed into his alarm clock.

"Holy SHIT" he yelled as he kept low to the ground and grabbed in his pants.

Carrie had spent the last 15 minutes crying from pain and mortification. Everything seemed so right at first, her constant stress level was so high, but Rob seemed to understand that. Yes, she was going to take a weekend and get away, she was also going to have sex with him, but Rob had made it seem like it would be a good thing. Her husband, Fred, had done his best at taking care of Cody while he was unemployed, and she always came home to dinner and a spotless house. He had a job as soon as the new battery plant opened, but there had been delays because some local government people had decided that they didn't want a Chinese owned manufacturing plant in their backyard at the last minute. They were barely scraping by even with the extra workload she was taking on. It had gotten her a promotion, but any extra money was quickly taken away by Cody's last bout with pneumonia. Taking him to the doctor was always an ordeal because he didn't understand why they were doing these tests or drawing blood. It killed her inside every time to watch her child in pain and not be able to even explain that they were trying to make him better.

Rob made it seem so simple, take a weekend away, destress, and come back with a new perspective. Now all she had was a sore asshole and a shit ton of guilt and self-loathing. How could she do this to Fred? To Cody? She was a shit person. Her phone beeped in her purse. She numbly opened the message. It came from a blocked number.

Take his car and leave, you are not part of this. If you stay you die. Leave your phone.

She heard a yell from Rob and managed to unlock the door to investigate the room. Rob was on the floor with one leg in his pants trying to desperately dial something on his phone. He peeked his head up and she heard a gunshot at the same time the window shattered and saw a liquor bottle explode. He looked at her with fear in his eyes.

"Call 911, some asshole is shooting at me!" he yelled.

Another bullet slammed home right beside him. Carrie's flight or fight response kicked in and she dropped her phone. Ducking down, she grabbed what clothes she could as she made her way out the bedroom door. As she left the kitchen, she grabbed at Rob's car keys and made her way outside his cabin.

Rob couldn't believe it. The bitch was running. He went to get up and a bullet whizzed past his ear and slammed into the footboard of his bed. There was glass everywhere from the window shattering. It got eerily quiet, and Rob heard his car start outside. That bitch! Suddenly, his Bluetooth sound bar kicked on at an insanely loud volume.

"TAKE IT ON THE RUN BABY, IF THAT'S THE WAY YOU WANT IT BABY....."

As panic started to set in, something else came through the broken window. He barely had time to register as a glass bottle with a lit rag broke about ten feet away from him. Blue flames spread across the floor and the carpet started to burn. He heard two more windows break and the smell of gasoline hit his nose just as his fire alarm went off, adding to the cacophony that was coming from his sound system. It was time to move. As he crawled along the broken glass he barely registered the cuts on his hands and knees. As he got outside the bedroom, he painfully made it to his feet and saw that his cabin was on fire in multiple places. Through the thickening smoke he could see the open door, so he staggered in that direction. All the wood paneling and rustic accents were catching fire quickly. He stumbled out the door and turned to look at his sex retreat. It was all going up in smoke. He caught his breath and wondered what the hell was going on. A gunshot snapped him out of his reverie.

He turned to look and saw a figure in a ski mask walking in his direction. He also noticed the revolver that was pointing at him. Another shot rang out and the dirt at his feet kicked up.

Rob ran.

Without thinking he ran down his walking path toward the pond on his property. Adrenaline fueled his steps as he flew down the well-worn walkway. Pain shot through his knees and hands as he stumbled, pushing the shards of glass deeper into his skin. He turned around and put his back to a tree. The adrenaline finally left him, and he started shaking. He could see the smoke curling up above the trees, he was bleeding profusely from his cuts, and he could barely draw a breath. As he sat there hyperventilating, he saw the figure calmly walking towards him. The revolver was pointed at him, and the man stopped about ten feet away. Time seemed to slow as Rob watched the finger curl on the trigger.

Click, the hammer fell forward.

The man pulled the trigger again

Click,

Click,

Click,

Anger washed over Rob. He painfully started standing up to rush this figure who had caused him so much pain. If he was going down, he was going to go down fighting.

Click,

BOOM the gunshot sounded so much louder when it was only ten feet away.

Pain erupted in Rob's guts. The impact stumbled him back a little and he slowly fell back down against the tree.

Rob looked at the figure and managed to wheeze out one question.

"Why?" he asked.

"You pissed off the wrong people Rob," the figure replied. "I don't know the specifics, but someone has it out for you. The fire department is on its way, you shouldn't bleed out before they find you. I was told to make you scared and make you run. Maybe you know what that means. Anyway, have a good day."

The man turned around and walked back down the path. Rob tried to think about what the man said but the burning in his guts was too much.

His last thought before he passed out was.

"Why make me run?"

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This job was messy, but the pay was good. This would pay off the last of Martha's hospital bills. I didn't like leaving so many loose ends, but I did my best. Both of their cell phones were burned up. And even if they managed to track the number, I had sent the text message from, it would show up as a burner. I had policed my brass from my rifle shots. The bottles were generic dollar store varieties that were bought a couple years ago when Martha wanted to do some craft or other. I hated interacting with the target but that was what the extra money was for. All in all, I felt pretty good about the job. Since this was an Underwood contract, I would get some level of protection, but I didn't think I would need it. The local cops don't have the resources for the CSI television show treatment. If it went to the Feds, Underwood had some people. Besides, I would be 500 miles away in a few hours. Nurse Kelly was going into her four day off stretch and we were going to do some hiking. Something about her thick fit body got me going and she seemed to be a nice person. Martha's current boyfriend seemed decent and passed every check I could run on him. I was keeping an eye out though.

As I was boarding the plane, I was surprised to have an extraneous thought. Normally I compartmentalize easily. I wondered what would happen with Carrie and her family. Oh well, not my problem.

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Authors note: I have had people want some more of the character from my story "Psycho?" I also admit to liking him and wanting to write him some more. My writing time is so limited that I truly appreciate being invited to these events because it "forces" me to write, which I enjoy immensely. I am moving from Michigan down to Texas in a couple months along with going to nursing school and working full time. Hopefully things will calm down and I will be able to dedicate more time to doing things like this that I enjoy. Thank you for reading and Thank you to Randi for the invite. As always I will try to do better next time. AMBER FOREVER!

Ahaz