Badlands Trilogy (Book 3): Out of the Badlands Page 18

  He also knew it was likely now, with so much in his way, that he’d fail.

  The rational part of his mind, the part not consumed with bloodlust, told him that he could simply walk away. The rest of the group would never miss him, nor would they look for him. He could then move on to an easier kill, simple as that. Though farther and fewer between, these women were out there. That part of his mind reassured him, nudging him toward a pragmatic judgement call.

  But logic and reason found a locked door in Lester’s mind. It occurred to him that perhaps he’d become obsessed. He already knew that he was probably crazy, compared to the rest of the population at least. He could entertain this notion and still live. Not everyone who was crazy persisted in complete ignorance of their mental affliction. Crazy or not, perception of reality was reality, and Lester Delaney’s reality centered on a singular purpose now. And because of this he found himself willing to take any risk necessary.

  Lester’s opportunity presented itself at daybreak, a simple trip to the bathroom. Nothing so elaborate as to even resemble the scenarios he’d tossed around in his overactive mind the night before. The others in the room slept, light snoring resonating from a few of the meatballs lying on the floor, stinking the place up. What little sleep Lester had gotten proved light at best, so when he heard the rustling of blankets and the pattering of feet on linoleum the sound might as well have been an alarm clock.

  Lester’s eyes sprung open to see Chloe tiptoeing away, toward the restroom. Calling it a “restroom” required some stretching of the imagination. It was really just an outhouse, missing only the half-moon cutout in the door. Tex (a stupid fucking name) had constructed it just outside the building, behind the fence surrounding it. One of the first stops on the “tour” he’d been given after arriving at the compound.

  Although he couldn’t be absolutely certain she was headed toward the outhouse, he reminded himself that he couldn’t hesitate. If her destination turned out to be a potty break, then this might be the only chance he’d have of catching her alone. He’d already screwed things up by hesitating. He wasn’t about to do it again.

  Lester threw back the covers gently and got to his feet, stepping lightly as he pursued his quarry.

  * * *

  Lester followed Chloe as she cut through the hallway within Tex’s building. He felt his pulse quicken as he closed in on his target. Once he got close enough to make his move he would move fast. It surely wouldn’t be the first time he’d taken a woman. He had trained for this sort of thing and he was anything but inexperienced.

  He stayed far enough behind her to avoid her turning around and seeing him, but close enough so as to not lose her. The building was small and there were only so many places to go. Besides, he knew where she was headed.

  Chloe reached the end of the dimly lit hallway, turning right. Lester hurried carefully after her, ensuring his footfalls couldn’t be heard. The carpeted floor helped with that. He glanced around as he lightly jogged after her, ensuring no one followed.

  At the end of the hallway, Lester stopped and peeked around, just far enough to catch a glance of his prey. He saw her, walking, blissfully unaware. His heart hummed in his chest, his fingers tingled and his dick raged with a hard on more intense than anything he’d felt in months. A grin spread across his face.

  The hallway ended at a set of double doors that led to the outside courtyard area. There the outhouse sat near the edge of the property, perhaps a dozen feet away from the fence’s edge. Lester allowed Chloe to open the doors and walk outside. Light from the morning sun filtered in, illuminating the hallway. Then the door closed and the light dimmed.

  With the doors closed and Chloe now outside, Lester got himself moving. He continued quickly and carefully down the hallway, staying close to the wall where the shadows were darker, where he always felt more comfortable.

  At the end of the hallway he stopped and peered through the narrow, rectangular windows set within the door. He had to shield his eyes from the bright morning sun, but through a squint he could make out Chloe’s form as she headed toward the small building near the fence.

  “There you are,” he whispered to himself. He formulated his plan as he stood, watching. He could certainly put her out cold once he got his hands on her, but what then? He looked at the fence surrounding the compound. Way too tall to climb with an incapacitated fourteen year old girl slung over his shoulder. He scanned the fence line and found nothing resembling a gate.

  The more he thought about it, the less ideal his plan became. Getting her out of the compound would be next to impossible. The place had only a few entrance/exit points and those would be guarded. There was no way he would be allowed to carry out an unconscious girl.

  He recalculated. Did he really have to knock her out? He might be able to threaten her. What were her weak points? She was a tough girl, but she had a soft spot for the boy. Threatening Sam could be enough to get her to comply. He could tell her he only wanted sex, she might believe that. He was sure she already thought he was creepy enough for that sort of thing. But could a threat to Sam get her to climb the fence and leave the compound with him?

  Think! he shouted at himself in his head. Find a way!

  He saw the door to the outhouse open. How could she be finished that quickly? How long had he been there staring, contemplating his next move? Long enough to finish her business? His obsession was making him sloppy. Part of his mind told him that, but he ignored it. She was right there. So close. Each step she took toward him brought her that much closer.

  He should leave. Turn back the way he came, down the carpeted and slowly brightening hallway. Back to the group of fucking morons with which he’d gotten himself stuck. Back to pretending to be meek and harmless. Back to watching Chloe from afar while he imagined her throat opened up and pouring blood.

  Before he realized he’d done it, he opened the door and stepped out into the courtyard, into the warm air and bright sunlight. He could smell the outhouse already, its odor already pungent and sharp, even before the temperatures rose. He felt himself take a step forward, toward Chloe. She kept her head down, her gaze focused on the ground below her.

  Thirty feet away. He could make out her budding breasts through her thick shirt.

  Another step.

  Twenty feet away, her neck the color of cream. White, silky, smooth.

  Perfect for his blade.

  He could feel it building, like an orgasm that can’t be denied. Building from within, gaining momentum, passing the point of no return. There would be no stopping any of this. Perfect or not, the time had come. Lester removed the knife he’d reclaimed after being taken in by Ed Brady’s group, feeling the familiar heaviness in his hand. He could almost see the skin splitting under the razor sharp metal, the blood spilling forth in a curtain.

  The look in her eyes. Oh, that look…

  Ten feet away she looked up and saw him.

  She stopped, her eyes wide and knowing.

  Lester sprung, the knife clutched in his hand like an extension of his body.

  Chapter Fifty

  Chloe recognized Lester as a creep from the moment they’d met him, but when she saw him walking toward her with a large knife in his hand and a look of murder in his eyes, it still took her by surprise. She froze, still trying to process things, but Lester kept coming toward her. Sunlight flashed off the knife’s blade as he raised it, preparing for attack. A grin stretched across his mouth, his eyes dark, cold and empty.

  “Don’t move!” a voice called out from behind Lester.

  Chloe looked past Lester to see a young man with a machine gun in hand, holding it at Lester’s head. She hadn’t even noticed him approach. Lester stopped, knife paused.

  “Hands up!” the man said.

  Lester didn’t move.

  “I told you to get your hands up. Do it or I’ll shoot you.”

  Chloe heard hesitation in the man’s voice. He was young, maybe no more than eighteen, not much older than she
.

  Lester raised his hands. “You’re making a mistake,” he said. Chloe heard no tremor in Lester’s voice. It chilled her.

  “You’re the one who made a mistake, buddy,” the guard said. “Tex told me to watch you guys, that some of you couldn’t be trusted. Looks like he was right.”

  “Son,” Lester began, “the best thing you can do for yourself right now is to just turn around and go back. You can’t stop what’s happening here. You’ll only end up getting yourself killed.” He turned quickly to face the man with the gun, his back now toward Chloe. The man jumped and took a step back, raising the barrel higher.

  “Don’t do that!” the guard cried. “I swear I’ll shoot you!”

  Lester paused. He cocked his head to the side. “Turn around. Go back inside. While you can.”

  “No way. You’re coming with me.”

  Lester shrugged. “Have it your way then.” He began to lower his hands and then he shifted. He turned to the side quickly, lunging forward with the knife. The guard fired off a single round and Chloe let out a little scream. Lester crossed the short distance between himself and the guard within a second, plunging the knife into his stomach as he wrapped an arm around the man’s neck. They both went down hard to the grassy ground.

  Chloe watched the struggle, rooted to the spot. It all happened so quickly that she could barely process it. Grunts and growls came from the two men as Lester clawed at the man’s face, his former meekness belying his animalistic aggression. A moment later Lester straddled the guard’s chest, the knife clutched in his right hand. Lester brought the knife down, burying it to the hilt in the guard’s chest. The guard let out a small gurgle as blood erupted from his mouth.

  Chloe’s legs finally woke up. She lunged forward and darted out and around the two men, heading toward the double doors leading into the building. She heard Lester yell something indiscernible behind her, but she didn’t stop to look. Instead she ran as quickly as she could, nearly slamming into the door when she got there.

  She yanked the door open and flung herself inside, tripping over the threshold. She fell forward and her knee slammed into the floor. Pain flared and she cried out, glancing behind through the closing door. She saw Lester get to his feet, bloody knife in hand. He stared at her, his chest rising and falling until the door mercifully closed.

  Ignoring the pain in her knee, she got to her feet and ran. Every step hurt, but she pushed on, knowing that death pursued her from behind. Ahead, the bend in the hallway approached. She glanced back to see one of the double doors open, flooding the hallway with light. Lester’s silhouette appeared, looking twice as tall as he once had.

  Looking like the shadow of a monster.

  She rounded the corner and limped onward as fast as she could, the cold and hard sound of the door at the end of the hallway closing behind her.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Lester stood above the dead man on the ground, watching Chloe limp down the hallway, away from him. The door closed and she disappeared from sight.

  She’d slipped right through his fingers.

  He’d never catch her now and once she got back to the others, they’d round him up and put a bullet in his head for his trouble. He wasn’t about to let that happen. This was the end of the line. He could feel it. It had been a good, long run, but it had finally come to an end. That he could accept, but he couldn’t accept going out on anyone else’s terms.

  No, he’d make his own exit, his own way. His own terms.

  Lester inspected the automatic rifle still clutched in the hands of the dead man lying on the ground below him. An AR-15, thirty round magazines, probably downloaded to twenty-eight. A quick search of the body revealed three more magazines. He did the math in his head…more than a hundred rounds. A good start.

  Lester pocketed the magazines and retrieved the rifle before heading toward the double doors, a grin on his face.

  Going out on his own terms sounded like a fine idea. He opened the door and stepped inside the building.

  * * *

  Ed heard the sound of the girl screaming before she entered the common area, rousing him from a light sleep. His pulse quickened as adrenaline flowed, snapping him fully awake in seconds.

  “Who is that?” Trish said, her eyes opening quickly as she sat up.

  “Chloe,” Ed said. “The new girl.”

  A moment later Chloe burst into the room. “He’s coming!” she screamed.

  Now Zach and Jeremy were awake. Ed glanced around the room and saw others begin to awaken too.

  “He’s crazy!” Chloe yelled, still running across the room, dodging the people still sitting on the floor. She made it to the far side of the room and stopped. She turned and faced the others. “He has a gun!”

  Those four words snapped Ed out of his fog. “Go,” he said to Trish. They got Zach and Jeremy up and to their feet as murmurs grew into nervous talk. Confused looks abounded throughout the room.

  “What the hell is that girl talking about?” Dario yelled, rubbing his eyes.

  “What’s going on, Dad?” Zach asked.

  “Go,” Ed said. “Now. Out the door.”

  Years spent on the road had trained both Zach and Jeremy to follow their father’s instructions. They both sprinted toward the door, hand in hand with Trish. Ed followed, pistol now in hand. He looked back at the group and yelled. “Everybody out!”

  “What the hell’s going on here?” a gruff voice called out. Ed turned to find Tex standing in the room, drawn in from the commotion. Three men with pistols stowed in side holsters accompanied him.

  “The girl,” Ed said, pointing to Chloe.

  “Lester,” Chloe said. “He has a gun. He’s already killed somebody.”

  “Shit on a stick,” Tex said. He turned to one of the men with him, a slim middle-aged man with a thin mustache. “Get the others and—”

  Tex’s body jerked as his head exploded in a chunky, red slurry. His body remained upright for a second before plummeting to the floor.

  “Get down!” the man with the mustache yelled before a hole appeared in his throat. He fell to the floor as gunfire crackled from the hallway. The room erupted in panic. Those on the floor scrambled to their feet, desperately searching for their pistols. Others ran away from the sound of the gunfire. It was absolute pandemonium.

  Ed pushed Zach and Jeremy through the doorway and out of the room. By now some of the formerly sleeping survivors had made it to the doorway and were pushing their way through side by side, blocking the way for others—including Ed. Someone pushed him out of the way, knocking him to the floor. He looked up at the panicked crowd to see Kevin crowded in alongside Dario and the others.

  More gunfire erupted and Kevin’s body jerked madly. Blood splattered, coating Dario and the wall and Ed. Dario yelled and went to the floor. Ed got to his hands and knees, taking cover behind a chair that barely covered him. He heard more gunfire and saw Terry crouched behind an overturned table, firing his pistol at the attacker.

  Following Terry’s aim, Ed located their attacker. A moment later Lester appeared with an automatic rifle in his hands and a smile on his face, pacing around the room. Lester spied Herb running toward the door and put a bullet in his back. The older man fell hard, blood pooling around him.

  Ed took cover as Lester emptied the magazine quickly, unloading a dozen rounds before the rifle went silent.

  He’s out of ammunition, Ed thought. He rose slowly from behind the chair, searching for their attacker, but Lester was nowhere to be seen. He glanced toward Terry, but he couldn’t see his red-headed friend. He saw more bodies lying on the floor, but couldn’t make out who they were.

  A sound came from the hallway. Lester was reloading, but out of sight. Ed could do nothing until a moment later when Lester reappeared. Ed fired a round, but missed. Lester began unloading the second magazine, sending bullets zipping across the room, punching holes in the wall and ricocheting off the floor. Ed could hear Lester laughing between the report
of each fired round.

  Ed remained crouched behind the chair, feeling exposed. The gunfire seemed to go on forever, shot after shot rang out in the small room, echoing like cannon fire. Acrid gunpowder smoke filled the air. Someone moaned from within the room. Ed’s heart pounded, his mouth dry.

  Then the gunfire stopped. Ed didn’t wait for a second opportunity. He rose from behind the chair, located Lester, and pulled the trigger three times. Lester stumbled out of sight.

  “Terry!” Ed yelled.

  No response.

  “Terry!”

  Slowly, Terry rose from behind the table that he’d been using as a shield, his eyes shifting left and right. Ed saw blood spatter covering him.

  “Where’d he go?” Terry asked.

  “Down the hallway, I think.”

  Ed stepped out from behind the chair and made his way to the fallen bodies of Tex and his two men. He retrieved an automatic rifle and two pistols. Terry appeared behind him and Ed handed over one of the pistols.

  “You okay?” Ed asked.

  “Not my blood,” Terry said.

  “Come on,” Ed said.

  The two men headed down the hallway.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  The bullet wound in his leg hurt, but it wasn’t fatal. Lester had enough medical training to know that. Not like it mattered much. Eventually they’d get him. He limped down a hallway, completely unaware as to where Chloe had gotten off to. He badly wished he could find her; even putting a bullet in her head would be enough now. If only he’d made his move back at the farmhouse.

  But everyone died with at least a few regrets.

  Lester came across a room and stopped. He cocked his head to the side and listened hard. Whispers. Somebody inside who thought they could hide. A quaint notion, but with two more magazines left in his pockets, hiding wouldn’t do anybody any good.