The Fallen Ch. 02

Trina's dark peals of laughter echo behind us as we practically flee through the trees.

* * * * * *

Danni and I walk hand-in-hand back toward the lake shore after our strange and confusing encounter with Trina. I'm almost certain she knows I saw her knocking boots with her guy, Nathan, but some of what she said was just downright odd, having nothing to do with what I saw. Why didn't Trina call me out on it then and there?

We're both silent until we make it back to the open beach, and I relax when I see other people are still here. It looks like two families have set up tents and campfires, obviously intent on staying the night. A few others are packing up their vehicles and preparing to leave.

Danni leads me toward the parking lot and the Outback, finally breaking the silence when she asks, "Has Trina gone loopy? What was she babbling about?"

"Not a clue," I shrug and shake my head.

"Me either. She was being really creepy, though. We should get back to Bay Ridge."

"Yeah," I agree.

We get in the car, and I guide it back down the mountain without incident. Danni and I are both silent, ruminating on our own thoughts as we travel. I'm glad when we reach more civilized roads and I can feel asphalt under the tires again. I have to resist the urge to speed a little on our way back to the freeway.

Danni leans her seat back and asks, "You okay if I take a little nap on the way home?"

"Sure," I nod, thinking about how much today's events would've taken out of Danni. "Get some sleep, sweetie. I'll wake you when we get home."

"Thanks," Danni says, reaching over to give my hand a brief squeeze.

"Say, Danni?"

"Yeah?"

"Does Trina have any brothers or sisters?" I ask, trying to sound as offhanded as possible.

"No. She's an only child," Danni answers with a deep tiredness in her voice. "Probably why she's such a brat. Her only relative I know of is Kelly."

"Kelly? From school?"

"Yeah," Danni nods with a yawn. "They're cousins."

I'm glad Danni doesn't make much of the question, and I'm also glad what I saw wasn't what it appeared to be. That would give me the skeevies for a long, long time if it was.

Then why did she call that guy 'brother'?

It doesn't take long for Danni to zonk out. Beside the drone of tires on road, Danni's soft, cute snoring is the only sound inside the car. I get back on the freeway, set the cruise to the speed limit, mute the GPS volume, and set Bay Ridge Academy as our destination. I'm glad for the little modern marvel. I'm not sure I'd remember how to get back through the city and then home without it.

I think back on how great today was, right up to that last couple minutes. Trina had seemed so...threatening, not so much like a harmless, high-school "queen bitch" and more like someone truly dangerous. It wasn't even what she said, but rather the way she said it...with an edge of menace. There was also her body language, her stance...she stood there with clenched fists, her feet spread wide, and her upper body leaned forward slightly as if she was ready to spring forward at Danni and I.

I shake my head, trying to focus instead on how fun our shopping trip had been or how incredible Danni was saving Kevin's life or our sunset together...or even the peep show I'd been witness to. None of it sticks, though, my brain dragging my thoughts back to our brief confrontation with Trina and the girl's perplexing statements.

Trina's words are a puzzle I can't figure out, and I realize that is what's bothering me. What is it Danni and I "don't know", and what was Thomas supposed to tell us and why? None of what Trina said made any sense, unless she was being intentionally obtuse just to mess with us.

Or...just to mess with me.

What if she was trying to freak me out to scare me into silence?

That actually makes sense. If Trina deduced I was in the bushes the whole time she was sexing up Nathan like a pro then she's probably pretty pissed off at me. It's not like I did it on purpose, but Trina wouldn't know that.

Maybe I should apologize to Trina Monday, or tomorrow if I run into her, and let her know her "dirty" little secret is safe...let her know I won't blab about her unusual kink. As much as it would sting my pride to say 'I'm sorry' to that monumental cunt, I've never been the type of girl to indulge in gossip. It's hurtful and nothing good ever comes of it. As little as I like Trina I still have no desire to mess with anyone's life in that way. It was stuff like that that had driven Danni to kill herself. I don't think I could live with myself if I thought for even one second I was the driving force behind another person's suicide.

I would also have to tell Danni about my experience in the woods, but I know she'll keep Trina's secret if I ask. Mostly I feel guilty about how being a voyeur had made me feel. Even though I'd been an unwilling observer at first, I enjoyed watching.

Then there was how I made Danni cry by being 'missing' for too long. I feel as though I also owe Danni an apology and an explanation. It may seem like a very small, very minor thing, but I'm not going to start hiding my feelings or keeping stuff from her.

I won't ever treat her like that, but I feel like it's important I sort out my feelings before I can share them.

I sigh with a somewhat conflicted happiness that I'd resolved the 'Trina conundrum'. It freed up my mind to reflect on happier memories from today, though I knew I had an unpleasant conversation with Trina and an honest one with Danni in my near future. I'll cross those bridges when I reach them.

My mind decides to settle on the too short time Danni and I shared at sunset. I'm positive that was my favorite part of the day. This morning I thought I couldn't love Danni more than I already did, but I was wrong. While holding her and watching the glorious sunset, I realized my love for her had grown even more. Was there an upper limit to how much it would grow, or would I simply love her more and more with each passing day? It's a pleasant question I don't mind pondering.

For the first time in what feels like forever I find myself truly looking forward to my future.

I knew once I'd hit the freeway it's only a twenty minute trip back into the city, but it seems to take forever with only my thoughts to keep me company. That, and night having fallen a little while ago has made me a touch drowsy. I have to fight back against a case of the yawns.

I glance at the time when I finally exit the freeway into the city and see it's a little before eight-thirty. That gives us plenty of time to get home before curfew.

I have to keep intermittent watch on the GPS screen as it leads me back through town. I blindly trust the device to lead me home, even though I don't recognize any of these streets. Danni and I did drive around town quite a bit, though, so I chalk it up to my utter unfamiliarity with this giant city and it's mazey streets.

Big mistake.

I'm waiting at a red light when a noisy yellow crotch-rocket pulls up along the driver's side of the Outback. The woman is wearing black riding leathers with red trim, and a matching helmet with a polarized visor. The rider is obviously a woman, her big breasts straining against her tight leather jacket.

She turns her head toward me.

I can't see her face, but I give the biker chick a smile anyway. She returns my friendly gesture by sticking her left hand under her right armpit and flipping me the bird. My expression drops, and I look straight ahead, an uncomfortable knot forming in my stomach. I didn't cut her off or something dopey like that did I? I'm pretty sure I didn't. I'm a good driver...cautious and observant.

The rider revs her bike's engine to crazy high rpms, the mean-sounding roar startling Danni awake. She looks around with bleary eyes.

"Are we home?" she mumbles and rubs her eyes as she yawns and sits up.

Even though the light hasn't changed, the biker chick shifts her ride into gear and lays rubber with a smoking squeal as she rockets through the still busy intersection. She swoops between two cars to the blaring of their horns, her extremely powerful bike accelerating away quickly.

"What was that?" Danni asks, confused at what just happened.

"Some nut job, I guess," I shrug, not sure what else to say.

The light changes, and I press the gas to get the car moving again. I turn where the GPS tells me to, heading down a narrow street.

"This doesn't seem right," Danni tells me, her eyebrows furrowed as she looks around.

"I don't know," I shrug again. "I'm just following the GPS."

"Okay," Danni responds, leaning back in her seat. "Strange. I don't remember this part of the city."

"Construction reroute maybe?" I offer.

"Maybe," Danni says, not sounding convinced.

The GPS leads us into a rather depressing area full of derelict-looking warehouses and drab, crumbling buildings with weather-beaten plywood boarding up many of the windows. Half or more of the street lamps in the area are burned out or broken, giving this stretch of road a ghost town atmosphere.

"I don't like this," Danni says as she looks around. "No traffic...no people. Where are we?"

She leans forward to manipulate the GPS, but it doesn't respond.

"What the...? It's locked up or something?" she tells me.

"Really? This car is practically brand new. How can the thing be failing?"

"I don't know," Danni replies in a worried tone. "I can't get it to do anything, and I have no idea where we are."

"It's okay," I try to reassure Danni. "I'll just keep driving until you see a street you recognize."

"I don't like this," Danni says nervously.

I look back up to the road ahead and see a single headlamp coming toward us. As it nears I hear the high-pitched roar of a crotch rocket. The bike races past in the opposite direction at well over the speed limit, and I catch a flash of yellow and black riding leathers with red trim.

I try to keep the panic I'm starting to feel out of my voice when I tell Danni, "I think that was the same biker chick that flipped me off a minute ago."

"Okay, that's it," Danni says, her face mirroring my own rising fear. "Turn us around and try to retrace your steps."

I nod, look around, and start to flip a u-turn...when the Outback's engine dies.

"What in the actual fuck?!?" I say, unable to keep a warble of hysteria from my tone.

I pop the transmission into neutral and try to roll the vehicle closer to the edge of the road before bringing it to a stop. I put it in park, press the brake, and hit the start button.

Nothing happens.

I push it again and again in a panic as I repeat, "What in the actual fuck!!!"

"Why won't it start?" Danni asks with wide eyes.

"I don't know!" I shout, more at the car than her as I hit the steering wheel with both hands.

I immediately regret it, though, and tell Danni, "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to yell at you. It's just...this fucking car..."

"I know," Danni nods in understanding.

I inhale through my nostrils and exhale heavily through my mouth to try and calm my nerves. Two young women alone in an obviously bad neighborhood at night is not where I wanted to end up today.

"Alright," I say. "Let's think about this logically."

The head lights are still plenty bright, and the dashboard displays are still lit up so we have power. The fuel gauge says we still have half a tank of gas.

As much as I hate to say it...

"Can you hand me that flashlight?" I ask Danni as I pull the hood latch release. "I'm gonna take a quick peek and see if something glaringly obvious is wrong."

Danni nods, getting the flashlight from the glove box, and tells me, "I'm going with. Two pairs of eyes are better than one."

"No," I shake my head. "You stay inside and call a tow truck."

"Good idea!" Danni brightens as she hands me the flashlight. "I'm such a blond. Why didn't I think of that?"

I step outside as Danni gets her phone. I open the hood and prop it open, shining the light around inside the engine compartment as I carefully inspect everything I can see. It looks absolutely pristine.

I have to admit to myself I know next to nothing about cars...only what my mom showed me. She taught me in the event of a breakdown you look for leaking fluids, loose wiring connectors, broken belts, bulging hoses, dirty or loose battery cables, or anything that just looks wrong or out of place.

I can't find anything like that, though. I close the hood and get back inside the car.

"I can't see anything wrong. Tow truck on it's way?" I ask hopefully.

"No. My phone won't open a web browser or place a call. It has power...I have full bars...it just won't do anything."

Just like the car.

This is getting damn creepy.

"Lemme try mine," I offer.

My phone is doing the same thing. It has full bars but no internet, no phone calls. I try to text my brother to no avail. In a last ditch effort I dial 911. Phones are always supposed to allow that, right?

Nothing.

Danni's phone won't dial 911 either.

"What do we do?" Danni asks.

"I don't know...walk?"

"In this neighborhood?"

I try the car's start button one more time but get the same results as before...namely nothing.

"I don't see how we have a choice, unless you want to sit and wait?" I ask.

Danni looks around at the darkened streets and begins to say, "Not really...I guess we should...oh my god!!!"

Danni's startled voice matches her wide eyes, and a ticking on my window makes my heart leap into my throat. My head snaps that direction. There's a man tapping on the glass with one finger. He smiles a gap-toothed grin, his appearance making him look like the poster boy for a 'faces-of-meth' compilation.

"You ladies need help?" he asks, his look telling me he wants anything but to help us.

"No thanks. We're fine," I speak through the glass, a rising dread climbing my spine.

"I can see that," he jabbers rapidly, "can't you see that, Bear, these two ladies are f-i-n-e fine."

Danni and I swing our heads the other way and see a second man at her window, just as rail-thin and haggard-looking as his buddy. The second man taps a six-inch hunting knife against Danni's window.

"You look like a couple party bitches," this Bear character grins at Danni. "You party bitches? You wanna party with us, right?"

"Erykah?" Danni looks at me terrified.

"Fuck off, assholes! We have a gun!" I yell, not able to think of anything else.

"Well what a coincidence," the first man says. "So do I."

He lifts his other hand into view, a snub-nose revolver in his gnarled mitt. He taps the pistol against the glass of my window.

"C'mon. Come party with us. Last time I ask nice," the man says.

I'm frozen with fear, just like Danni, but when the man with the gun starts yanking on the locked door handle I start pushing the Outback's "start" button over and over to no avail.

The man with the gun presses the barrel against the window with a 'tink'. He pulls back the hammer with an audible clicking sound.

"Hey, Bear," he calls to his buddy, but his eyes are staring right at me.

"What's that, Benny?"

"What do a pulse and an orgasm have in common?"

"What's that, Benny?"

"I don't care if she has one," he tells the joke's punchline with no attempt to veil the implied threat.

"Okay, okay!" I say, raising my hands. "I get the point."

My only thought right now is Danni. I can't see a way out of this horrible situation, but I'll do my damned best to give her a chance to escape.

"If you boys want to party I'm down," I tell them loudly through the window.

"That's what I'm talking about, sweetheart. Now open up."

I nod.

I reach out to unlock my door, but Danni grabs my arm and whispers, "Erykah no!"

"Danni...run if you get a chance. Fucking run," I tell her under my breath, trying to keep my lip movement to a minimum so Benny can't read my words.

"No," she protests weakly.

Something my mom taught me when I reached puberty...if a man tries to rape you, you scream and bite and kick and punch...you fight. You never just let it happen. A woman is more likely to survive any kind of assault if she fights back. I don't want to die, but the fuck if I was going to let these festering assholes just have their way. If they want to rape me they'll have to rape my bloody corpse.

My heart is pounding a rapid, jack-hammer tattoo, and adrenaline is racing through my veins to the point where my hands are shaking. I'm good and goddamn angry, and I'm ready to hurt this man outside my window. I'm about to unlock the door when something occurs to me.

"I'll party with you boys," I say loudly. "I'll party all night long, but one condition. You leave Danni alone."

"Sure, sweetheart, sure. You got it," Benny smiles.

I know he's fucking lying, but that's not the point. If he thinks that I think they'll let Danni go then he might just let his guard down. They'll expect me to cooperate in exchange for her safety. It's a big gamble to bet their drug-addled minds won't see around the little double deception, but it's worth a try.

I try to lay on the sweetest smile I can muster and say, "Alright then. Let's party."

I unlock my door.

Benny whips it open and jerks me from my seat by the arm. I grimace against the pain. If I didn't know better I'd think he just yanked my shoulder out of joint.

"That's not how you party," I protest coyly as Benny pushes me up against the car, his gun pointed at my head.

It utterly disgusts me to bring even one second of pleasure to this human piece of garbage, but I reach down and lightly rub his pants where his crotch is. I force a smile on my face, trying my best to make it look natural. I feel him start to respond under where my hand is rubbing, a small bulge forming beneath his filthy pants.

"Oh, yeah," he says with his gap-toothed smile. "Check her out, Bear."

I have to quell my gag reflex when I catch a whiff of his putrid breath. It smells like dead rats rotting in their own shit-filled nest. The other chunk of asshole named Bear starts moving toward the back of the car and away from Danni, his eyes watching me.

Good. I have their attention. They've taken the bait, but now I've got to jiggle the line and wait until the right moment to sink the hook. I have to make sure they're so focused on me that Danni can get away. I'm going to hurt at least one of them really bad, and they'll will likely kill me for it.

If my love gets away then that's all that matters.

I try to imagine I'm talking to Danni when I start unbuttoning his jeans and force myself to say, "You want me to suck it?"

"Hell yeah," he grins but presses the gun harder against my temple. "Bite it, though, and I'll splatter your brains all over your pretty friend."

Bear laughs at that, and Benny seems to notice for the first time that his buddy is moving away from Danni's side of the car.

"Dammit Bear! Watch that other cooze! You'll get your turn."

Benny is right handed, the same hand that's holding his gun. It's natural for people to gesture with their dominant hand when they speak, so when Benny moves the gun away from my head to wave it in Danni's direction I know it's now or never. I might not get another chance.

I don't have much space, but I move as quickly and forcefully as I can. I swing my left forearm at Benny's gun hand, hoping to knock the weapon from his grasp. The gun must have a hair trigger because my strike causes it to discharge with a deafening 'BANG!'.

Boooooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

My ears start ringing loudly, telling me I'm still alive so I don't stop. I bring my knee upward as viciously as possible into my attacker's groin. I feel and smell his breath as it's knocked from his lungs. I lean back and then headbutt Benny. It hurts like hell, but I think I may have broken his nose because I see blood splatter his face. With any luck his eyes will be too teared up to shoot straight if he still has his gun.