Mia Carter THE DARE

CHAPTER TWELVE – THE CHASE

The three, tired and heartbroken ladies said their goodbye’s. Kala and Taylor headed back to their neighborhood. It wasn’t an overly long drive, but long enough to have them both on edge.

“Tay, can I stay at your house tonight?” Kala asked as she rubbed her arms, despite the warm evening.

“Of course you can. My parents aren’t home, they’re still on their vacation and I would love the company. I don’t really think I’ll do much sleeping though.” Taylor shuddered as she headed back onto the highway. “It makes me nervous getting back onto an open road like this.”

“There’s no way that guy knows where we are. We got away Tay.” Kala tried to ease the fear but was worried herself that this murderer was somehow tracking them. Paranoid, that’s what they were feeling. They were driving down the highway, Taylor was trying to keep the speed normal, but she wanted so desperately to be home and off the road. She stayed in the right lane of the highway. A few minutes into the drive, something had her very nervous and looking frequently into the rearview mirror.

“Kal, there’s some kind of SUV in our lane and coming up fast.” Taylor had been watching her mirrors when she spotted the large SUV get onto the freeway and stay behind her. Not too close at first, but now it was coming at them at high speed.

“Maybe it’s a police SUV. They usually have them out on weekend nights to nab the drunk drivers. Maybe they want to run your plates, see if they have cause to stop you. It is pretty late.” Kala hoped and prayed that’s all it was. But what would they do if they were pulled over? How could they harbor the horrible secret they now shared? Would the officer see right through them? Kala turned around slightly to see what Taylor was seeing. The SUV hit its high beams suddenly as it raced up to catch them. Not the police she thought with mounting fear.

“Shit! This has to be the guy from the alley!” Taylor swore again and hit the gas harder. The Chevelle growled under her foot hitting the floor. Her gas gauge was dropping too rapidly for her liking. “We can’t be in this chase too long! My car is sucking gas down the faster I go!” Taylor once again was battling the panic.

“Maybe it’s not the guy from the Alley, maybe it’s John! He might have been watching May’s house the whole time! Just go Taylor!” Kala screamed. The SUV was right on top of them.

’You can run but you can’t hide. I know who you are. I saw you. You might have snapped a picture of me. Can’t have that going viral, now can we? Kala, Taylor and May, watched your whore of a friend get sliced up. Boo-hoo. I’ll just scare you for now. I’ll get my hands on you three later. Can’t have you running around telling everyone what you saw.’ The killer pushed harder on the gas pedal of his blacked-out SUV, riding right up to the bumper of the cherry red Chevelle that was so desperately trying to get away.

“Taylor, take the next ramp, but do it at the last minute, your car can handle the sharp turn, his can’t! He’ll flip or lose control if he tries! No matter what he’ll have to slow down faster than us!” Kala prayed she was right and held on, bracing for the maneuver.

Taylor gripped the steering wheel and put her hand onto the stick shift ready to make her move. The two cars flew up to the exit in no time and at the last second, she jerked the wheel to the right and sped up the ramp. The SUV close behind them slammed on the brakes so hard smoke could be seen from the screeching tires. The SUV almost hit the barrier wall but managed to stop in time. The Chevelle staying in control, raced up the small incline and bend with ease. She down shifted and made a quick right turn without stopping, thanking God no one was trying to go straight, she floored it further. Taking a few different streets and turns, hoping to have put enough time and distance between them, she wound her way towards the highway again. A car was coming towards them on the opposite side of the road. Since Taylor’s car was still a ways away from the turn onto the highway, the car coming towards them made the left to get onto the ramp. It was the blacked-out SUV.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Kala hit the dashboard in anger. How can this be happening? Was he really tracking them? It had to be John. No way that guy from the alley could find them like that she thought, rage and fear mixing into one emotion.

“No way, that’s just… not… possible.” Taylor slowed her car further, the SUV hadn’t noticed them, she carefully turned onto the on-ramp. She would have kept going on the road they were on, but Taylor hated to admit, she was somewhat lost. The chaos had her turned around and she only knew the highway route. This wasn’t an area she traveled on frequently.

“Tay, it is that SUV. Maybe we can follow it, see where it goes and tell the police.” Kala suggested.

“No, this car is too obvious, if he spots us he’ll come after us again. I don’t have the gas to keep doing this all night Kal. We have to get off the road and take side streets home, does your phone still have battery left? We can GPS a different route.” She tried not to be obvious about her slowing down, but the lights making the highway visible were also making them very visible. They were the only two cars on the road. She should have kept going straight. She cursed at herself for foolishly getting on the highway. Though, some part of her did want to follow it and find out who it was or see where it was going. If they did, they might have something more to give to the police tomorrow. They couldn’t chance being seen though. If this was the killer, he wasn’t stupid and he would never lead them anywhere but to their ultimate deaths. If it was John, it was the same situation. Either way they were in trouble no matter who it was.

“We are so screwed, he’s going to see us.” Taylor was desperately wanting an exit to come up again. Just then the SUV slammed on its brakes in the middle of the highway. Taylor did the same, stopping a few feet away from it.

“Shit.” They whispered harshly together. Both vehicles were sitting dangerously on a highway of unsuspecting traffic. They would be killed if someone came up behind them.

“What do we do now?” Kala asked, terrified, looking on at the SUV stopped and still running. It was a standoff. If Taylor tried to make it around the SUV, what’s to say this person didn’t have a gun trained on them and would shoot at them as they drove by. The windows were so darkly tinted, there was no way to see how many people were in there or if whoever it was had a weapon. Kala looked nervously behind them, making sure no cars were bearing down on them.

“Let’s call the cops.” Kala grabbed her bag and continued digging for her phone.

“And tell them what?! We’re in the middle of the highway somewhere and having some kind of sick standoff with a blacked-out SUV that’s been chasing us since witnessing our friend’s murder?!”

“We have to do something! We have to get out of this!” Kala was frantic as she dug through her large bag to find her phone.

The driver side door to the SUV opened slightly. Taylor smacked Kala on the arm to get her attention. Taylor thought about punching into reverse and spinning around until they found the ramp they’d used to get back on the freeway. That was suicide though, not knowing what cars would be driving towards them. They watched in terror as the door opened further and a long leg in heavy work boots and denim jeans made its way to the ground. The driver was getting out of the SUV. His face was hidden by a hat pulled low, his jacket collar was popped up covering the rest of his face and neck. He kept his face towards the ground as he slowly got out and turned towards the Chevelle. He was a tall man, muscular, even through his dark blue jacket you could see the tensed muscles of his arms and shoulders. They couldn’t see his hair to know the color. He looked like most people they knew that were tall. They couldn’t see any kind of noticeable feature about the man to tell the police. He looked generic. He really wasn’t stupid. There wasn’t anything in his hands that she could see that he could use as a weapon against them. Okay, she though, so he wasn’t going to shoot them. What the hell was he doing then? Taylor slowly pushed in the clutch and was trying to get ready to find the gears that would blast them away from this nightmare. The driver of the SUV turned back to the opened door, flipped a switch on it and the back hatch was opening automatically. Weapons were made visible there and he was now quickly making his way to the back of the SUV to reach them. A shotgun was visible, they could see glinting metal in the headlights of Taylor’s car. The knives, they thought.

“TAYLOR GO!” Kala screamed. Taylor found the gears and sped towards the SUV and the driver now sprinting to the back where the weapons were. Taylor raced by the SUV and Kala had turned her head in time to catch a glimpse of the man trying to get the shotgun. She also managed to see part of his face. She closed her eyes hard. Was that real? Did she really recognize that face? No, it couldn’t be. It was her imagination, right? The girls sped away, leaving the SUV alone on the highway.

’Run my little bunnies. Run while you can. I’ll catch up to you. There’s nowhere you can go that I can’t find you. I’ll get you all for this. You should not have been there. But I’ll get you for this. Run my little bunnies. Run.’

Taylor pushed the car to its limits, the engine screamed, the RPM’s were redlining, she had to get away, but she couldn’t afford to lose the vehicle if it overheated. She reluctantly slowed. An exit was coming up and she took it fast. She kind of knew where they were. They would have to back track a bit. She didn’t realize how far they had gone past their own homes during the chase. She zig zagged her way through side streets and turned off her lights. The GPS was now guiding them back home. The street lights were enough to see the road. She hoped having her lights off would help them hide from the SUV driver should he have managed to recover and continue pursuit. She continued down residential streets, slowly making her way back to her parent’s house. Relief washed over the both of them when they turned down Taylor’s street. It was quiet, it was softly lit and even better, there were no cars anywhere on the street. They were safe for the time being, the SUV had not found them. Tonight they would be ok in her house. Glad to have a garage big enough, she pulled into it and immediately hit the garage door button to close them inside. The car was off, the engine creaked and groaned from the heat of the chase. The girls sat there for a moment in silence. The entire day had turned in a nightmare. They opened the doors, grabbed their bags and got out. Taylor ran her hands along the car, patting it like you would pat a dog that had done something good.

“I’m sorry for that torture baby, but thank you.” She said softly to the car as though it had experienced the horror of the night with them. She shook her head at her silly words. Man, she was really tired and out of it now. “My dad is going to kill me if I hurt this engine.” She looked at the car that had saved their lives, but not Cristy’s. She looked at her Fitbit watch, two o’clock in the morning it read. Taylor sighed and felt her whole body begin to drain of energy.

“Tay, don’t you think we have bigger fish to fry at the moment?” Kala somewhat laughed the question. The adrenaline was wearing off and it felt like she’d been slammed against a wall. Suddenly remembering what Cristy had looked like, pinned against the wall, she fought back tears.

“You’re right. Yeah, I guess right now, that isn’t the issue.” Taylor agreed. They walked into the house, keeping the lights off. Taylor was still paranoid the SUV might drive by. It was a silly thought. How could that driver know where she lived? He wasn’t a magician. But he could have run her plates somehow. Marc’s words echoed back in her mind when he had talked about being able to buy people’s information on the internet. A new worry twisted her stomach in knots, would this person go after her parents? Her family? She had two older brothers that lived on their own, would they be targets? She had to shove the thoughts out of her mind for now or she would go crazy. She told Kala to keep lights off too, she didn’t want anyone knowing they were there. She grabbed the shot gun with the flashlight attachment on it that her dad kept in the hall closet. She checked it to make sure it had shells loaded in it and kept the safety on as they went up the stairs. They entered Taylor’s room on the second floor and she went to the bathroom to turn on the soft night light. No windows in here she thought. No one would see the light from outside.

“Tay, the driver of the SUV. Did you happen to see his face when we drove by?”

“I was more worried about getting us the hell out of there than what that idiot looked like. I was watching the road, not the driver. Why? Did you get a look?” Taylor looked at her friend. She was tired, dark circles were forming under her eyes. Taylor figured she looked about the same.

“No, not really. I was just curious. He was reaching for that shotgun he had though. He was going to shoot at us.” Kala lied about not seeing the drivers face. She was still trying to think if she had imagined it or not. People saw things that weren’t there in times of crisis right? Maybe that was what had happened. She tried to make the thought disappear and rubbed her burning eyes.

“Let’s try to get some sleep.” Taylor suggested. She looked at her phone, Joey had been trying to call her. She texted him that she was going to sleep and would talk to him in the morning. She also told him to get the guys gathered up to meet back up at May’s sometime tomorrow. What would they tell Jack? She was sure it would be all over the news by morning though. How could they tell Jack the details about Cristy? How could they tell him she was murdered in front of them and they couldn’t stop it, they couldn’t save her.

Taylor wiped the tears off her face. She tried to get focused on the day coming up fast. She propped up the shot gun on the wall next to where she would sleep. Taylor got out new shirts and yoga pants for them to wear for the night. She wanted the filth of the night off of her but was so tired she couldn’t bring herself to shower. Kala had changed and washed her face in the bathroom, then flopped down on the big recliner that was in Taylor’s room, her parents had made a partial office out of it while she was at college and was fast asleep in minutes. Taylor kept the small light in the bathroom on for comfort. She decided against taking one of her anti-anxiety pills. If trouble did follow them to her house, she didn’t want to be in a fog from the pill. She cleaned up her face, pulled her hair back and changed into the comfortable pajama’s she had picked out. She took one of the blankets from her closet and draped her sleeping friend in it.

She peeked out the window from the second floor and looked out on to the street. Quiet. Dark. Calm. She would try to rest and then tomorrow they would all try to make sense of what happened and grieve the loss of their dear friend. As she put her head down onto her pillow, she hoped sleep would take over. Instead her mind began replaying the whole day and heart wrenching night. Cristy’s screams rang in her ears. The blood, the blade, the man. Who was it? Did Kala really get a look at the driver when they raced by? She wanted Joey beside her now, to hold her and comfort her. She wanted to feel his warmth and cry into his shoulder. She thought about the kisses they shared on the bridge and the promises they made. She was wishing, now, she had told him to come over. She needed him. She wanted him. She thought of him lying next to her, holding her, touching her. She wanted to feel something good instead of this terrible panic and fear. She wanted the whole thing to be a bad dream and to wake up fresh and restart the day of May’s party, Cristy still alive. Nick’s face floated into her mind. He was handsome she thought. His eyes were so keen on hers when they came face to face at the creek, it unnerved her. Why was that such a strange encounter? What had really happened to him? Sally didn’t seem like the type to push a guy off a rock. She seemed too prissy for that behavior, Taylor thought with a sneer. Sally was mousy and weak. She scolded herself for thinking that. She didn’t even know the woman and her strange partner. Maybe she wasn’t mousy and weak by her doing, maybe Nick was a jerk and was brutal to her. Maybe he abused her. Her thoughts turned to John and their encounter after the thought of Nick being abusive to Sally. Maybe poor Sally was in a troubled relationship. She could see John’s dark, handsome face in her mind now. The kiss he’d forced onto her. How she kissed back, the guilt she felt. Her stomach tightening. The phone call he made to May’s house detailing what he wanted to do to her. STOP IT! Taylor thought. Her thoughts returned again to Christy, her horrifying fate and that man that took her life. There was a killer out there. He knew who they were, he knew her car. That thought plagued Taylor’s dreams as she drifted off to a rough sleep.

As the girls slept, the blacked-out SUV slowly drove along the darkened street and came to a stop in front of Taylor’s parents’ house.

’Are you in there bunnies? Did you run to your little boy’s houses for the night?’ The SUV silently running watched the house. No one stirred. There were no lights on. No police cars were sitting out front. Assuming no one was at the house for the night, the SUV moved on silently into the night. ’Your time is coming bunnies. I’ll watch you die just like she did.’

Next Chapter: Excerpt from Chapter Twenty - The Nightmare