Lost Highway(5)

I hear the latch lock, and the door doesn’t relent to my pounding. Quill’s footsteps echo as he hurries upstairs. I listen to him move around the house before there’s only silence.

Crying, I struggle to calm my panic. The room is sealed shut without even a sliver of light under the door. I breathe too fast and choke on the stale air. Barely able to turn around, I can’t sit. When I try to lean against a wall, sharp edges tear into my flesh.

My mind returns to the woods before Quill took me. I’d bashed in a man’s brains with a bat while he called me his dolly girl. Upgrading my weapon, I ran with his ax and hoped for escape.

Then in an instant, I went from survivor to wounded animal when the metal trap snapped on my leg.

Moments later, Quill appeared from behind a tree. He silently moved toward me, and I couldn’t look away. Despite the mask on his face and the weapon in his hand, I prayed he might save me.

And he did.

Only so he could leave me to die trapped in a standing coffin.





Chapter Six


Quill




The wind tempts me with my prey’s scent. The echo of footsteps guides me through the dense woods. The first Death Dealer I discover swings upside-down from a rope. Moving through the trees, I stand before him, and our gazes meet. He isn’t one I know.

“Let me down and we’ll share the girl.”

“Why should I share when I can have her to myself?”

His sweaty face loses its smile. He hasn’t been in the Lost Highway long. Humanity exists behind his angry gaze.

I wrap the wire around his throat and tighten. The prey struggles as I increase the pressure. Even after he falls limp, I squeeze the wire until his head snaps off and rolls a foot away.

Kneeling down, I stare into his bulging eyes. All of my life, I’ve been curious about the way people die. Their last thoughts. The final expressions on their faces. My morbid obsession suits me well in Lost Highway.

After I remove the corpse, I reset the trap. The woods crackle around me, signaling I have more work to do.

The next Death Dealer rests on his stomach. His head has nearly disintegrated from the ferocity of the trap’s spring action bolt. Again, I reset the trap and move on.

I desire to kill one of them with my bare hands in the way I did a day ago. The traps are useful, but I miss the physical exertion of breaking a body.

Odessa is a live being, physically present in the way too many in the Lost Highway can no longer claim. Her presence has awakened my need to interact with the world. My fingers ache with the desire to ball into fists and smash against hard flesh.

I hear rustling nearby. A massive person approaches from deep in the woods. His movements never hesitate. He doesn’t worry I’ll prepare for his attack. A prey of such size and fearlessness electrifies me. I don’t want to kill what is already trapped. My gift is destroying what claims to be indestructible.

Standing near an ancient tree, I watch from my spot as the rustling increases. The man’s footsteps intimidate the ground, but I inhale with barely veiled anticipation.

My eagerness is well worth the wait when the massive hulk is revealed. More beast than man, he salivates at the sight of me. We both enjoy the promise of stealing life. I smile at the thought of hurting him. His bones will break under my control. I’ll open his flesh and make him howl in pain. I want to see the life leave his wild eyes.

He carries blades in both hands. They’re extensions of him now. I dodge the first strike while the second tears into my shoulder. The pain invigorates me. I smile at the sight of my blood dripping from his blade.

My foot meets his knee, and the big man crumbles. No screams of pain leave his meaty mouth. He only grunts and returns to his feet. I move around him, dodging a few of his strikes and blocking others. My heart beats faster. Adrenaline flows. I inhale the sweet scent of death around me. The Lost Highway is alive, and I’m part of it. We breathe in sync.

I punch the big man in the jaw before striking him in the throat and then his nose. My fists pound his face even as he digs a blade into my side. The pain energizes me, giving my punches more power. After my fists’ unrelenting attack, his face transforms into a battered mess.

His right arm breaks under my violence. Then his left shatters at the elbow. The blades are no longer extensions of him. They fall to the ground, soon followed by his body.

Falling upon him, I lead with my knee and feel his ribs crack under the impact. He finally cries out. Now afraid and in pain, he rekindles enough of his humanity to beg me for mercy.

I laugh at his words and look upward at where the trees block the sky. This place has no pity for the weak. The Lost Highway only wants death, and I’m its best dealer.





Chapter Seven


Odessa




Those victims locked in this basement long ago speak to me of their suffering. They tell me of a man capable of twisting the human body into atrocities. They were trapped in the Lost Highway until the owner of this cabin freed them from their pain. Death was their salvation, and they promise it’ll be mine too.

I can’t breathe. Even after I calm myself, I can’t deny how shallow the air feels. I’m suffocating just as Quill warned. My chest tingles first and then my lungs beg for more air. Closing my eyes, I attempt to find a state of calm to allow me to breathe more slowly. I don’t think I can hold on long enough for Quill to finish with his hunt.