Chapter Three
“No!” The world tilted and swayed beneath her feet as Dani covered her mouth and muffled another scream.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. This sort of thing didn’t happen in real life.
Kyle and Matt were messing with her. But the gash in Kyle’s neck didn’t look like bad practical effects from a B-movie.
His bloodless face, contorted in pain, looked too convincing.
Before she had a chance to fully comprehend the situation, Matt was on his feet, his sights zeroed in on her.
“There she is.”
Regurgitated gummy worms choked up her throat as Dani turned on her heels and fled down the hall back the way she came.
She dropped the mop as she ran, the fight-or-flight chemicals releasing into her bloodstream and eliminating all thought but survival.
When she reached the back door, Dani barely remembered to avoid the blood splattered along the floor.
Heavy footsteps followed her as she flung the door open into the night where her boyfriend’s idling car was waiting for her.
“Daniiiiiii!” Matt’s voice boomed down the hallway, sending tremors of dread straight to her core. “Dani, come back! I just wanna talk to you!”
Dani crossed the threshold without looking back.
His grunts and heavy footfalls were right at her back, his fingers grazing and grasping for her hoodie.
Matt let out a yelp that under any other circumstances might have seemed comical.
She turned just in time to watch his foot skid along the puddle of blood like a ridiculous Scooby Doo villain.
His arms flew over his head as his legs kicked out from underneath him, sending his enormous frame crashing to the ground with a heavy thud.
Focus, Dani. Move!
She choked back sobs as she willed herself to go, go, go. Her boyfriend's Honda Civic was only a few yards away. Safety was within reach. All she had to do was get in and she would be home free. Tommy would back out of the parking lot, drive them to safety, and everything would be fine.
Dani flung open the passenger door of Tommy’s car and the spicy scent of cinnamon and leather immediately hit her nose.
The smell of her boyfriend’s car was a fragrance that she associated with warmth and security and love, a place of happiness and safety.
She made it. She was home free. Safe. Dani slid into his passenger seat, frantic and gasping for breath.
“Drive! We’ve got to g—”
The words caught in her throat before she could even finish them.
Tommy sat behind the wheel, motionless and slumped over in an unnatural angle.
The keys were in the ignition with the A/C on full blast as Third Eye Blind’s Semi-Charmed Life blared from the speakers.
His eyes were closed, lashes dark and thick against a colorless complexion as rivers of blood oozed from a long, horizontal gash in his neck.
Her heart broke into a thousand pieces as she reached out and touched his cold hand.
Dani didn’t have time to grieve her dead boyfriend.
She glanced up at the receiving door and locked eyes with her stalker.
Matt was on his feet again.
Dani opened the passenger door and forced herself out of the car. She didn’t have a plan, the only thought in her head was to run, run, run as fast and far away from her attacker as she could. Matt was bigger, but she was faster. She didn’t want him to touch her.
She sped down the alleyway past trash cans and parked cars toward the boardwalk, hoping that someone—anyone—could help her.
But it was past 11 p.m., and all of the ice cream parlors and novelty gift shops lining Santana Beach had long since closed.
Dani screamed and shouted for help anyway, arms pumping at her side, though every step felt like she was in slow motion.
The moonless night revealed an expanse of empty beach, devoid of people.
“Help! Somebody help me! Please!”
Feet pounded the boardwalk behind her, hard and heavy on the creaky planks.
Her lungs flamed and constricted inside her chest as she forced herself to keep moving.
Where were all the people? Why wasn’t someone coming to help her?
The flood light at the end of the pier caught her attention, illuminating a lone fisherman.
In one hand, he held a fishing pole, and in the other, a smoldering cigarette.
A flicker of hope entered her heart as she pumped her arms harder and made a sharp left hand turn down the pier.
“Please! Help me!” Dani called out to the man into the dark night over and over again.
She shouted as loud as she could, but the breeze swallowed her words.
Her ponytail had come loose during her frantic escape, her favorite scrunchie long gone, causing her hair to whip wildly in the wind.
Dark curls flew in her eyes, obscuring her vision as she scrambled toward the fisherman.
Heavy footsteps vibrated through the planks into the soles of her feet.
He was getting closer. Panic threatened to consume her, but she refused to look back.
The fisherman’s eyes grew wide as she barreled toward him.
Whether from the sight of Matt covered in blood or Dani screaming her head off, the man froze like an opossum.
She collided into the startled stranger, winded and grasping at his collar.
The scent of tobacco and catch of the day hung heavy in the air as she used her last breath to plead for her life.
“Help me!”
The thuds of footsteps on the pier quieted as a sick cloak of dread weighed on Dani’s shoulders. She was at the end of the line. Cornered. And her pursuer was right behind her.
“Dani, Dani, Dani.” Matt bellowed. “You can’t get away.”
A shudder rippled through her body as she let go of the fisherman’s jacket.
Her legs grew weak as she turned to face her stalker.
Matt stood less than twenty feet away from them, a crazed hulk drenched in blood and sweat blocking their path of escape.
She caught the glint of his hunting knife under the yellow pier light and her stomach dropped.
“Fuck this.” The fisherman released his pole and scrambled toward the railing.
In one swift move, he threw his legs over the side of the rail and dove into the churning, dark water below.
Dani let out a cry of disbelief as her last hope of being helped disappeared beneath the waves.
She wailed and gripped the edge of the pier, unable to find the courage to escape her fate the same way.
Matt took a tentative step forward. “I just wanted to talk, Dani. Why won’t you talk to me?”
Her pulse thudded in her ears as she stared him down, terror ripping through her entire being in a way that she had never experienced before.
She had been taught to fear unfamiliar men all her life, to believe in stranger danger and never trust anyone she didn’t know.
She wasn’t afraid of monsters or ghosts, but of real flesh and blood humans who could do her harm.
Now, at barely eighteen-years-old and with her entire life ahead of her, Dani’s lifelong fears were coming true, and she had to make a choice.
Face the human monster and live, or shrink away and die.
Dani pulled as much air into her aching lungs as possible and let out a roar. “Get the fuck away from me!”
“I just wanna talk,” Matt chuckled. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”
“You killed them,” she said. “You fucking psycho!”
“They were in my way.” Matt slipped the hunting knife into a sheath at his waist and held up his hands. “See? I would never hurt you. You know that, right?”
“No.” The words squeaked from her throat as a fresh crop of tears burst through. “I don’t believe you.”
“You’re special, Dani. I knew it the first time I came into the video store. Remember? You flirted with me.”
“What?”
“You told me I should rent Natural Born Killers. So I did. I watched that movie a dozen times and realized you were trying to tell me something. Well, message received.”
Dani gritted her teeth as her hand curled into a fist at her side. “I wasn’t trying to send you a message.”
“Yes, you were!” He shouted. “Come on, Dani. We can be just like Mickey and Mallory! Just us and the open road. We’ll take care of anyone that gets in our way. It’ll be a killer summer!”
“You’re fucked! I would never go anywhere with you!”
“No, no, no, no.” Matt mumbled, shook his head and waved his pointer finger at her.
The massive muscles in his arms and shoulders rippled, his face twitching with ticks.
He took a step forward and rapped at his temple hard and fast with a closed fist, his teeth bared as he flashed her his terrifying million- dollar smile.
“You were trying to send me a signal! I know that now! You weren’t happy, and you needed someone to save you and take you away from all this. You wanted me to save you.”
“No.” She shook her head and leaned against the railing.
The ocean churned, dangerous and inky at her back as foamy waves whipped in the wind.
She glanced over Matt’s shoulder at flashing blue and red lights in the distance.
The police. A glimmer of hope filled her heart.
Help was on the way! Someone must have heard her shouting.
Dani glanced back at the ocean again, dreading her next move.
She wasn’t a strong swimmer, but jumping in behind the fisherman seemed like her only option.
“I think if you just give me a chance—really get to know me—you’ll see I’m actually a good guy!” Matt opened his arms wide as he walked toward her.
Dani focused on his pink polo shirt splattered with Tommy’s and Kyle’s blood. His left eyebrow cocked in a way that made him look as crazed as he was acting. For a split second, the fear in her heart was replaced with another emotion.
Revenge.
Fresh rage bubbled up under her skin. She wasn’t going to let this psycho get her, and she wasn’t going to let him get away either. Her energy reserves were renewed with vengeance as she shouted into the balmy summer wind, “LEAVE ME ALONE!”
Matt lunged forward, his wide hands outstretched and ready to envelope her in an eternal hug.
Dani harnessed every last ounce of energy she could muster and ducked out from under his unwanted embrace.
Her right leg caught the front of his shin in an electric wave of pain, knocking him off balance.
His features contorted into a look of childish surprise as his body continued on its unstoppable trajectory.
"Fuck!”
The accusatory curse disappeared against the roar of the ocean as his hips crashed into the railing instead of her.
Tall, top-heavy Matt Vickers tumbled over the side of the pier, head over heels.
She caught one last glimpse of his dark, soulless gaze as he disappeared into the churning waves below.
Tears pooled in the corners of her eyes, as Dani limped toward the flashing police lights and didn’t look back.