Chapter 58
Fifty-Eight
Unknown
As I drag a dazed Claudia through the woodland, hands tied, I realise I’m pulling her broken fatigued body like she’s a dog on a leash.
The sound of cracking twigs sends me panicking.
We need to get out of here before my finale is ruined.
The car is close by. I just need to keep trudging through this woodland.
‘Let go of me, you freak,’ she shouts. ‘How could you leave them to go up in flames. You’re sick in the head. You can get help. They’re just kids. You have to go back. We need to help them.’
That woman hasn’t learnt a thing which is how I know I’m doing the right thing. Freak – how dare she? Who cares? I won’t be around after tonight. My new life and identity await me. Sheldon is happily living with my mother so I only need to take care of myself.
Sirens blare in the distance. Fire, ambulance, police – I bet they’re all out there and a part of me is sad not to be able to video the action unfolding.
I imagine Brian up in flames. I knew they’d break in on time to save Tabitha.
She didn’t deserve to die but I had to make her see how bad her aunt and brother were.
Now she knows. They are all a part of her suffering.
That’s society for you. It bears a sickness that needs curing and sadly, I am the only cure.
I need more soldiers but when I saw how far the sickness had spread, I realised I was alone. A justice seeker amongst perps.
‘Let me go.’
She’s getting a bit too feisty now with her flailing and attempts to kick at my ankles, not to mention her constant stumbles where she’s purposely trying to slow me down. It won’t work. She weighs barely anything. I grab her by the hair and hit her head on a tree trunk. ‘Shut the hell up.’
We’re getting closer to my car and I need to get her back where it all began.
She needs to feel what it was like for me and I’m going to let that feeling crawl right under her skin until it feeds like a flesh-eating bug, then I’m going to stab her through the heart just like I did to Mindy and Dustin.
They might all have had hearts of stone but their blood was very much like anyone else’s.
I see the end of the woodland so I pick her up and stumble on towards the car. I half trip on the undergrowth and I crash into hanging branches but I keep going. This is a battle win for me because I never give up. ‘Nearly there, Claudia.’
‘Huh, err…’ She tries to mumble. Her wide pupils glare at me as I open the boot and drop her in. ‘N… no…’
‘Too late.’ I slam the boot down. Time to roll.
As I step around the car in darkness, a voice cuts through the air.
‘Stop, police.’
A hefty man in a stab vest stands there. He’s not in uniform. The street lamp down the road catches the top of his bald head. Hurting anyone else wasn’t a part of my plan. I don’t know who he is or what he’s done. I have some integrity and I don’t want to hurt him.
He goes to pull out his radio. I have no choice. This is about survival. Him or me.
I charge at him, roaring like an angry bull.
We’re on the ground, rolling around. He yells in pain as I hit him and he hits me.
My face scrapes along the rough tarmac, slicing into my skin.
He’s winning but my work is not done yet.
My new life flashes in front of my eyes.
The villa, the white sandy beach, maybe Ursula would eventually join me – that’s the dream.
I roar again, like in battle, as I make the only move I have left before that dream is gone forever.