Roses for Kimmy

Chapter 1: Without a Fight

Mr. Pooky's Gas Station, Three Feet from the Entrance

The sound of panting and quick paced foot falls echoed off the walls and rushed back towards Terry's face. The sound was somewhat confusing to her senses but she continued running. Her bare feet hit the pavement at a pace that would make a cross country star jealous. She slammed into the glass door of the small store, her hand already closing around the handle before she had even come to a complete stop.

The door rattled when she shook it as if doing nothing more then shaking the door was going to force it to unlock and open for her.  

Terry quickly abandoned the door for the blue payphone that was attached to the side of the building. With her hands pressed against the wall she moved towards the phone, quickly looking over her shoulder. She grabbed a hold of the cold plastic phone and pressed it to her ear.

There was no tone.

She screamed in frustration and slammed the phone back into the receiver. The force caused it to bounce back at her and she grabbed it again, hitting the metal siding of the pay phone with the phone itself. She slicked her long, blonde, curls back with her slim hands as she let out a few shaky breaths. Terry looked down at her flannel pajama pants and bare feet. She wiggled her toes, her eyes barely noticing the chipped red nail polish on her round little toenails.

In the distance an engine roared causing her ears to perk and her heart to pick up its pace. Her hands dropped to her sides and she gave one last quick glance over her shoulder before she took off running again.

She was running back down the street, away from the gas station and the car engine somewhere behind her.

It didn’t take long for her lungs to grow tired again. Though her legs could take her fast-and fast-on adrenaline, Terry was slowly becoming conscious of out of shape she truly was. Her poor little naked feet were burning and stinging with each cruel smack against the black top. Her left foot was taking it the worst. Every now and then she could feel a slight… chill to a small area on that particular foot. It was the kind of feeling that one would get after spilling just a little bit of water on one’s arm and then going outside to have the breeze great it. Her mind flashed with the image of a large gash having been cut into her foot thanks to a sharp rock near the gas station. However, the image only lasted a moment and in that moment, Terry didn’t even slow down.  

She couldn’t.

She had to work past the ache and fatigue that was quickly raging its way up her legs, thighs and abs. Even her arms were begging her to stop, or even to slow down.

Terry tried to keep her pace, but allow her arms to slow their pumping. Within seconds her body decided that this was signs of her trying to cool down her ‘work out’ and her body became aware of the pounding heart inside her chest. Had her heart been pumping that fast the whole time? It had to have been. That’s the only thing that made any sense.

 Her heart nearly stopped when a car pulled around the corner. She squinted at the bright headlights glaring at her. It took her a brief second to realize that the car rumbling towards her was indeed a large truck, dark truck and not the SUV that she was running from.

"STOP!"

She screamed, running into the cars path with her arms stretched out in front of her. The vehicle screeched to a stop just inches away from her.

"Help!" She hit the hood of his truck.

There was a momentary pause before the drivers side door clicked open.

"Please... I need help..." She hobbled towards the dark figure that stepped out of the car. "Do you... do you have a phone...?"

"A phone?" the figure spoke, "Yeah... I think I do..."

She held onto the side of the door, watching him. He was a good six inches taller then her with hair dark enough to blend into the darkness of the night. The light from the inside of the car cast an eery shadow over his, but she was able to make out the outline of his lips and the stark line of the bridge of his nose. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses. Had she been thinking straight, the sunglasses probably would have given her pause at such a late hour.

"Let me just look..." He turned, ruffling through his car.

Behind her she could hear the sound of the car she was running from.

"Please hurry..." She pleaded.

"Yeah... here we are."

He turned back to her holding something in his hand. Before Terry could realize that it wasnt a cell phone, the stranger leveled the gun with her temple and squeezed the trigger. He tisked at her lifeless body as it hit the ground.

"Now look what you made me do..."

Less then a minute later, a car parked beside him in the opposite lane forcing him to look up.

"When I asked for help, this isn't what I meant, Smith." The man said as he climbed from the jeep.

Smith tossed his gun into the car, turning away from him. "Thats what you get for being unorganized. Where were you two headed anyway?"

He grinned. "Annapolis... to pick up a friend."