Wandering Ends A Flash Fiction Collection

Victim To Hero

Caroline Johnson's day started out just as any other typical Monday would. She went to the coffee shop, grabbed a tall triple espresso latte, and then proceeded to use their Wi-Fi for the next two and a half hours. Candy Crush was her favorite game.She was supposed to be working on a project for work so in typical Caroline fashion she spent two hours and fifteen minutes getting to level four hundred fifty one on Candy Crush and about fifteen minutes on work. When she left the coffee shop for the office, she took her typical route. She crossed Ninetieth Street heading north.

For Timothy it was another day off work. He used the typical excuse, strep throat. This was the fourth time he had it this year. His boss suggested he go get another doctor's opinion. Timothy hated missing his soaps and his DVR was full of ones he had not caught up on yet so he could not delete them, for now. Today was going to be a binge on soaps kind of sick day. Just as he was getting ready to switch over to his DVR playlist a local breaking news report flashed on screen. Someone reported a missing person this morning after she did not report to work. The news said her name was Caroline Johnson, a twenty nine year old brown-haired woman; she disappeared sometime after she left her usual morning hot spot at the coffee shop, according to her boss as well as the security camera footage that hung from the light pole on the south side of Ninetieth Street.

Timothy thought he had his bases covered but he did not notice that camera. Now he was staring at this beautiful brown-haired woman, Caroline Johnson, according to the news, wondering what to do with her now. She was just going to be his plaything but now he had a serious decision to make. She heard the report and although he had her gagged and blindfolded, he could see her head perk up with hope after she heard the breaking news report. She knew they were looking for her, he knew they were looking for her, soon they would figure out where to look for her.

Detective Pete Lacey had been on the hunt for this sicko since victim number one surfaced. They had never had a shot at him until today. He was a careful criminal. He was elusive. The first three victims he released although he left them severely damaged. All were in their mid to late twenties, millennials that were just starting their dream careers. Now they were all three in mental institutions in a conscious comatose state. Whatever this psycho did to these girls it was bad. This time Pete thought he might be able to get the bastard; put an end to the depravity.

In his moment of panic, Timothy drugged Caroline then stuffed her in his trunk. As he turned left out of his neighborhood, he saw the patrol car edge up behind him. The lights flashed on the patrol car. Timothy pulled over, killed the engine, and hopped out of the driver's side door. The cop and the detective riding with him began with their usual banter. They told him to get back in the car, he refused as he edged closer to the officers. When he was within arm's length of them he pulled his wallet out and handed them his ID. The detective grabbed Timothy's wrist and slammed him to the ground. The uniformed officer started searching the car. He popped the trunk and just as the latch clicked, Timothy, with brute strength, slammed the detective backwards into the patrol car. He charged the uniformed officer knocking him to the ground.

Caroline had come to in the trunk of Timothy's car moments before the trunk popped open. She opened her eyes just in time to witness Timothy knocking the detective into the patrol car. Her hands were free so when she seen Timothy charge the other officer she rolled out of the trunk and to the detective. She grabbed his gun from its holster. When she looked over at Timothy, he was on top of the officer beating him with his own baton. She raised the gun up, aimed, and fired ending Timothy's life before he had a chance to know it was happening.