Lazy Lizzie

Twenty-Eight

Leo had been applying for jobs, and his first call back from an application brought new hope into the Ursu household. A mechanic was needed all the way across town, but they could move closer, and it was enough money for a decent living. Usually, in his line of work, a second interview meant an offer, no need for HR conversations at an auto shop. The owner was also an ex-convict, so the odds looked good, even with the one-month trial period.

"I'm not good with first impressions, it's after you get to know me that you get the chance to like me," Leo joked, after hanging up.

They were celebrating, Lizzie poured cheap beer into plastic cups. They'd resumed their bedroom activities but had not spoken about what they'd do further than the next day. She knew he was waiting for her to bring it up. His stance had been clear, he was staying.

She wasn't in a hurry. Life was good taken one day at a time.

He'd taken the tracker down the night he'd found out about it, finding it hidden on the roof, under the Wi-Fi's antenna rubber grip. He almost left the Lair without internet, fumbling to extract the bug with poorly-concealed anger, then uselessly threw it on the grown, squashing it with his booth. They were already parked, and there weren't a lot of trailer parks around the city, so Dale already knew where they were, anyway.

With them not talking that much, because Leo had been keeping away, Lizzie had to be very inventive in finding ways to pass the time, almost all of them consisting of sex games. She was about to proposition him with a new wild idea, when Dale's voice made a hole in her head, making her mind go blank.

"Lizzie, why you don't wanna be found anymore?" he screamed from somewhere outside the trailer.

She could see him in her head: a leech in cargo pants, his skin blotchy and uneven, made worse by alcohol. Even his warning gunshot sounded drunk.

Leo raised his eyebrows at her, but he wasn't angry like she'd expected him to be, the warm light drew trees in his pupils as if lightning had hit, spreading on two night skies at once.

"We're never gonna get rid of him, will we?" he asked her, his shoulders weak.

"We won't have to," Lizzie got up and went for the door, done with Dale. "Because I will."

"Lizzie, wait!"

It was a cold night, air cut through her exposed skin, so Lizzie wrapped herself better in her pink robe. Dale wore jeans, had a hood over his head, unlike him. He was on the run.

"At least you got clothes on, this time," he spat at her. "Your boy Vic found me," he then told Leo, who appeared behind Lizzie, pushing her one step lower so that they both fit in the Lair's door. "He also mentioned finding you two cozied up."

Disgusted, Dale waved his gun around, "First you take my girl, then you sic your friends on me?"

"How did you escape?" Leo stayed clam, but Lizzie could tell he was afraid, he was too still. She was also scared, also for him. He'd be the first Dale would shoot.

"Did the ol' Chicken Turtle Escape." At Leo's frown, Dale added, "Lizzie knows."

She did, "He was following you and you just hit the brakes?"

"Crashed into my car, completely unprepared. Didn't die, I heard him scream."

Dale had his own fighting techniques.

"What are you going to do, Dale? Shoot me?" Lizzie asked like she was reading off a menu, surprising both men. Leo's hands tried to stop her, pulling her back by her shoulders. She fought him off, annoyed, "Let go of me!"

She marched towards Dale, who didn't even point the gun at her. He finally got scared, his eyes widened and he aimed at Leo, "Stop or I'll shoot him!"

Leo jumped over the trailer's stairs, even angrier than Lizzie, "This time you won't get away!" He passed her, running for Dale, which made her run even faster, she had to get to him first so that she could pull that stringy beard off his face, thread by thread.

Faced with two very determined enemies -- and lacking a hunting pack -- Dale dropped the gun, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, and ran for his life.

Lizzie gave up when she reached the gun, taking it, reloading it. The clicking sound made Dale accelerate, he ran down the pathway, followed by Leo, who was gaining on him. Another trick of Dale's: he'd run faster once almost caught.

She shot a warning shot in the air, making him almost trip.

"Never come back here, Dale! I swear I'll kill you!" she screamed after him.