Chapter 7

“Oh, fuck, what time is it?” I asked, just as I heard a gun cocked up against my head.

“Get up, you diseased, dog-humping, dirty little runt!” I heard a voice exclaim at me.

I opened my eyes and found a man in an orange jumpsuit pointing his gun at me. He carried a pump shotgun, apparently taken from prison guards during his escape. He was clearly an escaped con, and since there was no more law and order at the moment, he had little reason to fear the consequences of his escape. I got up for a moment, looking at a terrified Gabby, even as the man in question grabbed her and pushed her onto the bed.

“You took my woman ... now I’m taking yours!” the man insisted, foolishly lowering his guard for just a moment.

I seized a knife and put it to his back, pointing it straight at his kidneys. He froze as he realized that the tables had turned that quickly. Pulling out of Gabby, he tried to pick up his shotgun and tried to stare me down. He wasn’t ugly, this guy, just mean. Every part of him read meanness, from his squinty-eyed glare to his reddened face as he tried in vain to intimidate me. He was clearly a bully, a lifelong one at that, used to being able to terrify his way into whatever he liked.

The man didn’t get far at all before I plunged the knife in and struck a kidney, making him fall down in agony. I pulled it out and slit his throat, showing him mercy at least, more than he would have shown me. We rushed to get his body out of the room and dump it somewhere just near the diner. Before we could pour gasoline on his body and strike the match, I heard Becca scream in shock and pain.

“That’s ... that... , “ Becca couldn’t bring herself to make the words for some reason.

“That’s what ... or who?” I asked Becca, who struggled to make the words form, which was most unusual for her ... clearly, it was nerves.

“That’s ... Cody ... my husband!” Becca finally blurted as she gave him one last kiss to the forehead, “you were always a dick, Cody, but you were MY dick. Now, however, you tried to rape my friend. Now, you’re someone else’s dick and their problem. I’d tell you to roast in Hell, but apparently it’s closed for business. So ... just haunt someone else. Not me. Savvy?”

“Wow ... you really did like ‘em white, didn’t you?” Lavelle laughed just before he and the diner vanished for good.

“Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” Ariel smirked as he and the inn vanished, leaving only a bunch of vehicles and our luggage.

“Well, that really was a ... supernatural visitation, wasn’t it?” Till expressed shock now.

“That it was, papi. That it was,” Raquel assured her husband.

“Let’s roll, guys. We’re done with this mess,” I urged the others as Becca herself struck the match, sending her husband’s corpse up in flames.

Just like that ... all of our pasts completely went up in smoke.