Pestilence

38

Katherine only remembered pain against her jaw and then a headache. Next thing she knew, she was in the Audi, and Ian was sitting in the passenger seat. He opened a sports drink.

“Here,” he said, handing her the bottle.

She drank the warm drink without protest. After swigging half of it, she stopped to wipe her lips with the palm of her hand. Ian took the bottle and drank some before replacing the lid and putting it on the floor between his feet.

“You feel okay?” he asked.

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

“I need you to drive,” he said.

“Drive yourself.”

“I can’t. I’ve injured my leg, and it’s starting not to respond. I need you to drive. There’s just two more.”

“Do you even care that they had a family? That they’re the ones that are going to find them? I know what that will do to their kids. They won’t ever be the same.”

“How do you know that?”

“My mother died of cancer. When she finally passed, I was the one in the hospital with her. She couldn’t talk, but she was trying to say goodbye to me.” She held his gaze. “You think taking lives is a game, but I think you’re scared. I think you’re scared that you’re going to die one day, too.”

He didn’t react but instead watched the landscape through the windshield. They were in a residential neighborhood, and a car stopped in front of one of the houses. A teenage boy of maybe sixteen stepped out and went to the front door. He carefully placed his key in the lock and opened the door, stopping for a moment to see if anyone heard him. Then he went inside and shut the door behind him.

“When I first killed someone, I was so scared, I pissed myself. I mean, I literally pissed my pants. I still remember how warm it was going down my leg. I was in Moscow at the time, and it was freezing, but I remember the comforting feeling of how warm it was. After it was done, I went back to the little room I’d been staying at and cried. I actually fucking cried. Like a little girl that had lost her puppy. It tore me up for a long time. But after the second one, I didn’t cry. I thought I should, and I wanted the tears to come, but they never did. I couldn’t do it. By the fifth one, it didn’t feel like anything anymore. And now… it’s actually fun. It’s probably the only fun I have left in my life.”

“Well, then I feel sorry for you.”

He took a deep breath, staring off into space. “Start the car.”

“No.”

He was quiet for a second. “I said, start the car.”

“You’ll have to kill me. I’m not helping you anymore.”

“I won’t kill you,” he said. “I told you I wouldn’t, so I’d stick to my word. But I will kill your father. And then your sisters and your brother. Any man you ever love will one day disappear, and you won’t know if it was because they left you or because I paid them a visit. You’ll live the rest of your life with me hanging over your shoulder, and you’ll never really know if I’m there or not. Now turn on the fucking car.”

She sat still. No more tears were left. Her emotions were so frayed that she couldn’t even bring up enough passion to plead with him. She turned on the car.

“Who’s the next one?” she said.

“A doctor. Samantha Bower.”