Hour Of Darkness

CH 5 - "On The Run"

5...On The Run...

Clarice came to slowly and with great effort. The first thing she registered was the pain. It racked her body and settled more directly in her thigh. She tried to remember why she was in pain but her mind wouldn't work. Everything was out of focus. Where was she?

Movement next to her drew her attention. Her head swam and throbbed as she slowly turned and looked at the man sitting behind the steering wheel. The vehicle was dark and his face was barely visible as he went through his wallet.

She pushed herself up slowly in the seat, emitting a low cry as her whole body screamed at her not to move.

Her low cry drew the man's attention. He looked at her. Headlights suddenly cut through the darkness of the rig and illuminated the man's face as an SUV pulled in and parked next to them.

Jonathon Lancaster. The name snapped into her mind and she remembered. He was the man she'd met at the cemetery. And...

A flurry of disturbing images suddenly flashed through her head. She remembered the killer had come to the house and come after her. He...he had Aaron's face. Clarice shuddered and hugged herself tight. But how...

Could she have imagined it? Did he really look like her brother or had her tortured grief stricken mind just saw him that way? But why would she put Aaron's face on a killer? It didn't make sense.

"I want you to stay here." Jonathon's voice was strained as he closed his wallet and grabbed the door handle. "I need to get some things and I'll be right back."

Feeling weak and confused, Clarice watched him open the driver door. "Where..." But he was already out of the vehicle and closing the door. She watched him pass in front of the rig and disappear around the corner of a building. She stared at the spot where he'd disappeared then realized they were parked at the side of a mini-mart.

She looked around in a daze. Light from inside the mini-mart reached out into the main parking lot in front of the store but didn't touch where Clarice sat in the dark rig. There were two gas pumps out in front of the mini-mart. One car was parked next to a pump. The rest of the parking lot was deserted except for the SUV that had just pulled in moments ago.

Clarice's gaze moved over the interior of the rig. It was big and spacious, like a suburban or a bronco. Her eyes suddenly fell on a shotgun secured in a lock and fastened to the front of the dash. The low static of a radio filtered through the dark interior. She was in a police rig. How...

She remembered the cops at the house. Sergeant Tames...Clarice felt her stomach pinch and churn. Oh god, she was gonna puke. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought the urge to vomit. Tames was dead. Killed right in front of her. He'd said...the others were dead too.

Tears burned her eyes and slid down her cheeks. She trembled and hugged herself tighter. "God...what is happening?"

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The driver of the SUV stood in front of Jonathon, paying for his items at the counter. Jonathon stared at the back of his head as he cradled a small armload of first aid supplies. He concentrated on the rear collar of the man's shirt. The man picked up his bag and walked out of the store. Jonathon watched him leave.

"Sir?"

Jonathon turned and looked at the cashier. She was young, nineteen maybe, and moderately pretty with long straight dark hair and big dark doe eyes. Jonathon offered her a faint smile and set his items on the counter.

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Clarice leaned against the passenger door, eyes heavy and tired. God, what kind of nightmare had she fallen into? It all felt so surreal. And yet the pain in her body insisted it was all too real.