"Fuck if I know."
He started to floor it again, but I heard him mutter, "I don't believe it."
I looked around behind him, and to my amazement, I saw the van gaining on us in the other lane.
He was moving fast enough now that I was convinced I was going to die… but he seemed to know what he was doing.
There were four maniacs in the van, however, who I was not so sure of.
I looked over at the van. There were dim shadowy forms inside, but I couldn't make out their faces.
Then, I saw the window rolling down, and I saw the glint of metal.
"They're gonna shoot!" I screamed.
Tommy hit his brakes hard.
At the same time, he turned the wheels toward the van.
As the brakes slowed the car, the van shot ahead of him, and as he turned into it, the front of his car rammed against the back of the van, throwing it off balance and causing it to go into a vicious skid.
But it wasn't enough to run it completely off the road.
They came to a stop, turned around, and were already driving back towards us as Tommy got his car turned around.
"Good fucking driving," he said, amazed.
That's when I heard the gun firing again.
"Shit!" yelled Tommy.
Then I felt the car starting to tilt, and I realized that they'd shot out the tires on the side facing them.
Scary shit!
"Fucking maniac," he said, but we were helpless, and we both knew it.
PART FOUR
"Out. Both of you."
Johnny was sticking the gun through the window of the car.
Tommy said, "Just take it easy with that thing, man. No one's going to argue with you. All right? No one's going to give you any shit."
"Well… that's too bad. I can't stand a one-sided argument… but if you insist I'll gladly oblige."
"God damn it man, you're being a fool," said Tommy, but he never had a chance to finish.
Johnny opened the door and yanked him out of the car.
"Johnny don't hurt him! I'll do whatever you say! Honest!"
"Junella, you'll do whatever I say no matter what. That's no bargaining chip. Why don't you climb over into the van and make things easier on all of us."
Then, he hit Tommy over the head with his gun.
Tommy collapsed in a crumpled heap, and Johnny kicked him five times… hard.
I screamed, and Johnny turned to me, aimed the gun, and shot it.
I felt the bullet fly past my ear.
It went whizzing right past me.
I couldn't believe it.
It was the most incredible thing that I'd ever experienced.
"I've got one more. It can be yours… or his… I don't care which. You fight me, I'm going to give it to him… or maybe to you. What's it going to be."
His voice was utterly calm. I knew that he was past anger, hurt, rage… he was completely lost in madness… and with it went that peculiar kind of control the totally insane can show.
Someone could have almost believed, just from watching Johnny in action, that he was normal, and that he was doing whatever he was doing for normal reasons.
I turned to the van. I could see that there were people inside.
"What'd you do, bring along witnesses?"
He reached for me, wrapped his fingers around my neck and started to drag me to the van. The side door opened, magically it seemed, and he threw me in, climbed in after me and said, "Haul ass!"
They squealed away, leaving Tommy tying there beside his car.
I was already out of my mind.
"Look, Johnny, we can't go anywhere," said Hank, who was driving. "That motherfucker put out my headlights."
"Shit, don't give me a lot of grief. Drive to your dad's trailer."
"Hey, I don't know if he'd like us using it for…"
"I don't want to hear about it, all right? Just move."
He looked helplessly at Johnny. "You're fucking out of your mind, you know that?"
Johnny said, "I know. Don't fuck with me… I'm crazy. Pass me that tequila."
I was staring from one to the other, but only Johnny would look at me.
"What's wrong, T-Bird… Bill, you afraid to look me in the eye?"
"No…" said T-Bird, still not looking at me.
"Well, why won't you look at me."
"Johnny, shut her up, would you."
"Don't fuck with my head, you sorry hound. Look at the lady. Hell, you're going to fuck her… you should look at her."
"Johnny," I said, not even reacting to that last comment. "You're a pig."
"I know," he said. He took a heavy swig from the bottle that Hank had passed him and then he said, "It's my most endearing trait"
"Who wants to be first?"
No one moved.
I was sitting on the couch. I couldn't believe it was happening, but it was.
There was a dirty T-shirt stuffed in my mouth… and my hands were tied behind my back.
Johnny and his three friends were standing over me, but Johnny seemed to be the only one with a stomach for gang rape.
I was naked.
I was scared out of my mind. And this was one time that my body wasn't going to betray me with pleasurable sensations when I didn't want them.
I was sitting with my legs spread apart. My left foot was tied to the leg on the left side of me… my right foot was tied to the leg on the right side of me.
I couldn't close my legs.
The ropes were cutting into my ankles. Deeply.
"What's wrong, you all pussies?" said Johnny.
"Well shit Johnny," said T-Bird. "She's your cunt. Why don't you fuck her?"
"I'm going to, boys. But I just thought I'd share the wealth with you."
He was acting so friendly, I couldn't believe they didn't see what a fucking ruse it was. But they were stupid sheep. Whatever Johnny did, they were more than willing to follow, and never question a thing about what they were doing.
He tipped the bottle up again, and I saw that it was very nearly empty.
He winced and his whole body shuddered. But then he took in a deep, satisfied gulp of air and turned to me.
"So, cunt!" he said loudly. But he said nothing else. At least not for the moment.
Instead, he leaned over and gave me a sloppy wet kiss on the cheek.
I turned my head away from him, trying to avoid touching him, but he wasn't having any of that.
He slapped me. Hard.
Right on the left tit. I screamed.
"Well, would you listen to that, she's trying to scream with that rag in her mouth. Gosh… I'm sorry to see her exerting all that energy and not having anything to show for it. What do you say? Do you think we should let her scream?"
No one said anything.
"How about it, Hank? There any neighbors out here?"
"A few… but no one cares… I mean… they're not going to call the cops or anything like that. If that's what you're getting at."
"Yeah… that's what I'm getting at."
"But… well hell, I don't know, Johnny. Maybe we ought to just…"
"Maybe we ought to just… what?"
"Hell… I don't know."
"You're absolutely right about that, Hank. You don't know. You don't know shit, that's why you hang out with me. Because you don't know shit. I know enough for all four of us, however… and you'll be glad to know that I'm more than willing to share it with you."
Then he pulled my gag out.
"Go on, Darling. Let's hear you scream. I'm all ears."
He was grinning at me now staring down at me, and I've never seen a colder, crueler look in my life.
He slapped me.
I remained silent.
"Well, now ain't just like a fickle cunt? You stuff up her mouth, she wants to scream. You ungag her, she don't say shit. I'm all kinds of disappointed in that. I was all set to listen to her sing."
He reached down to my breasts, took my right nipple in his hand and started to pinch it between his thumb and forefinger.