Demolition Lovers

Taking her hand in mine I gazed into her icy blue eyes and led her to the car. She smiled knowingly back at me and got into the passenger seat, carelessly putting her converse clad feet onto the dashboard.

"We can take to the highway," I told her after I had walked around and settled myself into the drivers seat. It was a warm night in Jersey. The industrial landscape lit by the street lamps and flickers of light from the windows of houses.

She said nothing. She just smiled and turned her attention to the road ahead of us. I turned on the engine and put the car into gear, swinging out of the driveway and onto the virtually empty streets.

Belleville was the epitome of what New Jersey was about. Your average Joe who got up, went to work, drank and found a quick release in some willing bed partner for that night. Life here was monotonous and nondescript. Either you made good and got out to go do bigger and better things or you resigned yourself to routine and stayed here to rot. You more or less became dead inside. I was, at that point, the latter and I was looking for that someone, that girl I could take home.

That’s when I found her.

She was a nice all American type. From a good family, doing well in school and then there was me; your stereotypical bad boy. Never had I thought that when I went to the diner, after a gig that night, would I be leaving with her. Nor did I think that this good girl was ready to be bad. And believe me she was. She was wired the same way as me...death and destruction were what fed us, what turned us on. I had met my demolition lover.

"Where we headed?" She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. She turned to face me and pursed her lips. Those full blood red lips that I had kissed to many times to count. I glanced at her briefly before averting my eyes back to the road.
"Away from here, baby. Just like we planned."

I loved her, that much was true, but tonight would change that. She would know just how much she meant to me.

"Just like we planned…" She echoed my words quietly, a soft giggle escaping from her lips. She slid closer to me resting her head on my shoulder. "I love you."

"I know…" Was all I could muster. Taking one hand off the wheel, I drew her in closer to me.

My trunk of ammunition was ready and we had gone over this before. We were gonna get out of here. We would end our days in a hail of bullets.

It was during a heavy night of drink and drugs that we had devised this plan. The drugs had excited us, our inhibitions lost as we mapped our journey of debauchery. Life wasn’t normal anymore; my addictions had consumed me and nobody wanted anything to do with scum like me. She had left her family me and had fallen into my world. I didn’t want to bring her down but she was all I had. And she had come willingly, because she, like me, was the walking dead.

That was the night I told her "I would end my days with you in a hail of bullets" and to which she replied “You brought me your bullets, I brought you my love“.

We neared a liquor store and I pulled over, needing no better excuse to start this shit then cigarettes and a bottle of bourbon. Getting out of the car, I adjusted my hoodie and checked that the heavy cotton material neatly covered my dear friend. She looked up at me and grinned.
"You're gonna do it now, aren’t you?"

"That’s the plan baby. Now you just slide over and get ready. I'll be out soon."

"Awe, but I wanted to come. I want to see it all." She whined playfully. Between her and I, I didn’t know whose bloodlust was worse. I leaned into the drivers' side and kissed her.
"OK, you go. I'll wait here. You know what to do, right?" I stepped back to give her room to stand and straighten up.

"Yeah. I got it." She smiled back, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Where is it? Lemme see!" She grabbed me now, but I had to be careful. If anything went wrong, it would all be over.

"Jesus babe, be gentle!" I half yelled. She calmed down as I reached under my top and pulled out the gun. She took it from me, turning it over in her hands and examining it in amazement.
"This is gonna be soo fuckin' good baby, cant you feel it?" Her eyes were glazed, her voice quiet and sinister.

"Its gonna be something, alright. Now you go and I'll be waiting for you." I say gently pushing her in the direction of the store, the cigarettes and bourbon quickly forgotten. I got back in the car and watched her go, her footsteps lightly crunching over the gravel path. She looked over her shoulder and winked before making her way into the shop.

***

As I waited, the minutes felt like an eternity; the neon numbers on the dashboard clock slowly clicking over. I watched for a while, enjoying the quiet before the storm.

Then I heard it.

A shot rang out, shattering the quiet into a million pieces. Then another. Screams filtered into the car and I could hear her laughing. It was so faint it was carried away on the breeze. One more shot pierced the air and then she appeared; breathlessly running towards me.

I switched the engine on and was already speeding down the street before she had even closed her door.
"I did it, baby! I did it!" She squealed with delight, her eyes were lit up and she had a maniacal glow about her. So pretty... like an angel. Like an Angel of Death.
"Yeah you did. Now its my turn" I laughed with her. This was how it was meant to be, one more and we'd show them...we'd show them all.

I half listened to her babbling on about it while I scoured the highway for another gas station or liquor store. The night faded on the deserted skies and she grew cold and tired, placing the gun on the ground beneath her feet and moving closer to me.

About half an hour later, I pulled into a gas station. We were a mile or so from New York…on some country lane I had found; kinda like what you'd see in a horror flick.
I woke her up, telling her to get in my seat, as I was gonna go in. She yawned and did as she was told, just like that good girl she used to be. Reaching over her, I grabbed my gun and left.

I stalked over and entered the store; the hum of the fluorescent lighting and the smell of urine, violently invading my senses. I visually swept the empty shop. Nothing but a few racks with out of date magazines, a few refrigerators and a small Asian man sat behind the counter. On hearing me enter, he looked up. The disgust eminent on his face, as he looked me from my head to my toe. Some pop song played from a radio in the corner, distracting me a little, until the man spoke,

"What do you want? No gas; pump broken" His voice rang in my ears and I gripped the gun tighter in my pocket.

"Its ok, I just wanted cigarettes, old man." I approach him slowly.

"You have I.D?" He regards me with contempt again, making me feel better about what I was gonna do.

"Yeah fucker! I got your I.D right here!" I pull out the gun and fired two shots, the first connects with his arm, the second, his chest. I reach over the counter and push buttons on the register, hoping that it opens right away.

"P-P-Please don’t k-kill me…" The old man stutters. Suddenly the register opens and I take what little I can before looking at this guy again.

"Until the end." I say, using the barrel of the gun to scratch my chin. "I'll make it easier, I promise" I leer at him. He leans forward, his hand under the counter… I don’t know what he's doing and I need to get the fuck outta here. I aim at him and pull the trigger one last time before I turn on my heel, walking right out the door.

It was then that I heard the sirens in the distance. That bastard must have pressed some alarm. Shaking my head in anger, I ran towards the car; realising that she wasn’t there. I whipped my head round every which way, frantically searching for her, but she wasn’t there.

The sirens got closer and I could make out the sound of another car heading this way. She appears out of nowhere, strolling as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
"What's going on?" She asked, but I didn’t have time to answer. The next thing I knew, tyres were skidding to a halt and rain was beginning to fall. Things were now playing out in slow motion.

Pulling her close this one last time, I raised my hand with the gun and fired at the police car. I tried to pull her to the car, but she was struggling against me.

"There's a dozen reasons in this gun…come with me…" I said to her.
The police were gaining on us now. They were so fucking close. I fired the gun again… I pulled the trigger but got nothing. The calibre did nothing but click from emptiness. I knew then that I had dispensed the last bullet. The police returned their own fire and we were caught...

Suddenly, we were falling…falling in this pool of blood. And as we're touching hands, we're falling down. I see her eyes. They're shining brightly and she has this smile on her face; she knew. We ended in a hail of bullets, like we planned. Her eyes met mine and I had enough strength to tell her,

"I mean this...forever…" and she was gone.