Escape

Two days had gone by since he had escaped from that God-awful prison. Successfully climbing to the roof through the tiny vents where his large body could hardly fit. He wasn’t surprised though, he took out a few guards along the way. Six years in that maximum penitentiary gave him plenty of time to do nothing but workout and get into prison fights and shank a guard or two—but that was just practice.

He walked silently along the side of the road, dressed in his white t-shirt and jeans with worker boots that were somewhat muddy from hiding in the woods outside the prison walls, his hair was in a crew cut and he had gotten many “illegal” tattoos inside that horrible place by those he called “friends”. None of them were worth friendship. All of them liked to see how far his anger could go, so they would tell the other gangs that he had looked at them wrong or said something which would cause them to jump him when he least expected it, which earned him time in the hole for a few months.

Soon thunder clapped in the sky and rain immediately fell on him. Randy stopped dead in his tracks, looked up to the sky and muttered “Great.”

+++

Olivia Cena was sitting on her couch in her living room watching the rain through her window that faced the large fields that she called her backyard. The TV wasn’t working and a repair man was going to come by in a couple days to fix it. She had had a string of bad luck lately; her brother had to tow her truck to the auto shop in town because of something to do with the battery. After being raised by a dad and five brothers, you’d think she knew everything about cars but she never worked on cars as a kid, she always worked on the farm.

So, all she had to entertain herself was her radio and sitting on her couch in her favorite dark blue hoodie and her black short shorts that she wore to work. But tonight was her night off and she really couldn’t go anywhere. Basically, life sucked for Olivia at the moment.

“Stupid ol’ truck.” She muttered to herself as she watched the rain outside.

She was startled out of her trance-like state by a loud knocking at her door.

“Dan?” She called out, “Dan is that you?”

“Uh, could you help me?” A deep male voice asked. That wasn’t Dan’s voice.

She walked up to the door and stared through the peephole. “Who am I speaking to?” She asked in her slight country accent.

“My name’s…Keith. I had car trouble a few miles back and you’re the only house I’ve come across.”

Olivia opened the door and stared at the man in front of her. He was at least 6’4”, big muscular arms and body and only wearing a white t shirt, jeans, and boots.

Well, can’t turn him out when that’s all he’s got on, she thought to herself. So, doing the Christian thing, she opened the door wider and snapped a smile on her face, “Come in.”

+++

Randy smiled back at the pretty young woman and made his way into her home. As he walked by her he got a good wiff of her perfume and it drove him crazy. He hadn’t touched a woman in six years, and he definitely wanted to touch her.

“I sure am sorry to trouble you ma’am, but I must’v walked three miles in this rain, I never thought I’d find a house let alone an auto shop.” He said.

“What did you say your name was again?” She asked.

“I’m Keith…Keith Nelson.”

“Well hi Keith, I’m Olivia Cena. You said you had car trouble?”

“Yes ma’am, about a few miles back and I was wondering if I could use your phone?” He asked.

“Oh sure it’s right over here. That’s all you’ve got on? Just a shirt and jeans?” She asked and walked into the kitchen.

“No ma’am.” Randy let himself watch her backside in those tight little black shorts she had on.

“Oh shoot!” He heard her mutter.

“What’s the matter, ma’am?” He asked.

“Please, call me Olivia, and there’s no service. Must’v gone out when that lightning flashed a few miles away. I’m so sorry Mr. Nelson.” She looked up into his blue eyes.

“It’s quite alright, and call me Ran—Keith. Do you have a cell phone?”

“Well I hope you won’t laugh at me but…I dropped in the toilet this morning. I tried it and no service.” She tried to hide her smile.

Randy couldn’t help himself from smiling, she was just so cute.

“Here, have a seat and I’ll make a pot of coffee. Would you like something to eat too?” Olivia asked.

“Sure, that’s awful nice of you.”

“It’s not every day I get a visitor, Keith.” She smiled as she said his name, “Normally the only people who come around here are my brothers and cousin.”

“Brothers? How many?” Randy asked.

“Five. John, Dan, Steve, and Sean. My parents had a hell of a time raising five boys and one girl. I always got picked on. My oldest brother John works as a security guard over there at that prison about twenty miles away.”

The name John and the words “security guard” had struck a nerve. Her brother must be John Cena, the one guard who always gave Randy shit for one reason or another.

Randy cleared his throat, “Security guard at the prison you say?”

“Mhm. He’s one mean lookin’ guy, but he’s really a sweetheart.” Olivia smiled and handed Randy a cup of coffee. “I hope you like you’re coffee black.”

“That’s exactly how I like it.” He smiled back nervously. If her brother was that cruel man back at the prison, then he might stop by later to check up on his baby sister. But then again…Randy could take her as a hostage, if he had a car. He needed the money; he needed to get out of the country. Surely his face was being plastered all over the news by now.

“So, where are you coming from?” Olivia asked.

“Um, Huntsville.” That was stupid! That’s where the prison is! Randy thought.

“And where are ya headed?”

“Dallas.”

Olivia nodded, “Well I don’t have much for entertainment, my TV broke down about three days ago and all I have is my tiny old radio and an iPod dock. Here’s the radio, would you mind listening for the weather report? I heard there’s gonna be a tornado. I’ll be right back.” She smiled and walked down the hallway to what Randy assumed was the bathroom.

“its 11 am and time for the latest news headlines on radio 1560 in Bartlesville. The administration denies any wrong doing in its farm wheat sales. That hijacked Columbian airliner has landed safely in Argentina. Locally there’s still no trace of convicted murderer Randal Keith Orton who escaped from the Huntsville prison two days ago. The weather continues with rain and wind today and for most of southern Texas, tornado warnings with winds of up to 75 miles an hour.”

Randy froze. He hoped that Olivia didn’t catch the part about him. Hopefully she didn’t put two and two together if she did.

“Well, still lots of rain coming down.” He said as Olivia returned from the restroom. “I guess you heard.”

+++

“Yes, I heard.” Olivia said timidly. She tried to force those thoughts into the back of her mind because honestly, Keith was a good-lookin’ man and she hadn’t been with a man in…well, she tried to push those thoughts back as well.

“And that Columbian plane landed safely.”

“Yes, I heard that too.”

Randy chuckled, “Yeah well how ‘bout that?”

“And they haven’t caught that poor old boy who escaped from the prison, I reckon he’s long gone by now.”

“I suppose. Wonder how he escaped, though? I’m sure John tried calling me, but since my phone went dead I didn’t hear it. I’m going to have to go out for a few minutes, I have to feed my dogs.” Olivia avoided eye contact with ‘Keith’, if that was his real name.

“You’re going out in this rain? In those shorts?” He asked, smiling a little.

“I’d let my dogs inside and feed them in here but they’re wet and they stink. I have to feed them.”

“Where’re you goin’?”

“Have to feed my dogs…” Olivia said as he hand reached for the doorknob. Suddenly the sound of the kitchen chair screeching back and falling on the floor, and ‘Keith’ had her pinned to the wall.

“You ain’t goin’ nowhere.” He said.

“What?” She asked in a small voice.

“You ain’t goin’ nowhere I said, now sit your little bottom back in that chair.”

“Now listen here, Orton! This is my home and I let you in and gave you coffee and I will not let you talk to me like that in my own home!”

“SHUT UP!” He bellowed in her face.

Olivia turned her head to the side and let a small tear fall on her cheek. No man had ever raised his voice to her, let alone pin her to a door and get as close to her as Randy was.
He let go of her arms and sat her down roughly in the chair. He pulled the fallen chair in front of hers and he sat down in it and stared at her.

“Why are you doing this to me? Is it because of something John did to you?” She asked, her eyes brimming with tears that hadn’t fallen yet.

Randy nodded his head.

“What did my brother do?”

“Set up a lot of fights. Bet on me. Got me sent to the infirmary so many times I lost count. Cornered me and beat me with the fuckin’ nightstick he always had with little splinters in it. One day I got so fed up with all his bull shit and as he was makin’ his rounds, when he passed by my cell, I stuck my hand out with the home made knife and got him in the gut.”

Olivia gasped, “That was you?”

He nodded again, “Got me six months in the hole and an additional ten years to my sentence.”

She put her hand on his shoulder and looked into his eyes, “I’m so sorry for what my brother did to you, I really am. But what are you going to get out of it by…whatever it is you’re planning to do with me?”

His hand found her thigh as he looked back into her brown eyes, “I’m going to make him pay for what he did to me.”

“You’re not going to…kill me are you?” She asked quietly.

He laughed, “No. That would be too easy. Hostages are more fun.”