Marie (Teumessian Trilogy Book 1) (8 page)

Chapter 11

Marie and Michael had in fact found refuge in a small one bedroom house just outside of Ely, Nevada. It was a small town and Michael had found work at the copper mine. Michael took care of both of them, Marie and their four month old son James. Marie loved her son and Michael. They had even gotten married. Marie finally felt normal, they had a normal life, a life that was never in the cards for them. James was a beautiful little baby, with Marie’s smile and Michael’s green eyes. They reveled in their role as parents and dreamed of a better childhood and life for James then they had and they knew they were on the path to that as long as they could stay hidden. They didn’t want him exposed to the violence and cruelty that was once a part of their everyday life. Marie rarely put James down and only when he was with Michael was he out of her sight. They were always prepared to run, they knew it was always a possibility that they would be found. Justin had been loyal to them and had always been on their side, and Marie never thought that would ever change. They both knew the ‘management’ wanted them back but that was not going to happen, as Michael would always say.

It was a warm sunny day and Marie was showing James his new teddy bear Michael had gotten for him. It was just a simple brown bear but had James’ name across its chest with ‘we love you’ under it. Marie loved that teddy bear and James was giggling as she played with him and his new toy.

Michael walked in, “Ok my turn.” He said with a smile. Marie smiled and handed James over to him. “It’s beautiful out. We are playing in the dirt.” Michael said with a laugh.

“Oh come on, he just had a bath.” Marie protested.

Michael leaned in and gave her a kiss, “Oh you’re no fun, let’s go buddy before mom spoils all the fun.” Michael quickly moved out of the room with James giggling in his arms.  Marie just sighed, ‘boys will be boys’ I guess she laughed to herself. Marie walked over to a basket of laundry and began to fold. Within minutes she heard the front door open.

“Hey Michael, please tell me that you two aren’t covered in dirt, or I am hosing you both down before you come in.” Marie laughed. There was no response, “Michael?” she called out.

Suddenly Austin entered her room, gun in hand. Marie felt fear rush over her body. “Austin?” she whispered.

“Ya it’s me, hard to recognize me now huh, like the eye patch? I think it gives me some flair.” Austin replied.

Marie was shaking with fear, “Where’s Michael and James?” she asked.

“Oh you want Michael, how classic. Boys bring him in.” Austin responded.

Four men were with Austin but she recognized none of them. They must have been guards from the facility. They had Michael in handcuffs, his face was bloody and a dart stuck from his neck. Michael was barely conscious; the guards threw him on the ground. Marie instantly went to move towards him.

“Move and he dies.” Austin ordered.

Marie put her hands up, “I won’t, just don’t hurt him. Where is my son?” she questioned with tears in her eyes.

“Oh come now why are you crying? The brat can’t be old enough for you to care about him. He’s dead. Snapped his neck. Babies are easy to kill.” Austin said with a smile.

Marie felt weak, “No, you’re lying!” she yelled and began to move towards Austin.

“You lost one today, want to lose another?” he cocked the gun.

Marie was frozen, anger, fear, desperation taking hold of her. “Please don’t do this.” She wept.

“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you, am I supposed to care about either of you. Do you have any idea what you two have done? Huh do you?” Austin asked.

“We had to; you have to understand we had to.” She wept.

“No you didn’t! You two chose each other over the rest of us. We all paid the price for you two and we are done. They killed Dr. Stanley, because of you. How many of us are you going to condemn to death because of your selfishness? Justin gave you two up and now you are coming back with me to be where you belong.” Austin yelled

Marie could only cry. “Please, Austin, Please!” she pleaded.

“Here’s the fun thing they only want you back.” He said with a smile “He’s disposable.” Austin fired the gun directly into the back of Michael’s head.

Michael’s body slumped to the ground blood covering his light blonde hair and pooling around his face. Everything was in slow motion for Marie. She saw the bullet fire but was helpless to stop it. She felt her breathing become difficult, he legs weak, her heart race. The room began to spin and she was helpless to stop it. Her legs gave way and she collapsed onto the floor. She felt everything go quiet and dark. Her eyes last glanced on Michael’s lifeless body before she went unconscious.

Marie was awoken as she was jerked to her feet by two of the guards, one holding each of her arms. She glanced up and was met eye to eye with Austin.

“Are you ready to leave now?” Austin said with a snarl.

Marie felt strangely calm, the shaking was gone, the tears were gone, she felt nothing, but the rage was filling her and giving her strength. She continued to just stare at Austin, eyes sunken in, and her normally bright eyes were dark.

“Well I asked you a question, are you ready? Because to be honest I don’t give a shit if either you walk yourself or we drag you.”

Marie stood up straight and relaxed her arms to her side. She glanced at the two guards beside her, they too had relaxed their grip.

“Now that’s a good girl,” Austin said with a laugh.

Marie turned her head to the side sizing Austin up, and grinned. Marie quickly grabbed the pistol from the guard on her left and pistol whipped him in the face, the guard to her right went to grab her arm again but she flipped him onto his back, she threw the pistol hitting Austin in the face and knocking him down. The remaining two guards pulled their guns but Marie was too fast for them. She disarmed both of them snapping the first guard’s neck and firing his own gun into the second. The first two guards were regaining their composure, but Marie retrieved her knife from her dresser and sliced both guards, the first to the neck the second to the stomach. Both fell to the ground bleeding out. Austin was back to his feet. He began firing his gun at Marie but she charged at him, one bullet grazed her right arm but she charged on. Marie quickly disarmed Austin by slicing his right wrist, the gun fell from his grasp and she caught it in her free left hand. Marie held the gun to Austin’s forehead.

“This is a quicker death then you deserve.” She calmly told him.

Marie lowered the gun to his stomach, grinned and fired. Austin fell backwards into the wall, blood spilling from his stomach. Marie squatted over his legs and just looked into his eyes, she saw panic, pain, and fear and she felt nothing. She held up her knife to his chest and thrust it into his heart. As she pulled the knife out, the shaking returned, the pain returned, the tears returned. She dropped the knife and looked around the room at the carnage she had created. Blood was everywhere, it was mixed there was no way to know whose was whose. She fell back onto her butt and found herself struggling to breath.  Her eyes glanced on Michael’s still and lifeless body on the floor. He was covered in blood, which probably even his. It was more than she could take; she got herself to her feet and grabbed the black backpack from under her bed that she always kept ready if they needed to run. She threw her knives into it and strapped it to her back and climbed out the window on the far wall.

Chapter 12

She ran and just kept running. She didn’t know where she was going or what she was going to do when she got there but she just had to get away from that blood and that pain. She had no idea how long she was running but by the time she found a town it was nightfall. She found her way behind a row of houses and collapsed besides a large blue dumpster. She glanced at herself. She had no shoes on, blood covered her clothing. She examined the gunshot wound to her right arm. It appeared to barely be a scrape but she tore a part of her grey tank top and tied it around her arm anyway. She pulled the backpack from her back and opened it. She had a roll of cash, her knives, a 9mm pistol, five rounds of ammunition, a blue baby blanket, and three of James’s sleepers. She held them tight, the tears were back as she held his baby blanket and the sleeper with the monkeys. That was Michael’s favorite, he used to sing the five little monkey’s song to James. It was his favorite. James was Michael’s little monkey. Marie could still see the two of them playing and laughing. Her tears and pain were too much. She threw it all into the dumpster except for the monkey sleeper, she couldn’t bring herself to let it go. She curled up with a sleeper in her arms against the dumpster and just stared into the darkness.

Marie drifted in and out of consciousness for the next half an hour when a loud slam of a door woke her from her daze. It was the house two down from the dumpster. She heard a child cry; she knew that sound, the child was scared. She instantly got up and raced to the house. It was a one story row house with a brick exterior and yet she could still hear what was going on inside. She moved to the window on the right side of the house where the noise was coming from to see for sure. She was right, she saw a man in his approximate thirties with greasy black hair, looking like he hadn’t bathed in years, yelling and throwing things around the living room of the house. On the red couch sat two small boys, who couldn’t have been any older than five and eleven. They had a look of fear in their eyes as this grown man berated them for the house being a mess. He continued to berate them as Marie looked on. Finally he stepped up to the older boy and slapped him across the face knocking him from the red couch onto the beige carpet, blood running from the boy’s nose. The man picked him up and continued to hit him as the younger boy tried his hardest to stop him from striking the older boy. The man knocked the younger boy to the ground and the little boy let out a cry. Marie could take no more. She ran to the back wood door and kicked it in. She stormed through the checkerboard kitchen and into the living room. They had not even heard her kick the door in with the commotion. She walked right up behind the man and grabbed him around his neck with her arm pulling him off the older boy. Marie pushed him into the floral printed wall.

“Who the fuck are you?!” The man yelled at Marie.

She didn’t say a word she just backhanded him in the face. The man lunged at Marie but he caught him by his throat with one hand and pinned him against the wall. She was looking him directly in the eyes as he struggled to breathe. She felt nothing for him, he was a monster to her. She felt her grip tighten as life left his eyes. He went limp as she released her grasp allowing his dead body to fall to the floor. She turned to see the two little boys clinging to each other on the floor beside the couch, the younger was crying the older was trying to comfort him. “Please don’t hurt us.” The older pleaded to Marie. She was breathing deeply, finally realizing what she had just done. She had killed these boy’s father right in front of them. She sank to the floor besides them.

“Please don’t be scared of me, its ok, its ok your dad was a bad man and now he can’t hurt you anymore. Don’t be scared, I won’t hurt you.” She tried to reassure them. “Where’s your mommy?” She asked as calmly as she could.

“She’s dead” the older boy replied.

Marie felt her heart sink, she just made these boys orphans. “Do you have anyone?” she said hopefully.

The little boy nodded, “Our auntie loves us.” He said.

Marie felt relief “Where is she?” Marie asked

“Across town.” The older boy replied.

“Do you go to school?” Marie asked.

The little boy was smiling, “I’m a big boy. I go to kindergarten and my brother he’s in fifth grade.”

Marie smiled, “Ok can you get you and your brother to school in the morning?” she said to the older boy

“Yes, we ride the bus.” The older boy replied.

“Ok you go to school and you tell them your dad never came home last night and you have them call your aunt, can you do that?” Marie asked.

They both nodded their heads.

“He was our step-dad” the older boy told Marie.

She just nodded.

“You have blood all over you, do you have an ouchie?” the little boy asked.

“No, I’m ok, but do you still have any of your mommy’s old clothing?” Marie replied

“In the bedroom” the older boy said pointing to the room next to the kitchen.

Marie walked into the bedroom. It smelled like the disgusting man she had just killed. She had to struggle to keep from throwing up. “Where?” she asked the boys who had followed her, as she looked around the filth of a room, the man’s clothing were everywhere, beer cans, old cigarettes, and various food wrappers were strewn across the room. There was more trash than anything else. There were two wood dressers, a closet, and a bed or at least she thought a bed was under the pile of clothing and trash.              

“In the closet” the older boy pointed to it.

Marie walked to the closet and opened the door. She looked inside then instantly closed the door. “What did your mommy do for a job?” she asked already knowing the answer.

“She was a professional dancer.” The little boy said with pride.

Marie just dropped her head against the door. “I’m sure she was.” Was all she could reply. Marie opened the closet again and gazed again upon the leather strapped outfits in front of her. Mom was a dancer alright, or, to be exact, a stripper. Marie let out a sigh and picked up a black leather knee high boot and checked the bottom of it, “Well at least the boots will fit.” She said to herself. She reached in and grabbed a pair of leather pants and a tie up the back strapless leather top. She was low on options when it came to clothing. She couldn’t stay in her blood soaked clothing and you can’t walk into a store to get new clothing covered in blood as it would raise alarms. “Boys step out please.” Marie ordered to them. The older boy led the younger out of the room closing the door behind them. Marie squeezed herself into the pants and laced up the top. They were a close fit but it would work until she could find something better. She zipped up the boots. She took a stretch to try to get the pants to feel more comfortable but it wasn’t going to happen. She stepped into the roach covered bathroom, she swatted one from the sink and turned it on. She could see herself in the mirror, she had blood everywhere she worked to wash the blood from her face, neck, and arms. It was all in her blonde hair, she just fixed her hair by pulling it all back into her ponytail. She walked out of the room leaving her bloody clothing behind, she had put them under the pile of dirty clothing. The boys were sitting on the couch they had turned on the TV and were watching cartoons.

“Ok, I will take this body and get rid of it. You two get to bed. Remember he never came home and you need your teacher to call your aunt.” Marie ordered. The two boys nodded. Marie looked towards the front door and saw a grey hoodie jacket, “Is that either of yours?” she asked the boys.

“No it was his.” The older boy said pointing to his dead step-dad.

“Ok mine now.” Marie replied walking over to it taking it off the coat rack putting it on and zipping it up. It smelled terrible and had food stains on it but at least it covered her up more. Marie walked back over to the lifeless body reached under his arms and began to drag him from the living room and through the kitchen, she pulled it down the three steps that led up to the back door that she had kicked open. She tried to get the door back into place but the hinges were too damaged. She settled for it looking like it was back in place. She drug him to the dumpster where she had left her backpack, it was still there; she let out a sigh of relief. She pulled him along side of the dumpster propping him against it and tilting his head down. She grabbed her backpack and put it back onto her back, tapped him on the head to make sure he was still dead. He didn’t move. She walked down the alley away from the body. She needed a place to stay for the night to re-group she thought to herself. 

Marie walked for a while before she decided she needed to do something to change her appearance. They would still be looking for her and for now she had to hide. She walked into a nearby drug store. She knew what she could do to help her hide, she had done it before when she and Michael first ran but he never liked it. He told her it changed her too much and she was so beautiful as a blonde. This time she had nobody who cared, so why should she? She walked to the ‘hair care’ aisle and grabbed a box of brown hair coloring. She walked to the counter and put it down. The old man at the counter looked at it and looked at her; she still had some blood in her hair.

His eyes were gentle “Oh don’t change your pretty hair” he said with a smile.

Marie just smiled back “It’s time for a change.” She said as she paid for it. She put it in her backpack and walked out.