It was about an hour before sunrise, and still pitch black inside the house. Romy slipped out of her bed, gun in hand. She stood still in the darkness for a moment, listening. There was at least one person moving around up there. Her first thought was that somebody had broken in.
Oh shit, the Baxters!
They would not be able to defend themselves. They were both in their sixties and not very mobile, due to them being obese.
Dressed in boxer shorts and a tank top, Romy stepped into her kitchen. The door beside the fridge led to the stairs.
She opened the door as quietly as possible, then hesitated there as she got a pinching pain in her stomach. She held her hand on her stomach until the pain passed. She had a similar cramp last night before going to bed but put it off as indigestion. The moment of hesitation allowed her to listen quietly though. She detected no sound from upstairs anymore.
Romy stood at the bottom of those stairs for a moment, stuck in indecision.
Did I imagine it? Or maybe that was just Dave or Mary-Sue...
She had to find out, so she crept up the stairs. She made it to the landing. The door was still shut and locked there.
If somebody broke in, they didn’t come through the back door
A few more stairs led her to the door leading to the Baxters’ kitchen. She put her hand on the door handle. It would be unlocked, she knew that.
She looked down and could see faint light streaming under the door. At least one of the lights upstairs was on. She turned the handle and with one smooth motion moved into the kitchen.
Nothing.
The light was coming from around the corner. Probably the bedroom or bathroom. Things were very quiet.
Way too quiet. What the fuck! Romy took a slow deep breath to calm herself and inched out of the kitchen into the adjacent living room. There was nobody there either. From where she was standing, the front door looked shut and locked.
She turned to the hallway. Light shone down the hallway at her from the open doorway of the bathroom.
None of it made sense. Then she saw the naked back of Mary-Sue as the large woman stepped partially into view.
“Mary-Sue?” Romy said in a small voice.
The reaction was instant. Mary-Sue turned her head sharply to face Romy.
Romy gasped when she saw Mary-Sue’s bulged out eyes and wide-open mouth.
Without hesitation, Mary-Sue charged. Her large size and lack of full coordination prevented her from fitting cleanly through the bathroom door though, as she collided hard with the door frame. She fell down with a large crash, half in and half out of the bathroom.
Romy took a step forward out of concern.
But Mary-Sue was already getting to her knees. She faced Romy. Her nose sat sideways on her face, smashed as she hit the ground. She had put her teeth through her top lip. But the worst was her lower jaw. She had clearly broken it, and it hung at an unnatural angle.
That didn’t seem to faze Mary-Sue as she started getting to her feet.
“Mary-Sue! Oh my god!”
Mary-Sue snapped her jaw – or at least the one side that wasn’t broken. Blood spurted from her mouth, and she lunged forward once more.
Romy hesitated, then raised her gun. Too late. Mary-Sue slammed into Romy. The sheer size of the woman sent Romy spinning away. Mary-Sue hit the ground face first once again, Romy fell backward over the back of the couch. The couch seats cushioned her fall somewhat, but she whacked her hip hard on the edge of the coffee table.
Romy scrambled to her feet. Mary-Sue was also getting to her feet. Her face was hardly recognizable anymore.
Romy had somehow hung on to her gun. She raised the weapon, spread her stance, and shot the big woman in the chest. The noise was incredibly loud in the confined space.
Mary-Sue jerked backwards slightly from the impact. Then lurched forward towards Romy.
Romy shot again. Then a second time.
Mary-Sue reached the couch and let herself fall forward over the back. Romy danced backward a couple of steps. She hit the wall with her back. Mary-Sue rolled off the coffee table and crashed onto the floor. She immediately started rising to her feet again.
Romy couldn’t believe her eyes. She had shot the woman three times center mass.
She only had three bullets left.
Without thinking, she raised her aim and squeezed off two shots into Mary-Sue’s face. The first shot nearly blew apart the large woman’s face, entering through the nose cavity into the top jaw and out the back of her neck. The second shot entered her head just below her hairline and never exited. She immediately dropped lifelessly to the ground.
Romy stayed frozen in place, still aiming her gun at the corpse.
She was breathing fast. Too fast. She was hyperventilating.
Slow down Romy Steward. She told herself. Deep breaths.
It still took her several moments to calm down enough. She looked up past the corpse, down the hall.
Where is Dave? Is he also like this?
Romy realized that she only had one bullet left in her gun. She ran. She sprinted through the kitchen and flew down the stairs. Once into her own place, she quickly gathered up her spare mag. She slammed it into place, leaving the extra bullet in the chamber.
She really wanted to bring her Glock G19 as well, but there was no place to put the gun. She quickly decided to throw on her pants. Then decided to put on socks and runners too.
She put the Glock in her back pocket and made her way back upstairs. Romy forced herself to stay calm. She took slow measured steps, and slow deep breaths. She had heard no sound from upstairs.
She entered the hallway and faced the Baxters’ bathroom once more, only sparing a quick glance for the dead body on the other side of the couch. She was ready this time.
She walked up to the bathroom. There was a
