But some madness seemed to take hold of him. Something about the girl, the weird marks on the walls, and all of the other stuff, seemed to move him toward her. He walked over and sat across from her. He noticed that there was blood stained into her clothes, but she didn’t seem all that worried about it. She also didn’t seem to be bleeding anywhere like it.
“I think we got off to the wrong start,” Rebecca said. “Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself? I assume you are the maintenance worker on duty for this stop, and perhaps another?”
Walter nodded.
“That makes sense, why you’d be out here,” Rebecca said. “Making sure everything is in tip-top shape. I don’t apologize for what I’ve done to the place . . . and your phone, for that matter. It wasn’t all that nice, but I’m a little desperate at the moment.”
“What are you?” Walter said.
“That’s not entirely important,” Rebecca said. “What is, however, is that I need a favor. I gave you your gun back, didn’t hurt you too badly, and am still talking to you at the moment. Perhaps then, you can hear me out.”
“If I can’t?”
“Well, I think I’ll be able to persuade you,” Rebecca said. Walter could see something in the back of her eyes, but he wasn’t sure what it was. It seemed like a dark light coming forth from hell itself.
“I need you to drive me north, to the Canadian border,” she said. “You don’t need to drive me across since they wouldn’t let me do that anyway. My passport isn’t on me per se, but let’s just say I know how to get into places. You take me north, let me out maybe a mile or two before we get to the border, drive in yourself. We might have to stop by your house to get your passport, since you’re going up north. Maybe your brother used to like to go up to Canada, and you want to revel in his last moments before you yourself meet the reaper for yourself. I don’t really care what you say, as long as you can get across the border, wait for me to join you, and then you can drive me to Toronto. After that, you can either enjoy your time in Canada or maybe head right back. It shouldn’t take longer than a day or so. And then you never have to see me ever again.”
She grabbed the saltshaker next to the napkins and poured a handful of it into her mouth.
“Any questions?” she said.
She was obviously suffering from some sort of delusion. Walter had seen it many times. Someone would be in an accident, and the shock doesn’t hit them until much later. During the time before the shock ended, they would speak as calmly as a cucumber. Walter himself had been in a similar state of shock after what happened to his kids. He kept asking Beth when the twins were going to come home. Why the woman didn’t leave him at that moment, Walter never knew. Maybe she pitied him. Maybe she didn’t blame him, or rather, knew that Walter was going to have enough blame for the both of them on himself anyway, so why add more?
And that’s what Walter felt for the girl at that moment, nothing but pity. All of this could still be rationally explained. He had allowed himself to be disarmed by a mentally unstable teenager who had a crazy plan to head up to Canada, and that was assuming the borders were still even open. During weather like this, there was no guarantee of that working. The Canadians were never reliable, something that Walter knew from firsthand experience.
“I want to help you, Rebecca,” Walter said. “But I don’t think driving up to Canada is what you need right now.”
“Walter, let me be frank,” she said. “You are in your sixties, with a high level of cholesterol in your blood and a brain tumor that will grow cancerous in a few years. You also have arteries full of fat that might give you a stroke or heart attack in the coming years. I don’t want your pity, and I don’t even need your trust. Get me to where I need to go, and everything will be fine.”
White light erupted out of the girl’s arm. Walter put his hand up, instinctually, to block it. She brought the arm down on the table.
Burned plastic and wood radiated through the air. There was another smell as well, but Walter couldn’t remember what it was.
The table that they had been sitting at had been cut in half, with one part of it lying on the ground next to them.
Rebecca brought the white blade up to Walter’s face. He could feel the heat radiating off of it, and he could even see the air ripple around it the way it does on roads when it’s hot out.
“So, you are going to drive me north,” she said. “Or I will cut you in half and then take your car myself. I don’t know how to drive a stick shift, but I suppose I could learn. I’m a fast learner, after all.”
“I’ll ask again,” he said. “What are you?”
Rebecca brought the blade closer to his face.
“I have killed people far more important to me than you today,” she said. “I won’t even flinch.”
“Then do it,” Walter said. “I don’t know what’s happening now, but I’ll be damned if I let you talk to me in such a rude manner.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes.
“Now, I might not know what’s going on here,” Walter said, “but don’t think I’m stupid. You can’t learn stick shift overnight, and besides, it looked like you’re in a little bit of a hurry. I’m guessing you’re on the run, or at least think you are. From the blood on your jacket, it seemed
