The rapist whined, and tears ran down his cheeks. JR grinned evilly and sighted on his flaccid pecker. The rapist eyes grew huge as he saw what she was about to do. Before he could react, he heard the gunshot. He screamed from the pain of the hollow point bullet entering and separating in his flesh before smashing through a testicle. His knees drew upward tightly, and he stared open mouthed at the sight of his shriveled pecker hanging by a thread of skin.
She knelt beside her victim’s head and jammed the gun barrel under his chin. “I’d like to continue torturing you for days, hotshot, because of what you and your asshole buddies planned to do to me,” JR said, “but that’s really not who I am.” She pulled the trigger and the body flinched in its death dance, then relaxed.
She stood as Sam stepped close and embraced her. “Oh, God, Sam! I thought I’d be killed after they gangbanged me. Thank you for saving me.” They kissed long and hard.
Sam said, “Let’s go to the cabin so you can clean up and wash their blood off. I’ll come back and haul the trash away.”
“No! You’re not leaving me alone ever again. From now on, we’re like joined at the hip. They scared the shit out of me; I was positive they’d rape me and then kill me.”
“Fine, I like the thought of having you by my side from now on because I love you and intend to spend a long life together.”
Chapter IV
Running to Survive
An hour later they were back at the clearing collecting more guns and ammo from the dead and from inside their truck. The truck had 2,357 miles on it. The keyring had a tag from Eisinger Motors in Kalispell. Sam thought the truck fully loaded with accessories was far above the income level of the trash driving it. It was likely everyone still in the area was driving new trucks or SUVs after the car dealership owners fled or died. Driver’s licenses gave the men’s names. The group’s leader and the younger man were related. Darrell and Patrick Hooper. They loaded the four bodies in the Chevy’s short bed haphazardly before JR drove it to Marion. It was left in Marion parked alongside the highway. JR put a cardboard sign in the rear window: IN MARION THIS HAPPENS TO RAPIST AND MURDERERS. Sam locked the doors and kept the keys in case they might have a need for it later. Driving through town, they shot one zombie, and then continued looking for more but didn’t find any. JR was silent and withdrawn. The vast majority of residents left as the zombies started to arrive, and the town looked totally deserted except for a few zombie carcasses rotting in the streets or yards. Pet dogs were going feral and learning to fend for themselves since their owners left or died. No lap dogs were on the streets; they had likely been taken by their owners or had been devoured by larger mutts in the new dog-eat-dog world.
Back at the cabin, they walked to the river hand in hand and caught three 15 to 18 inch long trout. Two were rainbows and the other, Sam thought, was a brook trout. Together they cleaned and filleted the fish, then roasted them above an open fire on spits. JR remained pensive and grim.
They postponed planned work and instead drank several beers from the nearby cold spring water while sitting together on the split log bench in front of the cabin. The sun was low and sinking on the western horizon but still produced warmth. Sam had his left arm around JR’s shoulders holding her close firmly. She’d grown quiet and distant since being attacked. Sam said, “Let’s talk about this morning.”
He waited patiently, sipped his beer twice. and continued to hug her gently.
She spoke softly, “I don’t want us to be known as JR and Sam in the same context as Bonnie and Clyde. But damn it I was afraid, pissed, and out of my mind this morning. What I did to that horrible man isn’t who I want to be. What I wanted to do, but didn’t, is even more frightening. I wanted to hurt that man and see the fear in his eyes as I tortured him until he died. He and the others were no good bastards.” Tears dribbled down her cheeks and she trembled. “That’s not me: It can’t be me. I won’t let it be me.”
Sam waited. He wouldn’t interfere with her thoughts until she let it all out.
“Do you still love me? Can you love me after I’m like that?”
He answered softly and seriously. “I still love you. What happened this morning didn’t change a thing in my feeling for you. I had the exact same hatred for those scum that you had. I killed three without even trying to stop them. Since you were the one they threatened and placed in danger, I let you hand out the punishment the lone survivor deserved. If it had progressed into actual physical or even mental torture, I think I would have intervened.
She turned to look at him with astonishment. “You only THINK you might have?”
“We’re getting into a gray area. I wanted him to suffer for what he put you through. When that pain crossed a certain level into torture is something I would have had to deal with at the time. Cutting his nuts off and cramming them down his throat for him to choke to death on would have gone too far; but shooting his pecker was, in my opinion, within the limits. Especially since his pain and fear were ended a minute or
