The Wrath of David Page 6

  “Is this just some fucking game to you, Louise?”

  “No. No, it's not,” Louise replied with a deadly serious look. “I want to help. I really do.”

  “You really want to help, yeah?” David asked.

  “Yes,” Louise replied, more determined than ever to get on his good side.

  David yanked open the front door even wider. “Then after you,” David said before pushing Louise firmly outside. He immediately shut the front door in her face and locked it from the inside. Louise turned back to the door in a heartbeat and tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. “David?” she cried with an angry whisper, desperately trying to not make any kind of a scene.

  Two army men standing on guard outside David’s front door turned around to stare at her. Fully aware of the unwanted attention she was now drawing to herself, Louise straightened up and patted down her jacket and jeans. She tried her utmost to not look any more suspicious than she already appeared. Finally, she turned around and headed towards the busy car park. As she walked towards the various cars, she heard some army guys yelling from inside David's house. “Check the attic.”

  The two army men guarding the front of the house turned their attention away from Louise and back to what was happening inside.

  Inside his neighbour's house, David made his way towards the rear of the building. He carefully opened the kitchen door before cautiously stepping out into a rough, messy, overgrown back garden. He stopped in his tracks when he heard more soldiers’ voices coming from the other side of the fence. The soldiers seemed to be rapidly trailing through each and every garden on the block.

  David began swiftly moving forward when, suddenly, a hidden soldier pounced on him from behind a side hedge close to the exit gate. Because of the complete act of surprise, the soldier had the upper hand for all of a few seconds. David tried his hardest to protect himself from the attack as the soldier punched him in the face before kneeing him hard in the chest.

  When the soldier moved to kick him again, David caught his foot mid-swing, then followed through on the soldier's caught leg by snapping it at the knee with a devastating slam-down punch of his own. As the soldier fell to the ground in howling agony, David punched him in the face, knocking him clean out.

  A second soldier in the neighbouring garden had heard the scuffle and quickly leaned over the hedge, his handgun at the ready. When he saw the unconscious body of his fellow soldier, he immediately opened fire on David.

  David dove out of the soldier's view and took cover in front of the hedge. Before the second soldier could reposition himself and his line of fire, David had leapt up at him straight through the hedge, pulling him ferociously into the garden. The soldier yelped in pain as David clung onto the soldier's gun hand, then turned and placed the man's gun arm over his shoulder, David swiftly snapped the man's arm at the elbow before taking his gun and striking a hard blow across the back of his head. David backed cautiously away towards the garden gate, leaving the two men slumped close together on the grass, groaning in pain.

  Back in the main car park outside the front row of houses, Louise stood at the beginning of a line of a dozen parked cars on either side. From inside a nearby army truck at the far end of the car park, a female soldier had turned her attention to watch Louise suspiciously.

  Louise smiled as innocently as she could at the observing soldier. Then, without the soldier seeing, Louise frantically pressed at the car-locking key-ring device she'd just stolen. When nothing happened after half a dozen attempts, she swiftly held the thing out in front of her, blindly aiming it at every single car parked nearby.

  “Come on. Come on. Come on ... you son of a bitch. Please ... come on,” she frantically whispered.

  Suddenly, a small Mini began flashing its indicators just a few cars away. She breathed a deep sigh of relief, but the soldier in the truck continued watching her with even greater curiosity.

  Louise hurried towards the flashing car and climbed inside.

  “What am I doing?” she whispered. “Jesus. I don't even know how to fucking drive. Okay ... so ... I put the key into this little hole thingy ... and ... just um... turn it.”

  The engine immediately sprang to life. Louise cheered and cried out like she'd just become the first human being to land a spaceship on Mars.

  “Woo-hoo! Now that wasn’t so hard now, was it? So ... clutch down ... and reverse.”

  The car stammered forward and not backwards, as Louise had intended. The front bumper of the Mini shot up and onto the nearby footpath with a thud. Louise looked startled and screamed in shock before slamming on the brakes and stalling the car.

  “Shite, shite, shite. That was not fucking good, Louise. That was not fucking good.”

  The female soldier in the nearby truck looked stunned that someone could be such a terrible driver. She quickly exited the truck and made her way towards Louise's car to investigate.

  Louise watched the soldier approach. “Shite, shite, shite,” she continued under her breath.

  Louise turned on the engine again and slammed the gear stick into the proper reverse slot this time. More aggressively than she intended, she sped into a reverse turn, almost running over the approaching soldier, who had to dive to one side just to get out of the way.

  “Woo! Bit too much on the accelerator there, methinks,” cried Louise as she struggled to put the car into first gear again.

  The soldier stood back up onto her feet and scrambled over to Louise at the driver's-side window. She began knocking ferociously upon the glass.

  “Hey. Open the window. Let me see your papers, missy,” the soldier cried as Louise continued to force the gear stick way too hard into gear, any bloody gear.

  At that moment, the middle-aged neighbour whose car Louise was stealing swung open his front door and cried out to the high heavens for the soldier's attention. “Hey! That’s my car! That’s my fucking car! That little Paki bitch is stealing my fucking car!”

  Louise gave an apologetic wave to the frantic little white man shouting racial abuse in her general direction. “I'm so sorry,” Louise said aloud, but only she could hear.

  The soldier turned back to confront Louise before desperately lunging at her driver's door, trying to force it open. She was too late, as Louise finally slotted the gear stick back into the correct gear and sped away. The soldier, taken by surprise at the suddenness of Louise's acceleration, stumbled onto the ground.

  “Shoot. I'm sorry,” Louise cried again, giving the female soldier another apologetic wave in her rear-view mirror.

  Chapter 12

  Louise roared down the road before turning onto another quiet suburban side street. The car was still stuck in first gear as Louise struggled with the gears along with the steering wheel, burning up the engine in the process. She screamed in fright when David suddenly ran into the street, just a few yards in front of her. She slammed on the breaks while accidentally honking the car horn.

  David jumped onto the bonnet to avoid the impact as the Mini came to a screeching halt. Still balancing on the bonnet, he crouched down to get a better look at the maniac driver. He was pleasantly surprised to see Louise at the helm. He shook his head with a slight grin before climbing down from the bonnet.

  A frantic Louise quickly wound down her window as she stalled the Mini again. “David?” she cried. “David, it’s me. It’s me.”

  David calmly shook his head and approached the driver's-side door. “I can see that, Louise,” he said as he leaned his head inside. He gave a quick darting glance at the gearbox. “Who else around here would drive a car in first gear?” He then opened the driver’s-side door and climbed in. “Move over.”

  Louise jumped into the passenger seat while David made himself comfortable on the driver's side.

  “Did anyone else see you take this car?” he asked.

  “I ... I don’t think so,” Louise replied, trying to sound as innocent and as sure as she could.

  Two second later, the huge army truck fro
m the car park outside David's house sped recklessly around the top corner of the street behind them. It almost screeched off balance before straightening itself up and coming directly for them. David frowned at Louise but said nothing more.

  “I'm sorry,” Louise said just above a whisper. “There might have been one person who saw me.”

  David turned on the engine and sped off back down the road. The obvious way to drive would be to continue directly down the same street before turning left or right onto the main road, just ahead. David knew he needed a different route, one that might deter others from following him. With the army truck hot on his heels, he deliberately steered the Mini up and onto the nearby footpath, onto the grass and over towards a large park in the distance.

  Louise screamed upon seeing the sudden and unexpected off-road track onto which they had swiftly moved. “Watch out!” she yelled when David swerved the car around an old man and his dog at the park entrance.

  Meanwhile, the army truck behind them, raged up onto the footpath and grass too, chasing them into the park.

  “Why the hell didn’t you just stay put like I asked, huh?” David asked, raising his voice but without taking his eyes away from the rough parkland ahead.

  “I'm sorry,” Louise cried. “I just ... I just wanted to help, that's all. I'm so, so sorry.”

  “As soon as I lose this idiot, you're getting out,”

  “I am not,” Louise stubbornly stated.

  “You’re really starting to piss me off now, Louise,” David replied while taking a short, sharp glance in her direction.

  “I just couldn't face my ma right now,” Louise pleaded as she tried to come up with a quick excuse, any excuse, to convince David to change his mind and not kick her out of his car at the next tree.

  “You just stole a car and you’re assisting in the escape of a known felon. I think your mother is gonna be the least of your worries right about now.”

  “And now I’m a felon too. So, I’m sticking with you,” Louise stubbornly said with a sly grin broadening across her face – a grin she swiftly removed when David glanced back at her with another look of daggers. He said nothing, though, and with a deep sigh and a brief shake of his head he returned his focus to driving the Mini.

  The army truck was right up David's arse as it continued to steamroll through the park. The female soldier steering the truck violently barged the rear end of the Mini on the driver's side. Louise let out another screeching yelp while David remained cool, calm and focussed. The soldier rapidly pulled her truck around to the left, driving up on the passenger side of the Mini. Louise glanced out of her window and up at the raging female soldier steering the army truck like a maniac. When their eyes met, Louise gave her an innocent wave again, which enraged the driver even more.

  The soldier then swerved her truck recklessly into the Mini, edging David and Louise towards a group of thick trees in the middle of the park. Louise screamed again at the impact. The determined soldier let out her own satisfied grin at the quick change of expression on Louise's face.

  “Hold on,” David cried before speeding up to the highest acceleration he could muster from the small, fragile vehicle. The soldier followed David's lead and sped up too as the thick trees in the distance fast approached.

  “David,” Louise cried in a desperate panic as the trees began to engulf her vision.

  “I know,” David stated calmly.

  “I saw plenty of Minis crashing into things in car chase programmes back in the old days and … well ... they don’t usually come out too good in the end, you know,” Louise said anxiously.

  “Hold on,” David said again.

  Just as the truck and Mini were about to ride their luck and plough through the trees, David quickly swerved hard into the army lorry, breaking and yanking on his hand break at the exact same time. The truck was instantly knocked off balance. It bobbed, bounced and skidded from side to side and wheel to wheel. The soldier inside frantically tried to regain control of the vehicle and stupidly half-turned the truck as it bobbled unstably. The manoeuvre only rocked the truck more violently though, making it even more unstable.

  As the front wheels continued to turn, the truck finally crashed over onto its side, skidding down the grassy slope and into the trees. David steadied his own car and steered off at an angle around the group of trees.

  “Woo-hoo!” Louise screamed with pure and utter delight. “Nice moves, Davie boy. Nice moves indeed.” She even applauded, but David seemed far from impressed. He continued driving through the park without raising the faintest smile.

  He drove out of the park and right through a mesh fence before turning back onto the main road. Within a few minutes, he was speeding through the outskirts of the town centre, jumping through red lights and overtaking other cars and trucks on the road, left and right. He drove through another dozen red lights before finally pulling into a petrol garage. David pulled up abruptly beside another car as its owner, an obese male wearing an army uniform, prepared to fill it with fuel.

  Louise looked surprised at the unexpected pit stop. “You know this isn’t exactly the best time to stop for fuel, David,” she said.

  “Get out. And get into the other car,” David commanded. Before Louise could even fathom a reply, David had exited the car, leaving her alone in the passenger seat. After a brief hesitation, she followed his lead.

  David approached the obese man, who, halfway through filling up his car, watched David come at him with a queer and surprised look on his face. “Can I ... help you, pal?” he asked with a slightly deluded grin.

  David said nothing. Instead, he grabbed the fuel pump from the man's hands. Before the army guy could protest, David began spraying him all over with fuel. The driver just stood, paralysed, on the spot with fear. He looked utterly shocked. Before he could gasp for breath or spit the fuel from his mouth, David had pulled his silver engraved lighter from his pocket and sparked a flame.

  Louise looked absolutely stunned. “David?” she cried, half-astonished and half-horrified at David's unmerciful antics. “What the hell are you doing?” She couldn’t believe David would commit such a heinous act against his worst enemy, let alone an innocent stranger.

  David ignored her pleas and kept his full attention upon the terrified, fuel-drenched driver. “Give me your keys.”

  The obese army man desperately wanted to turn and run in any direction, but he couldn't take his eyes away from the small flame in David's hands. He knew that all David had to do was lightly throw it in his general direction and he'd soon be rolling on the ground, howling in excruciating pain as he roasted alive.

  “Please ... please don’t kill me, please,” the fat man pleaded with a whimper.

  David frowned. “I'm only gonna ask you one more time. Give me your fucking keys.”

  The man quickly broke out of his paralysed trance and threw his keys, wallet and phone directly at David. He emptied both his pockets in seconds. “Here. Here. Take them. Take everything,” he pleaded.

  David grabbed the keys and nothing else. He glanced over at the still-in-shock Louise and motioned her towards their new car. “Get inside, Louise,”

  Louise stood still as David turned and jumped into the car. She then shook her head, breaking her spell of paralysis, and got into the passenger side. As soon as her feet hit the mat, David revved the engine and sped off like an overeager race driver trying to get back into a world championship race.

  Still drenched in fuel, the obese army man watched the pair leave, as did the rest of the horrified customers. A breathless, prolonged silence hung in the air. Then the fat army man gasped in relief.

  “You weren’t ... really going to…” Louise began, hesitating, struggling to get her words out.

  “No,” David replied without looking at her.

  Louise took a deep and rather relieved breath. “So, now where the hell are we going?” she asked as she folded her arms, still a little on the defensive side.

  “One more stop. T
hen we’re out of here.”

  As David drove along the back streets of Douglas, heading out of town, Louise finally took a second to study him, up and down. She noticed for the first time a series of scars, kind of like slash marks, along his wrists and all the way up the inside of his forearms. She wanted to ask what they were about. How had he gotten them? Her gut told her though that she already knew the answer. So instead, she bit her tongue for the time being and glanced away.

  Louise gazed out the window at the passing scenery. Her mind was in a foggy daze as she tried to take in everything since she'd woken up on David's couch almost half an hour ago. David continued driving down another quiet suburban back street. He slowed the car just a little as a low bridge approached. Once he'd driven halfway underneath, he swerved into the path of an oncoming car. Louise cried out as she was jolted from her hazy thoughts.

  “What the hell are you doing now?” Louise cried.

  “Get out,” David sternly demanded.

  “No way. Not again. I told you I’m not going home,” Louise replied with gritted teeth and a steely determination.

  “So, you'll be staying here, then, I take it?” David replied with a slight grin.

  Before she could utter another word, David had exited the car and strolled over towards the other car he'd just prevented from passing. The anxious young male driver had already winded down his window. “What the fuck happened, mate? Did your tyre blow or something? Jesus Christ, that was a close one, no?”

  David didn't engage the young driver in any form of conversation. Instead, he yanked open the young driver's car door and dragged the poor man out by the scruff of his shirt before throwing him down hard onto the road. Behind them, Louise scrambled out of the other car.

  “Are you fucking crazy?” the young driver raged until David pulled out his huge hunting knife. The young driver scrambled onto his knees. “No. Please, don’t. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Take the car ... take the fucking car,” the young man insisted.