treated?”
Earl’s grimy face twisted in inexplicable sexual pleasure as he continued to tug at his oozing cock. “Don’t got no insurance.” He shuffled a little closer and his face twitched as he stared intently at her. “Yeah. Yeah. That’s it.”
Daphne shuddered in revulsion. “What…what are you doing?”
Earl groaned deep in his throat. “Gonna blow my load on your face. About the best I can do these days.”
These words galvanized Daphne, gave her at last the necessary impetus to act. She scooted backward, pulled back a leg, and launched a foot at Earl’s cock, the tip of which was swelling as he neared orgasm. He was too into what he was doing to properly defend himself against this unexpected attack. The heel of Daphne’s shoe slammed into the base of Earl’s shaft.
Earl howled in agony as his cock and balls exploded in a rain of blood and pus. Daphne did some screaming of her own as she watched her tormentor stagger away from her, trip over his feet, and drop his gun as he tumbled to the ground. Some of the blood and pus had struck her face and she was swiping it away furiously even as she began to struggle back to her feet.
Once she was upright again, she glanced at the fallen redneck. He was howling and writhing on his back as he clutched at his ruined genitals. The man was no longer a threat, at least for the time being. He was in too much pain, sobbing and calling out for his momma. Daphne felt only a deep contempt. This was a murderer and a sexual predator. He had killed her best friend. The son of a bitch deserved no sympathy. She knew she should run again now that he was out of commission, but a voice in her head was telling her she should finish the job. This voice was getting louder and more insistent by the moment. She wasn’t a violent person by nature. Not once in her life had she ever seriously imagined killing another human being.
But things were different now.
She scooped up the gun and aimed it at his trembling face.
He held up a hand as if to ward off the bullet. “No…please…”
Daphne squeezed the trigger.
Having never used a firearm in her life, she squealed in fright at the unexpected kick of the gun. It came out of her hand and landed with a thunk on the ground a few feet away. The bullet, however, had found its target, taking off the top of Earl’s head.
His body twitched another time or two and went still.
Daphne stared at the body in shocked silence. A big part of her couldn’t believe what she’d done. This had nothing to do with the right or the wrong of the act. The motherfucker had deserved death. No doubt about it. This feeling had more to do with an intense disbelief that she’d actually found it within herself to do this kind of violence. This experience had changed her in some irreversible, fundamental way. Until maybe twenty minutes ago, she had still been the same person she’d always been. It didn’t seem possible that changes so momentous could occur in so short a span.
The whole rest of her life would be tainted by this in ways she could only begin to imagine. She wondered what she could possibly say to William when it came time to tell him about what had happened. He would want to know why she had been out driving in the country with Adam. And it wasn’t just William who would want to know all about the incident. She would have to tell the whole sordid story to the police. But the worst of it would probably be the part where she had to tell Adam’s friends and family about what had happened. Tears spilled from Daphne’s eyes as she contemplated the misery sure to fill her near future.
It was all too much.
The only thing that mattered now was getting out of these godforsaken woods and back to civilization. With that in mind, she took a look around until she had a general fix on the direction of the road. And she started walking. She’d gone maybe twenty yards by the time it occurred to her that it might have been a good idea to pick up