Page 115 of Maceo

“The outskirts of town, headed home. I had to leave him… Oh God. What if he’s still alive!”

“Are you being followed?”

I looked in the rearview mirror to see the cruiser coming up on me fast.

“Yes!”

“I’m coming. Just keep driving toward the compound.”

I could hear him on the other line with his brothers, telling them to head in my direction. I silently cursed as I came upon approaching vehicles. Putting the phone on speaker, I sat it in the cup holder and prepared to weave around the cars. As I maneuvered, the cruiser followed me effortlessly with the lights flashing. Speeding up, they rammed me in the back.

“Son of a bitch!” I yelled.

“What happened?”

“They hit me!”

Again, the cruiser rammed into the back of me, causing me to veer off the road a little. I managed to get the car back on track and speed up. I made a sharp right turn onto another road, and the cruiser was right behind me. Suddenly, it pulled up to my driver’s side and rammed me from that side, causing the car to spin out of control. The more I tried to straighten the wheel, the worse it became.

Another hit caused the car to flip. I screamed as it tumbled off the side of the road and into the woods. I could hear Maceo yelling my name, but I was too busy bracing myself for impact. The Escalade slammed against a tree, finally coming to a stop. For a moment, all I could do was lay there upside down, trying to catch my breath.

My head was pounding. My arms were all cut up from the broken glass, and my ears were ringing.

“Shar! Sharina!”

I could hear Maceo, but I couldn’t find the phone.

“Baby, are you okay!”

“I’m… I’m okay,” I mumbled.

With a trembling hand, I reached for the button to undo my seat belt. As it gave way, my body slid from the seat. I groaned as I felt around for the phone, finally locating it in the back. I dragged myself over the broken glass and out of the busted window. The moment my body was out, I felt a tight grip on my hair, pulling me to my feet. My body was slammed against the car, and I came face-to-face with Charity dressed in a cop uniform.

She gave me a sinister smile. “Did you miss me, baby?” she asked, fingering my cheek.

The next thing I knew, she jabbed my neck with some sort of syringe. I shoved her off me and swung at her with what little strength I had, catching her in the jaw. I was met with a knee to the stomach, causing me to double over and drop the phone. I already felt weak from the impact of the accident. Whatever she injected me with quickly worked to debilitate me.

“I’m gonna have so much fun with you, Shar,” she said, grabbing my hair again. “Just wait and see.”

My legs felt like jelly as I fell to the ground. I felt myself being dragged over leaves and fallen tree limbs before being pulled upright and dumped into someplace dark. The next thing I knew, it was lights out.

“Shar! Shar!”

I sped down the highway, my tires practically smoking as I ate up the road. I just knew this was Charity. It couldn’t be anybody but that bitch. I was about to yell Shar’s name again when I heard giggling on the other end of the phone.

“Why so distraught?”

“Bitch, when I catch you, you’re fucking dead. You hear me? Fucking. Dead!”

“Dead like your friends, or dead like your little girlfriend is about to be?”

“Dead like your daddy and your brother. If she’s hurt when I get her back, you don’t even wanna know what I’m gonna do to you.”

“Oooo… I love a good threat. It gets my juices flowing. I’m gonna have so much fun with her before I gut this bitch like a fucking fish.”

The line went silent. Pulling it from my ear, I saw that she’d hung up.

“Fuck! Son of a bitch!”

---