Pan I am…
(working title)
(a ‘pass the story’ creation brought to you by pocket, painthrilla and Fear&Loathing)
and it begins…
She was running. She had hoped that if she ran long enough, that eventually she would come to remember nothing else. So she just kept running…
Her heart thundered away in her chest. It felt as though it were trying to beat its way through. The cold November air tore its way angrily down her throat and into her lungs. Her arms and legs wore the scratches of a million bushes, brambles and shrubs that she had somehow managed to plow her way through. Her hair drenched in sweat, her face smeared with tears, her gown torn and stained… stained with the blood of her lover, whom she had lain naked with only hours ago…
She paused by a stream, cupped her still shaking hands together and managed to plunge them into the water to get a drink. Mel then took a handful of the ice cold water and washed her tear stained face, her cut and bleeding body, and tried to rid herself of some of Blaine’s blood. The frigid water had a sobering effect and she took a moment to sit down and try to collect her thoughts…
How had they found them? Who had supplied them with their location? There had to be a rat and Mel could smell a rat a mile away. Was it Chuck the new guy, or Vanessa the sultry red head who had joined them at the last minute? Vanessa was hired by Chuck two weeks ago, maybe they were both involved. God damnit, Blaine should have been more careful. He was always too trusting, hell they had argued about it just tonight. But Blaine had never pulled off this big of job before, nickel and dime shit compared to 7 and ˝ million dollars of un-cut Russian diamonds. But his plan was sheer genius and up until tonight it had worked flawlessly. But now here she was, clutching a bag worth more than her life, lost and confused somewhere in Canada. But she was alive damnit, and that was how she was gonna remain. As the chill from the water wore off, she shivered one last time to shake off the cold, took a deep breath and rose to her feet with a feeling of newfound purpose. She knew exactly what she had to do…
She muttered lightly to herself, "Next time you're going to get lost somewhere in Canada, bring a compass."
Mel needed to get to a road, that lead to a phone, and fast. She looked up into the clear night sky, searching for the north star. She closed her eyes to see the maps that were in the plan, east of the river that fed his creek was highway 410 and her best chance. Opening her eyes Mel turned and started walking away from the creek.
She zipped up her jacket after tucking the bag of gems away, pulled out her pistol, and popped the clip. Five in the clip and one in the chamber. She could still hear Blaine talking about how they wouldn't even need to shoot, if it all went smoothly. Now Mel was down to six shots and Blaine was dead. She slapped the clip home.
Mel pushed forward through the brush trying to keep herself from getting too scratched up. All she could do now is try to figure out who she should contact. She didn't even really know the fence that Blaine was talking too but she knew how to get in touch with him. Chuck and Vanessa could be dead for all Mel knew, but someone had to have tipped them off. They walked into a setup, no, an ambush, and were not meant to get out. It was a very professional team that hit them, with gear that Mel though for sure was government issue, until they started to shoot without a word.
After an hour of hard walking and even harder thinking Mel could start to hear the din of traffic traveling on the highway. She was breathing deeply and her legs were getting a little tired but this progress gave her some new energy. Mel's mind still raced and churned trying to look at the situation from different angles. Suddenly she stopped dead and forced herself into some thick brush, heart pumping and eyes wide. She hadn't even noticed the sound of the helicopter until it was rather loud. It had to be flying low to be getting as loud as it was ...
The chopper circled the area for a good ten minutes. It’s bright searchlight piercing through the wooded forest… searching. How much do they know? She thought to herself? How could they have followed me this far? Her heart was racing… her teeth chattering from the bitter cold… Her fingers felt as though they would break right off if she bumped them. She had to get out of this cold. She had to seek immediate shelter. But she remained hidden in the brush until the chopper had finally left the area…
She made her way to a local truck stop where upon entering, she gave the attendant a quick smile then made her way immediately to the ladies restroom. She turned on the hot water faucet and stuck her hands down into the steaming water… the shock of the heat on her nearly frozen fingers sent sharp stabbing pains through her hands and on down her arm… “Ow! Damnit!” she muttered angrily at herself as she jerked her hands back out and readjusted the temperature.
She looked up now into the mirror, and took a good look at her face. She hardly recognized herself. Even after all she had been through, she still appeared the raven haired beauty with the dimpled cheeks and emerald eyes that had turned heads everywhere she went from the day she was born. But something else had changed… something deeper than what lie on the surface. This was no longer the fun loving, adventurous young woman of yesterday… oh no… Something in those emerald eyes told another story. Those eyes were knowing… knowing of hurt and loss and of terror… those were the eyes of the hunted…
She refused to think about her current situation until she had finished her breakfast of eggs, toast and coffee. The waiter at the truck stop diner had repeatedly stopped by her table to ask if she needed anything… too many times in fact, and it was starting to grate on her nerves.
“You just passing through?” he said, pouring her coffee.
“I see you’ve finally mustered the courage for polite conversation,” she said bluntly. “Have a seat.” Mel motioned for the waiter who might have been all of 22 to sit in the booth across from her.
Mel had always been a very good judge of character. She prided herself in being able to read a person on first impression. She knew from looking at this kid, that he was on a ‘time-out’ in his life… a pause… a break… that he was waiting for some direction. He was obviously attracted to her. She was used to this kind of attention. But more importantly, Mel could see that this guy was alone in the world, and with very little encouragement, he would do anything she asked of him…
Men had always felt comfortable talking to Mel and she never understood why, Blaine had always told her that she was beautiful, approachable and genuine and that was a rarity. Damnit, she missed Blaine bad, she shook her head and shoved back her sorrow. Her iron will to survive and her burning desire for vengeance and self-justified justice replaced her sorrow and she now focused on the man that she knew would help her on her quest.
He was just finishing up the late shift and eager for some company. Mickey was 23 and life had not been kind to him. Mickey had grown up in an orphanage after his parents were killed in a motorcycle accident. He was a professional thief by age 13 and a heroin addict by 17. After he got clean around 19 his past transgressions had caught up with him and he was wanted for several crimes in the States, including manslaughter. So he spent the last 4 years in Canada staying clean and out of trouble for the most part. During the winter, he worked part time at this dinner to supplement his income as farm-hand. As Mel listened with her eyes her mind had already started to reassemble a plan.
Mickey asked her what her story was and she lied, telling him she was running from her husband who had been in the mob and was found of using her as a punching bag.
As Mel bent down to grab her purse the first shot was fired, it hit the back of the booth with a loud thump. They didn’t even hear a gun go off probably using silencers. Mel dove under the table and went to pull Mickey down with her but he was already under the adjacent booth and had a mean looking semi in his hand, eyes wide but alert.
Mel’s heart raced as she looked for away out of there. Micky lunged towards her and a second shot was fired, missing his knee by inches. Mel thought it had to be a warning shot these guys didn’t miss.
Mickey whispered through clenched teeth “Are these your friends or mine”
“I don’t know and I ain’t sticking around to find out, we gotta get the hell outta here”
“I can get us out of this, we’ll go out through the kitchen my truck is parked in the back ” Mickey said
By this time the dinner was in chaos, the few people that were in there where on the ground whimpering for their lives. Mel chanced a quick peek up to see if she could spot the shooter. She saw nothing , “ok, let’s do it NOW” Mel said angrily .
Mickey grasped her hand and they quickly crawled through the kitchen doors. They stood up and ran to the door, bolted out and suddenly they were both looking down the barrel of a gun and two very well dressed Russian assassins...
Mickey's pistol couldn't even twitch before they were screaming in a foreign tongue and pointing much larger fully automatic assault rifles at their chests. Neither of them could understand a word they were saying, but it quickly became evident the men wanted them to drop their weapons and 'get down' by the way they kept motioning to the ground with the barrels of their rifles. Mel and Mickey were desperate but not stupid. They couldn't move fast enough to out shoot these guys, and all four of them knew it. But why weren't they shooting first and asking questions later? It didn't seem to make any sense, but that fit in with everything else that had happened in the last 24 hours, and Mel wasn't about to argue.
"We're fucked, aren't we Mel?" Mickey forced the words weakly through his still clenched teeth as he slowly started to lower his gun to the ground and drop to his knees.
Mel followed his lead and started to lower her pistol and turned her head to look him in the face. "You could say that. But I don't think 'fucked' is a strong en..."
She was cut short by a strange sound. Like a strange mix between the hum of a tuning-fork and a baseball bat hitting a punching bag. Mickey's eyes flashed a look of awe and told her he had seen exactly what had happened. Her head was about to snap around to see what had happened, but again she was cut short by sudden spay of ten or so bullets slapping across the wall behind them. A shower of chipped brick and mortar started to fall as Mel dropped hard to her shoulder. Gun in hand she focused on the two Russians standing over them and was amazed to see one crumpling to the asphalt, the side of his head smashed flat. The second assassin had spun halfway round, just as Mel identified the strange noise as a heavy cast iron frying pan striking a human skull, it did. And the second Russian toppled to the ground.
A heavy set woman who looked to be in her fifties stood like a tree stump wrapped in a dirty apron over the two heaps, "These two asses giving you a hard time there Mick?" A nervous grin slipped across her lips as she spoke.
"Penny! Christ all mighty you've got timing! I wish I had time to explain," he scooped up his pistol and jammed it in his belt, "but I'm not sure I have it all straight myself. But thank you. I, err, we, owe you big for that one."
Mel looked up at the woman as she stooped to roll one of the men over, "Thanks isn't quite enough but it's gonna have to do." She quickly stripped the rifle from the man, "I hate to say it, but I think we're gonna need these Mick." She handed the weapon to him and proceeded to disarm the other.
Penny's eyes widened, "You're not wait here for the cops!?! You're kiddin' right!?"
"I've got a pretty good feeling that there are more of them and they are after me. If I don't move, I'm dead. Sorry but, gotta run." Mel gave a little 'royal wave' as she circled around the truck.
Mickey had fished the trucks keys out of his pocket and was opening the door, "And if the cops show up for 'statements' I think I might just find myself in a bit of a hole. I'm with her Penny, for better or worse it would seem."
They tossed the conspicuous rifles in the back and covered them with a tarp and hopped in as Penny stared numbly at them. Mickey jammed the key into the ignition and started the engine. He rolled his window down a couple of inches and looked at Penny.
"Thanks again babe. And don't worry. Part of the reason I work here is because of this access road." He pointed to a small gravel lane that cut into the bush, "I knew I might need to make a bolt out the back door someday, so I was ready. It hooks back up with the highway not too far from here and nobody should see us leave. We'll be crusin' away from here at a hundred and twenty klicks in no time."
"Good luck kid. Don't go and get yer'self shot full of holes now. And I didn't see shit 'cause I was too busy crackin' skulls back here." Penny gave him a exaggerated wink and a smile.
"You're a saint Penny." He chuckle, "And tell Roger I don't think I'll be in for anymore shifts."
With that Mickey stomped on the gas and the truck disappeared down the narrow road. It was a cool, damp morning, so the truck didn't stir up too much dust as it sped through the overgrown trees that were slapping and smacking at the truck.
He shot a smile at Mel as they bounced along and explained, "Penny's the short order cook for the diner. She had said she was a master sergeant in the army about ten years ago and joked the she could wipe the floor with any one of us 'youngin' if she felt like it. I'm startin' to believe her. One tough bitch!"
Mel laughed, "Shit! We should have brought her along."...
They met back up with the highway without any sign of trouble. The coast appeared to be clear, so they headed towards the mountains. Mickey said he knew of some vacant summer cabins that they would be able to hold over in, atleast until they figured out what they were going to do.
They drove for the better part of the day. It was late afternoon before they reached the winding dirt road that led to the cabin. The cabin they chose to squat in was obviously a seasonal residence. It was in relatively good shape, a little dust really, was the only visible neglect… It was near the lake, and Mickey and Mel were fortunate enough to have chosen a cabin with a small motor boat docked nearby.
They were starving. They had stopped at a gas station along the way and picked up your garden variety junk food… twinkies, Doritos, snickers, a six pack of Dr. Pepper, and of course a case of beer… but before they could eat… someone would need to build a fire. The cabin was an icebox! Mel was rubbing her arms together trying to keep warm. Mickey took quick notice of this and headed outside to scramble up some kindling for the fire…
Nightfall came soon enough and the two found themselves cozied up on the couch in front of the fireplace. The nearly musical crackle from the fire, along with the light from the flames bouncing off the walls… not to mention the 4 or 5 beers they had each downed… rendered the two a little more comfortable with each other than they might have normally been. Mel had snuggled up beside Mickey in an attempt to get warm. She still hadn’t shaken the chills from earlier. And Mickey, being the master of suave that he was, took this opportunity to put his arm around her. He couldn’t help but to lean his nose down just a tad and sniff at her hair. It put a smile on his face. It smelled of apples. A warm sensation moved through his body as she wiggled in tighter to him. Her breast brushing up against his side…
They had been talking all night… getting to know each other. He told her about his childhood, his trials and tribulations, or atleast as much as any male would care to reveal to a beautiful woman, and still look “cool”. And she told him of her childhood. How she used to go horseback riding with her grandfather nearly every Sunday… and how she and her sister used to watch “Gilligan’s Island” religiously and argue over which one of them got to be “Ginger”… all the useless stuff that form the dearest memories in our lives. But he noticed that all of her stories were of her younger years. And when questioned about more recent happenings, she was very closed lipped. Not wanting to “push it”, he quickly changed the subject…
It was getting too hard for him to concentrate right now anyway, because Mel had just placed her hand on his thigh…
Mel was doing what she had to do… atleast in her mind. She needed someone right now, someone to help her get to where she needed to go… someone who knew their way around these parts like the back of their hand… and someone who would help her finish what Blaine had started only a few short months ago…
‘Mel, honey,’ she thought to herself… ‘it’s time to seal the deal’…
and she began to rub Mickey’s thigh very slowly, very delicately… very seductively… and as she felt him tense up, she thought for a moment… ‘don’t fool yourself into believing you’re doing this because you have to… you’re doing this because you want to.’ And somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew this to be true… She needed someone to be intimate with right now. After all she had been through over the last 24 hours… she needed a release. She needed to work it all out. She needed that physical contact with another living, breathing, feeling human being… but she pushed this truth back to that corner of her mind where it could be ignored…
and she eased her hand ever so gently towards the inside of Mickey’s thigh…
From the instant she looked up into his eyes… there was no turning back. They fell into each other… His lips went immediately to hers… Their tongues met… Their breathing quickened… He reached around and grabbed the back of her head, pulling her into him… running his fingers through her hair… tearing awkwardly at her shirt… cupping her breast… She moans in pleasure now… giving in completely to her body, and to the moment… She fumbles with his pants, and rubs his member now… he moans and presses his hips slightly towards her as she touches him…Then he slips his hand into her bra, and pulls our her bare breast… He bends down and teases her nipple with his lips and with his tongue… She stands up before him and he unfastens her pants… letting them drop to the floor… He takes off his shirt and then lifts his hips slightly off the couch as he removes his jeans…Then he brings his hands to her hips and presses his lips to her stomach… He pulls gently on her panties as he slides them down… inch by inch… revealing that small tuft of hair between her legs… Then he pulls them further down… and presses his lips to her…
She leans her head back and sighs as he pleasures her… Her chest heaving deeply with every breath… She runs her fingers through his hair as he kisses her, as he touches her… as he drives his finger into her… His mouth… his lips… his eagerness brings her to climax…
Then they lie down on the floor now in front of the fire and he pushes his member eagerly into her… Her hips rise to meet his as they make love… pawing, scratching at each other… both so eager for the physical connection… both so eager for release…
And they make love until they both find it…
Somewhere in the middle of the night, Mel wakes up and sneaks outside for a smoke. As she sits on the porch swing, breathing in the cold mountain air, looking at the crystalline stars above… her eyes begin to tear… not for the love making she just did, but for the fact that this poor, sweet boy has no idea what lies in store for him…