chapter 58

word count 1605

"Walk with me, sweetie! And I'll show you the error of your ways!" Sadie winked and stretched out one arm in welcome while offering a slight bow from the waist.

Jake gawked at the wild woman, his heart already sunk into the churning abyss of his upset stomach. His mind tried to wrap around his sudden realization about "it." To his alarm, his hands trembled, slower then faster, and he had no means to control it. His fevered mind was taking over his body, and said consciousness was in total revolt.

"Come on, hon!" Sadie urged again. She shot him an upturned smile, repulsive with yellow teeth and black spots where teeth should be.

Jake grappled with his problem. This wacko had "it" in her cart. She knew what he did, and the kooky lady appeared to be as stable as, well, a nuclear explosion. If "it" got out and/or she talked about it to someone and the cops came looking, he was in deep shit.

But how in the hell did she get a hold of "it" anyway? He laid that thought aside to consider the immediate danger of his being found out. He had to get rid of Sadie, and once and for all he had to get rid of "it." There seemed nothing more he could do, but stick by her long enough dispose of them both. With a weak smile, he threw his arms up and said, "Okay, Sadie! Lead the way."

"Okay, let's go!" She slammed two hands on the shopping cart and started to push. "You comin'?" she added when at first he didn't follow.

Jake felt glued in place. His feet couldn't start, riveted to the ground in this other-worldly scenario. The smell, the woman, the thing in the shopping cart...he had never thought that he, for one, could ever be repulsed by anything. But this time he was! The distraught guy swiped the back of his hand across his mouth and stared at the homeless woman while beating back heart palpitations and nausea. Finally, he took the first step. His legs felt like noodles under him. They wobbled, threatening to drop him to ground.

"Step it up, buster!" Sadie said. This time she acted neither coy nor pleasantly engaging. Her patience was running out and those eyes of hers were getting that faraway look again. He increased his momentum and tried to get a rhythm going, first one foot, then the other.

"There you go!" Sadie picked up her pace, the shopping cart rattling and squeaking a macabre tune under the strain.

Jake bit his lower lip and struggled to keep up. It got to the point where he found he could sprint like an automaton, abandoning all thought and simply lifting legs and feet. The crazy lady led him into town square where the streets were lined with trees and businesses were open and doorways queued with people. Jake cringed at the thought of running into other people. He wished they could just rush through and come out on the other side, free of the noise and clatter and staring faces. It took an effort to stop when Sadie made an abrupt halt in front of a TV store window.

Jake stopped, but proceeded to tap his foot in anxiety as he spied a group of middle-aged women walking toward them. Panicked, he spun on his heel and took two long steps away from Sadie. He could only hope they didn't link him with her. He didn't need witnesses seeing him anywhere near her or "it" in the cart. The group walked by, quickening their pace when they got near Sadie and her smelly baggage. Small wonder, Jake thought.

"Pay attention, slug! You see that TV in the window?"

He moved back in place and redirected his attention to the store front.

"This is where I learned all about you!" she said with pride in her voice. Sadie pointed at a TV facing out the window, turned on, and in full view. "There's no sound, but when the news is on, they put enough footage and captions to look and understand the story, in this case, your story. They showed a picture of 'it' in better times. Plus, they showed your picture, or at least the latest 'look' they thought you had, with your name captioned underneath."

Jake stared at the screen, then back to Sadie.

"Now we can go to my digs!" she said.

"Oh, I don't think so! Let me take you to one of my 'special' places instead," Jake retorted. His heart raced as he tried to catch up with all the crazy lady was throwing at him, and make a plan.

"Certainly not! Who's in charge here? Okay, champ! Let's go!" Sadie said it like a drill sergeant. "To my place. I'm not interested in where you want to go."

The wheels whined and squeaked as she pushed the cart. Jake watched her go, contemplating what to do next. He needed to get rid of her. Was there any choice but to keep up with the wacko? If she got away from him, he'd never be able to find her again. So he broke out into his sprint, surprised at how well he had adapted to moving along, even with the repulsive "it" in the cart. On some level, he had accepted it. Unbelievable! He ran a hand through his hair, wondering how much weirder it could get.

They walked away from the busy area and strolled toward a more quiet, wooded place along the edges of the little town. Sadie hummed as she pushed her belongings, an indecipherable tune that soon grated on Jake's nerves. He plotted how to kill her as he walked. He had a knife, but to be truthful, that was risky. The woman was so crazed, he wouldn't put it past her to acquire super-human strength if provoked. If he didn't get a “kill stab” in, she could turn on him bad.

Her voice broke into his murderous plans.

"We're almost there! Look!" She pointed with a dirt-blackened index finger to a body of water running parallel to the town. "That's Big Bear River," she said.

Big Bear! That was where he dumped "it" in the first place! He never guessed the river ran this far  south from where he'd originally deposited the body. Jake's head felt ready to explode.

"You have probably been wondering how I came to possess your little secret thing!" Sadie stopped walking and turned to face him. They had arrived at the river, and now stood along the shore. The waters rushed in rapid currents, racing to parts unknown. "The current brought your 'secret' right to me. It got washed up on those rocks!" Trudy said, pointing.

Jake surveyed the area. She pointed to an array of craggy rocks that jutted in a zig zag pattern a good distance out into river. What were the chances the current would pick up the body and dump  here in front of Sadie?  Karma bites, he pondered.

Jake rocked on his heels, taking store of the situation. What a place this was! By the time you traveled out of town  and walked this far, the busy streets were replaced by a forest. He heard birds shuffling through the trees and felt sun warming his head. A pretty place to die, he thought.

"Let me show you where I live!" Sadie said. She gave the cart a good push, and it squeaked on a journey to go further down the shore. They left the trees behind and soon walked on mud and grass, following the course of the Big Bear, until a tiny shack nestled back from the shore came into view. "Shack" would be too kind of a word. Rather it was a dwelling pieced together by stacking bits and pieces to provide shelter from the weather. Jake spied an old barrel, pieces of plywood, cardboard, even a sheet  covering part of the structure. All of that was draped over in a thin plastic sheet. 

So this was where Sadie lived. It was all very close to the river. He assumed she used the running currents for her water supply. The remains of a campfire were visible in the "front yard." Jake studied the situation and considered his options. Lucky for him, the area was desolate, no one to see anything. Whatever he did, it had to be quick and thorough. Push her in the river? Shove her in a campfire to a painful, fiery death? Certainly he would push the whole shopping cart into the river regardless of how he handled her.

"Hey, sucker! Watcha' thinkin'? How to get rid of me?"

Sadie's voice made him jump. It was shrill, fevered, and disconcertingly out-of-control. He turned to see the lady pointing her 9mm at him.

Something snapped inside. He'd reached his breaking point with this wacko, lunging at her, arms flailing, teeth bared, an animal growl emanating from his curled lips. He landed on the homeless lady with a thump, sending the gun flying, and a struggle began.

The little lady had considerable strength, and with an oomph she gave him a shove that sent the fellow flying. He slammed against the shopping cart, sending it on its own journey. What neither of them noticed was that the cart had taken off with a momentum all its own, down a slope and back towards town at record speed.