Fight For Your Life

Part Two

Prologue

The plane touched down at the Taos Airport, New Mexico and the four survivors de-boarded and gathered their luggage in the arrivals terminal. None of the teens had managed to get any sleep as they were constantly seeing flashbacks from two months before.
Poppy flicked her long silvery hair over her shoulder and turned to look at Thea and Sean. Thea’s small slender frame was shaking and she was clutching a tissue in her clenched fist. Poppy and Jamie gathered up the luggage and placed them on a trolley, they then wheeled it over to where Thea and Sean were stood. “I can’t stand it Sean, why did they have to die? Why did she have to die? I can still see Rashel’s body parts, and the bus.”
Thea was saying; Sean was trying to comfort her he had one hand on her shoulder and the other on her free hand. “I know Thea, I can still see it as well, and I’m sure Poppy and Jamie can as well. This place is a new start for all of us, the cops back home still have that traitorous bastard Detective and they know his sketch was a fake, they’ll catch this psycho.”
Thea then asked the question they’d all been thinking. “But what if they don’t Sean? What if coming here is a repeat of Ohio all over again?” For this Sean had no answer, and an awkward silence fell over the two teens as they registered Poppy and Jamie’s presence. “It won’t happen again Thea, I can’t guarantee it won’t because anything could happen, but this is New Mexico, and two things I can guarantee you.”
“And what are these two things Poppy?” Thea asked scornfully. Poppy took a deep breath and tried to control the hurt she could feel trying to be the central emotion on her face. “Number one, this psycho doesn’t know where we are or where we’re going, and number two; we are going to prepare ourselves so that in the event of something happening we can protect ourselves.”
Thea, Sean and Jamie gave Poppy skeptical looks and Poppy sighed. “I have a few ideas that I intend to ask these agents about when they get here, but I won’t say anymore about it now in case we’re overheard.” “that’s a point, where are these agents? They were meant to have been here for when we arrived.” Jamie said. The four friends looked around and found themselves astonished that the arrivals terminal was almost empty, save for a few people milling about and a business man reading the local paper.
Sean looked at his watch and sighed, “It’s still early guys, maybe they were delayed or something. How much money do we have on us?” The four friends took out their wallets and counted the cash they on them, in total they had just over two hundred dollars. “What do we do now Sean?” Thea asked, Sean looked around him and said, “We’ll go and get a drink to wake us up, and we’ll give these agents an hour to turn up.”
“And what if they don’t turn up? What then?” Jamie asked, “They have to turn up, because I don’t want to think about what could happen if they don’t.” Poppy replied, she then started to push the trolley over to a cafe and the four friends sat down and ordered mugs of coffee. Two hours later the agents still hadn’t turned up and no announcement had been made, another couple of flights had come and gone, but the teenagers still sat in the same spot as before.
Finally giving up on the agents, the four friends took their luggage off of the trolley and headed outside to the taxi rank where they asked the first driver if he knew of a local and relatively cheap motel. The driver assured them that he did and they stowed their luggage in the boot and then got in the cab. Fifteen minutes later they were standing outside a small but modest motel with a vacancy sign flashing in the window.
As they entered the motel and booked a room with two double beds, they wondered what had happened to the agents who were meant to have met them at the Airport, not knowing that the killer had indeed followed them to New Mexico, or the fact that the two agents had been killed in a car accident on the way to the Airport.


Chapter One

Two Months Later


Poppy had received her inheritance and had bought a large stylish four bed, three bath ranch in a secluded part of Taos, included with the ranch was roughly four hundred acres of beautiful land. Within the first week however a letter arrived, it was just a simple message that read;

I know where you are.

Poppy showed the note to her three friends, among the looks of shock Thea said “I thought you said the killer doesn’t know where we are Poppy? So much for your guarantees.” She had then stormed off to her room, Sean’s eyes had followed Thea out of the room, and he put one comforting hand on Poppy’s shoulder then followed after Thea.
Not being able to stand the disappointed look on Jamie’s face Poppy headed outside onto the porch and sat on the steps with her head in her hands, she felt like quite the failure to her friends. A hand on her shoulder made her look up and she saw Jamie sat beside her, his short black hair gelled and spiked as usual. “Don’t worry about Thea Poppy, she’s just upset.”
Poppy smiled sadly, “Nice try Jamie, but we both know that’s not the case, I’ve let you all down and I know I have, there’s got to be a way to fix this!” Jamie sat in silence for which Poppy as grateful, she had a few ideas floating around in her mind; self defence, moving home, upgrading the security systems. “What are you thinking about?” Jamie asked her. Poppy sighed, “I’m thinking that I could hire someone to teach us self defence, or maybe we should move home or upgrade the security systems, but I doubt any of that will help if the killer knows where we are.”
Jamie stood up and held out his hand, “Come on, we should at least tell Sean and Thea what you’re thinking, that way we can decide as a group of friends.” Poppy nodded and took Jamie’s hand, he then led her inside and they found that Sean had managed to coax Thea from her room. They sat in the lounge in silence for a few minutes then Jamie said, “Poppy has a few ideas on what we should do next, but would like us all to decide as a group as to what they should be and to see if any of us has any ideas of our own.”
Thea snorted but didn’t comment; Sean smiled encouragingly at Poppy as she stood up and said, “What do you all think of having someone come out here and teach us self defence? That way we can be prepared if we’re caught unawares, we also have a lot of land to manoeuvre in and was thinking we could come up with a plan to train ourselves.”
Thea remained silent, but she had a look of concentration on her face, as though she were deep in thought, Sean spoke first, “Well I agree with having someone come out here and teach us how to defend ourselves, and you’re right Poppy we do have a lot of land, I like the idea of turning part of it into a make-shift assault course, to increase our fitness. What do you think Jamie? Thea?”
Thea still remained silent, but Jamie said, “I also like the idea of being able to defend ourselves, and we could have someone come out here and create the assault course for us, all we’d have to is design it. I also think we should hire a personal trainer to make us run for a few miles each day to increase our stamina. Thea? What do you think?”
Thea sighed then sat forwards, “I’ll agree with defending ourselves, but I’m not so sure on the assault course or the personal trainer, there must be other ways to improve stamina and fitness without getting all dirty and sweaty?” Sean gently nudged her, “Afraid of getting dirty? I think you’d look rather hot being all sweaty and dirty.” He joked, Thea smiled and some of the tension left her shoulders. Thea finally laughed and said “OK, yes do it, after all this is aiming to make us safe isn’t it?”
Poppy smiled at her friend and sat back down, relieved that they’d finally agreed on something. Jamie abruptly stood up and said, Sean want to help me with designing the assault course?” Sean grinned and stood up, “Sure, why not?” The two boys left the room laughing and joking with each other, leaving Poppy and Thea alone together in the lounge.
Poppy stood up and moved to sit next to Thea, and then said, “Thea I’m so sorry, I know I made guarantees that the killer wouldn’t find us, and I thought he wouldn’t. I honestly have no idea how he did find us, but I will do everything I can to make us all safe again, I promise.” Thea glanced at her “It’s OK Poppy, I was being a bitch earlier, I know it’s not your fault he found us, in a way I should have expected it.”
“How so?” Poppy asked, Thea replied “It’d only been two months when we were in that safe house in Ohio before the killer found us, I know that we were all betrayed by that prick of a Detective, but it seems like a pattern is emerging here, it seems like we can only be safe for two months before all hell breaks loose.” Poppy thought about the logic in that. “Maybe you’re right, but this time no-one has betrayed us as no-one knows where we are.
“And we’ve all kept tabs on each other to make sure that we stay safe, and now that we have a few extra ways of staying safe being put into action we have a greater chance of surviving this.” Thea nodded and looked at Poppy, for the first time that day Poppy noticed dark circles under Thea’s brown eyes and her blonde hair didn’t have its usual shine. Poppy smoothed away a strand of hair and said, “You’re still having the nightmares aren’t you?”
Thea nodded and leaned into Poppy, “I just keep reliving that last night of camp, the fire, the explosion, Rashel’s body...” Poppy wrapped an arm around Thea’s shoulder and noticed the two pendants hanging from the chain, sorrow filled her heart as she remembered that all Thea had left of her twin sister was the pendant and memories.


Chapter Two

Six Months Later


The killer sat in a four wheel drive vehicle looking through high powered binoculars at the four teenagers sitting on the front porch; he was approximately five miles away from them and his stolen jeep was half hidden in a patch of thick bushes. He’d been watching the teenagers for some months now with a savage gleam in his eyes.
He was slightly amused that the teenagers didn’t seem to have a clue that they were being watched, they were laughing and joking and had started to play a game of soccer in the large expanse of grass a few feet from the front porch. They seemed to think themselves safe out here, even though he’d sent them a warning note telling them he knew where they were.
Taunting them was something he took in pleasure in, and he had shattered their illusion of being safe. He had seen the trucks come and go, containing equipment to build some sort of course as well as the two men who seemed to arrive every few days and stay for a few hours each time. The first man appeared to be somewhat skilled in defensive techniques whereas the second man merely ran with them around a wide circuit of the land.
The thought of the teenagers learning to defend themselves seemed pointless to him, after all what good would it do them? Hand-to-hand combat would prove useless against his 9mm on the passenger seat of his jeep and you couldn’t out run a bullet. But he found it amusing that the teenagers thought taking those extra measures would help keep them safe; he’d already proven to them once that nowhere was safe, and he would take pleasure in reminding them again soon.
Picking up the binoculars once again, the killer watched as the two girls gave up on the game and sat on the porch, he saw the girl with the silvery hair called Poppy go inside the ranch and return a few moments later with a pair of binoculars, she then started looking around the property. The killer had his eyes trained on her and knew the instant she’d spotted him.
He started the engine and drove off with a cold and cruel smile on his face, knowing that the next time he returned it would be to take their lives.

* * * *

Poppy and Thea knew they didn’t stand a chance against Jamie and Sean in the game of soccer, and they gave up shortly after the game started, choosing instead to sit on the porch steps and watch the boys play. Poppy’s eyes searched the area around her as she did often with the feeling of being watched.
She knew it was silly to have that feeling, but she still couldn’t shake it. Poppy went inside briefly and grabbed a pair of binoculars, she returned to the porch and started to take a closer look around her. Something shiny reflected off of the binocular lens and her eyes locked on to the jeep; she knew without a doubt that the person behind the wheel was the killer.
She abruptly stood up and watched as the jeep drive off, “No.” She breathed the word but it was enough to get Thea’s attention. “Sean? Jamie? Poppy’s seen something.” Jamie and Sean stopped playing and returned to the porch. “What is it Poppy?” Sean asked, but Poppy couldn’t answer as she was still staring at the retreating jeep. Jamie took the binoculars from Poppy as she said, “We’re in deep trouble, and I have a feeling that that was the killer.” Jamie lowered the binoculars and replied grimly. “I think you’re right.”
Thea panicked “What do we do? He knows where we live! He’s going to come back and kill us all!” She then started crying, Sean took her into his arms and glanced at Poppy, “Is there any chance you can call Mr Nagati and ask for extra sessions in self defence?” Poppy nodded slowly, “Yes, I’ll go and give him a call and see what he says, but it should be OK.”
Jamie added “We’ve had the barn re-furbished so we could always offer him a place to stay while he teaches us, and the same goes for that personal trainer, give him a call as well, the last time he was here he mentioned investing in bullet proof vests but I think he was joking. When you phone him ask if there’s any possible way to get hold of them.”
Poppy nodded again but still remained where she stood on the porch; Jamie took her by the arm and led her inside the ranch and onto the sofa next to the cordless phone, “OK Poppy talk to me, what’s going on?” Poppy looked at him and a tear rolled down her face, “I thought that we would be safe her Jamie, I really did! But now I’m thinking that nowhere is safe, at least not from him.”
Jamie wrapped his arms around Poppy’s waist and she leaned into him grateful for the support, after a few moments she pulled away from him and reached for the phone, to make the first of two calls.

* * * *

Sean held Thea in his arms while she cried, he was close to tears himself but refused to let them fall needing to be strong for his friend. “Listen to me Thea, Poppy’s inside right now making calls to try and keep us safe, and we’ll do everything we can to help her including taking those extra lessons.”
Thea looked up at him, “What if all of this is for nothing Sean? We can’t stay awake all the time and the killer will probably come back when we’re all sleeping.” Sean sighed and took a step backwards, “come for a walk with me?” Thea nodded and accepted the hand that Sean held out for her, they then started walking towards the lake.
Sean knew that Thea needed to be distracted and he thought that a walk just might do the trick and buy Poppy enough time to make the calls, he led Thea to a willow tree and they sat down in the shade, Thea started playing with the pendants on her chain and said “I miss her so much Sean, sometimes I can barely stand it; Rashel was always so much stronger than me and I wish that I could rewind time and trade places with her.”
Sean drew her into his arms and said “Don’t talk like that Thea, we can’t change the past and we have the future to look forwards to. I know it seems that every time we make some progress towards becoming safe the killer shows up, but we have to hold on to hope and take it one day at a time. Have you thought about talking to another councillor about the nightmares? It might do you some good.”
Thea shook her head, “No Sean it won’t, the last councillor I spoke to, it just seemed as though she wasn’t listening to anything I said and then when I asked her what I should or could do about the nightmares she just gave me this look as though I was crazy. I know that I wouldn’t be able to handle that again, I told the woman everything and it didn’t make a difference, if anything the nightmares are worse than before.”
Sean stayed silent for a few moments then said “Not every councillor is the same, once we get out of this mess try again. I’ll even come with you if you want?” Thea shook her head, “No that’s OK Sean, thanks though but I couldn’t put you through that. Lately it’s not just Rashel’s body I’ve been seeing, and I’m terrified to sleep at night.”
Sean rubbed her arms and said “Why don’t you tell me about your nightmares? After all what are friends for? Maybe I could help you put the demons to rest so to speak.” Thea looked at him and shook her head, “No, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you started having nightmares of your own because of me.” Thea stood up and shook the leaves from her clothes, “Come on lets head back, maybe Poppy made some progress.” Sean nodded and then stood up, he took Thea’s hand and they started walking back towards the ranch.

* * * *

Poppy put the phone down and sighed, she shook her head then stood up and walked into the spacious kitchen where she put the kettle on; Jamie followed behind her and said “What did they say?” Poppy looked him in the eye and said, “Mr Nagati has agreed to the extra sessions and will be here in about two hours, but as for that useless trainer...”
Jamie put a hand on her shoulder, “What did he say? I couldn’t really hear him properly and then you hung up on the rest of what he was saying.” Poppy touched his hand with her own, “He wanted me to triple his salary for the extra sessions and then when I asked about the vests he said I was totally paranoid and suggested that maybe I should see a shrink.
“Needless to say he quit when I refused to give him what he wanted on his salary and there’s no way I was going to listen to him swearing down the phone at me, hence why I hung up.” Jamie squeezed her shoulder then replied “So we have extra self defence lessons but no longer have a trainer, that’s OK the dude ran a little too slowly for my liking.” Jamie then winked at her and Poppy smiled in return.
The front door opened and then closed and Poppy and Jamie heard Thea and Sean move into the kitchen with them, “What did they say?” Sean asked, Poppy grimaced and Jamie said “Well on the good side of things we have extra self defence lessons but we no longer have a trainer.” Sean arched an eyebrow questioningly and Poppy said “He wanted me to triple his salary and when I refused he said some really nasty things and was swearing, but in between all of that he quit.”
“That’s a shame, he was cute.” Thea said, Poppy looked at her and replied, “Cute? The man was like thirty something years old and a grouch, to be honest I’m glad to be shot of him. But Mr Nagati will be here in about an hour and a half so we’d better get changed and ready ourselves.” “How many extra lessons are we getting? And what about the price?” Sean asked.
“The extra lessons we have to work out when he gets here, and I’m doubling what I would normally pay him as well as making a donation to his Do-Jo.” Poppy replied, “Well I can help with the donation-.” Sean started to say but Poppy cut him off. “No, that’s alright Sean I’ve got this covered, after all I said that I’d do everything I can to keep us safe.”
Thea shifted guiltily as though it was her fault but Poppy ignored her, no-one was to blame for the killer finding them but Poppy had made a promise and she intended to keep it. The kettle had long since boiled but Poppy instead went to the fridge and took out an energy shake and then retreated upstairs to get ready for Mr Nagati’s arrival. Thea stood up and shook her head, “I’ve got to make this right.” Sean and Jamie looked at her so she said, “I told Poppy this was her fault, and she promised me that she’d do everything she could to keep us safe.
“I was a bitch when I said that and now that she’s actually going forwards with this, and taking it far more seriously than I thought she would I feel really bad for making her feel guilty.” Thea went to walk out of the room when Jamie said “It’s not your fault Thea Poppy would’ve done this regardless, you tow are best friends and you know within yourself that she would do everything she could to keep you safe.”
Thea shook her head as though she didn’t believe him and carried on out of the room, she headed upstairs and got changed into loose sweats and a t-shirt and found a pair of old sneakers, she then went down the hall and knocked on Poppy’s door. “Poppy? It’s Thea, can I come in?” She asked, “Sure, come on in.” Came the muffled reply from within.
Thea opened the door and stepped inside Poppy’s room, and she then closed the door behind her and sat on the edge of the bed while Poppy did up the laces on her sneakers. Thea took a deep breath and said, “Poppy I’m sorry I’ve been such a bitch to you lately, you don’t deserve it and now I feel as guilty as hell. What with you getting us extra lessons and paying for the assault course and this ranch and the land, and everything else.
“It took me a while to realise how hard I’ve been on you, and I’ll do whatever I can to make it up to you. I’m so sorry.” Poppy straightened up and turned to her friend who looked absolutely miserable sitting on the edge of her bed. “Thea, it’s OK. I understand why you’ve been this way and I mean what I say, you’re my best friend and I respect and love you as though you are my own sister.
“Everyone has their down periods and I guess you’ve hit rock bottom, but you know that I’ll never hold a grudge against you. And you know that I’m here if you ever need to talk or to have a cry, I promised you I would do everything I can to keep you as safe as possible and I intend to see that promise through. It may seem like you’ve been a bitch towards me but in truth I’m as much to blame.
“I haven’t been there when you needed me the most; I’ve been too busy wrapped up in my own little world. I guess we both needed to wake up and get our shit together, but I’m glad that we have. You don’t need to apologise to me for anything, it’s the other way around, I should be saying sorry to you for not being there for you.” Thea and Poppy both stood up at the same time and hugged each other, they stayed that way for a few minutes until a knock at Poppy’s door drew them apart.
Poppy opened the door and saw Sean, “Just to let you know that Mr Nagati is here.” “OK, thanks Sean.” Poppy replied, she looked at Thea and said “Ready?” Thea nodded and the three friends descended the stairs, meeting Jamie in the lounge. They then headed outside onto the front porch and started doing the warm-up exercises they’d been shown and told to do before each lesson.


Chapter Three


Two hours later Jamie, Thea and Sean were doing the cool down exercises whilst Poppy spoke with Mr Nagati about extra sessions, as Mr Nagati got into his jeep Poppy stretched and walked over to join the others in the exercises. “Mr Nagati has agreed to come out here five days a week for two hours each day to train us, and I’ve asked him to teach us everything he knows, he’s agreed and has said that it would take roughly six months to teach us everything he knows.
“Mr Nagati claims that we’re fast learners and that we don’t whinge as much as some of his other students.” Poppy moved on to the next set of exercises as she let her friends digest what she’d just told them. “Does Mr Nagati know about the donation yet?” Sean asked with a grin. Poppy grinned back and replied, “He mentioned that an anonymous person had donated a large sum to hid Do-Jo but he doesn’t have a clue who sent it or why. I think he knows it was us, but he never said anything.”
Thea was just finishing up her last set of exercises and asked, “Just how much did you donate?” Poppy shrugged, “Not much, a few hundred thousand dollars. From the way Mr Nagati was going on about it you’d think I’d just saved his life.” Jamie rolled his eyes and said “No you didn’t save his life, just his Do-Jo.” “What do you mean?” Poppy asked. Jamie laughed, “You don’t read much do you?” Poppy shook her head, “No I tend to stay away from the papers, too much violence in them, why what did I miss?”
Sean stood up and said “It was in the papers a few days ago that Mr Nagati’s Do-Jo was in dire needs of funding or he’d have to close, the money we all donated has helped to keep his Do-Jo open or another fifty years or so.” Poppy finished her exercises and stood up, “You’re joking?” Sean, Jamie and Thea all shook their heads. “Oh well, he’s a damn good tutor, I’m glad we could’ve helped.” Poppy said.
The four friends headed inside for a shower and a change of clothing, the two hour work out had left them all sweating profusely. An hour later the four friends were in the lounge watching television and drinking energy shakes, later on that evening a knock on the door startled them into action, they never had unexpected company as a rule and didn’t know anyone other than Mr Nagati and the personal trainer who’d recently quit.
Poppy walked to the door and looked through the spy hole, and to her surprise it was Mr Nagati. She opened the door and invited him inside, Mr Nagati shook his head and said, “No I’m sorry I can’t stay, but I wanted to thank you for your donation to my Do-Jo. I overheard a conversation you had a few weeks ago with the other man that comes here to run with you about some kind of vest.
“I thought that since you did me a great service by saving my Do Jo that I could return the favour so I called my brother who is in the police force and he ordered some of these in for me. I hope they’re useful to you.” Mr Nagati then handed Poppy a black canvas bag and turned around and got back in his jeep. Poppy closed the door somewhat stunned.
She took the bag to the living room and opened it, inside was four police issue bullet proof vests. The four friends all gasped in shock, then Poppy tentatively lifted one of the vests out of the bag and handed it to Sean, she then handed one to Jamie and Thea and took the last one out for herself. Stuck to the first vest was a sheet of paper. Sean took off the paper and looked at the note it read;

My brother Hiro Nagati has informed me that you require these vests. I wouldn’t normally help out civilians but as you did a great service for my brother and saved his Do-Jo along with his honour and pride, I feel the only way I can re-pay this debt is to give you something that will aid you in the future.
Best Wishes
Ensei Nagati
Sean showed the note to the others and they all found their respect for Mr Nagati increase ten-fold. The four friends then went upstairs to put the vests on under their shirts where they would stay until the danger had passed.
In the early hours of the next morning Poppy found herself awake and thinking. She’d managed to fall asleep at around midnight, but had woken up four hours later. Feeling frustrated Poppy got out of bed and walked downstairs in a pair of shorts and tank top to the kitchen to make herself a mug of coffee, she kept thinking that whilst planning to keep them all safe she’d missed something important.
It wasn’t until she’d added the milk that inspiration hit her, she left her coffee on the side and ran into the lounge, and tripped over the coffee table. Poppy righted herself and grabbed the canvas bag then returned to the kitchen, she opened the door leading to the utility room and grabbed another three canvas bags, then opened a kitchen drawer and took out a pad of paper and a pen, then started writing a list.
Once the list was completed Poppy drank the remains of her coffee and tore off the top sheet of paper, she then made herself a fresh mug of coffee and returned to the lounge where she looked in the yellow pages for driving schools. The sun was up by the time she’d written out several numbers for different schools, and then waited for her three friends to descend the stairs and wake up before she told them her plans. Thea was the first one downstairs so Poppy made her a mug of coffee and a bowl of cereal then waited whilst she ate.
An hour later Jamie and Sean came downstairs looking slightly more awake after their morning shower. Poppy made them all a fresh mug of coffee and said “I’ve been thinking.” Jamie jerked his head up and said, “Uh oh, careful Poppy, thinking is dangerous.” Then winked. Poppy smiled and playfully slapped his arm. “what have you been thinking Poppy?” Asked Thea. “Well I’ve realised something, we’re out here on our own miles from anyone and anything, there’s a few things we’ve over-looked.” Poppy replied.
Sean sat up straighter and ran a hand through his light brown hair, “What has we over-looked Poppy?” Poppy cleared her throat and said, “How do we get out of here in a hurry if we need to? We have no transport and it would take a cab far too long to get here in an emergency. Plus we’re not prepared to deal with this killer, I mean we are on the fighting side of things, but say we get chased out of the house in the middle of the night? We won’t have any supplies or anything.”
Jamie nodded, “That’s true, and so what have you thought of?” “I think that we should take driving lessons and prepare o ‘go’ bag.” Poppy replied proudly. Jamie shook his head and tried to hide his smile, Sean looked at Poppy as though she’d finally gone crazy but Thea asked, “What’s a ‘go’ bag?” Poppy took a sip of her drink and replied “A ‘go’ bag is basically one of these canvas bags filled with everything we’d need for any situation, like a change of clothes, first aid kit, flashlight and spare batteries, money and passport.
“That way we’d be pretty much covered if anything happened and we got separated, we could arrange for a safe place to meet up and then go from there.” Thea and Jamie seemed to like the idea and nodded in agreement, Sean asked, “How would we know where to meet up if we got separated? I like the idea of the ‘go’ bag and the driving lessons, but on that list of yours I suggest you add cell phones. And how exactly are we supposed to go to this driving school? Like you said we’re in the middle of nowhere.”
Poppy shrugged, “Easy, I’ve written down a list of driving schools and I intend to phone them up and ask if they’ll privately tutor us on our home-turf, I’m sure one of them will agree to do it.” Sean didn’t seem to have any more arguments and finally nodded his agreement to the ideas. Thea seemed to perk up considerably as she said, “So I take it we’re going shopping?” Poppy laughed and nodded her head, “Yes Thea we are.”

* * * *

The killer followed the cab from a discreet distance so as to not be seen, he found a parking space near the front of the shopping complex, switched off the engine and got out of his car, he locked the doors and followed the teenagers inside. He knew it was too risky to kill the teenagers here with the security cameras.
But he smiled to himself as he let the thought enter his mind, he would imagine the looks of shock and horror on their faces as he looked into their eyes and pulled the trigger, he could imagine the screams and chaos it would cause as the shoppers ran for cover whilst the security personnel tried to control the situation. No, here wasn’t the best place for their execution, besides he was mildly interested to see what would bring them out of their safe haven to risk death for.
His smile widened as he followed them into a hardware store and watched as they picked up flashlights and batteries. As they paid at the counter he drew his cell phone out from his jacket pocket and started to speak to himself so as to not draw attention when he followed the teens out of the store. The killer then followed the teens into the pharmacy and was in the next aisle over and saw them buy first aid kits and extra supplies of bandages and various creams.
He stopped outside a clothes store pretending to be interested in the various gadgets for sale whilst the teenagers selected then purchased their various items, once they emerged they were smiling and telling jokes like typical teenagers; all the while scanning crowds of people around them. He watched from a discreet distance as the teenagers stopped at a phone store and purchased identical cell phones along with the top-ups.
Their last stop was the food court where they purchased lunch and then ate in silence still glancing around them uneasily, the killer sat at a nearby table with a paper in his hands not paying attention to the words but glancing at the teenagers from the corner of his eye. When they left the shopping complex half an hour later he followed a few minutes later then went into the phone store.
He spoke to the clerk who’d sold the cell phones to the teenagers, after flashing a fake police badge he asked for the details of the cell phones that had been sold and then asked for the cell numbers, feeling satisfied with his information the killer left the shopping complex and returned to his motel room where he planned the attack on the teenagers.


Chapter Four

Nine Weeks Later


Poppy, Thea, Sean and Jamie were sat in the large and comfortable lounge drinking coffee and watching a DVD when the lights suddenly went out. Acting out of instinct and the training sessions that they’d subjected themselves to, they fumbled their way to the kitchen and grabbed a flashlight each, Thea spoke first. “What do we do?” Sean looked at her and said “Don’t panic, it may just be a power cut. The generator should come on any minute now.” Thirty seconds later the ranch was still in darkness and a sense of dread settled over the teenagers.
Jamie grabbed Poppy’s hand and started to lead her to the back door, behind her Poppy could feel Sean and Thea following closely, they were heading for the four car garage. “Wait, we need the ‘go’ bags.” Poppy said, “We don’t have time for that Poppy.” Jamie replied gently, Poppy refused to budge “then what was the point in preparing for this if when the time comes we don’t use what we have available?” Poppy snapped.
She felt Sean beside her and he said “Poppy’s right Jamie, we need to be prepared.” Jamie reluctantly nodded and the four friends turned around and headed back through the kitchen and to the foot of the stairs, as they were heading up the stairs Sean said “We’re all to meet in the garage in one minute does everyone understand?” Poppy, Thea and Jamie all replied “Yes.” And they carried on up the stairs cautiously.
One minute later the four friends met in the car garage and collected the car keys from the underside of the wheel, they then got in their jeeps and started up the garage door, once the door was three quarters of the way up, Poppy started her engine and drove out of the garage, the others followed in her wake. Poppy reached into her ‘go’ bag and pulled out her cell phone.
She switched it on and waited for it to power up before she phoned Sean. “Hello?” He answered, “It’s Poppy, at the end of the drive I think we should split up into two groups, you and I go one way whilst Jamie and Thea go the other, and then we can meet up at the Theatre in town and go from there.” Sean mumbled his agreement and phoned the others to tell them.
It was only once the four friends got to the exit to the highway that they noticed something was wrong, Thea’s jeep was nowhere in sight, Jamie had taken his turn by himself. Poppy phoned Thea’s cell, but the voice on the other end wasn’t Thea. “Well hello Poppy, I’m afraid Thea can’t come to the phone right now, although I do appreciate you telling me where you’re going-.”
Poppy abruptly hung up and swung her jeep around to chase after Jamie, Sean copied her movement and they raced after Jamie’s jeep, only to stare in horror as Jamie’s jeep suddenly turned and was now coming at them head-on, Jamie tried to brake but it was no use. Poppy swerved and glancing in the rear-view mirror she saw Sean do the same. Jamie’s jeep kept going, it was as though he couldn’t stop.
Poppy rang Jamie’s cell phone, “Poppy? I can’t stop” I have no brakes! Get out of here now whilst you-.” There was an almighty crash and the conversation was abruptly cut off, Poppy stared in horror as the jeep that Jamie had been driving hit an eighteen wheeler lorry head-on. Jamie’s jeep exploded into flames and bits of debris littered both lanes on the highway.
The cars that were behind and in the lane parallel to the lorry tried in vain to stop, for some of the cars it was too late and the sounds of metal grating on metal filled the night as further explosions rocked the highway. The traffic behind the wreckage had crawled to a stop and Poppy got out of her jeep, she didn’t know what she was going to do but she knew that she just had to do something.
Tears ran in uncontrolled streams down her face and her body was shaking with the force of her tears, Poppy was running blindly towards the crash site but before she could too near it a strong arm wrapped around her waist in an iron grip preventing her from moving any further. “ No!” Screamed Poppy, she tried to struggle but the arm around her waist refused to move an inch. “Let go! I have to get to Jamie!” Poppy was turned around and crushed against a strong chest, “Poppy listen to me! Jamie’s dead! We have to get out of here, c’mon we have to go.” Sean’s voice said urgently into her ear.
Poppy sagged in defeat and then let Sean lead her to his jeep, once she was in the passenger seat Sean disappeared for a few minutes the returned, slinging something onto the back seat of the jeep. As Sean turned the jeep around and started to drive back the way they’d come, sirens could be heard in the distance.

* * * *

The killer watched the crash with malicious intent from the top of a hill where he had a perfect view of both sides of the highway. He watched the commotion in the after math of the crash with a savage glee, thinking to himself that his plan had gone without a hitch.
There was a dead girl in the back of the stolen jeep, her throat slashed after he’d forced her to reveal the location of where the teenagers were going to meet. He’d cut the brakes on the second jeep - and had bugged all four - hoping that Poppy would be the one to drive it; but it didn’t matter so much anymore to him. As the red and blue flashing lights approached, signalling the arrival of the emergency services he saw a jeep turn around so they were facing the right way and exit the highway.
The killer waited until the jeep was lost from view, a cruel smile played on the corners of his mouth and he said aloud to himself “You can run, but you can’t hide.” With slow deliberate movements, the killer returned to the jeep and opened the tailgate; he reached in and dragged Thea’s body out then dumped her unceremoniously in the shade of a tree then returned to the jeep.
Just before he started the engine, the killer took out a small hand held device from his jacket pocket and stared at the three dots on it. Two of the red dots were stationary and the third was on the move, the killer adjusted the screen to the moving red dot then put the device on the dash board of his jeep, started the engine and began the hunt.

* * * *

Once Sean and Poppy were a short distance from the highway, Sean pulled into the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant and killed the engine. Sean took a few deep breaths and then looked at Poppy who was staring blankly out of the window. But before he could speak Poppy said.
“Sean, you should get out whilst you can, I’m sorry that you were ever involved in all of this. It isn’t fair to you and you deserve better, maybe if I’d been a better friend I would’ve hidden you all away where you couldn’t be found, at least that way Jamie and Thea wouldn’t be dead.” Silent tears were rolling down Poppy’s cheeks, as she looked at him for the first time since the crash on the highway.
Sean wiped a tear from her face and replied “I’m not going anywhere, and don’t beat yourself up about not being a good friend because you and I both know that you are. You also know within yourself that none of us would’ve hidden away whilst you were in danger and it isn’t your fault that Jamie and Thea are dead, so stop it right now!
“What we need is a plan and something to eat, so we’re going to go in here and do just that, don’t forget you bag to change your clothes; I’ll meet you by the counter in ten minutes OK?” Poppy simply took the bag that Sean held out for her and nodded her head, once they were outside of the jeep Poppy noticed how cold it was and shivered slightly; she then looked at Sean and shook her head. “What?” He asked, “Nothing, I’m just thinking about what you said, and you’re right.” Sean smiled, “I usually am.” And then playfully punched her arm.
As they headed towards the entrance of McDonald’s Poppy said “Sean?” He looked at her; “Hmm?” “I just wanted to say thanks for everything, I really don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have you for a friend.” Sean smiled warmly at her then went inside the restaurant with Poppy following on his heels. Ten minutes later they had both changed clothes and were ordering burgers and fries.
Once they were seated Poppy was once again staring into space and Sean was sat in thought, a few moments later as Sean was taking a sip of his coffee a thought struck him. “Poppy do you remember when we met with your lawyer in that police station in Ohio?” Poppy looked at him sharply, “Yes I remember, why?” Sean hesitated then spoke.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what your lawyer said, and I know it’s been almost two years but something about that meeting keeps bothering me.” Poppy looked at him curiously, “What do you mean?” “Well, when your lawyer told you about your inheritance, you had no idea about it, but I’m thinking that maybe your dad did.” Poppy’s face paled.
“He must have known about it, but I still don’t understand what you’re getting at.” Sean took a pull on his coffee and then said “There’s no easy way to say this but... What with everything that we’ve been through, is it possible that your dad wants the money from your trust fund?” Poppy looked shocked “Why would you think that? My dad always had his own money, why would he want mime? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Sean sighed, “Everyone wants what they don’t or can’t have Poppy, and if you think about it, it does make sense. Greed and jealousy will make people do stupid things for their own wants.” Poppy looked at Sean and saw how serious about this he was, her brain was working overtime to try and make sense of all the events that had led to this day.
But some small part of her just refused to believe it, “If my dad wanted my money then why did he disown me? Why does he want nothing to do with me and yet still want the money? It doesn’t make any sense!” But suddenly all the pieces fell into place and Poppy gasped. She looked up at Sean with fear in her eyes, “But why? He’d never get away with it!”
Sean smiled sadly, “He would Poppy, if you had died with your mom that night, everything would’ve gone to your dad. And it still would, but there’s something that I think your dad has overlooked in all of this.” Poppy lifted an eyebrow in question and Sean said “You’re a survivor, and just by being here-.” He gestured around them at the McDonald’s they were sitting in “- proves that he underestimates you all the time, but now we need a plan to help us live through the night.”
Poppy gave Sean a small smile then said “Us.” Sean looked at her in question, and she said “You said that he underestimates me all the time, but it’s not just me, there’s two of us and if you’re serious about not going anywhere then you need to include yourself in whatever we do next.” Sean grimaced, “Yeah, didn’t think of that.” “I was serious you know, I meant it when I said that you could walk away.”
“Poppy, I’m not going anywhere and I mean that!” Poppy grinned and replied “Great, so... What’s the plan?” Sean fell silent at that, he was still thinking of how they could both come out of this alive, so Poppy left him to think, but she still had a hundred questions running through her head’ Who was the killer? How did he know where they were all the time? How had he managed to find them here? How had he managed to sneak around the ranch without them knowing? Had her dad really hired someone to kill her and her friends?
And the most important questions of all, How do we evade him? How do we stop him from killing us? Poppy thought back to when they’d first arrived in New Mexico, at the Airport where they were waiting for the Federal Agents who’d been killed en-route to the Airport. There was no-one else in the Airport that had lingered apart from them and...
Poppy gasped and Sean looked around them alert, “What? What is it Poppy?” “The killer.” She breathed, Sean almost stood up, his eyes still scanning the almost empty restaurant. Poppy grabbed his arm and shook her head, “No, he’s not here but I’ve seen him before.” Sean moved seats and sat next to her, gripping her shoulders hard, “What do you mean Poppy? Where have you seen him before? Do you know him?”
Poppy shook her head, “No, I don’t know him in that sense, but I’ve seen him a few times, he was sitting on the plane that we flew in on and was waiting at the Airport as well. That day you and Jamie were playing soccer and I saw that jeep through the binoculars? That was him as the same person. And lastly when we went to the mall to pick up the supplies for the bags, he was in every store we went in! God how could I have been so stupid? I led him right to us Sean!”
Sean shook his head, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” “Because I never thought about everything as a whole before, I thought that what happened in Ohio was just coincidence, and that the events here were just a lot of bad luck, it wasn’t until what you said about my dad that it all hit me.” Sean nodded in understanding then said, “Wait, so you know what he looks like? Can you identify him to the police?” Poppy shook her head.
Even if I could I wouldn’t, look at what happened in Ohio? That Detective betrayed us all, how doo we know that this killer hasn’t already infiltrated the police here? We’re better off if we do this alone, we know that we’re being hunted, we also know that we may not survive, the question is how do we defeat the odds?” Sean smiled, “Leave that to me, I have an idea that might work in our favour but first we need to lead the killer to somewhere we know well.”
Poppy sighed, “There’s only one place that we both know well, and the killer probably does as well, and that’s the ranch.” Sean nodded, “Exactly! C’mon eat up and we’ll go.”


Chapter Five


The killer sat in thought watching the moving red dot, he would’ve expected the teenagers to go to a more populated area or to seek help from the police, but instead they were heading for the more rural areas. A cruel smile was playing on his lips as he realised that the teenagers were headed back to the ranch.
He thought, don’t they learn? With a small shake of his head and the cruel smile still on his lips he drove out of the Theatre parking lot where he’d hoped to catch the teenagers as they met up, and instead drove back to the ranch that was situated in the middle of nowhere. An hour later the killer abandoned the jeep a quarter mile away from the ranch and walked towards the darkened ranch, he had a sense of déjà vu which he thought strange and shook it off.
When he reached the front of the ranch he saw the jeep that the teenagers had driven parked up by the porch, the doors were open but when the killer looked inside he saw the jeep was empty and the keys missing. His smile became a full and evil grin as he crept around the side of the ranch heading towards the car garage, when he reached the garage he saw it was open and empty, there was still no sign of the teenagers so he headed towards the open area of land.
After walking five hundred yards he came upon a small wooded area, he took a cautious step into the tree line and froze, to his left and about one hundred away he heard twigs snap and heavy footfalls. He turned towards the sound making sure to keep out of sight, the heavy footfalls continued ahead of him and echoed around him making it seem as though there was an army running through the woods.
The killer saw a figure move to his right out of the corner of his eye and he moved towards it, the figure was moving fast but it wasn’t fast enough to evade him, within seconds he was upon the figure and the both stumbled into a large and circular clearing. The sun was beginning to rise and the killer was able to see that it was Poppy he’d caught.

* * * *

Poppy was gasping for breath, so far the plan had worked but now that Poppy had been caught she felt panic settle in, the next part of the plan was to wait for Sean to creep around behind the killer and knock him unconscious, she just had to try and wait it out. That plan failed when Poppy saw the glint of metal in the early morning light.
“Sean!” She screamed, Poppy didn’t wait for his answer but as she saw the evil and cruel smile on his face, anger overtook her fear. This was the man who’d killed all of their parents, and her friends. The man who was trying to kill and her and Sean, the killer seemed to enjoy her fear; he was an ordinary looking man with short black curly hair and deep brown eyes, there were no distinguishing marks or scars on his face and Poppy realised that this man could blend in extremely well with other people.
“Why?!” She spat at him, the killer regarded her for several seconds before answering, “Why what?” Poppy had chills run up and down her spine at the sound of his voice, it was cold and empty with a hint of barely suppressed rage underneath. “Why did you kill them? I want to know the truth before you kill me.” The killer chuckled although there was no warmth in it.”
“The truth? Be careful what you ask for Poppy, not everyone wants to hear the truth.” The killer looked at Poppy for a moment and saw the seriousness in her face. “Very well, your father Paul Cosby hired me to kill you for your inheritance money and I believe for an easier way out of the divorce he and your mother were going through.” Poppy gasped, “Why? Why did you agree to do it? What do you get out if it?”
The killer considered her words, “I don’t get anything out of it, I just enjoy killing for a living besides I’m good at it.” He mused and then continued on. “And as your father paid me in full and for any situations including witnesses I felt that your friends’ deaths were necessary to complete my job.” The killer hadn’t put any emotion into his words, if Poppy thought it was possible she would’ve thought the killer to be an emotionless robot.
Poppy lay as still as possible, but she couldn’t control her body’s shivering at the sound of the killer’s voice. The killer appeared to be lost in thought so Poppy took her chance, she tried to lift her arm but as soon as she moved the killer’s eyes were on her, he was obviously very alert to his surroundings. Poppy hoped and prayed that nothing had happened to Sean, he should’ve been here by now, had something gone wrong?
A bird whistled in the trees to her left and Poppy suppressed a smile, because that was Sean’s signal to say he had what he needed. The killer looked down at her as the sun came out fully and said “Any last wishes before I take your life?” Poppy let a hint of a smile cross her features “Yeah I do actually.”

* * * *

The killer wondered what could possibly make Poppy smile when she was about to die, but he replied “Oh? And what might that be?” Poppy continued to smile, and as she went to reply a slight rustling of the woods behind him made him turn his head, and that was when he knew he’d been tricked.

* * * *

Poppy waited until the killer moved his head and then she put as much power as she could into the hit and punched the killer hard in the face. The killer had a look of shock on his face that quickly turned to rage. Poppy suddenly shouted “Sean now! Do it now!” Poppy managed to throw the killer off to the side and kicked him hard in the ribs.
The killer went down and Sean suddenly appeared out of the tree line to Poppy’s left, the killer tried to get up but Poppy punched him back to the floor again; Sean ran behind the killer and tried to pull him away from Poppy but with little success and Sean received an elbow to the eye for his efforts. Poppy was trying to scramble to her feet but the killer kept making her off-balance with his own efforts to get vertical.
“Sean, get the rock and hit him for Christ’s sake!” Gasped Poppy between breaths, Sean didn’t want to turn his back on Poppy whilst she was fighting for her life so Sean did something completely reckless; and threw himself into the fight, pushing Poppy out of the way as he did so. Poppy rolled to her right, away from the killer and Sean then started searching for a rock herself.
As Poppy looked around her she saw to her dismay that there were no rocks, large or small around her to hit the killer with, she circled the clearing twice but still couldn’t see anything that would be of any use to them. Poppy looked at Sean who’d just landed an uppercut to the killers chin and said “Where did you put the rock?” Sean quickly pointed to this left and then dodged a punch to his face.
Poppy ran towards the place where Sean had come from and found a large sharp rock next to the tape recorder, she picked it up and ran back to where Sean and the killer were fighting. Using the strength she had left, Poppy went to hit the killer over the back of the head, but at the last moment the killer moved and Poppy hit his temple instead. Poppy hit the killer harder than she thought possible, the killer gave a grunt of surprise and then fell to the floor where he lay unmoving.
Poppy looked at the rock and saw blood on one corner of it where she’d hit the killer, Sean took a step back and looked at Poppy as she let the rock hit the floor with a dull thud. A full minute passed but the killer still hadn’t moved, Sean tentatively nudged the killer’s side with the toe of his boot and when nothing happened Sean knelt down beside him, breathing heavily.
Poppy moved next to Sean and helped him turn the killer over; the killers’ eyes were open but looking at nothing, and they had a sort of glassy look about them. “Is he dead?” Poppy asked Sean, he looked at Poppy first then the killer and moved his fingers to the killers’ neck to try and find a pulse, Sean removed his fingers a moment later and replied “Yes Poppy, he’s dead.”
Sean and Poppy both stood up together in a state of shock and left the clearing together, an hour later they returned to the clearing with a pair of shovels and began to dig a grave. Once that was done the pushed the body into the grave and covered it over. Before they headed back to the ranch Sean went over to the tree line and retrieved the tape recorder, as he walked back to Poppy he saw her remove the small microphone from her jeans pocket. They then headed back to the ranch with an arm around each others’ waists for support.


Epilogue

Four Days Later


Poppy and Sean were sat in the departures lounge of the Taos Airport waiting to be called to board the plane that would take them back to Ohio. In the following few days since Poppy had killed the killer they had phoned the local police station to claim the body of Jamie, who’d been killed in the car crash along the highway.
They had tried to claim the body of Thea but her body hadn’t been found. Poppy had requested that Jamie’s body be shipped out to Ohio where he could be buried next to his parents. After explaining the unique situation to the police officers they had accepted, and both Poppy and Sean had filled out the paperwork involved. And were then informed it would take a little over a month for the transfer to take effect due to the ongoing investigation.
Sean and Poppy had returned to the ranch to pack a bag and prepare themselves for the return to Ohio neither of them were truly ready to go back to where it had all started, but the information the killer had taunted Poppy with had confirmed their suspicions that Poppy’s father was truly behind the deaths of their families and friends.
Sean had been pacing the departures lounge since they arrived, he was deep in thought but Poppy was battling with her own demons, was it really the best decision to go back? Would she be able to face her father after everything he’d done? Poppy knew the answers almost before she’d finished asking herself these questions. No it probably wasn’t the best decision to go back, but it had to be done! Her father had to be stopped.
She knew that she had no choice but to confront her father and put an end to schemes to get her inheritance money. The first call to board the plane was sounded and Poppy froze, Sean had moved to the chair next to her and said “C’mon Poppy, this is us.” Poppy shook her head and watched as the other people started leaving the lounge for the gate, “No, you go on ahead and I’ll catch the next flight, I’m not ready to do this.”
Sean placed his hand on her shoulder, “I’m not ready for this either Poppy but we both know that it has to be done and I’m not going without you, you won’t get the next flight you’ll just continue to sit here staring out of the windows. We need this Poppy, you know that! We need for all of this to stop and getting on that plane is the only way it’s going to happen.”
Poppy looked at Sean and shook her head, “How can I face him after what he’s done Sean? I don’t even know where to start looking for him.” A muscle in Sean’s jaw twitched and he stood up and held his hand to Poppy as the second call to board sounded through the lounge. “You won’t be facing him alone Poppy, I’ll be with you every step of the way, and as for where to look for him, I know where we can start.”
Sean was looking at her expectantly so Poppy took a deep breath and stood up taking Sean’s hand, they both headed towards the gate where they would depart for Ohio and towards an uncertain future...

To Be Continued...

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