Taming the Monster by K.J. Thomas

Chapter 18

Avery

Waiting and just watching from the Maserati allows my anger to build. Every second that that coward and his guard, Bob, are not dead makes me want to set the world on fire. I don’t even care right now if I have to watch the whole fucker burn.

Rage.

All I see is red, since I don’t have the people that matter the most to me anymore, I don’t even know if Tate or anyone is still alive. I want to tear down all of the Mancini and Romano enemies in one little area and watch them burn. Watch them scream.

The SUV is far enough away so I ease the Maserati out of the garage, not even bothering to shut the door behind me, who fucking cares. A thought goes through my head that makes me laugh. Robbers will think we’re an easy target with the garage door open, but wait until they get a load of all the bodies.

When I start to drive a little faster, I realize I don’t have a freaking plan at all. All I know is that I will do anything that it takes to get rid of these men, even if I die in a fiery blaze with them.

I glance up toward the sky and whisper, “I’m sorry.” Sorry for the fact that I’m about to destroy this beautiful car, and sorry for the fact that I’ll be visiting with you guys soon.

I chuckle, at least I couldn’t find the keys to the fucking Bentley. I imagine the gates of hell would open then for me. I’m full on laughing and crying, I’m such an emotional fucking wreck right now.

I have no plan but the only thing I know is that I have a very small chance, maybe less than five percent, of actually walking or being carried out of here alive.

This car is my weapon and Luca and I are both dying today. To make sure of his death, I will go to the gates of hell with him. I will drag that fucker there, screaming and fighting myself if I have to.

It’s still somewhat dark out so I flip off my lights. I almost thought about shutting off the dome lights, too, but I’m not exactly sure where the controls are. It’s got to be around the light switch somewhere. I need to see something so I’m not just totally doing a shot in the dark here, hoping I don’t end up in a ditch.

I do need to slow down now, driving in the dark is not easy. When my eyes adjust, it helps a little bit. I have tears, sweat and blood around my eyes. Everything burns, I’m just hoping I can stay on the fucking road.

I expected us to be driving for miles upon miles, what I didn’t expect is for them to turn off in an area five miles down the road. Did they already find somebody else’s house to steal? Or maybe they’re going to try to do it now.

Yeah right, they are not going to harm another person in this life.

I’m about one-hundred feet behind now with no lights as they slowly turn in to the long driveway leading up to one of the nicer houses in this area.

There’s no time like the fucking present. I scream as loud as I can at the same instant that I downshift and press the gas pedal all the way down to the floor.

This time I turn on the lights so that they can see what’s coming. So they know that they’re about to be rammed by another vehicle.

Whether I die or whether I live, I want Luca’s shocked expression etched into my brain forever. He has his mouth wide open and his eyes are even bigger, as I race toward him. He’s talking fast, but it looks like he’s slowly mouthing words to his guard. Shifting to third gives me an extra boost right before I slam into the side of the SUV.

My car slams into them, jerking me back into my seat, causing my head to painfully bounce. Shockingly they start flipping. It’s even better that they were next to a ditch for the excess rainwater that happens here in Chicago. They had to flip at least four or five times until they landed on their side.

The crack of metal crunches together, and the screams of the men can be heard, probably for miles. I look at the guard who took the brunt of the accident since he was driving.

I grab my gun that I found next to Asher and put it in my back pocket. I have a knife in my left hand. My right hand is open in case I need to use it. The knife in my left hand won’t do any good since I have a hole through my shoulder but I can carry it, shockingly.

“Ouch,” I say looking down to the guard who is looking at me with wide eyes but is unfortunately pinned by the total weight up to his chest from the SUV. “I bet you wish you would’ve worn your seatbelt now, huh?”

The lights from the Maserati are lighting up everything where I can get a glimpse of myself in one of the SUV’s windows. I am covered in blood, basically from my head down to my toes. I got blood from different wounds and people. Some is from fighting earlier, being hit, and the wound on my arm won’t stop bleeding.

I look like a fucking bad ass, a dead one. The wound must’ve opened up again.

At first I thought about ending it for the guard, but he’s not going anywhere and even if he does, I bet you everything is broken and shattered inside of his body. His skin is starting to turn a gaudy gray color.

Luca grabs my attention. I can see he’s desperately searching for some kind of weapon to use. His gun must’ve gotten lost in the wreckage. He’s kind of an idiot, if he would’ve taken the seat belt off, he would’ve had more room to move around and find something.

“Avery, we can talk about this.” He stumbles, searching for the right words. “Between the two of us, we can take over the whole fucking world, I can work for you.”

I chuckle as I remove my gun with my good arm, my right arm.

“What are you doing?” Luca cries out.

I don’t say anything, I just point the gun at his dick, trying to line up the best I can. Before I pull the trigger, I make sure to glance up and smile. I got hit in the head a few times, too, so the blood is going down my face, I’m pretty sure it’s covering my teeth. Damn, I need to take a picture so I can actually see what I look like, the reflection is not doing me justice.

I laugh to myself, my finger feels heavy and restless, so I pull the trigger.

Luca screams. I want to say that we’re laughing about this together but we’re not. I’m just happy he’ll never be able to use that slimy dick stick on anybody else ever again.

After a few seconds of him screaming, he spits out. “You fucking bitch, you will pay for this.”

I probably will, I think to myself as I aim for an extremity and fire. I actually think I got his left foot but I’m not sure, he’s howling in pain and flailing everywhere. I can’t exactly tell, if the bitch would sit still for a second I would be able to see.

“I’m gonna kill everyone you’ve ever loved and make you watch,” he grunts out, blood and spit flying from his mouth. How weird, well I guess the shot in the dick would make him hemorrhage. I’m beyond ignoring him now, his voice makes me cringe in disgust.

“Your parents begged me for mercy, but I’m gonna show you none.” Luca starts saying this about my parents. “Your mom was the best lay I ever had.” Okay, now it’s getting ridiculous. For one, my mom could never stand him, she actually cringed when he was in the room.

“Sure buddy,” I say as I pop off another shot trying to hit the same place in the shoulder he got me. It’s only fair, right?

“Please stop.” I do freeze for a second, Luca’s voice is scared and almost childlike. This is the only time I’ve actually heard him sound like a human. With feelings and shit like that.

I smile at him as I aim the gun for his head. I’m standing right fucking next to him. He doesn’t have the strength in his extremities anymore to take the gun away from me.

Maybe this is what I needed, or is this just gonna fuck me up later in life? I’ll probably have to spend the rest of my living years in some heavily induced therapy. Maybe they’ll just put me in a psych house.

I refocus my attention back on Luca and smile, aiming the gun precisely at his head letting the bite of the metal sink into his forehead, showing him what is yet to come.

“I win,” I say as cheerfully as I can. My smile is big and sincere. I’m actually feeling pretty good about myself right now. Before Luca gets the chance to answer, I fire two shots right in his head.

Yeah, one would’ve been enough, but I’ve read too many books and seen too many movies where the bad guy comes back.

Right when it’s done, a whole new onslaught of emotions take over. I can feel them coming at me from everywhere. I don’t feel like such a bad ass anymore with the blood of so many people all over me.

I start to spit to get it out of my mouth, vomiting comes next. I wish there was a river or something nearby. I’m just feeling sick and disgusted. God, maybe I am going crazy.

The tears don’t stop, they just keep rolling down as I give up and lay myself against the SUV, slowly sliding down until I hit the ground.

I know my blood loss is insane. Maybe I should’ve cauterized the wound or had one of the guards stitch me fast at the house but then I would’ve never kept up. If I did any of that, Luca would’ve gotten away.

The nausea in the darkness takes over fast. I feel like I just want to lay on my side for a little while, maybe if I sleep for ten or fifteen minutes I’ll feel stronger and better enough to get back up and get out of here.

I try to glance at the Maserati because she still has to be ready for me to drive. I rammed into the SUV but I didn’t total the car.

I can’t even see a foot in front of me, everything is hazy.

“Soon,” I say to nobody in particular. I just know that soon I’ll be with everybody in this world that matters to me. I get to see my parents again.

A car comes rumbling up. I can hear the crunching of gravel from the tires but I still can’t find it within my strength to see who it is. Footsteps stomp in a hurry running toward me. If I felt any better, I would prepare for a blow or at least try to cover myself up.

I’m just sitting here leaning against the truck with my legs straight out in front of me and my hands drop down to my sides with my palms up. I probably look a little like the grudge girl as my head is still down, and my eyes rise up to see who is coming.

“Avery,” I can hear the screaming as somebody runs up and slides next to me on the gravel. “Oh God, hold on.” Not exactly sure who it was, but if I had to make a guess, I would say Mac, from the sweet sound of his voice. Plus the feeling of comfort I get from him being around. It couldn’t be anybody else, because they’re all gone.

Inside, I feel the tears coming, but I don’t know if that’s the same outside, I can’t feel anything outside anymore.

I smile as much as I can, my work is done. Luca is gone, and he will never be able to hurt another person or family in this world. I can finally fucking die in peace.

This time I welcome the dark, I actually fucking embrace it.