Raiden was crouched over the unmoving, bloody woman-the kids were screaming, huddled in the back with their hands over their ears. Raiden looked at me with something only another killer could recognize-this sick thrill plastered on his face. He had told me the truth, he really did live for it-and this was his sick version of living.
His evil eyes looked back at the children from over the seat with intent and they screamed.
Suddenly I realized this was about more than just John and I.
Raiden's eyes looked at me, and to the children. “Your turn.”
I tore my buckle off and flipped myself over the seat, covering the children's huddled bodies as they screamed at me, thinking I was going to kill them. I stared at him with animalistic, wild eyes.
Raiden looked at me in disbelief, “What?”

“Don't you dare touch them!” I snarled.
The children's wails punctured my eardrums, as I pressed my back further to them, keeping them covered from this monster. “Mommy-dad!”
“So this is what you'd die for?” a look of disgust crossed his face. “These sniveling brats!?”
I held my chin up, “They are children.”
“And your little boyfriend's dead!” he lunged at me, and I kicked him backwards.
He thumped hard into the passenger door, complete shock entered his eyes.
Raiden cocked his head at me, “You would let your little boy-toy die over this?” he asked incredulously, seeing me as if for the first time.
“They are innocent children and have nothing to do with the mess John and I are in! You won't touch them! You'll have to kill both me and John first!” I thundered back at him.
He grinned maniacally. “Well then, that may very well happen.”
Raising his hunting knife, he lunged-just as I spotted a baseball bat and shoved it with as much force possible into his head. His body crumbled, and I started hyperventilating-breathing for the first time.
I choked as I crawled quickly over him, and wrenched open the passenger door. With adrenaline working through me I dragged his body onto the road, and took the knife putting it in my pocket next to the heel I'd forgotten to use.
Getting back in the car I wedged the woman's body out of the children's view, “Stay back there!” I yelled, taking one of their blankets and putting it over their heads. “You keep that blanket on-all of you-you understand?!” I tossed another blanket over Melinda's body.
Little whimpers told me yes, and I went up to the driver's seat. He was definitely dead. Numbing myself and working with my fear-faster than I thought possible I opened his door and just shoved him out. Taking the seat, I started up the car.
The rear view mirror showed a tall body raising up-I looked back to see Raiden's gaze-so furious it looked like it came from the depths of H*ll itself.
I steadied my jaw, to keep my chin from quivering.
“Rot in h*ll you b****rd.”
Pumping the gas pedal I screeched away from his gleaming, betrayed face.


Steadily his silhouette grew smaller and smaller and as I began to think more clearly, I grabbed the cellphone, my fingers shook dialing 911.
There was no reception. I flipped it closed and stuck it back on the dashboard. I would just have to keep driving until I got more towards town. My mind drifted to Raiden's cellphone, and the results it could have on it. I shook out the thoughts. I had to get the kids safe first. Then I thought of John. Raiden must be walking back to the car right now, and based on the short amount of time we were in the car before he decided to start massacring people, it would take him less than fifteen minutes.
I stomped the pedal as fast as it could go, but the old thing would go barely above fifty miles per hour. Once I called the cops I had to get to John. I would drop the kids off beside some brush on the road and tell them to hide, and to only come out when they saw the cops, then I would drive to John and we would escape.
For John, I had to do this. The kids could hide-they would be alright! I reassured myself, nodding as I heard their screaming and whimpers. I glanced nervously into the rear view mirror.
“Oh God!”
Raiden's car was streaking down the long stretch of highway. I punched the pedal some more but it wouldn't go above fifty and he must have been going at least eighty. It was only a matter of time-if I could just get in range of the reception for the cellphone. I snatched it and flipped it open dialing fast-no reception.
Every thirty seconds I would do this-after five more tries, time was getting critical-his car had covered two thirds of the distance separating us and sped ever faster.
“AH!” I shrieked, completely losing my cool in front of the kids. “NO! Work, d8mn it, WORK!”
I dialed again. No reception.
“NO!” I screamed. The kids cries intensified. “Look you guys-I'm going to get you out of here-okay?” I sobbed to them.
“What about mommy?” one squealed.
“Where's dad?!”
“I'm so sorry-” my sobbing turned into screaming as he was suddenly only twenty feet behind us. I frantically dialed 911. This time it worked.
“Hello?” a woman ventured into my screams.
I held it close to my ear as the car lurched forward and the kids shrieked even more-he rammed into us-the kids! They were right at the back.
“Kids! Get up here-NOW-NOW!”
They shuffled around the seat and one asked if mommy was hurt.
“All of you get into the front seat-cram yourselves in!” I yelled.
“What is going on?” asked the operator.
“Oh God-” I began talking as he rammed into the back of the car violently again, this time I almost lost control of the vehicle.
“Please help us-Ah!” another ram. “Please-we're on the highway in the Nevada Desert-oh God, I don't know what name it is-sh*t!”
“Ahhh!” this ram drove itself into the back of the car where the children had been.
“Yes mam, we're in the process of tracing your call, now please tell me what's going on?”
“My name is Kim-I was ab-” another ram. “-ducted by this psycho, he killed my friends, and my boyfriend-John he's being held hostage-I escaped, but he killed these people-AH!”
One giant ram into the back corner of the van sent us spiraling, the phone knocked out of my hand as we did a donut, screeching across the highway.
I put on the brakes, the car halted facing the same way it had been before, but he had drove ahead of us and had turned his car around to face me, I could see his face-both furious and exhilarated.
This was it. He stared me down with death in his eyes.
“Kids!” I got their attention as I held Raiden in my intense gaze, he seemed to be thriving in it. “When I say so, run out of the car as fast as possible and hide in the bushes. When you hear the cop's sirens you run out-not into the street-but get their attention-got it?” I instructed sternly.
One of them nodded and that was good enough for me. I was going to play a game of chicken with Raiden. He wanted it, I could see it in his eyes.
“NOW!”
The door flung open and as soon as they jumped out, Raiden licked his lips and turned his car in their direction, I slammed on the gas and flew towards his car. His face was shocked and angry all at once as I sped toward him, unfaltering and unblinking.
We were either going to collide or he was going to chicken out.
His face was wet with sweat-his car zooming right at me, then he blinked. His car swerved sideways, coming feet away from scraping mine as I continued to speed forward onto the road. He spun his car around and followed, easily catching up to me again and he smashed into the back of my car with a revenge. I heard sirens-somewhere in the distance I heard them, relief stabbed though me. I looked in the rear view mirror to see what he thought of this. His lips were pressed firmly together, and a look of deep concentration and desperation was on his face. Raiden swerved his car onto the other side of the road and pulled out a gun.
POP-POP!
I shrieked as my car started running lopsidedly, I lost control of the wheel and it shot sideways and in a flash-flipped over off the road and into the desert. I was knocked out of my seat, landing on my back on the top on the ceiling of the car and then my body was in a free-fall again, my chest landed on the steering wheel as my legs slammed into the clutch on the second and last roll.
Choking and sputtering profusely from the force of the jolt into my ribs, I laid back on the driver's seat and tried to breathe. My breathing came out in rasps, trying to suck the air in-I felt my ribs but they didn't seem to be broken. I moved and though it hurt horribly I wrenched the door open and fell out, coughing uncontrollably, to my knees.
I heard footsteps on the sand coming my way.
“You've really done it now,”
I screamed as Raiden jerked me up by my hair and grabbed my arm, dragging me back to his car, he shoved me against it and I yelled in pain from the force of it jarring my hurt rib. He went through my pockets and found his knife-but didn't come up with the heel. It must have fallen out, I realized in some relief as I heard the sirens closer than ever.
He opened the passenger door and pushed me in, starting up the car as I cradled my side.
The car sped back to the spot where I'd let off the kids-they were out of hiding from hearing the sirens-he jerked the steering wheel their direction.
“NO!” I screamed, throwing myself on him, wrestling with the wheel, managing to jerk the car away from them just in moments. His elbow slammed back into my forehead and I flew back into the seat, seeing double as I wondered in and out of consciousness for about a minute.
The sirens were whirling around in my ears-they were getting closer, if anything it sounded like we were moving straight towards them.
The car seats and the back of Raiden's head were swerving in circles in my vision. As they started to settle into a solid formation, I squinted, looking out the front window to see that he was heading straight towards three police cars.

“What are you doing?!” I choked.
He just grinned, and pulled out a hand grenade from his long coat. “Get down.” he commanded, sounding as though I were a third wheel on a date he had with death.
I heard the sirens closer than ever before, as he rolled the window down. My heart froze as I heard the snap of the activated grenade as his hand flicked the pull ring into the car and the other tossed it out the window swiftly. My body thudded against the car floor as I flung myself down and waited in horror as the seconds ticked by like hours-the sirens flew past my ears, and as I heard the police cars brake, squealing behind us, a thunderous explosion enveloped my ears and the back of the car blew upwards.