Shelter for Koren

by Susan Stoker

  Squirrel just smirked.

  Koren opened her eyes slowly. She was still lying in the short hallway leading to the garage. She remembered everything that happened. Nadine had Tased her. Her back hurt where the barbs had hit and her mouth was throbbing.

  “You awake yet?” Nadine asked impatiently from somewhere nearby.

  Koren wanted to say no, wanted to buy herself some time, but that wasn’t going to get her out of this situation. Shifting up on her elbows, she brought one hand to her face and touched her chin. Her fingers came away bloody.

  “That was fucking hysterical,” Nadine said. “The second those prongs hit you, your entire body went stiff as a board and BAM, down you went. Right on your face.”

  Yeah, Koren remembered that. It was the scariest feeling ever. She’d been completely cognizant of everything happening around her, but couldn’t do a damn thing to protect herself as she fell. Hitting her shin on the floor hurt. As did the barbs in her back. And the amps moving through her body.

  “Come on,” Nadine said, leaning down and grabbing hold of one of Koren’s biceps. “I need to get you upstairs before you have any more bright ideas.”

  Koren stumbled and would’ve fallen again if it wasn’t for Nadine’s tight hold on her arm. She had no idea how the other woman had the strength to drag her up from the floor, but she did.

  Without giving her any time to come up with another plan, Nadine force marched Koren up the stairs. It took a while, because Koren still didn’t really have control over her body. She felt as if she’d been run over by a Mack truck. Blood dripped from her chin onto her T-shirt, but that was the least of her problems, and Koren knew it.

  Nadine had obviously spent a bit of time looking around her condo before Koren had arrived home because she knew exactly where she was going. She dragged Koren into the master bedroom, and then into the bathroom.

  “Sit there,” Nadine ordered, pointing to the tile next to the toilet.

  Scared out of her mind that Nadine was going to shoot her in the head—with a real gun this time—Koren hesitated.

  “Sit the fuck down!” Nadine ordered, sticking one of the butcher knives from Koren’s kitchen in her face.

  Not wanting to feel the slice of the blade, Koren sat.

  “Good girl,” Nadine praised. Then she reached into her pocket and pulled something out. She flung them at Koren, and she flinched when the heavy object landed in her lap.

  “Put those on.”

  Looking down, Koren saw a pair of handcuffs. A tear fell from her eye before she could stop it. “Please don’t do this,” Koren pleaded.

  “Oh, I’m doing it, and your tears aren’t gonna stop me, so quit crying. You’re so pathetic. Put one of the cuffs around that pipe behind the toilet and the other around your wrist.”

  Koren looked from Nadine to the pipe in question. It was just about the only place in the bathroom where she could restrain her. “Taco did his best to get to your son,” Koren said quickly, hoping against hope that she could distract Nadine.

  “Who?”

  “Um…Hudson.”

  Nadine leaned down until she was in Koren’s face. She used the knife to punctuate the air with each of her words. “You. Don’t. Know. What. You’re. Talking. About!”

  Freaked about how carelessly Nadine was swinging the knife around, Koren pressed her lips together.

  “Now, put on the damn cuff!”

  Slowly, Koren did as she was told. She tightened one side of it around the pipe and gently eased the other cuff around her wrist.

  Nadine laughed once more—then pounced toward her.

  Koren jerked back, but there was really nowhere to go. Nadine grabbed her wrist and squeezed the cuff. Koren yelped in pain and tried to jerk her hand away, but all that did was make the metal bite into her wrist more.

  As fast as she’d come at her, Nadine backed away. She put the knife down on Koren’s bathroom counter and fluffed her short hair.

  Panting through the pain in her wrist, Koren didn’t take her eyes away from the other woman. “What’d you do to Sue?”

  “Nothing.”

  Koren frowned. “But she texted me.”

  “So stupid. That was me.”

  “But it came from her number. Did you steal her phone?”

  Nadine turned to look at her. “I didn’t have to steal it. I’m smart enough to figure out how to clone it.”

  Koren closed her eyes. She was thankful that Sue probably really was at home, safe and sound and oblivious to what was happening, but she felt stupid that she’d walked right into Nadine’s trap.

  “So…you know that your boyfriend is a murderer, but you don’t care?” Nadine asked in a casual tone.

  Koren swallowed hard, trying to acclimate to the abrupt change in topic. She wasn’t sure if it was better to say yes or no. So she said nothing.

  “I heard him say it himself that night. He was late.” Her eyes went to Koren’s. “Late. Like he was going out for dinner or his alarm didn’t go off or something. He was late to my house fire.” Nadine put her hands on the counter and leaned forward, her head bowed.

  “I’m sorry,” Koren whispered.

  “Yeah, you will be,” Nadine said, straightening up. Then she reached into her back pocket and took out a syringe. Her hand disappeared into the front pocket of her jeans and she pulled out a small baggie.

  Koren watched in disbelief and horror as Nadine began preparing the drug. As she spoke, she used a lighter to heat up the small rock on a spoon she’d also pulled from her pocket.

  As she got her drugs ready, Nadine kept talking. “I was like you once. Clueless to just about everything but my man. I loved Preston. I would’ve done anything for him. We had never been happier than when Stevie was born. I quit my job to stay home with him rather than pay for childcare, and that’s when things went to shit. I couldn’t lose the baby weight, and Preston spent more time with the bimbos at work than at home with his wife and kid.

  “But I didn’t care. He could fuck his secretary because I had Stevie. He was my life. But then I failed at that too. I don’t even think he liked me much there toward the end. My child didn’t love me anymore…just like Preston.”

  Nadine effortlessly transferred the melted drug from the spoon into the syringe and sank the needle into her arm without pause. Her eyes closed, and she tilted her head back as she pushed the plunger and injected the drug into her body. When she was done, she took the needle out and tossed the used syringe into the sink carelessly. She turned to look down at Koren.

  “I’m sure he loved you,” Koren said desperately.

  “Doesn’t matter now, does it?” Nadine asked rhetorically. “Hudson was late getting to my house, and my baby boy died.”

  Koren knew the story of what had happened. Knew the teenager had been passed out from drinking too much, that Nadine had left him alone. Now that she’d witnessed the woman shooting up right in front of her, Koren had to believe she’d probably been out trying to get more drugs that night.

  “What are you going to do?” Koren asked as bravely as she could.

  Nadine smiled then. It was an awful smile, and Koren could see every one of her rotting, gray teeth.

  “I’m gonna see how fast Hudson can hustle when someone he cares about is in trouble. Wanna put odds on it with me? I’m saying that there’s no way he’ll be late when he hears that his precious girlfriend’s condo is on fire.”

  Koren’s eyes widened and she stared at Nadine in horror. Her arm reflexively pulled on the cuff.

  Nadine took a step toward Koren, and she couldn’t help but flinch back. The strung-out woman laughed and merely patted Koren on the head. “Don’t worry. I have some stuff to do to get ready before our fun starts. Stay put, would ya?” Then she cackled again and left the room, closing the bathroom door behind her.

  The second Koren was alone, she panicked. She pulled as hard as she could on the handcuff, but there was no way it was going to slip off her wrist, not after Nadine h
ad tightened it so much it was cutting into her skin. And it certainly wasn’t going to be coming loose from the pipe going into the wall.

  She still had one hand free, and she maneuvered around the toilet to open the door under the sink to see if there was anything she could use as a weapon or to somehow break the handcuff chain. Staring in dismay at the stack of towels, the bottle of toilet cleaner, the extra rolls of toilet paper, and the two bottles of shampoo, Koren had the sinking feeling that she was in big trouble.

  Grabbing one of the towels, she pressed it to her chin for a moment, then pulled it away. Bloody. Her chin was still bleeding. Koren figured she probably needed stitches, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. She pressed the towel to her chin again and crawled back to where she was sitting before, between the toilet and the tub.

  Closing her eyes, she prayed as she’d never prayed before. She didn’t feel her phone in her pocket anymore, Nadine had obviously removed it. There was literally nothing she could do to get help. Her neighbor on the other side of her was on vacation, so even if she pounded on the wall, no one would hear. Her other neighbors were elderly and already hard of hearing, so if she screamed they probably wouldn’t hear her either.

  The only thing she could hope was that Nadine didn’t actually kill her before she did whatever else she had planned. Koren had to stay alive long enough for Taco to get to her.

  “You dick,” Driftwood said, smacking Squirrel on the back of the head. “We’ve been on four calls since you had to go and comment on how quiet it was. Thanks a lot.”

  “We’re not bored though, are we?” Squirrel quipped.

  “He’s got a point,” Chief said. “Calls make the night go by faster. And the faster we can get through the night, the sooner we’ll be with our women again.”

  Taco ignored his friends and pulled out his phone. He clicked on Koren’s name and frowned when it rang several times then went to voice mail. It wasn’t like her not to answer, but then again, if Sue was having a crisis, she was probably dealing with that.

  His thumbs flew over the keyboard as he wrote a text.

  * * *

  Taco: I just thought I’d check in. We’ve been slammed tonight, but don’t worry, all’s good.

  * * *

  It took several minutes, but finally his phone vibrated with a text.

  * * *

  Koren: I’m good.

  Taco: Everything okay with Sue?

  Koren: Yes.

  * * *

  Taco waited for her to elaborate, but when she didn’t say anything else, he began to worry.

  * * *

  Taco: Are you sure you’re okay?

  Koren: Yes. Just busy.

  Taco: Can I call?

  Koren: No. It’s not a good time.

  Koren: I love you.

  * * *

  Taco blinked at the three words on the screen.

  Holy shit. She loved him? She hadn’t said anything about his own declaration of love when they’d been fighting, but he’d certainly had high hopes that she returned his feelings. And there were the words, in black and white.

  His heart raced. Damn, he wished his shift was over so he could go to her place and hear her say it in person.

  * * *

  Taco: I love you too. So much.

  Koren: I’ll see you soon.

  Taco: Not soon enough. :)

  * * *

  Feeling on top of the world, Taco tucked his phone into his back pocket and headed to the kitchen to help Crash finish up the dishes from their earlier dinner.

  After what seemed like forever, but was probably only about thirty minutes, Nadine came back into the bathroom. “Well, that was fun,” Nadine said happily.

  Koren didn’t want to ask. But she didn’t have to.

  “Taco texted you. What a stupid name.”

  Koren’s heart stopped. Shit. What had Nadine said to him?

  She pulled out Koren’s phone and smiled. “When you were out of it, I used your finger to unlock your phone. I was going to text him later but he beat me to the punch.”

  She clicked a few buttons then turned the screen around and showed it to Koren.

  Koren stared at the stilted conversation with dread. But when she got to the part where Nadine had told Taco that she loved him, she froze.

  She did love him, but for some reason had been holding back from telling him. And he hadn’t repeated the words he’d said the day he’d tried to break up with her.

  Some of the horror must’ve shown on her face, because Nadine laughed, then said with a sneer, “Was that the first time?”

  Koren stared up at her.

  Without warning, Nadine kicked Koren in the side.

  Grunting in pain, Koren dropped the towel from her chin and leaned over protectively. She coughed and it hurt like hell.

  “Was that the first time you told dear Taco that you loved him?” Nadine asked again.

  Koren didn’t take her eyes from her as she nodded.

  “How adorable and perfect,” the strung-out woman said. “That will give him extra incentive to do whatever I tell him to.”

  Koren opened her mouth to ask Nadine what she was going to do, but didn’t get even the first word out before she started bragging about her plan.

  “I hope you have good insurance, but it’s not really gonna matter when you’re dead. You see, there’s a fire in your basement. It’s small at the moment, but alas, it started next to that fluffy chair downstairs. Oh, and that blanket that’s hanging over the back of it will also catch on fire. And of course the curtains, and the shelf of books too. It’ll take a bit, which gives me a little time.”

  “Time for what?” The question came out before Koren could stop it.

  Nadine smiled another evil grin and stepped out of the bathroom for a moment. She came back inside holding a bottle of coconut rum that Sue had brought over one night. They hadn’t finished it, since it was a bit too strong for any of them.

  Nadine held out the bottle. “Drink it.”

  Koren stared at her in shock. She didn’t like alcohol when it was mixed with juice; she couldn’t just drink rum straight from the bottle.

  The other woman’s eyes narrowed and she took a step closer. “I said, drink it.”

  Koren pressed her lips together and shook her head.

  Nadine lunged. Koren tried to fight the other woman off, but whatever drug she’d injected must’ve made her almost inhumanly strong. And with one arm out of commission by the handcuff, Koren was no match for a pissed-off, determined Nadine.

  She wrapped an arm around Koren’s neck and tilted her head back. She held the bottle to her lips and tipped it upward. Koren thrashed, continuing to fight the best she could with one arm. When it was obvious Nadine wasn’t going to succeed in forcing the alcohol down Koren’s throat, she stepped back and growled. Then she turned and left the bathroom.

  Koren’s relief was short-lived when Nadine returned in seconds. But this time she had the gun in her hand. She pointed it at Koren’s head and said, “Drink it.”

  “Please, Nadine,” Koren pleaded.

  “Shut the fuck up and drink!” the crazed woman screamed.

  Knowing it was either drink or get shot, Koren chose the obvious. She tilted the bottle of rum and took a sip.

  “More,” Nadine insisted.

  The alcohol burned as it went down, but Koren tipped the bottle once again, this time only pretending to drink.

  Nadine took a few steps toward her, whipped her arm back, and then smashed the barrel of the gun against her forehead. “Either drink the damn shit faster, or I’ll blow your head off and let your boyfriend find your brains covering the wall!”

  Terrified over the idea of Taco finding her like that, she forced the alcohol past her tightening throat.

  Once Koren had ingested at least half the remaining alcohol, Nadine grabbed the bottle and stepped away. Laughing, she took a giant swig of the rum then whipped it at the sink, laughing harder when the bottle
shattered and glass went flying everywhere.

  As quickly as she’d started laughing, Nadine stopped and glared at Koren. “Now your body will react like Stevie’s did. Eventually you’ll pass out, and you’ll die of smoke inhalation long before lover boy can get to you. An eye for an eye,” Nadine said in a low, chilling voice. “It’s the only way for my Stevie to rest in peace.”

  She backed up farther. “Oh, and I opened your window a bit…you know, to help draw the smoke upward. I don’t care if the flames never reach this floor. The smoke will. That’s the important part.”

  Then with another evil grin, Nadine held up Koren’s cell phone and walked out of the bathroom. She placed the cell on the middle of the bed and turned back to Koren. “Too bad you can’t get to your phone to call for help. Or to tell Hudson how much you love him one more time.” Her eyes narrowed, and she spat on the floor before saying, “A part of me hopes he dies with you—but a bigger part hopes he lives. That’ll cause him way more pain, knowing he’d failed to get to you in time.”

  And with those parting words, Nadine walked out of view.

  Koren heard her going down the stairs then puttering around in the kitchen. The room was already spinning from the rum, and Koren did her best to stay upright. She’d never had that much straight alcohol at one time, and she knew she was going to be in big trouble.

  She opened the lid to the toilet and tried to stick her finger down her throat to make herself throw up, but wasn’t successful. Just when she was contemplating drinking some of the water from the tank to try to dilute the effects of the rum, Koren smelled the first whiff of smoke.

  Her head came up, and she stared in dismay at the thin white wisps of smoke that curled into her bedroom and lazily wafted toward the open window.

  Shit! She’d been hoping Nadine was lying. That she hadn’t really started a fire in her basement. But with every second that passed, with more and more smoke filling the bedroom, Koren tried to keep herself from panicking.