Following, Part 2

“Kevin,” said Thad, his voice serious now. “Why don’t you step back from the door for a second.”

And Kevin did as he was told. “You think that’s him?” He sounded nervous. “Ain’t no way, right?”

“All I can tell you is I had a feeling and it’s feeling pretty strong right about now.” Thad was whispering now. “Why don’t we duck somewhere, let this guy see no one’s home, and he’ll probably leave on his own. Lock the door first.”

“It don’t lock.”

“Huh?”

“It’s broke. I been meaning to fix it, I…” he was talking shaky now, nervous.

Thad grabbed hold of the collar of his jumpsuit and pulled him into the bedroom beside the lobby just as the front door handle began to turn. Kevin followed along, willingly. They both dove down on the opposite side of the bed, out of sight. They heard the bell ring as the front door opened, and the sound of boots clacking on the tile floor a few steps before stopping.

“Hello?” a man’s voice called out. Thad held a finger up to his lips, shushing Kevin. The only sound was Kevin’s radio, still playing in the garage out back. The man called out again. Then he hit the bell on the front desk, once, then twice. Then, his boots began to walk to the back of the house, towards the sounds of the radio. At the sound of the back screen door creaking open and then slamming shut, Thad jumped to his feet, pulling Kevin up, too.

“Come on,” Thad whispered urgently. They both ran to the front door and out, the bell above it blasting like a fire alarm above them as they ran out the front door. As soon as it did, they heard the back screen door open and shut again.

“We got to hide!” Thad urged.

“R-r-room seven!” Kevin said, pale as a ghost, tripping over his own feet on the slippery gravel.

Thad looked around, confused about exactly where room seven was. He followed behind Kevin to the room without the number on the door, with the door cracked open. They slipped inside just as the bell on the front door rang again.

“Shit!” Kevin said.

“Quiet!” Thad fumbled with the door.

Kevin spoke lower. “We should’ve slashed his tires. Got in your car, got out of here.”

Thad was still messing with the door handle. “Does any damn door handle work in this place?”

Kevin pointed up to the chain hanging about eye-level with Thad. It was a sliding chain lock. Quickly, and quietly, Thad slid it into place and went to the back of the room with Kevin, crouched down behind one of the two full-size beds furthest from the front door. The bed had no sheets on it, and its mattress had a large, mysterious brown stain across its entire center. There was a nightstand with nothing on it, not even a lamp. No television set or desk or chair in the room. A painting hung on the wall, an Indian hiding on a hill behind a boulder, looking out at a lone buffalo in a field. The Indian had a spear in his hand. Thad wondered if the buffalo sensed the man was there behind the rock, hunting him.

They heard the door for the room next to them shake, someone pulling on the handle. Then came a loud knock, three times. When no reply came, they heard boot steps coming towards their door. Thad was trying hard not to gag from the smell of moldy, cigarette smoke-soaked carpet. The musty air was thick and unclean, he could taste it on his tongue.

The man knocked on their door, soft at first. Then a pause, then hard. Hard enough for the door to open until it stopped at the full length of the chain lock up top, which held. The light from the neon sign shone in through the crack like a laser beam into the room.

“Hello?” the man’s voice called into the room.

They didn’t reply. Thad reached into the back of his waistband and pulled out the pistol which had been in the cash drawer. With eyes as big as Ritz crackers, Kevin stared at the gun, and then at Thad. His mouth hung open as if to speak something concerning his surprise. Thad shrugged back at him, unable to explain why he had the man’s gun right now, why he’d been into the man’s cash drawer.

“I’m law enforcement,” the man’s voice called out. Thad and Kevin looked at each other, Kevin, over the gun now, shaking his head indicating he didn’t believe the stranger. “Sheriff’s deputy,” the man said. “Saw this door cracked open earlier, waving in the wind. I know someone’s in there, came inside, shut it. You can come on out now, I just got a couple of questions.”

Crouched down behind the bed still, Kevin and Thad continued to look back and forth from the door, then to each other, unsure of the next move. Finally, Kevin called out, “We got no open rooms, sir. You’re going to have to leave.”

“The sign says vacancy,” the man replied.

“The sign’s broke as shit,” said Kevin. “Pretty easy to see.”

“Well,” said the man, still pushing the door in so that the chain held tight, “I’m not wanting a room. Just want to talk if you got a second.”

“We don’t want to talk,” Kevin said, Thad hitting him. “I, I mean. I don’t want to talk.”

“Now see, we got a problem, friend. Now I’m thinking there’s someone else in there with ya. That’s what they call probable cause. So I’m afraid I’m going to have to come in and we can have a little conversation.”

“Shit,” Kevin whispered. “It’s him. He’s going to kill us like that man he did at the rest stop.”

“You can let me in,” the voice said. “Or I can kick this door down What do you say?”

Kevin looked at Thad, shaking his head, unsure of what to do. Thad sighed, stood to his feet, and held the pistol up, pointing it at the door with his arm extended.

“I wouldn’t come in if I was you,” Kevin warned.

“I’ll kick it in on the count of three, I swear,” said the man.

Kevin was looking at Thad desperately, then back to the door, over and over again. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“One…”

“You got to come back with a warrant.”

“Exigent circumstances. Two…”

“Exit what now?

“I’ll explain in a second. Three.” And as soon as he’d said it, the door burst open, the chain ripping from the frame and flying back into the room in pieces. As soon as the door swung open and slammed into the wall, Thad let loose three shots at the large silhouette standing in the doorway, the light from the sign behind him darkening all his features facing them. The man didn’t move for a moment. He didn’t say anything else. Then, he held a hand up to his chest, looked down at it, and fell down face first into the dirty, shaggy carpet.

“What the fuck?” yelled Kevin. “You shot him, man! You killed him!”

“He was coming for us,” said Thad.

“Shit, how about a warning shot or something? Oh god… The police, we got to get them out here now… Jesus… what the fuck do we do?”

Thad said nothing, instead only walking closer to the body. It didn’t move or breathe or anything.

“The hell are you doing?” Kevin asked. “Why the hell’d you have my pistol anyway?”

“I told you,” Thad said. “I had a feeling I was being followed. I saw it and grabbed it.” Thad kneeled and began to roll the body over onto its back, a pool of blood forming on the ground beneath it and soaking into the already stained carpet.

“How’d you know where I…” Kevin stopped speaking. As the body rolled onto its back, he was finally able to make out some of the man’s features, including a star-shaped badge hanging on a chain in a leather case off of the man’s neck. It shimmed, reflecting the blinking red light of the motel’s vacancy sign. “Shit…” Kevin said, not even looking up as two more shots rang out into the back of his skull. He was dead before he hit the ground.

Thad walked over to check on him. He wasn’t moving either. Thad walked back out into the parking lot, closing the door behind him. It didn’t shut, creaking back open, then shut, then open, banging on the frame each time. He walked into the office, and this time checked the cash register rather than the cash drawer, finding a few bucks in there. He pocketed it and searched around a little more until he found a set of old Ford keys on a keychain, an old, shedding rabbit’s foot keychain with them. He took them, went out front, hopped into the old Ford pickup at the front, and kept driving until he could turn south towards Texas.

After that, he’d go to Mexico. That’s the thing to do, he thought. A man on the run from the law. You go to Mexico. That’s what they do in the movies. But, he thought, he had a few things in Texas to take care of first.