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throughout the landscape, some with smoke billowing
from their chimneys. A light fog, lit by the sun, flowed through
the streets and into the lawns and alleys.
    “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Julia asked.
    “Not as beautiful as you,” Carver said, as
he looked into her eyes and gave her a smile. He needed so badly to
slide his hand under her skirt but knew it was too soon.
    His lips touched hers, and they kissed. His
heart raced as her tongue slipped into his mouth. He couldn’t have
asked for a better first date.

Chapter
Seven
We’re Not Finished
    As the sun set in the western sky, Carver
watched from his Chevy as Jared exited the community college and
got into an old blue pickup. The engine roared, as the truck was
put into gear; the taillights flashed, and the tires spun out a
bit, then pushed the powerful vehicle from the lot and onto the
main road, paved with bricks.
    Carver was no stranger to a stakeout; he
hunted college campuses on a regular basis. Though he was a bit
more alert than usual, seeing as he wasn’t hunting a pretty little
college girl. Jared had already laid him out once before. Carver
put his car in Drive and crept from the lot, keeping a safe, steady
distance from the truck. He watched Jared’s silhouette bouncing in
his driver’s seat with the bumps of the road. It wasn’t long before
his target turned onto a dirt road; the dust the truck left behind
did well to conceal the Chevy’s position. After a few short
minutes, Jared pulled off the road and parked in front of a long
white trailer.
    “Hmm, trailer trash. What the fuck did she
see in this loser?” he said, pulling his car into a dirt lot just
opposite Jared’s house. Carver watched the young man jump from his
truck and walk up the wooden steps to his front door. Jared
unlocked it, pushed it open and disappeared inside. Carver reached
over to his glove compartment and pulled a sharp serrated knife
from it, then tucked it into a leather sheath. He put the blade in
his coat pocket and waited for night to come.
    ***
    After sitting in his car for forty-five
minutes, Carver exited and crossed the road. The night was his
advantage; he loved the dark. As he approached the trailer, he
slipped a pair of black leather gloves over each hand, then pulled
out the knife. The steps to the door were creaky and felt frail
under his weight, but he didn’t waste any time getting up them. It
didn’t matter if the college student heard Carver; he planned on
knocking anyway.
    After three hard hits on the door and a
ten-second wait, Carver heard shuffling inside. Jared swung open
the door casually, and Carver gave him a sinister smile. The knife
sliced its way into Jared’s ribs, cutting them on contact and
penetrating his left lung. Jared’s hands gripped Carver’s arms, and
they both toppled to the floor. As Carver lay on top of him, he
pulled out the blade and stabbed him again, this time sinking the
tip into Jared’s beating heart, using his full body weight to get
as much depth as possible.
    “Now it’s over,” Carver whispered. “She’s
mine.”
    “I don’t wan—” Jared muttered incoherently,
as the life slipped from his eyes.
    Carver bounced on the knife a few times,
pulling it out and sinking it back into Jared’s chest.
    The seasoned killer then stood and pulled
the knife one final time from the body, carefully, to not drip
blood anywhere other than Jared’s shirt, where Carver wiped the
blade clean. The trailer was already trashed, which worked in his
favor. Dirty dishes were everywhere, even on the floor. Clothes,
blankets and many reels of 8mm film lay scattered throughout. A
projector (still running) sat facing a white wall, casting a square
of light on the paneled surface.
    Carver stepped over the fresh corpse, and
his gloved hand immediately found and flipped the light switch. In
only the glow of the small movie machine’s light and with the door
wide open, Carver lifted Jared. Like a firefighter carrying a
victim, he