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onto than he was expecting; so he has
to fight to keep me in his grasp. Something sharp pinches my neck and scrapes
across my skin. I cry out in pain and pull hard to the right, pinning his arm
against the door. The distraction works in our favor and within seconds Aunty
has the taser shock prod to his shoulder and she
presses the trigger.

 
    A standard taser is fired from a distance. Our devices are used up
close by pressing the electrically charged prongs directly into someone. Almost
like a short, electrically charged cattle prod. I feel a small tingle of
electricity run through me, but my attacker's arms slacken as the full current
paralyzes him. One shock won't slow him down for long, but I hear Aunty press
the trigger several more times rendering him limp and convulsing against the
back of my seat. He's still conscious and the paralyzing effect of the shock
will only last about a minute. I'm confused and terrified when Aunty starts the
car and guns it towards the highway.

 
    "What are
you doing! " I scream. "We have to get him
out of here! Stop the car!"

 
    My voice is
high-pitched and weak, I can't seem to catch my
breath. I feel like I'm dying from fear. Is this called hyperventilating? I
want to fill my lungs but they seem to be working against me! I pant tiny
scraps of air into my desperate lungs. My eyes are starting to blur.  

 
    "It's a
trap." Aunty's voice is flat and calm.
"There are at least two of them, Ivy."  

 
    Just as
unexpected as her sudden burst of speed had been, she stomps the brake,
throwing me forward into the dash board.

 
    "Sorry,"
she says as she thrusts the SUV into park and realizes too late that she
could've warned me.  

 
    This last jolt
scared the wind back into me. My lungs are burning but functioning again. I
blink little floating lights out of my returning vision. We've only gone about
a quarter of a mile, just to where the parking lot meets the highway, but Aunty
is hoping it's enough distance between us and whoever
was helping this creep. She is already out of the car and coming around to the
passenger-side back door.

 
    Shaking myself
free of the shock I feel, both from the predicament we are in and the hard
knock I took against the dash board, I climb into the back seat to push the man
out as she pulls from the other side. Before we dare to touch him, she gives
him one more long burst from her taser . As we
struggle to tug the moaning, convulsing monster from the tall SUV, his Oscar
the Grouch mask slides to one side revealing his deformities. His ear is rotten
with almost no flesh left. His exposed cheek is covered in strange lumps of red
skin and yellow sores. Near his lips there is a gaping hole, revealing what's
left of his stained brown teeth. I shudder at the sight of him. He's one of the
worst I've seen and this is the closest I've been to one of them for years. He
smells revolting.

 
    Pulling
together, we dump him on his head in the middle of the road. Jumping back in
the passenger side back door, I check the back hatch area to be sure no one
else is hiding in our car. I see only our new clothes; the once neat piles
toppled over from Aunty's race car driving. I climb
up front and, in the rearview mirror on the passenger side, I see Aunty still
bending over the man in the street.

 
    What is she
doing!

 
    I open my door
to see if she needs me; but she is finally making her way back around to her
door. A second later, she climbs into the car and I lock the doors even before
she slams hers shut. She hits the lock button again for good measure and then
we peel out. I don't think Aunty meant to make so much noise as she hit the gas
pedal too hard, spinning the tires before they found purchase, lunging us
forward. I feel whiplashed in every sense of the word. I struggle with just
trying to breathe. To focus. To grasp what just
happened. My muscles are still tense with adrenaline and I'm shaking.

 
    We are okay. I
try to convince myself.

Chapter