Hitchhiker Guide To Serial Killing

Rhett Rammy had been a CDL truck driver for four years. He’d seen all across the United States, all except for the frostbitten wildland of Alaska. Any place but that, he would think. There were barely any wandering folks out there, the last time he heard, no travelers using their own two feet and no explorers. There was one place he enjoyed the most, one place he figured through his tenure as a driver that always livened up his heart whenever he checked his schedule for a drop and hook: the warm southwest. He always found a treat out there. Not only were the fine dining and rest stops were kind, but his delicacy that he’d turn into a treat all his years could be around if he just looked careful enough: Hitchhikers.

Rhett had an appetite that he just recently satiated, but he could feel it coming back to him again, like a rumbling growling forest animal, a warning before it would have no choice but to attack. He knew deep down he would need to find another snack. As patient as he was, he was growing impatient at the thought that somewhere, some nice driver would pick up a worthy snack. He was selfish like that. Nobody was going to get what is his. Nobody.

He was driving all morning up until one in the afternoon, when he decided to take a break and trail along a rest area, overlooking the highway and towards his next location. The open road seemed adventurous at first, to many men, but it became a lonely trap after a while. Nobody to talk to, no family to kiss and hug, no socializing of any kind besides the rest stops and hitchhikers who decided to start a conversation. Other than that, he made the link to why so many of his co-workers ended up hanging themselves or jumping over a bridge.

To Rhett though, it was a field of opportunity. All day, through the night, he’d be on the once busy roads of a sunny day to the lonely desolate roads at night. The night was his favorite time. He couldn't hold in his appetite for long after that. He would have to eat- need to eat. Yet he was only a slender, tan man of six feet and the softest face and gray eyes. A face his wife and daughter would call trustworthy. Trust. That word was a stranger to him. It was an image he could put over his face in the shape of a smile, and it would get him anything he wanted. It worked for four years. It was still working for that day. 

He just got done dumping the last contents of his old snack before hitting the highway towards Utah, ready to get his truck loaded with frozen pizzas and TV dinners when he saw her, out in the afternoon sun on the side of a stretch of road. He was almost short of breath by her. Short, porcelain skin, long dark hair only a night goddess could love. His feet tapped the break and the colossal truck smooth to a stop right beside the walking girl, who turned to put up a thumb just in time to see her savior. Their eyes locked. A smile formed on the girl’s face. Rhett’s heart was on fire.

He didn't even need to open the door for her. She hopped on in and bounced right beside him, a grin and a sigh of relief on her face.  Rhett noticed her clothing. Dark, black, like the goth kids his daughter always talked about in school, only this hitchhiker had nets down her long smooth legs and cleavage glistening in sweat. Rhett made sure to keep his eyes on the girl's eyes. He loved the eyes. They were his favorite. Hers was a pale green, like faded jade. He barely heard her say “Thank you” to him. He tipped his hat to her. “My pleasure miss,” he said in a drawl. “It's damn hot out for a little stroll dontcha' think?” he asked

“Walking doesn't hurt anybody. Besides, I really need your help. “

“Well where to…” he trailed off.

“Madison. Maddy if you want.”

Rhett let a small grin reach the side of his face. “Maddy it is.”

“Logan please.” 

“Then we are in for a drive then.” he was back on the road before Maddy could nod in agreement.

It was like a gift from the heavens, only if he believed in god. It felt like an eternity since he had another snack, and he could feel the beast in him once again clawing its way out. It was only a matter of time. Only until sunset. Until nightfall. He had to force his thoughts away from imagining it, visualizing his threat. She couldn't have been no older than eighteen, no danger if anybody did catch them, which never happened, Rhett made sure of that. He was sloppy at first in his first year, but he found little loopholes and learned to prepare in advance.

He did a mental checklist in his head as the drive went on. Nitrile gloves, large? Check. Plastic wrap? Check. Extra-large 40-gallon dumpster bags? Check. Better safe than sorry. Rhett didn't like being sorry. Not forgetting what’s his. There was never any shame in taking what’s yours to survive.

He shone his gaze over Maddy who was back and forth pulling out her phone, swiping away a persistent caller. What looked like curiosity and concern hid wariness as he asked “hope that someone important.”

Maddy scoffed. “Like shit it is. Just my mom blowing up my phone again. When is she going to quit?”

“Mother’s love I guess. She could be worried about you.”

“Her?” Maddy laughed. A real chuckle, like nowhere in all of eternity could that be a possibility only considered a joke. “Why? So she can grab another check for housing a foster kid? Yea, no. She doesn't care.” Maddy hugged her knees in her seat, and Rhett gazed at his sight a little farther down. Her smooth thighs, behind the netting, hid something. A dark impression. A bruise. Rhett didn't pay it no mind at first, maybe a trip, a fall, but he laughed under his breath at that. While Maddy was staring out into the window, Rhett scanned her exposed arms. Most of the bruises were light, except for one new one, a deep purple, almost looking like a smeared ink stain. Rhett nodded to himself. He had it worse, but this one…

“Well I hope this town of Logan has plans for you,” he stated.

“My sister’s down there. She doesn't know I’m coming, but I just…” the girl trailed off. “I just had to get away. Away from all of that crap. Maybe she’ll let me stay with her or something. I don't know. “

“Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights and our comfort when we occasionally fail.” Rhett remembered.

Maddy eyed him. “You a poet or something. Motivational speaker?”

“No miss,” he grinned. “I do read a lot. What about you?”

Maddy shrugged then her eyes drifted out the window. “Once. With my other sister back ‘home’. She’s gone now.”

Rhett nodded. “Not prying, miss. I apologize.”

“It’s okay,” Maddy continued, staring out the window. It was a moment of silence, of taking in the snack's presence, her warmth, how she shrunk herself deeper into her seat as the sun started to descend and the once glistening green trees turned to dark shadows when Maddy spoke up again. “She disappeared.”

Rhett turned to look at her. “Come again?”

“My other sister. She just…” she shrugged. “Up and gone. Poof! She was on the road where you found me the last time somebody saw her. After that, nothing. So here I am. Maybe trying to retrace her steps. “

“Ain't nothing wrong with that,” Rhett said. “Remember? Family is sometimes all you got.”

Maddy grinned, looking at him. He met her eyes, saw a glint of light, then remembered he was on the road. He could feel Maddy continue to gaze. Saw her head tilt and rest on her hand as she turned towards him. “What about you huh? Got any family…?”

“Rhett. Rhett Remmy. I have a daughter. Ex-wife. Other than that, nope. Just me and my little girl. It's why I’m on the road. Gotta provide.”

“I see,” Maddy said. Rhett beamed an eye on her, saw her eyes scan him from up and down. “Doesn't it get lonely? You know, driving all-around by yourself. You miss your daughter?”

“Always. I get days off too. And I always spend them with her. But the road calls to me. That and the paycheck.” Rhett grinned. 

“I mean lonely as in nobody to socialize with or you know…”

Rhett looked at her. Her eyes changed. Eyes of curiosity changed to lingering ones, one that made sure to emphasize his lower regions. Rhett laughed it off, but he could feel the beast rumbling inside. He looked out into the evening sky. His heart boomed more as the darkness started to envelop him. “Sometimes. But that doesn't bother me much.”

“You sure?” Maddy scooted closer to him. Jade eyes met with cold gray ones and Rhett could get a whiff of her perfume. Lavender...vanilla...behind the scent of sweat. 

She wasn't a snack anymore. She had dinner.

“I guess everyone has their medicines,” She pulled away, then went back to gazing out the window, her body shrunken again and disinterested. Rhett felt...hot. Not like warm water, but scolding as fire. This...snack. She was going to be very enjoyable indeed. He let himself take her in. Her inky black hair glistened in the moonlight as he watched her. He reached his hand out to her, let it hover around her thigh without her notice, feeling the heat, imagining his thick grip control her from there. He softly let it down on her knee. A pat, a friendly gesture. Then he started to rub it. To Rhett, she didn't seem to mind. He traced his hand down her thigh, over the thin netting, letting rough hands meet soft skin. She set her knees down, relaxing. He ran his hand up her thighs, further and further…

She put a hand on his and lifted it away. “What are you doing? She turned to him. He could feel the shroud of darkness wrap around him, cover him and the snarling beast inside found its door out. He clenched her leg again, harder this time. “Now, now, don't back out on my Maddy.” his voice became hoarse, his southern drawl pouring out of him. “Don’t you act like you didn't know this was coming.” his hand was running farther up her leg, slithering under her skirt, faster than she could say to stop. He pulled something glistening out of the corner of his seat. It glinted in the moonlight, a sharp silhouette shining at the tip.

Maddy felt the cold knife meeting her face. He let it stay there for a while, the shivering blade met her fragile skin. “I’m gonna stop, yea? Somewhere nice and tidy for us. Then you gonna do as I say, here?” He stuck the blade a little harder into her cheek. Pain erupted and the girl stifled a scream. “Don't be running either. I’m faster than you. I can use this blade well. But I prefer to use my hands. Got it!” he sneered. Maddy shakily nodded, as the man’s truck roared further down the road.

A rest area wasn't too far off, but he wasn't eyeing there, too many witnesses, but further down was a large patch of wooded area, shrouded from the area and all he had to do was venture down an unpaved road. A road he used to travel down so many times. Even in the dead of night, he recognized the sloping turns all the way to the unnamed field, long abandoned and desolate, all except for him and his dinner. He stopped the truck, then immediately struck Maddy in the face. She crumpled over crying as Rhett sheathed his knife away then grabbed her. He wasn't ready for her sudden change. Wasn't ready for the jet injector that penetrated his carotid artery or the 50,000 volts from a taser. Maddy injected him, shocked him, then quickly kicked him out of the opening door all in quick succession.

Rhett met the hard earth, looking up at the stars, with rage in his heart as he went to stand, only to find his legs giving in. She sluggishly grabbed for a hold on his truck only to find a boot to meet his face. He was unconscious before he could make out the girl’s silhouette alongside two others.

…

He awakened to a jolt. The taser sent him screaming in pain. A slap to the face got his attention at the three figures scanning him. Maddy, in the center, her face once soft and her eyes lusting for him, now filled with a grimace and disgust. In the moonlight, he could barely see the other two, but he knew they were men, tall, beefy, possibly Latino or mixed, he couldn't care less. He was more worried about how he was bound, arms and legs, mouth gagged while Maddy juggled his large Rambo knife in her hands. A bandaid hung on her cheek where he stuck her and she winced at the wound. 

“Ah, he’s finally awake.” one of the men said. 

“Oh what shall we do?”

Maddy stepped up to him, ripping the gag from his mouth. Rhett stared in awe at her before the first word that came out of his mouth was obscenity. Loud, hoarse, filled with spit, and the rest of the curses after sounded more like growls and snarls from an angry, desperate animal. “Guess I owe you fifty,” one of the men said. “Damn!”

“I told you, brother,” the other man walked up to Rhett. “He’s not a coward. Even though he picks up unsuspecting women, rapes them then kills them, dumping their bodies in the same place for the past four years-he won't beg. Will you Rhett Rammy?”

Under the moonlight, the mixed man revealed the baseball bat from his shoulder. He aimed it at Rhett. “That means you have to talk now. No cussing here? Otherwise, the ol’ gal’ her’ will cut yah’!” He mocked the man’s drawl. “Nah’ speak!”

Rhett looked at the two men, then at Maddy. “I’m gonna find you, Maddy! I’m gonna make sure they won't recognize you when they find you! IF THEY FIND YOU! YOU STUPID BI-”

Rhett screamed as the hard baseball bat met his knee. He could feel years of walking obliterated under aluminum. “What did I say, Rhett? Language.”

“Ok Captain America,” the other man said. “Remember. This isn't up for us to decide.” The man nodded his head towards the girl. The other man backed away, almost disappearing into the dark leaving only Rhett and the girl in the full moonlight. “She paced back and forth, shivering, but not with cold, but in rage. She lunged at him, slamming her fist into his face. She went into a hazy fit of rage, swinging at him until the man was caked in dark liquid. When she finally stopped, caught her breath, she straightened herself out. She eyed Rhett’s knife in her hands, then let it fall, stabbing into the ground.  She leaned in close, close enough for him to hear.

“Do you remember her? What you did to her?”

Rhett, through coughing then through gritted teeth, replied. “I don't know what you are talking about.”

“Addison. Addison. That was her name. My sister.”

Rhett was dazed, in pain, and through the glinting red dripping in his eyes. His eyes lit up in recognition. “Ahh, there it is,” one of the men said. “She was walking down that same highway, just three years ago. She was one of your first, wasn't she? Did you do to her, what were you going to do to me? Leave me out here, like you did her?

Rhett looked into the girl’s eyes. Then he spat at her feet. Maddy smiled. “Good. I was hoping you’d act like that. This makes what I’m going to do to you all the more karmic. And when I'm done, you’re going to tell us where you put all the others. This is just one field, right? I want to know the others, understand me? “

Rhett choked up a laugh. He muttered something under his breath. Maddy did not care. She backed away then walked over to his truck, where she grabbed her backpack. She unzipped it to let a box fall out. She showed his face, before opening it to reveal a collection of tools. Some sharp, some elaborate but would do with the job of enacting pain. For the first time in a long time, Rhett felt terror. He snarled at her. Maddy’s grin stretched to her ears. 

Behind her, the two brothers talked among each other. Another monster in their grasp. While a sense of pride came to them as Maddy gagged the serial killer then pulled out one of several of her tools, the creeping feeling met them again. There were others still out there. More predators are just waiting for their chance. A smile crept on one of their faces. A reassurance that yes, there was, but that now they had something worse out finding them.