2.

Angela.

Three days before Christmas.

I had never killed anything before, ever. Forget another human being. Well…that wasn't true, I had killed the occasional fly. Never had I killed a human being. Never had I thought myself capable of killing another human being, even after everything fellow human beings had done to me.

But I had never seen a man look at a woman with such hatred as the man who had looked at Humera, a pregnant Humera at that.

I looked down at my painted toenails and made sure the man's blood was gone from my hands. From beneath my nails and in the crevices of my fingers.

There was a knock.

I jumped in the small shower stall and almost fell in the hot water.

Then came Diana's smooth kinda husky voice, "It's me. Unlock the door."

While I didn't panic, I darted from the shower, twisted the knob, and then darted back in the shower. Not wanting the supreme deity to see me naked.

I did peek out from behind the thin cloth curtain.

Diana came in and closed the door.

She looked to the bag of clothes on the floor, and then her clothes that were on the sink, and then to me. Her teal eyes looked tired, "What happened?"

I moved.

She held up a hand, "No. Let the water run. It'll cover our voices."

Good thinking.

I didn't tell her that though.

Instead I spoke in a lowered voice, "We were in the parking lot for the Wal-Mart when I noticed the flat tire. Humera put the bags in the car and I began to get the stuff to change the tire. Jack. Spare. Gloves…" She twirled a finger to urge me along.

I complied, "I heard her scream and had the tire iron in hand. I thought she had fallen, or was having a contraction. So I peeked around the car and this guy was there. He had slapped her and had a handful of her hair. He was trying to pull her away."

Her dark eyes narrowed, she was processing the information. Yet she was not surprised by my story or the violence.

"I told him to stop. I ran over and grabbed his hand that had her hair and he moved to hit me, so I swung my hand and…hit him, but I had the tire iron in my hand. I hit him really hard. He fell and…made a few noises, and that was it. All she kept saying was that they had found her, they'd ruin her life, and destroy Jeff. She was freaking out."

Something on Diana's face changed.

Her eyebrow narrowed and she asked, "Think she'll run away?"

XXX

I out of the lounge and into the ER in clothes that weren't mine and didn't fit. Diana had hips and an ass, I had neither. Plus she was shorter and her boobs were bigger. It looked like I was Skipper wearing Barbie's clothing.

My hair was wet and all I could think about was whether Diana had been right, had Humera run off.

Not a thought, concern, or feeling towards or about the man whose skull I had caved in with a tire iron.

I was such a bad person.

Oh, lets not forget the shoes. God forbid Diana wear normal flats. Oh no, I had five inch red pumps on beneath my jeans and black shirt that had a V deep enough to see the white lace on the bra that was two cup sizes too big.

She appeared from behind a curtain, a backpack over her shoulder, her ID card in hand: "She's gone. Lets go." I was instructed.

I hobbled after her and prayed I didn't snap my ankle like a twig.

Through the ER we went, briefly stopped by Miss. Teen America. "Where are you going?"

Diana paused, she gave the girl this look, as if she dare inquire where Diana was going.

"Family emergency. You have plenty of nurses. I better be paged for nothing less then four trauma's and a packed ER. Or organ harvest." And on we went. I hobbled after her as she spoke, "Ray told me she hurried out of here pretty quickly and left in a Red Mustang."

Stephanie's car.

I hurried after her out of the ER and into the night, "Where do you think she's going?"

Diana walked sure and steady in her nursing sneakers. Across the parking lot to Hoot's truck, "She's going back to base to get her stuff so she can run off."

How did she know these things?

But I did not ask, I waddled after her greatness and then had to haul myself into the truck. God forbid Hoot buy a normal vehicle, one that did not require a stepladder to get into. But I managed.

I looked around as she started it up, "Where's the bag?"

"Biohazard trash bin."

So that was her plan! The sly minx.

I hooked my belt up and she started the monster vehicle up, and off we went.