"Oh Fuck Oh Fuck! What do I do? What the fuck do I do?" Carrie began to rush towards Kane's side but was halted as she saw him get hoisted to his feet only to be met with a short arm clothesline. The sound of Kane's skull colliding with the asphalt was sickening. Kane's head was in excruciating pain, ears ringing, his sight blurry, vertigo was beginning to set in.
"All talk Kane? I'm insulted." Kane gasped for air, clawing and pushing at the heavy weight of the boot against his throat. "I have to supercharge you just to get a fair fight." The pressure was released just in time to allow Kane to hold onto his consciousness.
Carrie hid behind a car, pulling out her phone as she watched in horror as Kane's all but comatose body was lifted to it's feet yet again.
"Hello 911 What is your emergency?"
"Summit Inn! I don't know what to do? What do I do?" Carrie's voice was cracking on the verge of tears. She knew what Kane would do if the situation was flipped. Kane would do whatever it took to keep Carrie safe, he had said it time and time again. It was an unfair comparison though, Kane had the advantage of a hundred plus pounds and nearly two solid feet on Carrie, more importantly so did his impostor. "I mean there might be a tire iron in the trunk! That might work right?" Carrie was hastily brainstorming out loud, desperately pulling at straws to find a way to save Kane from this assault.
"Miss are you being attacked? Help is on the way, what is your name?"
"Not me! I'm not getting attacked Kane is! He's hurt . . . bad! Less talking more . . . ambulance . . . ing. AHHHH!" Kane had been thrown, shoved or otherwise propelled into the windshield of the car Carrie had been ducking behind. Clasping a hand over her mouth to keep hidden she dropped the phone and began to sprint away.
"The first sign of trouble and you're all alone Kane. That's how it always ends doesn't it? You, alone, no one and nothing to help you through the pain." Kane felt as if his back was on fire, shards of glass of varying size and shapes were embedded and digging into his skin. His head was a mess, he couldn't focus on anything, it took all he had to stay conscious.
'Alone?' Long after being stated the word finally sunk in. 'Where is she?' He tried to lift himself from the wreck but simply couldn't muster the strength.
"It's fine, don't get up." There was a hint of laughter slipping past the mask. "Don't worry I'll find her."
"Don't you . . ." Kane groaned as he tried to sit up only to collapse back down, agitating and increasing his wounds. "Don't you touch her." Kane clenched his fists trying to force his dazed body into action.
"You're threatening me?" Again a mocking tone dripped from the man's voice. "You..." He punched Kane straight in the jaw. "You are in no position my friend. I told you, past your prime. You can't even protect yourself from me let alone-" The masked man was cut off.
Carrie had smashed the brute in the back of the neck with the tire iron she had gone to fetch. He fell to one knee but was not out of commission as she had hoped.
"Carrie!" Kane was finally able to lurch himself forward.
"There you are! Saved me the trouble of finding you!" The man kneed the back of his neck as he stood.
'What is this guy?' Carrie gawked as he sluggishly regained his footing.
"Run!" Kane shouted, panic overcame pain as he imagined what would happen to Carrie while he was admittedly in no shape to protect her from this monster. Carrie stood frozen, shaky hands held up the tire iron as if it was Excalibur. Her pulse raced as she watched as the daunting figure approached.
"Boo!" Said monster taunted. As if shaken from a stupor Carrie took Kane's advice and began her sprint. As much as she knew she could not out muscle him, she was confident she could out run him.
'I'm faster than him. I know I am!' She panted as she wove throughout the parking lot. That theory was put to the test as he took long stomping strides after her.
'At least I got his attention. Kane wouldn't have lasted much longer.' Her face grew red as she continued to zig zag nonsensically between cars.
"You're just making this harder on yourself, I'll catch you eventually!" Her pursuer bellowed as the chase continued. "If you keep running, if I lose you, I'll simply have to go back to Kane, what's left of him. I get bored very easily" The statement made Carrie freeze.
"What is wrong with you?" Carrie with heavy hesitation turned around, approaching the giant, weapon in hand. "Why are you doing this? What do you want?" Carrie was at a loss, she wanted answers for why someone would go to such obscene levels of violence.
"Kane's going to make me famous! I just need him in the right frame of mind. You're going to help me with that Carrie. You're my golden ticket! All I need to do is reach out and-" He lunged to grab her but she cracked the metal bar into his ribs. She went to swing again but this time he grabbed the tool, yanking it from her grasp with ease.
"I don't think you're doing it right. Leave the bone breaking to me." He raised the weapon above his head. Carrie tried to run again, but as she turned he dropped one hand, taking a fist full of her hair, holding her in place. "I told you. Running would only make it worse." Carrie closed her eyes as she waited for the heavy blow, but it never came. Her long bronze locks were released as a large thud could be heard behind her. Free, she quickly spun to see what had transpired.
"Kane!" Carrie gasped, she could barely see him through the shadows but she could hear his labored breathing. He had hobbled his way after them, bleeding from almost every part. Drops fell down to the pavement, as he looked over the man he managed to take down. Without hesitation he dropped to his knees, pinning his counterpart to the ground he began berating him with a melee of punches. When satisfied that he was incapacitated Kane lifted the mess of a man by his hair and smashed his head into the hood of a car, repeating the action again and again.
"I told you . . ." Kane was panting as he slammed the masked face into the vehicular. "I told you not to touch her!" Pausing he leaned down meeting his victim eye to eye. "Don't you ever touch her!" Another thud echoed in the night. "Past my prime?" And another. "I'll crush you! I'll destroy you! Rip you limb from limb!" Still another.
"That's the spirit." Slurred words came from the mangled mouth, still eating metal as blow after blow was delivered. "Get angry Kane." This laugh was different, demented, almost as if he was enjoying the assault.
"I won't tell you again." The fight or flight adrenaline spike was wearing off, Kane was beginning to lose energy and ever more blood. He finally took the time to gauge his own damage, he could see blood cresting over his broad shoulders. As brutalized as he was, he still had a message to relay. "Don't EVER touch-"
"I break it I buy it?"
"She's not an it!" Kane threw the man face first into the concrete at his feet.
"Kane come on! We need to get you to a hospital!" A still shocked Carrie finally spoke up. 'You made your point.' As she inched closer she couldn't tell where Kane's blood ended and the battered man's began.
"Then tell me Kane . . ." Barely a cough made it to Kane's still ringing ears. "What is she? You're telling me you could do anything better than just a thing . . . just . . . it." A slow rising finger pointed over at Carrie before going lax and falling to his side. "Gutter trash, ring rat dolled up and you know it!" Even in his scrambled rambling he knew how to get a rise out of Kane.
"Kane come on." Carrie took Kane's arm to pull him away but he quickly jerked it back pushing her off.
"Carrie stay back!" He had a clear outlet for his rage, but he still wanted to make sure he didn't accidentally hurt Carrie, when he saw red no one was safe. " I won't let him talk to you like that! I'll bust every tooth out of that snarky mouth of his. I'll SHUT HIM UP . . . for good." He kicked the sternum of the fallen man, smirking slightly at the guttural groan of pain passing through his lips.
"Who cares what he thinks?! I know you think I'm more than-"
"I don't think it Carrie I-"
"Ok Ok you know I'm more than that, I don't need anything more. I don't need his opinion cause that's what really is gutter trash. Please lets go!" Carrie was worried Kane might take this assault to a much darker, more macabre place. Carrie put herself in harms way, again approaching Kane in his deranged state. She hugged an arm close to her chest, she could feel that blood had seeped through his clothing. "Please lets go."
'She's shaking.' In the arm wrapped around him he could feel her shudder. 'She's terrified.' He finally stepped away from his victim. 'She's seen the real monster I can be. I lost control again.'
'You liked it!'
"Shut up!" He spoke out loud clenching his eyes shut, lifting a palm to his scrunched brow.
"Kane?" She could feel him beginning to lose his footing, she was concerned he would pass out any minute.
"Carrie . . . I'm not like him!" Opening his eyes, watching her nod calmed him ever so slightly.
"I know. Please let go." She pleaded again.
"Fine. Do you remember where the car is parked?" Kane asked as if he hadn't just moments ago left a human soup next to him.
"I . . . er . . . an ambulance is coming. I called 911."
"My insurance doesn't cover this kind of head on collision. We better go." Kane made a somewhat morbid joke.
"Alright." Carrie nodded with much hesitation. "Lets go back to the hotel." Lifting Kane's arm over her shoulder, trying her best to bear the brunt of his weight, the duo began to walk.
"Can you sit down?" Carrie opened Kane's door, squirming and adjusting, trying to find a comfortable position for the still bleeding man.
"It's not so bad." Kane groaned as his back hit the chair. "We need to make a stop before we-"
"A stop?! What could possibly be more important than getting you home to rest?"
"A drug store . . . need some . . . ." Kane let out another groan. "Ice packs . . . tweezers, ibuprofen and a sewing kit."
"You want me to sew your cuts shut? You're absolutely bananas!" There was a nervous, less than confident tone to Carrie's voice.
"Just the ones I can't reach." He flexed slightly, looking over his shoulder devising a game plan to the daunting task of patching himself back together.
"Sounds like you've done this before."
"You'd be surprised." He kept an ever watchful gaze on her as she walked to the driver's seat.
"Who do you think I am? McGyver? I don't know if I can do all that." She weighed her options, she wanted to do anything to help Kane, but she worried if she attempted she would do more harm than good.
"Don't be stupid. You can do it. Plus I know you're not McGyver, your skin alone is more-"
"Really? Now of all times is when you decide to get your flirt game on? Never mind that, how much pain are you in?" He was paler than normal and that brought Carrie great concern.
"How are you? He didn't hurt you did he? I swear if you had just given me two more minutes I would have-" He couldn't finish, he let out a hiss of pain as his muscles tightened in rage.
"Are you crazy? You can't be serious. Kane, priorities! You can't worry about me when you're a mess from head to toe." She felt a wave of guilt as she noticed the seriousness of Kane's stare.
"Answer the question Carrie." He didn't see any visible marks on her, but he worried in their short time apart perhaps his masked counterpart had gotten to her.
"I'm fine Kane, you saved me, not a scratch." She gave a thankful smile. A twinge of helplessness and guilt tugged at her. 'I wish he didn't always need to save me. I wish I could take better care of myself.'
"Good." He nodded. He hadn't given Carrie's track record a second thought, it was coming as second nature to protect her, to do whatever he needed to keep her at his side. It didn't bother him in the slightest, other than the obvious flesh wounds only one thing was bothering the machine at the moment.
'You saved her? You caused all this Kane. Stop denying what you're doing to her.'
'I'll fix it, I'll keep her safe till I cremate that bastard.'
'Keep telling yourself that. Don't ever blink Kane, or he'll take her from you. Everyone is against you. Everyone wants to rip any happiness out of your life. Your soul will be in tatters when he finally gets to her. Do you see now? The torturing hell you've brought on both of you? Killing him is your only option at this point, because from my point of view he's killing you.'
'I won't let you get to me. Not again.' The nightmare of choking the life out of Carrie flashed through his mind.
'It's just a matter of time Kane, you're a ticking time bomb. I'll be there when the timer runs out, I always am.'
"Kane? Kane are you sure you're alright? I really think you need to see a doctor" She had already called his name twice but he hadn't responded, just continued to stare into the darkness, a glazed almost lifeless look to his eyes.
"I'm not going back to that asylum!" Kane misinterpreted her concern, jumbling it with the conversation in his head. "Carrie I . . ." His tone softened after realizing how he had snapped at her. "Don't send me away, all I want to do is protect you. I don't want him to put his hands on you again. I can't do that fastened in a straight jacket. I need you to believe me, I might be unstable but I would never hurt you. Right now, the only person I want to hurt, is him." he slammed a fist against the car door. "Don't send me back there." His voice seemed both demanding and in the slightest bit pleading. 'I know I'm deranged, but I can't be that far away from you again.'
"Asylum? Kane I'd never send you some place like that, I promise. I just want to make sure you're OK . . . physically. This is all my fault!" Putting her face in her palms Carrie tried to figure out how all this had happened.
"It's not . . . It's really . . . it's over. We need to go now." He glanced out the window, squinting into the night waiting for another attack while failing at making intelligible sentences. "I can't right now . . . can't . . . I'm not at my best. I need some sleep." His eyes were heavy, moderate blood loss and fatigue were truly getting to him.
"Yeah, duh, of course." She knocked a palm against her forehead before starting up the car. "Lets get going, I'll grab those things and you can finally sleep!" She turned the wheel, starting their trek back to safer grounds.
Other than Kane's groans and heavy breathing the car had been cloaked in silence till they reached their final destination.
"Carrie?" He grumbled as the car came to a stop.
"Yeah? Everything Ok?" She fiddled with the door handle but as she was about to get out and assist Kane he had grabbed her arm, holding her in place. Reaching out a mangled fist he held it out. "Now I understand why you wear a glove over this thing, you really did a number on these poor guys" She ran a thumb across row of raw knuckles.
"You made it better last time . . . back at the hotel." He could tell Carrie was wracked with guilt, he was trying to distract her from their present situation.
"Your noggin is all kinds of scrambled right now isn't it?" Carrie smirked before kissing the broken skin.
"You know Carrie . . . I'm not just keeping you around for no reason." He began to crane himself forward.
"What you need someone to kiss your boo-boos?"
"Ugh don't make me laugh." Kane winced, even the slightest chuckle sent a shot of pain through his body.
"Sorry, Sorry" Carrie helped Kane the remainder of the way through the parking lot.
"I need someone who cares. No one cares Carrie . . . just you. He's got one thing right, you're all I got."