Free HELLz BELLz by Randy Chandler Page B

Toyota sped toward him, then swerved to the curb, and Joe yanked open the door and jumped in.
    “Told ya,” Suzie said. A cigarette was clamped between her teeth, its smoke curling about her head like broken tendrils of fog. “Piece of cake. There’s so many signs and shit on those windows they couldn’t’ve seen me anyway.”
    She gunned the engine and the car leapt forward and zoomed down the street.
    Joe looked back to see if the cops were coming after them. They weren’t.
    “Which way?” she asked as she switched on the air-conditioner and cranked the fan full-blast.
    “Know where Old Boston Road runs into Rosewood Lane?”
    “Yeah?” She flicked ashes at the ashtray.
    “Turn right there at the Photo-Mat. My house is about two miles from there.”
    “Gotcha.”
    She slowed down to bypass a two-car accident blocking the right lane. As they drove past, they saw a fat, bald man smash the windshield of one of the wrecked cars with a ball bat. A skinny woman inside the attacked vehicle raised her arms to ward off the shower of broken glass, then slipped out the passenger door and darted down the middle of the street. Suzie blew the horn and accelerated past the running woman.
    “Wait!” Joe shouted. “We should stop and help her.”
    “No way. She’s probably as crazy as he is. We can’t trust anybody now. Certainly not strangers.”
    He turned to see the woman disappear behind a row of trees lining the street.
    “That fat guy’ll never catch her anyway,” Suzie said.
    “Guess you’re right. Jesus. I can’t believe all this shit.”
    “Seeing is believing.”
    Joe wondered how Suzie could be so accepting of the extraordinary events of the night. She seemed cool and collected and in her element, while he was close to freaking out. And worried half-out of his mind about Sara. Probably, that was it: if he didn’t have a wife to worry about, he might be as cool as his young, sexy companion. Marriage was like that. It settled you down, tamed you, and made you less adaptable to changes. A married man had all the freedom of a potted plant, he thought. And a hell of a lot to lose. He couldn’t just worry about himself—he had to worry about and protect his better half. For a brief moment, he resented Sara and being tied down by marriage. He wished he didn’t have to go home to find out what was wrong. He didn’t want to know. He was
afraid
to find out. What if he found her butchered on the floor? Dismembered in pools of her own blood. “Jesus…”
    “What?” Suzie asked.
    “Nothing. I just…I’m afraid of what we may find at home.”
    “Hey, don’t worry. It’s probably just something simple like the phone’s not working right. Don’t imagine the worst.”
    “If she
is
all right, we’re getting the hell out of town till all this shit is over. You should come too.”
    “You don’t think she would mind? I mean, I don’t wanna have to fight off a jealous wife. Not tonight.”
    “No, she—”
    “She could be like all these other psychos, if she’s been hearing that bell. We have to be careful, ya know?”
    “Christ, I hadn’t even thought of that.”
    “You got any weapons in the house? Guns?”
    “A pistol. It’s in the bedroom. Since we don’t have kids, I thought it would be a good thing to have around. For home defense.”
    “Your wife know where it is?”
    “Yeah. And she knows how to use it.”
    “Great. I’ll wait outside while you go in and check things out. No point in both of us getting shot.”
    “That’s what you call positive thinking?”
    “I’m just saying…”
    “That’s it there,” Joe said as he pointed out his modest two-story house.
    Suzie turned into the driveway and stopped the car. She kept the motor running. “Nice house,” she observed. “I’ll wait right here. If thing’s aren’t right, get the hell outta there and we’ll hit the road.”
    He nodded grimly. “I’ll signal you if everything’s okay, then you can come on