The Road Trip

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Jessica was playing with her hair, looking at the young and handsome gas station owner. I tried his best to not roll his eyes, but my sister was such a dumbass at times. She always made it obvious if she liked some random guy. Steve was his name, and it was displayed in a terrible font on his name tag. 

Steve smiled at Jessica, but in a way that was supposed to be a polite manner reserved only for customers. He passed over a bag of snacks and a packet of cigarettes to me, a habit that I hoped I could one day break. 

"Thanks, man. Have a good day."

"Wait. There is something that you two should know."

Jessica continued to play with her hair, her eyes never leaving Steve's face. 

"What is it?," she asked with saccharine sweetness. 

"You shouldn't take route 76. That road is undergoing construction. It goes through a small town that went through a really bad storm a couple of days ago. I think a light post is blocking the road right now."

"Oh man. Do you know another route?," I asked. 

Steve shrugged. "I was going to suggest Devil's Peak. It's a secret shortcut that we folks like to use around here. In case bad shit happens."

Jessica smiled. "Why is it called Devil's Peak? That's kind of spooky."

"I'm not sure. There is some weird urban legend to do with the area, but I can't remember. Some bad stuff happened in the 70s. Really crazy shit."

"Well, if it happened that long ago, I don't think we need to worry about anything. Hopefully. Thanks for the info, man."

Steve did a salute. "No problem."

Jessica winked. "Thank you."

"Have a nice day!" Steve said as we were leaving. 

Jessica tossed her hair over her shoulder. 

"He was so cute. God, I'm so disappointed. I thought he would be interested in me. I'm hard to resist."

"Please don't say that shit in front of me. It's weird."

She snatched a bar of chocolate from the bag. "Oh please. You're adopted. It doesn't matter."

"Funny. I could have sworn mom said the same thing about you."

Jessica shoved her elbow against my arm. "Fuck you."

"Fuck you too." 

We both laughed and got inside of the SUV. Jessica got behind the wheel. She always preferred to drive, because she thought she was a better driver than me. Typical sibling behavior, but she was a great big sister. We just had a funny way of showing our love for each other. We weren't the type of people to hug or say I love you, but what we had was enough. 

Our mother was a single parent who had raised the two of us. I don't know how she did it. We were quite a handful to deal with, but she found a way. We had moved on eventually like all kids must do when they reach adulthood, and even though she was a tough woman, we could tell she was really going to miss us. That is why the two of us made the effort to go and visit her as much as we could, once we were on vacation from college. 

My sister and I decided to go and surprise our mom in the month of October, and skip a whole week of classes. She lived in the outskirts of our hometown, and while some kids would bitch and complain about where we grew up, my sister and I loved the countryside. But I think it was the thought of getting away from cops that was the fun part. 

My sister and I had a habit of stealing from the only convenience store in town, and the local sheriff was tired of our shit. Jessica and I were always in competition to see who could spend the most nights in jail. So yes, we were a handful for our mother. 

Jessica blew a raspberry. "What bad shit do you think happened in Devil's Peak? I think it was some kind of cult."

"Or maybe a serial killer. What do you think is worse? In a horror movie scenario?"

Jessica snorted. "Are you kidding me, bro? A cult is obviously worse. Multiple killers are coming after your ass. A serial killer is just one dude. And we could totally beat him. Not a whole ass group."

"I highly doubt I can fight off one guy with layers of muscle underneath. I would get killed quick."

"Oh yeah, you would totally die first. No offense."

"Yeah. Sure."

Jessica burst out laughing as I started to light my first cigarette of the day. The cigarette flew from my lips once I heard a dreadful sound echo from the car. 

"What the fuck?!"

Jessica braked, and the car came to a stop. She yanked open the car door and ran outside. I joined her. Each of our tires had been shredded. What was worse, was when I saw the reason why our tires were gone. A line stretched across the road, that was tough to see, had spikes sticking out of it. 

Jessica kicked at the car. "This is fucked. This is really fucked. Who would do something like this?"

I pointed at the sign that we had stopped at. It said Devil's Peak, but it was hard to read the letters. The sign was faded pretty bad. "I think…we should walk to the town and see if we can get some sort of help."

Jessica threw her hands in the air. "What are you stupid-''

A loud blast pierced the air, something wet splattering all over me. It took me a second to realize that it was Jessica's head. It had burst open like a watermelon. I remember how we used to wrap rubber bands around one, the two of us betting $5 to see which of us was going to be the one to pop open the watermelon. She won. Every time. 

I stood there, staring down at my sister. It was a mess. A really bad one. I took a step back, blinking away the red that was dripping down my face. I heard the cock of a shotgun. 

I looked up to see a man in a mask. It was a Devil. The Devil was standing in the woods, close to the car. The Devil had sneaked up on us while we were distracted. The Devil took my sister. And now the Devil was going to take me next. I was supposed to be the first one. Not her. 

The Devil pointed the shotgun at me, and pulled the trigger. 

---

Steve was cleaning up the store. It was now evening. There was barely any customers for the day. Steve heard the door chime. He stopped mopping, not surprised to see the Devil walk inside with a shotgun. The Devil was covered in blood from head to toe. 

"Hey. Damn. That was a bigger mess than I anticipated."

Steve rolled his eyes. "You really think killing people is easy? Haven't you seen all of those horror movies with the slashers? They always get messy."

The Devil tapped the butt of the shotgun against Steve's shoulder. "Hey, watch it. You send me my victims, and I get to have some fun."

Steve winked, remembering how the girl had suggestively winked at him earlier. 

"Yeah, yeah. You know…it's kind of fun being the messenger."

"It's even more fun when you're the one behind the mask."

The Devil put an arm around Steve's shoulder. 

"Do you think this will be enough to get us famous?"

Steve tapped a finger against the nose of the Devil's face. "I think so. If you left a huge mess behind, I think it will be enough."

The two killers pressed their lips together, human lips on plastic. 

"Do you think they will ever catch us?," Steve asked. 

"I don't think so. All that matters is that we stick to the plan."

The Devil looked around the store, a sort of pride entering the Devil's voice. 

"If I ever get caught, this is how I see it. I won't ever give you up. And I will be put away with a smile, knowing that I never up the messenger."

Steve took off the mask, and placed it over his own face. It was uncomfortable, but he knew with time, he would get used to it. 

After all, he had to continue the legacy. 

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I thought it would be kind of cool to keep the killer's gender a mystery. Sort of like how horror movies sometimes tend to keep one of the killer's identities a secret. 

Thank you for reading! 

Emy Quinn