3321 (WIP Story)

Tanya took another drag of her cigarette, her eyes drifting over each person walking along the sidewalk past the motel she currently called home. Her mind wandered through the usual thoughts about how she plans to make it through the next month, as she tapped the ashes from the cigarette against the second story railing. She would have to meet a lot of clients tonight to make up for last night, and the amount of customers would have to almost double if she wanted to break even again.

As she watched everyone pass by, Tanya could recognize about every other person she saw. She had met them each at least once, and a fair few were repeat customers of hers. She could at least count on them to show up again tonight, but it was always a nice surprise when someone new pulled up to her corner, so when two unfamiliar cars entered into the parking lot, Tanya took notice. Putting out what was left of her cigarette on the railing, she could not help but realize the two cars were completely identical. Although she was no car fanatic by any means, with the same black paint, the same rear wings, and the same pale blue headlights shining in the setting sun, there was no mistaking these two were the same; could that mean the drivers are twins too? If so it would be a first for her.

As she watched, the driver’s door on the car to her left opened, and out stepped a man that she had not seen before, and this pleased her, meaning possibly a pair of new potential customers; except that nobody seemed to be getting out of the other car. She could not quite tell from this distance, but Tanya was not able to make out any figure inside either car now, even though only one person came from them.

Tanya turned her attention back to the man, leaning on the railing more. He was young, maybe in his mid-twenties, and his dark hair was cut short, his face shaven.  He stood between the cars momentarily, as if waiting for something, staring ahead at something beneath her that she could not see.

Then their eyes met.

She was about to look away, to not make it look like she was being nosy, but she caught sight of a warm smile on his face. She felt almost compelled to return the favor, and she did, noting his attractiveness. He seemed to be the shy, quiet, and friendly type, and if her job history had anything to say about it, they were her favorite customers. ‘You get to see the real them in bed,’ she thought as she watched him. He opened his mouth, as if to greet her, but suddenly turned to the car he got out of, nodded, and headed into the motel’s office.

Tanya frowned, perplexed, and turned her attention to the two cars. Again, she could not see anyone in either vehicle, but she was quite certain the man addressed someone within the one he was driving. Or was that the other car? She had already forgotten. After studying them for a minute, she finally decided to chalk it up to him remembering what he was here for, and turned away from the parking lot, heading back into her motel room to prepare for the evening.

She stood in front of the mirror one last time, checking her dyed blonde hair and wondering if she should put it up this time. It has always been up for debate, and she has yet to determine whether or not putting her hair up attracts more customers or not.  Putting it up as a blonde was something Tanya personally did not like much at all, but some of her competition seemed to have quite a lot of success with it, although she could not be certain if the hair makes all the difference, especially with some of the more seasoned veterans like Jess, who had claimed the hotspot over on Seventeenth street and Pine avenue. Tanya usually takes her place in front of the motel and slowly makes her way south along Pine until meeting up with Jess around the end of their evening. She did not exactly call what they had a friendship, but seeing as they had the same backstory and were working for the same purpose, they helped each other where they could, despite competing for the same customers. Even when they got to work together it was a competition between the two for better customer satisfaction.

Upon finally deciding to leave her hair down, Tanya grabbed her coat and purse and headed down into the parking lot. The two black cars were still parked in their same spots in front of the middle staircase, and as she approached them, she could not help but feel uncomfortable, like there was someone nearby.  A quick glance around told her that the owner of the motel was outside the office, smoking a cigar, but the sensation she was feeling was much closer to her, and much larger. She stopped just past the two cars and looked back at them. In the dim light, it was nearly impossible to tell if someone was inside either one. Looking past them, Tanya’s eyes landed on the driver standing in the window of his room, just to the left of the staircase. As she turned towards him, he turned his attention from the Motel owner to her. He gave her the same warm smile she received earlier that day. She returned it with a flirty grin of her own, then turned back towards the street; but as she did, something caught her eye, and she glanced back at him.

The man was not in the window anymore. She was not certain, but Tanya felt like, as she turned away again, that she caught a glimpse of his warm smile drop into a glare that she had seen many times before in her life. In none of those times did they end well. Along with that, she felt like she also saw the headlights of both black cars flash, in a bright, light-blue. In neither case, however, could she be certain, and thus decided to make her way to her corner to start off the night.

The trick to her job, as in any other, was in the presentation. Despite the cooling temperatures, it was important to keep her coat undone, and as uncomfortable as they may be, it seemed her customers very much enjoyed these particular heels on her feet.  If she had her way, the preferred attire would have been a simple jeans and a t-shirt setup, but everything from her blonde hair, to her open coat, to her shortest skirt and tallest heels were worn ultimately as a business decision; everything worn was done to bring in the most customers, and thus have the most profitable night possible.

The first hour or two has always been the slowest, so Tanya took this time to practice her presentation, as well as what she would say when someone took interest. Despite doing this job for nearly a year, she always made sure to get everything just right. As the night settled in, the traffic quickly disappeared, save for the occasional night owls and third shift workers. It was perfect for her, and Tanya now turned her attention from her preparations to the street, and it was not long until her first customer arrived.

This one was a regular, as she instantly recognized his truck as it pulled up to her. She sidled up to the open window and smiled to him, being more casual towards him than she would have normally been.

“Hey Ben. The usual?” She asked with a friendly smile. Ben was average looking, but extremely nice and one of the few people she could call a friend nowadays, he nodded, and she climbed into the passenger seat.

“So how have things been?” Ben asked her as they took off down the street, the truck giving a nice low rumble that Tanya always loved.

“Mm, I’m surviving,” She replied, “If tonight goes well I’ll have about five grand saved up in the bank. I don’t think I’ve ever had that much before in my life.”

Ben nodded, looking impressed, “What are you going to do with all that?”

Tanya shrugged, looking out the window, “Might finally look at buying my own car. Nothing special, of course, just something to get me out of town every so often.”

“Maybe finally take a vacation?” He suggested, glancing over to her. She looked back at him, knowing what he was implying. Ben had been trying to get into a relationship with her since their first encounter, and this was not the first time he suggested this. ‘And now he’ll offer to take me to the beach…’

“You know there is a nice resort my friend owns in Daytona. Maybe we could go for a weekend.”

Tanya held back a sigh, but the look on her face already gave it away to him.

“Ben, you know you’re my best friend and you’re an amazing guy, but I just don’t think I could ever date one of my clients, you know?”

Ben nodded, quickly wiping away his look of disappointment and replacing it with a smile. “Worth a try I guess.”

Tanya, now feeling bad, placed her hand on his lap, slowly caressing his thigh. “Come on,” She said, leaning against him, “Don’t let this ruin our night now.” The arm coming around her shoulder, as much as she hated to admit it, felt warm and relaxing.

They pulled up to the  Palms Motel that Ben always rented a room at, and they made their way inside; It was a rule of Tanya’s (as well as anybody else’s) to not use her own room for work. Upon entering the room, she placed her purse on the chair beside the bed as Ben stayed by the door, watching her.

“Did I ever tell you how beautiful you look?” he said, looking her over.

“Only every time we meet,” she responded, making her way over to him. She let her hands roam over his body, and could not help but love the feel of him. His body was not the most toned, but it did not have to be; it was pretty much perfect for her. Maybe she was wrong about him. Maybe it would be okay to make an exception just this one time? She knew deep down that Ben had everything she wanted in a man, and as her hands worked to take his shirt off, she knew that all they were missing at this point was to make it official. A trip to Daytona does not sound so bad all of a sudden.

His lips met hers, and soon they were making out, and for the first time, she kissed back with more than a business-like attitude. It was passion that she was now expressing, and she finally realized, finally came to the conclusion, that she needed him.  How long, how many sessions, did it take for her to realize this?

A brief flash of light-blue passed by the window, and her eyes flew open. Again, she was not sure if she really saw it, but even the thought put her at unease. Ben, facing away from the parking lot however, took no notice, and began to pull off her coat. She turned back to him, grinning sensually and broke the kiss, starting to pull him back towards the bed.

A sudden loud crash erupted behind them, causing Tanya to scream, clutching Ben, who gripped her as well. The window had completely shattered, with glass scattered across the floor around their feet, glinting from the room’s lights. As Tanya worked to catch her breath, she looked beyond the window to see if the culprit was just beyond. There were no people outside, but she did see two identical jet black cars parked in front of the room.

Her eyes widened as she felt Ben loosen his grip around her. That was when she noticed a warm, wet feeling against her body. She looked up at him, backing up as it all slowly dawned on her. The look on his face, if nothing else, said it all; Ben had been shot. Looking down, Tanya could see the gaping, gushing hole in his stomach, blood pouring down his legs and into the worn carpet. He weakly reached a hand towards her, his face quickly draining of blood, and collapsed onto the floor, revealing, just outside the window, the man she saw earlier that day.

She was frozen, paralyzed in fear. The man did not have that warm friendly look she saw before. Rather, it was one of menace, hatred, and something she did not expect: a sort of vacancy. He did not seem to be all there, like he was in a trance, and this only further established her fear. He slowly climbed through the window, partially silhouetted by the light-blue headlights of the two black cars behind him.  His head was tilted downwards, but his eyes never left hers. In his hand, was a revolver, smoking slightly from the previous shot. He approached her slowly, aiming the gun at her stomach, and sneered at her, but the words he spoke, were words she was not expecting at all.

“I’m sorry for this.” He growled, his voice sounding angry, but there was an underlying hint of regret as well, as if he were forced to commit such terrible crimes such as murder. She stared back at him, confusion mixing with her own terror, and with a loud bang, felt the hot metal of a bullet rip through her chest. Her body quickly weakened, and, still watching him, Tanya fell beside the body of Ben.

She was still conscious, though too weak to move, let alone resist once she felt a hand grip her wrist and drag her out the door. She could see the dark outlines of other people gathering around, murmuring to one another, some shouting at the man, but he did not seem to care, and it was that that seemed to keep everyone at bay.  She was dragged over to, and then dropped unceremoniously in front of one of the black cars, and saw Ben get the same treatment in front of the other one.  Barely able to keep her eyes open now, Tanya watched the man then stand between the two cars, watching the others, shotgun now in hand. After a moment, he looked down at them.

“Feast.”

In a brief surge of terror, one that brought her back to full consciousness, she saw something that she never would have believed if she had not seen it herself. The car in front of Ben, like in a movie, suddenly sprang to life and threw itself onto Ben. Its front end split open, to reveal jagged, carnivorous teeth, and clamped down upon Ben’s lifeless body, ripping and tearing at his flesh. He was being eaten by this machine, and she knew, with the sharpest amount of pain her brain could signal, she was now being given the very same gruesome fate.