Ыоуве Been Warned   ::   Patterson James

I spin around and gaze out the rear window as the Ponytail stands there watching me. He starts to blend into the night until all I can see is the white of his teeth. He’s smiling a sick grin.

There are four people… Don’t hurt them.



10

Chapter 65



CONSIDER THIS your last warning, Kristin.

But who’s warning me?

And why?

Somebody from the police? Is Detective Delmonico involved?

“So are we actually going somewhere?” asks the cabbie, interrupting my manic train of thought.

“ Manhattan,” I answer. “Please.”

I barely manage to give him my address before sinking down in the seat, ready to pass out. I’ve been awake for a day and a half. I’d almost find it funny if I had the energy to laugh anymore.

“Hey, you sure you’re okay back there, lady?”

“Yeah,” I lie. “Just another day at the beach.”

Any mild relief I’m feeling is squashed by my lingering fear. It’s as if he’s still sitting next to me, warning me about the Turnbull family.

I’m shivering and feeling dizzy. What’s more, my body is one big itch. Hives again? Whatever it is, I’m scratching all over like mad.

In fact, it’s going from bad to worse. I feel as if my skin’s crawling. What’s going on with me?

We pass a streetlamp, the backseat filling with a hazy yellow glow. I quickly push up my sleeve to look at my arm. I expect to see bright red from all the scratching.

Instead I see something else. Something is moving!

I jolt up in the seat as the rear of the taxi goes dark again. I’m swatting at my arm, at what exactly, I don’t know. But I definitely feel something.

“What the hell are you doing?” asks the cabbie, surely wishing he had run me over at this point.

“There’s something on me!” I shout.

He flips the overhead light on. I immediately see it and scream my head off. It’s a cockroach… except it’s not on me.

It’s in me.

The thing is crawling under my skin, the ghastly shape unmistakable – legs, body, antennae – marching up toward my elbow. I keep striking myself, beating my arm.

Then I see another roach and another after that, forcing their way beneath my flesh. And what I can’t see, I feel. In my legs, my stomach, my face. The cockroaches are everywhere!

I’m thrashing in the backseat, my arms flailing. I have to get out of this taxi! But as I reach for the door, the locks snap down.